"We need to resettle these prisoners as soon as possible. There are too many of them, which puts enormous pressure on both security and food."
Lu Xuan also felt a bit of a headache about this. It wasn't that he hadn't encountered this situation before. However, the political, economic, and cultural landscape of this world was completely different from the previous one. Some experiences couldn't be directly applied.
"Then there's only one way. We need to start a war to... wear down these prisoners of war, and at the same time replenish what we've lost in this war."
"But we just finished a battle."
"For us, that was just a defensive counterattack. What follows is the real war."
Unifying all of Essos in one fell swoop is impossible for the time being, even with the addition of 100,000 men. After all, they are just 100,000 prisoners of war, not professional soldiers who have undergone political reformation like Lu Xuan's. Even so, conquering the nine city-states with just a few hundred thousand men is somewhat unrealistic. But there's no other way; Lu Xuan doesn't intend to spend too much money settling the prisoners. So he can only let them play a role.
In fact, the nine city-states were also in a panic, especially after Lu Xuan put on a show of settling scores later, the nine city-states came up with a bizarre move.
"You want to ransom those prisoners of war?" Lu Xuan was completely bewildered. Those people were mercenaries; what was the point of ransom? But then he realized that this was a disguised attempt to make peace.
"I'm very interested, so let's talk about the price. I have 112,000 prisoners here. What price are you willing to pay?"
“We intend to redeem all the prisoners for twenty gold coins each.”
"Men, send his head back to Valantis."
"Wait a minute, I misremembered. Fifty gold coins each."
"Thirty million gold coins, the extra amount is equivalent to war reparations. Plus one hundred Valyrian steel swords, which can be considered a bribe to me."
“But we haven’t even touched your city walls,” the envoy blurted out, which almost made the guards beside Lu Xuan burst out laughing.
"Yes, this is called psychological damage, understand? Three hundred thousand troops are at the gates of the city, and our citizens live in constant fear. This has caused them immense psychological harm. This kind of damage cannot be compensated with money. If you don't agree, then we can resolve this in a more direct way. Once I've gathered three hundred thousand troops, I'll just besiege your city. Don't worry, I'm just scaring you; I won't go in."
messenger:"……"
As is customary, of the 30 million gold coins in compensation, 20 million were converted into various supplies. Slave Bay began a new round of strategic stockpiling. After all, they still needed to support the nearly 100,000 savages across the sea.
The nine city-states were indeed wealthy, and the reparations were paid in full within three months. However, when the prisoners were returned, there were fewer than 80,000. Regarding the missing 40,000, the envoy hesitated for a moment but ultimately chose to ignore them. There was no other way; the defeated have no human rights.
Lu Xuan selected 40,000 men. After all, these mercenaries were top-notch recruits, and he naturally wouldn't miss them. He chose over 30,000 young mercenaries from among them to expand the guard force of Slave Bay. Slave Bay was now capable of handling these expenditures.
The fleet at sea also withdrew...part of it. The other part was left behind by Lu Xuan under the pretext of assisting in clearing the shipwrecks in Slave Bay. A total of more than three hundred warships.
By this point, Slaver's Bay's total military strength had exceeded 100,000 men, with over 600 warships. Overall, it was now an absolute behemoth in this world.
With the nine city-states bowing in submission and suffering considerable damage, the current situation can be considered largely settled. Lu Xuan felt that some long-ago plans could now be put back on the agenda.
"The ruins of Valyria?"
“That’s right. In the past four hundred years, no one except Yulen has ever actually gone in. But even Yulen couldn’t have gone deep inside. After all, once the Drowning God is on land, he can’t be protected.”
What are we looking for there?
"The Origin of Dragons and Magic!"
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Chapter 317 Valyrian Road
Magic in the world of Ice and Fire has more than one system. The Green Prophet had his own system in his early years. Later, the Valyrians rose to power and also developed their own system. Qarth's Shadowbinders and Asshal's Blood Sorcery each have their own distinct features.
Of all these magical systems, Lu Xuan favored the Valyrian system the most. After all, the Valyrian system was researched with the resources of an entire nation, and its applications were extremely mature and complete. Obtaining a complete magical system would be crucial for Lu Xuan's own path, especially for Daenerys's future. Lu Xuan had long realized that after hundreds of years, his accumulated knowledge and skills had reached an extremely high level. However, his development of a magical system was still as slow as a snail's pace. This proved to be completely different from martial arts. For a single individual to develop a complete system was simply absurd.
Another important reason was that he had to return to the Fourteen Beacon Fires. This was a promise he had made to the Old Dragon Soul. Incidentally, after being ambushed by the Three-Eyed Raven and Rahlo, the Old Dragon Soul was severely injured and on the verge of collapse. It had been sleeping in Lu Xuan's spiritual world, instructing Lu Xuan to awaken it only upon reaching the Fourteen Beacon Fires. Because it could only awaken once more.
“We have an advantage that Yuren doesn’t have: dragons. So, we can try to enter from the sky.”
………………
The ruins of Valyria were not only shrouded in endless storms, but their skies were also covered by a dark cloud. It felt as if the entire peninsula had been completely sealed off by some force.
Drogon and Viserion flew around the entire peninsula three times.
"There's not a single flaw. Teacher, I believe you now. Someone doesn't want us to get in."
There's an old saying in my hometown: "Fortune favors the bold."
"The more dangerous the place, the more treasure it hides. An ancient and wise saying. Drogon told me that the clouds in the sky made him uncomfortable."
"Then lower your altitude and we'll fly through the clouds and storm. That level of storm is perfectly manageable for us. And have you noticed that the storm's intensity has weakened over the past few days we've been observing it?"
"I thought it was just my imagination."
Amidst the storm, a familiar sense of oppression washed over him. Lu Xuan understood almost instantly why the storm had weakened.
Drowning God: "..."
As the two entered, Lu Xuan could even feel the surrounding storm rapidly intensifying around them. No wonder no one could pass through this storm; it was clearly some kind of extremely advanced magical defense system.
"Speed up, ignore the pressure around you, and go through at full speed."
The storm, mixed with lightning and hail, surged wildly toward the two of them as if guided by a navigation system.
However, the Valyrian armor they wore was no joke. This metal naturally possessed anti-magic properties, giving it astonishing resistance to such magical attacks. Braving the surrounding storm, Lu Xuan stood on Viserion's back and drew his longsword.
The blade swept across, carving a gap over ten meters long in front of him. The surrounding storm paused briefly, but before it could surge back, Lu Xuan swung his blade again.
Daenerys saw Lu Xuan's movements and imitated them quite well. However, her method differed from Lu Xuan's. A ball of crimson flame ignited in her hand, instantly transforming into a massive fireball that enveloped her. She used the flames to resist the surrounding storm's power. Essentially, this was a duel between two different magical powers.