The hatred in Robert's last eyes slowly faded, he seemed to be frightened by Stannis, not afraid of his power, but looking at Stannis's eyes as if standing in the world and staring at the bottomless abyss at the bottom of his feet, although he knew that this was not really Stanis, but this traverser did exude a terrifying momentum, which made all living people feel very uncomfortable.

Stannis withdrew his gaze, he also knew that his behavior just now was a bit excessive, as Batesmore said, no matter how much resistance was made by the Divine Seal, the chosen ones would be corrupted by the darkness in the end, and he had to complete all the unfinished business before his heart was completely taken by the darkness.

As Robert was about to turn away, Stannis stood up and placed his hand on his shoulder.

The Duke's son didn't look back, they both knew why, but Stannis still had to tell his heart.

"I promise you, the guilty will be punished. ”

Without any response, Robert headed downstairs, but Stannis knew that this true brother would not abandon him.

The next day, Stennis summoned Charlie, and after a lengthy period of etiquette, Stennis handed the captain of the guard a pardon drafted by Cortana and signed by him, assuring Snake that he would never be held accountable for his betrayal and that he and his family would never be held accountable for their betrayal, and that his allegiance to himself as the king of the mirror would be erased.

Charlie did not expect him to make up his mind so quickly, so he quickly set off for Ophia Hannah Castle and asked to meet his cousin, Earl Snake.

After a morning of waiting, Charlie finally brought back the good news, the Earl of Snake, the guardian of the South, expressed his loyalty to Stennis, but there were still many conditions, first of all, Stennis troops withdrew and retreated to fifty miles away from the territory, and then in addition to letting him continue to serve as the guardian of the South, so that Stennis could not interfere in the affairs of the South, and also proposed to make him the chief privy councillor and speaker of the Stennis court, which was the position that Garcia had held so far when he exposed his true face.

Of course, Stannis understands this kind of Sima Zhao's heart, "Your cousin's ambition is not small! doesn't he know that the Ouroboros' final fate is to devour itself?"

Charlie also tacitly said: "Isn't all we can do is to keep satisfying his inflated ambitions?"

It seems that Earl Snake's cousin also knows that the Southward Guardian is always self-righteous and can step on two ships freely, and his behavior of riding on the wall is undoubtedly playing with fire, and whoever wins in the end will not let him go, but Earl Snake is completely unaware that he will always be the winner.

However, Stannis still agreed to his request, as long as they can unite against the Duke and make him the 'king' of the South!

After settling the affairs of the South, Stannis finally cut off one of Garcia's wings, and now he can concentrate on dealing with Duke Garcia.

It's just that he can't understand why Duke Garcia hasn't dealt with him seriously until now, he has openly proclaimed himself king and set off a rebellion, but the royal city is calm as if nothing happened, is it really until he hits the city that the rulers of the principality will see him as a threat?

Now there are a hundred knights in the empire who are loyal to the king of the Eastern Mirror, but for the many knights in the whole of the principality, these people can only be regarded as a drop in the bucket, as long as there are two-thirds of the lords who submit to the Garcia family, there is no chance of victory, not to mention that the duke still has a standing army of more than 30,000 people in his hands and does not lose a single soldier.

Stannis always felt that there was an eye on him in the dark, which made him afraid to make a rash all-out attack. After a long wait, Stannis decided to pick a spot to tentatively attack and find out if Garcia was acting or really not taking himself seriously.

After careful consideration, Stannis chose a breakthrough in the confrontation line, the central city of Drehem, where the most important arsenal in the Duchy of Tanis is located, and the capital of craftsmen who produce the most sophisticated armor and weapons in the Duchy.

The third largest city in the Duchy of Tanis is located in the center of the Duchy, in the middle of the Great Central Plains, and while the nominal lords are the Garcia family, it is more of a free city-state, where the council of lords grants autonomy as long as they pay an annual tax to the duchy, and the duke is happy to do so.

Now, Stannis is preparing to take this strategic place, not only to test the enemy, but also to capture a large number of armor and equipment to replenish the armament, and he does not want his troops to face the regular army of the Principality shirtless next time.

His subordinates unanimously agreed to this decision, and indeed, because the city was located in the center of the principality, far from the western part of the principality's ruling center, it was highly likely that they would take the city before the principality's support arrived, as long as they captured the city of craftsmen and held it, at least in the future, weapons and armor in the war did not need to be worried.

Seeing that his decision was so supported by his subordinates, the hot-headed Stannis immediately waved his troops to the East Mirror, preparing to capture Drehem before the hot summer came, because this time the division was in a hurry, so Stannis let the First Thunder Legion and the Third Destiny Legion stay to rest, and he only led the second watchman and the newly returned knights to march, because he had to pass through the middle of his father-in-law's territory, in order not to make it difficult for the Marquis of Frode, Stannis deliberately picked up the border line to move forward, so that the Eastern Guardian could find a reason to excuse himself for not finding Stannis。

Sure enough, along the way, his father-in-law pretended not to see him and let him pass freely, and after two days longer than expected, the army of the King of Tanis with the red dragon banner appeared under the city of Derrehem, a huge city full of holes is much easier to conquer than a castle armed to the teeth, because the city has not experienced war for a hundred years, so Stannis got the news that the defense in the city is very lax, and even decent resistance cannot be organized, and it looks like it is ready to fall.

However, Stannis has always adhered to the principle of peaceful diplomacy, and of course he hopes to occupy the city as bloodlessly as he did against Fort Ophia Hannah, so he immediately asked Cortana to draft a letter to persuade the Raven to send it to tell that if the lords here can abandon the darkness and open the city gates to welcome the king, the king of Tanis will not only not take away their dominion over Drehem, but will even be able to divide more of their territory.

Three days after the letter arrived, Stannis not only did not get the reply he wanted, but even noticed that there were more soldiers behind the tall walls of Drehem, and it seemed that the lord here was ready to defend the city by swearing to serve the duke.

"!"

Fortunately, Stannis was not idle, and when he persuaded him to surrender, he used the local lumber mill to build siege towers and stone throwers, since the other party refused to surrender, then Stannis was about to usher in the first siege battle in his life.