Chapter 244: Regaining One's Heart

"Kevan Lannister is unwilling to surrender unconditionally?"

"Yes, Your Majesty, perhaps he thinks Casterly Rock is an impenetrable fortress."

Viserys said strangely: "I have read some 'unofficial history' in the academy. It is said that when Visenya Targaryen saw Casterly Rock, she couldn't help but thank the gods for allowing King Laurent to lead an army to fight with her brother Aegon in the 'Wrath of Fire' In the battle of "Liaoyuan", if the opponent is hiding in the city, even Long Yan will be helpless, right? "

"It is said that before our army arrived, Tywin had sent away a large number of the women and descendants of the Lannister family and let them flee into the mountains of the West. Perhaps only Kevan and some dead members of the family are left in Casterly Rock. He will undoubtedly I still want to do something for the Lannister family. Casterly Rock is a ring castle with a tall tower, nearly two leagues long from east to west, with tunnels, dungeons, and cellars inside. There are hundreds of mines at the bottom of the city. There is also a port in the city, and the sea cave under the giant rock has a tunnel that leads directly to the cave shipyard in the heart of the mountain. If the opponent insists on defending, it may take a short time."

"It doesn't matter, I'm thinking that maybe I'm usually too kind and the pressure I put on you is not enough. Maybe I should burn a castle that is said to never fall, so that the princes of Westeros know that I am willing to give them a chance out of kindness. , not that they have any ability to threaten me." Viserys waved his hand, then looked at Oberon, frowning slightly, "I heard that you want to plate Tywin's head with gold and set it with gems to make a wine cup. Give me?"

"Your Majesty, you gave Tywin's body to the Martell family. But you said it yourself, being peaceful and kind cannot make the princes grateful."

"." Viserys fell silent. The war was undoubtedly barbaric, and they had actually wiped out the Lannister family. Viserys also knew that at this point, even if he did nothing and even asked the Lannister family to collect Tywin's body, the escaped heirs of the Lannister family would still be secretly waiting for an opportunity to rebel.

But to be honest, Viserys wanted to capture Tywin alive and hold a big trial to show the majesty of the law.

But now that things have come to a point, maybe doing things right is a move that is more in line with the interests of the ruling party.

Viserys stopped hesitating and accepted it as acquiescence, then added: "By the way, I had previously found a theater troupe to transform Tywin, Kevan and other Lannisters' evil deeds against ordinary villagers into operas. Shidao performed it, and the effect seemed to be okay. This matter requires a dedicated person to promote the drama to various cities, towns and even villages in our jurisdiction, including here in the West. During the control period, Taiwen was listed. The crimes committed in various places should be made public, carved into stone together with the law, and erected in front of the bank in Lannisport. Also, the city needs to be renamed, but the name change is not urgent, it can wait. Wait, let’s wait two years.”

Viserys had already figured out that he could only do this to his enemy, not only to destroy his body, but also to control the mouthpiece to destroy his spirit. Viserys has just occupied the Western Territory. This is a necessary means. After a few decades, when the Western Territory has settled down, there will be no need to worry about someone overturning Tywin's case.

Moreover, to be honest, Tywin has done enough unreasonable things that he can list a lot of crimes without slander.

"Yes, Your Majesty." Oberon immediately felt relieved when he saw that the king was no longer obsessed with his reputation in the West. He was afraid that the king would cherish his feathers and do some kind deeds in the West. The West had been ruled by Lannister for so long. It will take at least two generations to change our mindset. Sometimes notoriety is inevitable.

Having made up his mind, Viserys no longer hesitated. A cold light flashed in his eyes and he said coldly: "Send someone to shoot my message to Casterly Rock: When the sun sets, Casterly Rock will no longer exist."

How could thick walls and towers hold back a dragon?

Perhaps Tywin knew this, so he chose to fight to the death at Lannisport. Or maybe he had some other intention in mind, leaving a possibility of conditional surrender for his brother Kevan?

But Viserys was only willing to give him a chance to surrender unconditionally, and Kevan was not willing.

Then the result can only be this. Kevan may still hope in the merciful means that Viserys has always shown.

But when King Viserys's souvenir was fired into the castle along with the ballistae fired from the siege of Casterly Rock, all hope was gone.

At sunset, Viserys took off from Lannisport. The dragon spread its wings and circled twice over the city, and then flew directly to Casterly Rock in the north of the city.

Countless people looked at the tall and majestic rock castle in the north. That castle had been standing there since all the people of Lannisport could remember. It overlooked Lannisport. Even their ancestors thousands of years ago were also there. Born and died under the watchful eye of the rock fortress.

Now, under the light of dusk, the rock fortress stood there quietly as if coated with a layer of gold paint.

The three terrifying giant dragons flapped their wings, flew high into the sky, and stopped high above the fortress.

The Targaryen princes and soldiers, the surrendered nobles and surrendered soldiers of the West who were placed in prisoner-of-war camps outside the city, the people of the West within the city, and the tenant farmers of the Lannister family living on the fertile land outside Lannisport. At this moment, everyone's eyes were focused on the rock fortress.

A roaring, rolling dark cloud rose high in the sky. A huge golden thunderstorm rose from the dark cloud, and thick golden lightning was accumulating.

And above the rolling dark clouds, a three-headed beast as huge as a floating mountain hovered there.

People will never forget what they saw today.

After a short build-up of momentum, a huge fireball suddenly lit up in the sky, as if a huge sun had appeared in the sky in a short moment. The fireball fell slowly but with the force of thunder and lightning, landing on the rock fortress. The fireball was so huge that the tower of the fortress on the top of the mountain was like a candle wick, and the towering rock mountain was a candle.

The fireball poured down on the head, and the upper part of the entire "candle" was completely covered by the exploding flames. For a moment, the whole mountain seemed to be a candle lit by the gods.

The mortal could not imagine the terrifying power before seeing it with his own eyes, but at this moment, there was a strange beauty.

Waves of white smoke rose into the sky, but warned all the witnesses that it was some kind of terrifying power that was destroying the strongest fortress in the West.

Then, from the dark clouds, countless snow-white ice cones fell from the sky, and those ice cones made sharp whistles. Even from a distance, the shrieks still reached the city, which was terrifying.

Dozens or hundreds of terrifying huge ice cones fell precisely on the rocky mountain that had just been ignited, and a cloud of water mist rose up, covering the entire mountain top.

The ice cones exploded, melted into water vapor, and became mist.

Streams of water vapor flowed slowly from the top of the mountain to the rocky mountain like the wax tears of a candle melting.

Everyone held their breath and watched the scene that seemed like a miracle.

A golden thunderstorm broke out.

The golden lightning was like branches of branches, falling from the rolling dark clouds to the rocky mountain.

It was like the anger of the gods, and the punishment of the gods came to the world.

The steam was shattered by the lightning, and the towers, rocks and castles on the top of the rocky mountain that were once admired were also shattered.

When the mist gradually dissipated, people saw that in the golden sunlight of dusk, the rocky mountain that was originally like gold had become hideous and terrifying, the stones on the top of the mountain cracked and charred, the towers collapsed and cracked, and the whole mountain looked devastated and dilapidated.

The terrifying lightning surrounded the mist and entangled on the top of the mountain, making them look like a cursed and terrifying ghost cave.

Until the sun completely set.

People woke up from this terrifying scene.

The dragon in the sky finally fell from the sky and landed on the top of the rocky mountain.

And the more terrifying flames began to pour down from the top of the mountain.

——

When the dragon ended its attack.

The rocky mountain where Casterly Rock was located was like an active volcano that had just erupted. The terrible dark red lava flowed in the mountain like molten wax, and it was sizzling with terrible black smoke.

Even though Oberyn had been mentally prepared, he was shocked and speechless.

He thought he had already known the power of the dragon, but he was still horrified by the great power of the gods.

Oberyn thought that His Majesty the King would at most burn Casterly Rock to the same level as Harrenhal, but he didn't expect that Casterly Rock's experience was more terrible than Harrenhal. Even the rocky mountain where Casterly Rock was located was destroyed beyond recognition by the power of the three-headed dragon.

Oberyn thought he would have to send people to search for possible Lannister warriors hiding in the mines at the bottom of Casterly Rock.

But now it seems that the magma melted by the three-headed dragon from the top of the mountain will flood the passages in the entire mountain like a flood.

Even if there are places where you can avoid the lava, you may be suffocated or burned by the heat of the molten rock.

When the cave at the bottom of the rock mountain, which originally seemed to be difficult to attack, the famous Lion's Mouth, flowed out dark red lava, Oberyn, who was controlling the troops at the bottom of the mountain to enter the mountain to receive it, felt dry mouth.

Until the dragon finally ended its attack, flew away from the top of the rock, and flew over his head.

Oberon was awakened from the shock. He paused, swallowed his saliva, and then raised his spear and shouted loudly: "Long live the king! Long live Guliok!"

The princes responded in time, and the soldiers followed suit and shouted: "Long live the king! Long live Guliok!"

The earth-shaking roar vented shock and admiration, dispelling panic and fear.

The roar lasted for a full quarter of an hour before it stopped, and many people even shouted until their throats were hoarse.

In order to wait for the magma to cool down and the heat to dissipate, the army waited until the next morning before finally entering the destroyed rock mountain to search for possible survivors-of course, mainly to find gold.

The gold of Casterly Rock is world-famous. Legend has it that the walls and decorations of the castle's golden corridor are all gilded and magnificent.

After being burned by the dragon, it is of course impossible to see the scene of the golden corridor again, but the gold and silver treasures in the castle are still worth looting and presenting to His Majesty. And according to the generosity of the king in distributing the spoils, this is also to increase their own income.

For Viserys, gold and silver were the least valuable spoils.

Viserys did not expect that Tywin and Kevan would leave him a big gift in Casterly Rock.

Edmure Tully.

Viserys met the Governor of the Trident and the Duke of Riverrun on the cooled dark red lava in the Lion's Mouth.

Edmure looked quite young, with the typical reddish-brown hair of the Tully family and a medium build. Although he was under house arrest in Casterly Rock, he seemed to be living a decent life. He had a beard and looked quite healthy.

But when he was brought to Viserys, he seemed to be frightened, his face was pale and his expression was restrained.

"Edmure Tully, I've heard of your name."

Lion's Mouth is a huge natural cave, which was conveniently built into the main entrance of Casterly Rock by skilled craftsmen. It is a hundred feet high and has been widened and repaired for centuries. It has become a huge mountain base with wide steps that can accommodate twenty people riding horses side by side, a hall that can accommodate hundreds of people, stairs, stables, barracks, restaurants, and tunnels.

Viserys is now sitting on a stone pier in the middle of the hall of Lion's Mouth.

There is no way. The interior of Lion's Mouth is now bumpy, with cooled magma everywhere, and a strange smell of barbecue.

But the good news is that the smell comes from the horses in the stables, and of course there are also the bodies of the Lannister soldiers on guard, but these are the first to be dealt with. The soldiers who entered the door first knew that the king was coming and had already dug out the bodies with shovels. And did a simple cleaning in the hall before running up the mountain to search for gold and silver.

There were Lannister soldiers who survived, but most of them were pale and severely burned. They were almost crazy when they were found.

Edmure looked at the rugged cooling magma in the hall, as if it was from hell. He swallowed secretly and glanced at the young king who looked calm but Edmure dared not look closely: "Your Majesty." He was speechless.

"I heard that when the war just started, the Westerlands sent troops to harass the river and massacre civilians. It was you who led the troops to rescue civilians, protect villages and towns, and uphold justice for them. This is very good."

Edmure heard that the king was speaking well, and he knelt on one knee: "Your Majesty, I am honored that you have heard my name."

Viserys said in a light tone, as if he was chatting: "Get up and talk, tell me, I am curious about how you survived yesterday?"

"Report to your majesty," Edmure stood up and lowered his head, and said carefully, "Yesterday, the Lannister guards took me out of the house arrest and escorted me to the dock at the port. When your majesty exerted his power and the lava flowed to the dock, , they transferred me to the ship in the dock, and I escaped by luck on the ship. "

"So, besides you, someone else survived. Kevan Lannister?"

Edmure said quickly: "No, no, no, I didn't see Kevan, Your Majesty. The guards later took me to a small boat, with only me and two guards."

At this time, Sir Redwyne, who entered the city by water, came over: "There are still many people in the dock, they all surrendered, Your Majesty. I didn't see Kevan Lannister."

The port of Casterly Rock is actually a large cave washed out by the sea on the west wall of the rock mountain. There are nine natural caves, and the draft and width are enough for longboats to enter and exit freely and unload cargo. The Redwyne fleet stayed there for a long time yesterday, and rushed in as soon as they received the order the next day.

The magma caused by Viserys still couldn't kill everyone in the rock cave of Casterly Rock.

But this was expected. Casterly Rock is a fortress built in a rocky mountain, just like the dwarf fortress in the Lord of the Rings. They made countless preparations for defense, but they didn't expect that the dragon would burn lava from the top of the mountain and attack the castle like a flood.

Viserys thought with a hellish joke mentality that from now on, "The Rainy Season in Castamere" might change the lyrics and make a new version of "The Magma in Castamere".

Viserys nodded to Sir Redwyne: "You did a good job, Sir Redwyne." Then he continued to talk to Edmure, "The guards didn't kill you. It seems that you used some conditions to convince them?"

"Your Majesty." Edmure didn't know what to say for a while.

Viserys said: "All captives need to be tried, Edmure, and they can only live if they are not guilty of death. Are you familiar with the law?"

"Your Majesty, I... I respect the law."

"Do you know that your uncle Brynden and the new Lord of Winterfell, Arya Stark, have expressed their willingness to be friendly with me?"

Edmure became nervous: "Your Majesty, I am willing to swear allegiance to you. If you let me return to Riverrun, I promise that I can bring all the riverlands to swear allegiance to you." He seemed to think that Brynden had replaced him as the Lord of Riverrun, and what he said was like " I can be patriotic, and I can talk."

Viserys did not explain for him, but replied calmly: "I want to know, if I send you back to the Riverlands, what else do you plan to do besides being loyal to me?"

"." Edmure said, "I will also dedicate a hundred years of tax revenue from the Riverlands to you. With me as the leader, the entire Riverlands will always obey your call. No matter what your majesty needs the Tully family to do, I will do it until I die."

Viserys frowned slightly. This Edmure seemed to be different from what he knew. Was he scared by the tragic situation in Casterly Rock, or had his mentality changed after being imprisoned for so long? Viserys already had some ideas in mind, but his political skills gradually matured. Viserys had learned not to bring up some things himself, but to let his subordinates do it, so he said: "I will let you go back, Edmure. As for other things, wait for my King's Hand to come back, and you can talk to him." Edmure was very excited: "Your Majesty! Please let me swear to you." "Let's talk about it when we return to Lannisport. This is Casterly Rock, not a suitable place." Viserys then sent Edmure to Oberyn. As his subordinates increased, after discussing some plans with Oberyn, Viserys gradually got used to giving guidance in the general direction, letting Oberyn and his ministers handle specific matters, and then giving instructions and guidance after the ministers drafted the matters.

Because Viserys had taken all the power and made the decisions directly before, even though Viserys left room for maneuver when dealing with things, the ministers were busy trying to keep up with the pace and make up for it, and they didn't feel involved. After talking to Oberyn about the issue of Oldtown, Viserys realized that he was already a king who owned nearly half of the land in Westeros, and was no longer the only controller of the Dragonstone Islands. Many of the small workshop ideas left during his reign on Dragonstone, which required him to do everything by himself, were no longer suitable for the current situation.

It is the right way to govern a big country to leave room for power in some matters and issues for the corresponding ministers to control, and to control the overall situation as the leader behind the scenes.

In fact, although the royal power of Westeros seems to be not centralized enough, in fact, when the king has enough repressive power, Viserys finds that his power is almost unlimited. Because the Targaryen dynasty actually defeated theocracy in the era of dragons.

Back to the present.

As Casterly Rock was searched like a land grab, some soldiers found Kevan Lannister's body in a secret passage in the fortress on the top of the mountain.

He left a whole body.

The only surprise was that Viserys didn't expect Kevan to die in the first wave of attacks.

The knight seemed to think that hiding in the bunker could avoid the attack, but he didn't expect that the water vapor evaporated from the ice cone, combined with the power of lightning, turned the entire castle into a huge electric field.

The knight was still wearing armor, but he was washed by the current of water vapor and lightning covering the mountain, and was electrocuted to death in his hiding place.

In this way, the two iconic figures of the Lannister family, Tywin and Kevan, were both dead, and Viserys could rest assured and deal with the problems in the Westerlands calmly. Although many people from the Lannister family fled into the mountains in the Westerlands before the war, they were destined not to stir up too much trouble, and their problems were left to the next Westerland Guardian to worry about.

As for the candidate for the Westerland Guardian, it is undoubtedly Oberyn Martell.

Although this arrangement means that the Martell family owns Dorne and the Westerly, Viserys does not have a more suitable candidate to take this position. Of course, although Oberyn was appointed as the Guardian of the Westerly, Viserys did not intend to let Oberyn step down and rule here directly, because Oberyn is still the best choice for the King's Hand.

The Westerly is not a key area in the next two years, so Viserys hopes that Oberyn will find people from his confidants to help him temporarily control the Westerly. If he can survive the war in the future, it will be much easier to conquer a Westerly that has experienced hardships than to take over a Westerly that has just experienced war and has various hidden dangers.

However, policies still need to be implemented, and they cannot show very obvious deviations from the South, Stormlands and other places. After all, although the Westerly is not a key project, things that should be done still need to be done, and slogans that should be shouted still need to be shouted, but the resources invested can be less and can be delayed.

As for the Riverlands.

Although Edmure declared his willingness to pledge allegiance to Viserys, and Viserys did not doubt that Edmure would never have other thoughts about him after returning from Casterly Rock, to be honest, the Riverlands had been devastated by the war, and it would take at least ten years or even a generation to restore the land to its pre-war state.

Viserys could only think of fortifying the Riverlands, concentrating the population in the castle, and directly abandoning the plan to rebuild and restore the population in the wilderness villages and towns in the next two years. Viserys did not even expect that the land would be able to provide tax revenue within two years.

So the best treatment, in Viserys's opinion, was to give loans and advice, but not to interfere directly, and let the Riverlands carry out their construction work relatively independently, including the wolf girl Arya, who might surrender with the Riverlands in the future. Viserys also planned to adopt the same attitude.

Viserys believed that the other party might be happy with such differentiated management, because the lords and nobles of the Riverlands and the North, as well as the troops and horses of the valley borrowed by the wolf girl, would not want the powerful Targaryen to directly handle their jurisdiction.

If they want to be relatively independent, then let them be relatively independent, respect, support and bless them.

Viserys is very happy to have such princes who take the initiative to become military buffer zones.

After all, Westeros is too large, and a quick victory or defeat will leave a lot of historical problems and security risks, and two years is too short.

By the way, at this time, Viserys occasionally thinks of Daenerys in another inexplicable timeline, and the story about the conqueror in the world where his soul comes from.

To be honest, sometimes Viserys feels that his current situation is a bit like Fu Jian of the Former Qin Dynasty. Fu Jian of the Former Qin Dynasty was a very remarkable emperor during the Jin Dynasty. After he ascended the throne, he set about eliminating tyranny, appointing talents, and unified the north. He had a large number of troops and a strong military force. However, after unifying the north, he was too hasty and too fierce. He relied on his millions of strong soldiers and his resources as high as a mountain, and wanted to destroy the Eastern Jin Dynasty and realize the ambition of unifying the world.

However, from throwing a whip to stop the flow to the wind and the sound of the wind, the grass and trees are all soldiers, but it is just a battle of Feishui.

Viserys had a dragon, so he didn't have to worry about encountering the Battle of Feishui, but the reason for the defeat in the war was not just on the battlefield.

After the Former Qin unified the north, the troops were composed of a large number of surrendered soldiers, and the north had just been unified, and there were still a lot of hidden dangers waiting to be dealt with. Fu Jian was too impatient and fought for the false name of unifying the world, which led to a defeat. The north was split into small countries overnight.

In just half a year, Targaryen recovered the Stormlands and the South, and now he has reached the West.

Viserys is afraid that the hidden dangers in the jurisdiction are comparable to those of Fu Jian of the Former Qin Dynasty. Two years later, it will be a war that concerns the survival of mankind. Viserys dare not keep these hidden dangers. When the time comes, he will go to the front line to fight with the false name of the guardian of the entire Seven Kingdoms.

Even in the worst case scenario considered by Viserys, the Southland and Dorne are undoubtedly the rear areas away from the war zone.

And Viserys knows very well that in this world where news spreads slowly, people in the rear can never imagine the difficulties of the front line. After the war drags on and they find their lives becoming more and more difficult in suffering, they will no longer have enthusiasm and expectations for the front line, and finally even turn their backs on the king they once supported.

Viserys cannot but consider this possibility. He cannot only consider the fighting of the soldiers on the front line, but also ensure the logistics in the rear and the enthusiasm of the subjects.

Only two years.

Viserys knows very well that he must lead by example, let the princes of the jurisdiction see his actions, and twist the jurisdiction as much as possible, so that he can play due strength in the future war against darkness that is destined to drag on for a long time.

Viserys was secretly alert and told himself that he would not be Fu Jian in the world of ice and fire, and he could not be Fu Jian.