The Mountain of Ice and Fire

Lady Horn didn't know how she walked out of King Gregor's hall. When she realized she was standing in the sunlight, she found herself on the petition corridor outside King Gregor's palace.

Several Unsullied soldiers escorted a woman with a wild look on her face, clad in tight-fitting leather armor, who strode quickly. The woman was tall and slender, and the leather armor perfectly outlined her lithe and perfect figure. The woman walked very fast, like a gust of wind. The hilt of a dagger was visible in her boots, and she had two short-handled axes hanging from her waist.

The woman's eyes were also full of wildness, as fierce as a wild beast.

She walked past Lady Horn, giving her only a glance, which made Lady Horn involuntarily shiver. When she walked over, Lady Horn clearly felt a gust of wind blowing in her face.

This barbaric and sturdy fully armed woman was named Asha Greyjoy. His Majesty the King had introduced her at a banquet once, and Lady Horn had a deep impression of Asha, but the other party didn't seem to have a deep impression of her.

King Gregor Clegane had not yet announced to the outside world that Lady Horn no longer possessed the identity of Her Majesty the Queen. Apart from the limited number of people in King Gregor's palace, people outside did not know that just now, Queen Horn had lost her position as queen.

Even so, Asha did not take the so-called Qarth 'Queen Horn' seriously.

From Asha's neglect of her, Lady Horn read that her queen status had long been insignificant, only she herself and the Horn family were still deceiving themselves.

Lady Horn felt two cold spots on her face. She reached out and wiped them, only to realize that she was shedding tears. She quickly shook her mind, wiped away her tears vigorously, quickly composed herself, and tried her best to restore that elegant and noble appearance, with a 'confident' smile, she walked slowly back to her palace in the west.

*

Asha walked into the palace and came to the Mountain's presence. Across the table, she bowed to the Mountain, with her right palm open on her left chest: "Your Majesty, the Qarth navy has been assembled."

"Oh? So fast?"

"Four days is considered slow."

"Good, are there any naval officers who are unwilling to obey your jurisdiction and command?"

"No one dares to disobey military orders, Your Majesty."

"Not disobeying military orders, but that kind of obvious hostility and resistance."

"Your Majesty, I have appointed the group of people who are most hostile to me as senior generals of the Qarth navy."

"The senior generals commanding the navy are all people full of hostility towards you?"

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Queen Jeyne Westerling coughed softly: "Commander Asha, perhaps you should use some generals who express loyalty and are willing to swear allegiance to the King and Qarth."

"Your Majesty the Queen, the real senior generals who can command the navy will only be based on real skills and military exploits in the future. And now, I am more willing to appoint those who are most unwilling to obey me. If I cannot conquer them, I am not worthy to be the commander-in-chief of the Qarth navy."

"Good!" The Mountain said, "Asha, since I have entrusted the Qarth navy to you, you have absolute say in how you manage, train, command, and promote these generals and soldiers. But in the future, I will also look at military exploits and the legion's loyalty, unity, and discipline!"

"Yes, Your Majesty."

"After the reorganization, how many warships are there in total?"

"One thousand two hundred warships."

"Oh, that seems a little less." The Mountain frowned.

"Your Majesty, I have eliminated warships that are used for both commerce and war. As for the ships that can be completely transformed into real warships, I have ordered them to complete all the transformations within half a month. The warships of the new Qarth navy only do one thing, which is fighting. In peaceful times, warships are no longer allowed to engage in trade."

"How many merchant ships can be converted into warships?"

"Six hundred ships, Your Majesty."

"So there are a total of one thousand eight hundred warships?"

"Yes, Your Majesty. With one thousand eight hundred warships, I can fight to any sea area in the world."

"Before heading to the eastern world, you need to train these one thousand eight hundred warships into one person."

"I will, Your Majesty."

"How much time do you need?"

"Three months, Your Majesty."

"Six months, I'll give you six months."

"Three months is enough, Your Majesty."

"I will come to inspect at that time. If the navy's combat power, loyalty, and discipline cannot reach the standards of the Clegane Legion, I will severely punish you."

"The most absolute loyalty can only be tempered and enhanced in the flames of war. The iron-blooded loyalty tempered by life and death is the most reliable, and military discipline must be strictly enforced from the beginning. I need Your Majesty to give me the power to kill."

"Kill who?"

"In my next three months of training, for some generals and soldiers who dare to destroy military discipline, I will not give them a chance to correct their mistakes. I will directly cut off their heads and hang them on the flagship as a warning to others."

"Commander Asha, perhaps you should give them at least one chance to correct their mistakes," Queen Jeyne suggested softly.

"Your Majesty the Queen, before I cut off the heads of those who violate military discipline, I will repeatedly emphasize the inviolability of military orders and tell them the cruelty of violating military orders."

"Good, I give you three months of power of life and death over the Qarth navy," The Mountain said, "From now on, the highest military punishment power of the Qarth navy, from the highest death penalty to the lightest corporal punishment, I grant it all to you."

"Thank you, Your Majesty."

"There is one more thing I need you to go and see with me."

"Please instruct, Your Majesty."

"Follow me to the weapons camp outside the city and meet with Duke Gendry, Master Tobho Mott, and the Great Sages."

"Have the cannons been cast?" Asha's face lit up with joy.

"One has been cast. You need to install it on your flagship. I will equip your flagship with two cannons and nail steel to your warship to protect your warship from being easily destroyed."

"Your Majesty, how can steel be nailed to a warship."

"Simple, it's to put a layer of armor on your warship."

"Armor?" Asha couldn't understand.

Jeyne smiled: "Asha, your warship is like a person. Master Tobho Mott has made some very tough large plate armor for your warship. We plan to install these plate armor on the sides, front and back, and deck of the warship."

The Mountain said: "This can protect the warship from rocket attacks and prevent it from being broken in half. Swords, arrows, and spears will not damage the wooden structure of the warship."

"Just like a person putting on a suit of plate armor?" Asha was surprised and delighted.

The Mountain nodded: "Yes. Your flagship needs to be heavily protected, and your escort ships also need to wear such a layer of armor."

"Your Majesty the King, Your Majesty the Queen, I can hardly believe it. Can warships with plate armor still row quickly?"

"Yes, adding twenty oarsmen can offset the weight of the plate armor, which is very cost-effective."

"What about the bottom of the ship? If we can lay a layer of iron sheet on the bottom of the ship, we don't have to worry about the enemy sneaking into the water to puncture our warships."

The Mountain pondered for a moment: "Perhaps Master Tobho Mott and Duke Gendry can solve this problem. The bottom of the ship can be covered with iron sheet, which can also be laid inside the ship or nailed outside. Your suggestion has given me a new plan. Maybe we should try to make a warship entirely out of iron sheet."

Footsteps sounded, and Little Petyr trotted in: "Your Majesty, a strange person has come outside. He is with a guard. Both the strange person and the guard have a golden sea monster on a black background on their chests, which is exactly the same as Commander Asha's family crest."

The Mountain, Jeyne, and Asha all looked at Little Petyr together.

"Let them in," The Mountain said in a deep voice.

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Soon, three people appeared at the door. Little Petyr led the way, followed by an extremely tall and thin monk in a coarse linen robe. His hair and beard were very long, with his long hair dragging to his lower body and his beard hanging down to his abdomen, like messy gray-black seaweed. He had a hooked nose, black eyes, and a fierce look. He looked at people like two awls, making people afraid to look directly at him.

The Mountain, Jeyne, and Asha's eyes all lit up.

Behind the monk was a young man with a determined face and calm eyes, wearing worn leather armor, a long sword hanging from his waist, and a thick short staff on his back. He had a face full of black stubble, messy and dusty, mature and restrained.

The monk and the young man came to the Mountain's table, standing in the same row as the astonished Asha.

"Your Majesty the King, Your Majesty the Queen, what is dead may never die, but rises again, harder and stronger."

"Euron Greyjoy, priest," The Mountain said calmly, neither humble nor arrogant.

"Your Majesty the King, Your Majesty the Queen, Theon Greyjoy pays his respects," the young man said, kneeling on one knee, with his right fist on the left chest over his heart.

"Theon, you are not dead yet, congratulations," The Mountain said lightly.

"Your Majesty, Theon is already dead, but the Drowned God resurrected him, just like me. Both Theon and I were once dead, and we were both reborn in the sea. What is dead may never die, but rises again, harder and stronger. This prayer is suitable for the Ironborn, also suitable for the Qarth naval warriors, and suitable for His Majesty King Gregor Clegane," Euron said.

"Master Euron, I do not worship the Drowned God."

"Your Majesty, wherever there is water, there is the Drowned God. If Your Majesty wants the navy to be stronger and the soldiers and generals not to drown in sea battles, they need to believe in the Drowned God. Warriors who believe in the Drowned God will go to the Watery Halls after death to enjoy the service of mermaids."

"Euron, do you want the Qarth navy to believe in your God?"

"Your Majesty, you can allow Quaithe of the Shadow, from Asshai in the East, to build a Red Temple on the site of the House of the Undying. I think on the large Qarth port docks, a statue of the Drowned God can also be accommodated."

"Master Euron, the commander-in-chief of the Qarth navy, Asha Greyjoy, is here. Whether you can build a Drowned God statue and a sacrificial hut on the dock needs Commander Asha's consent."

Euron looked at Asha, his whole person like a sharp sword.

"Uncle, if you come to the army as a priest to help me attack the eastern world, I will support you in building a statue of the Drowned God on the Qarth port docks and building a Drowned God temple by the sea."

"I have always supported you, Asha," Euron said.

Asha looked at Theon, and Theon also looked at Asha. The two stepped forward at the same time. Theon opened his arms to hug Asha, but Asha gave Theon a punch. This punch hit Theon's face heavily, knocking Theon to the ground.

"You didn't die, why didn't you come to me for so long?" Asha shouted.

"When I woke up, I found myself lying on the beach of a small island. A person with long hair dragging on the ground was making a fire with his back to me. Just by looking at his back, I knew he was our Uncle Euron," Theon said, raising his head. "I walked over, and Uncle said to me with his back to me that the Drowned God resurrected me from the sea. Sister, I now believe in the Drowned God."

"The Drowned God is the only true body of fishermen, Ironborn, and naval warriors. Only the Drowned God can protect the warriors who make a living and fight on the sea."

Asha stretched out her hand to Theon. Theon grabbed Asha's hand, and the two exerted force, and Theon was pulled up by Asha.

The siblings' shoulders bumped together.

The Mountain and Jeyne both showed faint smiles on their faces.

"Theon, do you still plan to be a naval general?"

"I would be happy to."

"You already believe in the Drowned God, are you carrying the Drowned Man's staff?"

Theon Greyjoy's back was carrying a thick wooden stick, which was neither long nor short.

Euron Greyjoy said: "Asha, Theon already believes in the Drowned God, the sea has become his home, and he will never drown in the sea again."

"Theon, have you given up your belief in the Old Gods?" Asha laughed.

The Old Gods are the belief of the Northmen and the Stark family of Winterfell, and Theon grew up in Winterfell and was Eddard Stark's adopted son.

"The Drowned God is also a member of the Old Gods," Theon said, "The staff belongs to Uncle."

Jeyne smiled: "Asha, congratulations on your reunion with your uncle and brother."

"Your Majesty the Queen, I can still remember His Majesty the King's dragon figure in the naval battle of the Blackwater back then. It was too big and terrible. The loud noise when the dragon-hunting crossbow hit my flagship was terrifying. The hull continued to tear apart in front of me, and I had to jump into the sea to save myself, and then I was swept into the bottom of the sea by the terrible water of the Water Gate."

Euron said: "Your Majesty the King, Your Majesty the Queen, when I fished Theon out of the sea, he was covered in scars."

The Mountain said: "There are dense reefs under the Water Gate outside the Blackwater River, which have formed sharp points like swords and spears under thousands of years of wave impact. To this day, it is the first time I have heard of someone being able to escape from under the Water Gate. That is Theon Greyjoy."

Euron said proudly: "Your Majesty, Theon was not able to escape from under the Water Gate. It was the Drowned God who resurrected him. What is dead may never die."

The Mountain smiled. He knew that discussing Theon's life and death with an Euron priest was meaningless, because it was destined to fail.

"Your Majesty," Theon said, "I would like to meet Her Majesty Queen Daenerys Targaryen."

Asha laughed: "Your Majesty, in the naval battle of the Blackwater a few years ago, Theon was Her Majesty Queen Daenerys's deputy naval commander."

"Daenerys and Quaithe the priest went to the House of the Undying," The Mountain said, "I hope Quaithe the priest will build a Red Temple on the site of the House of the Undying."