Game of Thrones: Viserys the Three-Headed Dragon

After several battles, the Lannister and Tyrell armies in Tengshi Town finally fell into a tense confrontation.

It must be said that the reaction of Lord Rowan and Lord Tully saved the army. When the Lannisters suddenly launched an attack, Jaime blocked the front and Tywin chased after them. Lord Rowan and Lord Tully reacted sharply. Although they missed the opportunity to counterattack, the troops stood firm in the hilly area above Tengshi Town, with their backs against the source tributary of the Mander River. Although the vanguard lost a large number of cavalry and suffered a setback. But Lord Tully's attack on the camp also recovered 10%.

Although the Lannister army had an advantage in the early stage, it was not strong enough to completely wipe out the Tyrells who were already on high alert, and was forced to enter a siege posture.

Nevertheless, if the situation in the south was entangled, Tywin would undoubtedly have cut off the Tyrells' retreat, and the Tyrells' army had been cut off from supplies and could not hold on for too long. In time, when the food in the Tyrells' army was exhausted, the Lannisters' victory would be easy to capture.

But the war in the south was not as Lannister expected. Greyjoy's fleet could not even maintain a stalemate against Targaryen and the South. With the failure of the Battle of the Shield Islands, the Battle of the Blood Sea, and the harassment war on the Arbor, Greyjoy could no longer stir up any waves in the South.

The only thing to be thankful for was that the Targaryen king did not lead his army north, but went south to Oldtown. At the beginning, anyone would have thought that there was an enemy in Oldtown that would cause Targaryen to go south, but the fact is that the military action of the Targaryen king this time was simply incomprehensible. There was no war in Oldtown at all. Tywin racked his brains and could only guess that Targaryen's military action was to suppress the Hightower family and completely win over the hearts of the people in the South.

Although he didn't know what the situation was in Oldtown, Tywin keenly realized that Euron, who took the initiative to form an alliance, could no longer be counted on, and now Lannister was alone.

Lannister's military scouts went south along the Mander River every day to inquire about when the South would gather troops to go north.

However, what they got was silence.

The 20,000 Tyrells surrounded by Mace Tyrell seemed to be forgotten, abandoned, and no one cared.

Tywin had fought for half his life and was at a loss about the current situation.

Tywin didn't believe that the Targaryen King in the south still didn't know that Mace Tyrell had been besieged in Tengshi Town, but the other side seemed to have done nothing. The troops in the Southland didn't move, the army in Midsummer Hall didn't move, and the army in Stormland looked like it had nothing to do with them.

Could it be that the other side was watching the Lannister army annihilate the Tyrell army here? Or did the other side just want the Lannister and the Tyrell here to consume each other?

But the fact is that Tywin himself knew that in order to destroy the Southland army here with Mace Tyrell, he had to wait until the other side ran out of food, but the supplies of the Southland army were well protected by Earl Rowan in the rear army during the pursuit, so they could hold out for a month at least.

Euron Greyjoy, who seemed ambitious and powerful in the letter of alliance, was defeated at an unimaginable speed, which made Tywin's initiative to attack put himself in danger.

And the situation is still developing in an unfavorable direction.

Targaryen saw that it was only a matter of time to pacify the southern border, and it was only a matter of time to attack the north. As for the direction of the riverland, because the reserve troops for the siege of Riverrun were withdrawn. Blackfish Brynden and wolf girl Arya can free up their hands to actively seek battle with the Frey army, and they are still writing letters to summon the river lords who are still waiting. It is said that the Blackwood family and the Bracken family in the riverland have a conflict over the flood problem, and the Blackwood family is gathering troops in the castle to prepare for war.

Flood problem? Everyone knows that this is an excuse. The Blackwood and Bracken families did not resist the orders of the Frey and Lannister before because the Frey family captured the descendants of the family at the Red Wedding. But Lannister and Frey just loosened their control over the riverland a little bit, and the two families were ready to move. The Brackens are closer to Harrenhal and more inclined to Lannister, and the Blackwoods chose to clash with the Brackens at this time, and the meaning is self-evident.

This shows that some river lords have begun to turn from a wait-and-see attitude to Tully and Stark in Riverrun.

And the situation in the river is more than that. Baelish and Lysa Arryn's control over the Vale of Arryn is being challenged. It is rumored that the Royce family has decided to "lend troops" to the wolf girl Arya Stark, and is recruiting ships in Gulltown, preparing to set out from Runestone City along Crab Bay into the Trident. With the Royce family taking the lead, the Waywood family, the Hunter family, the Redford family, the Belmore family, and the Templeton family in the valley have all made some changes.

According to gossip, the Braavos spread the news of the White Walkers in the Five Fingers, Gulltown, and even the Sister Islands and White Harbor. They also spread the news of the Targaryen dragons and even raised funds for the Great Wall defenders. It was outrageous that the Braavos in Essos raised funds for the Great Wall defenders in Westeros.

As the news of the Targaryens and Starks spread in the Vale, and with the wedding of Lysa and Baelish, the regent of the Vale of Arryn, Lysa Arryn, had actually lost the support of the people in the Vale. The guardian of the Vale she appointed, Baelish, had no endorsement from King's Landing and could not control the lords of the Vale. It was rumored that several major families were plotting to eliminate Littlefinger Baelish, who was now representing the King of King's Landing in the Vale.

Some changes in momentum are unreasonable. Although Viserys chose to take over the South first, his influence has inevitably influenced the decisions of decision-makers in every major territory on the continent. Although the radiation of this influence in the Valley and the North still only reaches the port, everything is just a matter of time.

In this era, if you control the propaganda outlets in the port and make a few big news, the merchants will naturally spread the news to the inland. Although people in the inland lack the means of verification and it sounds like a story, the story about Viserys will undoubtedly be the most widely spread and the hottest in the 300 years of the Conquest.

Even though Lord Tywin has experienced ups and downs and has endured countless storms in his life, facing the current situation that can be called a building about to collapse, he can only grit his teeth with a cold expression.

In fact, at the beginning of what was called "One Dragon, Five Kings, and the War of Six Kings" by the people, Lord Tywin had fallen into a similar situation. At that time, although Tywin's strategy of attacking the riverlands seemed to be in full swing, the young and energetic Robb won victory after victory in the north, the covetous Renly gathered troops at Bitterbridge in the south, and Stannis's fleet blocked King's Landing in the east.

If it weren't for the two black swan events of Renly's sudden death and the obstruction of the Lannister army returning to the Westerlands at the Red Fork River, Tywin would have been doomed.

Now, Tywin is in crisis again. But there will be no more black swan events this time. Because the opponent at this time is a person who is obviously very powerful but extremely cautious, all the possible black swan events on him are settled by his strong strength.

At the beginning, facing Stark in the north and Renly in the south, Tywin's choice was to return to the Westerlands. It was only at that time that Edmure Tully successfully blocked it, and the changes in the south made the Tyrell family turn to Lannister, which made the Lannister family so popular for a while, and there was a sign of stability.

But now, the situation will not change anymore.

Targaryen chose the South when King's Landing was within his reach, and then he would crush them.

Bald Lord Tywin sat in the tent, looking at the map, analyzing various intelligence, and finally made a decision: "Kevan, we must fight quickly and retreat to the West before Targaryen makes the next move."

Kevan looked at Tywin, who was always steady, and understood his intention: "Then I will summon Jaime to bring a part of the army to join us? Lord Duke, who will be the main force in this battle?"

Tywin's face turned cold: "Let Ser Clegane go. Randyll Tarly has been famous for a long time and is a hard bone to chew. Let the most ferocious dog chew him. Jaime will follow me to lead the reserve team. Adam Marbrand will lead the left wing cavalry to wait for orders."

Kevan asked: "What if they still don't fight?"

Tywin asked back: "The catapults and assault equipment for breaking camp should be ready, right?"

Kevan took a deep look at the serious Lord Tywin and nodded solemnly.

A general offensive is often a precursor to a general retreat.

These days, the Tyrell army settled down in the hilly area and built a camp. The overall defense posture was on the defensive. Except for Randyll Tarly who occasionally attacked and looked for weaknesses in the encirclement, everyone else stayed in the camp.

The two sides were not in a confrontation these days.

There were still battles for some key areas.

It was just that neither side showed a desperate attitude. Tywin failed to sneak attack the rear army supplies of Earl Rowan at the beginning, and only completed the strategic encirclement and got a little advantage, but more than 20,000 soldiers and horses were a large group, and Tywin's army alone could not eat them. One-third of his troops were new troops, so he could only wait for the Tyrell army to mess up first. Although the surrounded Tyrell army was timid when attacking because of the Duke of Mace, its level was obviously much higher when defending. It was obvious that Earl Tarly and Earl Rowan were in charge now.

Randyll Tarly is not a pushover. Over the past few days, he has tried to take the initiative to harass the Lannister army many times, and has gradually figured out the strength of the Lannister army, which has boosted the low morale of the Tyrell army when it was surrounded at the beginning. The Tyrell army has good defensive geographical conditions, so if a quick battle is fought, the two sides must fight head-on.

And Tywin is of course reluctant to fight head-on here. The situation is different from when the Lannisters first started to pursue and siege. Whether he wins or loses here, he can't change the overall situation. On the contrary, he may suffer serious losses and make the situation collapse faster.

The current situation makes Tywin feel great pressure. Every step he takes cannot be described as well-thought-out. Even he himself can realize that the opportunity he thought he had grasped now seems to be blind. Tywin only regrets secretly that he shouldn't have regarded Euron Greyjoy as a life-saving straw. Speaking of which, knowing that Euron was quickly pacified after only tossing around in the South for less than half a month, Euron is very unbearable in Tywin's eyes.

In fact, Tywin had already classified Euron as a clown and a scoundrel who was not worth cooperating with.

In Tywin's opinion, Euron Greyjoy should follow the tradition of the Ironborn and carry out guerrilla raids along the coast. In this way, at least the coastal areas of the southern border can be disturbed and the Lannister army can buy at least two to three months. Tywin never thought that Euron would choose to attack cities and plunder, or even take the initiative to attack and seek opportunities to annihilate the Redwyne fleet. The storm in the southern border was quickly extinguished by Targaryen and the southern lords in less than half a month.

Speaking of which, when the news of the destruction of Euron's fleet and the death of the sea monster reached Tywin's ears, Tywin's originally cold face was as black as the bottom of a pot, and he almost bit his teeth to pieces.

Although King Viserys claimed that the Iron Islands had 500 ships that could invade the coast of the South at any time, Tywin knew better than anyone that even if the news came that the commander of the Iron Fleet, Victarion, was missing, the Ironmen would no longer be able to cause any trouble.

Kevan had confirmed Tywin's determination to withdraw his troops, and he asked calmly: "Then I will go and summon Jaime myself?"

Although Tywin had promised before that if Jaime was unwilling to obey orders, he would hand over Casterly Rock to Kevan, Kevan knew very well the position of Jaime in Tywin's heart, so he still put the overall situation first. Summoning Jaime was naturally to take Jaime back to the West.

As for King's Landing, Tywin had already planned to give up King's Landing.

Speaking of which, Tywin recently received a letter from Cersei. Cersei mentioned in the letter that the church and the Iron Bank were sending representatives to force the Iron Throne to repay its debts.

Cersei's letter was not about politics, but she thought she had found a solution: to the church, Cersei mentioned that in order to ensure the church's support for Tommen I and cancel the royal family's debt of more than one million gold dragons to the church, the Archbishop could be allowed to reorganize the Order's armed forces; and to the Iron Bank, Cersei proposed to outsource one of the three major mints to the great lords in the country, so that they would have the royal coinage rights in exchange for a huge amount of finance to ease the debt pressure.

Cersei's letter was full of joy. She believed that the Order's armed forces were liberated by Tommen and would definitely be loyal to Tommen; and the royal mint did not have enough gold to mint coins now, so it would be idle if it was kept, so it would be better to exchange it for emergency money to prevent the Iron Bank from turning to support Targaryen.

Liberating the Order's armed forces was undoubtedly a foolish move, and using the coinage rights diplomacy was even more foolish. These two things, taken alone, are definitely chaotic policies. But Tywin did not give Cersei a direct answer, but wrote back: "You are the Queen Regent, you can make your own decisions on some matters."

Calculating the time, the letter will soon return to King's Landing. It is only a matter of time before Cersei disrupts the political situation.

If she does not withdraw to the Westerly at this time, when will she withdraw?

At this moment when the situation is about to collapse, the more Cersei messes up the situation in Westeros, the more she may be able to win a glimmer of hope for Lannister.

Didn't Dragonstone publicize that the long night is coming and the white walkers are coming? If it can be delayed until the long night.

But Lord Tywin's dream is doomed to be shattered. Around nightfall, a message arrived: "Report! Letter from King's Landing!"

The first is three big news.

"The wildfire warehouse on the west wall of the Red Keep in King's Landing caught fire, and the west wall collapsed. Varys, the chief intelligence officer in front of the king, was burned to death in the fire, and the chief intelligence officer was temporarily absent."

"The Redwyne fleet of the Shield Islands went north, and the southern border divided 10,000 troops and went north along the coastal road."

"The Oldtown joint fleet went north from Whispering Bay, and the army went north along the Rose Road."

When Tywin saw the letter, he felt a chill from the soles of his feet to his forehead.

Varys' death is not considered. The other two pieces of news all indicate that King Targaryen has integrated his troops and advanced by land and sea, heading north from the Shield Islands and the coastal road to the west.

This strategy is exactly the same as the strategy of Young Wolf Lord Robb.

It is nothing more than forcing Tywin to return to the west for a decisive battle.

But King Targaryen's plan is obviously different. He intends to win the west in one battle, and has no intention of annihilating the Lannister army outside first, and then going to the west to recruit surrenders and rebellions.

Of course, this is Tywin's conjecture.

——

In fact, since King Viserys entered the Citadel, he handed over the next war command to the Prime Minister Prince Oberyn of Dorne. Although the king is still on the board and implements various policies according to the old rules, he seems to be obsessed with magic, just like the old man of Oldtown, who was calculating something day and night in the secret room of the Citadel's library with a group of doctors who had been sentenced to treason and were waiting to be executed.

But compared with the existence of rebels in the Citadel, as well as magic and strange inheritance, what is more eye-catching is the strange changes in the Hightower family.

The old man of Oldtown went crazy and unconscious, and the title was passed to Sir Baelor Hightower, but Baelor seemed to have inherited the madness of the old man of Oldtown. After inheriting the title, he was obsessed with magic. Not only did he calculate something day and night with the king in the Citadel's library, but he was also loyal to King Targaryen as fanatical as religion.

People privately called Baelor Hightower a "crazy believer of the dragon" and felt that he had a problem with his brain like "Baelor blessed by God".

Baelor Hightower seemed to regard the king's dragon as a god, and he was crazy about it. He not only donated most of the land and money to the royal family in the name of supporting the dragon god, but also insisted on choosing a location to build a temple for the dragon god, the priest of ancient Valyria, for the king. Not only that, he also ordered a large number of knights and family members in the Hightower family to join the glorious Night's Watch and fight for mankind. Sir Baelor's crazy behavior made a large number of sworn knights of the Hightower family choose to leave the Hightower, and many loyal knights put on black clothes.

Moreover, Baelor persecuted his two younger brothers madly, forcing them to convert and join the Night's Watch. The king was generous and finally decided to split the Hightower family, giving back part of the land donated by Sir Baelor to Garth Hightower and Gunthor Hightower. The Hightower family, which had greatly reduced its power, was directly divided into three.

And all this was reasonable and legal.

An ancient family that has been passed down for thousands of years was messed up by Baelor, the "crazy believer of the dragon", overnight, which is really a pity.