The Mountain of Ice and Fire

Norris, a civilian refugee from the civil war. Formerly a soldier in the spear company of the Clegane Legion, he was chosen for the Mountain's Guard after following the Mountain, becoming a sworn sword.

Norris had a given name but no surname!

The Mountain granted him knighthood and a surname, and from then on, he was no longer a commoner but a landless knight. Knighthood, the most honorable of warriors, is also the lowest rank of nobility.

Many great nobles never become knights in their entire lives.

Knighthood cannot be inherited and can only be bestowed upon those with outstanding personal qualities and bravery.

The requirements of chivalry for a warrior are very high.

Norris has a low level of education, but the ideals of chivalry apply to him, and he is worthy of the title.

His wife, Anna, stood beside Lady Ellynia, her eyes filled with tears.

Knighthood is the highest recognition for a warrior. For an ordinary commoner, obtaining a title and no longer being a commoner is the greatest achievement in life, bringing honor to his ancestors.

Ellynia very timely took Anna's hand, who was extremely excited.

A duchess, no less, took the hand of her maid.

With just this gentle touch, this thoughtful gesture to comfort Anna's emotions, she immediately captured Anna's loyalty, inspiring a surge of impulse to follow her to the death.

Being noble without being arrogant and being approachable always makes those of lower status feel easily moved!

Anna was emotionally stirred, bowed her head, and whispered, "Thank you, Madam!"

The Mountain led Norris in swearing the knight's oath, then removed his longsword from Norris's shoulder, and said, "Rise, Ser Norris Clegane."

Norris stood up, and his brothers applauded him warmly.

Edmure also applauded for Norris.

"Congratulations, Ser Norris," Edmure said with a smile.

Applause thundered, and Norris's face radiated brilliance as he excitedly looked at his wife, Anna, who was wiping away the tears streaming down her cheeks.

His wife's excitement was the same as Norris's.

Without a doubt, a husband's honor is also his wife's glory! Many wives are more excited than their husbands when their husbands achieve something. Anna was like that at this moment.

The Mountain said, "Eryn, Jois, bring them out, and hand the things over to Lady Ellynia."

At Eryn and Jois's command, four brothers carried out two heavy wicker chests and placed them in front of Ellynia. Ellynia bent down, reached out, opened the wicker chests, her eyes full of surprise, in front of her were two chests full of gold dragon coins.

Two chests of gold dragons, a huge sum of money, enough for an ordinary petty noble to use for a lifetime.

"Little sister, this is a token of my and Jeyne's affection."

"...Thank you, brother-in-law..." The emotion in Ellynia's heart was indescribable, and Anna very timely gently supported her.

"Buy whatever you want, Jeyne and I will never let you lack money."

"Brother-in-law, in Riverrun, by my husband's side, I lack nothing," Ellynia almost cried with joy.

Although she was married, she was only thirteen years old. Her heart was still very pure. Ellynia had been taught from the age of a few years to marry into a great noble family, coveting empty fame and wealth, but in this world, it may not be a disadvantage, but an advantage.

Which noble girl would not want to marry the duke with the highest title?

All Cinderellas want to marry a Prince Charming!

"Brother-in-law!" Edmure said, "If you could send us two chests of snow salt, I think Ellynia and I would be even happier."

"Edmure, before the civil war started, we had a detailed plan for snow salt cooperation, and now it is time to re-execute the plan. You close down the messy mining of salt mines everywhere, leaving only one salt mine cave, and I will send technicians to be responsible for mining, refining, and ultimately manufacturing snow salt, with profits split evenly."

"No, I want sixty percent," Edmure said.

The Mountain looked at Edmure with a deep gaze: "Okay, the territory is yours, I accept a 40/60 split. The snow salt will first satisfy the Riverlands' consumption, and then gradually expand production, selling to the other side of the Narrow Sea through Gulltown. We will have a long-term business and make money together as a family."

"Deal, brother-in-law!"

"The Riverlands' black beer and wheat wine, I want to cooperate with you. You are responsible for managing all the beer workshops in the Riverlands, preferably concentrating them together to build a large brewery. I am responsible for selling them in Westeros and Essos."

"Our Riverlands' beer has already opened up sales channels to the Free Cities of the Narrow Sea."

"Then cut off all the channels of previous merchants and give all the beer to me. I will set up two sales points in the two major port cities of Gulltown and Lannisport. Any captain and merchant can only buy black beer and wheat wine through these two sales points. You will get half of the beer sales profit, and compared to just collecting a little beer tax, your income will increase tenfold due to this monopoly sales split. As the Riverlands' production continues to recover, this income will become higher and higher."

Edmure's eyes lit up.

"Brother-in-law, if all the beer in the Riverlands is given to you to sell, you won't deliberately lower the price for my people, will you?"

"I will acquire it by slightly increasing the price on the original price basis. This will dispel all the workshop owners' vigilance and hostility towards me. Of course, any workshop owners who dare to sell to other third parties are committing crimes. Edmure, you need to formulate laws and announce that your people are not allowed to sell beer to anyone other than me."

"Deal!"

The Mountain smiled slightly. When the status and relationship are right, and you have power in your hands, doing business and making money is just a matter of words. It's as simple as it can be.

The Mountain, whose mind had been transformed by advanced civilization, knew that there was no more profitable business than a monopoly!

And in this hierarchical society, the power of the great lords is the law.

And he knew that it wouldn't be long before Edmure would have to come to the Westerlands to find him, and he would smoothly start another cooperative project with him: opening a Clegane Bank branch in Riverrun.

Letting Edmure take the initiative to come to him will make it easier for Clegane Bank to enter Riverrun. Of course, the bank in Gulltown will also open soon. Oh, right, and the paper money promotion plan in King's Landing.

In King's Landing, Cersei was still waiting for the Mountain's reply.

The Mountain provided Cersei with a way to print money permanently, which invisibly magnified Cersei's greed, allowing her to see a dazzling dawn for solving the royal family's financial crisis. Of course, this dawn actually contained huge risks—if the crazy printing of paper money flowed into the market, the paper money would really become paper and would not become money.—Of course, Cersei could not understand this.

Showing the benefits and letting others take the initiative to make requests and ask for cooperation is a more brilliant business method.

Although Cersei had written a letter, the Mountain was not in a hurry to enter King's Landing to promote the paper money plan. He returned to the Westerlands, and there was a more important thing to do.

Although winter is coming, that is for the Northmen, especially the Starks.

The Westerlands still have several years of warm time.

The most important thing is to do well in the Westerlands, consolidate power and money, and turn the Westerlands into one's own private land and base.

Without roots, everything will be duckweed!

The Mountain solved the Vale through Littlefinger and with the help of his fierce generals and soldiers; and he solved the Riverlands through forced marriage, using his little sister Ellynia's 'ultimate ideal' of marrying into a great noble family; next, the Mountain will further consolidate the alliance with the Northern forces.

Whatever the North needs most now, the Mountain will bring to the North.

The Stark family is a grateful family and a family that repays kindness. The Mountain knows that his investment is worthwhile. At the final critical moment, if Daenerys Targaryen, the Mother of Dragons, and the Mountain cannot be compatible, the Mountain will need the help of the Stark family at that time.

With strong allies outside and stability and prosperity inside, all development seems to be progressing in the Mountain's plan, and he can feel his power and money growing day by day. Thinking of the future, the Mountain's thoughts flew to the Wall.

Calculating the time, the Mountain's secretly arranged father-in-law, Gavin Westerling, should be arriving at Eastwatch-by-the-Sea port on the Wall soon.

*

The Wall spans the continent of Westeros, starting from the great canyon of the Wolfswood Mountains, outside of which are the Frozen Shore and the Bay of Ice. Bear Island, the territory of the Mormont family, is located in the Bay of Ice.

The Wall extends east to Seal Bay in the Narrow Sea. The easternmost military fortress near the sea is the famous Eastwatch-by-the-Sea.

Eastwatch-by-the-Sea has a small port, which undertakes the Night's Watch's external trade and the Night's Watch's shopping channels.

Iron ore, cloth, and beer are moved ashore from this port, and the beasts and furs hunted by the Night's Watch are also sold from this port to the city-state of Braavos in the Narrow Sea.

From the morning, many big figures came to the shore of the port.

This scene is extremely rare.

The water conditions in Seal Bay are complex, and strong winds are rampant, but the weather today is good, but the heavy snow has never stopped.

It is permanently garrisoned here by Carter Pike, leading less than two hundred people. Eastwatch has its own maester.

The Night's Watch's fleet is all docked in Eastwatch, including both larger ships that can cross the Narrow Sea and warships with slender hulls and flexible turning. The fleet is mainly used to patrol Seal Bay to catch smugglers who sell weapons to the wildlings.

Some fishermen also live near Eastwatch. There are several small fishing villages both outside and inside the Wall. The Night's Watch fleet soldiers and the local fishermen are very familiar with each other.

To the west of Eastwatch is Greenguard, a vacant and abandoned military fortress that has been abandoned for thousands of years and has long been dilapidated.

The people waiting on the shore were all wearing fur coats to keep out the cold. The person in the center was Eddard Stark, and since coming to the Wall, his face had been frozen purple-black in the cold wind.

The slightly thin man beside Eddard was Ser Davos Seaworth, the Onion Knight. He was taciturn and had gloomy eyes.

The Lord Commander of the Night's Watch, Jon Snow, was not here. He was stationed at Castle Black to prevent the Others from launching another wall-climbing raid.

The Others have been defeated by them several times, but Eddard Stark believes that it is actually a test by the Others. The Others seem to be wary of something and have not launched a truly large-scale attack. This makes Eddard Stark very puzzled. In order to stabilize the morale of the army, Eddard Stark hid his worries in his heart and never told anyone.

The commander of Eastwatch-by-the-Sea, Carter Pike, stood beside Eddard Stark. He was an extremely ugly man with a very pointed forehead and a very pointed chin. He was an Ironborn and had been a pirate. It was because he was proficient in water and naval warfare that he achieved the position of commander of Eastwatch and was in charge of the Night's Watch's only fleet.

"Here it comes!" A lookout soldier shouted from the ship's bridge.

"What flag?" Carter Pike shouted over.

The cold wind blew his voice to pieces!

Seal Bay has swallowed countless ships, and even experienced sailors like Davos Seaworth are reluctant to pass through Seal Bay.

In Seal Bay, there is an island called Skagos, where a rare magical creature lives: the unicorn.

The unicorns on the Claw Peninsula of the Crownlands were brought there by people from Skagos Island who migrated to the Claw Peninsula.

Skagos Island nominally belongs to the territory of the Stark family in the North, but it has never been truly conquered. The people on the island are in a de facto independent position. When the weather is good, the people on the island will come out to plunder.

"Commander, it's the flag of Braavos, the Titan flag!"

The Titan of Braavos, a landmark building in Braavos, is a giant built on two islands. The giant's two feet are on the two islands, and all ships entering Braavos, large and small, enter the port of Braavos from under the Titan's legs.

"Lord Gavin is here," Eddard said.

The secret letter that the Mountain wrote to him said to hang the Titan flag and hire the Titan merchant ship. The purpose of doing this was to prevent the Iron Throne from knowing that the Mountain was secretly funding the North and the Night's Watch.

Eddard Stark remembers the Mountain's evil in his heart, but he also remembers the Mountain's kindness.

Behind Eddard stood a man with an ugly face and fierce eyes: Sandor Clegane, the Hound. After joining the Brotherhood Without Banners, he came to the Wall with the Brotherhood Without Banners. Everyone in the Brotherhood Without Banners believes in the Red God, but the Hound is an exception.

The Hound has become an independent person at the Wall. He does not listen to the dispatch of Beric Dondarrion, the leader of the Brotherhood Without Banners, and has no interest in the Red God prayer meetings held by the red priest Thoros, and never participates.

But because he is brave and invincible in every battle with the Others, fighting in the front and risking his life, he has won the respect of the Night's Watch and other brothers. Whether it is Eddard Stark, Jon Snow, or Beric Dondarrion, the leader of the Brotherhood Without Banners, they no longer control his maverick behavior.

The Mountain secretly sent ships to the Wall to support the Night's Watch, which was very unexpected to the Hound. He chose to follow Eddard Stark to Eastwatch-by-the-Sea.

He wanted to see what the mysterious supplies sent by the Mountain were.

The things that Eddard Stark came to pick up in person must not be beer, iron ore, cloth, or the like.

It is said that the Mountain did not explain in the letter what exactly it was. He only said that it was the most urgently needed thing for the Night's Watch and the Wall Legion. It is said that there was a whole ship full of it.

Fortunately, this merchant ship broke through the wind and waves of Seal Bay and finally appeared in everyone's sight.

What exactly will be the mysterious supplies secretly sent by the Mountain?

The Mountain, the Mountain, it's the Mountain again!

The hound's eyes twitched slightly!

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