Davos had already left without staying for lunch, and the young count had gone to the garden to pick strawberries. At this moment, only Dany and the dwarf remained at the table beside the cucumber vines.
Tyrion called out, "Dany~~~"
"Hm?" Dany raised her tone slightly and glanced at him sideways.
So "Dany" is something you think you're allowed to call me?
The dwarf understood at once. He rubbed his nose and gave an awkward smile. "Your Grace!"
Dany's expression improved a little.
"Are you planning to abandon the believers in King's Landing? If Stannis takes the city, it will undoubtedly deal a heavy blow to the Faith of the Seven," Tyrion said seriously.
"How many people are in King's Landing right now?" Dany asked.
"Perhaps 800,000? Maybe even more. People from the Riverlands, the Crownlands, and even the Stormlands are all moving toward King's Landing. Since the War of the Four Kings began, most areas of those three regions have been devastated.
Especially the stretch from the Trident to the Crownlands. What was once fertile land has become nearly deserted. When the Vale army marched south to King's Landing, Aegon and I even had to ride dragons to deliver their provisions," the dwarf said, frowning in thought.
Even in the most efficient ancient dynasties of the same era, common people who couldn't survive the winter would often go to nearby cities to beg for a living.
In the world of A Song of Ice and Fire, this tradition of entering cities to survive the winter has been taken to the extreme.
Ordinary farmers lack both the ability and the awareness to store enough food for winters that can last for years. Even the nobility only begin stockpiling supplies one or two years in advance, after receiving seasonal forecasts from the Citadel before winter arrives.
If not for the maesters of the Citadel predicting seasonal changes through observing the stars, the people of the Seven Kingdoms would not even know when winter was coming. By the time they noticed the temperature dropping, it would already be too late to prepare.
Every winter, not only do the people of the North gather in noble castles, but the people of the Riverlands, the Crownlands, and the Stormlands do the same.
During summer, including the floating population, King's Landing has about 500,000 people. In winter, it fluctuates between 500,000 and one million.
But now it is no longer winter. It is the Long Night. And it is not just people from the Crownlands who are pouring in; people from several kingdoms can no longer survive where they are.
"Have you ever seen a barrel of sardines? King's Landing right now is like a barrel packed with people, a powder keg. No one can save them. Even I cannot feed that many.
And King's Landing cannot be held. Once the army of the Others marches south, it will inevitably fall," Dany said helplessly.
"Why? King's Landing is right next to Dragonstone. Reinforcements can arrive at any time," Tyrion said in surprise.
"How tall are the walls of King's Landing?" Dany asked.
Tyrion thought for a moment. "The side along the Blackwater is lower. The standard height is about eight meters. On the northern side, it exceeds twelve meters, with the highest reaching fifteen."
"You've been to Winterfell. Do you know how tall its walls are? Why were they built so high?" Dany prompted.
Tyrion was startled. He already understood.
King's Landing is like a typical ancient city, with wall heights similar to those of ancient dynasties.
This is because King's Landing lies by the bay, closer to the south. Winters there are much warmer than in the North, and the snow is not very deep.
But in the North, even an ordinary winter can bring twelve meters of snow on the plains.
Because the snow is so deep, the Night's Watch simply lives underground, moving between structures through tunnels.
"We can use dragonfire to melt the snow," Tyrion said.
"Perhaps that's what Stannis is thinking, but King's Landing is too large," Dany sighed.
The entire city encompasses three great hills, covering more than fifty square kilometers. Even accounting for Aegon's High Hill facing the bay, there are still nearly forty kilometers of walls that must be defended.
"Winterfell only has 1.5 kilometers of walls, yet it requires over five thousand defenders rotating shifts, with more than eight thousand additional troops as reserves.
Even if King's Landing has a larger population and everyone is pressed into service in an emergency, it has no natural defenses. The cost of defending it would be extremely high, and it would not hold for long."
Tyrion frowned. "In that case, do you have any plans? We can't just abandon it. There are hundreds of thousands of people in the city."
"As for King's Landing, the issue has already been discussed several times in the Anti-Others United Front Committee.
My proposal is to immediately evacuate the civilians. Tarth Isle can take in 200,000 of the elderly, women, and children. The able-bodied should head south to Storm's End.
Storm's End will keep fifty thousand, and the rest will be split into two groups: one to Brienne's family's Tarth Isle, and the other along the Boneway to Dorne."
"Sansa is truly fortunate," Dany could not help but remark. "I didn't realize it before, but now I see that Tarth Isle is the largest island in the Narrow Sea—200 kilometers long and 100 kilometers wide—and very close to Storm's End, Dragonstone, and King's Landing. It is practically a 'Noah's Ark' during the Long Night."
"The reason I demanded Storm's End from House Baratheon as collateral was precisely because of Tarth Isle's geographical advantage. Tarth Isle serves as the rear base, while Storm's End is the front line against the Others. In the end, we may very well be the ones who endure," Tyrion said with a smile, revealing his plan.
"We?" Dany glanced at him sideways. "Sansa seems to have rejected your proposal, and you are currently involved with the Princess of Dorne. I hear you are close to getting engaged."
"Sansa…" Tyrion's expression became unusually complicated. "Compared to when she married me, she has become a completely different person.
Her experiences in King's Landing, where her survival and freedom were controlled by others, made her understand the value of power. Even if she has never truly tasted it herself, she has seen how others use power to toy with people, including her own fate."
In the Vale, at Littlefinger's side, she began to learn how to seize and use power. Now she has become a qualified player in the game of thrones.
She would not marry me, because if I were her husband, I would be a strong contender for the Iron Throne. But if I serve as her Hand of the King, I will never be able to surpass her.
It is very likely that the story between Euron and my sister has also made her wary.
In this regard, she is better than Cersei. She is good at learning. The lesson of Cersei being usurped by her king consort will surely be etched in her mind and serve as a warning.
"You seem to understand her quite well," Dany said in surprise.
"I almost witnessed her transformation step by step, from a naive northern girl to the present Lady Sansa. I even personally participated in some parts of that process. How could I not understand?"
With a bitter smile, Tyrion shook his head, then asked curiously, "The plan to relocate the population of King's Landing is good. Why hasn't it been implemented yet?"
"I am only one of the committee heads against the Others," Dany said.
"Who disagrees?"
"Too many people disagree. As for the others, I could decide with a single word and dismiss the committee. But even the people of King's Landing themselves are unwilling. What can I do?" Dany replied calmly.
Both the Iron Throne and the Great Sept of Baelor had received the Dragon Queen's "relocation plan." Euron and the councilors immediately rejected it, which was expected. The Iron Throne leaving King's Landing would be like the Son of Heaven of Han leaving Luoyang.
But the refusal of the common people of King's Landing truly surprised Dany.
At present, without obtaining the "Mark of the Mother," she could not use holy healing and did not have the standing to become the High Septon. Therefore, every High Septon was a devout follower of the Seven. In other words, the current high-ranking members of the King's Landing church were all genuine believers.
Faced with the Pope's holy decree, the monks and bishops of the Great Sept of Baelor did not hesitate much. Even if they had other thoughts, they were still willing to obey "Saint Dany's" arrangements.
After all, there were only two saints of the Seven in the world. The High Sparrow was dead, leaving only Saint Dany as the representative of the Mother. If they did not obey the Mother, would that not be heresy?
During this period, the Great Sept of Baelor had been building defensive fortifications, sealing both large and small gates, smashing the mosaic glass windows on the lower floors, and replacing them with thick brick walls. In short, they intended to turn the Great Sept into a fortress with only one-way access.
The Faith had priests and the Warrior's Sons. Naturally, they would not leave King's Landing.
In Dany's plan, King's Landing could fall, but the Red Keep and the Great Sept of Baelor must be held. Ideally, like a nail, they would pin down a large number of wights in the city, reducing defensive pressure elsewhere.
Thus, in Pope Dany's decree, many bishops and church forces remained behind, while the lesser septons and the elderly and frail among the poor congregations were tasked with leading the common people to evacuate.
In Dany's view, she had willingly sacrificed the elite forces of the Faith to resist the Others, which could be considered selfless to the extreme.
But the common people did not see it that way. They felt that the church leadership was too much like "Westerosi nobles," enjoying comfort in King's Landing while forcing ordinary believers with no status to trek thousands of miles and die in foreign lands.
Dany found it incomprehensible, but in fact, it was only human nature.
In the minds of the people of the Seven Kingdoms, King's Landing was the capital and the finest place in the realm. The most "normal" course of action for the Dragon Queen would be to bring her five dragons and all relief supplies, move her base to King's Landing, sit the Iron Throne, and at the same time protect the hundreds of thousands of citizens of the capital.
Had they not seen that even with the Long Night upon them, the Red God's king still lingered outside the gates of King's Landing, watching greedily?
During Stannis's siege, many bishops and nobles who followed the Seven had written to Dragonstone, requesting the Dragon Queen to come to King's Landing, drive out Euron in the city and the heretic king outside, and take the throne of the Seven Kingdoms herself.
"This attack on King's Landing by Stannis will probably cause many deaths," Tyrion said, unable to hide his चिंता.
Dany looked at him and said, "I thought you never cared about the lives of common people. In Slaver's Bay, you were quite indifferent and never cared how many slaves died in the war."
Tyrion paused, then smiled frankly. "I am a Westerosi. Isn't that normal? Just like the Free Cities across the Narrow Sea. Even knowing the Long Night has come, they not only refuse to help but instead come to Westeros to speculate and profit from the nation's disaster."
At this point, he recalled something his sister-in-law Teresa had mentioned and added, "Indulgences are flowing out. Did you know? Merchants across the Narrow Sea are buying them cheaply from commoners using food and wine, then reselling them at high prices in the Free Cities."
"I know," Dany said, a strange smile curling on her lips.
"Why not stop it? This is blasphemy against the Seven, and it undermines your grand plan of 'fight the Others and ascend to heaven,'" Tyrion asked in confusion.
"Have you noticed that the wind has been very strong lately, and it has always been a north wind?" Dany asked abruptly.
"It is the Long Night, of course it is the north wind. It brings the cold from beyond the Wall to the south. You told me that yourself."
"Then have you seen the huge windmill blades above the Sea Dragon Tower?" Dany smiled.
The dwarf was confused for a while, then suddenly remembered the "physics book" he had been reading every night recently.
"You are using windmills to drive printing presses, printing indulgences day and night?" Tyrion first realized, then his face filled with shock. "How is your mind built? Even in the Long Night, you can find ways to turn disadvantages into something useful."
(PS: The original work does not specify the area of King's Landing, but its population indeed exceeds 500,000, which has been mentioned many times before. The figure of 500,000 is not fabricated.
The original author Martin has personally stated that the population of King's Landing is around 500,000. When winter comes and nearby populations gather toward the capital, it fluctuates between 500,000 and 1,000,000.
King's Landing in A Song of Ice and Fire is roughly a blend of real-world Constantinople and London.
With a population of 500,000, what would the area be?
Here we use the capital of our country as a comparison. The core urban districts have a population density of about 25,000 people per square kilometer.
Obviously, King's Landing cannot compare to our capital. As for construction standards, compared to modern people, the Valyrians' architecture was not inferior.
Estimating at 10,000 people per square kilometer, although still somewhat exaggerated, King's Landing does not consist of single-story flat houses. It is filled with small buildings, along with places like Flea Bottom where people are packed together, and houses are tightly crammed.
In fact, an area of 50 square kilometers is already somewhat exaggerated. If converted into a square, that would be a side length of seven kilometers. Building city walls for such a size would be an extremely massive project, no less daunting than digging a canal.)
(End of chapter)
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