Ice and Fire: Reign of the Dragon.

Chapter 230 The loss outweighs the gain
"Haaaaaa. Ah?" An old Northern soldier covered in furs and chain mail was the first to jump off the longship. But he had only uttered half of his battle cry. The moment he saw the burning ancient city, he closed his mouth in a daze.

As the vanguard, those who participated were all nobles and veterans, and even quite a few noble family heads joined in. Those young guys didn't understand the things, but the old guys and the noble family heads had to be more clear about what the ruins before them meant.

The dragons landed one after another in front of the Iron Throne army that was landing, and every dragon rider had a bad look on his face. Daeron jumped off the dragon's back and walked towards the army that had already landed and was unloading horses and food. The commander of the vanguard was Ser Adam, Captain of the Kingsguard Ser Will Hunter, Earl Benjico Blackwood and Lord Shulf Arryn of the Vale.

"Your Majesty, everyone." Earl Benjiko Blackwood, who had the most experience in warfare among the commanders, stepped forward immediately and said without disguising, "What's going on?"

"If I'm not mistaken, there should be an internal conflict in the city." Kong Yi slowly crawled closer to the crowd, and Jakaris said in a deep voice. "Rika Lakron is the city of strife. Too many forces have gathered here. Our actions of removing their sentinels should have reminded them that we are here."

"Fear." Ilion said sullenly, "Fear has taken away the sanity of the city." Wormax under him grinned and roared at Centrolos. He had no good feelings towards this fierce, aggressive and rude dragon. In the previous battle, Centrolos had shown off his dragon flame and agile figure in front of other dragons more than once.

Dreamfire is now in an absurdly good temper. Haiyan and Telekshu don't know what Cendroth eats to grow up. It seems that the growth rate of the dragons in Dragon Nest City is a little abnormal. Shadow Nightmare, Star Song, and Cendroth are all dragons with a frighteningly fast growth rate. Even the Fire that has lived in King's Landing for a long time grows faster than ordinary dragons. Although Cendroth is young now, in terms of size, it is second only to Dreamfire among the dragons participating in the battle.

This is also the fundamental reason why it can act so recklessly, but it seems that because they have been together for a long time, this unruly dragon will give Kong Yi some face and will not be overly arrogant under Dan's restraint.

"Your Majesty, you have overlooked the complexity of the disputed lands. We are not prepared for the city to be burned down." Irion continued, "It will take time for the dragon flame to extinguish. We may not be able to occupy the city in a short time."

"Your Majesty, the army cannot wait." Count Benjiko stretched out his gauntleted hand and pointed at the blazing Rikka Lakron. How many people would be left alive in the city after the flames were extinguished? They didn't know, but everyone who had war experience, or at least learned relevant knowledge, knew it. What their 5,000 vanguards needed was a place to stay, food and grass, time to rest, and craftsmen who could repair their weapons.
That's why Rikka Lakron is so important. As an ancient Rhoynar town, even though it was destroyed once, it still retained many buildings and complete infrastructure. Therefore, it was colonized and used again by the colonies of Valyria, and eventually became one of the largest towns in the Disputed Lands. Its population and facilities are sufficient to support the stationing of vanguard troops and subsequent armies.

But now.
Perhaps there was nothing wrong with the Loyna people's underground drainage facilities, but what would happen to the buildings on the surface and the residents who didn't have time to escape? We would have to wait until the fire was put out to find out.

Daeron and his men could see it clearly from the sky. The fire started from the wooden barracks in the west city, and then burned uncontrollably to the wooden palace, the wooden houses and ancient bushes in the city. Even if the dragon riders were careful, the dragon flames inevitably aggravated the fire. They could even hear screams coming from the city from time to time.

Now even they could not tell for sure when the flames would go out.

People with flames all over their bodies rushed out of the city screaming, shouting in an unrecognizable dialect: "Save me, save me!"

But when these people saw the Westeros army, which was fully armed and pouring down from the endless sailing ships, they all collapsed to the ground as if they had lost their strength, allowing the flames to completely engulf them.

Only the Westeros commanders were left, their faces as gloomy as water.

"Your Majesty, I will write to my father and elder brother immediately." Dan looked at Darren, who had a gloomy face, and stood up. "The supplies waiting in Silver Crown City will set sail immediately. The supplies we have now are enough to support us until the next batch of supplies arrives."

"Not enough, Your Highness." Benjiko interrupted Dan. "The destruction of Rika Lakron will inevitably lead to great turmoil in the Mangrove Coast and even in the Disputed Land. We cannot guarantee that they will kill each other or concentrate their forces to eliminate us."

He glanced at King Daeron and sighed. If it was Prince Daemon or Prince Longzel, by now, Rika Lakron should have been completely delivered to the hands of the vanguard by the local forces they bribed, and the "guides" who had sought enough benefits or were subdued by force would be ready to cooperate in the battle at any time.

It's just a matter of cutting off some meat and taking it away. When the fighting is almost over, it's hard to say whether the meat will still be left on the bread of those "guides".

"Our main force is still gathering, Your Majesty. If the warlords in the disputed land gather together and even recruit those well-equipped large mercenary groups, we must defend the undefended Rika Lakron area before the main force arrives."

Count Benjico said firmly.

"I understand." Daeron nodded, the cold sweat on his forehead still not fading. Although the king was young, he had an amazing instinct for war. He knew very well that what Benjiko said was an irrefutable fact. "Lord Benjiko, Lord Shufu, no, Rhaegar."

Rhaegar, who had neat short silver hair and wore simple leather armor, immediately perked up.

"Ride the Horn Tide and scout the area around Rikka Lakron immediately."

King Daeron then looked at Dan and Jacaerys and said, "Uncle, thank you for writing to Grandpa and asking him to support us with intelligence."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

"Lord Benjico, Duke Shufu, you and everyone else set up camp here and rest. We will change camp when Rhaegar comes back. Ser Adam, please command the fleet to patrol the coast." Daeron quickly made all the arrangements.

After the army started moving again, he looked fiercely at the still burning city.

The screams became clearer and clearer, Dreamfire hummed softly, and slowly put his head on King Daeron's side, gently nudging his partner who was obviously in a bad mood.

Darren also gently stroked Menghuo's scales, and his frown gradually relaxed.

On the other side, Centrolos roared and took off into the air. Dan was worried that the raven was not fast enough, so he had to rush back to Dragon's Nest City to ask for help.

Time is passing, and the opportunity for war is passing. Daeron does not want to repeat the mistakes of Baratheon.

He wants it fast, the faster the better.

(End of this chapter)