The Mountain of Ice and Fire

Though Duke Tywin wasn't holding office in King's Landing, the Lannister family remained among the most powerful in the Seven Kingdoms.

Unless absolutely necessary, Duke Tywin didn't want to go to war with the Baratheons of the Stormlands, the Starks of the North, or the Tullys of the Riverlands.

These three great houses were connected: Stark and Tully through marriage, and Robert Baratheon and Eddard Stark as sworn brothers.

However, the arrow was already on the string!

Tywin could only congratulate himself on having such a pair of good twins.

The incestuous affair between Cersei and Jaime was a fire, but the flames hadn't yet burned through the wrapping paper. This was a feud between the Lannisters and Baratheons, irreconcilable once the king found out. If revealed by others, the Baratheon family would forcefully enter the royal palace, driving out the Lannister influence.

Jaime pushing Bran Stark from the broken tower was also a fire, one that hadn't yet burned through its wrapping. This was a feud between the Lannisters and Starks. Although Bran hadn't died, Jaime's attempted murder was unacceptable to House Stark.

Sooner or later, both fires would burn through their wrappings.

Paper couldn't contain fire, unless the flames were extinguished before they broke through.

But because of time, Cersei and Jaime's incest had produced three children, the embers had turned into a blaze, and no one could extinguish it now.

Jaime's attempted murder of Bran, though unsuccessful, was still a fire of murder, and it, too, could no longer be put out.

Unquenchable fires either burn oneself, burn others, or burn everyone together.

Burning others was the more worthwhile option.

Tywin's daughter marrying the king was a great honor and a successful political alliance. Tywin had been content, living peacefully in the Westerlands for sixteen years, not causing trouble...

But the gods wouldn't allow him a quiet old age.

The fires lit by Cersei and Jaime were burning fiercely, growing stronger every day.

Besides these two fires, there was another, invisible yet already burning fiercely: the diminishing gold mines of the Westerlands, the absolutely non-renewable resource of the Westerlands mountains. This was a fire that would destroy the Lannister's thousand-year foundation, and it was already lit and unstoppable!

Whether Duke Tywin wanted to launch the Westerlands' arrow or not, he was forced to nock it by these three fires!

Prince Rhaegar Targaryen sacrificed his life and the Targaryen dynasty for a Lyanna Stark, also taking countless nobles and soldiers with him. He was a typical case of a hero undone by love, not a qualified or rational politician, and not worthy of being a brilliant and iron-fisted emperor.

And Cersei and Jaime, likewise unable to resist pleasure, had lit fires that would either destroy the Westerlands Lannisters or the North's Starks and the Stormlands' Baratheons.

However, Rhaegar Targaryen had a choice, and he made the worst one, sacrificing his life and his dynasty; but Tywin Lannister of the Westerlands had no choice.

He had no other option!

He had to launch it—insidious schemes, ruthless betrayal, bloody war! Otherwise, there was no solution!

The arrow was on the string, and it had to be fired!

*

More than half a month later, within the Riverlands of House Tully, on the right side of the famous Green Fork River, on the Kingsroad, a column of King's Landing gold cloaks appeared, the Baratheon crowned stag banner flying high among them.

Behind the cavalry was a huge horse-drawn palanquin, very wide, a small mobile palace. The palanquin was decorated with extreme extravagance, with pearls, jade, and gold ornaments dazzling the eye. Along the way, the gold and jade ornaments strung together with gold and silver threads swayed and collided, their brilliance dazzling and their sounds of tinkling incessant.

This huge palanquin was so large that even the gates of Winterfell in the North couldn't accommodate it, and it had to stop in the town outside Winterfell—the winter town.

Also because of this luxurious palanquin, the speed of the procession was as slow as an ordinary person's walk.

At the same time, the Mountain led his cavalry westward, a small force of thirty men, all personally trained by the Mountain from his first batch of riders.

Sweetmouth Ralph and the Hangman successfully completed the recruitment in the dungeons of the major Westerlands noble houses. They worked day and night, and the planned one-month recruitment period was completed in just ten days, like a whirlwind. The new and old cavalry totaled five hundred and thirteen men, completing the military order given by Duke Tywin.

After the Mountain took thirty men, the remaining cavalry were left to Sweetmouth Ralph and the Hangman for deadly training.

After Littlefinger left Clegane and returned to King's Landing, the entire Westerlands began a large-scale military exercise. Earl Leo Lefford of Golden Tooth and Earl Marbrand of Ashemark, who had previously ridiculed Gregor for recruiting and training troops, also began intensive training.

Duke Tywin personally led a five-hundred-strong guard cavalry, inspecting the training of various families.

Throughout the Westerlands, all families were engaged in intensive military training.

Those capable of recruiting more professional soldiers did so under the pressure of Duke Tywin's military orders. Increasing professional soldiers meant increasing the cost of the nobles. Fortunately, the benefits of Duke Tywin's 'wood for iron' policy became apparent. With large-scale logging replacing ironware and the recycling of most of the ironware from various families, all kinds of fine armor and weapons were reduced in price by one-third under the duke's policy.

The price reduction of a single sword might not seem like much, but a thousand swords and a thousand sets of armor saved a considerable amount of money, giving the nobles a real sense of the benefits.

The Mountain didn't care about the price reduction of swords and armor; he only cared about the price of iron ore. Clegane Village had the best weapons master, Tobho Mott, and the best blacksmith's apprentice, Gendry. Weapons were no longer purchased from outside but were made by purchasing iron ore for smelting, forging, and then manufacturing the best weapons.

The Mountain led thirty cavalrymen slowly along the Red Fork River.

The Tully family's territory is mainly plains, one of the famous granaries of the Seven Kingdoms. Another granary is the Reach in the south, ruled by House Tyrell. The two major granaries of the Seven Kingdoms, the Riverlands and the Reach, differ by only one word but are both good places for producing grain. These two famous granaries have a common feature: well-developed rivers.

Land for growing grain needs abundant water, and the Riverlands has plenty of water. The Riverlands also has a famous alternate name: the Trident River region.

The Green Fork River near the Kingsroad—the only ferry upstream: the Twins of House Frey—the Green Fork flows south, almost parallel to the Kingsroad, and converges with the Blue Fork and the Red Fork, which originates in the Westerlands, outside the town of Lord Harroway. The three major rivers converge into one river, which finally flows into the bay of Saltpans—Crab Bay.

The Green Fork, Blue Fork, and Red Fork, three rivers merging into one, form a trident shape, hence the name Trident River region. The Riverlands is therefore often referred to as the Trident River region.

The king and prime minister's large procession traveled south along the Green Fork, while the Mountain led thirty cavalrymen east along the Red Fork. They would meet at the Trident River crossing. Not far from the Trident River crossing is a famous place in the Seven Kingdoms: the Ruby Ford.

It was where Robert Baratheon and Rhaegar Targaryen encountered each other with their armies sixteen years ago. Robert and Rhaegar engaged in a one-on-one duel here. Robert's warhammer struck Rhaegar's chest, and Rhaegar's lance almost killed Robert. Both fell from their horses at the same time. Robert was seriously injured, and Rhaegar died.

Robert's warhammer shattered the rubies on the three-headed dragon sigil on the prince's armor, and countless rubies fell into the river with the prince, causing soldiers to scramble for the rubies, hence the name Ruby Ford.

The Mountain's destination was to wait for the royal party at the Ruby Ford.

According to the historical trajectory before the transmigration, the Mountain wanted to witness a fight between Prince Joffrey Baratheon and Arya Stark, the bastard daughter of the Starks, on the Ruby Ford.

This fight also kicked off the beginning of the head-on collision between Eddard Stark and Queen Cersei. Also because of this incident, Sansa Stark's direwolf, Lady, would be beheaded by Eddard Stark himself.

The Mountain was a butterfly, and the butterfly had already flapped its wings. Would the butterfly effect affect the original story development of the Ruby Ford?

The Mountain didn't know; he had to experience and witness it personally.