Chapter 124 Descent
Although Drogon was unharmed, Geese dared to use the dragon-killing ballista, which was a capital offense. The three dragons were Queen Daenerys's Achilles' heel, and Geese would not let them off easily if he offended them.
"Make them offer three times the amount of money written on the paper each year!"
As Daenerys's treasurer, Hitzdal's first thought was to have Gisdor offer tribute, which would not only increase the severity of their punishment but also relieve his own pressure.
Slaver Bay has so many newly freed people with their mouths agape, waiting to be fed, and tens of thousands of soldiers who only eat and do no work that need to be supported.
When Hitzdallah saw the list of valuables presented by the Gith envoy, he was secretly delighted. He hadn't expected Daenerys to add more conditions for submission, and Hitzdallah naturally wouldn't miss the opportunity to kick her while she was down.
Upon hearing Hitzdal's suggestion, Daenerys nodded slightly; twice the amount was clearly insufficient to compensate for the damage they had caused to Slaver's Bay.
"Make them hand over the harpies' behind-the-scenes manipulators in Gith." As the interim intelligence chief, Jorah's biggest desire was to eradicate the harpy organization.
A few days ago, Daenerys proposed that among the conditions of submission, she did not intend to pursue the crimes of the Geese Harpy organization. Since they did not choose to submit at that time, it is certainly not unreasonable to pursue them again now.
"I think we should reduce the number of both new and old Giese soldiers and use the cut-off soldiers to replenish our army," Tyrion said after thinking for a moment.
As soon as Tyrion finished speaking, Daenerys's eyes lit up.
This is a good suggestion; it not only weakens the military strength of Gis City but also allows their soldiers to fight for them.
"Let them offer up dozens more warships." As the Minister of the Navy, Dalio spared no effort in salvaging ships for Daenerys.
After hearing Daario's suggestion, Daenerys began to calculate in her mind how many ships would be appropriate.
The emperor and his ministers thus devised a plan to determine the points of attack for both the old and new Giss.
[Making them hand over the remaining ballistae would be a good idea; they could be used to train those two clumsy dragons!]
Upon hearing Drogon's thoughts, Daenerys's face twitched. What if the ballista hit her during training?
Although she dared not allow anyone to train Rego and Viserion with ballistae, she was determined to make them all hand over the ballistae.
Daenerys only remembered this matter after being reminded by Drogon, but she could only secretly ask Jorah to tell the Geth envoy about it, and also ask Jorah to instruct Varys's little birds in Geth to investigate the number of ballistae in Geth.
She didn't want the Geese to secretly aim their ballistae at her three dragons.
After the discussions were concluded, Daenerys ordered the Gith envoys to be brought in and explained the new terms of submission to them.
Upon hearing the new conditions, the Gis envoy was somewhat surprised but dared not say much. After leaving the main hall, he hurriedly headed back to Gis.
Daenerys gave them only two days to reply, just enough for a round trip. If something happened to delay them along the way, and the black dragon flew to their location again, who knew what the consequences would be.
After Drogon burned down the old and new Giss, the nobles in the city were thrown into chaos.
A few days ago, when Daenerys's terms of submission were delivered to Gith, the nobles split into two factions: those advocating war and those advocating peace.
Ultimately, the pro-war faction prevailed, refusing to submit and instead strengthening the city's defenses and troop strength to prepare for Daenerys's attack.
Instead of an army, they were greeted by a majestic and imposing four-legged black dragon.
Just when they thought the Black Dragon was about to meet its end at the hands of the Gith Ballista, something they never dreamed of happened.
The four-legged black dragon, which they had never heard of before, managed to withstand the crossbow bolts from the front using its scales, burning the ballistae, collapsing the city walls and pyramids, and turning the soldiers to ashes.
After the black dragon left, the pro-war faction fell silent, while the pro-peace faction hurriedly sent envoys to request submission to Queen Daenerys.
While the Gislian nobles waited anxiously, the envoy finally returned to both the old and new Gislian cities.
However, they were completely dumbfounded when they saw Daenerys's new terms of submission.
The other three conditions are manageable; they involve paying more money and goods, with each family contributing several large ships to avert disaster.
Even if they were asked to hand over half of their private soldiers to be added to the Slave Bay army, it would be barely acceptable.
After all, if they submit to Slaver's Bay, then if the old and new Giswans ever encounter foreign invasion, they can turn to Queen Daenerys for help and request her support.
Aside from these conditions, demanding that they hand over the harpy master is tantamount to surrendering their own lives.
They roughly knew who was instigated; it was just a few people from the pro-war faction, and not all harpies were pro-war.
The Harpies were originally formed to protect the interests of some nobles and slave owners, but as they grew stronger, they also gradually became corrupted.
To become a powerful organization that uses force to protect its own commercial interests, so powerful that it bullies and monopolizes the market, engaging in forced buying and selling.
Accustomed to their domineering ways, they naturally did not want to be ruled by Daenerys, an outsider, especially since this outsider had abolished the slave system on which they had built their enormous wealth, thus shaking their very foundations.
They didn't want to be defeated, so they launched several attacks against Daenerys's men and herself, but almost all of their carefully planned attacks were thwarted by her little dragon.
What surprised them even more was that the black dragon, which could change size, actually withstood the ballistae, bringing a devastating blow to Gis City and forcing them to submit.
Upon seeing the new terms of submission, none of the nobles of Giss spoke up first, yet they remained wary of one another.
The harpy mastermind who had launched the attack was afraid of being handed over, while the nobles of the non-harpy organizations who advocated peace were afraid that the mastermind would be desperate and refuse to agree to Daenerys's terms of submission, or kill them to replace the harpy mastermind.
Several civil wars broke out simultaneously in both the old and new cities of Gith that night, resulting in heavy casualties among nobles and soldiers. The next day, the surviving nobles held an emergency meeting to discuss the conditions for Daenerys's submission.
The amount of wealth to be contributed and the number of people to be added to Daenerys's army will be determined based on each family's strength and their performance last night.
In Meereen, the two-day deadline was approaching, and the old and new Githian envoys arrived as promised, all accepting the terms of submission and handing over two lists to Daenerys. These lists contained the names of the Githian harpy leaders and their families, most of whom had already been killed or exterminated in the civil war.
The tribute, large ships, remaining crossbows, and soldiers to be added to the army will arrive in Meereen within three days.
Daenerys had anticipated that Giese would agree to all the conditions. Two hours before the Giese envoys arrived in Meereen, Jorah's spies sent to Giese had already reported everything that had happened in both the old and new Giese cities the previous night.
Daenerys never expected that a condition of submission would cause such a huge internal conflict in Geese.
After this incident, she believed that the harpy that had caused her so much trouble and distress would no longer be able to cause any more trouble, thus removing the biggest hidden danger and obstacle to her governance of Slaver's Bay.
Moreover, the surrender of the Geese brought her a great deal of wealth, enough to cover at least two-thirds of the cost of maintaining her army. The hundred large ships and more than five thousand soldiers they offered were also a significant boost to her campaign in Westeros.
All the credit goes to Drogon. If it weren't for Drogon, she might have died in the arena chaos, let alone gained Geese's submission.
After the envoy left, Daenerys couldn't help but hug Drogon and kiss him twice, thanking him for everything he had done for her.
Seeing Daenerys and Drogon's intimate actions, Tyrion and the others felt a sense of shame to varying degrees.
As Queen Daenerys's Lord Chancellor, he not only failed to solve Daenerys's biggest problem, but also nearly led her to her death in the arena.
All of them combined are no match for the Queen's single dragon, even though this dragon is unprecedentedly powerful and quite extraordinary, it cannot mask the dereliction of duty by these ministers.
"Congratulations, Your Majesty, on gaining the submission of Gith! We will do our utmost to assist Your Majesty in seizing the Iron Throne!" Tyraon knelt on one knee, congratulating Daenerys and making a sincere promise.
"We will do our utmost to assist His Majesty in seizing the Iron Throne!"
After Tyrion finished speaking, Jorah and the others also knelt on one knee, ashamed that they had failed to protect Daenerys.
Yara, who was originally standing on the side of the main hall, saw everyone kneeling down to make a promise, and she also knelt down.
Having witnessed Drogon's power and Geese's submission, she no longer considered herself Daenerys's ally, but willingly acknowledged Daenerys as her queen.
Looking at the ministers kneeling before her and Yara who had truly pledged her allegiance, Daenerys took a deep breath and looked up toward the northwest, toward the direction of Westeros.