Chapter 11:ruling, diplomacy and signs of war

With no merchant prince or pureborn left, the end of slavery in Qarth was a very easy process. As the shop slaves became joint owners of the stores they work, slave artisans started to own their shops, and so on; it was easy for Rhaego to get the sympathy of the freedman.

The free native Qarthi families may have not liked a bunch of slaves becoming their equals, but they were not the majority and were not influential people, so besides looking at the free men with crooked eyes, they could not do anything to them. This is mainly because, besides swords, gold is what rules not only in the free cities but in Qarth. He thought about who should be the city lord. He would simply go with a dual system, separating civil from military matters.

He appointed a general as leader of the military and a city lord from the Civic Guards. He chose one guard that seemed to be loyal enough and could rule, he was a bastard from a merchant prince from the Ancient Guild of Spicers, as his family abandoned him here and as he was never treated nicely as a bastard, he held no sympathy for them.

He held all this power to make this decision because with his performance, his status even as a child was now second to his mother in the army.

The sailors and slave sailors, which previously worked for the Tourmaline Brotherhood, also held him dearly, because now they jointly own the ship where they work. Getting sympathy from the Qarth navy, was a bit harder, as he would not give them the war galleys which he needed, so he gave them social security, so even if they die their widows, would not pass hunger. It was not much, but it was what came to Rhaego's mind.

Rhaego was having a dilemma, however. There was a whole west waiting to be swallowed, but two of his enemies ran away, the Ancient Guild of Spicers and the Thirteen. He wanted to clean up his enemies and not pay too much attention to the east for now.

Taking over Elephant Island was a tricky situation, not because they were hard to win against, but because of the number of neighboring islands, to have the region well defended the ideal would be taking over all eastern islands, including Moraq to the south of Qarth's Strait.

Yi Ti was troublesome as well, not because of the Azure Emperor's army, but because of Yi Tish's magic, which Rhaego do not know about. To keep the Yi Ti territory well protected, the ideal would be to take down the other Yi Ti disputing emperors as well, which were the orange, at Trade Town, and the yellow one, at Carcossa. Then, would come another problem with taking Trade Town would make him have to deal with the constant Jogos Nhai raids.

The thirteen were the most moderate of the guilds in opposing his mother, they seemed to be the least angry about the death of the Undying. Rhaego guessed that they were pissed with the undying for trying to take the dragon they consider theirs. They do not seem much angered by the death of Xaro Xhoan Daxos.

As the man did not have any heir and none of his relatives have the political strength to take his position clearly, the other merchant princes divided his family and swallow his business. So Rhaego's priority was to take down the Ancient Guild of Spicers that openly called for his mother's death.

He reached a peaceful resolution with the Shan of the Island of Elephants. I want would be known as the Treaty of Ivory and Gold. Simply the treaty said that the Thirteen would be vetoed to gain any government position on the island. If the Thirteen ever tried to usurp power on the island, it would be followed by a war declaration from Quath and its allies and the sovereignty of the island would be forcefully taken over by him.

Rhaego thought this treaty was much more advantageous to the Shan, but he could not take too long on the East, as his mother wanted Westeros, and Westeros he would give to her. The only thing that comfort him was the elephants he received from the Shan, which have previously offered the weight of these elephants in ivory.

He could have sold the ivory and got a massive amount of gold, as healers at Yi Ti and Leng attribute a lot of magical healing properties to the thing, which he was quite skeptical about. As the heir to a growing empire, he considered the elephants much more useful, and he did not want to take the trouble of selling ivory.

Rhaego learned something that really pissed him off, a grey plague have appeared on Yin. Rhaego temporarily forbade any ship from Yi Ti to stop at Qarth. He started a temporary quarantine and established some prophylaxis measures. It was the best he could do for now. He used his command power on the Civic Guard to make sure the measures would be followed through, even in his absence.

'Damn lucky emperor, if not for this I would invade Yin.' Rhaego thought. Rhaego after building some more warships to defend Qarth took his expanded navy and returned to Meereen.

There he learned that Khal Jhaqo, Moro, and Jommo, after being showered with gifts from the free cities, have allied against his mother. Jhago had over twenty thousand riders. Moro and Jommo had over fifteen thousand each. A war against a fifty-thousand cavalry would surely be an annoyance was what Rhaego was thinking.

Outriders from Motho's khalasar were seen north of Dagger Lake, and Zekko's horde moves through the Forest of Qohor. It's believed they are fleeing the thirty thousand men of Khal Pono, whose khalasar has been spotted near the headwaters of the Selhoru.

Daenerys hugged him tightly when he returned. Although still a baby, Rhaego already looked like a preteen.

They had to solve the Dothraki problem before they can deal with Volantis. Rhaego was thinking about what should he do about the Dothraki. Even if he have their blood in his vein, he was not a fan of these people who only know how to raid and rape. They would be a very useful army, but troublesome as well. Their bloodthirst made them useful in times of war, but trouble in times of peace. They were strong but too undisciplined.

He wanted to rule, and conquer, not turn the world into a wasteland. A part of him wanted to turn most of them to ashes and with the feel survivors and become the stallion who mounts the world. He concluded this would be a waste, however.

They prepared for the war now they could muster about twenty-five thousand soldiers, however, there was too much water in it.