The Mountain of Ice and Fire

“Clegane Bank notes?” Edd frowned, his thoughtful gaze fixed on Gavin Westerling.

He had heard that the Mountain had opened a bank in King's Landing and the Great Sept of Baelor.

Banks were unheard of in Westeros, and the Mountain had set a precedent, but Eddard Stark was no stranger to banks. When he was Hand, the royal family had accumulated a massive debt, the biggest creditor being the Iron Bank of Braavos.

The Iron Bank of Braavos was a bank with an unknown amount of gold, and the only bank in Westeros and Essos.

Where did the Mountain get the money to open a bank?

Clearly, he had the support of the Great Sept of Baelor.

The Great Sept of Baelor, the highest holy site for the faithful of the Seven in the Seven Kingdoms, was richer than many kingdoms due to the donations of the faithful. Across the Narrow Sea, the majority were also followers of the Seven, including nobles and royalty, as the Faith of the Seven originated from across the Narrow Sea.

Nobles and commoners from both continents had the custom of making pilgrimages to the Great Sept of Baelor, and each pilgrimage brought a flood of wealth into the Great Sept.

Edd had privately discussed the Mountain's bank with Robb. With the support of the Great Sept, the Mountain essentially had the support of the followers of the Seven.

Edd was upright and rigid, but not foolish. He knew that the Mountain had struck gold, and the High Septon's words, the trust and acceptance people had for Baelor Bank, outweighed the publicity of anyone in the Seven Kingdoms, even eclipsing the royal family's prestige.

However, the Mountain opening a bank in King's Landing was one thing, but issuing paper money in Clegane Bank in the Westerlands to replace gold, silver, and copper coins was another, something Edd could not understand.

What choice would people make between paper money and gold, silver, and copper coins? Surely they would choose gold, silver, and copper.

The Free Cities across the Narrow Sea, all the way to the great eastern city of Qarth, all used coins made of gold and silver! All of them!

Paper money?

Unheard of, unseen, how could it possibly be accepted?

How could the Mountain think of circulating paper money? And replacing gold, silver, and copper coins?

Eddard Stark was full of questions, he couldn't understand!

The Wall was the northernmost line of defense in the kingdom, a remote and isolated place, and news was often slow to arrive.

Edd hoped to get information from Gavin. Over the past few days, Edd had come to genuinely admire Gavin's cultivation, knowledge, character, and humility.

Gavin Westerling, assigned to Dragonstone by the Mountain, was not familiar with the situation of Clegane Bank's paper money in the Westerlands. Facing his undoubtedly future in-law, Lord Gavin could only explain to Lord Eddard to the best of his understanding. During his days assisting in the defense of Eastwatch-by-the-Sea, Gavin deliberately cultivated a relationship with Edd, hoping to leave a good impression for the future marriage between the two great houses.

In just a few days, he and Eddard Stark had naturally transitioned to calling each other by their first names—"Edd, I know that Gregor Clegane and the High Septon of the Great Sept of Baelor jointly established Baelor Bank in King's Landing, specifically to lend money to nobles and commoners in King's Landing, including the royal family."

“Lord Gavin, does the bank also lend money to ordinary commoners?” Jon Snow found it hard to believe.

Had the Mountain truly developed a benevolent heart?!

Jon Snow was unaware of many of the Mountain's covert actions, including the Mountain's secret assistance to House Stark.

“Commander Jon, in King's Landing, whether you are a noble, royalty, a mercenary, a farmer, a fisherman, a blacksmith, a merchant, a captain, or a knight, as long as you are a follower of the Seven, or have a guarantor, or have property as collateral, you can borrow money from Baelor Bank to get through hard times.”

“Do the commoners borrow at high interest rates?”

“No, the interest rate is calculated the same as for the nobles.”

Not only was Jon Snow moved, but Eddard Stark was also surprised.

The same interest rate for nobles and commoners?!

Nobles always lent to commoners at high interest rates. The Great Sept of Baelor also engaged in lending, and Robert I had owed the Great Sept millions of gold dragons during his lifetime, also in the form of high-interest loans. In this world, high-interest loans were commonplace. Of course, borrowers hated the bloodsucking nature of high-interest loans.

“Lord Gavin, aren't the Mountain and the Great Sept worried that poor commoners won't be able to repay the money they borrow?”

“I think Gregor thought it through before doing this, and if commoners truly cannot repay due to unfortunate circumstances, the bank will choose to bear the loss and write off the debt. Gregor says this is just doing business, and risks cannot be completely avoided while trying to make money. However, anyone who dares to borrow money and deliberately refuses to repay will be forced to repay double by the Sept's monks and Gregor's men, with interest compounding endlessly.”

Jon Snow glanced at Eddard Stark, and Eddard Stark looked back at him, the father and son exchanging a look.

Their feelings towards the Mountain were even more complex.

The Mountain had given them obsidian ore and weapons, which were priceless treasures, immeasurable by wealth. When the news spread, the morale of the Night's Watch, the Free Folk army, Shireen's army, and the Northern army soared, and the hearts of the soldiers burned like fire. The Mountain's name touched the heart of every warrior. What kind of person was the Mountain, to secretly spend a great deal of time and money digging obsidian ore on Dragonstone and manufacturing weapons for the Wall?!

On the other hand, the bank the Mountain opened in King's Landing did not charge high-interest rates and was willing to lend money to commoners, allowing the poor to enjoy the same rules as the nobles, which greatly touched Jon's heart!

Jon Snow was a very sensitive person!

As a bastard, he had suffered discrimination since childhood. In his fifteen years at Winterfell, even with Eddard Stark protecting him, Sansa Stark and Catelyn Tully looked at him differently, their words, actions, eyes, and expressions naturally revealing coldness, contempt, and disdain. Lady Catelyn even had some kind of inexplicable, deep-seated hostility, and she had once asked Lord Eddard to send Jon away, but Lord Eddard sternly refused.

From birth until Jon left Winterfell, Lady Catelyn never regarded Jon Snow as a member of the Stark family.

And the disparaging remarks of other nobles in Winterfell and the North were commonplace, which taught Jon to understand people's hearts from a very young age and to view the world calmly and rationally from a unique perspective. He knew that there was a strict hierarchy between commoners and nobles. In terms of money lending, Jon knew that the money lent to commoners was always at high-interest rates. But the bank opened by the Mountain and the Great Sept did not, treating nobles and commoners equally.

This was actually hard for Jon to believe!

Jon had a special sensitivity and insight into the world!

“I know that Duke Gregor opened a Baelor Bank in King's Landing with the Great Sept, which I thought was similar to the Iron Bank of Braavos across the Narrow Sea,” Edd said. “The Iron Bank only lends money to kings, princes, grand admirals, and great nobles in various places, as well as to powerful navigators and captains, and some very powerful mercenary leaders, but not to ordinary commoners.”

*

“Yes, Edd,” Lord Gavin said. Nobles had studied the history of the Iron Bank. Learning noble etiquette and the history of various countries, including the customs of the world, was a required course for heirs of great nobles. “The Iron Bank was initially established to lend money to slaves who had escaped to Braavos to settle down. These slaves all came from the Valyrian Empire on the other side of the continent.”

*

Although Jon was a bastard, he had taken classes and studied with Robb Stark since childhood under Edd's care. He also knew the history of the Iron Bank of Braavos and had read those stories and historical facts.

The first group of Valyrian slave miners escaped from the easternmost part of the continent to the westernmost part of the continent, and they secretly founded the city-state of Braavos and the Iron Bank. For thousands of years, slaves in the underground mines of the Valyrian Empire had been trying to escape every day. Because once captured and made a slave miner, there were only two paths in life: the first was to escape, and the second was to be enslaved to death in the Valyrian mines.

Later, four hundred years ago, the Valyrian Empire was destroyed by a volcanic eruption, and more than five hundred dragons and their dragon riders, along with everything in the empire, were burned to ashes by the wildfire. Only then did the city-state of Braavos, created by slaves from the Valyrian Empire, dare to reveal its true form. After its nemesis was destroyed by heaven, the people of Braavos dared to openly engage in maritime trade around the world. The Iron Bank, founded by the founders of the city-state, developed along with Braavos and became the only super bank with god-like glory on both sides of the Narrow Sea. They no longer lent money to ordinary people, but specialized in lending money to the kings of various countries, chiefs and leaders of large islands, governors of free trade city-states, dukes of various places, and leaders of various powerful mercenary groups.

*

The Mountain's fair bank touched Jon and Edd's hearts, and the definition of the Mountain as the most evil person in the Seven Kingdoms was shaken again in their hearts. What had happened to the Mountain? A miracle?!

Gavin Westerling said, “Edd, the Mountain believes that the world's gold mining will only become more and more depleted, and our gold mines in the Westerlands have already been 90% depleted. He told me that in order to alleviate the tension and increasing scarcity of gold, he came up with the idea of introducing paper money to replace gold coins. This is the Clegane Bank's paper money mentioned in the letter that Commander Jon saw. Another advantage of paper money is that it is lightweight, and there is no need for soldiers to escort carriages. One person can secretly carry millions of paper money on the road.”

“Replace gold with paper money?” Jon said cautiously, “I believe that normal people will only accept gold and will never accept Clegane Bank's paper money.”

“That's not necessarily true,” Gavin said. “Jon, look at the letter in your hand. If you don't have paper money issued by Clegane Bank, then the Wall will no longer be able to buy iron ore from the Iron Islands.”

Edd said, “Gavin, how can the Wall get Clegane Bank's paper money?”

“I don't know the specifics,” Gavin said apologetically, “Edd, Jon, I only heard some fragments of information on Dragonstone and don't understand the specific matters. Perhaps Jon should release a raven to the Westerlands to ask Duke Gregor himself.”

“I will send a raven to the Mountain,” Jon Snow said, his tone respectful when mentioning the Mountain. He had become a true Night's Watch man, and calling the Mountain by name was the common roughness of Night's Watch men. “But perhaps I should first ask the new Governor of the Iron Islands, Lord Goodbrother. We buy iron ore from him.”

The door to the hall was pushed open, and a gust of wind and snow suddenly swept in, blowing the fire in the hall to one side.

The maester of Eastwatch-by-the-Sea pushed open the door and came in, “Lord Eddard, there is a letter for you.”

Edd stood up, took the letter, and thanked the maester.

The letter was from Winterfell.

Eddard Stark broke the wax seal and took out the letter, which was a small roll. When opened, the parchment roll contained three very beautiful and exquisite round pieces of flowered paper. The flowered paper was lightweight and delicate to the touch, with patterns on both sides. The patterns were very familiar to everyone—the front and back patterns of the Seven Kingdoms' currency—corresponding to the patterns of the gold dragon, silver stag, and copper star.

The letter was written by Robb Stark, King in the North!

The letter said that the three pieces of flowered paper sent with the letter were paper money issued by Clegane Bank. If such paper money was not used, iron ore could no longer be purchased from the Iron Islands. There was already news that iron ore in the King's Landing territory also needed such paper money to be purchased.

The iron ore family in King's Landing was the Bywater family, the commander of the garrison who had fought alongside the Mountain in the Battle of the Blackwater. When the Mountain took control of the national tax power, he immediately went to persuade the Bywater family to cooperate with him. The Bywater family waited for the Mountain's notification, and the sale of their iron ore had to be purchased with Clegane Bank's paper money. Cersei invited the Mountain to issue paper money in King's Landing to solve the royal family's financial crisis, but the Mountain had not yet officially implemented it.

The Mountain used his tax power to first control production and living resources, and through irreplaceable resources, he slowly promoted Clegane Bank's paper money, one point at a time.

After Edd finished reading the letter, he realized that Winterfell had received a raven letter from Governor Goodbrother of the Iron Islands some time ago, telling them about the new regulations for purchasing iron ore. Robb Stark did not let his father know immediately. He wrote to his father only after he had handled these matters properly.

“Robb exchanged gold dragons for an equivalent value of paper money at Clegane Bank, and he has used this paper money to purchase twenty ships of iron ore from the Iron Islands,” Edd said. His voice was slightly strange.

The Mountain's move was coercive! But it must be said that this method was not honorable, but it really worked!

“If the Wall must first use gold dragons to exchange for paper money at Clegane Bank?” Jon Snow's voice rose a lot, “It takes two months to ride a horse from the Wall to the Westerlands.”

Edd said, “Jon, Robb contacted Lady Jeyne in the Westerlands through ravens, and Lady Jeyne sent a ship to exchange at a small fishing village pier on the coast of the North. Lady Jeyne's people brought paper money, and Winterfell's financial officer brought gold dragons,” Edd said.

Traveling by water was indeed very convenient. Compared to traveling by land, the water route was more than half the distance shorter, and the speed was more than twice as fast.

“Paper money of equal value? Does such a piece of flowered paper exchange for a gold dragon?” Jon picked up the gold dragon paper money, held it in his hand, and looked at his father.

"Yes, Jon, take a look at Robb's letter. It has all the details. The people from the bank came to exchange them for paper money, charging a certain fee. The fee doesn't seem like much, and it includes labor costs and the commission for hiring the ship."

"If Lady Jeyne can send a ship to the Bay of Ice, we can exchange some paper money first," Jon said. He had no choice but to exchange, as the Wall needed iron ore to forge weapons.

"Let the steward take the gold dragons to Lord Goodbrook in exchange for iron ore, and give Lord Goodbrook a little extra for his trouble, so he can go to the Westerlands and exchange the gold dragons for paper money," Edder suggested.

"How about this? Let the steward take the gold dragons to purchase iron ore. At the place where the iron ore is handed over, have Lady Jeyne send people from the bank with paper money. You exchange it into paper money first, and then purchase the iron ore," said Earl Gavin. "Edder, Jon, in the future, when you buy Arbor wine, Riverlands wheat wine, and stout, I think you will all need to use Clegane Bank's paper money. If you decide to exchange, I suggest you exchange more paper money to keep in reserve."