Artificial Rainfall
The Iron Islands pirates, who had recently raided the Westerlands, were still holed up in their lair digesting and enjoying their spoils, Paxter's fleet to reach Lannisport smoothly.
This largest port in the Westerlands has more than enough capacity to accommodate over a hundred warships.
Soon, Paxter met Jon.
Paxter didn't have much prejudice against illegitimate children, after all, he often led his fleet all over the world, and his sails had seen and eaten far and wide in the Free Cities.
The sailors, who had been cooped up on the ship for too long, got their money and, with great fanfare, scattered the seeds along with the brothel.
The port is full of children who know their mothers but not their fathers.
In his eyes, Jon was just an ordinary young man, but he also thought that someone so young, so good at fighting, and who had earned the title of Lord of Casterly Rock and even won Margaery's heart must be incredibly arrogant. But he never expected that Jon would be such a polite young man.
He didn't put on any airs of a duke in front of me.
Paxter's appearance was somewhat unexpected for Jon, especially his messy, reddish-brown hair, which gave him a rather unruly look.
The group soon arrived at the military camp to hear Jon's ingenious plan to stop the rain.
"Your Grace, you mean we can use a ship to intercept the rain from the sky? Please forgive my ignorance, but I really can't think of a way to do it." Since he wasn't familiar with Jon, Paxter still addressed him by Jon's title.
"Actually, it's like this. Back in King's Landing, Tyrion and I used Wildfire as a means of attack, setting Wildfire traps against King Stannis and the Westerlands army during battle. I observed that wherever Wildfire burned, heavy rain would soon follow, so I decided to try using Wildfire to stop the rain from falling."
Jon knew that rain formation required condensation nuclei, and that Wildfire generated far more heat than ordinary fuels, thus creating enough lift to send rising ash and smoke into the clouds as they burned, thus applying condensation nuclei to the clouds.
In addition, with the localized heat flow generated by the flames, I could easily create artificial rain in Westeros, where the technology is underdeveloped, to intercept the rain that should have fallen on Casterly Rock at sea.
However, the underlying principles were simply incomprehensible to these lords and nobles who lacked scientific education. So, listening to Jon's explanation, Brynden and his group still didn't grasp it, with Loras constantly muttering, "Will this work? Will this work?"
In fact, even if intercepting the rain failed, Jon could have chosen a slower method, such as spreading the plague within Casterly Rock using Raven.
This is entirely possible, but firstly, it would be incredibly unethical, and secondly, since Casterly Rock is where I'll be living in the future, it would be foolish to end up shooting myself in the foot.
While everyone else was still trying to understand Jon's brilliant plan, Paxter suddenly stood up, his eyes wide, and exclaimed, "Your Grace, you're not going to set my ship on fire, are you?!"
Seeing Paxter's strong reaction, Jon knew how important the fleet was to him.
"How could that be? I just want to use your boat to start Wildfire at sea. We'll use a pot or something similar, and then put some mud underneath to trap the rainwater. I don't intend to set your boat on fire."
"But—" Paxter looked troubled. He knew about Wildfire. Ever since he learned of the devastating battle of the Battle of the Blackwater, he had ordered his fleet never to enter narrow waterways.
He even increased manpower and forbade anyone from bringing flammable or explosive materials to the port. Anyone who dared to violate this rule would face only one fate: beheading. Now that Jon was going to play with Wildfire on his ship, how could he not be worried?
Therefore, Jon could only comfort him, saying, "Don't worry, Redwyne, there's plenty of gold in Casterly Rock. If any of our ships are accidentally burned, I'll compensate you double with the spoils of Casterly Rock. Please help me."
When Jon mentioned the treasury of Casterly Rock, everyone was tempted.
Putting the Tyrell brothers aside, their main reason for sending troops to help Jon was to invest in the future; what they really wanted was the gold mines in the Westerlands.
Therefore, they took on all the expenses for this campaign in the Westerlands and never even considered that Jon would be able to enter Casterly Rock.
As for the others, Rickard came to repay a debt of gratitude, Black Walder's purpose was to invest in favors, and Melisandre and the three thousand men supported by the Iron Throne were actually a reward for Jon's King's Landing of King's Landing and the ascension of Stannis.
After all, Stannis is very poor right now, and he can't very well Storm's End to Jon.
Brynden did so partly to atone for his mistake of letting Tywin go, and partly because the battle was taking place right on Riverrun's doorstep.
In other words, in the short term, everyone is making a losing proposition.
Jon has only been in the Westerlands for a short time, and his soldiers are strictly forbidden from looting, so they have even less chance to gain anything. If they can really capture Casterly Rock, then the Casterly Rock's treasury will surely be enough to feed them.
That's the House Lannister's wealth accumulated over a thousand years. Even if they don't have much gold or coins on hand, they certainly have countless priceless and rare treasures.
Keep in mind that this is the Lannister who "lived in the mines"! Tywin even lent the royal family over three million Gold Dragon over a period of more than ten years.
In other words, the wealth in Casterly Rock is enough to make everyone present burst.
But all of this is contingent on capturing Casterly Rock.
At the port of Lannisport, Paxter ordered that the sails of most of the warships be removed to reduce the probability of fire.
The warship, with its sails removed, suddenly appeared bare, which made Paxter feel very uneasy.
He had heard that Stannis's fleet had lowered all its sails when it entered the Blackwater, but it still ended up being burned to the ground by Wildfire.
However, he left about fifty warships with their sails intact, and there were about a dozen more warships below Casterly Rock. These fifty warships were there to defend against Tywin's fleet.
"At worst, I can save fifty warships," Paxter thought, but shook his head, banishing the ominous thought from his mind. "No, my fleet will be fine."
--
Paxter calmed himself down; assisting Jon was an order from Lord Mace, and he had to obey.
He looked at the huge terracotta braziers on the deck. It had taken them several days to make these braziers, but the purpose was to protect their ship, Paxter thought it was worth it.
Not only were there braziers, but a thick layer of damp mud was also laid on the deck to prevent sparks from flying out.
Jon was also on his flagship at that moment, Paxter walked toward Jon.
"Your Grace, we are ready and can depart at any time," Paxter said with a slight bow.
Jon glanced at the sky above, which was a hazy gray, a sign that rain was imminent. In some places, the clouds were thicker than in others.
"Then we'll have to trouble Redwyne. We'll definitely break the myth that Casterly Rock will never fall!"