The Mountain of Ice and Fire

Chapter 532: Forced Purchase

(Guarantee chapter.)

*

Earl Osgood looked at the Mountain in disbelief.

"Your Grace wants me to surrender to Euron Crow's Eye?"

"You can send someone to contact Euron Crow's Eye," The Mountain saw Earl Osgood's timidity.

Sending someone was different, it guaranteed Earl Osgood's safety.

"...I can...try..." Earl Osgood didn't want to do it, but he vaguely敷衍ed the Mountain, "Your Grace, shouldn't we discuss it with the Hand of the King? Duke Tyrell can also help us. Lord Randyll Tarly's army is besieging Riverrun, and after a long siege, he can order Randyll Tarly to lead his army into the Westerlands to lift Euron Crow's Eye's attack on the Westerlands."

"Earl, do you think the Hand of the King and Duke Tyrell would believe the fragments of the prophecy? Would Lord Randyll Tarly believe it? How many people would believe it before things happen?"

"Your Grace, I already completely believe it," Earl Osgood said with a firm and strong tone.

"Do you believe in White Walkers and dragons?" The Mountain asked suddenly.

Earl Osgood was stunned for a moment: "Your Grace, I believe in dragons, because the merchants, knights, and mercenaries who came to King's Landing are all talking about dragons. So many people are talking about it, I can't help but believe it."

"What about White Walkers?"

"...I...intuitively feel that it's a lie from the Northerners..."

"Ser Jaime also talked about White Walkers when he came back. Do you doubt his honesty?"

"I don't doubt Ser Jaime, I suspect Ser Jaime was fooled by the Northerners."

"So you don't believe in White Walkers!"

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

"The arrival of the White Walkers is real. White Walkers are intelligent creatures with the ability to resurrect all corpses. The resurrected corpses are wights, and wights are the soldiers of the White Walkers."

Earl Osgood was speechless.

He chose not to refute the Mountain's absurd claims.

White Walkers and wights have always lived in legends and stories. The recorded White Walkers were also eight thousand years ago. But dragons are different. In the basement of the Red Keep in King's Landing, there are still complete dragon bones. Dragons really existed, but no one has ever seen White Walkers with their own eyes, except in stories and legends.

"Just like Your Grace doesn't believe in the White Walkers Jaime mentioned, the Hand of the King and Duke Tyrell will also find it difficult to believe what I said about the prophecy. By the time they are willing to believe it, it will be too late."

"Your Grace, do you have any secret plans?"

"Are you willing to listen to my arrangements?"

"Of course, without a doubt," Earl Osgood said decisively.

The Mountain would not be confused by Earl Osgood's attitude and words like 'willing to follow'. Earl Osgood had no loyalty, he was only related to the overall situation and interests.

"I won't mention to the Hand of the King and Duke Tyrell that Euron Crow's Eye will attack the Westerlands. I hope we can join forces to get rid of Euron Crow's Eye, then attack the Iron Islands, occupy the iron ore mountains on Great Wyk Island, turn the Iron Islands into the territory of the Westerlands, and completely eradicate the Greyjoy family's power."

"Your Grace, what about our Arbor wine trade?"

"Fighting and making money don't conflict."

"How will Your Grace convince the Redwyne family of Arbor to let Your Grace sell the wine across the Narrow Sea?"

"I'm not just selling wine across the sea, I'm also selling wine to the Seven Kingdoms."

Earl Osgood was stunned.

"Your Grace, I heard from the Hand of the King that you only sell wine across the sea and won't interfere in the wine sales of the Seven Kingdoms."

"I can't let the Hand of the King earn as much money as I do out of thin air."

Earl Osgood felt his mood was messed up.

The Mountain had changed too much, cunning and sly, daring and reckless, full of lies, and had grasped the essence of the great nobles in the Red Keep.

"Your Grace, how will you convince the Redwyne family to only let you trade the wine?"

"This is not called trading, this is called monopoly."

"Monopoly?" Earl Osgood learned a brand new word.

"Yes, monopoly. I want to monopolize many things. Currently, I have monopolized the Blackwater Rush's fishery and the fish market of King's Landing; the second step is to monopolize Arbor wine; the third step: monopolize snow salt, sea salt, dried noodles, and iron ore. In order to monopolize iron ore, I must occupy Great Wyk Island in the Iron Islands. Of course, there are many other very profitable commodities, and I have to take it step by step. For example, the Reach's wheat dark beer sells well in the Summer Isles and is in short supply. I will monopolize it after defeating Euron Crow's Eye."

Earl Osgood couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"...Your Grace...you...you...what is the secret to your monopoly on these commodities?"

The Mountain stared at Earl Osgood: "Let me tell you a little secret about monopoly first."

Earl Osgood looked at the Mountain, appearing as well-behaved and naive as a primary school student. He listened attentively.

"Money!" The Mountain said slowly.

Money, the first capital of monopoly.

In this semi-agricultural and semi-pastoral world, even a little bit of the unscrupulous business practices of modern capitalists is an epoch-making initiative.

Wanton crushing!

*

Dragonstone waters.

A merchant ship came from the south.

The Dragonstone waters are the only way for all ships, large and small, entering and leaving the Blackwater Rush port of King's Landing.

This merchant ship was flying a flag: a blue background with a string of deep purple grapes in the middle.

This is a merchant ship from the Redwyne family of Arbor. The blue background with purple grapes is the Redwyne family's coat of arms.

At the bow of the merchant ship, the royal flag was flying: a stag on one side and a lion on the other.

Two warships appeared, with the Clegane family's red smoke beast, the Ice Sword army flag, and the Westerling family of the Crag's white shell flag planted on the bow. On the bridge, the royal flag was flying: the stag and lion flag.

The two warships came from the left and right, with generals and soldiers standing on the deck.

The captain of the merchant ship realized that something was wrong. The course of the two warships was the route of interception.

"Slow down!" the captain gave the order.

So, the oarsmen on the merchant ship slowed down.

"Lower the sails," the captain shouted again.

The sails full of wind slowly lowered.

The ship's speed quickly slowed down.

The two warships roared over. The leading general was Earl Gawen Westerling of the Crag, the Mountain's young father-in-law.

The general on the other warship held a heavy axe, had a broken nose, and had a fierce look in his eyes. He was Gawen's brother-in-law: Rolph Spicer.

The merchant ship had three levels of water surface, two hundred and forty oarsmen, two shifts, one shift of one hundred and twenty people.

The officer in charge of escorting this merchant ship came from the Redwyne family. He was Ser Desmond Redwyne. He came to the bow of the ship, feeling nervous.

The Clegane military flag made him nervous.

The Mountain's legion intercepted their merchant ship in the Dragonstone waters. What did they want to do?

As a knight of the Redwyne family, Desmond had seen the world and had good martial arts skills, but facing the two warships on the left and right, the hundred Redwyne soldiers on his ship were not enough for the other side to fill their teeth.

The merchant ship was forced to stop by the two warships.

Ser Desmond shouted over: "Is that Earl Gawen?" He was responsible for escorting the cargo ship, so he knew very well the situation in the places he would pass through from Arbor to the Blackwater Rush port, and he had to understand it.

Gawen Westerling didn't know Desmond, but he knew that the other party was from the Redwyne family.

"I am, may I ask who the knight is?"

"Earl, I am Ser Desmond Redwyne."

"Ser Desmond, your ship is loaded with Arbor wine."

"Yes, Your Grace."

"I admire Arbor wine very much. Can I invite you to Dragonstone as a guest?"

Desmond Redwyne naturally didn't believe that Earl Gawen sincerely invited him to Dragonstone as a guest. The two sides had no friendship at all.

"Your Grace, I have to rush to the Blackwater Rush port in King's Landing to deliver the goods. After I finish delivering the goods, I will definitely visit Your Grace at Dragonstone. Someone, move ten barrels of good wine over to Earl Gawen."

The two warships slowly approached, and the hull of the merchant ship suddenly shook. The warships on the left and right merged, sandwiching the merchant ship in the middle. The oarsmen who didn't have time to retract the oars heard a series of cracking sounds, and the oars were forcibly broken.

Rolph Spicer, holding a heavy axe, was the first to jump onto the merchant ship, and he heard a sound of long swords being drawn. The hundred warriors of the Redwyne family drew their long swords together.

Bang bang bang!

Countless Clegane navy warriors climbed over the side of the ship and jumped over. They had soldiers from the Westerling family of the Crag and warriors from the Claw Peninsula.

Bang!

On the other side, Earl Gawen also jumped over.

Dense Clegane navy warriors climbed over the side of the ship like ants, forcing Desmond Redwyne and his hundred soldiers.

Desmond shouted: "Redwyne soldiers, put away your weapons, we are all our own people." He smiled at Earl Gawen: "Earl Gawen, the Redwyne family is a vassal under Duke Tyrell, and Duke Tyrell is the Master of Laws of the Seven Kingdoms, specializing in laws and trials. Is Your Grace here to be a guest, or do you want to rob the Redwyne merchant ship?"

"Ser Desmond, I invite you to Dragonstone as a guest with sincerity, you can't refuse me."

Desmond sneered: "Earl Gawen, what if I don't go?"

"Then it's up to you, Ser Desmond. You have to go today, whether you want to or not," Rolph Spicer, with a broken nose and a heavy axe, shouted sharply.

"Hehe, I didn't expect the Clegane navy warriors to be reduced to pirates in the Dragonstone waters. When the news spreads, I'll see how Lord The Mountain will end up in King's Landing. How should the Clegane family explain to His Majesty the King, Her Majesty the Queen Mother, and the Hand of the King?"

Earl Gawen raised his hand, and the soldiers who had crossed the ship put down their weapons one after another.

"Ser Desmond, I sincerely invite you to Dragonstone as a guest, please agree. Gawen will definitely see you off early tomorrow morning, and then you can go wherever you want. I swear by the name of the God of the Sea that I will not harm the life of any soldier of the Redwyne family, nor will I harm the lives of any sailors, oarsmen, servants, and servants on board. Sir, please!"

A short while later, the three ships set sail again, with two warships on the left and right, and the Redwyne family's merchant ship in the middle, heading towards Dragonstone together.

Early the next morning, the Redwyne merchant ship sailed out of the Dragonstone port, and all the Arbor wine on the ship was emptied, and the hull floated up a lot. In the bottom deck, there were several rattan boxes, and the rattan boxes contained gold dragons and silver stags.

This merchant ship full of wine was forced to sell all the wine to Earl Gawen on Dragonstone. Although the price was not a loss, this way of doing business was very unpleasant.

Moreover, Earl Gawen said that this was just the beginning.

Desmond Redwyne stood at the bow of the ship, and the big ship sailed towards King's Landing. He was going to the Red Keep in King's Landing to see Duke Tyrell, explain to him the 'forced purchase' of wine, and explain the situation to the King's Landing merchants who had signed the contract.

Last night, the depressing scene that made Desmond feel depressed lingered in his mind, causing him to keep his eyes open until dawn after returning to his room.

The Redwyne family had encountered the first forced purchase in history!

Earl Gawen's shameless words seemed to be still echoing in Desmond's ears: "Ser Desmond, please tell Earl Paxter Redwyne that the wine he sells to King's Landing, Gulltown, White Harbor, and Lannisport in the future will be sold by Clegane people as agents. The Clegane people don't want to interfere in the markets of the Reach and Dorne. I hope the price can be slightly lower than before, because we Clegane people buy a lot and pay the full amount at one time. In terms of transportation, the Clegane people can come to Arbor to transport it, and the Redwyne family can directly move money into the vault at their doorstep."

Desmond replied faintly: "Earl Gawen, the Redwyne family has a strong naval fleet and has the strength to protect its merchant ships and sell wine to any place."

Earl Gawen smiled: "Ser Desmond, Gregor will visit Earl Paxter at the appropriate time and persuade him to hand over the wine to the Clegane people to operate and sell."

"Absolutely impossible," Desmond said decisively.

Earl Gawen smiled and didn't take it seriously: "Desmond, if the Clegane people are added to the Hand of the King and Earl Osgood Lannister, I don't know if they have the ability to be the sole agent for the sale of wine?!"

Desmond choked!

The Mountain forced to buy all the wine, and the Hand of the King stood behind him? Behind the Hand of the King, is the royal family also standing?

This made Desmond feel very uncomfortable.

Selling the wine to whoever is selling it, and the price is about the same, and the profit is equal. It's just that the Clegane people's method of warship coercion made him very unhappy. If the Mountain is added to Kevan the Hand of the King and Earl Osgood, Desmond doesn't know how to deal with this situation.

If the interests are not harmed, is the Redwyne family willing to offend the Mountain, the Hand of the King, and Earl Osgood? This is a question.

Lannisport in the Westerlands is Earl Osgood's territory. The Redwyne family's wine is sold to most areas of the Westerlands and the Reach, and they are unloaded and shipped at Lannisport. Earl Osgood can cut off the Redwyne's Sunset Sea waterway trade with a small order.

Until the ship entered the Blackwater Rush, Ser Desmond was still in a daze, and a breath of depression swirled in his chest, unable to spit it out.

Outside the Blackwater Rush port, a warship from the Royal Navy fleet came for routine inspection, which had never happened before.

The Redwyne family's cargo ship, with the family flag, belongs to the 'inspection-free' passage.

Desmond had to order the cargo ship to stop and accept the inspection by the naval soldiers.

Master of Ships Wagstaff Gower boarded the ship, took the Royal Navy soldiers and turned around the ship, and without saying a word, seized the rattan boxes containing gold coins and silver stags on the ship, came to the deck and without saying a word, several swords were held against Desmond, and in the eyes of the Redwyne family's soldiers, Desmond was taken to the Royal Navy fleet's warhammer.

Desmond was stunned and said, "My lord, I am a vassal of Duke Tyrrell, the Minister of Law."

"Desmond, Lord Mountain heard that you are very dissatisfied with his purchase of Arbor wine. He wants to understand the reason for your dissatisfaction. If it is his fault, or if there is any shortage in price, Lord Mountain, together with the Prime Minister, Earl Aud, will apologize to you. Lord Mountain hopes to obtain your forgiveness!"

Beads of cold sweat immediately poured out on Desmond's forehead!

*

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