Roose Bolton nodded and said, "Now Riverrun is basically out of danger. My men staying here any longer would just be a waste of manpower and provisions. I think we should now go to Lady Daisy's side and see if we can find an opportunity to take Harrenhal."
"Take Harrenhal?" Edmure also leaned in and asked, "With your forces, Lord Bolton, and Lady Daisy's forces combined?"
"No, just my men." Roose Bolton shook his head and said, "Lady Daisy's men cannot be moved. This way, if I fail, there will still be enough men to secure our retreat and hold off pursuers."
"Your men are too few, less than 20,000," Edmure said, shaking his head.
"20,000 is barely enough," Roose Bolton said with great confidence. "Now Kevan Lannister has taken his troops to Duskendale to strictly guard against Stannis's army in the Crab Claw Peninsula. The forces in Harrenhal now total about 30,000, but these 30,000 are from various allegiances and are not united. Once fighting breaks out, they will certainly be unable to cooperate with each other, and we should be able to find an opportunity to defeat them."
"Even so, 20,000 is still barely enough." Brynden also shook his head, then thought for a moment and said, "King Robb had Lord Robett Glover lead 7,000 men to monitor Golden Tooth. Now Golden Tooth has no power to send troops out, so these 7,000 men staying there is a complete waste and can be redeployed. Additionally, Lord Herman Tallhart is stationed outside The Twins with 2,000 men; they can also be called upon. This would bring the total number to over 30,000."
Perhaps due to the goodwill generated by Roose Bolton's previous words, Edmure immediately said, "Robb entrusted these two detachments to my command when he left. I can transfer the men to you right now."
Brynden, who was beside them, frowned but said nothing. In truth, he also felt that Tywin was unable to attack Riverrun for the time being, and so many troops remaining here was indeed somewhat wasteful. While Roose Bolton's proposal was not very brilliant, it was still a viable option to try.
The war in the Riverlands was changing rapidly, and no one knew that one or two minor characters might become the key to determining the outcome of the war. Lynd was also following the changes in the Riverlands war, but often other matters diverted his attention elsewhere, such as the information from Asshai that had now shifted his focus to the eastern Essos continent.
After nearly a month, news finally arrived from Asshai. This news was neither good nor bad.
The masters of Asshai were still the spellcasters. They repelled the monsters from the Shadow Lands, and because Jhaben led the spellcasters who resisted the attacks of the monsters from the Shadow Lands, and Jhaben also displayed unexpectedly powerful dark magic in the battle, Jhaben once again became the King of Asia.
Unlike Jhaben's previous title of King of Asia, which was merely a designation, this time's King of Asia was jointly elected by the surviving spellcasters and held true authority.
Because after repelling the monsters from the Shadow Lands, at Quellier's suggestion, the surviving spellcasters formed an organization similar to the Mages Association to jointly govern Asshai, no longer operating independently as in the past. This association was called the Council of Truth, meaning to explore the truth of magic. Jhaben naturally became the leader of the Council of Truth, and Quellier became the vice-chairman.
For Lynd, this was a good thing: he no longer needed to find other ways to control Asshai; he only needed to control the Council of Truth. And now, both the chairman and vice-chairman were his people. What he needed to do next was to continuously fill the Council of Truth with his own people until his people constituted the majority, thus completing the takeover and completely seizing the Council of Truth and Asshai.
However, with good news naturally came bad news.
The spellcasters of Asshai only repelled the monsters from the Shadow Lands, but they did not completely eliminate them. These monsters also did not flee back to the Shadow Lands, as if something in the Shadow Lands made them afraid to approach. Therefore, all these monsters dispersed into the areas near Asshai City, constantly harassing Asshai City, and many monsters even spread to other regions. For example, merchant ships discovered that Thunder Isle already had demon colonies, and the sea had many more dangerous monsters, with even signs of some monsters appearing in the Jade Sea.
All of this made sailing to Asshai extremely dangerous, which would undoubtedly cause great trouble for Lynd's eastward expansion and southward advance plan.
The Miracle Fleet's exploration vessels sent to the Jade Sea encountered sea monster attacks, losing four ships and over a hundred personnel. Although they still charted a route from Morak Harbor, through the southern island chain, to Asshai, the conditions along that route were not very good. Not only were there monsters inhabiting the islands, but a type of mermaid-like sea monster also inhabited the waters along the route. Unless warships escorted them every time, ordinary merchant ships and cargo ships would be at risk of sea monster attacks if they took this route.
In response, the solution Lynd could guide was to deploy the Glutton to the waters near that route to clear out the sea monsters, while Dagon the sea monster was recalled to the Stepstones to guard it. After all, Euron and Victarion were dead, so there was no need for so many people to guard the Iron Islands.
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