Game of Thrones: Viserys the Three-Headed Dragon.

Chapter 147 Agreement
According to the feudal knight fiefdom system in Westeros, if Viserys needed Dorne to engage in militarism, a Dornish lord like the Uller family of Hellgate, the Fowler family of Skyreach, or the Arlion family of Godsgrace could provide 100-200 knights and 1500-3000 sergeants respectively. And the Yronwood family of Yronwood could provide at least 200 knights and 4000-6000 sergeants.

If these major Dorne families alone fully supported Viserys's kingship, they could directly form an army of tens of thousands of people.

Not to mention the knights and troops of the Martell family, as well as the nobles of all sizes from all over Dorne, it would be easy to pull out a full team of 30,000 people.

According to the knight fiefdom system of Westeros, these summoned armies of nobles and knights can serve the king and their lords for free for 40 days. The losses and food during these 40 days are self-sufficient by the nobles and knights, but if the days exceed 40, the extra time will require the king and the lords to negotiate and pay for extra service.

This means that for a war lasting more than 40 days, Viserys needs to provide wages and supplies for the knights and troops recruited, so that he can legally organize these people to fight for him. But usually during wars, the logistics of the king and the lords are often not guaranteed due to various conditions, so most lords and knights choose to bring their own dry food and supply on the spot, and then reward and divide the spoils after the war.

In order to meet the army's needs for supplies and food, the lord of a place would take the opportunity to levy a shield tax on the place during the war. Free people, serfs under the knights' command, and able-bodied men from tenant farmers would be conscripted to serve as free labor for the militia and logistical supplies and participate in the war.

This "militia" is the sergeant among the conscripts. The feudal fiefdom system of Westeros stipulates that freemen and tenants with an annual income of more than 17 silver deer must provide their own complete chain mail, a helmet, a shield and a spear or a sword; those with an annual income of 10-17 silver deer must provide their own light armor, a helmet and a spear; and all civilians must provide their own cotton or leather armor, a helmet and a spear.

The weapons and equipment that civilians bring with them are not allowed to be sold privately, and even the lords are forbidden to deprive civilians of their weapons and equipment. If civilians fail to comply with the regulations, all their property will be confiscated. At the same time, civilians are not allowed to possess higher-level weapons and equipment. These militias are often an important part of the vassal army. The castle's coach will regularly train the militia during the off-peak season to make them qualified battlefield consumables.

Wartime plunder was the militia soldiers' only source of income, apart from their salaries beyond their service period and post-war rewards.

Therefore, this "local supply" is often the source of the breakdown of military discipline, because the vassal armies fighting in other places, in order to save the materials they need to spend, often form special plundering troops to "collect food" in local villages, towns and cities. The resulting burning, killing, looting, and bullying of women and children are often the reason why the two war zones often have deep hatred.

It is very outrageous that the wealth looted by the lords during the war was not included in the war spoils, so it was considered extra income on the battlefield. Therefore, unless the lords were particularly honorable and could restrain the army, they could not control the army from looting the people during the war.

Those who were conscripted to be responsible for logistics were even worse off; they were pure free corvée labor.

In addition to these, the army also includes free riders who voluntarily surrendered to the king and various princes. However, free riders are the easier to control because they voluntarily join a party to seize spoils on the battlefield, and they usually have no share in local looting. Unless they form an organized group, they are usually mercenaries.

Because the armies of this world are like this, after most wars, no matter whether they are the victors or the losers, the entire territory will often fall into serious economic recession and lack of population. It is even possible that after just one winter, the entire noble territory or knight territory will disappear.

It was for these reasons that Viserys wanted to streamline the Dornish army he had assembled.

When a war can be won with only 10,000 men, but 30,000 men are recruited, the harm caused to the local areas where the troops are fought and the military sources from which they are recruited is tantamount to carrying out a massacre.

In particular, the spearhead is directed at the Stormlands and the South. The Dornishmen and many families in these two places have deep hatred for each other.

As the saying goes, thieves pass by like a comb, and soldiers pass by like a rake.

Having too many feudal armies is sometimes not a good thing. The larger the number of such feudal armies, the more difficult it is to remediate the damage caused by the war.

In this era, the only way to restrain military discipline is to streamline the number of troops, meet their logistical supply needs, use rewards instead of plundering, form an effective system, and cultivate military habits, so as to prevent such things from happening as much as possible.

We can only try to stop it as much as possible. It is basically impossible to put an end to this kind of plunder in this era.

The reason why Viserys needed an army was that he needed it to force his opponents to form large armies of the same size to fight against him, rather than fighting in a guerrilla manner.

Forcing the opponent to engage in large-scale combat with him is the most efficient way of fighting a war, and often one battle can determine the ownership of a place.

For example, the first battle that Viserys decided to take back the Stormlands, the conquest of castles one by one in the Stormlands is far less fast than the victory or defeat of a large-scale field battle or siege battle. And Viserys plans to bring Shireen Baratheon with him. If Stannis avoids the battle, Viserys will directly let Shireen settle in Storm's End and become the new Duke of Stormlands to command the lords of Stormlands.

"This is the 'Prohibitions and Rewards Regulations for Targaryen's Army Going to War' that I drafted. Everyone, I have said before that now is the time for negotiation. If you have any questions about this provisional regulation, you can speak freely and point them out, but we will have to wait until the agreement is signed. No matter which great lord, the army I recruit must strictly follow this regulation. After everyone confirms that this regulation is safe, it will become the military law for the Targaryen army when it goes to war!"

As the second consultation meeting with the Dornish delegation progressed, Viserys made his final request regarding the military.

The content of the previous discussion was mainly about Viserys' policy towards Dorne and some details of the cooperation. Viserys will continue the policy towards Dorne since Daeron II. At the same time, he will make it clear that his heir will marry a Dornish princess and the third-generation heir will be the son born by the Dornish princess.

The entire Dorne will be incorporated into the rule of King Viserys, who will have the right to levy taxes, demand tribute, and exact labor from his people. The lords and knights will also swear various oaths of allegiance to the King of Dragonstone and the Targaryen family, and fulfill the duties and obligations of vassal states.

Last time, there were some issues between the two sides regarding the dispatch of troops, so the second round of negotiations was mainly about military issues.

When the lords of Dorne saw this treaty, they quickly understood why Viserys insisted that Dorne only provide 10,000 troops.

There are two articles in the regulations that have the greatest impact on the current situation of the military.

First, Viserys banned the old policy of the army supplying itself locally in the regulations, and instead established a special logistics unit to supply the needs of the troops going out to war; second, plundering in the battlefield was banned, and instead a military merit system was established for rewards - the king planned to expand the size of the war merit recorder in the war supervision team based on the original war supervision team, who would be responsible for recording the war merits of the headquarters including the militia soldiers, and rely on unified rewards after the war to replace looting.

In this regulation, the army was subject to many restrictions during the war. Except for combat, which was the army's main duty, all other activities were more or less restricted. In particular, looting during the war was explicitly prohibited.

There is no doubt that the king wanted to improve military discipline and turn his army into an honorable army that was born only to fight.

This approach cannot be said to be too conservative, because over the years, there have been many honor-abiding nobles among the lords of Westeros who have restrained their troops in this way during wars, but this is the first time that a regulation has been written directly in the name of the king to regulate it.

The only part that made them feel generous was that the regulations clearly stated the distribution of battlefield spoils. The king was very generous in dividing the shares of battlefield spoils, and there were also corresponding reward regulations for battlefield prisoners.

In a sense, it can be said that the king made his attitude clear with explicit regulations: he supported his army's plundering on the battlefield, but not plundering outside the battlefield.

Prince Oberyn was surprised, so he didn't comment on the regulations. He just said that King Viserys's understanding of the army was even more organized than some veterans in some aspects, which made Oberyn suspect that Viserys had formed a mercenary group himself and had rich experience in leading troops.

But Oberyn knew full well that retaking Dragonstone was the king's first battle.

This reminded Prince Oberyn that privately, people rumored that the king had landed in the ruins of Valyria, learned mysterious magic in the ruins of the Valyrian Peninsula, and that his dragons were also obtained from the ruins of Valyria.

But this rumor has never been confirmed. The king's fleet commander, Ser Grolai, is said to have accompanied the king to the ruins of Valyria. People say that it was he who used his superb sailing skills to lead the king deep into the misty sea of ​​the Valyria Peninsula and allowed the king to land at the ruins of Valyria before being knighted.
Although the knight has repeatedly refuted those rumors as nonsense, there is no doubt that the king himself is shrouded in mystery.

In accordance with King Viserys' usual strong character, this regulation finally passed the trial version and became one of the contents of the agreement for Dorne to send troops under the rule of Dragonstone.

"Then, Prince Oberyn," Viserys said, "please send a letter to Prince Doran, asking him to prepare food and fodder along the Bone Road. When the time comes, 10,000 Dornish troops will set up camp at Summerhall from the Bone Road, and I will personally lead the Dragonstone troops from Blackwater Bay into the Wender River and up the river. The Dornish and Dragonstone armies will join forces at Felwood, capture Felwood and Bronzegate, and then move south to attack Storm's End. We will strive to win the Stormlands in one battle. Once the Stormlands are pacified, the next step will be to turn our swords to the South." As he spoke, Viserys raised his glass, "Everyone here is a witness and participant in this agreement. I sincerely hope that the Targaryen dynasty will prosper with your help. Let us drink this cup together!"

(End of this chapter)