Chapter 285 Throwing a Stone to Test the Water

The night is long and the stars are hard to see.

Before we knew it, Westeros had entered the long night for two and a half years.

This coldest winter in eight thousand years has entered its third year.

Even in Dorne, the southernmost part of Westeros, where the Red Mountains resist the cold current from the north, all activities outside the fortress were stopped because of the cold air of the long night.

After the fierce attack in the first year, the White Walker army entered a dormant period of more than a year, dispersing deep into the south of Westeros, and their traces once appeared in the Greenblood River in Dorne and the Mead River in Oldtown.

Even the castles in Dorne and the hinterland of the South have staged the story of "the wolf is coming" many times, but in the past year or so of dormancy, some small strongholds have been fighting constantly, and there has been no major battles to siege cities and plunder cities.

However, Viserys' coal supply lines in Dorne, Stormlands and the Westerlands were eventually discovered by the White Walkers. The two sides have been fighting guerrilla warfare and security wars around the coal transportation lines for more than a year. Viserys has deployed more and more troops in the long snake formations on various coal transportation lines.

It's funny to say that as the invaded party, it was Viserys who was tired of being harassed and guerrilla warfare in various places for more than a year, and he kept looking for opportunities to fight large-scale battles. Even Viserys began to consciously throw bait to induce the White Walkers to gather troops for field battles, surround points and attack reinforcements, and bloom in the center.

Although humans still seem to be at a disadvantage and are still suppressed around the castle in the past year, for Viserys, the greater the pressure from the White Walkers, the faster he develops. Over the past year, as more and more monks have linked Viserys with the warriors of the Seven Gods, Viserys has consciously hinted and spread the word. Under the spiritual inspiration of "Divine Interpretation", the ascetics of the Great Sept of Baelor, like their predecessors when the Andals landed, devoutly wore cloth shoes and simple woolen clothes in the long night and cold winter, and rushed to various fortresses where the roads were almost cut off without fear of life and death.

With a new understanding and new interpretation of the "Warrior Gospel", they spread the gospel of faith to the trained militia in the long night.

The new "Warrior Faith" was widely spread as the civilians' self-prepared winter food reserves in many places gradually ran out.

This winter was particularly cruel. Although Viserys had promoted it long ago, some civilians who stored food according to experience still could not go out to fish, hunt, and dig wild vegetables to obtain food sources like the winter they were familiar with because of the arrival of the long night. Under the guidance of Viserys, they were concentrated in the castle and had to make a living by the work provided by the king.

Either join the militia, or go out to dig trenches, clear snow from roads, cut wood and other work in exchange for wages and food during the long night. Viserys refused to support idle people, and any materials had to be exchanged for labor, corvée and money. Viserys's granary was never given for free. It played a role in stabilizing the people's hearts, stabilizing the prices of necessities, and letting everyone know that as long as they were willing to work and labor, they would be guaranteed not to starve to death.

The role of the temple just happened to assist the part that Viserys deliberately ignored.

The Seven Sacred Temple would regularly provide free communion to poor civilians during worship - the temple generally had its own reserves, and would buy from Viserys when it was insufficient, and free food would always be accompanied by the spread of doctrine.

Under the threat of the White Walkers in the long night, joining the militia, praying to the warriors for courage, and working to save oneself had become a well-known thing under Viserys's propaganda.

At the King's Office, there are always job recruitments, digging trenches, processing wool and textiles, transporting logs and consumables, and working with local lords to build defensive walls outside the fortress for two years.

The militia is always recruiting new soldiers, with long-term training and the task of assisting the regular army.

The militia is good in everything, with food and accommodation, but it is very dangerous to patrol outside the city, and casualties are common if you encounter wights.

Viserys is actually trying to find ways to add jobs for civilians in the long night.

If it is really useful, it is to build factories in the long night by relying on coal mines, and at the same time build supporting steel mills and metallurgy, which can be called the prototype of industry.

As time passed, Viserys' preparations for more than a year played their due role.

In the past year or so, you develop yours and I develop mine with the White Walkers. Viserys's determination is increasing day by day, his believers are increasing every day, and the storm song he collects into his own power through the power of faith is growing every day.

The efficiency of converting the followers of the Seven Gods was too high. Viserys suspected that he was the "god" who had gained the most after the long night.

However, the more benefits Viserys gained, the greater the power he controlled under the blessing of the power of faith, and Viserys had a doubt in his heart that grew every day.

Since the beginning of this war, whether it was Viserys, the Red God R'hllor, the Cold God, or the Drowned God who had fought a battle with R'hllor in the Rhoyne River and fought a water and fire battle with the corpses of Essos in the Golden Fields, they were either developing believers or maintaining the status quo.

Only the Three-Eyed Raven seemed to have gained nothing except assisting Viserys in preventing the Cold God from completely invading Westeros. The North also lost a large number of believers, and even the remaining people began to lean towards Viserys.

There was no way. Believing in "Warrior Viserys" and praying to him for courage could really get some "positive feedback". Viserys could use bioelectricity to stimulate their adrenaline when believers and pan-believers prayed for courage, so that they would forget their fear for a short time.

But the Three-Eyed Crow and the Old God just let Viserys do what they wanted, transforming a large number of believers and increasing their power. It can even be said that the war situation in Westeros has exceeded pre-war expectations as Viserys's power has grown, and they no longer need to rely on "drag" to find a chance to win.

Viserys is even thinking of ways to force the White Walkers to jump out and fight.

Unless the cold god took action himself, Viserys didn't think he would lose to anyone on the battlefield now.

But as his power grows, what Viserys is most worried about now is not the Cold God, but the old god, the Three-Eyed Raven.

Although the other party has always been very happy to cooperate with Viserys, after several battles, they have a tacit understanding of cooperation, and the other party also helped Viserys make a cross-era communicator.

But the more Viserys feels that he has an advantage over the White Walker army deployed by the God of Cold in Westeros, the less he understands what the Three-Eyed Raven wants to gain from this war.

Viserys believed that the Three-Eyed Crow and what he said were true, but the other party must have reservations, and there must be an information gap between them.

Of course, Viserys also had reservations about the Three-Eyed Raven. They were both wary of each other, so no one could tell anyone else. But there are traces of everything Viserys is doing. He is doing addition now, and the purpose of his behavior is relatively easy to guess, but the old god is now doing subtraction. Viserys is ignorant of the purpose of the old god and has no idea. Traces can be found.

Viserys has not tried to explore the purpose of the old gods, and has conducted overt and covert temptations more than once. Viserys even observed Jon Snow, the spokesman of the old gods on the Wall, through the eyes of different pan-believers, trying to find a breakthrough in him. However, Jon seems to be just a tool man with magical talents, just a smokescreen and practical tool thrown by the old gods. Viserys can get nothing from Jon.

Jon stood in front of the stage and realized that he was a smoke screen. Viserys knew that the old god must have a bigger plan.

But the situation has developed so far, and as the White Walkers' offensive has eased, Viserys has found fewer and fewer testing opportunities.

Viserys can even be keenly aware that not only Jon Snow, but also Viserys himself is in a sense an ally introduced by the old gods to attract attention. The old gods have been hiding behind Viserys since the beginning of the war. .

"Lord Brynden, I have a proposal." Viserys summoned the Three-Eyed Crow and decided to discuss the next step with him and make some tests. "Although the southern region is shrouded in long nights, the climate is relatively better. I plan to try to carry out field operations in the southern border, instead of using a large army, I will let the knights wearing thunderstorm armor lead only a small team of elites to go deep into the wilderness. The task they need to be responsible for is to find the corps with a larger number of White Walkers. I will use the Valyrian steel armor and their faith array to carry out targeted attacks on White Walker gathering places. What do you think? How about tactics? Since the White Walkers have chosen to disperse their forces, instead of waiting for them to gather and be attacked passively, they should proactively go out and look for opportunities to fight in some advantageous areas. "

"Doing this will cost you a lot of power. It takes a huge amount of power to collect faith and only destroy a small group of zombies. It's not worth the gain." "You think so?"

"What we want to defeat is the long night. The army of the White Walkers is just a threat in the long night. The only difference between them and the cold wave that can freeze people to death is that the White Walkers' army is more flexible."

"So we really have to wait twenty, thirty years or even longer, one generation, two generations? Wait until the long night passes?"

"I thought you were already prepared. Aren't the supplies you prepared prepared for ten or twenty years?"

Viserys shrugged: "The supplies are for mortals. I'm talking about us. My power is growing very fast, so fast that I start to think, what am I waiting for? What are you waiting for?"

The three-eyed crow's eyes flashed: "I can understand the expansion of confidence brought about by your increase in strength, but believe me, Viserys, taking the initiative in the long night is a risky behavior."

"Under the long nights in the relatively warm regions of the south." Viserys corrected him, and then mentioned casually, "I thought you would be happy to hear my counterattack plan."

"If you insist, you are the commander-in-chief after all." The Three-Eyed Crow smiled slightly, "But my power can't help you in the southern border. Do you want to fight back at the Great Wall?"

"Speaking of the Great Wall." Viserys paused, "Now that the White Walkers' offensive on the Great Wall has eased, I plan to let a group of defenders of the Great Wall come to Winterfell to rest and recuperate. Especially the wounded and soldiers who have made meritorious service in previous battles. There are warm hot springs in Winterfell, and I plan to arrange for the defenders to rotate and rest between battles to relieve the physical and mental pain of the soldiers who have been guarding the Great Wall for nearly two years. "

".Your attitude towards mortals once again impressed me," the Three-Eyed Crow nodded, "On the other hand, is this the bait you threw out?"

"They have been lurking for too long, and the decision of whether to start a war is always in their hands."

The Three-Eyed Crow commented: "This is a good move."

"Among the first group of people to rest, I plan to include the combat heroes of the Night Watch to show that I treat all the defenders equally."

"The night watchmen of the Great Wall now only account for a small part of the garrison, but they are doing the most difficult reconnaissance missions. It is indeed necessary to appease them."

Viserys replied: "This is not appeasement. I promised to give the Night's Watch the honor they deserve, and to change people's impression of the Night's Watch as a refuge for criminals during the long summer. I must take responsibility for what I said."

The three-eyed crow nodded: "I must admit that before the war I never thought that the situation would develop so quickly and so well."

Viserys heard this and sighed as if inadvertently: "Now think about it, we were a little hasty in our first counterattack. If we had waited a little longer, we would not have been here until now."

The three-eyed crow responded to Viserys's sigh without caring: "We can't predict the future before the fact happens."

Viserys blinked: "Yes, the future is always unpredictable, like a maze." His tone seemed to be meaningful.

The three-eyed crow's eyes stopped on Viserys and fell silent.

A lot of things happened in Winterfell during the first counterattack, and there was one thing that Viserys still didn't know.

The cellar of Winterfell.

Viserys heard vague oral accounts from some people, and the "truth" he finally pieced together was that Lady Catelyn of Winterfell and Rickon Stark, who suddenly appeared, were unfortunately killed in the cellar while hiding from the invaders thrown into the castle by the army of wights.

Miss Sansa of Winterfell forbade the spread of this matter, and this matter was glossed over afterwards. Only a few people knew some fragmentary events and results.

The army of the undead was approaching, and the military composition of Winterfell was complex at the time, with personnel from all over the country mixed. This sad thing was treated as a family affair of the Stark family, without causing much splash, and soon no one cared about it.

But Viserys never thought it was a trivial matter from beginning to end.

Viserys was sure that Rickon Stark's sudden appearance and death must be related to the Three-Eyed Raven, and the death of Catelyn proved this point.

Catelyn was the one who was resurrected by R'hllor's miracle, how could she die quietly for no reason?

The deaths of Rickon and Catelyn must have hidden unknown secrets, and there must be clues related to the power of gods that mortals cannot detect. The deaths of Rickon and Catelyn could never be used to exchange for a counterattack opportunity on the battlefield.

Just as the Three-Eyed Raven thought that Viserys's plan to project power and conduct targeted strikes in the South was a "loss-inducing" power consumption, how could the chess pieces abandoned by the Three-Eyed Raven and R'hllor after they made their moves be a waste of power for no reason?

What happened in Winterfell was the only place Viserys could think of where the Three-Eyed Raven left clues.

Viserys planned to get involved, drop a few chess pieces, and make something happen.

Thanks to the complex personnel of Winterfell, Viserys had already thought about which direction to start from.

When Viserys started planning this rotation in Winterfell, two candidates had already been decided early.

Arya Stark.

Tyrion Lannister.

Arya and Sansa, Tyrion and Littlefinger, it can be foreseen that there will be a strange reaction between them.

Viserys wanted to use their entanglement to find the traces left by the silent battle of gods in Winterfell.