The Mountain of Ice and Fire

“Alright, I have some secret words to say to Her Majesty the Queen. Prince Doran, stay. Everyone else, please leave first,” the Mountain said.

Gomez Cao stood up: “Your Majesty, the King, my arakh scimitar has been sharpened quickly. I hope to start the war sooner.”

Saneca Cao said: “Your Majesty, the King, I hope to be the vanguard in the siege.”

Amanca Cao stood up: “Your Majesty, the King, you can consider digging tunnels into Qarth. As long as Your Majesty orders, I will start tonight.”

The Mountain said, “I already have a plan. If you want to win, you can’t rush.”

Jorah, Grey Worm, Hero, and the others remained silent, obeying orders and leaving the central army tent.

Soon, only three people were left in the central army tent: the Mountain, Doran, and Daenerys.

The Mountain first poured wine for the two ladies, then poured a cup for himself. He sat down unhurriedly and took a big sip of wine.

Daenerys and Doran had no interest in drinking. Two pairs of beautiful eyes stared at the Mountain.

The Mountain smiled: “Relax a little, take a sip of wine, and relax.”

“Your Majesty, what good idea do you have?” Doran said indifferently.

Daenerys pursed her lips tightly, but the meaning in her eyes was the same as Doran's.

They were both a little impatient.

“Pyat Pree wants to negotiate, so let’s negotiate with them,” the Mountain said, raising his glass, signaling the two ladies to raise their glasses as well.

But the two ladies did not appreciate it.

“A fake negotiation?” Daenerys said, with a look of suspicion in her eyes.

“Yes, a fake negotiation.”

“I’m afraid we can’t deceive Pyat Pree.”

“But it can buy us time.”

“What exactly is Your Majesty going to do?” Doran frowned. She hated anyone who didn’t speak frankly.

“Negotiate first, maybe we can convince them to surrender?” the Mountain said.

“What conditions do we want?” Daenerys always asked the key questions.

“Negotiate with the King, not with Pyat Pree. In Qarth, we need to arrange for a maester to be a civil official.”

“Your Majesty, Qarth doesn’t have civil officials.”

“Then arrange one.”

“Okay, what else?”

“The King’s heir must come to Westeros to study for three years and be my attendant. If the King has a daughter, she needs to marry into the Westeros royal family.”

“Hmm.”

“We must unify currency, writing, and weights and measures. Our maesters will open schools in Qarth, and the children of the royal family and nobles must all be sent to schools to learn Westeros civilization.”

“Oh!”

“In addition to the spices, ironware, clothing, sour wine, rice, and wheat offered to the Westeros royal family every year, they also need to pay one million gold coins in taxes. The million gold coins in taxes are paid to the national treasury and have nothing to do with the royal family’s private wealth.”

Doran interjected: “Your Majesty, they will bargain over the amount of taxes. It’s better to collect two million gold coins in taxes, so that after bargaining, we can easily get one million gold coins in taxes.”

“One million gold coins in taxes is not a heavy burden for the giant city of Qarth,” Daenerys said.

“Yes. I didn’t ask for harsh taxes. What I want to promote most is, of course, Clegane’s paper money plan. Establishing a monetary system is more practical than collecting one million gold coins,” the Mountain had his own focus.

“Are there any other conditions?” Daenerys asked.

“Once there is a war, Qarth must unconditionally obey the summons to send troops.”

“Your Majesty, as long as you don’t touch their kingship, I think the King will agree to this,” Doran said.

“Finally, there is one more condition: burn Pyat Pree at the stake,” the Mountain said slowly.

“Burn Pyat Pree at the stake?” Daenerys and Doran said in unison.

“Yes, dragonfire to burn Pyat Pree at the stake. There can be no more Pyat Pree in Qarth. Tell the King that the death of one Pyat Pree will save everyone in Qarth.”

Daenerys and Doran looked at each other.

After a while, Daenerys said, “Your Majesty, Pyat Pree’s prestige in Qarth may be higher than that of the King.”

“Pyat Pree has no prestige in Qarth, only fear and awe. No citizens will be willing to fight for Pyat Pree. They are just afraid of his magic.”

“How are you sure of this?”

“I’m very sure. There is a rumor among the bottom people of Qarth: countless lies and bones are buried under the House of the Undying. The people of Qarth do not like the Undying Ones. The Undying Ones are evil. In the era when dragons disappeared, in order to restore magical power, the wizards did too many cruel things, luring and killing many innocent women and children, just to refine the legendary 'shade-of-the-evening'. Shade-of-the-evening can help them restore magical power, but it requires sacrificing human lives. Nobles and wealthy merchants are safe, but ordinary people and slaves are the targets of the Undying Ones.”

The Mountain’s words reminded Daenerys and Doran of Melisandre.

For the sake of faith, Melisandre also used living people to sacrifice to the Red God. Later, Melisandre herself had to admit that she had done many wrong things.

“Your Majesty, Pyat Pree doesn’t need the love of the people. He has the support of the King, nobles, wealthy merchants, the Thirteen, the Tourmaline Brotherhood, the Warlocks, and the Ancient Guild of Spicers,” Doran said disapprovingly.

“Pyat Pree is the king in the eyes of the nobles and a demigod in the heart of the King, but if the King and the Thirteen and these people want to protect Qarth, they must hand over Pyat Pree, because I want him dead.”

“What if they don’t agree?”

“Negotiate first, and we’ll know the result after the negotiation.”

“Where to negotiate?” Doran was very vigilant.

“Of course, it’s under the city wall of the North Gate, within the range of our cavalry and also within the range of the opponent’s archers.”

The Mountain would not go to negotiate in the city of Qarth. Similarly, the King of Qarth and others would probably not feel at ease coming to the Dothraki camp.

“Who will be the envoy?” Daenerys asked.

“You ride the dragon there, let the black dragon Drogon hover over the palace, set a time, and notify the King to meet and negotiate under the city wall of the North Gate.”

“Okay!”

“However, you need to be in charge of the negotiation. Neither I nor Doran will show up.”

“Oh? Why?”

“Doran and I still need to do some other things.”

“What’s the matter?”

“You don’t need to know the specific details for the time being, just one thing, I need to immediately send orders to gather as many blacksmiths as possible.”

“Then when will the negotiation begin?”

“Send a message tomorrow, set a specific time, and you will be responsible for this negotiation.”

*

The next morning, Missandei got up, washed up, and brought hot milk into His Majesty the King’s tent with a maid. She opened the curtain, but the bed was empty and the King was nowhere to be seen.

She went to Prince Doran’s tent, and it was the same.

Early in the morning, the King and Prince Doran were gone.

When asked the guards, the guards all said they didn’t know.

It wasn’t that the guards didn’t know, but the King ordered the guards not to talk nonsense.

The guards protecting the King did not rest all night. When they were tired, someone would come to replace them. The tents of the King and the Prince needed to be guarded all night, and there could be no carelessness.

Missandei went to Daenerys’s tent and sent in hot water, hot milk, and freshly baked bread.

“Your Majesty, His Majesty the King and Prince Doran are not in the tent.”

“Oh? They got up really early.”

“The dragon is also gone.”

“They must have gone out riding the dragon,” Daenerys didn’t care.

“I asked the guards, and the guards all said they didn’t know.”

Daenerys was stunned.

“Aren’t the guards guarding all night? How could they not know when the King and the Prince went out?”

“Yes. I guess His Majesty the King ordered them not to talk nonsense.”

Daenerys opened her mouth wide and didn’t close it for a while. After a while, she recovered as usual: “Missandei, don’t worry about His Majesty the King. They have important things to do.”

“Is it related to the Dothraki cavalry being ordered to forcibly conscript blacksmiths everywhere yesterday?”

“I think so.”

Daenerys remembered what the Mountain had said to her last night when she was going to bed. He said that when negotiating, first ask the King of Qarth to select twenty of the best blacksmiths and twenty carts of iron ore to show sincerity.

Daenerys didn’t understand the Mountain’s proposal, but the Mountain didn’t explain it to her clearly, only saying that Daenerys would naturally understand when the time came.

*

After breakfast, Daenerys rode the black dragon Drogon and gave a soft shout. Drogon flew into the sky and flew towards the city of Qarth.

Qarth has two famous high-rise buildings, one belonging to the royal family and one belonging to the House of the Undying.

Daenerys rode the dragon in the high sky. On the ground, Qarth had woken up, and there were brilliant colors everywhere under the sunlight.

Daenerys arrived above the royal family and slowly lowered her altitude.

On the ground, someone discovered the black dragon, and commands and horns rose and fell. Gray canvas was lifted, and dragon-hunting crossbows were pushed out one by one.

Clatter, clatter, clatter!

The sound of mechanical card strips was clear, footsteps were chaotic, soldiers ran around, and centurions shouted loudly.

Runners rushed into the palace to report that Daenerys was attacking with a dragon.

Suddenly, a voice resounded through the sky: “Your Majesty the King, I am Daenerys Targaryen. I have no malice in coming here. It is not a declaration of war, not a declaration of war.”

On the ground, captains, generals, and soldiers were still frantically loading crossbow bolts, finding good positions, pushing crossbow carts, and arranging their teams.

In the palace, the King, protected by halberd guards, was passing through layers of houses to hide in the basement.

Once the dragon came, as long as it broke through the defense line of the dragon-hunting crossbow, the palace would be hit by dragon fire. The royal rooms were densely packed, and as long as a few fires started, it would be a devastating disaster.

“Your Majesty the King, I am here to negotiate,” Daenerys’s voice continued to sound. The black dragon hovered in the sky, maintaining a distance that was neither high nor low. Daenerys stared closely at the situation below. Once someone launched a crossbow bolt, she didn’t mind counterattacking.

The captain of the guard rushed into the palace to convey the message from Daenerys to the King.

After a while, the King came out under the protection of layers of soldiers and stood in the middle of a circle of dragon-hunting crossbows.

Dozens of dragon-hunting crossbows were aimed at the sky.

Daenerys was fearless and slowly lowered the black dragon.

Clatter, clatter, clatter!

The operator turned the mechanical dial, the head of the dragon-hunting crossbow slowly raised, the soldiers pushed the crossbow cart, found the right angle, and aimed at the black dragon.

Daenerys continued to lower her altitude.

The black dragon entered the shooting range of the dragon-hunting crossbow, but Daenerys was still calmly descending.

Low altitude, hovering.

“Your Majesty the King, if three dragons suddenly attack the city wall, do you think the dragon-hunting crossbow will be useful?”

“Your Majesty the Queen, we are not willing to have a war, but if you insist on attacking the city, we will win.”

“You will be killed.”

“Then let’s try.”

“Your Majesty the King, if Qarth can really win, would Master Pyat Pree still take the initiative to request peace talks? Don’t forget, we now have three dragons. Dragons can launch surprise attacks on windy nights, and they can also launch surprise attacks in the heavy rain at night. Once attacked, the soldiers on the city wall will only be in their sleep. Even if the soldiers on duty are guarding the dragon-hunting crossbow, they will not have time to launch it. Our Majesty the King has a dragon like a mountain peak. The dragon only needs to flap its wings outside the shooting range of the dragon-hunting crossbow to get close. A fireball can destroy all the soldiers on a section of the city wall.”

The King of Qarth felt empty in his heart, and cold sweat broke out on his palms. He leaned back: “Your Majesty Queen Daenerys, you were once a distinguished guest of Qarth. We are not willing to be enemies with you, but if you insist on invading, the people of Qarth will never surrender.”

“We don’t want to destroy the beautiful and rich Qarth, so we decided to negotiate. Your Majesty the King, are you willing to negotiate?”

“Peace is the best result for both of us. I hope to meet with His Majesty Gregor Clegane.” The King’s speaking skills were still extremely high.

“I am very happy to be the envoy, but before we negotiate, His Majesty King Gregor hopes that His Majesty can first send us twenty of the best blacksmiths and twenty carts of iron ore.”

“Oh? Why?”

“According to the ancient traditions and devout beliefs of His Majesty King Clegane’s family, the sincerity before the peace talks is to receive the blacksmiths and iron ore sent by the other party. Qarth is the most outstanding, rich, and powerful city-state, so it needs twenty blacksmiths and twenty carts of iron ore. When Your Majesty sends the blacksmiths and iron ore, we will start formal peace talks. Regardless of whether the peace talks are successful or fail in the end, we will return the blacksmiths and iron ore as they are.”

The King pondered slightly. He had never heard of such peace talk conditions. It sounded novel and a little strange. In Qarth, what is not lacking are ordinary craftsmen such as blacksmiths, and iron ore is the cheapest thing.

If the other party was greedy and asked for twenty carts of spices, that would be something that would be painful.

The King made a decision: “Your Majesty Queen Daenerys, tomorrow, you will receive my sincerity.”

“Thank you, Your Majesty the King, goodbye.”

Daenerys patted the black dragon’s neck, and the black dragon swooped up, flew into the sky, and merged with the blue sky and white clouds.

On the ground, the King and the generals looked up at the sky, and their fear of the dragon sprouted and took root in their hearts like a seed.

Soon, Daenerys turned into a small black dot in the high sky.

His Majesty the King slowly withdrew his gaze: “Runner, go to the House of the Undying quickly and invite Master Pyat Pree here.”