Game of Thrones: Viserys the Three-Headed Dragon.

Chapter 272 Plan
"It's just as I thought. The White Walker army's siege inland is just a means, not an end."

Viserys couldn't help but sigh as he looked at the information sent by the Three-Eyed Raven.

While Winterfell was under siege, the Wall and other castles in the North were also being attacked by the White Walkers in large numbers.

But this is not the worst case scenario. If the zombie tide is only concentrating its forces on attacking the Great Wall and the castles in the North, that would be good news for Viserys.

however.

"Castles are meaningless to the White Walker army and the God of Cold. Only living things - living people and various wild and domesticated animals - are their targets. The situation in the interior is already devastating. It is too late to order the army and civilians south of the Neck and north of the Red Fork to evacuate to Riverrun, Harrenhal, or even further."

Viserys looked at the Three-Eyed Raven and said, "I want to know how you got such accurate information. Why do you suddenly have such accurate information about the deployment, movement and route of the White Walker army in the North, and even the location of a special White Walker commander? What did you do? Did you incite a White Walker commander to rebel?"

It turned out that the Three-Eyed Raven suddenly gave Viserys the location, layout and direction of the White Walker's large and small armies in the North.
Even the White Walker special advance team in the White Walker army. With the advantages of high-mobility corpses such as ice spiders, dead horses, and dead bears, and the mobility advantage of not getting tired without eating or drinking, this advance team, like a group of scattered flowers, went deep into the wintering places of villagers and clansmen in the deep mountains of the North, fishermen's villages and towns along the coast and rivers, and the outskirts of various noble castles in the North, ahead of the White Walker's corpse tide.

They would locate where living people and creatures were gathered, collect corpses, break through and massacre scattered living creatures - there were humans who were preparing for the winter independently and could not venture out after the long night, as well as hibernating bears, lizard lions, snakes, and wolves, wild goats, and shadow mountain cats that foraged for food in the ice and snow. When they encountered a gathering place that could not be solved by the scattered military forces, they would also summon the nearby zombies to gather together and attack together.

The army of white walkers heading south and deep into the interior is different from human conquerors. Their combat intentions cannot be considered from the perspective of conquerors, because they are not going to conquer cities and territories like humans to become kings and overlords, but to kill all living things.

Castles and cities have no political significance to the White Walker army. They do not want any legitimacy or claim rights. In their view, castles and cities are just gathering points for larger and more difficult to deal with humans and various domesticated creatures.

The army of the White Walkers will not fight to the death at one place. If they fail to capture a city, they will gather hundreds of thousands of troops to attack it.

They won't.

What they need is not to compete with humans in a city or a place, but the speed of slaughtering living things and the efficiency of conversion.

To put it more simply, even though the wights have gathered so many troops to attack the Great Wall and various castles in the North, they have not actually concentrated all their troops to fight a meaningless battle with humans. While they are attacking the cities, there are also various scattered White Walker mobile forces attacking small strongholds such as human towns and villages, looking for various animal gathering places to slaughter and transform various animals.

There may be many humans in the castle, but there are even more humans and living things outside the castle.

The White Walkers and the Cold Gods are enemies of all living things.

“Every living creature” refers to more than just humans.

In fact, it is easy to understand that what the White Walkers need most after moving south is the most efficient slaughter and transformation. It is not yet time to really concentrate their efforts on a certain castle.

There is a problem of efficiency conversion ratio here.

Viserys could imagine that if he were the commander of the White Walkers, with only ten thousand wights, and in front of him there was a castle with one or two thousand living units and a field with five thousand living units, he would not hesitate to deal with the field with five thousand living units first.

For the White Walkers, in this war, efficiency is the meaning of fighting.

"I have my own methods." The Three-Eyed Raven did not explain the source of the intelligence. "In short, now that we know the White Walkers' arrangements, what should we do next? You are the commander-in-chief."

"The army of the White Walkers is too scattered in the North." Viserys looked at the points marked on the map by the Three-Eyed Raven. It was still dark to the north of the Wall, with only a rough estimate of the location, but to the south of the Wall. There were two large groups of enemies around Eastwatch and the Shadow Tower. One group was mainly concentrated in the snowfields around the Bay of Seals, with the commander and the main forces concentrated in the woods ten miles away from Eastwatch. The other group was concentrated on the anticline in the mountains at the south foot of the Shadow Tower, with the commander concentrated in a col. As for the inland of the North, there were only three large groups gathering in three directions. One was surrounding Winterfell, one was gathering between the White Knife River and Sheep's Head Mountain, and another was advancing southwest from the direction of Widow's Watch.

As for other places, they are scattered all over the northern border like flowers scattered by fairies.

When the Three-Eyed Raven told the North the deployment of the White Walker forces and marked them on the map in real time using his magical senses, Viserys had the same experience as if he were opening a map on the battlefield.

"We can focus on attacking several enemy groups, especially the two groups south of the Great Wall that pose the greatest threat to the Great Wall. They need to be dealt with first. We need to move quickly and preferably in sync. I think we can launch what you call a 'phased counterattack'. Send your first regiment to attack the enemy commander at the southern foot of the Shadow Tower, and send Stannis and the Northern Alliance to attack the enemy headquarters at the southern foot of Eastwatch. Your second regiment can attack Winterfell in the north, and as for you, you can quietly rush to White Harbor for support. We can also launch a coordinated attack from all sides, a decapitation operation."

"This way, the other party won't wonder how we got such accurate information, and won't remove the 'thing' you ambushed with so much difficulty?"

Viserys looked at the Three-Eyed Raven suspiciously. Although he didn't understand how the other party obtained the information, the result was amazing. He didn't even know what the other party did, but he found out the movements of the large and small armies of the Southern White Walkers and the positions of their commanders.

But such means are used impatiently now, and they are eager to counterattack and defeat the White Walkers' attack in the North and the Wall. Although the results are predictable, it is undeniable that the White Walkers now have the Long Night, and their troops are sufficient, and they are in the snowball stage. This so-called "stage counterattack" cannot achieve a fatal blow, but can only delay the opponent's local offensive and defeat the opponent's spirit.

Viserys felt as if the God of Cold had only seduced the Three-Eyed Raven, but he had already used his ultimate move.

Viserys didn't think the Three-Eyed Raven would be so stupid unless he was out of his mind. As a witness and recorder of Westeros' history and knowledge, would he be out of his mind?
"If we don't do this, we will just passively take the beating. You should remember the first time you and Daenerys came into contact with me. This 'little trick' will soon be discovered by the other party." The Three-Eyed Raven said, "The army of the White Walkers is now making every effort at the Great Wall, attacking from the north and south, just to hold you and me back. Winterfell is a strategic location, and White Harbor now has a population of more than 200,000, which is half of the total population of the North. If these two places are lost under this wave of impact, the Great Wall will become an isolated island on the northern continent.

Winterfell now has only more than 10,000 soldiers and civilians. It is not a big problem to let it fall and then find an opportunity to retake it. But if White Harbor falls, Viserys, you know what it means for the North. It means that the White Walkers will have an additional 200,000 or even 300,000 dead ghost troops. "

"From what you said, do you think the White Walker army will not gather the zombies from all over the North to attack White Harbor after encountering stubborn resistance there?"

"This happened eight thousand years ago, although the White Walker army had not formed a tactic at that time. But after landing in Essos, the White Walker army attacked indiscriminately and marched straight in. They went all the way to the Saihoru River. Behind them, there were several large cities of the First Men and the Rhoynar, such as Sa Dolan, Na Kaxing, and A Yiqi, which were resisting stubbornly. Until the human counterattack, there were still some remnant human forces hiding and fighting in the underground fortresses of these cities. Under the long night, ordinary humans could hardly leave the city. For them, some of their cities could not be attacked, and the humans hiding behind the city walls could not get out either. So instead of gathering military forces and wasting time on these cities, it is better to point the spearhead directly to the front, because there are always people and living things in front of the continent."

Viserys understood. It was still a question of efficiency. The White Walkers' tactics were that some of them would push forward without looking back, regardless of their lives, and try to kill all the scattered living creatures and convert them into servants. The cities and castles behind them would be surrounded and left to be dealt with by the zombies that gathered behind them.

It is somewhat similar to the German attack on the Soviet Union in World War II, except that the White Walkers' mobile forces do not need supplies, and there will be no phenomenon of tanks running out of fuel and causing delays in the battle line.

Although he understood, Viserys still couldn't help asking, "I have never heard of the names of the cities you mentioned."

"Of course, because those cities eventually perished. Eight thousand years ago, many cities where humans gathered resisted the attacks of the White Walkers at first under the cover of the Long Night, but they could not withstand the cold and the shortage of supplies. Humans and animals, who need to rely on food to survive and use external objects to maintain body temperature, are too fragile. Only a few survived by chance. The last Long Night lasted for more than 30 years. This time, Viserys, although you have prepared a lot of supplies, do you think you can really defend Westeros if the Long Night lasts for 30 years?"

"Eight thousand years ago, humans persisted in the area occupied by the White Walkers for more than thirty years during the Long Night?"

"Yes, those people have beliefs in the Old Gods, so I know they even have descendants that have survived into modern times. The islanders of Skagos Island."

"So that's it. They eat people."

"It's not just humans, Viserys. Animals are capable of doing things to stay alive that you can't imagine until you see them."

"They eat ghouls?"

".right."

This absurd knowledge made Viserys silent for a long time: "So the flesh of the wights can be eaten? By cooking it?"

The Three-Eyed Raven paused for a moment after being asked this question: "Not only that, the corpse ghost's body can be chopped up and used as firewood."

". Absurd yet reasonable. I hope I will never have the chance to see such a thing." Viserys could only give such an evaluation after listening to it, and then he turned the topic back to the main topic, "Let's talk about the phased counterattack." This is easy to say, but how to approach the enemy secretly and how to achieve coordinated attacks on four battlefields far apart are big problems. However, "I have an idea. I need you to use a little magic to assist the counterattack army."

When the discussion between Viserys and the Three-Eyed Raven entered the topic of counterattack.

In the crypts of Winterfell, the fear of the flames going out and the darkness making Sansa recover from her panic, she picked up the hot torch on the ground that was smoked by the heat of the strange flames. Everything was too weird, she didn't dare to stay here any longer, and ran to the collapsed section of the road.

Without time to think of excuses or reasons, she decided not to mention the strange things that happened here no matter who asked. The old gods were merciful, she couldn't explain what happened here.

But people just couldn't help being curious. Just as Sansa was running back and forth in panic, when she felt the strange fire behind her that burned her mother and Howland's bodies was extinguished, and she felt darkness coming again from the corner of her eye, she couldn't help but glance at that place.

And at this glance, she vaguely saw a vague shadow, which looked a bit like a person sitting on a strange chair. That person made Sansa feel inexplicably familiar and sad.

Yes, sadness. The moment Sansa saw the shadow, she was filled with a surge of sadness.

Salty tears flowed from her eyes, and she felt as if a huge hole was missing in her heart.

Sansa stopped unconsciously, wanting to see who the figure was. But when she looked carefully, there was only a vague and deep darkness, like a dark hole, with nothing in it.

North of the Wall, underground in the weirwood forest. Meera saw Bran sitting on the weirwood throne in the tree hole, rolling his eyes and with crystal tears flowing from the corners of his eyes. She couldn't help asking: "He's crying, what's wrong?"

Hodor replied: "Hodor."

Meila said unhappily, "I didn't ask you."

Hodor responded: "Hodor."

Meila looked at the child of the forest whom she named "Leaf" and said, "Leaf, do you know anything about it?"

"I don't know," the child of the forest blinked his golden eyes as bright as the sun, his tone was like crying and full of sorrow, "but he is absorbing the wisdom of the old gods, and his wisdom will one day be as deep and developed as the roots of the ancient trees. He will become a green prophet, for us, for the people of the kingdom."

"These past few days, I have used some means to locate the gathering position of the White Walker army in the south." Yes, some means. Viserys announced, "This is the gathering position of the White Walker army in the south that I found, and the possible location of the command system.
You have all fought against their armies, and you should know that they should have battlefield commanders. They have been harassing the north and south, especially Eastwatch and Shadow Tower. The situation is particularly difficult under the pincer attack. The city has changed hands many times, and even the city walls have been threatened many times. These two places are also the worst hit areas, with heavy casualties. The cracks in the city walls have been damaged several times by the magic of the White Walkers.

Although we have a dragon that can recapture the attacked area of ​​the wall in time, and Jon Snow, the player of the "Horn of Winter", has been running back and forth across the Great Wall for more than 20 days, using the magical magic of the old god fish beam wood to repair the seemingly small leaking cracks. But looking at Jon Snow's increasingly weak body, this will sooner or later cost him his life. By then, I am afraid we can only watch the cracks in the Great Wall being enlarged little by little by the magic of the White Walkers, causing another large-scale collapse like the beacon tower.
I plan to have the First Regiment, the Nightfort garrison of the Great Wall, and the Northern Alliance launch a surprise attack on the White Walker army gathered in the south during the long night, and try to eliminate their White Walker commanders and expel them from their current garrisons, so as to relieve the pressure on the south of the Great Wall.

This is why I asked you to come here at a time when the military situation is critical. Let’s discuss it.”

"It's getting cold outside now. Your Majesty, the distance you saw is not close to the Great Wall. I'm afraid it's impossible to carry out a 'surprise attack'." Stannis has become increasingly powerful since he obtained the power of R'hllor and the Sword of Light. He is not afraid of field battles, but he is afraid that the human army cannot be 'hidden' in the long night. "Excuse me, Your Majesty, since you have made this discovery, why don't you do it yourself? Wouldn't it be more convenient for you to ride a dragon and destroy them?"

"I think you all know more or less about the coordinated operations of the White Walkers these days. To be honest, we are annoyed by this kind of attack. Before, as soon as your majesty drove back some of the White Walkers at Eastwatch, the White Walkers retreated on all fronts." Randyll Tarly defended Viserys, "Lord Stannis, if your majesty takes action, your majesty will attack the east, and the White Walkers in the west will move away. Your majesty will attack the west, and the White Walkers in the east will move away. The result will be just like when we faced the first attack. As soon as your majesty made some moves, the White Walker army would retreat on all fronts, making it impossible for us to fight even if we wanted to."

"More than that," Viserys continued, "all of you here today are important members of the Wall's defense. I might as well tell you that the White Walkers heading south have already launched an attack on Winterfell, and another group of zombies are gathering in the direction of White Harbor. There are more than 200,000 civilians in White Harbor. If it is lost, I don't think I need to explain the consequences. I plan to take the opportunity to go to White Harbor to provide assistance while you are attacking."

Hearing this, someone got anxious and said, "What? Your Majesty. The White Walker army has not used the magic that summons the ice dragon in its attacks these days. If you leave, if the White Walker army uses that magic while you and your regiment are not at the Wall, I'm afraid we won't be able to resist."

Someone added: "Yes, and has your majesty ever thought that this information is the White Walker commander's attempt to divert the enemy away from the mountain? The Wall is nearly 300 leagues away from White Harbor. If your majesty goes to White Harbor and the White Walkers attack the Wall, and the warband and Lord Stannis are outside the Wall?"

Arya, the representative of the North, disagreed: "If White Harbor is lost, there will be an additional 200,000 or 300,000 zombies south of the Wall. It will only be a matter of time before the entire North falls, and the Wall will be even more difficult to defend."

Someone else said: "Your Majesty is riding a dragon at an incredible speed. With so many soldiers guarding the Great Wall, can't you even guard the Great Wall for a day or two?"

"Some of you have overestimated the army of the White Walkers and underestimated yourselves." Viserys could not help but say, "I feel that I need to heal your mental illness at this moment. Which of the White Walkers' attacks was not a prepared attack? Don't they need time to prepare? Although they work together very well, do they know everything about the battlefield situation? Or can they eavesdrop on the tactics and plans we discuss here? That doesn't make sense. They are now at the peak of their forces, fighting at the Wall and in various places in the North. Isn't this because they know that we will not take the initiative to attack? Isn't this looking down on us?
We now have sufficient intelligence, and if we still can't get any benefit, then I don't think we can continue this war. No matter how long we defend, we will just be waiting to die."

Viserys was a little hesitant at first, but now it seems that the intelligence given by the Three-Eyed Raven is really timely, and this battle must be fought. Except for a few troops, the defenders of the Wall generally panicked about the massive attack of the White Walkers after the war began, and seriously overestimated the strength and danger of the enemy. Therefore, many people placed their hopes and chances of victory on Viserys. This is of course a good thing for spreading faith, but it is definitely a bad thing for the army itself.

Viserys's strong personal ability made them gradually regard themselves as a bunch of Viserys' pendants in their hearts. What's wrong with this? If the situation deteriorates in the future, won't the mentality of the defenders of the Great Wall explode as soon as Viserys leaves the Great Wall? Isn't this turning the Great Wall into a golden toilet that Viserys can't live without?

"Your Majesty, on behalf of the First Regiment, I am willing to follow your orders and attack a part of the White Walkers." Randyll Tarly stood up. "But your majesty, your intelligence shows that the White Walker armies in the east and west are 70 to 80 leagues apart, and White Harbor is nearly 300 leagues away. How can our three directions achieve the same coordination as the White Walker army? There must be some first and some later, but according to your previous estimation, the White Walkers' intelligence and coordination capabilities are unprecedented in our lifetime and are faster than we can even imagine. The movements of the White Walker army are difficult to estimate. The position today may not be the same tomorrow. The error is probably beyond the estimation of ordinary people. In the cold wind of the long night, the White Walker army is also covered by the blizzard. The slightest mistake may cause the army attacking from the outside to fall into an irrecoverable situation."

"Commander Randyll, I have considered all you have said." Seeing that the topic had finally turned to war arrangements, Viserys pointed to the maps hanging in the conference hall. "Please look, there are magical marks on these two maps. Look at this dot, this is where we are, Castle Black." Viserys moved his finger, and the strange green mark on the map also moved. "When both of you set out, the commander-in-chief must take these two maps with you. When your armies arrive at the designated location, the dots representing you will move to the corresponding positions. And these red marks are the locations of the White Walker commanders."

Randall Tarly looked at the map and was stunned: "What a magical thing this is!"

Other participants, including Stannis, Arya, Aegon, Commander Mormont and the second-line commanders of each department were also amazed and their eyes widened.

"There's more than just this map," Viserys said, pulling out of a box on the table something that looked like the front end of a speaker and had some weird stuff stuffed into it. "There are three magical pagers here. Come, Aegon, you come up here and take these and go to the back of the chamber."

When Aegon heard his name being called, he stood up and took from Viserys something that looked like it was made of gold and bronze. There were two objects that looked slightly different.

"This is how you use it," Viserys demonstrated, holding the receiver to his ear with one hand and the microphone to his lips with the other. "Go to the back and use my mental power to sense and receive."

"Yes."

Just like that, until Aegon was far away.

There was a faint flash of electricity on Viserys's hand, and a tinkling sound came from the receiver on the other end.

Aegon was startled, but thinking of Viserys's teachings, he quickly held his breath and focused his mind. The next moment, Aegon felt a faint current coming from the strange thing he held in his hands.

Then Viserys spoke up. "Well, do you hear me?"

At this time, the receiver at Aegon's place, which was filled with tiny electric currents, emitted a voice that was slightly distorted, but the tone was almost the same as Viserys's: "Well, do you hear me?"

The sound coming from the receiver was quite loud, even louder than the king's voice on the stage, and the commanders in the conference room could hear it clearly.

Aegon responded blankly, "Huh?"

An equally distorted voice came from Viserys' receiver on the stage: "Huh?"

Viserys continued into the microphone, "Next, on the battlefield, I plan to have Commander Randyll and Aegon carry this device on both sides, and I will carry another one. In this way, the three parties can use this magical item to communicate remotely. However, due to the long distance, there may be a delay."

Aegon's voice echoed through the receiver and Viserys's voice: "Next."

The commanders in the conference room were stunned.

Lando Tarly murmured, "Your Majesty, this magical device can allow us to communicate even if we are hundreds of miles apart?"

"Yes," Viserys confirmed.

A voice came from Aegon's side: "Yes."

"All right, come back." Viserys put down the toy made by the Three-Eyed Raven, which even Viserys himself found novel. "You two can take it down later and do some tests. Before Aegon and Lord Stannis return to the Nightfort, you two who are responsible for communication between the two sides had better familiarize yourself with how to page each other."

Commander Randyll and Aegon were so excited that they shouted, "Yes!"

"Your Majesty, excuse me, but are there any requirements for using this magical instrument?" Desmond, who was under Stannis' command, could not help but ask with envy.

"Yes, the user must know how to use lightning magic and be able to accurately control the flow of lightning on the instrument."

This is Viserys talking nonsense with his eyes open. The working principle of this thing is that Viserys himself receives and transmits electric current through two believers. Its essence has nothing to do with the user. The user only acts as a physical receiver and receives the electrical signal from Viserys.

However, because this magic principle really made Viserys feel that his role in it was particularly low-end, Viserys removed himself from it. Anyway, Viserys had already made up his mind to use this thing during the White Walker War, and when the war was over, he would find an excuse to stop using this thing.

The same is true for the magic map. The principle is that the Three-Eyed Raven uses its power to manifest the illusions that humans cannot see on the map. However, the Three-Eyed Raven was very interested in this thing. After hearing Viserys' idea, he pulled Viserys aside and asked him about the prototype, principle and usage of this thing in the other world. Viserys was sincerely impressed by his eagerness to learn.

Desmond murmured, "Is lightning a flowing thing? Like water?"

Aegon smiled at him and nodded.

Stannis saw this and glanced over there, and Desmond shut up.

When Viserys took out two magical weapons, the commanders knew at a glance that they would be of great use on the battlefield. So they stopped worrying about long-range coordination and the changes that had occurred when Viserys was far away from the Wall, and began to seriously discuss the actual tactics of this attack.

The first problem is how to attack secretly. Starting from Castle Black and Nightfort, how to reach a position where the White Walkers can be attacked without being seen by them?
There were also questions about how to keep warm in the cold winds of the long nights away from the Great Wall, whether to light a fire when resting in particularly cold weather, and how to ensure that the army would not fall behind when stepping into the snowy wilderness that was rarely visited after the beginning of winter.
Thus, a counterattack plan that the defenders of the Wall were going to launch just a few months after fighting the White Walkers was finalized during the discussion in which the commanders of Castle Black expressed their opinions.

(End of this chapter)