Game of Thrones: Viserys the Three-Headed Dragon.

Chapter 133 Courage
Kevan Lannister hid in a crevice in a high mountain far away from the planned battlefield, and used a naval telescope to observe the fires and smoke from the villages and towns outside Stonedance City.

Nearby were two of his attendants, disguised as shepherds, driving their sheep to graze in the nearby alpine meadows.

The villages outside the castle had almost no resistance. All they needed to do was to send a small group of soldiers into the village like bandits, and they could deal with the defenseless villages like a lion into a flock of sheep.

The houses in the mountain villages were made of wood, so they were easier to burn. The soldiers knew how to deal with them. They covered the fields and houses with hay. A fire could completely destroy a village, and the villagers had plenty of hay in their homes. Coastal villages were more difficult. Most villages had stone piles to prevent moisture. When they burned, thick smoke billowed, but it did not cause complete destruction.

The only thing that was the same was that when the soldiers burned houses and fields, anyone who dared to step forward to stop them would die.

Stoneyon Castle closed its gates, and the lord, who lacked manpower, was unable to take care of himself. The siege was carried out by a team of fifty people, who were the Lannister family's permanent peasant army. Their parents and wives worked in the fields of Lannister and relied on the land of Lannister to survive. Betrayal and desertion meant that their families would die because of him, while killing and dying on the battlefield could bring their families a generous bounty. They were almost the most loyal and elite part of the Lannister army, the armed forces of the peasants who were not employed.

In this battle, Tywin emphasized that only the Lannister army would be used for the attempt, and the accompanying knights were all die-hard Lannisters.

If this battle yields no results, it proves that the dragon is too powerful. If the vassal's army is used, the vassal will be shaken, and if the knights who cannot guarantee their loyalty are used, the knights will also have dissent. Tywin is used to ruling by fear and absolute authority, and "The Rains of Castamere" is a clear example of this.

But the dragon will dilute all fear, Tywin knew this well, so he asked Kevan to supervise the battle.

As Tywin's younger brother, Kevan has long been Tywin's right-hand man, and his loyalty and reliability are widely known.

In the preset battlefield, there were twenty locations where several loyal knights and brave officers, along with their loyal followers and guards, as well as craftsmen who built crossbows and civilians who carried arrows, hid among the mountains and forests. In order to facilitate running, all of them were lightly equipped and without armor.

The Citadel provided Tywin with the example of Dorne's fight against the dragon. They gave up defending the city, retreated when faced with a battle, fled in different directions, and waited for the dragon to leave before gathering together to attack, harassing the garrison and looking for opportunities to shoot the dragon's eyes.

But this was the ruling area of ​​Dragonstone, so they slightly modified their tactics, sending lightly armed soldiers to harass castles and towns, and when a dragon appeared or an army came to support them, they would hide in the rugged mountains and forests, waiting for an opportunity to strike, with the goal of trying every means to lure the dragon into the pre-set battlefield in the mountains.

Although the anti-aircraft crossbows provided by the Academy have axles that can be pushed, they are very difficult to move and their accuracy is worrying. Kevan provides five arrows for each point, but it takes a lot of time to reload the Iron Scorpion arrows, so it is extremely important to hook the dragon into the preset battlefield for the first round of volleys, because it is very likely that the second round of volleys will not be fired.

Because what gave these people the courage to face the dragon was Lord Tywin's cruelty and the anti-aircraft crossbow from the Citadel. If they missed, the dragon's counterattack would make it impossible for even the bravest people to prevent the collapse.

Kevan was well aware of this, and he was only observing and recording from afar during this battle. He wanted to see if the soldiers scattered in the villages and towns could hook the dragon to the preset location as planned, to see how the dragon would deal with the scattered and fleeing soldiers, to see if the ballista provided by the academy was useful, to see if the soldiers could flee as planned after the ballista position collapsed, to see if they could be safe by hiding in the mountains and forests, and to see how many remnants they could gather if they were defeated.

The dragon has disappeared for over a hundred years, and no one really has the courage to face it, but having already stood on the enemy side of the dragon, the Lannisters have no way to avoid it.

Kevan sighed deeply and turned his gaze towards Dragonstone.

The flames in the villages outside Shiyang Fort had slowly burned out, and the lightly armed soldiers besieging the castle had begun to gather the peasants from the nearest villages outside the castle and drive them towards the castle as planned, making it look as if they were going to take over the city.

Kevan once hesitated whether the dragon from Dragonstone would come.

After all, the destruction of the villages outside Stone Dance City still attracted the dragon. Kevan had seen a black dot appear in the blue sky in the north. The black dot was rapidly growing larger. In the blink of an eye, it had turned into a sky that was rapidly approaching Stone Dance City.

Kevan picked up the telescope and looked in the direction of the dragon, swallowing his saliva. The dragon was as big as a small mountain and even bigger than the castle of Stone Dance City.

He began to doubt whether the soldiers could still run after seeing it.

But he saw that the flag bearer on the distant mountains still issued orders as planned.

The flag bearer was at the top of a mountain. He waved the flag, instructing everyone to be ready.

But Kevan saw through the telescope that the flag bearer, after giving the order, immediately hid in the same crevices of rocks as him and disappeared among the mountains.

This was commendable courage, and Kevan only hoped that all the executors of the army he led would have the courage of the standard-bearer. It would only take one volley - Kevan prayed to the gods, praying that his already well-prepared troops could at least fire one volley.

-

When looking down from the sky, the area within several miles of Shiyang Fort and several villages were filled with smoke and flames. Thick smoke was rising between the villages and fields, and groups of people as small as ants could be seen scattered around.

When Viserys arrived, he saw the devastation from high above and didn't know where to start.

Fortunately, he knew what was important and didn't bother with the surrounding villages, so he headed straight for the sky above Shiwu City.

Here, he saw an army wearing black leather armor, flying a flaming red heart flag and driving the peasants to attack the castle. The team consisted of ten riders and forty infantrymen.

When they saw Viserys, they immediately dropped their banners and began to flee in all directions. Some even ran into the group of peasants. Some began to draw their swords and kill indiscriminately, and some mixed in with the peasants and refused to appear alone again.

This was what Viserys hated most, when attackers would break up into small groups and harass his territory, slaughtering peasants, destroying villages and farms, and then fleeing at the sight of the dragon or blending in with the peasants rather than confront him head on.

There were wailing and devastation everywhere. Viserys swooped down.

He didn't forget what he came here for.

The scattered and fleeing riders needed to be dealt with first. He gathered fire from his mouth, and the flame beam was like a sharp sword drawn from its sheath, quickly sweeping over the first rider, and then sweeping towards the second and third riders at the fastest speed. One round of flames only burned seven riders, and the remaining three had already run away for a distance. Viserys had to gather his strength again, sweeping in a circling posture, and the flames engulfed the other three riders.

He heard wailing, but was not sure if it was the peasants or the soldiers.

Next came the soldiers who fled in all directions. He saw some people kneeling to surrender, but Viserys had no time and no army to help receive the surrenderers, and the villages for miles around were still waiting for him to rescue.

Finally, there were the brutal soldiers who infiltrated the peasants.

Viserys didn't want to kill the peasants by mistake, so he flapped his wings to fan everyone he saw, and then accurately pointed at those few people, and shot precise flame rays at the heads of the slaughterers amid screams and cries, directly melting the flesh and blood with unimaginable high temperature.

After all the soldiers outside the city were dead, Viserys made a huge voice: "Everyone, wait where you are, castle defenders, wait for the reinforcements from Dragonstone to arrive before opening the city gates!" This was not cruel, but something that had to be done to prevent enemy soldiers from hiding among the peasants who were driven to attack the city.

After saying that, the dragon roared and flew away into the sky, galloping towards the village closest to the mountains.

Many of the enemy soldiers who attacked the village retreated directly into the mountains along the road leading into the village after discovering the giant dragon in the sky. When Viserys arrived, there was no enemy in most of the villages except ruins and the remaining villagers.

He could only fly from one village to the next, and after four or five small settlements, when Viserys arrived he could only see ruins and the remaining villagers.

Viserys flew back up to the sky, looking down at the smoke and dust of Stone Dance City, but he could not see any enemy. Viserys knew that they followed the path taken by the villagers into the mountains and hid in the wild caves, rock crevices, and deep in the dense forests where the villagers worked and moved around.

This was undoubtedly the situation Viserys least wanted to face. After the enemy harassed the villages in his territory, they chose to flee and avoid fighting. This meant that the enemy army had learned the correct way to deal with the dragon, dispersing harassment and avoiding fighting. Moreover, this was still Viserys' territory. They came deep into his territory to try guerrilla warfare, which was undoubtedly testing his tactics.

It is not difficult to imagine that this was the way the Dornishmen dealt with Aegon's conquest. However, it was used on this small battlefield and the enemy was obviously not very familiar with it, otherwise the soldiers attacking the city would not have died in vain.

Viserys knew how to deal with this kind of warfare. The most important thing in guerrilla warfare is not fighting, but supply. When Dorne faced Aegon's conquest, it was a local defense, with a mass base, so the supply was endless. But this group chose to fight in Viserys's territory without the help of the locals.

All we have to do is guard the main roads in the mountains, find and cut off the supply lines, and these people will have to wait to die in the mountains and forests, no matter how deep they hide.

But after all, the problem was that Viserys's troops were seriously insufficient, and the castles in his territory were just fortresses that were no different from empty cities. Facing the enemy's systematic harassment, he could only passively defend.

a moment.

From his high vantage point, Viserys saw enemy activity in an open space on the hillside of one of the mountains. They emerged from the valleys and woodlands, their formations spread out widely, some of them carrying flags, and heading in a certain direction.

The bait was so obvious that Viserys noticed something unusual in the mountains and forests.

During the Dance of the Dragons, the territory of Raven's Rest was looted and burned, and civilians and livestock were slaughtered. The "Uncrowned Queen" Rhaenys rode her dragon Melias to rescue Raven's Rest. Rhaenys rode the dragon to sweep away the enemy, burning countless enemy soldiers to death and wounding. They dropped their weapons and fled. However, this was a plan of the "Kingmaker". King Aegon II rode the golden dragon Sunfyre and his brother Prince Aemond rode Vhagar. Rhaenys was besieged and died.

Although in today's world, Viserys does not need to worry about the enemy's dragon support, there is no doubt that when the bait appears, it means that there must be a trap waiting for him here.

Viserys just flapped his wings and circled high in the sky, not attacking the baits.

Gradually, the decoys began to run.

Because of fear.

The people who were sent to act as bait would of course be terrified, because the dragon was high in the sky and they could only run. When people are too frightened, only running can indicate that they are away from danger.

At first, some baits slipped and fell while running.

Some people may not be able to run anymore, so they kneel down on the spot, shouting something towards the sky and kowtow for mercy.

Some people simply stopped running, drew their bows and shot in vain into the sky.

The morale of the soldiers sent out as bait was collapsing.

But after waiting a moment, Viserys decided to send this desperate bait on its way, no matter what the trap was.

High in the sky, flames gathered in Viserys' mouth like a whirlpool.

High above the mountains, it seemed as if a second sun appeared in the sky, and a huge fireball took shape in the air.

Kevan Lannister, who was watching from a distance, opened his mouth wide. He couldn't understand what he was seeing. He looked at the dragon in disbelief. There was a huge fireball hanging in the sky like the scorching sun. He just felt difficulty breathing, as if he had seen a miracle.

In the mountains, the decoys started running again, trying to find a corner to avoid the fireballs.

However, when the fireball fell, all efforts seemed so futile.

A fireball as big as a second sun hit the mountain where the decoys were. The moment the fireball touched the mountain, an astonishing flame exploded on the mountain, and the flames swept from the top of the mountain to the mountainside. The whole mountain was instantly engulfed in flames, generating several huge white air currents that went straight up to the sky. The scorching wind spread in all directions, and the strong wind pressure shock wave blew down large areas of nearby forests.

Kevan was shocked.

A mountain was lit like a candle in front of him.

He knew that he might not see a single salvo.

After seeing such a scene, no one would dare to act according to the original plan. They would hide the crossbow and themselves deeply and not show them in the sight of the three-headed dragon.

Perhaps it was the wind pressure, or perhaps the ambushers were driven mad by excessive shock, but Viserys saw some movement among the woodlands.

When he found that place, Viserys soon discovered that several groups of people had appeared, surrounding a huge wooden machine. They had been hiding in a secluded place in the mountains and forests, covering the machine with tarpaulins and grass, preparing to launch some kind of raid on Viserys.

Perhaps knowing that they had been exposed, some people hoped that the crossbow would work and began to activate it frantically.

Even Kevan, who was observing from a distance, could not have imagined that at this moment, an attack was launched on the dragon in the sky from a preset point.

But the accuracy of the crossbows in this era was hopeless. Viserys didn't even need to dodge, as the crossbow arrows could not hit him who was in a high place.

Instead, he only needed to spray out small fireballs to attack, and those crossbows were like fixed targets, with no choice but to be ignited.

The air advantage was too great, and what followed was almost a one-sided massacre.

Kevan, who was watching through a telescope outside the battlefield, felt dizzy, his legs went numb, and he sat there in a daze. The dragon was so powerful, how could the Lannisters face such an opponent?
"Retreat quickly, Ser Kevan. Disguise as shepherds and retreat to the grasslands. There are horses on the grasslands. We can change horses and rush to the mouth of the Wend River. There are ships waiting for us there. Go back to King's Landing before the dragon finds us and before we take any captives to expose our whereabouts!" A guard wearing smelly woolen clothes came to the crevice where Kevan was and gave him a piece of equally smelly clothes. He asked Kevan to put on his clothes and drive the sheep down the mountain. This place was far away from the mountain where the dragon was raging. The dragon knights should not suspect that the shepherds here had any relationship with Stannis's army so far away.

"Go back to King's Landing, what's the problem with going back to King's Landing? Dragon"

"Sir, at least our tactics are correct." The squire disguised as a shepherd turned pale and his lips turned blue. He didn't even believe what he said, but he was trying his best to persuade Kevan to leave quickly. "If the soldiers in the expected ambush had not exposed our whereabouts, our soldiers could have hidden in the mountains and forests and retreated safely! There was nothing wrong with the Dornish tactics back then, but we were unskilled and the soldiers were too afraid of dragons. As long as we can find a way to overcome this fear, my lord, we can shoot it down like the Dornish shot down Meraxes! Please retreat, my lord, we must inform Lord Tywin of the situation here."

"Where's the raven? Where's the raven to King's Landing?" Kevan suddenly grabbed his hands.

"I'm sorry, sir. The dragon appeared and frightened the crows. I couldn't—"

"How is it possible? This place is so far away from the battlefield, even the sheep weren't scared!"

"Sheep are stupid animals, but crows are smart. I failed to keep an eye on the cage and they were scared away. It was my negligence. Please punish me, sir."

"The dragon."

"Please consider the greater good, sir!"

"."

Finally, it is time for the subsequent plot development to be very different from the original. Next, Tywin will enter a strategic retreat and divide the eggs like Tyrell.

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(End of this chapter)