Miles away, the columns of smoke from King Aegon's camp could be seen, densely packed with hundreds of thousands of smoke, reaching not only into the sky, but also sloping slightly in the same direction under the wind, as if a slanted forest of white trees had grown on the banks of the Blackwater River, and the entire sky over the south bank of King's Landing was shrouded in their pale and huge "canopy".

Laughter, gongs, drums, pianos, and flutes...... Sounds drifting through frozen rivers and snow-covered fields spread in all directions, faintly and hazy, like the hum of bee swarms and the call of the open sea, becoming the background sound of the whole heaven and earth.

Nearly 50,000 troops were gathered here, plus businessmen, military women, and coolies from nearby villages, 60,000 or 70,000 people lived in this large camp. The last time Westeros had such a large military build-up was back in the time of King Robert, who gathered the armies of the Six Nations to quell the rebellion of the League of the Righteous in the Vale.

Right now, what is going on in this huge barracks is neither a drill nor a preparation for war, but a wedding.

A wartime wedding - to announce the union of Tyrell and Targaryen, to reveal Aegon VI's alliance with the Riverlands, to boost the morale of the garrison that had been slackened and exhausted for too long, and to show strength to Daenerys on the north shore and Stannis trapped in King's Landing!

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The bridegroom's glittering crown of soft gold dragons, his long red and black velvet coat, and the embroidery on his chest of the three red dragons symbolizing the Targaryens—the typical Targaryen beauty, a decent attire, and the ornate weapon said to be the conqueror's saber "Black Fire" at his waist, made him not only look heroic and expensive, but also effectively countered the rumors that questioned his identity.

As for the bride, she is wrapped in a gorgeous gown of gold and green, and the skirt is decorated with countless small flowers outlined by silver thread beads, which are both pure and delicate, although not as eye-catching as the most beautiful women in the world, but the green leaves that serve as a foil for the red flower are also fully qualified.

Husband and wife...... To be precise, the fiancé stood on a makeshift platform, facing the archbishop who wore a crystal crown to preside over the wedding.

Well, yes, it was really the Archbishop himself who was officiating at the wedding - this old guy certainly didn't fly out of King's Landing with wings, as early as Stannis sat on the Iron Throne and refused to be crowned and anointed with holy oil, and instead publicly declared his belief in the Lord of Light, the Cult of the Seven moved its church headquarters from King's Landing back to the Starry Church in Old Town in protest. A month earlier, when news of humanity's victory against the Strangers had come from the North, Lord Tyrell sent a letter to Lord Leighton Hightower, asking him to invite the Archbishop to the front lines on the banks of the Blackwater.

At that time, this move was to allow the Church of the Seven to crown Daenerys Targaryen and recognize her legitimacy on behalf of the people of Westeros, as a gesture of goodwill to the queen.

The princes of the Bend were overjoyed, but the work of the archbishop was suddenly increased—he had witnessed the accession of Aegon VI Targaryen the day before yesterday, and had personally anointed him with holy oil and crowned him, and had only rested for a day before officiating at his wedding. In the presence of Our Lady the Father, he will oversee and guide the royal couple in making seven vows, receiving seven blessings, and exchanging seven pledges......

It wasn't much effort, but given his age and weight, it was understandable that he was standing up and doing these things—or with a full outfit and a huge tiara, sweating profusely as if he was about to fall down at any moment.

The head of the Seven Gods' endorsement in the world constantly exudes soaring white steam, and from a distance, it really has a sacred and inviolable meaning, but Margaery has no intention of paying attention to this magical and funny scene at the moment, she has an elegant and very friendly smile, while absentmindedly letting others fiddle with the process of the wedding, while her mind drifts to the other side.

She had been thinking about the humiliation and teasing that Iger had made no secret of that day—not because of the small amount of energy, of course, but because she wondered: what gave the man the courage to do this?

There must be a demon when something goes wrong, and there must be something happening that she ignored or didn't notice!

Although the Tyrell family is occasionally discriminated against in the top aristocratic circles, the middle and lower class lords and the people have always been "full of guests and friends all over the world, ears and eyes all over the seven countries", as a member of the family's inner circle, Margaery naturally enjoys this convenience, and can be regarded as very well-informed.

However, judging by the news on the front, side, or back roads, there is no sign of the Vale and the Westside sending troops in support of Daenerys so far. On the contrary, the eyeliners of the North and the Riverlands sent back two vague messages, suggesting that the land-granting army was equipped with a very powerful siege weapon that was said to be related to "gunpowder". Aige relied on it to break through Lindong and subdue the northern border, and then took the sea frontier and pacified the river.

This was an important piece of information, but it only explained why Egg dared to attack the heavily defended King's Landing with a mere 20,000 men, but it could not explain why he dared to force Riverbend to stand on the opposite side.

Unless, such a weapon can be used both in siege and field battles!

Thinking of this, Margaery suddenly tightened her nerves: it seemed that this was the only one that could fully explain the cause and effect.

However, what kind of weapons can smooth out the huge gap between 20,000 and 50,000 troops, or when both sides are elite and there is not much difference in the quality of soldiers?

The flower of the high court frowned slightly, puzzled. Communication in this era was so slow and inefficient, even if she wanted to get more information about Egger's attack on Winterwinter and Haijiang City, it would take at least ten days and half a month to ask questions and get answers, and the current war outside King's Landing was already on the verge of breaking out.

She searched her memories desperately, trying to find the devil hidden in the details.

Then, as if she had been scooping up a small episode in her mind that she had been ignoring before: on the day Iger arrived outside King's Landing but did not meet her in the first place, she wandered outside the Blackwall Castle and waited, when she ran into Neil of Rossby City, and learned from him about Egger's movements: as soon as he arrived at the Industrial Park, he first went to inspect the saltpeter storehouse.

At the time, Margaery was only slightly dissatisfied with Egger's contempt, and didn't pay much attention to it when she tried to intercept the man talking to him, but now that she thinks about it, there is a strange smell in it: the Night's Watch has always announced that saltpeter is a key material in the fight against the Strangers, and the whole of the Seven Kingdoms believes this statement. Neil once revealed in casual conversation: Even if Iger is on the Great Wall, he will often send letters to the south to inquire about the production and storage of saltpeter in the industrial park...... As the Commander-in-Chief of the Night's Watch, it was normal for him to be concerned about the preparation of anti-ghost supplies, but now that the Wraiths had been defeated and destroyed, he still ran to check on this thing first after arriving outside King's Landing, which was very abnormal!

Either he was dizzy and couldn't tell what was going on, or—that thing was the source of his confidence that he could help the Queen reclaim the Iron Throne and confront the entire riverbend!

The thought was like a bolt of lightning piercing the sky of her cloudy mind, and Margaery felt that she had grasped the key to the matter, although the whole puzzle was still missing two or three small pieces to be complete, but she had a hunch that it was only a matter of time to solve the remaining mystery when she had probably accidentally guessed the core secret!

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"Margaery, Margaery!"

Just as the maiden was excited about her discovery, the voices around her suddenly became louder, and her father's familiar call woke her from her thoughts, and it turned out that the archbishop had finished the previous procedure, ordered the hymn to be played, and the bridegroom had changed the cloak for the bride.

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