Chapter 257: Viserys's First Task Force

Stonetown was completely demolished. A special mobilization was taking place in the market square, which was covered with a layer of dried gravel and asphalt.

During the War of the Six Kings, this place was the battlefield between the Lannisters and the Tullys. Almost one-third of the houses were burned to ruins. The original owner, Sir Wilbert, was killed by the Lannisters during the War of the Six Kings. None of his sons who followed the Young Wolf survived. Before Targaryen took over, there was no one in the town.

Now the town is full of soldiers gathered from all over the place, 1,000 from the King's Territory of Dragonstone, 2,000 from the Stormlands, 4,000 from Dorne, 4,000 from the South, plus 2,000 from the Golden Corps and more than 1,000 from the Free Riders. An army of nearly 15,000 people gathered here, in addition to nearly 20,000 civilians, trackers, merchants, and craftsmen.

Around this town, camps and forts are arranged in an orderly manner within a one-league area.

The geographical location of Stonetown is truly in the middle of the world, right in the middle of Westeros. The east is the king's territory planned in the old times, and you can go straight down the river to the estuary of King's Landing. The south is the Blackwater River, and the Golden Road and the Southland are across the river. The west is the Westerly, and although there are mountains blocking the way, it can lead to Horndale, Pink City, and Golden Tooth City. The north is the riverland, with Acorn Hall by land and Red Fork River by water to Riverrun.

Because of this geographical advantage, this place is really a battleground for military strategists, and every period of unrest is very turbulent.

Now the "First War Group of the Anti-White Walker Front" formed by Viserys is assembled here. It is called a war group, but it is more appropriate to say that it is a task force.

Westeros is so big that it would take at least half a year to walk from south to north. Fighting in unfamiliar places and unfamiliar enemies has always been a taboo for military strategists. Therefore, the purpose of this seemingly large task force is to split into two routes along the river. One route is scheduled to go to the North via Riverrun, Stonehenge, Witchfen, Twins, and Neck Marsh, and the other route is expected to go to the North via Acorn Hall, the Kings Road around the river, the Trident River north of Harrenhal, and the normal Northland Kings Road.

Along the way, we need to investigate suitable places, mobilize local lords and civilians, and build various military stations and supply stations for a fee. At present, there are two inherited supply lines that can supply troops and horses. One is Lannisport in the West-Golden Tooth-Riverrun-Twins. The supply center castle is in Riverrun, and then Riverrun radiates to the river. The other is Crab Bay-Trident River. The supplies from the sea will be assembled at the ruins of Saltpan Town on the north bank of the Trident River and the ruins of Earl Harroway's town, and go to the North by land.

In addition, there are two supply lines in the north, one is White Harbor, and the other is Eastwatch on the Great Wall.

However, the king wants to prepare enough stations in the country to achieve the strategic goal of being able to attack and defend. Even if it is not used in the end and the White Walkers are vulnerable, the king is very happy to build roads and military stations while he can mobilize the enthusiasm of the people.

The idea of ​​building roads first to get rich is rooted in Viserys' mind. Moreover, the people in Hejian are now in need of industries that provide relief through work, so that the people in Hejian who have been plundered, fled to the mountains and forests, and only one in ten survived can get subsidies. At the same time, some civilians in the West and South who stopped farming because of the winter are also gradually trying to join the "recruitment" of the "National Construction Bureau" during the mobilization.

The civilians in Westeros have never seen paid labor, and after seeing it with their own eyes and not feeling very harsh, they are very enthusiastic to participate.

There is another thing. It was not until Viserys established the "National Construction Bureau" to carry out paid construction that he realized that even in the western border of Westeros and the mountains and forests between the rivers, there were still wild tribes living in groups. They did not pay taxes, serve in the army, or obey the management of the nobles, and lived on looting, fishing and hunting. Therefore, during the period, it was necessary to promote the militia organization to suppress bandits. It was almost impossible to reason with these people, and Viserys had no time to appease them, so he could only order the killing of wild bandits who hindered the construction.

Back to the present.

The one who was mobilizing was the king himself. Viserys took the trouble to come in person to express his importance to this task force.

Viserys leaned over the podium built in the town and scooped up a handful of fresh snow: "Among the people present are dukes and earls, knights anointed with holy oil, and civilians who have been called up to leave their homes and jobs. You are all great for being here today."

"I have been promoting the 'coming of the White Walkers' and preparing for war with them. Many people cannot understand and have never seen them. Perhaps until now, they still have doubts in their hearts. But winter has come." Viserys sprinkled the handful of fresh snow in front of him, "The White Walkers are not far away. I don't want to continue telling you here how cruel the crisis that the White Walkers brought to mankind eight thousand years ago was. These days, I have sent maesters and theater troupes, especially those officers who have gone through training courses. I have been talking about it every day and every moment. I think you have heard a lot and your ears are about to be callused. So I won't talk to you about that today.

Your destination is the Wall, which is now surrounded by wights and the aliens are ready to move.

The battle you are going to fight next is a battle about the world, the destiny of mankind, and most importantly, a battle about your personal honor and status. You are all outstanding warriors selected by me. I have prepared honors, titles, and rewards for you on that battlefield to fight, obtain, and win. You just have to fight with courage. Your logistics are unprecedented in the world. Food, rain gear, transportation, woolen clothes, and rescue bachelors at the military station. The country is behind you and is your rear.

Here, I want to tell you that what you are about to embark on is a glorious march, and you are going to a great battlefield. The road you have walked will become a signpost for those who come after you. The difficulties you encountered and the experience you summed up will be It has become an important chapter that can be written into history and textbooks."

There is no contemporary concept of nationalism in Westeros, only the old medieval national concept, let alone the country, the people, and the human race?

For Viserys to mobilize these feudal warriors, the most important thing is to promise the benefits and honor of feudalism, to mobilize their courage and enterprising spirit, to give honor to those who thirst for glory, to give wealth to those who love money, and to give hope. A chance to go down in history as a legendary lord and knight.

Nothing more than that.

But at this time, Viserys couldn't help but quietly instill the concept that humans and white ghosts were not our kind, so that they could plant a seed of human glory in their hearts.

Viserys trained generals in the military academy based on the principle that honor comes from the monarch and strength comes from the combined efforts of the monarch and all soldiers and civilians.

And as the speech came to an end.

The highlight has finally arrived.

"I won't say any more, so next is the armor conferment ceremony. I know many people are waiting for this moment, but you must remember that only those who have the courage and courage to represent mankind, the king, and the country can Only with the spirit and ability to connect the individual to govern the military and civilians can the true power of this armor and weapons be driven!”

A hundred pieces of Valyrian armor and weapons in ornate pine chests were wheeled onto the dais.

This pep rally was also the first time that Viserys officially handed over the Valyrian armor, which he had engraved with the power of the storm, into the hands of the trained generals.

These armors were not given as gifts but, like military tiger talismans, represented the temporary entrustment of the king and the power represented by the king to the general.

In the four major military academies established by the king in various places a few days ago, many trainees have seen the ten sets of armor provided by the king for school teaching. They are props with real witchcraft and magical power. Put on those armors, summon Special military formations are formed manually, which can summon thunder and lightning, and control wind and rain. It’s just that the requirements for generals are very high. One is that the mental strength test scores in the military school must be high enough. The other is that the power of military school teachings mainly comes from the king and the country, secondly from the resonance between oneself and the country, and finally from the human being. set of theoretical frameworks.

"The power of the king is the same as the power of the god", "The power of the country is borrowed from the human body", "If you have the king of the country in your heart, the people and the country in your heart, you can get the power of the country and the country in your body", "the country and the people". These are the things that have been learned in the military academy in the past few months. Ideology class being taught.

Many people can't accept it for a while, but when they see that those who can accept these ideas can use the Valyrian armor taught in the school to mobilize the guards around the school to enter the next step of teaching, call the wind, rain, and even thunder, and their personal power will be "blessed by national power." He became extremely brave, and soon these ideas were quickly implemented in the army even if some people still had doubts in their hearts. And it also comes with some very practical personal cultivation paths.

Facts have proven that it is always the fastest and most efficient to implement some "advanced" pragmatic ideas and weapons in the military.

Especially those who are often in contact have pragmatic ideas. As long as Viserys associates his personal thoughts with practicality, he will soon gain a large number of followers.

Viserys began calling names: "Rando Tarly!"

Earl Landau, who was first in the first row, immediately stood up and solemnly replied: "Yes!"

Viserys called him forward: "Come forward and take the 'Storm Thunder Armor' No. 017."

Power sounds like a fictitious thing, but in practice, it actually consists of two words: "reward" and "punishment." If you master these two words, you can firmly hold power in your own hands.

It is said that when Viserys originally set up the school, he was worried that some old knights would not be able to accept the bunch of new gadgets and ideas he came up with for his "Dragon and Tiger Qi System", but the reality is that when he saw the power and effect, some The old jazz is more radical and positive than the young people.

Randyll Tarly is one of the representatives. The Tarly family is good at fighting and enjoys fighting. They are the most powerful thugs in the history of the Southern Lords. Now, after training at Viserys's military academy, the earl has actually surpassed the young people Viserys originally favored, such as Garland, Loras and even the Iron Guards Gerald, Quentin and Barristan, who rushed back just before the end of the first period, got the first place in the comprehensive ranking of each school.

It was for this reason that Randyll Tarly was appointed commander-in-chief of this advance force.

"Yes!" Count Randyll stepped forward with his own Valyrian steel sword.

Viserys personally gave him the chest of armor and blessed his greatsword Heartbreaker.

Immediately afterwards, there were noble vassals or famous knights from Dorne, the Reach, and the Stormlands one after another.

Viserys felt as if he had seen a university graduation ceremony presenting diplomas and degree certificates to students.

This so-called "First Regiment" task force was carefully selected by Viserys to try to attach strength to armor. It can be said to be the most elite coalition force at present. Viserys has high hopes for them, hoping that they can arrive at the northern battlefield before the long night, achieve the expected results in fighting against the White Walkers, and summarize suitable tactics and experience in dealing with the White Walkers on the actual battlefield.

From the history books of Westeros, there is almost no book describing how the White Walkers fight. Even the stories collected about the White Walkers mostly only mention that they drive the dead and ride the corpses of animals, including bears, direwolves, mammoths, and horses. Some say that the White Walkers are followed by "ice spiders" as big as hounds.

Even though the Wall has already come into contact with the wights, it can only provide references to the experience that the appearance of the wights is often accompanied by snow and cold, the wights are afraid of fire, and the wights are afraid of obsidian weapons. Combining Viserys' experience in Braavos, it can also be inferred that the wights will be injured by Valyrian steel and can use magic to create huge ice dragons.

But the actual situation is that these are just the tip of the iceberg of the wights. After 8,000 years, no one knows the real combat methods, technological level, and magic level of the wights.

So it is very necessary to observe and practice in detail.

The stronger this advance army is, the more it can explore the bottom of the wights. If it is weak and vulnerable, Viserys can consider launching a "Long Night's Expedition" to fight to the "hometown of the wights" and scatter the ashes of the cold god.

But it is highly unlikely, because the Red God has shown great pressure for the upcoming war with the Cold God, and the fact that he is at peace with Viserys is a clear proof of this. This shows that the power of the Cold God may be able to suppress Viserys in Westeros, the Red God's messenger in Essos, and even the Drowned God who has disappeared in the ocean.

Although Viserys is talking beautifully now, he is actually preparing to transform the supply road he has built into a retreat route to welcome the northern army at any time.

Viserys will not visit the North for the time being. When he really does something, he will know how long it takes to accumulate strength and how much preparation he has to make when the war starts.

Viserys has been busy smelting steel these days. Specifically, after entering Valyria for the second time with Daenerys, he explored the smelting plant he had discovered before, and then found some craftsmanship that remained on the black stone slabs.

It is impossible to replicate the casting of Valyrian steel, because there are many things in the furnace for preparing Valyrian steel that need to be quenched by blood sacrifice. It is described that the blood of some special creatures that are sensitive to magic should be used, mixed with dragon worm blood and sea monster blood, and a corresponding blood sacrifice ceremony is required.

The smelting technology of Valyria is really advanced. Viserys found that they used the ground fire and magic to build an assembly line and mold smelting technology for non-special steel. In addition to Valyrian steel, ordinary steel also accounts for a large proportion in Valyrian smelting.

Unfortunately, most of the processes require magma, ground fire, magic, and witchcraft, and most of the remaining processes do not have complete process records.

However, this gave Viserys room to play. There are mines made of ordinary steel in the Valyrian mines, which can be roughly regarded as the prototype of a certain railway, and there is also a corresponding mold factory.

Viserys found that although the technology of Valyria is difficult to restore, the blanks in the technical documents of Valyria can be filled by him.

To develop productivity, the steel industry is indispensable. Viserys was inspired to make some changes and engrave the blast furnace smelting process in his vague memory on the black stone slab to make it look old. This would be the remnant of Valyria's steelmaking technology. He would bring back a few molds for making mine rails and let the people in the Citadel do "technical restoration". Besides, the level of metallurgy in Westeros is not low. It can make steel armor, steel swords and chain mail, but it lacks a set of programmatic things and industry standards to coordinate people to make a large factory and assembly line operation.

Yes, Viserys came up with the idea of ​​building a steel plant and developing heavy metallurgical industry.

The South, Westerly, Dorne, and Stormland are not short of iron ore, and there are also coal resources. Viserys has been planning this these days.

We don't expect to produce special steel like Valyria, but as long as we can produce durable steel on a large scale, whether it is war confrontation, post-war construction, or laying railroad tracks - even if the railroad tracks are horse-drawn trains, they are much more convenient than the primitive transportation of Westeros that still relies on carriages.

Of course, these are just assumptions.

But no matter how you think about it, the education on Earth has told Viserys that the steel production during the war largely determines a country's war capabilities. Although this world has magic and witchcraft.

It is definitely impossible to carry out such construction in a short period of time and get results, but we have to start doing it after all. Write the plans for the ten-year plan and the five-year plan first, draw the big picture first, and then slowly push forward.

Speaking of this. Viserys had to sigh at the so-called population of the seven countries of Westeros.

The entire territory of Westeros is a continent as large as the American continent, but the actual population is only like a small country. In the North, after Aegon had reorganized the territories of several major princes, the population he reported to Viserys was less than the 500,000 of King's Landing. The Riverlands, which had suffered heavy casualties in the war, now have a population of only a few hundred thousand at most. The South, the Westerly, and Dorne, which were relatively less affected by the war, are roughly estimated to have a population of less than 10 million in Viserys's territories.

Even counting the Valley and King's Landing territories that are not yet under actual control, it is estimated that the population of the entire continent is only a little over 10 million.

To be honest, such a small number of people is not even as large as a big city on Earth, but they are now distributed across the huge continent of Westeros. Although many people died in the war, it still took ten years of long summers to estimate. population.

A Westeros with potatoes and corn, but a population of less than ten million.

The main reason for this is of course the climate and environment of the world of ice and fire. After a few years of development in the summer, a lot of people will die when winter comes. The population cannot accumulate naturally and can only die in nature.

Valyria is the only one that can develop "technology" normally in this environment and last for thousands of years. This is because Valyria is located in the land of long summer, and has both magic and witchcraft to resist winter. and plague.

Viserys thought about it and estimated that only species like the Trisolarans could develop normal technology in this environment.

Because this world is like this, except for the school city that once had the "Millennium Plan" to eliminate magic, few people can have a strong sense of identification and enthusiasm when Viserys proposes the "Ten Year Plan" and "Five Year Plan".

Each of these things must be forcibly pushed forward by the king's order in order to get on the right track.

Although Viserys was not a weightlifting champion, he still felt as if everyone in Westeros was carrying it on his shoulders.

To be honest, Viserys really didn't want to do this. He had never forgotten that he was an extraordinary creature who wanted magic to prove his transcendence. He had never had the idea of ​​changing the world before, but when he found that he needed faith, and faith was related to these human beings. When it comes to his body, he has to do it, and when he wants to do it, he wants to do it as well as possible.

But Viserys is an earth traveler, because the standards of "good" he has seen are too high, so now he really puts his mind on governing the country and wants to create a feudal, monarchical, and magical country. When it comes to the feudal monarchy that cooperates with the system and focuses on the belief and power of the monarch, he looked around and found that nothing in Westeros really satisfied him.

At this time, Viserys will think of King Robert who finally chose to mess up. It would be great if the king only needed to be the best at fighting and just wanted to win on the battlefield.

The mobilization meeting and armor conferment ceremony lasted the whole morning, but the officers and soldiers were in high spirits and were still talking at the farewell banquet at noon.

The army would not leave until the next day, and Viserys had already arrived, so he simply took advantage of his free time today to meet with the president of the Pyromancer Guild, whom the spies had brought from King's Landing.

The Pyromancer Guild, also known as the Alchemist Guild, was a once-prosperous guild in the world of ice and fire. They claimed to have possessed many magic and arcane techniques, and claimed to be able to refine metals and create flaming creatures.

Of course, it was.

Viserys had no doubt about this. He had been exposed to wildfires and the Red God who possessed the Song of Fire, and knew that the fire element must have been extremely active for a period of time. Just like now, Viserys believes that if a warlock tries to study wind and thunder magic in the near future and develops a set of witchcraft that can leverage the "Songs of Storms" scattered in the world, he can also take back those "Songs of Storms" that are not under his control. ” before developing a “Thunder Warlock Guild” or “Storm Warlock Guild”.

But now, even with the "magic resurgence", the fire warlocks can only feel that the fire element seems to be flourishing again, but if they want to learn and use those "lost" secret techniques again, they may have to pray to the God of Fire.

However, the substance of wildfire is indeed a great invention. The pyromancers do not know what kind of secret technique they used to extract the "elemental power" instead of the "element itself" from some substances with the power of the fire element, and through complex processes The process seals it in a very tolerant special viscous substance, turning the violent fire element into a liquid that can be stored in a dark jar and even flowed through a special "water pump".

This is a special combination of chemistry and witchcraft in the world of ice and fire, from which we can vaguely see a chemical path adapted to the world of ice and fire.

The official members of the Pyromancer call each other wise men. The one who was summoned to see Viserys was one of the three wise men responsible for leading the guild. His name was Renwhite. He was a thin and dry old man, wearing a thick undyed wool. Clothes.

Viserys got straight to the point: "I want to know why you can't leave King's Landing. I need a reasonable explanation." According to King's Landing's current supply, which is every now and then, and is becoming more and more delayed, it is simply not enough to support an army. A large amount of consumption, so Viserys thought about taking the pyromancers out of King's Landing and asking them to find another place to build a production line, preferably in large quantities, to supply the army with conventional weapons.

"Your Majesty, please forgive us for our previous reservations and not making it clear. In fact, the equipment manufacturing process that can be used with the 'Wildfire Hybrid Terminology' to make wildfire has been lost. Currently, only the set of processes in King's Landing can be used." Lenwhite was careful 's answer, "If you want to rebuild elsewhere, I'm afraid you need to find the successors of the pyromancers of Asshai in Essos. Maybe they still have construction manuscripts for wildfire making equipment."

"Then can you work day and night to increase supply?" Viserys saw that what he said seemed professional, but was actually vague. He also knew that even if what he said was true, this 'wise man' had no intention of protecting secrets. Disclosure of craftsmanship, "Don't worry about being discovered during the day."

"In fact, your majesty, our production line is already working overtime to produce for you, but unfortunately, we must be extra cautious in the process of producing wildfire. Even if all the assistants who have been strictly trained are put into production, it is impossible to achieve the quantity of dozens or hundreds of cans every three days two months ago. To be honest, your majesty, those are actually the quantities we stored in the basement of the guild. Cersei Lannister and Tyrion Lannister took a lot of the stock at the time, but they still did not use up all the reserves during the reign of King Aerys."

It is worth mentioning that many of Aerys's storage at that time are still missing, and people can occasionally find some in the Great Sept of Baelor and the underground of the dragon pit.

In other words, since the time of Aerys, the cans of wildfire that blew up King's Landing have not been truly found and destroyed - this generation of pyromancers actually does not know how to destroy them, and now Cersei has buried a new batch.

King's Landing is a city full of dangers.

Viserys asked: "Tell me the truth, how many cans of wildfire can you produce in a day?"

Ren White blinked: "It depends. If it's more--"

Viserys snorted: "Hmm?"

Ren White didn't dare to play it safe anymore, and only said: "About thirty cans a day, on average. This is already a lot, Your Majesty. During the time of His Majesty Aerys, the recorded production of wildfire was only sixty or seventy cans a day."

Ren White wanted to say that after Aerys, the Pyromancer Guild in King's Landing declined, and there was no successor for more than a decade. If it weren't for the incredible effect of wildfire mixing in the past year, it would be difficult to produce ten cans a day now. What's more, the quality of wildfire is very excellent now.

But seeing Viserys frown, this 'wise man' shut up very tactfully.

"No wonder even Aerys didn't think of using wildfire in war." Viserys muttered, and then asked, "Is there any way to weaken the power but speed up production efficiency?"

"Your Majesty, this substance is a secret creation, and it can't be done."

"You didn't make it according to the secret art, but you don't know the logic of making wildfire at all, and it's lost?" Viserys looked at Ren White suspiciously.

".We are the heirs of the Pyromancer Guild, of course..Just maybe" Ren White began to speak with some terms that Viserys didn't understand.

Viserys didn't understand what those terms meant, but he probably felt the attitude: "Okay, continue to supply like this. But I have a request, you have to make the jars smaller, preferably the size of wine bottles." The current cans can only be used to defend the city or ambush, which is not practical at all, and it is not convenient to transport. Not only do they need to arrange specially trained people to watch and transport, but they cannot be packaged independently by buyers as needed. The apprentice of the fire wizard must carry a special pump with him to meet the combat needs of spraying wildfire anytime and anywhere.

"Your Majesty."

Viserys raised his eyebrows: "Is this difficult?"

Ren White swallowed: "No, Your Majesty. The guild will definitely supply it in smaller bottles as you requested."

Viserys originally thought that these guys could be used as chemists, allowing them to continue to study wildfire and streamline the wildfire manufacturing process, and at the same time give them funds to allow them to research and produce more mild and controllable wildfire compounds. After all, this is a real chemical witchcraft compound with high heat energy, sustainability and sufficient energy. Maybe it can be used as energy to guide Westeros into the industrial revolution.

But now, I am afraid that even the army will have to use this thing as a strategic special weapon.

So Viserys thought of gunpowder.

It seems that no alchemist in Westeros has invented this thing yet. Of course, Viserys thought about it. Although this idea is very reactionary, he thinks that the later this thing is invented, the better, especially the horrible formula of "gunpowder plus sugar".

Viserys thinks that some things are better to appear after the national belief system he has constructed is completed.

As a feudal monarch and god, sometimes Viserys himself feels that he is a representative of evil forces that oppose the scientific progress of mankind.

But Viserys does not think he is wrong.

Viserys thinks that as a representative of feudalism, he must first transform these people who are more feudal than the country he imagined in his mind before he can continue to promote the corresponding technological revolution in technology and science.

Perhaps this is a thinking trap that top-down reform and innovation can never change.

Hey, who cares.

Viserys did not dwell on this issue for long. He had a lot to do. Later he would have to inspect the camps in person and deliver the king's condolences to the feudal fighters he had recruited.