By the next day, the whole city was sacked and cleaned of any slavers. We were back in the same plaza with lines of cavalry surrounding us their silent demeanor, their sky-piercing lances threatening to penetrate any soul that approaches the dais, a raised platform with two chairs for my father and
The whole plaza was cleared with a neat formation of 10,000 Unsullied and a similarly wide formation of another 10,000 behind them but with more childish looks to them, probably the trainee unsullied. The masses of freemen and freed slaves were watching in anticipation. My Father addressed the Unsullied first "Black Beetle, you were chosen by your men as their commander so you shall lead all the Unsullied including the trainees and you shall follow your master, my son."
I marched in front of them and they all kneeled orderly, I approached and snapped the Scourge in half. "Rise Unsullied!! You shall follow me as free men. You shall be a feared army immortalized in the annals of history. I shall give you homes, battlefields to relish in and glory unlike any Unsullied before." I think they liked my little amateurish speech given the deafening cheers and the rumbling sound of them drumming their shields with their spears rhythmically.
"Black Beetle, you shall join me in Meereen; I need you to gather the most elite Unsullied to form a team of 10 leaders by the time we reach Meereen. Also, the training of the youngsters never stops. I want to have 20,000 battle-ready Unsullied in a couple of years." I only received a nodding grunt as a reply; I guess he is a man of few words. Well, it is not like I care. I could see in his eyes and all the Unsullied that they really worshipped me as their breaker of chains and liberator.
I left the city early with the Unsullied and left my father to deal with the mess left behind as I am not fir to rule yet or influence people. We discussed before I left that we will not actually take control of Astapor. We took control of any spies throughout the past couple of nights and even had members of the Silent Army spread out in a net formation to hunt anyone who leaves the city in this period. We decided to quickly gather the freed slaves, hide any traces of our involvement and plunder the wealth of the Good Masters. My father will guide the freed slaves to catch us in Lhazar in two moons as they have to wait for the weak former slaves and use inconspicuous roads to hide their tracks.
Definitely, we can never hide this fact forever, but with the lack of any Maesters and ravens in Essos, it will take at least a few months for us to be discovered, by then, we should be already holding Meereen, and we will be safe in its walls against any aggressive reply from Yunkai or the Sons of Harpy.
Our top priority right now was to successfully capture Meereen with as few losses as possible, regain control of the masses, fortify the castle and then start our economic and military plans peacefully.
I marched with the 20,000 Unsullied at a fast pace as part of their training, as well as the 13 million gold coins that we had now after looting the Good Masters. I liked the fact that the Unsullied come with their own weapons, so I basically don't need to spend anything on them except their rations. We reached Hesh half a moon later. I asked Black Beetle, now nicknamed Scarab, to drill the Unsullied for a week to get them in shape and to drill the battle strategy into their skulls. I taught them their targets and their specific roles during the conquest of Meereen from the second the gates are opened till we take control of the whole city.
I also planned with Uncle Wu on how to deal with this upcoming battle. Of course, him being the warmonger he is, he shrugged me off and held his huge mace and told me to never bother him with tactics again and just call him when I have skulls that need to be crushed. As he flapped my tent's door exiting, he paused momentarily and whispered, "Ask Tian if you need a strategy."
I smiled deeply and asked for his son Meng Tian to be brought into the War Tent right away. He entered with stable steps; he was a lean and tall teen with golden locked hair reaching his shoulder with long beautiful eyelashes and a pink-colored silk robe; he looked more like a bed slave than a demon- like talented strategist. I invited him in for some roasted mutton. I looked deeply at his graceful manner in eating and wondered deeply how is he the son of the hulk-like man that just left. The queer issue is that his boy is said to be quite deadly with his longsword in both technique and strength, so he seems to be hiding some explosive muscles underneath those loose silky robes.
"Tian, I need Meereen" I asked straight away.
"Yes, my lord, when do you want it." He asked calmly.
"I need to conquer it next moon at most, the moment my father arrives with his host. I need to be able to storm the city in a few hours and control it completely; siege is not an option."
"I will send along 50 Unsullied through a secret route in the sewers, so they will liaison with your spies to open the city gates and light a fire arrow as a signal." I felt good about this plan thinking it might just work.
On the first moon of 279 AC a rider came into our camp near the Khyzai Pass informing us that our father is will arrive at nightfall with his army. I sent the rider back. "Inform Lord Cregan that we will liaise near the mountains by the gates of Meereen to keep our armies camouflaged till the hour of conquest."
I started gathering my troops. 15,000 Silent Army Cavalry led by Deputy Commander Meng Wu, 10,000 Unsullied led by Commander Black Beetle, whom I renamed Scarab, and we left the 10,000 trainees Unsullied guarding our camp led by a promising young trainee named Grey Worm.
We met my father in the mountains near the Khyzai Pass. The eastern side of Meereen has two gates, according to Meng Tian, at the auspicious hour at the darkest time of the night, The Hour of the Wolf, the gates will open, and we will storm the city.
Meereen is ruled by the Great Masters, members of the old slaving families. These families include the Houses of Dhazak, Galare, Ghazeen, Hazkar, Kandaq, Loraq, Merreq, Naqqan, Pahl, Quazzar, Reznak, Rhazdar, Uhlez, Yherizan, and Zhak. The richest man of Meereen was from the House of Pahl. Another man from Pahl commanded Meereen's city guard which numbered four thousand along with some Unsullied scattered across the noble mansions.
The priestesses of Meereen are known as Graces. The color of their robes indicates the role they fulfill. White Graces are girls of noble birth who are still too young to serve in the temple's pleasure gardens. The Blue Graces take care of the sick, while the Red Graces serve in the temple's pleasure gardens, where they wait every night until a man chooses them; should they not be chosen, they must remain until the sun comes up.
In the fighting pits of Meereen, combat takes place, which is profoundly religious in nature. They are seen as a blood sacrifice to the gods of Ghis, as well as a display of courage, skill, and strength most pleasing to your gods. Victorious fighters are pampered and acclaimed, and the slain are honored and remembered; their names are graven on the Gates of Fate amongst the other valiant fallen.
Additionally, criminals can be condemned to die in the pits. For them, the pits represent a judgment by battle, which gives them a last chance to prove their innocence. Within the fighting pits, contests are held between men, women, children, and wild animals. All animals killed during the contests and follies in the pits are made into a healthful stew for the hungry, and a bowl is given to every man who presents himself at the Gates of Fate.
Now our army is fully assembled with 20,000 Heavy Cavalry Silent Army, led by my father, Commander Cregan Winter, and Deputy Commander Meng Wu, with 10,000 each. Along with the 10,000 Heavy Infantry Unsullied led by Commander Scarab. The Silent Cavalieries were truly 'silent' tonight as they wrapped their horses' hoofs with rags to reduce the sound of their clopping. I saw a torch swinging near the gate, and I knew Tian succeeded. As soon as I blew a bugle, it let down a low, sonorous bugle call that heralded the bloodbath.
He muttered to himself for a few moments and said, "The only way to get the city with almost no bloodshed with limited time is by opening the gates and storm it with 15,000 Silent Cavalry. Followed by another 10,000 Unsullied infantry to control the city and especially the pits straight away." He said conflicted.
"I expect you to have a method to open these gates".
"Yes, we have traders inside the city; they can attack the gates suddenly."