The Mountain of Ice and Fire

"Following Duke Tywin's orders to detain Edmure, we will lose 300,000 gold dragons in revenue, as well as the honor of House Westerling and House Clegane. We will be scorned by the Seven Kingdoms," said the Mountain. "Jeyne, what do you think we should do?"

"Father is the one who profits, we are the ones who suffer," said Jeyne. Duke Tywin was Jeyne's adoptive father.

There were no outsiders present, and Jeyne spoke quite frankly. To prevent Lady Sybell's gossiping, she was not involved in these core secrets.

"I've been following Duke Tywin since I was twelve," said the Mountain, "for twenty years now. I understand the Duke's character and life goals. For the sake of Lannister's interests, the Duke can sacrifice Cersei's happiness; for the sake of Lannister's honor, the Duke can sacrifice Tyrion Lannister's life; if it's for the development of the entire Lannister family, between Jaime and Lannister, the Duke would only choose Lannister and abandon Jaime without hesitation. He is a ruthless man, and the family's interests and inheritance are above all else. If I disobey, the Duke won't do anything to me now because he still needs me, but when he doesn't need me so much, or the interests of the other party are great enough, or he finds someone to replace me, he will not hesitate to kill me because of my disobedience today."

The study was very quiet, and everyone's breathing was heavy.

"What legitimate reason could there be for detaining Edmure?" said Earl Gawen, a pedantic nobleman who valued honor above all else, even selling land and fields to maintain the Westerling family's false and noble facade. "Earl Edmure and his guards ate the bread and salt of House Westerling, and they are protected by the ancient right of guest. I should personally reject Duke Tywin's proposal. He has ruined the millennia-old honor of House Westerling in an instant. I will reject him!"

"Westerling and Clegane cannot withstand the wrath of Duke Tywin. I don't want 'The Rains of Castamere' to be played in the Crag of Westerling!" the Mountain said blandly.

*

Three days later, a letter arrived at the Crag.

The letter was from Riverrun in the Riverlands. Duke Hoster wrote, agreeing to purchase the milk sterilization technology of the Crag for 300,000 gold dragons; secondly, Maester Vyman mentioned that the Duke's condition had worsened and hoped that Edmure could return to Riverrun as soon as possible.

"I must return to Riverrun immediately," Edmure said immediately after reading the letter. "Father's condition has worsened, and I must be by his side."

Edmure was a debauched scoundrel, but also a filial son who loved his father deeply.

"Good!" said the Mountain. "Today, Jeyne and Maester Yassa will immediately give you the milk sterilization technology, and then tonight we will have a drunken feast. Tomorrow morning, I will personally escort you out of the Westerlands and back to Riverrun."

"Okay. Our 300,000 gold dragons have already been sent from the Riverlands. It's good that Lord Mountain is personally sending me out of the Westerlands, so he can protect the 300,000 gold dragons on the way, lest they be robbed by bandits."

The Westerlands has three things in abundance: gold mines, and bandits.

There are pirates in the sea, and many bandits in the mountains!

Most of the bandits are aborigines from the mountains and some miners who lost their jobs and income after the gold mines were exhausted.

In the Westerlands, there are fewer and fewer gold mines, and more and more idle and unemployed miners. This is an irreversible trend that is slowly affecting the stability of the entire Westerlands.

*

A large pot, a filtering cross, a large bucket of snow-white milk, a thermometer without graduations but only two red lines, and an hourglass for timing.

Jeyne instructed the servants to bring up the milk and pour the fresh milk into the iron pot and light the fire.

Edmure had never seen a thermometer without any graduations.

Edmure had never seen an entirely sealed thermometer.

Edmure had never seen such a small thermometer.

As a great lord of the Riverlands, Maester Vyman of Riverrun had thermometers: whether water thermometers or alcohol thermometers, they were all open and had thick glass tubes.

The thermometer that Jeyne took out was sealed, and the medium at the lower end was neither water nor alcohol, but silver in color.

However, Edmure had also never seen a liquid silver thermometer medium.

A small thermometer gave Edmure many surprises.

Edmure asked what the substance in the thermometer was, but Maester Yassa and Jeyne did not say clearly. When Edmure pressed them, Maester Yassa said that Maester Vyman should know what the medium was, and that there was one in the Citadel. If Lord Edmure could not solve the self-made thermometer with Maester Vyman after returning, he could purchase one from the Crag for ten gold dragons.

The salary of an ordinary soldier for about three years could buy such a thermometer.

Edmure stopped talking!

Ten gold dragons was a small amount of money for a person like Edmure, but he couldn't stand the large quantity of these thermometers. If the milk sterilization method were to be spread to the North and the Vale, to hundreds of large and small nobles and hundreds of prominent wealthy merchants, then about a thousand such thermometers would be needed!

Maester Yassa tied a silver thread to the thermometer and put its small round bubble at the end into the steaming milk. Edmure watched as the silver thread of the thermometer began to rise until the height of the silver thread exceeded the first red mark.

The servant responsible for burning the fire began to control the firewood in the stove.

"The temperature must be controlled between the two red marks, not below the bottom mark, nor above the top mark," Maester Yassa emphasized.

Jeyne turned the hourglass over: "Lord Edmure, as soon as the temperature of the milk exceeds the lower mark of the thermometer, you must turn this hourglass over at the same time. When the hourglass runs out, the milk in the pot will be extinguished at the same time, and the sterilization will be completed."

Edmure looked at the straight leak line of the hourglass: "About how long does this hourglass take?"

"About half an incense stick!" It was another vague answer.

But this did not stump Edmure. After returning, he would easily calculate the time of the hourglass. He could also simultaneously put the specific milk sterilization temperature range into another thermometer to synchronously calculate the specific temperature value.

Of course, the thermometers he knew and could have at home were all open and had thick glass tubes.

"This is one of the methods of milk sterilization, and there are other methods that can preserve it for a longer time," said Jeyne.

It turned out that there was more than one method, and the milk's preservation and shelf life were indeed very important.

*

In the evening, the Crag celebrated like a festival.

Lord Edmure was leaving for home tomorrow, and the Westerling family was a famous family, unwilling to lose their etiquette, so they catered to Lord Edmure with fine wine, food, and beautiful women.

Wandering singers, poets, comedians, magicians, and acrobats all took the stage.

The entire Crag was extremely lively.

Edmure and his brothers indulged in unrestrained revelry amid the host's hospitality, enjoying themselves to the fullest!