The Mountain of Ice and Fire

Chapter 4 Black and White

Dunsen had to rein in his horse, raise his longsword, and shout to form the formation.

The heavy cavalry rumbled into formation!

"Form up!" Bull Zeller galloped back and forth, from east to west.

The pikemen marched in step, rumbling into formation!

"Form up!" Fang seemed to squat on horseback, his bloodied longsword raised high.

The light cavalry's hooves clattered as they returned to Fang's rear, one rank, two ranks, three ranks...

Soon, the pikemen were in the center, blocking the Gold Road.

Behind the pikemen, Notebook rode on horseback, longsword raised, shouting, "Archers, prepare!"

A thousand archers drew their arrows together, nocking them onto their bowstrings.

In a short while, the heavy cavalry on the left flank, the light cavalry on the right flank, the pikemen in the center, and the archers in the rear, all had completed their formations.

On the opposite side, banners fluttered, the King's Stag and Lion banner, the Lannister family's Golden Lion banner, Littlefinger's Gold Mockingbird banner, the Tyrell family's Rose banner, and the City Watch's legion banner all arrived.

Tyrion rode in front, flanked by the stalwart Bronn, the shy Podrick, and the quiet Mace Tyrell; the Kingsguard knight Osmund Kettleblack, stood tall, a head taller than everyone, seemingly a smaller version of the Mountain, his white cloak dazzling; and three gold-cloaked centurion officers of the City Watch.

The stench of blood filled the air, everywhere were bloodstains, discarded swords, fallen warhorses, severed limbs, and corpses strewn across the ground.

Tyrion saw the shattered lemon banner of House Dalt of Lemonwood, the skull-crowned banner of House Manwoody of Kingsgrave discarded on the ground, the Martell family's sun-pierced-by-a-spear banner half-covered by corpses, and the coat of arms of House Uller of Hellgate on the chest of a knight's corpse staring at the sky...

Tyrion raised his hand to stop the column, then rode alone into the cruel battlefield.

Among the fallen corpses, he saw the coat of arms of House Allyrion of Godsgrace, the coat of arms of House Gargalen of Salt Shore, and the coat of arms of House Jordayne of the Tor...

Tyrion felt uneasy and heavy-hearted, had the plan to kill the Mountain been leaked, otherwise why would the Cleganes have so meticulously planned an ambush against the Dornish?

The Dornish came to the royal palace to take office and attend the King's wedding next year. The nine most powerful families of Dorne came together. This was the greatest glory of the royal family, but now it has become the greatest sorrow of the royal family.

It seemed that the Red Viper's men had been completely annihilated.

All the efforts of his father, Lord Tywin, to win over the Dornish had been washed away by this battle.

The Lannisters offered conditions that the Dornish could not refuse in order to make Dorne submit.

But what now?

Why would the Cleganes arrange this battle? Tyrion once again recalled Janie's warning to him: "If the Dornish dare to provoke the Clegane army after entering King's Landing, we will beat them severely! If the Dornish dare to raise an army, we will go to war with them!"

Tyrion involuntarily thought of his secret meeting with the Red Viper in Shae's brothel. The words came from his mouth and entered the Red Viper's ears. No third party should have known about it.

Did Janie want Oberyn to die because they wanted the Mountain to die?

Could it be that Janie had inherited the abilities of a witch?

Could it be that the Mountain himself had gained some unknown prophetic ability?

Tyrion looked around. In the woods on the left flank were Dunsen and the heavy cavalry; in the woods on the right flank were Fang and the light cavalry. In front of him was the densely packed pike formation with spears raised.

He did not see the main force of the Clegane infantry and light infantry, nor did he see the baggage train.

"I want to see your Lady Janie!" Tyrion said, feeling bitter.

"The Lady is on the hill, Lord Hand," Zeller answered. The blood on her longsword had not yet dried. Her handguard and armor were covered in blood, obviously someone else's blood.

On the hill, Janie and Jeynei Brom followed down, protected by Westerling knights, with a thousand Westerling infantry behind them.

Tyrion saw that Jeynei Brom was indeed with the Cleganes, and a chill rose in his heart.

This was indeed a carefully designed trap.

He prided himself on being extremely clever, but found that in the contest with Janie, he was always one step behind.

Aware after the fact!

Janie rode forward, Jeynei Brom following closely beside her. Tyrion's eyes twitched. He saw that Miss Brom was actually wearing armor, with a sword belt around her waist, and a longsword and dagger on the belt.

The mysteriously missing Miss Jeynei was actually Janie's personal guard???

Tyrion couldn't believe it. He had a brief moment of distraction, then quickly composed himself and regained his composure.

Janie and Tyrion faced each other. Janie spoke first: "Lord Hand, the Dornish Red Viper ambushed us a hundred miles from King's Landing on our way to retreat. We were forced to fight back, and many of our brothers were killed. I formally demand compensation from the Dornish."

Tyrion glanced at Jeynei Brom: "Lady Janie, according to what I saw on the battlefield, the number of Dornish killed far exceeds the number of Cleganes."

"The Cleganes were forced to fight back, united in hatred. The Dornish are evil and cannot prevail!" Janie said sternly.

The noble lady, cultivated by Earl Gavon with all the resources of his family, was multi-talented and eloquent from a young age. The Westerling family's plan to revive the family was to marry this talented woman to some great noble in the hope of turning things around. However, who could have known that the carefully cultivated flower would later marry the notorious Mountain.

However, the family's more than ten years of painstaking cultivation of their daughter was gradually being verified - it seemed that the cultivation with all the family's strength was not in vain.

Tyrion chuckled dryly: "Lady Janie, then, why is Miss Jeynei Brom in the Clegane army?"

"Miss Jeynei Brom is already Lady Jeynei Brom. She and Ser Chiswyck Clegane fell in love at first sight. They are deeply in love and are already a family. When we return to Clegane village, we will hold a grand wedding for Jeynei and Ser Chiswyck."

"Then, can I speak to Miss Jeynei Brom alone?"

"I cannot decide for Miss Jeynei. If you want to speak to Miss Jeynei, please ask Miss Jeynei for her opinion."

"Lord Hand, you can ask anything you want here," Jeynei said.

Tyrion forced himself to smile: "Alright, Miss Jeynei, do you know that this war was caused by you? Prince Oberyn led his army to pursue you, all for your safety."

"Lord Hand, if the Prince sincerely wanted to chase me back, he should have chosen to come with you to inquire, rather than fight. If I were a Dornish hostage, I would have been killed by the Cleganes to sacrifice to the banner as soon as the Prince chose to fight, but that is not the case. Ser Chiswyck and I are in love with each other. I voluntarily gave up the right to inherit Brom and chose to elope with him."

Tyrion was stunned!

He never expected Jeynei to say such a thing.

"Lord Hand, you heard it. What Prince Oberyn really wanted was a battle, not to save people. He only wanted to launch a surprise attack and massacre the Cleganes. It's a pity that I had heard of his vicious intentions, so for safety, I had to withdraw the baggage train and infantry first, and leave the cavalry and pikemen behind to cover our retreat, in case of accidents. What I really didn't expect was that the Cleganes chose to leave quietly in the middle of the night, unwilling to provoke anyone, but still couldn't escape Prince Oberyn's poisonous hands. However, Lord Hand, you have also seen that evil cannot prevail. I firmly believe this, so we won this battle."

Evil cannot prevail, Lady Janie emphasized twice!

Tyrion, with his sharp tongue and unparalleled eloquence, was speechless and choked for a while.

"Lady, where is Prince Oberyn?"

"Several of our generals have gone to pursue him, hoping to capture him and hand him over to you for a public trial. I believe in the laws of the kingdom and fairness and justice. Prince Oberyn must give us Cleganes an explanation."

"Lady, what if the generals accidentally kill Prince Oberyn in the pursuit? The kingdom's unity and peace still depend on Prince Oberyn. I would be very grateful if you could immediately order the generals to return."

Janie stared at Tyrion, and Tyrion looked at Janie. Neither of them spoke.

Both of them understood that it was almost impossible to repair the rift in Dorne, but both knew that Dorne still had Princess Myrcella.

There were many meanings in their eyes. After a silent exchange and understanding, Janie ordered: "Blow the horn and order all the pursuing generals to return."

Perhaps, when the generals return, Oberyn's head may be skewered on their longswords.

Five against one, as long as Oberyn is caught up, he will definitely die!

Janie saw through Tyrion's mind. He no longer had any hope of Dorne's submission, but he wanted to keep Oberyn as a hostage in exchange for Princess Myrcella of Dorne.

The defeated Oberyn, in name a prince, will actually be reduced to a royal hostage. Tyrion is also a ruthless person who is good at assessing the situation.

Woooo woooo woooo!

The Clegane army's horn sounded,慷慨激昂, resounding through the sky, the drawn-out tail echoing far, far away.

"Lady Janie, I am very grateful, and I would also like to ask the Lady to hand over the captured Dornish criminals to me, so that I can take them back to King's Landing for trial."

"As you wish, Lord Hand. You will have to wait a while. I will go to the prisoner camp and bring all the criminals to you."

"Thank you, Lady."

Tyrion stared at Jeynei, hoping that Jeynei would stay after Lady Janie left, and he had something to say to Jeynei. As long as Jeynei stood up and told the truth about being kidnapped by the Cleganes, Janie would not be able to justify herself, no matter how eloquent she was. It was necessary to first prove that the battle was caused by Janie's kidnapping, so that Tyrion's next transaction would have better room for maneuver.

Janie turned her horse, Zeller raised her right hand, and the pike formation split in two in the middle, revealing a path in the middle.

The neat formation was like a knife!

Tyrion was secretly shocked. In a short time, the Clegane refugee pike legion had grown. Just this military might and discipline alone was no longer the initial new recruit pike team.

Looking at the battle between Janie and Oberyn, the Clegane main infantry and sword and shield soldiers were not used at all.

The Mountain's military management, at least on the surface, was not inferior to Earl Randyll!

Janie rode into the passage between the two armies. Jeynei glanced at Tyrion, lowered her head slightly, gave the Lord Hand a polite and humble greeting, lightly nudged her legs, and the warhorse turned its head and followed Janie.

Tyrion watched Jeynei and Janie walk through the pike formation, unable to speak for a moment.

*

Prisoner camp.

Laura Brom and Penrose Brom were guarded by several of Notebook Mark's brothers.

Janie and Jeynei came together. When Laura and Penrose saw Jeynei fully armed beside Janie, the mother and son looked at each other, their eyes surprised and uncertain.

Janie and Jeynei dismounted. Janie stood still, and Jeynei drew her dagger and cut the ropes for her mother and younger brother.

"What's going on, Jeynei? Have you become a traitor?" Lady Laura said sharply.

"Lady Laura, it is said that the Dornish are stupid, with one person hammering the iron and eight people lifting the horse. I didn't believe it before, but now it seems to be true," Janie said sarcastically.

Laura and Penrose glared at Janie.

"Lady Laura, Ser Penrose, I will release you and the other eight Broms and hand you over to the Lord Hand, but before I release you, I think it is necessary to tell you some of the truth."

"............" Lady Laura glared at Janie.

"When I first met Prince Oberyn at the meeting of the important ministers of the court, he was frivolous and arrogant towards me. I believe that you, Madam and Ser Penrose, must have heard a lot of his foul language about me in your usual dealings with the Prince."

Lady Laura and Penrose couldn't help but look at each other. Did Lady Janie know about this too? But they were immediately relieved. It must have been the traitor Jeynei who told Janie.

In fact, even if Jeynei knew about Oberyn's insults to Lady Janie behind her back, she would definitely not tell Lady Janie in person, that would be too rude.

Janie said lightly, "I know why Prince Oberyn, who has never met me, hates me so much, because I am the Mountain's wife."

Lady Laura and Penrose did not answer, but their expressions said everything.

"The feud between the Martell family of Dorne and the Mountain is originally a feud between the Dornish Martells and the Lannisters, but the Martells received benefits from the Lannisters, so they forgot the real blood feud and instead focused on dealing with the Cleganes. Since you have taken the initiative to provoke and do not want peace, then we can only be forced to choose to fight!"

Lady Laura sneered: "Lady Janie, you are wrong. It is known throughout the Seven Kingdoms that the Mountain raped and murdered Princess Elia Martell during the fall of King's Landing seventeen years ago. Duke Tywin has never come out to deny this rumor, and the Mountain has never denied it either. Obviously, that is the truth."

Janie snorted and said lightly: "Lady Laura, do you really think that the Mountain would dare to arbitrarily harm Princess Elia Martell, disregarding Duke Tywin's military orders? Robert Baratheon killed Prince Rhaegar, and the Robert Alliance defeated the Royalist Army. The overall situation of the kingdom was set. May I ask, did Duke Tywin have any credit at that time? He had no credit. How should he please the new king? Obviously, he had to do something. The Mountain was a knife in his hand."

Lady Laura was speechless, and after a while, she said: "Lady, we do not know the true situation of whether Duke Tywin had military exploits back then."

"Yes, but we will read history books. Madam never reads the records of the royal scholars, does she?"

"............"

"You and I both know exactly what the situation was back then. The Martell family knows too, they're just pretending they don't. Tywin Lannister hadn't accomplished anything at the time, so what was going to happen? Lady Lora, I have a question for you. Was it Tywin Lannister or the soldier, the Mountain, who tricked the King into opening the gates of King's Landing? Was it Tywin Lannister or the soldier, the Mountain, who ordered the sack of the city? Was it Tywin Lannister or the soldier, the Mountain, who ordered the slaughter of the entire royal family?"

Lora's eyes widened, and she couldn't say a word.

"If someone killed your loved one with a knife, would you seek revenge on the person holding the knife, or on the knife itself?"

"…………"

Lady Lora felt completely bewildered.

The Mountain was the sworn enemy of Dorne, a deeply ingrained concept in every Dornishman. From a young age, she had told Jonessa and Penrose that the Mountain had raped and murdered a Dornish princess, that he was a monstrously evil man, the mortal enemy of Dorne.

"Robert became king, and the Targaryens were destined to be destroyed. Who was going to do the dirty work for him? After all, a king who wants to sit on the Iron Throne needs someone to do the dirty work for him. So, do you think it was Tywin Lannister who did the dirty work for the king, or the Mountain, who was just a soldier at the time?"

Lady Lora was speechless.

"Dornishmen are either stupid or evil; stupid if they can't distinguish who the real culprit is, evil if they're willing to trade anything. Storm's End, Princess Myrcella, a position as a high-ranking official, can erase the blood feud between the Martells and Lannisters, and then they turn around and bully a knife, instead of the person who wielded that knife back then. Lady Lora. The real great enemy of Dorne has always been the Lannisters, not the Cleganes."

Lady Lora was stunned! She instinctively looked at Penrose, who was equally bewildered.

"If the Cleganes invade Dorne, that is our fault, but in King's Landing, in the Crownlands, the Cleganes have long had the ability to kill all the Dornishmen, but we haven't done so. I don't know what Oberyn and Tyrion plotted in Shae's brothel, but perhaps you do, madam. I heard rumors that Oberyn joined forces with the real enemy, determined to kill the Mountain to avenge Princess Elia. Lady Lora, do you think the Mountain and the Clegane forces are waiting to be slaughtered by you, or will they fight back?"

Lady Lora closed her mouth tightly. She felt ants crawling on her back, it was cold sweat.

"Oberyn is allied with the Lannisters. Do you think the Westerlands forces, who were beaten and terrified by the Mountain, will be a match for the Clegane forces again?"

"…………"

"The Lannisters currently have an advantage because Joffrey has the right to inherit, which is also their only advantage. But the North has already declared independence, the Riverlands are following the North, and the Vale is virtually independent. Madam, the Dornish are willing to sell everything for one or two official positions in the royal palace. Oberyn has a good reputation: 'The Dornish spears are as thick as sand, but only one is unmatched.' Honestly, I look down on Oberyn, who abandons blood feuds and bows down to his enemies for the sake of profit."

Lady Lora felt completely drained. She found her lips dry and bitter, her body hot, but her back and palms were covered in cold sweat.

Her originally righteous belief in revenge was like a bulging balloon, gently pricked by Jenny with a needle, and with a 'pop' the balloon burst.

Jenny wanted Lady Lora to understand that the idea that supported her righteous hatred of the Mountain was perhaps just a small object that could be traded at any time by the powerful. It would be even better if Lady Lora could tell this truth to more Dornish people.

The Mountain is the public enemy of Dorne, this hatred may not be appropriate.

The Mountain is the knife, and the one who wielded the knife back then was Tywin Lannister.

The reasoning is simple and clear, but the result is unacceptable.

Lady Lora took a deep breath: "Lady Jenny, are you trying to excuse the Mountain's crimes of rape and murder?"

"No, I'm not excusing it, I just want you to understand that in a state of war, the Mountain was acting under orders. The Mountain is guilty, he deserves to die, but the Lannisters deserve to die even more. The public enemy of Dorne is the Lannisters, certainly not the Cleganes. Madam, please ask Prince Oberyn when you return. He participated in countless battles as a mercenary across the Narrow Sea. How many innocents did he rape and kill?"

Lady Lora closed her mouth tightly again!

Jenny gestured to the guards beside her, and the guards brought wine.

Jenny poured fine wine for Lady Lora and Penrose, the fine wine was bright red, like blood: "Madam, Ser, after you finish this glass of wine, I will hand you back to the Hand of the King, but I still have to say before we part, the true enemy of Dorne is the Lannisters, not the Mountain. If the Dornish must count the blood feud on the Mountain alone and start a war again, I vow to fiercely defeat the Dornish, and show no mercy again!"

Thanks to 【飞翔de山鸡】【送子阿訇】【葛屠逸】【当阳光遇上我们的时光】 for their support and rewards, thank you, handshake!