Chapter 123 -Moat Cailin (III)

"Fear not. The enemy is powerful, but your king is more powerful." - Aenar Targaryen to all the lords before him.

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Tyrion looked at all the lords and ladies of the North and realized that they were present. He noticed the look of confusion on their faces when they saw the weapon called Bombard. This, however, did not surprise him.

The metal weapon itself wasn't large and didn't look particularly threatening, just an ordinary bronze cylinder.

If Tyrion hadn't personally seen the power of these weapons, he would probably have had the same expression of disbelief. But after witnessing its destructive force, he realized that the world was much vaster than he had imagined. Who would have thought that an apparently simple and unimpressive weapon could contain such overwhelming destructive power?

Aenar watched the Sardaukar loading the cannonballs.

The three soldiers of his private army stared at him, awaiting his orders.

With a simple nod, Aenar gave permission for the attack.

BOOOOMMMMM!!! BOOOOMMMMM!!! BOOOOMMMMM!!!

In an instant, Tyrion heard a huge explosion. His ears were filled with a deafening ringing before three more detonations reverberated across the field.

The Northern lords opened their mouths in shock at the sight of the craters in the ground. Never in their lives had they witnessed a simple metal ball cause such destruction. But the proof was right in front of them, and they couldn't deny it, that power terrified them.

They imagined that weapon being fired at the walls of their castles... and they felt fear.

Estimating the resistance of their fortifications against this new weaponry was frightening. Castles with great walls could withstand such an impact for perhaps a month... or just a few weeks!

And this conclusion shook them to the core.

Castles were known for their endurance and for withstanding sieges for months and, in cases of abundant supplies, for up to five years.

Greatjon, lord of the Last Hearth, felt this fear even more intensely. House Umber's castle was made of wood... and in the face of a weapon like that, it wouldn't last a month. Perhaps not even a day.

Looking at the faces of those present, an almost imperceptible smile appeared on Aenar's lips.

He wanted to demonstrate this power to the lords who were still reluctant to follow his orders.

However, what they didn't know was that the Bombard 's rate of fire was absurdly slow for someone who came from a world where a single gun could fire hundreds of projectiles per second.

Another limiting factor was the material from which the cannons were made. Being made of bronze, the barrel would quickly overheat and could explode, destroying the gun itself.

Even so, Aenar was pleased to have been able to develop this technology in just a few years.

The blacksmiths of Volantis worked hard to build the Bombard. The first one took about seven months to complete, and it took several more months before it was ready to be used as it was now.

Another point he had to mention was that such weapons would never be given to the Lords of Westeros; only House Targaryen could possess such weapons, at least for the moment. Only after two generations of cannons would Aenar start selling the first-generation cannons.

House Targaryen should always be two to three generations ahead of the weapons circulating on the market, at least until the Great Crusade, which he would undertake to unify the world, was successfully completed. When the special exploration began, he would release the entire technological tree to the Noble Houses and other organizations.

By then, the rule of each Targaryen House would be deeply ingrained in the people, including the worship of the God-Emperor of Mankind. However, that was for the future. Aenar needed to start the war for that to happen.

"As you can see, we're going to use the Bombards to besiege Twins and eventually weaken the morale of House Frey's army," Aenar spoke with a calm and confident tone, as if it were something normal. But this calmness and confidence caused all the vassals around him to show equally confident expressions, boosting the morale of the entire army.

Curiously, like House Tyrell, House Tully was incompetent when it came to controlling its vassals. House Frey, as well as being a powerful Riverlands house, was one of the most powerful, with a large army of fifteen thousand men.

The Riverlands had around forty-five to fifty thousand men in total, with House Frey's soldiers accounting for around 30% of that number, which clearly showed House Tully's incompetence in governing its vassals and accumulating wealth over almost three hundred years.

House Tyrell, although weak in terms of military strength, was incredibly wealthy, even making loans to the Crown several times. However, House Tully, as well as being weak militarily, was poor, as was House Arryn, which was strong militarily.

Honestly, apart from House Lannister, House Martell and House Tyrell, the other Great Houses of Westeros were pitifully poor.

After the incredible display of power, all the lords returned to Moat Cailin and continued their pre-war meeting.

Looking at everyone, Aenar continued: "Although House Frey's army of fifteen thousand men is no problem in the face of our forces of over a hundred thousand men, we don't want to cause unnecessary deaths. We have another enemy besides House Baratheon to fight."

When Aenar spoke those words, the faces of the Lords of the North changed dramatically; the only one who was calm was Mance Rayder.

The image of the Wights sent chills through the bodies of all the Lords and Ladies of the North. If they could, they wanted to forget that they had seen that undead monster, but it was impossible. They knew they would have to fight those things in the future.

Rhaella, Visenya and Rhaenys looked curiously at the Lord of the North's expressions. It was the first time they had seen such an expression of fear on the faces of these men and women full of ferocity.

It wasn't just them who were curious; the whole of House Martell and Tyrion also showed curious expressions. Although their curiosity had different purposes.

The three women knew about the Night King and the White Walkers, but the rest of the court had been kept in the dark until then.

Aenar, seeing this, realized that he had forgotten to introduce the White Wanderers. "Leda, go get the cage and bring it out for everyone to see," Aenar ordered his loyal sword with an amused tone.

Leda looked at Aenar wordlessly, knowing that the king wanted to shock people more. She left and returned ten minutes later.

She returned dragging a cage that was the size of a grown man and the width of two men. However, what was imprisoned was what caused the shock in the eyes of Oberyn, Tyrion and all of House Martell.

"GRUAAAA!!!" A bestial roar escaped the Wight's blue lips, causing Oberyn's mistress, Ellaria Sand, to recoil with an expression of fear.

"That's a Wight. As you can see, he's dead, but he can still move." Aenar approached the metal cage and commented casually. He punched the creature, causing it to fall to the floor of the cage, but the monster still got up and tried to attack Aenar wildly.

"They don't need to eat or rest, meaning they can march forever, including walking underwater." Aenar continued speaking. "At this very moment, there are around two hundred thousand of these things marching towards the Wall."

Aenar's words caused many to show expressions of fear, including the Northern Lords who had already seen the Wight. The number was truly huge.

"Besides, Wights can't die normally. So even if I cut off his head, he can still walk around as if nothing had happened." Aenar spoke and showed everyone that his words were true.

Aenar cut off the Wight's head, and everyone saw that, even with the head cut off, the monster's body and head were still moving!

"How are we going to fight something like that?" Tyrion asked with an incomparably serious expression. From Aenar's description, it seemed that the Wights were an invincible army that could not be defeated.

"Nothing is without weakness, including these things." Aenar answered Tyrion's question with a calm expression. "For normal Wights, fire can kill them."

"But the Wights are not the problem; who creates the Wights is the crux of the problem." Aenar looked seriously at everyone. "The White Walkers can create Wights infinitely. In other words, when we're fighting the Wights, anyone who dies will be transformed into that kind of monster and will kill you without any hesitation."

An incredibly heavy atmosphere hung in the air. Aenar's words were still clear in their minds. This kind of ability was terrible for humans, who had volatile emotions and cared about their companions.

"Not only that, the White Walkers, as well as being able to control the dead, can use ice magic to create weapons and shields as they please. They're as strong as ten grown men and as fast as a mountain lion." Aenar spoke calmly.

"Can we win against such monsters?" The one who asked the question was Rhaenys, who was silent, staring at the Wight trapped in the cage. Her fear gradually calmed down.

"Yes." Aenar spoke without any hesitation.

"We're going to win."

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Note: Don't expect any technological advances in this first phase of the story. That will only appear in the second part and at the end of the first part.

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