Chapter 53 - Chapter 53 Salado Thorn

Evening. The Split Palate Island fleet returned to Crying Reef Island. Hal sent news that Mara's pirates had escaped by ship. Those bastards also took away most of the wealth of Crying Reef Island before leaving, leaving the bamboo basket of the Split Palate Island fleet that went to receive it empty. This made Liu Qian's heart sink, and the pirates either fled to the edge of the Stone Steps or... They went to Bloodstone Island to ask Salado Thorn for help. Liu Qian was sure that they would unite with Salado to conquer him. A real storm is brewing. Time is more urgent than he expected. In order to defend against the enemy, he had to plan early. Liu Qian walked out of the Kago Fortress on Split Palate Island and walked with heavy steps through the pirates who were cleaning up the wreckage of the battlefield. These former Split Palate bandits were now clumsily playing the role of cleaners under his ruthless rule and the silent deterrence of the Dragon Spirit Guard. Charred beams, broken weapons, and solidified black blood clots were shoveled away. Liu Qian stood on the harbor pier, his boots on the blood-soaked and whitewashed wooden planks, looking at the twilight horizon. He had already made plans for reorganization during the day. Two thousand five hundred pirate soldiers from Split Palate Island were integrated with the remaining fifteen hundred pirates of the Torture Abyss. Rollo was responsible for leading one thousand of them, while Hal was responsible for leading five hundred pirates. The remaining two thousand five hundred pirates, led by Jelena and five hundred by Janice. He had been worried that Kago might sneak attack the Torture Abyss, so he left Gerina there. Now, with Kago and Mara dead, Jelena can be liberated and take on the main combat duties. When Jelena arrived at Split Palate Island, it was already night. She was dusty along the way. While on the ship, Jelena heard the news that Split Palate Island had changed hands. Jelena showed that cold face: "Congratulations, my lord, now that the situation in the Stone Steps Islands is clear, as long as you get rid of Salado Thorn, you can completely control the Narrow Sea." " Liu Qian nodded and said, "Yes, but Salado is not a fool, he has been across the sea for so many years, and the strength he has accumulated should not be underestimated." " Jerena's eyes fell on Liu Qian's face: "My lord, why don't you behead him directly?" " She paused and continued: "Instead of going head-to-head with Salado directly, it is better to find an opportunity to kill his base camp and get rid of him... In the past few months, I have seen that the pirates of the Stone Steps Islands are a rabble, they are not like those long-standing families and kingdoms, taking oaths and honors into account, for pirates, as long as the leader dies, the rest of the remnants will collapse. " Jelena is also a studious person, since she left the ruins of Valyria, she has learned a lot about the culture and history of Westeros and the free trade city-states with Liu Qian. "This is a good idea, but I can't rush into the enemy camp alone, right?" Liu Qian looked at Jelena and said. Jelena's violet eyes stared at Liu Qian: "My lord, you can turn into a real dragon." " Liu Qian shook his head slightly, his eyes were deep: "Jelena, your sword is sharp enough, but the vision needs to be farther, the Stone Steps Islands have a pivotal position for both sides of the narrow sea, here to control the trade routes, connect the two continents, once we unify the Stone Steps Islands, there will be many eyes watching here." The Iron Throne, the Nine Free Trade City-States, and other forces... If I have to consume a huge amount of mana in the face of this group of pirates, how can I deal with that group of guys with just my magic at that time?" " Liu Qian walked to the end of the pier pier, stared at the dark ocean in the distance, and continued to explain: "If I expose my trump card now, the two sides of the narrow sea will definitely unite to strangle us and try to shoot me with a scorpion crossbow." Aegon Targaryen relied on three dragons and thousands of troops to conquer the Seven Kingdoms except for Dorne, and the Seven Kingdoms at that time were independent and conquered each other, and each other's interests were not unified, so they could provide the conditions for his successive conquests. The Seven Kingdoms have now become one nation under the Iron Throne, and they have lived together for three centuries, married each other, and cooperated with each other to fight several foreign wars. At this time, as a foreigner, if I want to conquer Westeros, I will face a unified regime, the Iron Throne, not the Seven Kingdoms that were fragmented when Aegon conquered. " Liu Qian's voice was low and powerful: "Jelena, please tell me, how much magic do I need in the face of this situation? One hundred thousand or a million? How many dragons do I need? Three or more?" No, time is on our side, and our dragon cubs will soon emerge from their shells, they will grow stronger, and magic will one day return to the world, so that we are no longer restricted. What we can do now is to use limited magic to create additional benefits before the dragon grows up and before the magic returns, and Sarado, obviously, is not among them. " He turned around, his eyes flashing with a cold and determined light: "Jerina, believe me, I have been waiting for an opportunity, this opportunity is crucial, just when we take the stone steps archipelago." " Jelena was silent for a moment, then nodded slightly: "My lord, I have always trusted your judgment." " Liu Qian nodded and stopped speaking. His deep gaze recasts his gaze back into the boundless darkness, as if he has penetrated the sea mist, and sees the noise and conspiracy unfolding on Bloodstone Island. ... Bloodstone Island, the fortress of Salado Thorn. The atmosphere here was the opposite of the slaughter after the Battle of the Split Palate Fortress. It was brightly lit and bustling, filled with the strong smell of roasted meat grease, spices, sweat and alcohol. A grand dinner was in full swing. A dozen long oak tables were crowded, and the tables were piled up with heavy wooden plates. Beets, turnips and sparsnips of beef rolled in thick gravy, roast chicken stuffed with fruit with golden and crispy skin, juiced, charred onions exuded an attractive sweet aroma, most notably a few roasted suckling pigs with sizzling oily skin and golden red skin in the center. The pirates cut through the hard black bread with rough knives, greedily dipping the fat and juices from the plates, feasting on them, chewing, swallowing, and clinking cups and plates. Behind the lord's long table at the highest point, Salado Thorn, the "Prince of the Narrow Sea", sat like a true king. He wore a dazzlingly bright and magnificent coat woven with silver thread, and his excessively long sleeves almost dragged to the ground. The monkey-shaped buttons carved from emerald shone extraordinarily green in the light. His carefully curled silvery-white hair wore a fan-shaped, extremely fancy green velvet hat with a few ornate peacock tail feathers inserted into it, which trembled slightly as he spoke. He triumphantly raised a glass filled with blood-red Dorne wine, and his voice was loud, overpowering the noise of the hall: "Brothers! Tonight, Bloodstone Island welcomed a distinguished guest. " He pointed to a group of misfit figures at the entrance to the hall. There were about twenty or thirty of them, all ragged, with unhealed scars on their bodies, and their faces were mixed with horror, exhaustion, and bitter hatred. They are the last remnants of Mara, who fled here in embarrassment. "They come from Weeping Reef and are loyal followers of the heroic 'salt widow' Mara." Salado's voice was full of incendiary grief and indignation: "They brought the heinous news that the claws of an oriental wizard had reached into the Stone Steps, and he used evil witchcraft to conquer the Torture Abyss, slaughter Kago on the Split Palate Island, and even used the devil's means to brutally kill our fearless ally, Lady Mara, in full view. " The hall was instantly silent, only the "sizzle" sound of grease dripping into the brazier. All the pirates' eyes were focused on the remnants of the crying reef, and the real fear and hatred on their faces was the best proof. Salado slammed his wine glass on the table, and the scarlet wine splashed out: "This evil wizard's ambition will not stop, the Crying Reef Island is just the beginning, and the Split Palate Island cannot satisfy his appetite, his eyes have already been set on our Bloodstone Island, and on the entire Stone Steps Island! He wants to turn all of us into ghosts under his dark sorcery!" " He took a deep breath, and his voice erupted like a tsunami: "I, Salado Thorn, the 'Prince of the Narrow Sea' you elected, will never allow this to happen, the Stone Steps Islands are our home, the Narrow Sea is our hunting ground, and we will never allow an oriental wizard who plays with dark tricks to roam the wild here, I announce—" He raised his glass high again, his eyes flashing with an old, spicy and dangerous light: "We will form a coalition army, we will use steel and fire to completely wipe this evil wizard and his army from the Stone Steps Islands, bring his head back, hang it on the highest point of the Bloodstone Island, and let everyone on both sides of the Narrow Sea see it and challenge our fate!" "