GOT: Chapter 366/367

Chapter 366: Return of the King

Petyr never dreamed that one day he would be reunited with his old friend in this manner.

...

Months ago in Slaver's Bay, the Queen ignored advice and insisted on using dragons against the Volantis fleet blocking the bay. Braving a hail of arrows and stones, the process was tumultuous, but fortunately, the outcome was safe. The enemy had prepared some means to deal with dragons, but they completely underestimated that Daenerys would suddenly master dragonriding and return as a queen, and launch an attack without rest on the very day of her return. Under the invisible pressure of the immense size of the three dragons and the assistance of dragonflame, Meereen's remaining navy and the Unsullied sallied forth simultaneously by sea and land, crushing the second wave of slave owner armies besieging the city.

Half of the Volantenes' proud, massive fleet was sunk by dragons and Ironborn warships with fire and ramming, while the other half was captured by the Meereen navy almost intact, with only a small portion escaping in the chaos. These nearly two hundred ocean-going ships of varying tonnage and the captured sailors on board immediately solved a problem Daenerys Targaryen had been facing. Adding the small Ironborn fleet, Meereen now had enough ships to transport her entire army back to Westeros.

After liberating the enslaved sailors on the Volantis ships and taking them into her service, Daenerys pressed her advantage. The victorious New Ghis forced the neighboring New Ghis and Qarth to pay war reparations and sign armistice agreements through armed deterrence. Relying on large sums of spoils to purchase vast quantities of food supplies and military equipment, she rode a dragon to scare away several khals who had come upon hearing the news, preparing to get involved, and in the final days, she once again stabilized the internal situation. With both military and political preparations complete, she finally took the Unsullied and the trained Free Folk army and embarked on the long-overdue path to counterattack Westeros.

Although the Dragonstone fleet was well trained, it was small in number. Under the overwhelming attack of the Meereen warships and the three dragons, it quickly collapsed and was annihilated. After more than ten years of wandering abroad, Daenerys Targaryen, born of the storm, finally returned to her birthplace, her starting point.

But appearing before them even faster than the enemy's counterattack and the swarming supporters was a character who surprised everyone, Littlefinger's colleague from King Robert's court, the two-dynasty Master of Intelligence who had disappeared after Stannis ascended the Iron Throne and been missing from public view for over a dozen months, the notorious Master of Whisperers, Varys.

It was hard to sincerely welcome this eunuch, who was powdered, rouged, and perfumed. But after presenting evidence of his long-term secret protection and support for Daenerys and her brother, and generously offering a significant gift like the Crownlands Military Deployment Map, Varys, who had joined halfway, was allowed to stay on Dragonstone. After the Unsullied army, landing on the Crab Claw Peninsula, easily won consecutive victories with his accurate intelligence support, and after scouts confirmed the news that King's Landing was equipped with a large number of anti-air ballistae, this latecomer gradually gained trust and even mingled into the Queen's council.

And this, naturally, made Petyr grind his teeth in frustration, yet he was helpless.

...

On this day, the military council for the counterattack on Westeros was held again in the spacious, somewhat eerie great hall of Dragonstone.

With a small Iron Fleet, half of the Volantis navy, and three dragons, Daenerys held absolute naval supremacy in Blackwater Bay, firmly trapping Stannis's other half of the royal fleet within King's Landing harbor, sheltered under the protection of shore defenses, catapults, arrows, and ballistae. On land, after completely taking the Crab Claw Peninsula, the army composed of Unsullied and Free Folk had pointed its spearhead toward the major Crownlands city, Duskendale.

There was basically no disagreement among the Queen's council members that the land army, centered around the Unsullied, was nearly invincible on the Crownlands battlefield. Regarding the direction of the war, everyone also basically agreed. After taking Duskendale, attack Rosby, then advance downstream along the Blackwater River, and finally rendezvous with the navy below the capital of the Seven Kingdoms, surrounding King's Landing.

But regarding the subsequent details, Petyr and Varys put forward completely opposite opinions.

"King's Landing, including the Red Keep walls, is covered in anti-dragon ranged weapons. With Your Majesty's three dragons unable to freely join the battle, relying solely on the flesh and blood of the Unsullied, the Free Folk army, and the navy for a frontal assault against Stannis's almost flawless city defenses will inevitably incur heavy casualties," Varys strongly urged Daenerys to abandon the frontal assault on King's Landing. "Your Majesty's goal is not just to retake the Iron Throne. We will certainly have to face the Riverlands, the Vale, and the North in the future. If we rashly sacrifice too many of our elite core forces in the first battle, the road to unifying the Seven Kingdoms will be endless."

"Utterly absurd. Are we to just keep the large army idle outside King's Landing, allowing the Seven Kingdoms to slowly prepare for the Queen's return?"

Littlefinger opposed without hesitation. When he was on the council during House Baratheon, he was the Master of Coins, not only inferior to Varys in seniority but also with a simple task on the surface, to count copper coins, as Robert would say, so he rarely expressed opinions publicly. But now, he was Daenerys's Queen's Hand, an elder statesman and meritorious official who had assisted her from taking Meereen, helping her overcome numerous difficulties step by step to gain a foothold until today. If he allowed Varys, who had only appeared less than a month ago, to arbitrarily influence the Queen's thoughts, would he not be handing over influence and say?

He was not very skilled in military matters. Even if only to oppose Varys, he had to propose a different opinion. "Even if we took King's Landing without losing a single soldier, do we plan to unify Westeros with just the twenty thousand we brought from Meereen? Your Majesty, this is no longer the era when your ancestors conquered the Seven Kingdoms. By achieving a quick victory, swiftly taking a major victory, occupying the political and economic center of the Seven Kingdoms, and sitting on the Iron Throne, you will find supporters and adherents emerging like loaches from the sand, far more than you imagine."

"Your Majesty, Lord Petyr is right, this is no longer the era when your ancestors conquered the Seven Kingdoms. The Targaryen family ruled for over two hundred years relying on dragons. Everyone recognizes dragon equals legitimacy, but they also know how to deal with dragons. In this situation, the symbolic significance of dragons far outweighs their practical value. Riding a dragon into battle should always be a plan considered only under the most desperate circumstances," Varys said softly but with firm resolve. "The large army certainly should not remain idle outside King's Landing. We can surround King's Landing and continuously strike at the rebel parties who come to assist the King. Stannis has prepared to deal with dragons in King's Landing, but his vassals have not. Hastily arriving rebel armies lack dragon-hunting ballistae, and open field battles are the Unsullied's strength. As long as we fight outside the range of King's Landing's ballistae, we can achieve victory after victory with little effort. During this time, the large army outside King's Landing can calmly prepare siege engines. I will secure the support of the Reach and Dorne for Your Majesty, and even your nephew, Aegon Targaryen, will surely seize this opportunity to arrive with the Golden Company. When the large army is assembled, then we can besiege and take King's Landing with imposing might, summoning the Westerlands and the North to submit and surrender. Refusal will be rebellion, is that not more perfect?"

...

Damn it, Petyr was momentarily speechless. Varys said he could persuade the Reach and Dorne to come and support, which likely meant he really could. As for letting dragons into battle being the last option, that was an argument he himself had made earlier in Meereen. How could he oppose a view he himself agreed with?

The Eunuch held a full hand of cards, full of confidence, while Littlefinger, feeling his position threatened, was grim-faced, racking his brain for a counter-strategy. Missandei, who had been listening for a while, roughly understood the point of disagreement between the two powerful figures. The former believed they should calmly prepare and seek a decisive battle after joining forces with potential allies, while the latter believed they should swiftly assault King's Landing and attract supporters after occupying the capital of the Seven Kingdoms.

Having not dared to interrupt earlier, Missandei finally found an opportunity to speak softly. "Your Majesty, both lords' ideas have their merits, but why must we follow the normal channels of war? On a dark and stormy night, you could simply go there and burn the Red Keep, eliminate the fake King Stannis, would that not end the war at its root?"

(To be continued.)

Chapter 367: Big Player

Varys's heart leaped. This little girl, why was she not playing by the rules? If Stannis were truly burned to death by a blast of dragonflame in the Red Keep, what business would Aegon and the Golden Company have with Daenerys sitting on the Iron Throne?

They could not carry out this plan.

"A good plan, unfortunately it is merely wishful thinking." Varys's tone was flat, but his words were unsparing. "On a moonless, windy night, the King's Landing defenders certainly would not see dragons flying over the sea, but could Your Majesty cross Blackwater Bay in pitch darkness and accurately find the Red Keep? What is more, from the day Your Majesty returned to Westeros and captured Dragonstone, Stannis and his Hands have already quietly left the Red Keep and are scattered and hidden in various temporary command posts within King's Landing. My little birds can rely on various traces to find and mark most of these locations on a map, but it is impossible to predict which one Stannis will be in on any given day. Even if we could, for Your Majesty to ride a dragon and accurately find these places within the vast King's Landing that look no different from civilian homes from the air, and then dive down to burn them with fire, would be nothing short of a pipe dream."

---

Why was Varys able to serve two dynasties and consistently receive the trust of rulers, even now appearing before Daenerys as an uninvited guest, yet quickly integrating into her court, so much so that even Petyr, who was extremely wary of and disliked him, could not find any evidence of guilt or leverage against him?

Because he was more cunning, so cunning that no one could grasp concrete evidence of his guilt or leverage.

Where exactly was this cunning demonstrated? Littlefinger before him was the best contrasting example. Petyr Baelish could be said to be a master of political maneuvering, and Varys himself felt inferior, but even so, he still called him the second smartest person in the Seven Kingdoms. Why?

Because Petyr's manipulation of power remained at the level of technique, in layman's terms, playing various tricks.

And even the cleverest tricks will leave traces, or rather, evidence.

Varys, on the other hand, used only one move from beginning to end, providing real, accurate, detailed, and usually useful intelligence that had immediate effect.

You heard right, it is that simple, but in reality, it is much more complex to operate. If Petyr's methods were seven parts truth, three parts false, then Varys was nine parts truth, one part withheld. Assuming the information he obtained through his intelligence network was 1, or 100 percent, Varys would then, through a series of complex selections that ordinary people could absolutely not grasp, extract the 90 percent that was beneficial to him and could manipulate the authorities to act in the direction required by his script, and deliver it to the right person at the right time.

Yes, he rarely provided false intelligence. Anyone who thoroughly investigated the 90 percent of intelligence he provided would find it difficult to find evidence or traces of his fabrication. But never underestimate the 10 percent that was intercepted and hidden. Through clever editing, taking things out of context, and hiding causality, Varys could portray a rebel who planned to raise an army tomorrow as a loyal subject rarely seen in a thousand years, describe a chaste virgin as a harlot available to anyone, and arrange the most honest and upright person in the world to make anyone who heard it want to hang him immediately.

Even better, by not lying, he naturally saved a large amount of corroborating evidence and follow-up work required to cover up lies. This is why Varys could squeeze out more time, energy, and resources to carry out deeper levels of manipulation than Petyr, and design grander and more exquisite schemes than Petyr. As for the authorities discovering afterward and asking why the 10 percent of intelligence was missing, sorry, intelligence gathering is an arduous and painstaking task, and it is always bound to have some errors.

And with such a Master of Intelligence who does not provide false intelligence, how keen and suspicious would a person need to be to immediately detect an anomaly once 1 percent of falsehood is mixed into almost completely true intelligence?

"Then forget it." Missandei blinked twice and said quickly, "I was not thinking it through."

Stannis's caution was already well known, and leaving the Red Keep to hide in a safe house to win the war seemed to fit his style. Not to mention a young girl like Missandei, even Petyr, who was arguing with Varys, believed the eunuch's instantly fabricated lie without a second thought. He was thinking about how to persuade Daenerys to attack King's Landing immediately, and he had thought of his words.

"Using dragons in battle should be the last resort." Petyr figured out how to counter this statement, it was simple, admit it. "But now is the time when you need to make the final choice! Your Majesty, anyone can casually find a fifteen or sixteen-year-old Valyrian boy with silver hair and purple eyes and claim he is Aegon Targaryen, then push him before us in an attempt to reap the fruits of victory you have gained through sacrifices and adventures along the way. I do not believe he is real."

"When Prince Aegon was taken out of King's Landing back then, he was indeed just a child. It is impossible for anyone in Westeros to recognize him, so questioning his identity is a normal thought." Varys quietly swallowed, relieved that no one present continued to dwell on the plan to burn the Red Keep. "But Jon Connington, who is currently assisting him, is a well-known noble who served as King Aerys's Hand of the King during Robert's Rebellion. The number of people who have seen him is definitely not small. Not to mention those far away, among the lords of the Narrow Sea islands you have already conquered, you will surely find nobles who can recognize him."

The identity of Aegon Targaryen was not afraid of any investigation.

This was the ultimate venture capital Varys had planned for half his life to pry open the Game of Thrones board and swallow the legal ownership of the entire Westeros, and it was also the most proud deception he had designed in his life. Although it was called a deception, everything in the scheme was real, the Golden Company was real, the mentor and advisor team that trained the Prince into a perfect ruler was real, Jon Connington, the Mad King's Hand, was real, from the lowest soldiers to the Prince's closest confidantes, even the Prince himself believed he was the real Aegon Targaryen.

Except for Illyrio, the Governor of Pentos, and Varys himself, everyone in the world who knew the Prince was fake was already dead. With such a seamless deception, who could expose it?

"The Lord of Griffin's Roost may be real, but what does that prove?" Petyr could not expose this lie entirely composed of truth, but this did not prevent him from relying on the intuition of an excellent chess player to sniff out the conspiracy. He stared intently at Varys, feeling he had found the other party's slip-up. "Allow me to say something harsh, Your Majesty. Even if that Aegon Targaryen is real, you cannot wait for him to come. As the son of your brother, Prince Rhaegar, if the real Aegon were alive, according to Targaryen inheritance law, his place in the line of succession to the Iron Throne is before yours. If you wait for him before attacking King's Landing, even if you win easily, to whom will the credit ultimately belong?"

...

The plain truth, and the kind that is difficult to put on the table. It was only because Petyr was the Queen's Hand, holding high position and power and deeply trusted by Daenerys, that he dared to be so presumptuous. But it was precisely the plain truth that truly cornered Varys, leaving him speechless. After all, no one could refute the obvious truth.

As expected of the second smartest person in the Seven Kingdoms, able to think of the best way to counter his words so quickly. Varys smiled bitterly, hiding his true thoughts. He decided not to counterattack, but to defend in a standard manner. "Your Majesty, there are only two Targaryens left in the world, you and your nephew. Under these circumstances, do you still decide to engage in internal conflict?"

Petyr pursued relentlessly. "Your Majesty, if you admit that Aegon Targaryen is real, then your previous action of declaring yourself King would become an act of usurpation and rebellion."

"Before Your Majesty declared herself King, Aegon had not yet revealed his identity, which is understandable. I think Prince Aegon would be very willing to forgive Daenerys and marry her, and the two will co-rule the Seven Kingdoms."

"Co-rule?" Petyr sneered. "Your Majesty, that Aegon is male, and you, marrying him, will you be Queen or Queen Consort? Co-ruling with him, you are inherently at a disadvantage as a woman. Furthermore, although I personally understand Valyrian marriage customs and know that an aunt marrying her nephew is reasonable and legal within the Dragon King family, the people of Westeros will not all be so understanding. You led a world-famous slave army to land in Westeros, which has already aroused strong resistance. If you are eager to first practice the vastly different ethics and laws of Valyria and Westeros before the great cause is completed, proving that Targaryens are different, it will greatly harm your cause and reputation, and make your path to unification much more difficult."

Daenerys Targaryen did not utter a word from beginning to end.

Listening to both sides makes one enlightened, this was the wisdom she had summarized from her short but tumultuous ruling career. Before, whether under the guidance of Jorah Mormont or after Petyr Baelish found her and exposed the former's traitorous actions, there was only one person by her side who could be called a guide. Now, finally, two people with wisdom, experience, and ability were gathered under her command, debating before the Queen. Rather than choosing to adopt the opinion of one of them, Daenerys was more willing to observe the process and pattern of their debate, and from it understand and learn their ways of thinking, enriching herself.

The first round of competition ended, and both chess players were secretly catching their breath and preparing more arguments and materials in their hearts, but the sound of boots quickly hitting the floor came from outside the meeting room.

"Your, Your Majesty!" The messenger was a young Free Folk soldier. He was wearing full armor, but his face was slightly immature, and he stuttered when speaking the common tongue. "The fleet patrolling the outer sea, intercepted a gray-sailed ship from the North. There is someone on board who claims to be the Com, something Commander, and a priestess of the Lord of Light."

(To be continued.)