Winter envelops all of Westeros, and the Westlands naturally includes it. Because it is located in the south and there are mountains to block the cold current, and it is also bordered by the two places of the river and the bay, the climate here is milder than that of the north, and the products are more abundant than the north, so there is no need to report the group for heating, and naturally there is no custom and policy of "winter town...... Still, many of the wealthy, well-off who did not own castles yet chose to move into Lannisport during the winter, relying on the abundance and variety of supplies in the city's strategic reserves to survive the harsh winter - resulting in a seasonal spike in the number of inhabitants in the only city in the West, only to slowly return to normal after the start of spring.

This seasonal concentration of the population is especially evident this year.

The explosive political turmoil caused by the scandal of King Robert's heir and the resulting war of the Six Kingdoms to exterminate the lion brought a huge and heavy blow to the West, but instead of distributing their wealth to help their vassals fall into trouble, the Lannisters took the opportunity to implement "gold control" to further strengthen their control over the West. Today, most of the remaining gold in the Westlands has been moved to the Lannisters' vaults because it is on the control list, and almost all of the nobles in the top ranks have been forcibly relocated to the wealthy area of Lannisterport in the name of protection, leaving only the steward to maintain the original fiefdom......

Lannisport's already solid political and economic center has been further strengthened, so much so that even in the bitter winter, there are still messengers and soldiers passing through the streets.

At this moment, in the center of this big city that is not hibernating, in a tall building with a golden lion emblem in front of the door-Lannister Bank headquarters, the "little devil" Tyrion is shaking his legs in the reception room to check the ledger, while waiting for a special "guest" to arrive.

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After the great crisis of being besieged by the Six Nations was instantly eliminated by the death of Robert and the usurpation of the throne by Lan Li, the Lannisters were able to stay out of the ensuing chaos that engulfed the Seven Kingdoms: both warring sides were too busy dealing with each other, believing that the Lion House had been severely damaged after being beaten and ravaged and had no value to squeeze and win over, so they neither invaded the West nor forced it to join the war in support of their side. As a result, in the two years when the confrontation between the two major alliances of the North and the South was in full swing, the lions shrank in their nests to make a fortune, lick their wounds and accumulate strength, and secretly prepared for their return to the political arena.

Gou's strategy has not been smooth sailing, and the Tiemin under the rule of Euron Greyjoy, the neighbor in the sea to the west, has been harassing and harassing in the name of "the Westside will not send troops to support King Stannis's counterinsurgency", burning and looting everywhere along Tiemin Bay and the west coast, bringing more torture and suffering to the already devastated Westsiders. It wasn't until Duke Tywin called on all the inhabitants of the West to unite against foreign enemies, and established an effective coastal defense system under Tyrion's suggestion and leadership, that the pirates felt unprofitable after several confrontations with each other, and consciously retreated to plunder the coastlines of several other countries.

The calm lasted for a few days, until two days ago, the militia patrolling the vicinity of the fortress sent out a warning that the Iron Folk warship had been spotted near the coastline.

The people of the West, who had not forgotten the pain, were on the verge of a great enemy, but when the guards and militia of the fortress and several surrounding villages had assembled and rushed to the location mentioned by the alarm, they did not encounter the expected landing of the Iron People's raiding party, but after a carpet search, they caught a woman in a small forest.

A woman with a special identity.

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A knock on the door interrupted the gnome's thoughts, and the guard's voice came from outside the house, "Lord Tyrion, someone has arrived." ”

"Bring it in. ”

The door opened, and two soldiers brought in the special female prisoner, pushed her to a chair across the table from Tyrion, and handcuffed her to the armrest, before retreating after saying hello.

The reception room fell silent again, and Tyrion looked at the person across from him with a puzzled expression before re-speaking with a puzzled expression, "Miss Greyjoy, did my house's guards abuse you or take poor care of you?"

It's not that he wants to pretend to be a gentleman to lower the other party's defense, but the appearance of the daughter of the sea monster at the moment makes it difficult for him not to be suspicious: the former proud and free Princess of the Iron Islands is now pale and decadent, obviously uninjured and not starving or cold, but she slumped in the chair as if she had been sucked away from her bones, as if it was difficult to straighten her waist.

And he specially greeted him and asked Haosheng to take care of this person.

The abuse of the enemy's daughters is not a big problem, but if the orders and demands of yourself, the president of the Lannister Bank and the second-in-command of the ruling family in the West, are disobeyed or ignored by those below, it will not be tolerated!

"No, thank you for your concern. Asha barely raised her head, and even looked weak to speak, "Why didn't your father see me?"

"My old man is a busy man. Tyrion relieved himself and smiled at the prisoner, "He ordered the maester to write to Pike Island to ask for your ransom, and then he left you behind completely...... After carefully questioning your captor, I have to admit that he was right to do so. No matter how you look at it, you don't look like you can do us much good, and if you don't mind, can I ask what the hell is going on?"

Asha smiled sadly and shook her head, "I don't know where to start, can you ask for more details." ”

Realizing that he was not looking a good way at the moment, Tyrion leaned forward and laboriously took the flask on the table and poured a glass for the female prisoner...... Then he realized that the other party's hand was cuffed to the arm of the chair and he couldn't drink at all, so he had to pat his head and ask a question: "As far as I know, you were defeated and captured by the Night's Watch in the Deep Forest Fort and imprisoned in the Gifted Land, how did you end up on the side of the fortress, or was you sent ashore by a boat?"

"I escaped from the night watchman's harbor while the guards were not looking. ”

"Hah!" I believe you're a ghost, and Tyrion didn't try to hide his suspicions, but he didn't get to the bottom of it, because that's not the point, "As Balon's daughter, you must be planning to return to the Islands to seize power." Then I'm a little curious - if you succeed, you should be the queen of the Iron Islands at this moment, and if you fail, how can you leave alive?"

If he didn't tell Tyrion that Iger let him go because he couldn't sell his teammates out of the spirit of the contract, then on this kind of topic that won't implicate others, Asha, who has just experienced the biggest blow in her life, really doesn't even have the strength to make up lies.

"I wanted to assassinate Ulun, but he found out and arrested me and put me in prison, and it was my uncle, Rodric, the 'Reader', who arrived and rescued me. ”

"Oh, if I'm not mistaken, Ulun is your own uncle, and you want to be a murderer?"

"He is my own uncle, but at the same time, he is also my father-killer and the preserver of the sea stone. He led the Iron People to a point of no return, and I did not share the sky with him. ”

It was supposed to be an emotionally hostile text, but it was read out by Asha like a soulless answering machine, and Tyrion couldn't even shake his wit.

"Well, what the patrolling militiamen said about 'two ships exchanged fire, and one ship sank the other', is it actually a naval battle between Euron Greyjoy and Rodric Harlow, a battle between the Iron People, a civil infighting?" The dwarf paused, but couldn't help but ask, "Forgive me, this little man, for not being familiar with the ships of the Iron People—all the sailing ships in the world are similar to me, huh...... Who sank whom in the end?"

Who sank whom?' Asha's lips trembled, her mouth opened slightly, and she wanted to answer, but the tears were already rolling down her eyes.

......

A few days earlier in the morning, Asha, who had just escaped from Pike City aboard the Sea Song, was awakened by the sound of thumping footsteps overhead—as a skilled sailor and captain, she was certainly familiar with the sound of a large number of people running around the deck in a panic. Alert, she rolled over and sat up, put on her clothes and pants and went to the upper deck, where she easily found her uncle at the stern of the boat, who was looking behind through a Mill lens.

When the "scholar" saw her niece coming, she didn't say much but silently handed her the lens, and after Asha lifted it up and looked at the distant horizon directly behind the ship, she soon saw the sailboat that made her heart palpitate: on the light horizon, the dark red hull of the "Tranquility" was so slender and low, and the inky sails blown by the wind seemed to cut out a black hole in the sky, even from a long distance, she could feel the cruelty and horror coming from it.

For some reason, the strange battleship of Euron accurately judged the direction of the Sea Song's escape in the dark of night, and chased after it with incredible speed!

Seeing her niece's frightened and resolute expression, the reader laughed and asked her to look in the direction of the bow of the boat with a lens.

In the narrow field of view of the round circle of the Mill lens, the outline of the land is already faintly visible.

"I don't know how the madman tracked down the Sea Song, and I admire that he can drive a sailboat as fast as it is on the water, but he is a step too late. The owner of Harlow Island confidently declared, and he was proved right, until the boat that had brought Asha ashore back to the Sea Song with its oars back to the Sea Song that the Serenity was within visible range, and by the time it caught up with the Reader's boat, Asha had left the beach and taken refuge in a grove not far from the shore, and began to wonder whether she should try to cross the West Frontier or surrender directly to the Lannisters.

But then, she saw a horrific scene that would be a haunting nightmare for the rest of her life.

The "Tranquility", which had finally caught up, did not slow down, and slammed the "Sea Song" from the side, and the hideous and thick angle of collision was deeply stuck into the hull of the latter, and it was almost cut into two sections, and after a moment of indiscernible but inevitably bloody and tragic broadside battle, the car of her uncle, one of the few people in the world she was still close to and trusted, was broken in two in the fire, and was left behind by the Tranquility, which turned the bow and walked away, and slowly sank to the bottom of the sea!

The size and staffing of the "Sea Song" are not much different from that of the "Tranquility", and theoretically the combat effectiveness should be similar. But its captain was going to confess his guilt to his king and ask for his resignation to retire, so how could he be mentally and physically prepared to fight the latter?

There was no suspense about the outcome of the battle.

The "scholar" Rodric was smart, but after all, he underestimated the madness of Euron and gave his life for it.

Since Euron sank such a famous ship, Asha has reason to believe that there will be no survivors on that ship, and it will completely disappear from the eyes of the Iron Min, leaving only countless mysteries except for the fact that he knows the cause and effect.

Was Euron's sinking of the Sea Song an impromptu or premeditated design, out of anger at betrayal or out of a desire to destroy the crew who had heard of his magic eye? Asha had no way of knowing, only that her naïve assassination plan had not only failed to drag the Iron People back from the wrong path to darkness, but had also lost the last friend who could speak to her in the archipelago!

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