The Mountain of Ice and Fire

Lord Tywin was looking at the Mountain.

Maester Potter felt for the first time that there was an inexplicable, strange understanding between the Duke and the Mountain.

He had just felt it, and had never felt it before.

"Did you hear any prophecies from the witch?" the Duke asked the Mountain.

"Yes."

"What prophecy?" The Duke stared at the Mountain, his eyes able to see through everything.

"Father, why don't you ask the witch yourself? The witch's prophecy requires your blood. The prophecy about me isn't very good."

"What prophecy?" the Duke asked again.

"In two years, in the Great Hall of Maegor's Holdfast in King's Landing, I will be stabbed by Oberyn Martell, the Red Viper of Dorne, with poison on the tip of his spear."

Both the Duke and the Maester slightly adjusted their postures.

Sixteen years ago, Oberyn Martell's sister, Elia Martell, was raped and killed by the Mountain in the royal nursery, and the person who ordered it was Duke Tywin. The Mountain then also threw the Queen's baby boy to his death.

The Duke said in a deep voice, "Nonsense."

The Mountain said, "Well, I'm also skeptical."

"Absolutely not credible," Duke Tywin said decisively.

Knock, knock, knock!

A guard knocked on the door.

The Duke nodded, and the Maester went over to open the door.

A servant entered, a boy with all the characteristics of the Lannister family, named William Lannister, the second son of Kevan Lannister, who was thirteen years old this year.

The little boy was obviously a little afraid of the Mountain, and he leaned towards the Maester: "Your Grace, the envoys from the Iron Islands would like to ask if you need the iron ore to be unloaded. If we don't need the iron ore, they will set sail and leave."

"How much more are they going to raise the price this time before they are willing to unload the goods?" The Mountain asked in a deep voice.

William was startled and stammered: "They have raised the price by five gold dragons this time. There are five ships of iron ore in total this time."

"The Iron Islands have raised the price from seven gold dragons per ship of iron ore to twenty-eight gold dragons per ship. Now these five ships of ore are asking for five more gold dragons out of thin air. This is too much. Father, the Ironborn should be completely eradicated," the Mountain said angrily.

Duke Tywin's face became cold and hard.

"Are they determined to raise the price this time?"

"Yes." The boy was a little timid. "Your Grace, they said that this is already the lowest price. They originally wanted to raise the price by two gold dragons per ship, but this time they only raised it by one gold dragon."

"Okay, you can go. I know," the Duke said coldly.

"Yes, Your Grace."

William bowed slightly, turned and walked out, gently closing the door.

The child paid great attention to the details of propriety.

The Mountain was furious and said, "Father, I want to meet the bastards from the Iron Islands." He was aggressive.

"What do you want to do?"

"I want to talk to them. We will never accept their price increase again."

Duke Tywin looked at the Mountain with a blank expression, leaning back slightly: "Ser Gregor, go and take care of your business first. I will handle this matter."

The Mountain snorted: "Father, the Ironborn are lowlifes and must be eradicated. Let the Iron Islands become an affiliated island of the West. I am willing to take the lead."

The Duke stared at the Mountain: "You go first. Don't go and make trouble for the Ironborn. I will handle it. I will notify you in advance when I need you."

The Mountain did not answer, glanced at the Duke, and strode out. He opened the door and left, without closing the door. Maester Potter hurried over to close the door to the study.

"Maester?!" the Duke said.

"Yes, Your Grace."

"If we are going to war with the Iron Islands, what would be a good reason?"

Maester Potter had some knowledge in this area.

"Your Grace, whether it was during the Targaryen dynasty or during the reign of King Robert, the Iron Islands would rebel and become independent once they had a little strength. They have never had a bit of loyalty. Throughout history, rebellion and independence have always been the tradition of the Ironborn."

"Well, rebellion is a good excuse," Duke Tywin said slowly. "If we raise troops to eradicate the Ironborn, we will no longer have to worry about iron ore. But we still have a problem. Once we no longer have gold mines, many of our miners will have to return home, but there is not enough land at home for them to cultivate."

"Yes," the Maester said worriedly. "We have more mountains and less fields, and we have to import a lot of food every year. We cannot be self-sufficient like the Riverlands and the Reach. Once thousands of miners are unemployed, and there is not enough land at home for them to cultivate, a large number of idle laborers will also become a serious social problem."

Tywin clasped his hands together and propped up his chin: "Maester, take out the map of the Seven Kingdoms and take a look."

"Yes, Your Grace!"

*

There is a port inside the west city of Casterly Rock.

This port is a huge cave formed by years of seawater erosion of the rocks.

The cave, which has been eroded for thousands of years, reaches the interior of the west city.

More than a dozen docks are arranged around the cave.

Although this is not as large as the nearly one hundred docks in Lannisport, and even less comparable to the super-large scale of one hundred and several dozen docks in King's Landing, it is rare as a dock that goes deep into the interior of the city.

The five ships of iron ore from the Iron Islands were docked at one of the docks.

The Mountain came to the west city port and saw the five ships of iron ore.

The five ships carrying iron ore were obviously smaller than in the past.

If His Grace the Duke is forced to accept this price increase, then the iron ore sold by the Iron Islands to Lannisport, the iron ore sold to Fair Isle, and the iron ore sold to the Crag and Kayce, etc., will undoubtedly all increase in price.

This will be another major expense that the Westlands will have to increase. But this is not the key. The real key is that the greed of the Ironborn is endless.

The Mountain came with his brothers.

Because he couldn't do anything about this.

The Duke had told him that His Grace the Duke would handle this matter himself.

Okay, the Mountain will not interfere in the price negotiation, but if these Iron Islands guys dare to harass the women of the Westlands, it is a matter of course to have their legs broken.

The Ironborn's favorite thing to do is to plunder. This is their tradition, which they call 'the Old Way'. The Old Way is the concrete external expression of the Ironborn's traditional plundering culture. In this pirate culture, a person's value mainly depends on the level of his plundering skills, and depends on how much living resources he can grab.

The Ironborn do not wear any jewelry unless they have "paid the iron price". Paying the iron price has nothing to do with shopping with money. The Ironborn's iron price is his knife and fist. He kills or knocks you down, and this is called paying the iron price. Then, your accessories will belong to him, because he has 'paid the iron price' and completed the purchase process.

You can tell the level of his bravery by how many decorations and accessories the Ironborn wears.

The Iron Islands have many iron mines, and the entire island of Great Wyk is iron ore.

In addition to iron mines, the Ironborn also have island farms.

Those who work in the mines and farms of the Iron Islands are called slave laborers. All slave laborers are prisoners captured by the Ironborn during raids, and the Ironborn, as the true people of the Iron Islands, disdain to do this lowly work.

They have a high opinion of themselves and are full of superiority.

In addition to working as slave laborers, female prisoners also have to be responsible for 'warming the bed' for the Ironborn at night.

An Ironborn man can have countless unlimited "salt wives", but can only have one "rock wife". The rock wife must be a native Ironborn, because in the eyes of the Ironborn, people from other places are weak and lowly except for the people of the Iron Islands.

Therefore, being presumptuous with the women of the 'green lands' has always been a fine tradition of the Ironborn who feel good about themselves.

The Mountain entered the most famous restaurant in the port, went to the highest point, and sat down by the window. He looked down and saw two coquettishly dressed women walking on the dock, swaying their waists, while several of his brothers were leisurely strolling around the stalls of the dock vendors.

In just a short while, whistles sounded from the iron ore ship, and several Ironborn jumped ashore, rudely flirting with the two women, touching them and asking for prices.

They mistook the two women dressed as good women for prostitutes.

Well, these two women disguised as good women are indeed prostitutes.

The world will be in chaos, and the Ironborn must be eradicated, so let's start the first fire.

*

ps: The 3rd update at 6 pm.