Game of Thrones: Viserys the Three-Headed Dragon

Viserys didn't know that when he accepted Highgarden's surrender and led his guards into Highgarden Castle on a fragrant path paved with roses and flowers, the Lannisters of King's Landing and the Tyrells had already fought each other.

Before entering the city, Viserys strictly ordered the troops stationed outside not to trample on farmland and disturb civilians, just like a master.

It was Viserys' first time to the Reach. He had always heard that this place had developed agriculture, fruits and vegetables everywhere, and flowers in the garden. Now, after only a cursory look during the march, he had a deeper understanding of the title of "the granary of the seven kingdoms".

Speaking of which, the Reach is also the birthplace of the knight system in Westeros. Unlike most people's understanding of the south, the people of the Reach are martial, and the strong military equipment makes the Reach often have the strength to become the main force in the war. The only pity is that it is precisely because of the martial spirit of the people of the Reach, sufficient weapons, and no shortage of food that almost every local lord of the Reach can pull out a strong military force. Therefore, local lords usually have different thoughts and are dissatisfied with the Tyrell family, the guardian of the South. In most periods of history, local lords and feudal lords in the South were not of one mind.

Even during the reign of the Targaryen dynasty, only the first Tyrell in the Riverlands could be subdued for a while with the strong support of Aegon by the Dragon King. Later, everyone knew. Whenever there was a war in the territory, the vassals of the Tyrell family would split up and disperse into various camps.

The most interesting thing to say is that the South is the birthplace of the knight system, and the knight culture of Westeros is most deeply rooted here. However, it is also in this place where the knight culture is most developed that the lords have the most thoughts. Whenever the situation changes suddenly, everyone will make their own calculations.

Viserys has heard that when Willas persuaded them to surrender, the knights of the Hightower family and their vassals chose to leave with their troops.

Viserys realized that Hightower seemed to have other thoughts, but when he got the news, it was too late. The army of about 3,000 Hightower and his vassals had already gone far away. Viserys is a king after all, and it is not good for him to hunt down these knights who claim to be loyal to the lord and wait for the lord to make a decision. He seems to be furious.

Anyway, Highgarden has been taken now, and the next step is Oldtown. Viserys will lead his troops there, no matter what they think.

It is really outrageous. Among the 20,000 troops in Highgarden, there are only a few who can be the chief lords. For example, the reason why Fossoway led his troops to Highgarden is because he nominally wants to help Garlan Tyrell, the son-in-law of the Fossoway family, to attack Brightwater City-this is the title given to Garlan by the King of King's Landing.

And more powerful lords, such as Rowan, Redwyne, and Tully, are in King's Landing with the inflatable fish Lord, Duke Mace. This made Viserys unable to clarify the attitude of these families for a while. Their knights and some soldiers surrendered with Willas, but it is hard to say what the attitude of the lord is, and there is a possibility of repetition.

Viserys's raven asked for a limited time to come to Highgarden to swear allegiance, so he had to wait in Highgarden for the princes and castle agents from all over the southern border to arrive, and then decide how to deal with it according to the situation.

It can be understood that Viserys is now like summoning the southern vassal in Highgarden. He has to wait for the vassal and family representatives from all over the country to gather in Highgarden within the specified time. Only then can he know who has come and who has not come, and then decide who to deal with and how to deal with them.

While waiting, Prince Oberyn made a suggestion: "Your Majesty, Highgarden has succeeded. After recovering the southern border, can you consider taking the opportunity to choose a place to hold a tournament to publicize your majesty and martial arts?"

Viserys thought for a while: "Martial arts tournament?"

Oberyn replied: "Yes, Your Majesty. The southern border is martial, and the people of the River Bay are very enthusiastic about martial arts competitions. It happens that you are here to summon vassal from all over the southern border to gather in Highgarden. If you take this opportunity to hold a tournament, you can not only regain the hearts of the people in the southern border, but also publicize your power. How about it?"

Viserys found Oberyn was actually thinking about how to regain the hearts and minds of the people in the South. He originally thought that with the relationship between Dorne and the Reach, even if Oberyn would not be like other Dorne nobles and could not help but ride through the surrender camp to show off his power, he would only abide by his duties and do things step by step: "It's a good idea. But the situation in the South may not be stable now. Wait until it is confirmed that Hightower, Redwyne, Rowan, and Tully will not resist, and then arrange the tournament."

After receiving this suggestion, Viserys couldn't help but have a better understanding of Oberyn. This prime minister is far more responsible than he thought.

In Westeros, the tournament is a social activity that can accommodate all needs, whether it is political propaganda, display of military power, or even simply for fighting. And in the past two days, Viserys also felt that the surrendered soldiers in the South and the Dornish knights he brought did not get along very well.

If the king and the prime minister had not restrained the Dornish knights in time due to Viserys's majesty, otherwise some ignorant guys would have been allowed to show off their power to the surrendered soldiers from the southern border, and I am afraid that the two sides might have had unexpected conflicts.

In this way, the tournament is also a measure to ease the conflict slightly. The Dornish soldiers and the surrendered soldiers from the Reach did not fight, and both sides probably felt uncomfortable. The tournament can just be used to relieve this restlessness. Of course, if a few people died in the tournament, it might aggravate the conflict, but life and death in the tournament is honorable after all, and Viserys can still say a few words to control the situation.

Viserys had no idea of ​​completely resolving the conflict between Dorne and the Reach, he just hoped that they would at least not commit crimes in front of him. Committing crimes in front of Viserys was equivalent to challenging the king's authority, so Viserys would have to chop off a few heads to remind them of the king's majesty.

Although the tournament was rampant during King Robert's reign to the point of affecting the national finances, holding a tournament did help win back the hearts of the people in the South. For example, after Robert's victory in the Greyjoy Rebellion, the tournament held in Lannisport was very politically significant.

But it's too early to say these now.

And Viserys was still thinking about the prophecy of "salt water in the White Tower", expecting that the Iron Islands would also get involved in the affairs of the South.

Sure enough, Viserys didn't even have to wait.

Only on the third day after he accepted the surrender of more than 17,000 southern troops from Highgarden, the Shield Islands received military intelligence of the Ironmen invasion.

According to the news brought by the twelve longships that escaped into the Mander River, Victarion Greyjoy led more than ninety warships to invade the Shield Islands. In just one day, Greenshield Island ruled by the Chesta family, Greyshield Island ruled by the Green family, Oakshield Island ruled by the Hewitt family, and Southshield Island ruled by the Cirri family all fell. Talbot Cirri, the heir of Southshield Island, was killed by Victarion in a duel, and the fleet of the Shield Islands was completely annihilated.

The Shield Islands are located west of Highgarden and are considered to be a shield to prevent the Iron Islands from harassing the Mander River Basin. Now that the Shield Islands have fallen, it means that the Iron Fleet can directly invade the heart of Highgarden through the Mander River.

On the same day, the Highgarden Crow's Nest received a ransom letter. Victarion asked the lord of Highgarden to pay to redeem the captured lords of the Shield Islands.

Speaking of which, this battle was quite tactical. The Ironborn sent twelve ships to enter the Mander River at dusk. The fleets of the Shield Islands were attracted to pursue these ships, but they were led to an ambush point.

The fleets of the Shield Islands could never have imagined that the main force of the Iron Islands fleet would suddenly attack from the western sunset sea. The sunset covered the whereabouts of the main force of the Iron Fleet. When the pursuing lords of the islands realized that the Iron Islands fleet was attacking from their western flank, they wanted to turn back, but found that the mouth of the Mander River had been blocked by more Iron Fleets. This was a premeditated annihilation war.

The last twelve ships that escaped were deliberately released back to the Mander River by the Ironborn to spread fear.

"'.Now the Mander River is open to us, as in ancient times, fear and offer your wealth and women.'" Viserys took the vulgar and threatening letter from Victarion Greyjoy from Willas.

The Mander River has a slow flow and a wide river. In ancient times, the Ironmen had boldly sailed into the river, plundering the banks of the Mander River and its tributaries, and could even freely drive longboats up the Mander River all the way to Bitterbridge, plundering the heartland villages and castles of the Reach on both sides. It was not until the Gardener King armed the fishermen on the four small islands at the mouth of the Mander River and ordered them to be his shields that the Ironmen were completely expelled after several generations, and the original name of these islands, the Misty Islands, was renamed the Shield Islands.

But that was a story two thousand years ago.

Viserys had always heard that the Ironmen were ancient, but it was too ancient.

Now it is no longer the Gardener King's time, and there is Redwyne's fleet in the Reach. Viserys is curious about how Euron gave these Ironmen the confidence to act as bait to attract firepower.

Viserys knew very well that the iron fleet of ninety ships brought by Victarion was not the entire main force of the Iron Islands, and Victarion was just a bait thrown by Euron.

Euron might be planning to attract the Redwyne Fleet in the Redwyne Strait to the Shield Islands and the Mander River.

As for whether Euron's goal is to annihilate the Redwyne Fleet or take the opportunity to enter the Whispering Bay to attack Oldtown, Viserys is not quite sure.

But in any case, the lords of the River Reach have not yet come to swear allegiance, and Viserys wants to wait a little longer. He has no intention of going directly to the Shield Islands to clear the Iron Fleet for the South. Willas Tyrell's surrender of Highgarden does not represent the surrender of the entire South.

Viserys has to wait for those lords who will be affected but have not sworn allegiance to express their attitudes before he can be sure that he is protecting his own territory and people. Now only Highgarden and a few families represented by the head of the family can clearly express their attitude of surrender, so Viserys will only protect the direct territories of those who have clearly surrendered.

And to be honest, Viserys has never seen a fleet of hundreds of warships fighting on the sea in this world. He is quite interested and wants to see it.

Viserys thought about it and decided that the invasion of the Ironborn might not be a bad thing. He took this opportunity to order the Redwyne Fleet and the Hightower Fleet of Oldtown to rescue the Shield Islands in the name of the king, just to see if Redwyne and Hightower had any intention of surrendering to Targaryen.

Victarion's Iron Fleet was the largest fleet in the Iron Islands. With the ships captured in the Shield Islands, they could gather a hundred ships at most. With Euron's fleet, which was ambushed somewhere unknown, it was estimated that all the Ironborn could gather a hundred and fifty to two hundred warships and longships.

The Redwyne Fleet was the largest fleet in Westeros. It was said that this fleet had two hundred warships. Although Hightower's fleet was not large, it also had dozens of ships. If they fought, it would definitely be a unique battle.

Vilas said carefully: "The Ironborn did not attack along the coastline when they attacked the Shield Islands, and this letter is so threatening. Your Majesty, I am afraid that their purpose is not to plunder the hinterland of the South, but to have other intentions."

Viserys asked: "Vilas, do you think the Ironborn know that I am in Highgarden now?"

"They probably don't know that. If they knew that Your Majesty was here, they would definitely not dare to get close to the mouth of the Mander River."

Viserys nodded: "I guess so. Then how about this, don't we still have the fleets of the Redwyne family and the Hightower family in the Reach? I have always heard that the Redwyne fleet is the largest fleet in the Seven Kingdoms. In my name, send a letter to them and ask them to come to the mouth of the Mander River to rescue the Shield Islands."

"Your Majesty. This..." Vilas wanted to say, this is obviously a trap.

"You mean this is a trap, and the Ironborn will soon know I'm in Highgarden and be prepared. Right?"

"."

"Well, go ahead and send the letter. If Redwyne and Hightower don't obey the king's order, I don't mind showing the power of the dragon to each of them after confirming their response attitude." Viserys wanted to see how the Redwyne and Hightower families would respond at this time.