Chapter 284: The Wall Collapses

The footsteps outside the great hall were clear.

Thud, thud, thud.

A man in a simple grey robe with short hair hurriedly entered the Nine Towers Palace.

Viserys was sitting on the throne, quietly waiting.

"Your Majesty."

The envoy from Braavos entered the palace and immediately bowed upon seeing the silver-haired young man on the throne.

Of course, the envoy from Braavos came with intentions of reconciliation.

The power of House Targaryen was growing rapidly, and a full-scale war with the Targaryens did not align with Braavos' interests.

Therefore, the envoy from Braavos brought a ship full of gold, silver, and jewels, of considerable value, to Viserys, hoping to ease the relationship between the two parties.

However, the envoy from Braavos did not come to Pentos primarily to smooth over relations.

Although many people knew the truth, no one had directly exposed it.

The Braavosi should bear a significant responsibility for the massacre in Meereen.

After all, it was the Dothraki, hired by Braavos, who attacked Pentos.

However, the Dothraki were repelled in Pentos, lost the battle, and turned to attack Meereen, where they carried out a large-scale massacre.

But the Braavosi were unwilling to take this responsibility, and even less willing to be nailed to the pillar of historical shame, so they naturally refused to admit these crimes.

Behind closed doors, it was about easing relations.

But when the doors were opened, Braavos claimed to the outside world that it was to celebrate the upcoming sixteenth nameday of King Viserys III Targaryen.

At the same time, it was also a gift for his coming-of-age ceremony.

Viserys' nameday was on the twenty-fourth of September, and a grand celebration would be held in Pentos.

With the rapid rise of Targaryen power on the continent of Essos, Viserys' coming-of-age ceremony was bound to be grand.

All parties, whether hostile or friendly, did not miss this opportunity for exchange, and envoys were sent in advance, now on their way to Pentos.

Although there had been minor disagreements in the past, the bearded monks had a decent relationship with the Targaryens due to their help in extinguishing the wildfire in Norvos, so they sent an envoy.

And although Qohor was far from the king, they also sent people to join in the fun and discuss trade-related issues.

After the fall of Meereen, the stability of the 'Three Sisters Kingdom' collapsed, and Lys and Tyrosh are now at odds, with a war-ready posture.

Therefore, both city-states hope to win the support of the Targaryens for their sovereignty over the disputed territories, and to guard against the once again restless Volantis, for which both city-states are also full of sincerity.

The proud Volantis also sent an envoy.

Although there had been deep contradictions between the two houses.

As the self-proclaimed 'eldest daughter of Valyria', Volantis once wanted to join forces with the Targaryens to conquer the continent of Essos and recreate the Freehold.

However, they were rejected by the then Targaryen clan leader, the 'Conqueror' Aegon, and then Volantis' army began to attack Tyrosh, and the war officially broke out.

Aegon rode his dragon into the war, defeated Volantis' army, and thus the two sides became enemies.

But now Volantis is gradually declining, and the Targaryens have also been exiled to the continent of Essos.

The elephant party, which is currently in power in Volantis, seems to want to put aside past grievances and reconnect with the Targaryens.

Therefore, they also came with a lot of sincerity and excellent negotiators.

Even a prince from the distant Summer Islands, from the Isle of Zal, has arrived.

His fate was very similar to Viserys'. He had dark skin, wore a feathered cloak, and was Prince Jalabhar Xho, who came from King's Landing.

There was still a month left until the king's coming-of-age ceremony.

However, many delegations had already gathered in Pentos in a short period of time, and many more were still on their way.

But one thing happened after another.

Just as Viserys was still considering whether or not to fall out with Braavos...

After all, such major directional matters must be thought through carefully, and they are definitely not decisions that can be made on a whim.

And with the continuous occurrence of wars, Viserys also had to consider the soldiers' war-weariness and morale.

At this time, another major event happened on the other side of the Narrow Sea in Westeros.

...

An urgent piece of intelligence was rushed into Viserys' hands.

This intelligence came from Westeros, and the content was very simple.

It was basically about the breakdown of negotiations between the Free Folk and the Baratheon dynasty, and the King Beyond the Wall blowing the legendary Horn of Winter.

Then a section of the Wall collapsed, and hundreds of thousands of Free Folk poured into the North.

That night, it seemed that King Robert was drunk and did not stay in Castle Black, but instead went to Mole's Town for the night.

Upon hearing the news, Duke Eddard Stark of Winterfell led a team of guards to leave the Wall to find Robert, leaving only Duke Stannis in Castle Black.

That night, Castle Black collapsed, and the Free Folk poured in. It was unclear whether the unfortunate Stannis was alive or dead.

Some said that Stannis broke out from the center with the desperate protection of the soldiers, while others said he was simply crushed to death by the rocks.

The situation at the time was very chaotic, and the person who delivered this intelligence could not explain clearly, and many were hearsay.

However, the fact that a small section of the Wall collapsed and hundreds of thousands of Free Folk poured into the North was indeed true.

Now the entire North is in chaos, and except for the nobles who have castles, everyone living outside the cities and the farmers are all in danger.

Several villages have already suffered the tragedy of being massacred by the Free Folk.

However, it is said that King Robert and Duke Eddard are both unharmed.

They were not at the Wall that night, so they quickly organized the remnants and launched a counterattack against the Free Folk.

The so-called hundreds of thousands of Free Folk did not have much combat power, and were quickly defeated by the regular army that had recovered.

However, these victories did not help to alleviate the current chaos in the North.

After all, there were too many Free Folk, and too few regular soldiers.

Hundreds of thousands of Free Folk running around, burning, killing, looting, and causing destruction, it's not easy to catch them all so quickly, even if they were hundreds of thousands of pigs.

And Robert's allied army was too small, and organizing soldiers to run around chasing the Free Folk, they couldn't catch them all, and even suffered several ambushes by the Free Folk, losing many soldiers.

When Viserys saw the intelligence in his hand, he was almost shocked beyond words.

He did not expect the situation in Westeros to suddenly undergo such a dramatic change, even more shocking to him than the destruction of Meereen.

What surprised him even more was that the legendary Horn of Winter actually worked.

In his memory, wasn't this thing broken?

It was later found by Ghost, Jon Snow's direwolf, during the Night's Watch expedition.

Then it was blown a few times but didn't sound, and was subsequently taken to the Citadel by Samwell Tarly.