Game of Thrones: Viserys the Three-Headed Dragon.

Chapter 201 Ironborn Invasion
Viserys didn't know it yet, but when he accepted Highgarden's surrender and led his guards into Highgarden Castle along the fragrant path paved with roses and flowers, the Lannisters and Tyrells in King's Landing were already fighting each other.

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

It was also Viserys' first time to the Reach. He had always heard that the area had developed agriculture, with fruits and vegetables growing everywhere and flowers blooming in the gardens. But after only a cursory look during the march, he had a deeper understanding of the title "Granary of the Seven Kingdoms".

In fact, the Reach is also the birthplace of the knight system in Westeros. Unlike the South as most people understand it, the people of the Reach are martial, and their strong military equipment often makes the Reach the main force in war. The only pity is that, precisely because the people of the Reach are martial, they have sufficient weapons and no shortage of food, so almost every local lord in 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 in the South, local lords and feudal lords were not of one mind.

Even during the reign of the Targaryen dynasty, the first Tyrell was the only one in the Reach who could temporarily subdue the people with the help of the Dragon King under the strong support of Aegon. Later, everyone knew that whenever there was a major war in the territory, the vassals of the Tyrell family would split up and disperse to 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, and the lords have the most thoughts. Whenever the situation changes suddenly, everyone will make their own calculations.

Viserys had heard that when Willas tried to persuade them to surrender, the knights of House Hightower and their vassal states chose to leave with their troops.

Viserys realized that Hightower seemed to have other intentions, but when he got the news, it was too late. The army of about 3,000 Hightower and his vassal had already gone far away. Viserys was a king after all, and it was not easy for him to chase and kill these knights who claimed to be loyal to the lord and wait for the lord to make a decision. He looked furious.

Anyway, now that Highgarden has been taken, the next step is Oldtown. Viserys will lead his troops there and don't care what they intend.

It was really ridiculous. Among the 20,000-man army of Highgarden, only a few could be called great lords. For example, the reason why Fossoway led his troops to Highgarden was because he nominally wanted to help Garlan Tyrell, son-in-law of the Fossoway family, to attack Brightwater—this was the title bestowed on Garlan by the King of King's Landing.

More powerful lords, such as Rowan, Redwyne, and Tully, were all in King's Landing with Lord Mace, the inflatable fish. This made Viserys unable to determine the attitudes of these families. Their knights and some soldiers surrendered with Willas, but it was hard to say what the lords' attitudes would be, and there was a possibility of reversals.

The raven message from Viserys required him to come to Highgarden and swear allegiance within a limited time, so he had to wait in Highgarden for the lords and castle agents from all over the southern border to arrive, and then decide how to respond based on 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 will he know who has come and who has not come, and then he can decide who to deal with and how to deal with them.

While waiting, Prince Oberyn made a suggestion: "Your Majesty, Highgarden has been conquered. After the southern border is recovered, can you consider taking the opportunity to hold a tournament in a certain place to publicize your majesty and martial arts?"

Viserys thought for a moment. "A tourney?"

Oberyn replied, "Yes, Your Majesty. The South is a martial land, and the people of the Reach are very enthusiastic about tournaments. It just so happens that you are here to gather vassals from all over the South to Highgarden. If you take this opportunity to hold a tournament, you can not only win back the hearts of the people in the South, but also publicize your power. What do you think?"

Viserys discovered that Oberyn was actually thinking about how to win back the hearts and minds of the people and soldiers in the south. He originally thought that with the relationship between Dorne and the Reach, even if Oberyn would not be like other Dornish 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: "That's a good idea. But the situation in the south may not be stable yet. Once we are sure that the Hightower, Redwyne, Rowan, and Tully will not resist, then arrange the tourney."

After receiving this advice, Viserys couldn't help but have a better understanding of Oberyn. This Prime Minister was far more responsible than he had imagined.

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

If the King and the Prime Minister had not been intimidated by Viserys's majesty and had not restrained the Dornish knights in time, and if some ignorant guys had been allowed to show off their power against the surrendered soldiers from the south, an unexpected conflict might have broken out between the two sides.

In this way, the tournament was also a measure to ease the conflict. The Dornish soldiers and the surrendered soldiers from the Reach did not fight, and both sides were probably not very happy. Of course, if a few people died in the tournament, it might aggravate the conflict, but life and death in the tournament was a matter of honor, and Viserys could still come out and 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 the reign of King Robert and affected the national finances, holding a tournament did help win back the hearts and minds of the people in the South. For example, the tournament held in Lannisport after Robert's victory in the Greyjoy Rebellion was of great political significance.

But it's too early to tell.

And Viserys was still thinking about the prophecy of 'salt water into the White Tower', and expected the Iron Islands to 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 border soldiers from Highgarden, news of the Ironborn invasion came from the Shield Islands.

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, Oakenshield Island ruled by the Hewett family, and Southshield Island ruled by the Sire family all fell. Talbot Sire, the heir of Southshield Island, was killed by Victarion in a duel. The fleet of the Shield Islands was completely wiped out.

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.

The battle was a tactical one. The Ironborn sent twelve ships into the Mander River at dusk, and the fleets of the Shield Islands were drawn to pursue the ships, only to be led into an ambush.

The fleets of the Shield Islands could never have imagined that the main force of the Iron Islands fleet would suddenly emerge from the Sunset Sea in the west. The setting sun covered the whereabouts of the main force of the Iron Fleet. When the pursuing Shield Islands realized that the Iron Islands fleet was attacking them from the 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 into the Mander by the Ironborn to spread fear.

"'.Now the Mander is open to us, as in days of old. Fear and offer your wealth and your women.'" Viserys took the crude, threatening letter from Victarion Greyjoy from Willas's hand.

The Mander River flows gently and is wide. In ancient times, the Ironmen had boldly sailed into the river, plundering the banks of the Mander River and its tributaries, and even freely sailed longboats up the Mander River all the way to Bitterbridge, plundering the heartland villages and castles of the River 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 driven out after several generations, and the original name of these islands, the Misty Islands, was renamed the Shield Islands.

But that was a story from two thousand years ago.

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

It is no longer the era of the Gardener King, and there is Redwyne's fleet in the Riverlands. 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 led by Victarion was not the entire main force of the Iron Islands, and Victarion was just a bait thrown by Euron.

Perhaps Euron's idea is to lure the Redwyne Fleet in the Redwyne Strait to the line of the Shield Islands and the Mander River.

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

But in any case, the lords of the Reach have not come to swear allegiance yet, and Viserys wants to wait a little longer, and 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 mean the surrender of the entire South.

Viserys had to wait for those lords who would be affected but had not yet sworn allegiance to make their positions clear before he could be sure that he was protecting his own territories and people. Now only Highgarden and a few families represented by their heads of families could clearly express their attitude of surrender, so Viserys would only protect the direct territories of those who had clearly surrendered.

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

Viserys thought about it and felt 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 in Oldtown to rescue the Shield Islands in the name of the king. This was just the right opportunity to see whether Redwyne and Hightower had any intention of surrendering to the Targaryens.

Victarion's Iron Fleet is the largest fleet of longships in the Iron Islands. With the ships captured from the Shield Islands, they can now gather a maximum of 100 ships. Add to that Euron's fleet that is ambushed somewhere unknown, and it is estimated that all the Ironmen can gather 150 to 200 warships and longships.

The Redwyne Fleet is the largest fleet in Westeros, and it is said that this fleet has 200 warships. Although Hightower's fleet is not large, it also has dozens of ships. If they fight, it will definitely be a unique battle.

Willas said carefully, "The Ironborn did not attack along the coastline when they attacked the Shield Islands, and the letter was so threatening. Your Majesty, I'm afraid their purpose is not to plunder the heart of the Southland, but to have other intentions."

"Willas, do you think the ironborn know I am in Highgarden?" Viserys asked.

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

Viserys nodded. "I suppose so. How about this? There are fleets of the Redwyne and Hightower in the Reach. I have heard that the Redwyne fleet is the largest in the Seven Kingdoms. Send a message to them in my name. Ask them to come to the mouth of the Mander River to rescue the Shield Islands."

"Your Majesty. This..." Willas wanted to say, this was obviously a trap.

"You mean to say this is a trap, and that the ironborn will soon know I am in Highgarden and be prepared. Is that correct?"

"."

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

(End of this chapter)