I've actually been wanting to explain this in a dedicated chapter for a while now, but just as I was about to, a reader asked me not to spoil anything.
However, over the past few days, more readers have expressed confusion over Daenerys's actions, and I can't hold back anymore. I promise this won't contain any spoilers or affect your reading experience.
The purpose behind using her own money to purchase grain was because the Long Night was coming. Daenerys wanted to urge the entire world to use the last bit of time to plant one more season's worth of crops to stay alive—because the people of Essos have no habit of storing food.
(If you're curious, search for "A Song of Ice and Fire time map." You'll see that the latitude of Essos is very low. If we compare it to Earth, it's akin to the area south of the Yangtze River in China.)
Since winter doesn't affect them too severely, people on Essos aren't used to storing grain.
Question 1: Is Daenerys's financial plan feasible? Is it just wishful thinking?Not at all.
Think about our real world: at the start of the year, masks became highly profitable, and everyone rushed to invest in factories to produce them.
The driving force of profit should never be underestimated.
Another historical example is Guan Zhong, the Prime Minister of the Qi State during the Spring and Autumn Period in ancient China.
Long before the Common Era, he used a strategy similar to Daenerys's.
It was called "Buying Deer to Weaken Chu."
Qi wanted to dominate the realm, and the powerful state of Chu was one of its biggest rivals.
But how could Qi defeat Chu? Their military forces were roughly equal—if they clashed head-on, it would be a lose-lose situation.
So Guan Zhong devised a clever trick: he sent people to Chu to buy deer and spread the rumor that the King of Qi loved deer meat.
The purchase prices were insanely high—dozens, even hundreds of times more than normal.
As a result, the people of Chu stopped farming and all went into the forests to catch deer.
Hunting deer was far more profitable than farming!
Qi's gold flowed into Chu, making Chu wealthy.
But because everyone was focused on hunting, no one was farming anymore. Even with piles of gold, they couldn't eat it—especially since the other states had blockaded Chu's grain trade.
(This was just like how the "United Nations" of slavers had blockaded trade in Slaver's Bay.)
Chu soon faced a famine. Soldiers had their homes filled with gold and silver, but they were so starved they couldn't lift their swords. Qi then easily crushed Chu.
(P.S.: The historical accuracy of this tale is debatable, but similar financial tactics likely did exist during the Spring and Autumn Period—otherwise, such stories wouldn't have been recorded.)
Daenerys used the exact same method as Guan Zhong—but for the opposite purpose.
Guan Zhong used gold to make the farmers of Chu stop planting. Daenerys used gold to encourage people to plant.
Both used financial tools to influence production in other nations.
Question 2: Will she go bankrupt? Isn't it a waste if all the gold in Slaver's Bay is spent?Daenerys will not go bankrupt.
This was mentioned earlier in the story—perhaps some of you remember. Daenerys looted massive wealth from the slave masters, and she didn't mistreat her subordinates either. Jon Botley and Cleon, for example, each had wealth worth hundreds of thousands.
In other words, the gold in Daenerys's Great Pyramid had already been allocated. Her subordinates got their share, and the national treasury received its cut too.
What remained piled up in the pyramid belonged entirely to Daenerys personally.
But she had no way to use it.
As mentioned earlier, the "United Nations" blockade prevented her from engaging in large-scale trade with other city-states.
Besides, Slaver's Bay already had food—Daenerys's Great Leap Forward was still ongoing.
Slaver's Bay also had livestock—the Dothraki were still herding. In the future, Daenerys would march to the Dothraki capital, and the entire grassland would be hers.
Slaver's Bay had basic mining, handicrafts, and even ongoing exports.
In fact, Slaver's Bay had a trade surplus.
Daenerys's wealth would only increase over time.
Eventually, that mountain of gold and silver would be no different from a pile of scrap metal.
It's easy to predict that in her lifetime, her wealth would only grow, not shrink—and she wouldn't be able to spend it all.
So, what could she do with all that money?Leave it to her descendants?
That would only turn them into spoiled, arrogant wastrels.
Daenerys once joked: "I was planning to sink all the gold into the sea. Who would've thought I could actually put it to use—stimulating production and saving the world."
A joke, yes—but one with a sense of helplessness.
Productivity during this era is limited. The nobility, unlike those in ancient China, don't even have the tradition of lavish burials. Meanwhile, gold keeps piling up—it's been mined for tens of thousands of years.
Not just Daenerys—many nobles couldn't even spend all their wealth unless they indulged in extravagance.
Of course, ordinary people are always short of money.
Question 3: Is Daenerys too much of a saint? Is she feeding the wolves at the expense of her own flesh, like a naive do-gooder?Is Daenerys's financial rescue plan strengthening her enemies?
No.
In gaming terms, the Long Night hits the entire world with a 9999-damage strike. Daenerys's grain effort is like a +100 heal to everyone.
The world still suffers 9899 damage. Whether anyone survives depends on fate.
During the last Long Night, it lasted for an entire generation (around 15 years). Some people were born and died without ever seeing the sun. Even nobles starved to death in their empty castles, just like commoners.
If Daenerys had done nothing, then yes—everyone in the world would die. Not a single enemy would remain.
Also, by this point, Slaver's Bay had already entered full-scale production. A massive surge in food production was underway. Slaver's Bay wasn't short on food.
It wasn't short on other resources either. It wasn't short on money. The people of Slaver's Bay wouldn't die off during the Long Night.
Now, regarding whether Daenerys was "too saintly."
Maybe—just a little. (Personally, I don't think this qualifies as saintly. It's like seeing a donation appeal—if you have 10,000 in your pocket and you donate 100, that's not exactly being a saint, right?)
She wants to save people. And when she saves ordinary people, the nobles will inevitably benefit too.
The real question is: Should we abandon millions of innocent lives just because a few scumbags will benefit too?
If the cost isn't too high, then I think it's worth a try.
So, was Daenerys's cost high?
50 million sounds like a lot, but to her, it's meaningless.
Think about how during the COVID-19 pandemic, a certain country went full throttle printing trillions of dollars.
They just handed it out to citizens. Was that a loss?
No—because money is not the end goal. It's a tool. As long as it benefits the nation, it's never a loss.
(Well, that certain country is still bleeding the rest of the world dry, so yeah—it's definitely not losing anything. That's one way it's very different from Daenerys.)
Even if we don't consider the possibility of Daenerys ruling the world someday, just look at her current situation: what's the point of hoarding her money? Does she even need it?
Only money reinvested into production has value. Gold buried in a vault isn't even real currency anymore—it loses its role as a medium of exchange.
To sum up:Daenerys didn't give up much. Aside from some gold, even the time she invested was just two days. What she gained was peace of mind—and maybe she helped save a million people worldwide, including some of her enemies.
(End of chapter)
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