Game of Thrones: Viserys the Three-Headed Dragon.

Chapter 284 Confrontation
At the end of the first year of the Long Night, the army of the Undead was wreaking havoc in Westeros, and the North, the Riverlands, and the Vale were almost completely occupied.

No one expected that something that could truly change the situation of the war was being mined and transported from the originally uninhabited "barren land" in the border area between Dorne and the South.

The desert edge of the Borderland began to enter the Red Mountains after the beginning of winter, and explored the mountains and basins with the help of local civilian guides. According to King Viserys's "Guide to Valyrian Coal Deposits", they searched the mountains and basins near human settlements. These mine explorers, who risked their lives in the mountains and forests like the frontline soldiers, finally found rich coal deposits.

In a ravine in a basin between Tianji City and Wangzhong City in the Red Mountains, there is a place locally called Black Soil Stone Mountain. The exploration team found exposed coal stone mines there, and they are the easiest to mine lignite mines, accompanied by poor coal and lean coal, which are much higher quality than the peat currently used by some areas of Westeros, which is generally peat enriched near swamps.

To Viserys, this discovery was even more exciting than victory on the battlefield.

The most serious problem to be faced since the long night is that the dead tide of the white walkers is only the most obvious problem. The more terrible problem is heating. Firewood has a low specific heat capacity and is consumed quickly. It is not suitable for long-term heating, but coal is different.

Coal mines are generally enriched mines. For Westeros today, the mining of one mine can meet the fuel supply of an entire area.

The only problem is transportation.

Viserys gave a special order to gather all the old miners from the borderlands to work in Dorne in the long night and severe cold. He also mobilized tens of thousands of laborers from Dorne and the south to transport coal from the mountains of Dorne to Highgarden, various places in Dorne, and Summerhall day and night.

And there is more good news.

As the first batch of coal mines were divided up by Viserys and used as references by the stewards of the various lords in his jurisdiction, the stewards of foreign affairs of some nobles in Stormlands and the Westerlands soon found similar ores from the depths of their memories. So in the long night, the desire for survival gave full play to the subjective initiative of human beings to survive. Intelligence about the existence of exploitable coal mines also came from Stormlands and the Westerlands.

Soon, the three Viserys spent huge sums of money to purchase mines, set up mining sites, and recruit miners to put the "state-owned coal mines" into production.

Viserys was certain that during the Long Night, these coal mines would become the energy heart of the entire country, providing a steady supply of energy to all areas within his jurisdiction.

There are already sufficient food reserves, and now there is enough heating fuel. Although the overall situation in the war is still at a disadvantage, Viserys has much more confidence in winning the final victory.

Of course, Viserys was not a kind father who did not ask for anything in return. Everything had to be paid for. Coal was stored in the king's granary as a new fuel commodity. In order to encourage people to use coal, buy coal, and know about coal, Viserys asked the ministers in charge of this matter to set up a coal furnace that never went out in several large human settlements.

For this purpose, Viserys even remotely manipulated the Privy Council to add a minister specifically in charge of coal mines - the Minister of Energy, to deal with the promotion and reserve of coal.

Although the front line of the battle against the White Walkers has been advancing southward, some things have happened that indicate that the situation of the White Walkers in Westeros has slowly reversed.

Countless people in later generations would regard Queen Daenerys's official participation in the war with two dragons as a sign that the White Walker army and the Westeros army on the battlefield of Westeros had entered a strategic stalemate. However, looking at the situation at the time in history, the situation when Daenerys joined the war was complicated.

Viserys is definitely not a good husband. He was not by his wife's side when she gave birth twice. Daenerys not only gave birth to his children, but also managed the rear for Viserys.

It is not a good time to be born at the Long Night, but Viserys's second son was still born with some hope.

The second son is still a boy. Viserys named him "Aemon" to commemorate Aemon, the oldest Targaryen grandfather, and to hope that the little prince can have the good qualities of Prince Aemon the Dragon Knight. The royal family's affection is always political. When the little prince was born, Viserys could feel that because of the storm magic he inherited, Aemon's talent was naturally higher than his brother, the Crown Prince Denis. Viserys knew very well that he could not let Aemon affect Denis's position as the Crown Prince because of his magical talent, so the education he would implement in the future was destined to be different from that of the Crown Prince.

However, Viserys was secretly glad that his second son was not a daughter, otherwise the "tradition" of the Targaryen family might bring more uncertainty to the future.

However, less than half a month after Daenerys gave birth to Prince Aemon, the army of the White Walkers attacked again, approaching Riverrun, Crowtree, and Stonehedge in the river. At the same time, they were harassed by the regrouped zombies on the Wall and the raging zombies in the valley, approaching Gulltown.

Relying on the large number of zombies suddenly transferred from the North to the river, the White Walkers captured Stonehedge in less than half a day.

It is true that things are unpredictable. The Bracken family of Stonehedge and the Blackwood family of Raventree Castle not far away fought for a thousand years without any result, but in the end, the Blackwood family had the last laugh.

I wonder what the ancestors of the Bracken family would think if they knew that if the extremely huge ancient weirwood of the Blackwood family had not died and the two families had not become enemies, it might have been able to protect the Bracken descendants?
Perhaps it is because the momentum of the White Walker army has reached its limit, or perhaps it is because the human army has been in the war to this point, and even in the face of the bitter cold of the long winter night, humans have faced severe survival challenges in their natural empiricism, forcing them to make changes.

The human side finally reacted in the space pulled out by Viserys. Only by concentrating their forces could they fight against the surging tide of the White Walkers on the battlefield. The scattered population must also gather in large cities and castles to survive.

So in the direction of the Vale, several great nobles of the Vale completed the integration in two months with the help of Viserys, braving the long nights, and assembled an army of 40,000 to 50,000, and all moved to Seagulltown. After learning the bloody lessons of the fall of Iron Oak and Red Fort, the major families in the Vale decisively abandoned their family fortresses, and followed the army with their entire families, moving towards Seagulltown and Runestone City.

Almost all the remaining troops in the Valley Basin arrived at Seagull Town and were on high alert. They fought a back-and-forth offensive and defensive battle between humans and aliens with the invading army of White Walkers.

In the direction of Riverrun in the center, Riverrun's call for help was responded to by Stonehall. The three regiments, which had been stationed in the center for a long time and mainly composed of well-trained soldiers from the South, officially engaged in battle and fought the White Walker army in the frozen wilderness of the Red Fork River south of Riverrun, which was arguably the largest field battle since the war began.

The Third War Regiment has a total of 30,000 troops, and Shitang Town also has 30,000 ordinary troops stationed, totaling 60,000 people. This time, the Third War Regiment's 30,000 troops are going to rescue Runliu City, while the ordinary troops will stay in Shitang Town.

Even Viserys did not expect that these 30,000 people taking the initiative to attack around Riverrun would unexpectedly break the zombies' deployment on the battlefield and force the White Walker army to split up and intercept.

The Battle of Riverrun was divided into two battles: defending the city and providing support.

What is shocking is that the 30,000 men of the Three Regiments were able to end up in a stalemate in a field battle with an army of White Walkers that was twice their size.

The White Walker army originally planned to follow the old strategy, intending to exhaust the fuel, flames and wildfire of the human army, and then attack them all at once.

But one thing that stands out about Viserys's regiment is that the formation is everything. Although the White Walker army is large, they failed to break through the formation after several rounds of attacks, and their own forces were constantly consumed. The White Walker army had to change its strategy and began to use tactical tactical pulling like the first regiment of the enemy outside the Great Wall, buying time for the siege of Riverrun.

In other words, the White Walker's interception war turned into a blocking war.

As for Riverrun, the city had lost its natural barrier as a river city after the rivers flowing through the city on three sides froze. Even after the city was reinforced following Viserys' orders, the battle to defend the city was still extremely difficult under the siege of the zombie tide.

When the battle was getting longer and longer, the soldiers were exhausted, and the Three Regiments were two leagues south of Riverrun but could not get through the desperate resistance of the zombie tide.

Daenerys joined the battlefield of Riverrun riding Nightfyre, which was already seven or eight meters long, and Shimmergold, which was four or five meters long.

Although after witnessing the power of Viserys's three-headed dragon, Nightfire and Shininggold, the two young fire-breathing dragons, were not as powerful in deterrence, the addition of the dragons still greatly boosted morale and brought about a turning point in the battle situation.

This is the first time that Daenerys and the Targaryen dragons have attacked since the Long Night, and Riverrun has undoubtedly become a perfect stage. However, it is worth mentioning that the way Daenerys and the dragons attack the dead is very different from what people in Westeros who are used to hearing the legend of the Targaryen dragons imagine.

Daenerys rode on Nightfire and brought Shininggold. She did not breathe out flames at low altitude to clear the way. Instead, she used her wings to fan the wind in the sky to blow away the snow curtain of the White Walker army, and then threw huge barrels of wildfire from the sky, and then breathed out flames to ignite it.

The main attack was on the densely packed areas and connection points of the White Walker army's formation, aiming to use the high altitude advantage to disrupt the White Walker army's formation, cooperate with the three regiments to open up the passage close to Riverrun, and assist the Riverrun defenders in focusing on the places with the most zombies.

And it was on this battlefield that the human army witnessed for the first time the most powerful long-range offensive of the White Walkers since their invasion from the south.

Perhaps it was because Daenerys's dragons never flew at low altitude, but continued to threaten the White Walker army and destroy their formation. Seeing that the situation was developing in an unfavorable direction and there were only two ordinary dragons, the opportunity was rare, so the White Walker commander used the anti-aircraft trick that he had hidden for almost a year.

According to the recollections of those who were on the battlefield at the time, they only saw corpse eagles and large birds flying out of the blizzard and launching suicidal attacks on the dragon. The dragon kept spewing flames in response. Then they heard sharp whistling sounds of "whoosh whoosh whoosh" coming from the depths of the corpse tide hidden by the snow curtain, and then they saw a dozen dark blue streams of light flying out from the snow curtain and shooting towards the dragon in the sky at an unimaginable speed.

Those streaks of light were magic ice spears thrown by the White Walkers, attacking directly towards Nightfire and her wingman Shininggold under Daenerys's seat.

Then, people saw that the two dragons, which were already incredibly fast in people's eyes, dodged the dozens of dazzling blue lights at a speed that was almost impossible for the naked eye to catch and unimaginable. After avoiding the lights, the two dragons quickly climbed into the air and flew towards the sky where the lights were shot. In just a moment, the dozens of wildfire barrels tied to the two dragons were thrown to the ground like beans.

The giant black dragon Nightfire spewed out flames at an incredibly fast speed.

Ignite a barrel of wildfire that is falling from the sky.

In an instant, green fireworks exploded in the sky, and then fell to the ground like a fire meteor. Then, a staggering green flame curtain ignited above the ground, directly surrounding a large area of ​​corpses.

The dragon flapped its wings from the sky, and the blizzard clouds in the sky were gradually blown away by the strong wind, revealing the location of the White Walker headquarters below.

Then, the golden lightning, as jaw-dropping as that of His Majesty the King, directly washed the ground.

What is even more surprising is that the battle is not over yet, but Queen Daenerys, after throwing the barrel of wildfire she was carrying, has quickly left the battlefield with her two dragons.

But just a quarter of an hour later, Queen Daenerys appeared with two giant dragons above the zombie tide that was gradually showing signs of defeat and preparing to retreat, and then began to pour wildfire from the sky again.

It was not until the end of the battle that the Riverrun defenders and the III Regiment learned that this was a tactic called "high-altitude bombing."

Because the two dragons are still very young, even Yehuo, who looks like a giant, is only three years old. Their scales are not thick enough and their fire bags are not strong enough. The damage caused by fire breathing alone is very limited.

If it is against a human army, the power of Nightfire is certainly enough, after all, the human army will surrender in an organized manner under fear. But facing a highly organized army like the White Walkers, the intimidation caused by small-scale killings is completely meaningless. In comparison, destroying the formation and continuous harassment are more reasonable tactics.

Theoretically, Daenerys could also try to use the power of the storm to carry out large-scale magic damage, but Daenerys could not produce the effect of dozens of lightning bolts like Viserys, and at this stage Viserys was still preparing to convert the believers of the Seven Gods. She thought it was unnecessary to use all her strength to cause unnecessary doubts. She could also hide her weakness in a battle that she was sure to win, so she mainly used her strength to speed up the two dragons.

Speaking of which, Daenerys is still a little scared. The reason why she used the "bombing tactics" was because Viserys once told her that the White Walkers might have powerful anti-air magic - although Viserys had never been attacked by the White Walker army with anti-air magic.

Now Daenerys, Nightfire and Shininggold were almost ambushed by a sudden magic spear on the battlefield, which clearly verified Viserys's guess.

Afterwards, when we checked the places where the ice spears landed, we found that they were actually magical ice blocks condensed from pure black ice magic power. They were so cold that they made people's teeth tremble.

Nightfire and Shanjin didn't dare to get close to observe, they could only spit fire at those things from a distance. This was enough to prove how terrifying they were.

Daenerys didn't dare to imagine how terrible the consequences would be if a dragon was hit by such a spear at high altitude. Would it become a corpse dragon controlled by the White Walkers like those corpse birds?

The battlefield was mainly in three directions: Riverrun, Gulltown and Runestone City in the Vale, and the Wall. This was undoubtedly a landmark event, as even the Vale was held without Viserys and Daenerys appearing - although the human side suffered heavy losses.

In any case, this was the first time that the White Walkers' third massive offensive in Westeros did not achieve a major advantage on any local battlefield.

As the war progresses, humans gather together in order to survive, and the fighting will inevitably turn into an offensive and defensive situation involving tens of thousands of troops and hundreds of thousands of soldiers and civilians. The strategy of the White Walker army of dividing the troops and attacking fiercely will also enter a period of weakness that they are unable to cope with.

Either a large number of troops are deployed to guard the big city, or there is a superior force in the local battle situation that can engage in field battle with the White Walker army to a certain extent, and the offensive of the White Walker army will be alleviated.

Facts have proved that humans are not afraid of fighting a major battle or a decisive battle with the White Walker army whose numbers cannot crush them. What they are afraid of is the dispersion of their forces and personnel, and being defeated one by one by the zombie tide's scattershot tactics when they have local advantages.

But unfortunately, when the White Walker army finds that they cannot gain an advantage through large-scale frontal combat and siege warfare, they will launch a dispersed offensive.

Fortunately, under the pressure of the situation, even the valley that Viserys had not previously controlled has naturally formed a situation where heavy troops are gathered, and Riverrun is an example.

Brynden the Blackfish decided to abandon Riverrun and Pinkfriar, and to retreat with the tens of thousands of remaining civilians in the riverlands to Stonehaven, a strong military town arranged by Viserys, during the long night and cold winter. Of course, countless people would die during the migration in the long night and cold winter, but they could still survive if they migrated, but if they stayed in Riverrun, which had become an isolated city in the riverlands, only destruction would await them.

Next, the civilians of Hejian, together with the laborers of Shitang Town, will live as cave dwellers in the mountains for a while during the long night, digging holes and building bunkers.

The first year of fighting against the White Walkers ended with the loss of a large area of ​​the North, a full retreat across the river, only two isolated cities left in the valley, and the White Walker army regrouping and moving deep into the hinterland.

With the weather advantage of the long night, it is inevitable that the White Walkers will disperse from the wilderness into the inland hinterland. The only thing to be thankful for is that Viserys was well prepared in the crown of Dragonstone, the Reach and the Stormlands. It would be difficult to replicate the situation in which the White Walkers defeated each one in the North, the Riverlands and the Vale.

Unfortunately, the initiative of whether to fight a major war has been in the hands of the White Walkers since the beginning of the Long Night. As the attacked party, the other side gave up fighting a major war or a decisive battle, and chose to disperse their forces to fight local guerrilla warfare in the hinterland. Viserys could only accompany them in this long-term harassment war and sparrow warfare.

The strength of the White Walker army in Westeros cannot be underestimated, but the other side still chooses to enter a long battle of attrition with Viserys despite having a huge advantage.

The war had only been going on for a year, and the White Walker army and Viserys's army had already reached a stalemate in Westeros.

I don’t know whether this is a form of respect or mutual torture.

(End of this chapter)