Game Of Thrones: The God-Emperor of Planetos-Chapter 149 - Battle of the Crossing (II)

"Fire, blood and iron. That is the true power of the world." - Prince Oberyn Martell, looking at the crumbling walls before him.

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"Fire!!!" A soldier shouted while covering his ears. The next second, explosions rang out, making the ground around the cannons seem to shake.

GOODMMMMMMMMM!!! GOODMMMMMMMMM!!! GOODMMMMMM!!!

Round iron projectiles were fired, accompanied by loud, powerful and frightening sounds. The cannonballs tore violently through the air, hitting the castle walls with ferocity. Chunks of stone flew off, revealing craters where the shots had hit.

"The power is very good." Tyrion commented, watching the consecutive attacks on the walls from afar. He couldn't help but admire the blacksmiths who had invented such weapons. He could see that this was only the beginning. In the future, even more powerful weapons could be created, and this brought him a feeling of unreality.

Was this really a power that humans should control? But then he laughed at his own naive thoughts. As Aenar had said, humans should have the power to choose to self-destruct, instead of leaving that fate in the hands of other beings.

Tyrion agreed with the king's words. Humanity could be extinguished by humans themselves, but never by other beings. Perhaps that was human arrogance talking, but he believed it deeply.

"Imagine these weapons on warships. Besieging a coastal city like Lannisport will be as easy as deflowering a young woman in love." Oberyn commented next to Tyrion, with a cold smile. Although the city had a ring of high and powerful walls, with these weapons he could cut a hole in the fortification and begin the invasion without any difficulty.

"Although the cannons are powerful, their accuracy is less than that of an arrow fired by an archer. With the waves, accuracy will drop even further, making it very difficult to hit a stationary target, such as a wall." Tyrion shook his head, not as optimistic as Oberyn about besieging Lannisport. He had been to the city many times, spent years there and knew only too well how powerful the walls protecting the port were.

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However, Oberyn's words made sense. If the cannons were placed on ships, there would be no fleets capable of withstanding the fire. In sea battles, cannons on ships would be a real weapon of war.

"Do you think the king will sell the cannons?" Oberyn asked in an undertone. He really wanted such weapons protecting Sunspear.

"Would you give that power to your vassals?" Tyrion didn't answer directly and instead smiled as he asked his friend.

"Never." Oberyn didn't hesitate to answer. It was impossible for him to give cannons to the vassals of House Martell, especially as some noble houses were quite ambitious.

Although he knew it was impossible to get the cannons, it didn't hurt to ask.

"Although the power of the cannons isn't enough to penetrate the walls, the people inside the castle must be terrified." Oberyn changed the subject, flashing a cold smile as he watched the two majestic castles.

In the first round of attacks, a cannonball directly hit a man on the ramparts. Oberyn personally saw the man simply explode into a mixture of blood, organs and bones. The image was extremely tragic.

Tyrion laughed when he heard Oberyn's words. As his friend had said, he could imagine the dread that the people of House Frey were facing at that moment. It was as if the punishment of the gods was coming in the form of iron, blood and deafening explosions.

If Aenar heard Tyrion's thoughts, he would agree with them. Psychological dread was often the main reason for castles surrendering in the Middle Ages. Being under siege for a day was stressful, but imagine weeks, months or even years. Even those with a strong resolve would be exhausted, and morale would drop to extremely low levels.

Aenar wanted exactly that effect at that moment. He wanted Walder Frey to feel real terror, as if he could die at any moment.

"Husband, are we going to attack with the army or just keep using the cannons?" Not far from the guns, Visenya asked, glancing at the castle before turning her attention to Aenar.

She was wearing armor like any man and, unlike what Hollywood and games used to present, there were no breast bulges in the cold metal. Women didn't take part in wars; what woman would be stupid enough to model breasts on armor?

Aenar looked at Visenya and realized that she was looking forward to the war. It left him speechless. His wife was more excited for battle than many warriors from the North.

"No hurry. Walder Frey has probably already sent a raven to Casterly Rock. Let the old lion leave the fortress, come to the Riverlands and conquer some castles."

"That's not bad?" Visenya looked at Aenar in surprise.

"Imagine your castle was conquered and someone saved it. Would you feel grateful?" Aenar smiled and asked with a playful tone.

Visenya immediately understood her husband's intentions. He wanted to win the goodwill of the Riverlands for House Targaryen when he began his campaign. By allowing Tywin Lannister to take a few strongholds before intervening, Aenar would ensure that the local houses saw the Targaryens as liberators, making their conquest easier.

"You're very cunning, husband." Visenya commented with a small smile on her lips. For her, Aenar really was shrewd.

"Well, we have to be cunning. Tywin and Walder Frey are old and experienced foxes." Aenar laughed too.

"Let's go. I have to announce something." Aenar said, walking towards the main tent. Visenya followed him with a curious expression. Leda, Titus, Sigismund and Barristan protected the king and queen at all times.

Not long afterwards, when everyone was gathered in the tent, Aenar spoke with a smile. "Balon has crowned himself king, as has Robert Arryn. In other words, four kings are vying for the Iron Throne at the moment."

Aenar's words made many people's eyes widen in shock. They had never imagined that there would be people so bold as to do something like this at this time. Although Robert was indeed a usurper, at the end of the day, he had Targaryen blood.

So the battle for the throne was legitimate, but Robert Arryn and Balon Greyjoy weren't close enough by blood to be considered true heirs to House Targaryen.

"Isn't Robert Arryn a boy under ten?" Oberyn asked with an uncertain tone. As far as he could remember, the heir to the Eagle's Nest was too young.

"He's probably a puppet king, controlled by his mother or anyone who has influence over Lysa Tully." Tyrion spoke in a deep tone. He was also aware of the rumors and knew that Lysa Tully was not completely sane. Many rumors claimed that the East Ruler had become extremely paranoid after suffering consecutive miscarriages.

Tyrion continued speaking calmly:

"It's no surprise that Balon crowned himself king. He's done it before. Now that Westeros is at civil war, he's seized the moment and crowned himself again."

Suddenly remembering that the King's Landing court had been moved to Casterly Rock, Tyrion's eyes lit up.

"Is that why my father and Robert moved to Casterly Rock?"

"It's actually better to attack the Iron Islands and fend off the dragons from Casterly Rock. Besides, attacking the Reach by sea is also much quicker and safer than by land." Tyrion spoke, glaring at Aenar.

Aenar laughed and confirmed the Hand of the King's words. "Yes, as well as fending off dragons, Tywin wants to attack the Reach, the Iron Islands and the Riverlands more easily, without running the risk of getting caught in the siege of some castle that wants to kneel to me."

"The lion is very cunning. He knows he has no advantage in terms of prestige and, with the dragons, many lords already want to bend the knee to Your Grace. If Tywin gets stuck in one of those castles, it will only slow him down and turn the tide of the war in our favor." Oberyn commented with a sarcastic tone.

"My father is many things, but he's not an arrogant man. He knows that the survival instinct of all the Noble Houses is to cling to the strongest, and right now we're the strongest, with dragons." Tyrion replied with an equally sarcastic smile.

"No matter how many kings there are, they're just a few ambitious people." Aenar interrupted them both and spoke in a calm tone. "Besides, I want you to keep an eye on Balon. He could ally himself with Robert Baratheon and attack us."

Everyone nodded.

Turning to Kinvara, Aenar spoke calmly: "After we conquer Twins, we'll hold a ceremony to bury the dead and spread our faith."

Kinvara's eyes lit up at Aenar's words. She had come to Westeros for this purpose: to spread the faith to these people who believe in cruel gods.

Eddard raised an eyebrow when he heard this, but like everyone else around him, no one dared question Aenar's decisions. Even Rhaenys and Visenya remained silent.

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