The Mountain of Ice and Fire

Chapter 365: With the Mountain Here, Who Dares Disobey? (2 Updates)

(I couldn't think of a good title this time!)

.

King's Landing, the Red Keep. Council Chamber.

After reading the letter, the Mountain withdrew his thoughts from the Westerlands and handed the letter to Tyrion, the Imp: "Lord Hand, we've won."

The Imp took the long letter and scanned it: "Winterfell, the capital of the North, has been captured by Theon Greyjoy. Robb will have to withdraw his troops to save it no matter what. With the Northern cavalry and infantry retreating, the Westerland army can then pursue and crush them, securing a great victory."

"Once the Northern army retreats, the Riverlands won't be able to withstand Lord Tywin's Westerland forces. Edmure Tully's advantage of the Red Fork's geographical position will also be immediately lost. Lord Tywin only needs to turn east and slowly conquer town after town, and no one can stop him. If Edmure dares to cross the Red Fork to fight, he will inevitably be utterly defeated," the Mountain said.

Cersei's cold and arrogant face finally cracked a smile. Suppressing her inner triumph was a painful task: "Robb has publicly declared the North and the Riverlands to be under Stannis Baratheon. Now, let Stannis Baratheon go and save his Winterfell."

Littlefinger's lips curled into a sly smile, as if everyone present were trash: "Stannis is一心要来拿下君临城,夺取铁王座 determined to take King's Landing and seize the Iron Throne. As for the life and death of Winterfell, hehe, he can't manage it even if he wanted to."

The Imp looked at the Mountain, his one black and one green eye gleaming, but his words were directed at Cersei: "Your Grace, the Queen Mother, under these circumstances, the envoy group I sent out to negotiate peace is perfectly timed. The Northerners are eager to return home, and the Riverlands are in a state of panic, with morale crumbling. Exchanging hostages and negotiating peace is the best opportunity."

The Mountain had said that the Imp's peace negotiation plan would fail, but man proposes, and God disposes. The situation suddenly reversed. The timing was perfect. The capital of the victorious North was taken, Bran and Rickon were captured, and Torrhen's Square and Deepwood Motte fell simultaneously. The crisis in the North and the sudden reversal of the situation helped the Imp's envoy group gain the initiative.

In the council chamber, the Imp spoke of negotiating peace with the Riverlands and exchanging hostages. His escape plan could not be publicly discussed in these settings. Who knew who here would tell whom after leaving, and then the news would be intentionally or unintentionally leaked. The Imp knew that among the members of the Small Council, there was no shortage of liars, villains, and schemers.

Facing the Imp's 'provocative' gaze, the Mountain said calmly: "Lord Hand, the Northerners are eager to return home, and the Riverlands are struggling alone. Jaime Lannister has become a more important bargaining chip in their hands. Peace negotiations, if they are to succeed, will be difficult!"

The Mountain still insisted that the Imp's escape plan would not succeed.

Cersei was concerned about Jaime and only wanted him to return safely: "The Mountain, our Kingsguard is still missing a captain. I have high hopes for the Hand's peace negotiation plan. The current situation is unfavorable to the North, and they need to negotiate peace with us even more. I think we should write a letter to Lord Tywin, telling him about our peace negotiation plan."

"Agreed!" the Mountain said.

"Agreed," Littlefinger stated.

"Agreed," Maester Qyburn stated. As Cersei's newly acquired biting dog, Qyburn would definitely support any opinion of the Queen Mother.

"Very well then!" the Imp said unhappily, "I will inform Lord Tywin of the peace negotiation plan."

"And also give me a royal decree for conscripting troops, food, and supplies, Lord Hand," the Mountain reminded the Imp.

With this order, the Mountain could freely collect food and military supplies in the Crownlands to feed his army.

The nobles of the Crownlands could not exclusively enjoy huge wealth and vast food reserves. It was time to make them bleed. The Mountain's army needed more food, ironware, and soldiers. With the royal decree in hand, the Mountain would definitely skim off the top. Everything was for winning the war, everything was for protecting the royal family.

And Cersei and the Imp also needed the Mountain's 'brutality' to pave the way. Otherwise, relying on the Imp and Cersei, it would not be so easy to pry open the doors of the great nobles in the Crownlands.

The Mountain was the best crowbar to use!

With the Mountain Here, Who Dares Disobey!

*

Bronn stood on the main tower of Stokeworth, watching a group of people slowly approaching in the distance. Bronn was accompanied by Maester Falkan and the newly promoted Captain of the Guard, Abelar Kell, and Deputy Captain Lyn Kenning.

After a while, the banners of the approaching army became visible. It was the royal 'crowned stag and golden lion banner' - the king's banner.

The pattern on the king's banner combined the 'crowned stag' of his father's family with the 'golden lion' of his mother's family.

Was it Queen Mother Cersei who ordered the officers to bring troops to help Falyse retake the castle?! Bronn couldn't be sure. But after the Stokeworth incident, he deeply understood that the Imp was a very unusual dwarf and would definitely not let Bronn surrender so easily. Otherwise, the Imp would not have sent mountain clansmen to help him take Stokeworth.

"Lyn, pass the order down. All soldiers in the castle are to form up outside the castle and await the enemy," Bronn said calmly.

He was not afraid!

Stokeworth was Lollys's territory, and also Bronn's territory. No matter who came, he would reason with them if there was reason, and fight if they wanted to fight. Bronn knew that he had abandoned the dwarf once, but the dwarf had obviously not abandoned him. Now was the time to perform well in front of the dwarf.

If the royal family was going to split, his current team was only the dwarf.

As the approaching army drew closer, Bronn's nonchalant expression gradually changed. He saw the golden lion banner of the Westerlands, which was nothing, as Queen Mother Cersei and the Imp were both Lannisters of the Westerlands. However, he also saw the three-dog banner of Clegane Keep.

The appearance of the three-dog banner caused extreme discomfort to Bronn.

On the eve of the Battle of the Green Fork, in order to find a prostitute for the Imp, Bronn relied on a small knife to 'invite' Shae away from Anguy's bed. Then the Mountain came, with a group of brothers, and forced Bronn to kneel down and apologize. Bronn could also bravely refuse to apologize, but Anguy would just shoot an arrow through his heart.

During that incident, the dwarf was present and, with the Lannister name, could not stop the Mountain.

From that day on, Bronn knew one thing: Don't provoke the Mountain; if you really have to provoke him, then go with the Mountain.

"The Mountain!" Maester Falkan said, his voice trembling slightly.

"The Mountain!" The newly promoted Captain of the Guard, Abelar Kell, changed his expression.

"Let's go down!" Bronn's tone was calm, but the hand holding the sword hilt was trembling slightly. "Raise the Lord Hand's golden lion banner."

Bronn was also a scheming person. After obtaining Stokeworth, he ordered the castle manager to make a golden lion banner for the Lord Hand.

The Imp was a dwarf with high-level tastes. He had long ago created a sigil for himself, and also made a banner for himself—the [Lannister Golden Lion] was his personal, exclusive coat of arms pattern.

"My Lord, the king's banner should also be raised," Maester Falkan reminded him.

"Good!" Bronn realized that this was an oversight on his part. In any case, the king's banner must be raised. Every great lord in the Crownlands had the king's banner.

Bronn and Maester Falkan and Captain of the Guard Abelar Kell went downstairs and came outside the gate. Two hundred new and old soldiers and twenty mountain tribe soldiers were already on standby. The king's banner, the Hand's banner, and the Stokeworth banner were all raised. Bronn realized that he had overlooked another problem: he had not designed his own banner.

The banner pattern of Stokeworth was—a white lamb holding a golden cup on a green background. This made Bronn feel very uncomfortable at first sight after becoming the 'Lord of the Castle.' The green background and golden cup were not bad, but the lamb seemed too easy to bully. Bronn had thought about the banner issue, but recently he had been busy with a major reshuffle of the castle's managers and recruiting new soldiers, and he had forgotten about designing his own banner.

Bronn rode his horse, with Captain Abelar, Deputy Captain Lyn, and Maester Falkan, to meet the approaching army.

The approaching army was very fierce. The leader was none other than the feared Mountain, with the famous Seven Kingdoms sword—Ice—on his back. Beside him was a warhorse, specially carrying his huge shield. His usual greatsword was gone, which reduced the weight for the warhorse carrying his weapons.

Behind him was also an empty horse, with only a saddle. This was the Mountain's spare horse. One person and three horses were the Mountain's standard equipment.

Besides Captains Alyn and Galt, the Mountain was also accompanied by the generals: Anguy the Archer, Rafford the Sweetmouth, Polliver the Artist, Tymor of the Burning Men mountain clan, and the little beauty Chella of the Black Ears—Chella's seven sons were all by her side, the most famous warriors of the tribe—and Gonso, the leader of the Moon Brothers, who was thin as a bamboo pole and very sharp.

Besides their own guards, the leaders were also accompanied by two Clegane hundred-man squads. These warriors looked at people with hatred in their eyes, as if the world owed them too much blood debt that had not yet been repaid.

Bronn made up his mind that if the Mountain was sent by Queen Mother Cersei to deal with him and retake the castle to hand it back to Falyse, he would surrender and swear allegiance to Queen Mother Cersei, abandoning Tyrion, the Imp. In the face of such a situation, Bronn would not have any guilt about this.

If he couldn't kill the Mountain, then he would go with him. This was a choice that Bronn had once seriously considered.

If the Mountain was on the side of the Hand, then everyone was family, and everything was easy to talk about; if the Mountain was on the side of the Queen Mother, then he could only say sorry to the dwarf! Bronn decided to surrender without a fight!

"Bronn," the Mountain said, his voice booming, causing Maester Falkan's face to turn white and the two captains of the guard to be respectful and humble. "The King and Lord Hand have ordered that the rebel Stannis Baratheon will soon attack King's Landing. To defend King's Landing and the Crownlands, all nobles in the Crownlands must contribute money, troops, food, ironware, weapons, and armor. This is a royal decree jointly signed by the King and Lord Hand."

Captain Alyn stepped forward and handed the royal decree to Bronn.

Bronn's literacy was limited. He took the royal decree, looked at the words on it, and was basically unfamiliar with them. He was not sure what some of the familiar words meant. He handed the royal decree to the maester.

The maester took it, looked at it, and nodded to Bronn.

Bronn understood that the royal decree was real.

The war was approaching King's Landing, with the bloody and brutal Mountain paving the way and the cunning and treacherous Imp as the Hand. It was impossible for the great nobles of the Crownlands not to bleed.

The North and the Westerlands had been at war for so long, but the nobles of the Crownlands were actually still living in a very comfortable peace.

However, how to hand over these supplies? What was the quota standard? According to what basis should they be handed over? When should they be handed over? Should he send someone to transport the supplies to King's Landing himself? Or would the Mountain's people come and take them away? Was it possible to bargain? Could he bribe the Mountain?—Bronn decided to calm down and study these specific matters.

One thing was certain: the Mountain was not here to make trouble for him. Although Falyse didn't know where she had run off to, as long as he wasn't coming to make trouble for Bronn in Falyse's name, then he was a friend.

"Lord Mountain, I'm a crude person and don't understand anything. Can I invite you and your brothers to the castle for a drink first? The food, weapons, and supplies that Your Lordship wants, according to the royal decree..." There were no standard regulations on the royal decree. "I will ask Maester Falkan to prepare it for Your Lordship, and nothing will be missing. If Your Lordship needs us to send it to King's Landing, we will send it."

"Hmm!" The Mountain grunted. Bronn was very sensible and performed well.

Bronn did not feel that the Mountain's arrogance was inappropriate. He reined his horse and accompanied the Mountain into the castle.

Stokeworth Castle was majestic and broad. Although it was far from being comparable to the world wonder Harrenhal, the dining hall had a long table that could easily seat a hundred soldiers for a meal. There were a total of five such long tables.

The soldiers were arranged into the long table dining hall by the castle's stewards, while Bronn welcomed the Mountain and his generals into the luxuriously decorated hall to sit down.

All kinds of good wine and dishes were quickly brought up, and the Mountain noticed that the chef had made 'Westerling noodles' and brought them to the table.

Westerling's refined noodles were unique in this world.

The great nobles were different. Especially Lady Tanda—as soon as anything new to eat, wear, accessories, or small pets came to King's Landing, Lady Tanda was the first to get her hands on them. The sales of Westerling noodles, which were famous in the King's Landing noble circle, had always been good.—But they were out of reach for ordinary people.

"Bronn, are you married to Lollys?"

"Yes, Your Lordship," Bronn diligently poured wine for the Mountain. The diligence here was worthwhile.

"I heard someone say that Falyse is not dead."

Bronn immediately became alert. Falyse was a sword hanging over his head, ready to fall and crush his knighthood dream.

"Who did Your Lordship hear that from?"

"A friend," the Mountain said, looking at Bronn, who was as wary as a night wolf. "The news is very certain."

Bronn also poured himself a glass of wine, sat down, and respectfully clinked glasses with the Mountain: "Your Lordship, Falyse is Lollys's sister. This is her home. Can I bring her back?"

This kid didn't believe the Mountain's words!

"As long as you enter King's Landing and want to see her, you can see her," the Mountain said. "Although the Imp is a very interesting guy, I haven't told him this news yet."

Bronn's heart skipped a beat. What did the Mountain mean by this?

"Neither of the Lannisters is someone we can afford to provoke," the Mountain said, changing the subject. "Bronn, do you want to gain my friendship?"

"I would be delighted, Your Lordship."

"But I don't dare to trust you. You have no loyalty and are always ready to defect."

Bronn chuckled dryly: "Your Lordship, you don't need to trust me. If there are things that Your Lordship doesn't want to do, Bronn is still a mercenary at heart."

"Hmm!" The Mountain grunted. "Bronn, you're getting rich faster than I am. Killing Falyse's stupid husband was actually a good thing. Someone suggested I find Falyse a new husband, like Raff the Sweetling, or Ser Ilyn Payne the King's Justice. What do you think?"

Bronn's expression instantly became very interesting, as if he had been slapped hard across the face.

Thank you to [脩] for the support and reward, thank you, handshake!