Game of Thrones: Viserys the Three-Headed Dragon.

Chapter 190: For Stark
When Viserys returned to Storm's End, he felt a little dispirited and just wanted to get a good night's sleep or find a quiet place to meditate using Marwyn's rune meditation method to restore his spirit.

But Daenerys brought him a letter from Arya Stark, who claimed to have succeeded the Duke of Winterfell, which was sent by raven from Riverrun in the riverland to Dragonstone, and then by raven from Dragonstone to Storm's End. The last descendant of Stark, who claimed to be the Duke of Winterfell, asked King Targaryen: After Sansa disappeared, she was the only heir of the Stark family. She intended to follow the letter that Targaryen had sent to the northern lords, and as the legitimate heir of the Stark family, she would take on the responsibility of guarding the North and gather troops to support the Great Wall, hoping that this would gain King Targaryen's forgiveness and support.

The letter did not mention the attitude of the Hejian area.

It must be said that when Viserys saw the letter, he thought he had read it wrong.

Arya Stark succeeds Lord of Winterfell at Riverrun?
What's happening here?
Viserys had no idea that this was done by Brynden the Blackfish.

Although the Tully family motto is "Family, Duty, Honor", with family coming first, in Viserys's opinion, Blackfish is a person with a strong sense of responsibility and stubbornness. Judging from his personality, he does not seem like someone who would use such political means.

Viserys thought about it carefully. It was rumored that after Robb's death, the other major riverland lords did not all kneel to the Iron Throne or surrender to the Freys as in the original world line because of the changes in the south - the addition of Viserys's important forces made King's Landing unable to assist the Freys in regaining the riverlands.

Brynden the Blackfish still guarded Riverrun in Robb's name. Many river lords were watching the situation and remained silent - these people were mainly river lords who had their own troops and retreated to their respective family territories after Robb went north.

And Viserys remembered that Blackfish had never seen Arya. In fact, many of Robb's men, even many northern lords, had never seen or known Arya Stark.

Viserys was really curious. Didn't Arya go to Braavos to be a Faceless Man? How did she get to Riverrun? How did the Tullys confirm Arya's identity? And for what reasons did they decide to push her to the front and make her the "only heir of the Stark family" and "the Duke of Winterfell"?
What Viserys was most curious about was who came up with the idea of ​​having Arya write to Viserys, seeking "certification of legitimacy" from the Targaryen King?
You know, given the hatred between Stark and Targaryen during the War of the Usurper, making this decision means that she would surrender to the Targaryen on behalf of the North.

Viserys was thinking that even though his current strength put a lot of pressure on King's Landing, his power should not have radiated to the riverlands and the North. And considering the time, the power he showed in Braavos should not have spread to the inland. Even the White Harbor, which was the closest to Braavos, should not have arrived the fastest ship with the news of Viserys's actions in Braavos.

What considerations did the inland area, which has always been slow to react, have in making such a decision?
From a purely political perspective, the behavior of "Arya, the self-proclaimed Lord of Winterfell" is a one-sided act. Viserys could even imagine that not many people knew about the letter. After all, Tully and Stark were both important parties in the Usurper's War. Such a decision would definitely make the people below feel puzzled and surprised.

But if this letter could get a response and verification from Viserys, the situation would be completely different. Maybe this "Arya" would really take advantage of the situation and openly raise the banner of the Targaryen king, stirring up trouble in the riverlands under the pretext of being ordered to go north.

Viserys thought that perhaps his previous actions and the treatment of Shireen and the Stormlands had spread to Riverrun, making them feel that they could give it a try. Anyway, from the perspective of "Arya" and the Tully family, the situation in Riverrun couldn't be worse now, and perhaps getting in touch with King Targaryen could bring new opportunities.

Daenerys saw him deep in thought over the letter, and handed him the intelligence about the Riverlands that she had sorted out at Storm's End. "These are the news about the Riverlands from the Military Intelligence Bureau. After the Red Wedding, Edmure Tully, the Duke of Riverrun, was captured alive by the Freys. The false king of King's Landing deprived the Tullys of their land, titles, and income, and transferred them to Emmon Frey, who was married to the Lannisters. The Tullys' rule over the Riverlands was transferred to the Baelish family of Harrenhal. Now Brynden Tully of the Tully family is guarding Riverrun, and he is still fighting under the banner of the dead false king Robb. It is said that the Freys' army is heading south and is conquering the river lords. The ultimate goal is undoubtedly Riverrun. However, intelligence from the Military Intelligence Bureau shows that Riverrun still has at least 3,000 defenders. The Freys and some of the river lords they have conquered should not be able to capture Riverrun. Unless the Lannister army goes to the river."

"The Lannisters and Tyrells are around King's Landing, and there are still 40,000 to 50,000 troops in King's Landing and Harrenhal. They just didn't move. Did the Military Intelligence Department find out what the Lannister and Tyrell troops in King's Landing are waiting for? They can't be really frightened by the feints I set up at Bronzegate and Summerhall? Their intelligence channels should be more developed than ours. Could it be that after so many days, they haven't discovered that I was using the strategy of confusing the enemy at Bronzegate and Summerhall?"

In fact, Viserys despised the enemy strategically, but tactically he still gave due respect to the 40,000 to 50,000 troops of Tyrell and Lannister in King's Landing. He was using the same strategy as Dong Zhuo's entry into Luoyang to confuse the enemy. He set up many empty tents in the camps of the garrisons at Summer Hall and Bronze Gate, allowing the two thousand-man troops to move back and forth and enter the camp repeatedly.

Now, nominally, "four thousand men" from the Stormlands have gathered in Bronzegate, while "twenty thousand combined forces" from the Golden Company and Dorne have gathered in Summerhall.

But in fact, there were only a thousand men from the Stormlands in the military camp of Bronze Gate City, and there were only about eight thousand men from the Golden Corps in the camp of Midsummer Hall, as well as a thousand troops originally planned to be assembled by the Dornish Bone Road and nearly a thousand Dornish logistics laborers.

The Dornish forces that Viserys actually needed to fight were gathering at Prince's Pass.

But at this time, the significance of Viserys's streamlining of Dorne's external forces was revealed. Dorne could theoretically provide at least 30,000 troops, but the troops assembled at Prince's Pass were only about 10,000. And now there are also "20,000 coalition troops" gathered here in Midsummer Hall.

Viserys put himself in their shoes and thought it made sense.

If he was the Lannister and Tyrell garrison in King's Landing, I'm afraid that before finding out the truth, they would never have thought that his next battle plan was to attack the Southland from Prince's Pass instead of King's Landing.

Daenerys has watched Viserys and the Prime Minister plan military operations recently, and has more or less come into contact with the planning of large-scale operations. In the past few days, she has also been exposed to a lot of military intelligence when Viserys was away, and has some understanding of the current situation: "In fact, there are some rumors among the people of King's Landing in the Military Intelligence Department. People are saying that the Tyrells and Lannisters have failed to reach a marriage alliance, and now they are fighting for power in King's Landing. The garrisons have stopped communicating with each other and are secretly divided and confronting each other. Some people are saying that they are about to have an internal conflict. Others are saying that many people in King's Landing have privately prepared real dragon flags, and they will open the city to welcome us when we march into King's Landing."

Viserys asked curiously, "Is there any solid basis for these rumors?"

Daenerys replied: "No." Viserys responded: "There is no need to pay attention to rumors without evidence. We only need to proceed as planned."

Viserys felt that there was a shadow of Varys in these rumors. The intelligence chief who was still stranded in King's Landing seemed to be trying to get Viserys to turn his attention to King's Landing to show that he was useful to Viserys. Viserys guessed that Varys might turn to him at the critical moment of his attack on King's Landing, either to show his usefulness or to seek a stable exit from the stage.

In fact, if Varys left King's Landing and surrendered with a lot of useful information at this moment, Viserys would still have to consider how to deal with him, but obviously there were some things in King's Landing that made Varys reluctant to leave.

Since Varys is so reluctant to leave King's Landing, let him stay there.

King's Landing is not Viserys's "useless and priceless place", Viserys is not Saladin, King's Landing is not Viserys' Jerusalem at all, it is just an ordinary city. King's Landing is completely worthless and not worth mentioning in Viserys' eyes.

After thinking for a while, Viserys looked at the letter from Riverrun again. The North and the Riverlands were now dispensable to Viserys, but since they wanted to cause trouble, why not help them and make a few moves?

Viserys knew better than anyone that among the Stark descendants, only Robb was dead, while the others, Bran, Rickon, Sansa, and Arya were all alive and well.

Considering that Arya was the first Stark to come to Viserys to seek "legitimacy certification", Viserys thought it would be better to support her to become the "Warden of the North". Anyway, the shrewd princes in the North are hard to keep, and they always miss the Stark family who has ruled the North for 8,000 years. Even in the most declining moments, there are people who say "The North will never forget".

As for the Stark children, Sansa is now in the hands of Littlefinger in the Valley of Arryn, Bran is about to become the new Greenseer, and Rickon should be hiding on the Isle of Skagos in the far north.

Viserys thought that he might be able to take this opportunity to turn the North into the second Stormlands and Arya into the second Shireen.

As for supporting Arya to become the Duke of Winterfell, there are only two threats. One is Roose Bolton, the Warden of the North appointed by the false king, and the other is Rickon Stark, the male heir of Stark.

As for Sansa, as a female heir, Sansa has actually married a Lannister. Based on this, Viserys has a thousand ways to prevent Sansa from fighting for the North.

Roose Bolton thought Viserys had a greater purpose and there was nothing to worry about.

Then Rickon Stark is the only obstacle standing in the way of Arya becoming the Lord of Winterfell.

Want to find a way to get rid of it?

Suddenly, Viserys had an idea. Now that Arya had taken the initiative to accept the title, it might not be a bad thing for a male heir to appear in the future.

After all, why should the North under Viserys' rule remain a whole in the future?

First of all, the Mormont family will definitely expand their territory in the future and become a direct vassal of the crown. But one nail is obviously not enough.

Viserys thought about it carefully. When the prophesied moment came and the long night arrived, the North would definitely become the front line. The northerners would first have to dedicate themselves to fighting for the Seven Kingdoms and for all mankind, and fight for their lives.

If humans win in the future and defeat the Long Night, and reward their merits, wouldn't the North, such a large place, be able to accommodate two Starks?
Thinking about it this way, if Sansa is willing, as long as she can make some contribution in the decisive battle that determines the fate of mankind, if she is willing, Viserys might be able to give her and her offspring a piece of land in the North?

The king was generous and was very willing to extend his favor to every Stark and northerner who had made contributions in the battle for the fate of mankind.

Back to the present, even without considering such a long-term plan, Viserys realized the benefits of promoting Arya. He could find an opportunity to test the attitude of the Arryn Valley, which had always remained neutral. Viserys did not want Littlefinger to still be hiding in the dark waiting to reap the benefits.

Viserys had an idea. He prepared two paths for the army of House Arryn. Either become the opposite of the Targaryens and wait to be conquered, or go to the north with Arya to prepare for the Long Night. Anyway, they could not continue to watch the show in the Vale. Why should they stay indoors in the Vale while others are fighting to the death?

(End of this chapter)