Fisherman Joe, who lived in the King's Landing fish market, was originally named Pyman, but later, because people often mispronounced his name and he couldn't correct them after several attempts, he simply adopted the incorrect name as his own and became Joe.
The 'Fisherman' moniker was added because he was the best net weaver in King's Landing; a net he wove once caught a thousand-pound snapper.
This day, like any other, he and his crew set sail for Blackwater Bay to fish.
These past two months were the season for black-ridged red snapper to return and spawn; during this time, black-ridged red snapper inhabiting the Narrow Sea would gather in Blackwater Bay, then swim upstream along the Blackwater River to spawn in the streams near High Heart.
The black-ridged red snapper during this period were at their fattest, especially the roe of the female fish, which was a delicacy only great nobles could enjoy, with a small dish costing ten silver stags.
Therefore, catching black-ridged red snapper during this period became Joe's most important source of income for the year.
However, many people in King's Landing were interested in this business, so when he arrived at Blackwater Bay, many fishing boats had already dropped anchor on the surface of the bay.
The most crucial factor in catching black-ridged red snapper was finding the correct spot to cast the net, as due to the snapper's habits, they only gathered in warm currents; and because of the long summer, the waters of Blackwater Bay were generally warm, making it very difficult to find such a spot.
However, this was not a big problem for Joe, because his family had a method to easily find warm waters suitable for black-ridged red snapper to gather, just like now; he had just entered the waters of Blackwater Bay and quickly found a suitable place to cast his net.
After steering the boat to that position, Joe immediately told his crew to drop anchor; he took out the fishing net he had woven and organized yesterday from the cabin, tied floats to it, and began putting them one by one into the water, letting it drift far away with the warm current; the fishing net also followed the direction of the floats into the water, slowly opening under the pull of heavy objects, forming a deadly trap for fish.
After casting the net, they didn't need to do anything else; they just needed to wait there until deep into the night to retrieve the net.
During this time, an old sailor among Joe's crew took out an old chess set and pieces, placed them on the ship's deck, and taught the others to play a game called Cyvasse, which the old sailor reportedly learned from a Volantis man while sailing.
Joe watched for a while and quickly lost interest; in his opinion, moving chess pieces back and forth on a board and then taking other pieces was quite boring and foolish.
So he picked up a fishing rod from the boat, preparing to fish for a while.
Just as he had tied the hook and was about to put bait on it, his ears suddenly caught some horn sounds carried by the wind from the shore.
At first, he thought he had misheard, but as people on a boat not far from him stood up and looked towards the distant city walls of King's Landing and the Red Keep, they clearly saw a very prominent black flag raised on both the Red Keep and the city walls.
"War? King's Landing is at war with whom?" Seeing the black flag, Joe's face showed a bewildered expression, because the black flag signified that King's Landing had entered a state of war preparedness.
Joe remembered that everything was fine when he left King's Landing, so why had it suddenly entered a state of war preparedness now?
While Joe was puzzled by this, his crew suddenly stood up from the deck, then pointed towards the mouth of Blackwater Bay, shouting loudly: "Look over there! Boss, look over there!"
Joe's gaze followed the direction of the finger, only to see that the distant mist on the sea surface had dissipated, revealing countless long-masted sailing ships floating on what was previously a mist-shrouded sea; these ships were slowly sailing towards King's Landing, and each ship was neatly and tightly arranged, giving a strong sense of oppression.
"Where are these ships from? Are they pirates from the Iron Islands?" Joe said with a panicked expression.
"Impossible, it can't be pirates from the Iron Islands!" The old sailor was clearly more experienced than Joe; he raised his hand and looked for a moment, saying: "I saw the flag of Pentos on the ship, and I also saw some other flags, they should be people from across the Narrow Sea."
"Are they attacking King's Landing?" Someone immediately asked anxiously.
"Probably not?" The old sailor hesitated.
While hesitating, they saw those ships slowly sailing into the waters of Blackwater Bay near King's Landing, and then they stopped sailing, lowered their sails, and dropped anchor.
At this time, the fishing boats that couldn't leave were caught in the middle of these ships, feeling as if they had fallen into a maze; Joe, who had just pulled in his fishing net, was also engulfed by this fleet; they could only stay on their boats obediently, not daring to make any big moves.
At this time, they also saw clearly that the ships seemed to be full of people, many of whom were soldiers in foreign armor, while others seemed to be prisoners, as they were all in shackles; these prisoners ranged from old to young, the oldest already with white hair, and the youngest seemingly just an infant.
At this time, a small boat was lowered from the leading ship, and it sailed towards a small pier below the Red Keep cliff that only Red Keep nobles and high officials could use; that small boat was filled with elegantly dressed foreign dignitaries.
Meanwhile, in the courtyard of the Red Keep, Robert Baratheon stood at the edge of the viewing platform overlooking the entire Blackwater Bay, his face ashen, his eyes filled with anger.
Although his body had changed over the years for various reasons, making him a big fat man, the majesty of the Lord of the Iron Throne had not diminished much, still capable of chilling those around him.
"This is what you called 'a few ships'? No danger?" Robert Baratheon turned and glared at the expressionless Stannis Baratheon, pointing at the ships covering the surface of Blackwater Bay, saying: "Why don't you count for me, how many ships are on the sea now, one hundred, or two hundred? And how many people are on board?"
Stannis did not answer; he was as cold as a block of pig iron; anyone familiar with him would have seen that he was also very angry at this moment.
Stannis's blunt nature would never silently endure Robert's accusations; instead, he retorted angrily: "Is this my fault? When we discussed it in the Small Council, weren't you the one who was greedy for money, and knowing that those people from across the Narrow Sea were willing to pay a sum to pass through, you eagerly agreed? Now it's all my fault!"
Being exposed so directly, Robert's face showed a hint of embarrassment, and he looked at his younger brother with immense disgust.
At this moment, Renly, who was beside them, said: "This matter is not Second Brother's fault; it's entirely the trouble caused by Linde Terra; if it weren't for his request, how could people from across the Narrow Sea send so many ships to escort prisoners? And their ships aren't even taking the Miracle Port route, they're specifically coming to King's Landing; this must be his demand; he's clearly doing this to deliberately show off to the Iron Throne!"
"Shut up!" After Renly's words fell, Robert unhesitatingly reprimanded his youngest brother, saying: "If Linde Terra were the kind of person who played petty tricks as you say, he wouldn't have become a living legend; if he really wanted to express dissatisfaction or show off, he would come directly to you, not beat around the bush with these useless things. Your conflict with the Bear Hunter, figure out how to solve it yourself; you can't even control your own liege lord, and you still have the nerve to talk about others."
Renly lowered his head upon hearing Robert's reprimand; although his expression remained unchanged as he lowered his head, a look of resentment was unmistakably visible on his face once his head was bowed.
Behind the three Baratheon brothers, Master of Coin Petyr Baelish, Master of Whisperers Varys, Grand Maester Pycelle, and Lord Commander of the Kingsguard Barristan Selmy, among others, all watched them in silence; no one was foolish enough to interject into the brothers' argument at this moment.
Only Hand of the King Jon Arryn spoke to stop the three brothers from continuing to argue in front of the Small Council ministers, saying: "Now is not the time to debate right and wrong; we need to discuss how to solve the immediate problem. First, we must clarify whether they are using Linde Terra as an excuse to commit misdeeds against us, or if they are truly just passing through here to escort prisoners."
At this moment, the sharp-eyed Varys looked at the ships on the sea and said: "These ships are not warships from the Free Trade City States; they are all cargo ships, and their flags are very mixed; some are cargo ships from Pentos merchant guilds, and some are slave ships from Meereen."
Renly frowned and said: "Are you saying these ships are harmless because they are not warships?"
Varys shook his head and continued: "I just made a rough estimate; there are about one hundred and fifty ships on the sea. The cargo capacity of these ships varies, but if we use a compromise calculation, each ship, excluding necessary sailors and supplies, can at most carry about twenty-five to fifty people. This means that these hundred-plus ships are carrying at least three thousand to seven thousand five hundred people. As far as I know, Kohor has included the entire Zoid family, from family members to related relatives, employees, and servants; the number is at least five thousand people. Plus the soldiers used to escort these people, the number can at least match the number of ships."
Renly looked at Varys with some impatience and said: "Varys, why are you saying all this? Is it useful?"
Varys smiled and bowed slightly, saying: "I am merely stating the intelligence and analysis I have gathered; as for the final judgment, that is for the lords and His Majesty."
"They seem to have sent an envoy." Littlefinger suddenly pointed at the sea and said.
Everyone looked in the direction Petyr Baelish pointed, and indeed saw a small boat carrying four or five people approaching the Red Keep's small pier.
Seeing this, everyone stopped arguing in unison; led by Robert, they returned to the Hall of Affairs and sat back in their respective seats, awaiting the arrival of the envoy.
Not long after, an attendant came to announce, and Robert ordered the envoys to be brought in.
"Greetings to you, noble King of the Andals, the Loisne, and the First Men, Ruler of the Seven Kingdoms, His Majesty Robert Baratheon, great Lord of the Iron Throne!" The several envoys who entered first bowed to Robert and the others, speaking respectfully.
"State your identities? Foreigners from across the Narrow Sea." Robert asked these foreigners in a deep voice.
The old man standing in the middle of the group said: "I am Boon Somida of House Somida of Kohor, and I am in charge of the escort team."
The warrior beside him bowed to Robert and said: "I am the commander of the Long Legs Company of Kohor, primarily responsible for the escort of prisoners."
A middle-aged man dressed as a priest nodded to Robert and said: "I am Marthus, the High Priest of the church of the god of calamity."
A bald, red-bearded, red-robed strange man with mysterious symbols tattooed on his head spoke in a very peculiar accent: "I am Maroxin, the new head of the Mages Association of Kohor."
Robert frowned, pointed at the middle-aged priest and the red-robed strange man, and asked: "What are these 'god of calamity' and 'god of magic' you speak of? Why have I never heard of them?"
After Robert asked this, before the two could answer, Varys had already leaned close to Robert and whispered about the origins of the god of calamity and the god of magic.
Robert was momentarily stunned after hearing this, then laughed: "This Bear Hunter is truly interesting; first he came up with a storm god, and now he's got a god of calamity and a god of magic. In a few more years, will he come up with a god of the sea, a god of the sun, or something similar?" Saying this, he added with a hint of deeper meaning: "He shouldn't be a lord, he should be a god."
Robert's words carried a hint of sarcasm, which everyone present could hear; Marthus and Malohin, the two priests, both frowned in unison upon hearing this, but they did not make any move to refute, instead calmly looking at Robert.
Faced with this situation, Robert felt rather unamused, then stopped talking nonsense and gestured to Littlefinger beside him; Littlefinger then spoke on his behalf, saying: "Your ships and people are too many, exceeding what was expected, and I cannot trust you. I need to send people to inspect the ships; only after confirming there is no danger will I allow you to pass through my port. Of course, you will also need to pay an additional inspection fee."
Boon Somida, the escort supervisor, said with some dissatisfaction: "Inspection is fine, but we already paid the fee before..."
Stannis angrily rebuked him: "At that time, you didn't tell the truth; you didn't tell me that there were so many ships, only that you were escorting some prisoners..."
"Enough!" Robert interrupted Stannis and said: "If you don't agree, set sail immediately and go to other ports. If you want to dock here, you must follow my demands."
The four looked at each other and nodded reluctantly.
"You can discuss the specific matters with my Kings Hand and the Small Council ministers! I have other business." Robert stood up, saying this as he walked outside, quickly disappearing behind the doorway.
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