Game of Thrones: Viserys the Three-Headed Dragon.

Chapter 267 Intermission
Although his words hurt, Viserys felt that the battle was not a victory at all as the defenders of the Wall cheered their victory.

A big reason why the zombies retreated was because they achieved their strategic goals, and Viserys himself was freed up. The commander of the White Walker army knew very well that even if they occupied the castles on the Wall, they would not be able to withstand Viserys's power.

The coordination of the White Walker army makes people suspect that their army has a "brain" that controls the overall situation and conducts unified command of the battle line that stretches for a hundred leagues.

Speaking of the defenders.

Viselis had thought that he had seen enough problems during the war, but as the castles restored their signals and submitted post-war statistics, he found that there were an incredible number of problems in this battle.

The first point is the wrong empiricism at work, especially for some old Night's Watchmen who were promoted after the military strength of the Great Wall expanded. These old Night's Watchmen generally had no contact with the White Walkers or the zombies. They were accustomed to their years or even decades of experience in defending the wall. They believed that two or three hundred people could defend a castle, and that a seven-hundred-foot wall and a commanding position could withstand the siege of tens of thousands of troops. So after they were promoted and stationed in various castles, although they also built arks and cooperated with the wildlings and the auxiliary defense forces, they misjudged the situation because of the expansion of the Great Wall's military strength.

The current defenders of the Great Wall include 15,000 Southern War Band, more than 6,000 Northern Allied Forces, more than 5,000 Braavos mercenaries, and a group of 6,000 to 7,000 wildlings who are nominally incorporated but are actually just scattered soldiers, totaling nearly 40,000 people.

This is the time when the largest number of troops have been stationed at the Great Wall in decades or even hundreds of years.

Many old Night's Watchmen only saw that the troops assigned to cooperate with them in the defense could not even put down the city walls, and even the built city walls had enough strength to defend, so they thought it was foolproof.

Out of this mentality, the barbicans of some castles were poorly built. They were just a ring wall surrounding the barbarian gathering area, without sheep and horse walls, parapets or pits. When the tide of zombies came, the only defense was a thin layer of ice wall, which was almost useless.

And now there are still commanders who have serious discrimination against the wildling free folks, and do not really regard them as friendly forces. During the war, there were very few castles where a tide of zombies poured into the inner city. When the situation was serious, the commander of the Night's Watch did not notify the wildlings to retreat, nor did he cover the wildlings' retreat into the city as planned. Instead, he directly closed and blocked the gates of the Great Wall, and directly blocked the northern wildlings who were responsible for defending the inner city outside the city.

It was not until Viserys received the battle report that he learned of such a terrible incident on the battlefield. After the northern city wall of the castle was lost, the free folk defenders and the elderly and weak could only retreat to the sloping semi-enclosed "cellar" built at the foot of the wall and wait for death.

Fortunately, the army of the White Walkers finally retreated, and the surviving wildlings survived, but they also suffered heavy casualties.

This behavior seriously undermined the trust that had been hard-earned between the Night's Watch and the free folks on the Wall. It was completely dishonorable and extremely evil.

Viserys did not interfere with the operation of the Night's Watch's power system and could not deal with it personally. In the end, Stannis went to the castle in person to remove the command, hanged the commander, and took away all the original Night's Watch defenses.

After this incident, the castle became the first Long Wall fortress whose full defense was handed over to the "New Night's Watch" who were of free folk origin and were responsible for command and control.

Although there are many problems, most of the defensive problems caused by unfamiliarity with the enemy situation and the enemy's fighting style are understandable.

In addition to the problems, there are also valuable combat experiences in the battle. For example, the urn in some castles is very effective in defending against the zombie tide. When the defenders built the ring wall, they set up multiple walls in the tightly defended areas, and there were gaps deliberately left inside the walls after they were built. These gaps were deliberately left with killing holes and arrow holes when pouring ice water.

After the multiple defensive walls were built, these gaps naturally formed pits and protective walls. When the tide of zombies climbed up the walls and could not be stopped, the defenders lit fires in these pits, which could effectively kill the trapped zombies and form a wall of fire to block the attack of the tide of zombies.

Even so, because the ghouls are flammable, when the tide of ghouls increases, the piled up ghoul bodies will burn and melt the ice on the wall, exposing the logs on the inner wall and causing it to collapse. However, if the ghouls have already reached the city, the wall can be declared lost. This design can also delay time, providing precious time for the city to retreat.

In addition, the gate of the Nightfort is also worth learning from. The Nightfort's barbican is the largest and thickest, and was originally built for the convenience of the giants. Although Stannis enlarged the gate, he also took adequate defensive measures on the gate. These measures are worth learning from for other castles.

Although the manpower and material resources of each castle are different, and some castles with fewer people cannot make full reference, no commander is allowed to underestimate the defense of the city wall and the south wall. Nor can there be any incident of betraying friendly forces.

Consensus must be reached on these issues, and if ideas don’t change, people will be replaced.

In fact, except for a few castles with sufficient defenders and well-built barbicans, twelve of the nineteen castles lost their barbicans under the barbican's reckless frontal assault. However, unlike the castle that betrayed the defenders of the barbican in the north of the city, the other barbicans that lost had made plans for retreat with the defenders, and after suffering certain casualties, they retreated safely to the south of the city and behind the Great Wall and sealed the city gates.

Although the Great Wall can be said to be a one-man-block pass against ten thousand when defending, the zombie tide is ten times that of the defenders. Even if the catapults, giant crossbows, archers on the Great Wall, and the defenders pushing oil barrels and gravel work at full speed, the number of zombies they can kill is limited.

The White Walker commander was obviously an experienced veteran in fire defense. When they attacked the relatively low city, they used the tactics of corpse tide and ant-attachment, charging densely, and even if the corpse tide was burning, they desperately piled up corpses to block it. Under the siege of all-out attacks, the fire defense of the human defenders in the cold weapon era could not withstand the continuous and desperate attack.

The other side is using corpses to deplete the oil reserves in the city walls. One hour, two hours, and at the cost of thousands of corpses, is it still impossible to use up the gaps in the city walls where the kerosene is running low?
The brutality of this battle was unprecedented in many people's experience. The zombies would not retreat, and their desperate zombie tide tactics gave the defenders a great shock.

After capturing the city, facing the seven-hundred-foot-high Great Wall, the White Walkers no longer used the tactic of dense zombie tides and ants, but instead used the tactic of adding fuel to the fire.

That is, the zombies take turns to attack the Great Wall from different directions according to the positions of the bows and projectiles of the defenders of the Great Wall, and increase their strength in turns, fighting and replenishing at the same time.

There was no Maxim in this era. The White Walkers' tactics were designed to wear down and wear down the defenders. In such a cold world, humans wore thick and heavy clothes. How many rounds could the archers shoot? How many times could the rubble and oil barrels on the city wall be pushed? Even the catapults and crossbows had their lethality greatly reduced after the zombies occupied the city.

The White Walkers' intention to use the "add fuel" tactic was too obvious, and any commander with a bit of brains would have judged that the White Walkers were tiring the enemy out after a while. However, with the tall walls of the Great Wall and no threat from the Ice Dragon, the defenders still felt that the White Walkers were just wasting their manpower, and they could do nothing about the Great Wall and could only watch helplessly.

After all, after the garrison retreated, the city gate was blocked with a pile of rocks that had been prepared long ago. Even if the city gate was breached, the White Walker army would have to spend time digging through the rocks before they could enter the city. The city gate was the key defense point, and the prepared oil tanks and wildfires were extremely sufficient.

But at this moment, the army of the White Walkers took control of the catapults and giant crossbows in the city.

The way these aliens use catapults and giant crossbows is completely different from humans. The "cannonballs" of their catapults are balls formed by zombies hugging each other. The purpose of their crossbow arrows is not to cause damage or ignite fire, but to let the zombies hang on the crossbow arrows and take off.
This army constantly reminds the defenders of the Great Wall that they are not human and that they should not think about their attacks in the same way as humans. They are cold White Walkers who lack human emotions and their army is a group of resurrected corpses who have lost their humanity.

If the White Walkers had not retreated en masse when the situation reached a stalemate, it would be hard to say who would be the final winner.

Perhaps the defenders can hold the Great Wall.

But the way of "holding" was definitely different from what they had originally imagined. The White Walkers would trap the defenders in several towers, tunnels and walls of the Great Wall from the north and south, and the defenders would be isolated and helpless, and would be killed on the wall by waves of zombies.

This also reminded the defenders that if there is a next time, they must destroy the catapults that cannot be taken away from the city wall to prevent the White Walkers from using the catapults to make overhead shots at close range.

The Great Wall was high enough that the catapults were too far away to throw the "Corpse Cannonballs" into the south, but once they got close to the wall, it would be very dangerous for them to come into contact with the catapults.

After the war, Viserys summarized the experiences and lessons of all parties, and asked the literate officers of the Night's Watch, the Chapter, the North, and the Braavos Allied Forces to work together to compile a "Summary of Gains and Losses of the First Battle against the White Walkers". Finally, he distilled the rules of "staying close to friendly forces, helping each other and trusting each other, being prepared to fight outside the city when superior combat forces are present, daring to fight and act, not underestimating the defense of the city, and not betraying friendly forces."

Anyway, in the end, seven points of attention and regulations were put together, with the "seven" taking the name from the seven countries, and commanders at all levels were required to abide by them.

It must be said that many commanders were not used to the military summary and propaganda of King Viserys, who nominally commanded the entire army, which was "grasping both military and propaganda, and propaganda to the centurion level", although the things summarized were all good. But for the defenders of all parties, they were more accustomed to the old army's reward and punishment system of hitting a stick and giving a sweet date. Although there were some, the additional commanders at all levels learning the so-called various precautions and regulations really made them a little unfamiliar and uncomfortable.

However, the king's majesty and deterrence are there, and one has to adapt to it no matter how uncomfortable one is.

Finally, the problem that both Viserys and Brandon were worried about was that the message was being transmitted too slowly.

Compared to them, the coordination of the White Walker army is as outrageous as the informationized troops in the cold weapon era.

In fact, Viserys also has a way to gather information from the troops within a certain range, that is, to send a devout believer to each unit and a few hundred non-believers to form a battlefield intelligence department, but the information can only be gathered to Viserys, which is similar to the current transmission of information by the Three-Eyed Raven, and other methods are needed to transmit it in the opposite direction.

For a moment, Viserys had the idea of ​​building temples dedicated to the Dragon God in various castles, just like the Mechanicus in 40K built churches on spaceships, so that devout believers could lead hundreds of people to be responsible for receiving and transmitting information.

But it was too low-end for the gods to be the central authority responsible for transmitting information. Viserys was very curious about how the Cold God or his White Walker commander did it. Could it be that the Cold God was really acting as a switchboard operator for the White Walker army?

Thinking of the operator, Viserys suddenly realized that he seemed to have the ability to hand-make wireless phones for a specific group of people in this world.

"What are you thinking of?" The illusion of the Three-Eyed Raven was very sharp and noticed that Viserys's breath seemed to have changed.

"Do you know how sound travels?" Viserys asked suddenly. "I need your help with something."

"sound?"

"The air vibrates. The essence of sound transmission is the air vibrates. I want to ask you, with your wisdom, is there a way to use the vibration of some object to restore the vibration mode when a person speaks?"

The three eyes of the Three-Eyed Raven Illusion all lit up. "Interesting idea. This is equivalent to recording a person's voice, and then using the same vibration to make a sound on the same object somewhere else, which is equivalent to transmitting the speaker's voice to another place. I think you should have some recommended raw materials for making items?"

"Gold sheets are easy to polish and can be made as small and durable as possible, but they are easy to deform, so a protective cover is needed."

The three-eyed crow said sharply, "No, you have seen it, you know what similar things look like, you understand its principle, but you can't make it. Why use gold sheets? You are not telling the truth. Easy to make small and durable? Maybe.

After observation, I know why your army uses gold-plated silver flagpoles and why the soldiers wear copper plates. Those metals are very efficient in conducting lightning power, more efficient than steel and any other metal. The reason why two styles of gold and silver flagpoles are used is that when using the power of thunder, they will also amplify the magic. There is a reason why you chose those metals. It is the wisdom of another world, right? "Viserys looked over and said: "Why are you so excited? Just tell me if you can do it?"

The Three-Eyed Raven blinked. "I roughly understand the principle of what you are talking about, but I can't imagine what it looks like. I need to 'see' it."

"I can't show you my memory." Viserys shook his head. "I can draw it for you, but it's only a rough outline. As you guessed, I know what it looks like, but I haven't made it, so yes, I can't make it. Why use gold sheets? Because gold sheets are not only easy to make thin and small, but also have the best conductivity. Do you understand conductivity?"

The three-eyed raven stared at Viserys's head, his tone full of regret: "Your memories of the other world are full of treasures, but you can only take out the shallowest part, and you can't even reproduce it. If you come to inherit my song. Alas-"

"I dare say that the Creator God also understands this, but he must have his reasons for not letting you know." Viserys did not dare to show his memories to the Three-Eyed Raven. He was not sure if the Three-Eyed Raven would be able to create an atomic bomb with its thousands of years of wisdom and magic if he knew the general principles of the atomic bomb.

"." The Three-Eyed Raven was speechless at Viserys' words.

Viserys took out a pen and paper and drew a rough sketch of a strange thing made of a vibrating diaphragm, a magnet, and a coil. To Viserys, who had magic, there was no need to distinguish between a microphone and an earpiece, because magic and witchcraft could record and transmit electric current. The only problem was that the transmitted electric current signal had to be able to basically restore the sound.

The Three-Eyed Raven watched for a while, and Viserys only gave a brief explanation. He seemed to have understood the principle behind it: "The power of thunder can actually be used in this way. It is surprising that such a small amount of thunder can be used to achieve such a purpose."

"Can you make it?"

"Why do we need magnets? Why does the magnetic force of magnets change under the influence of lightning?"

"I cannot explain that," Viserys said. "You only need to make one, large enough, and I will arrange for the Citadel to make a replica of it."

Viserys' idea was to build this thing and assign it to commanders wearing Thunderstorm Armor. In this way, Viserys could act as a hub, allowing those commanders to use military rituals to use their mental power through prayers to seek connection objects in a similar way to praying for power. Viserys, as a hidden operator, only needed to transmit the signal to the corresponding person, and only a slight force was needed to create the functions of "ringing", "connecting" and "conversing".

It's like a magic version of a cordless phone.

In a way, this is also beneficial for Viserys to promote a widespread belief system in the army, because if you want to use this thing, you have to pray to Viserys.

The only downside is that Viserys has to use his mind to handle "call forwarding," and the farther away you are from Viserys, the greater the call delay.

Fortunately, this thing must be used in conjunction with the Thunderstorm Armor and is destined to never be converted to civilian use. Otherwise, if he were to be distracted by those things, sooner or later Viserys would become the first god to be annoyed to death.

"I found that you are not opposed to mortals using your power. I thought this was a personal problem of yours," the Three-Eyed Raven couldn't help asking after he had argued with Viserys to confirm the principle, "but from your attitude and the things you have shown, it shows that this is not due to your personal character, but the result of the group's systematic rules and discipline. I am very curious why the extraordinary beings in your world are so tolerant and friendly to mortals. Judging from your previous practices, your otherworldly power does not seem to need the support of faith?"

Viserys was surprised that the Three-Eyed Raven had deduced so many things from the little he showed. He paused and said, "Let me tell you this. I am not born extraordinary. The education I received since childhood told me that when I do anything, I must first recognize 'where my power comes from' and 'who are my enemies and who are my friends'. After recognizing these, what I have to do is 'make more friends and fewer enemies', so that I can be invincible."

".I believe what you said. This can explain the paradox in you. Your original 'source of power' is not a mortal. It is something that constrains you. You said that you were not born extraordinary. So it seems that the alien world you live in is a world where mortals are powerful enough to fight against extraordinary people. Otherwise, these rules that have been constraining and affecting you until now - the 'education' you mentioned would not be valid."

Viserys didn't want to have a deep conversation with this thousand-year-old fox, so he asked, "As an old god in people's mouths, don't you believe that there are gods who love people selflessly?"

"Maybe, but the other world you come from probably doesn't have that."

Viserys thought seriously about whether the goddess of Hyrule could be considered a selfless lover, but he was afraid of being tricked, so he chose to continue asking: "You crave knowledge from other worlds because knowledge is power to you?"

"That's right. I'm not afraid of you knowing that knowledge and history are what you call the 'source of power' to me. If you are willing to let me read your memory, perhaps I can bypass the Great Will and change the world directly." The Three-Eyed Raven sighed, "What a pity. What a pity."

Viserys did not answer directly, but said, "It seems that we understand each other a little better."

Seeing Viserys start to talk nonsense, the Three-Eyed Raven remained silent for a long while before starting a new topic: "The army of the white walkers will attack Winterfell and cut off the last supply line of the Wall that you may use to transport supplies during the long night."

Viserys asked directly, "Which castles with heart trees have been lost?"

"Most of the people in Bear Island and Deepwood Motte in the west, the people in the districts of Mormont, Glover, and Greyjoy followed your request and moved to Winterfell after the Long Night. But there were still some islanders and some people who chose to stay in the houses they thought were well prepared. They prayed to me by the heart tree before they died. I actually told them to migrate in their dreams, but some people didn't believe it. The same is true for Carhor and the Dreadfort in the east. Even Hearth Castle of the Umber family. They are very fast, and the dead don't need to rest. They can walk forty to fifty leagues a day."

"The population of the North is only 500,000, less than that of King's Landing. What a pity! You and I should have stopped hiding and showing the oracle when winter came, and gathered everyone to a few places. As long as people are gathered together, it will be convenient to provide support and fight large-scale battles."

"At that time, neither you nor I knew the strength of the White Walker army. No one knew that the regiment you created could suppress the White Walker corpses on the front battlefield. At that time, gathering people together in my opinion would accelerate the White Walkers' process of exterminating humans. When frontal combat cannot guarantee victory, you should know how stupid the gathered humans will do."

"Unfortunately, it's too late to do anything now. When the long night comes, only residents of Deepwood Motte and Dragon's Point, which have been destroyed in the war and are destined to not survive the long winter night, are willing to risk freezing to death and rush to Winterfell. If it weren't for Jorah and Aegon on Bear Island, I don't think the Mormont family would be willing to move out of the castle and go to Winterfell in the ice and snow."

Viserys could foresee that the White Walkers would wreak havoc in the North and expand their power.

After seeing the White Walkers, the northern lords, knights, and commanders generally began to worry about their hometowns in the southern inland area.

Despite the propaganda about the importance of the Wall, Viserys was willing to use promises of honor, knights, and money to secure the morale of the army.

But Viserys knew very well that no matter how many castles fell in the North, as long as Winterfell could be defended, the morale of not only the Northern Army at the Wall, but all the armies would be maintained.

But if Winterfell were to fall, even if the importance of the Great Wall and the sufficient supplies were publicized, I'm afraid the defenders of the Wall would still have other ideas.

To put it bluntly, since most soldiers are already stationed at the Great Wall, they should be mentally prepared and can start thinking about their afterlife and posthumous reputation. They should be prepared to treat themselves as dead.

But human beings are creatures who live for something. In fact, even if the entire northern border is lost now, it will make no difference to the defenders of the Great Wall.

But when they looked south, they felt better psychologically when they thought that there was a Winterfell on the land.

Just like Viserys would occasionally send a supply transport team to brave the long nights and cold winters, through the ice and snow to bring supplies, but now, that little bit of supplies is useless. The manpower, material resources and even the lives of the transport team consumed on the road to transport that little bit of stuff are incalculable.

But why do we have to transport them? It's just a psychological hint. Every time the transport team comes, it tells everyone in the Great Wall that the road has never been cut off, and there will be a way no matter how difficult the situation is.

Viserys knew that people must have a dream.

So his idea was that since the Wall had to be defended, then Winterfell must also be defended.

This thing works psychologically.

As for other places, they are either not important towns or are far away. Even if they fall, the defenders of the Great Wall will not be easily panicked.

With this in mind, Viserys planned to take some time to go to Moat Cailin to issue orders, asking the Second Regiment to rush to Winterfell at all costs and defend Winterfell at all costs.

If the army of the White Walkers continues to move south during the long night, he will be left with nothing but devastation.

After all, the key defense point that Viserys had set up in the south was centered on Stonehall.

In Viserys' mind, the overall defense of Westeros was a dumbbell, with the center of gravity north of Winterfell and south of Stonehall.

As for other places, if the White Walkers are rampant, we can only let it go.

When the human army cannot form an overall advantage, the extension of the battle line is not good for Viserys, but it may not be a good thing for the White Walkers. The longer the White Walker battle line is, the longer it will take, and during this period, the human side will naturally gather together in a relatively safe place under the drive of the White Walkers.

Viserys was afraid that he would set up a long line of troops along the Kingsroad and guard the so-called strategic locations, hoping to guard the throat and block the White Walkers from a certain area. As a result, the White Walkers attacked directly from behind, just like they did this time, causing the army to be mobilized by the White Walkers, and the army was divided and surrounded by the zombies into a pile of lambs to be slaughtered.

Viserys didn't dare to make a strategic prediction that the White Walkers would definitely confront him and engage in a magic battle somewhere in Westeros.

What Viserys had to do was to wait until both sides were ready for a strategic decisive battle, and the decisive battle would take place on the battlefield he had preset.

(End of this chapter)