The Mountain of Ice and Fire

The pirates gathered on the ship's bow and deck.

The fire in the Kingswood was still far off, but they could hear the neighing of warhorses and the shouts of soldiers, as if a great battle was taking place in the forest, the sound growing closer.

Davos Seaworth stood up, looking in the direction of the fire in the Kingswood: "That's our camp."

Stannis's army camp was in the forest at the Blackwater Rush, with thousands of tents and piles of supplies like small mountains.

"Who's attacking the camp?" Petyr Ebb's eyes were filled with suspicion and unease.

"Do you want to get gold?" Davos Seaworth changed his颓废 attitude, answering a question with a question, staring at the fire opposite.

Petyr Ebb looked at Davos, his eyes filled with deep suspicion and vigilance: "Who is attacking your camp?"

"The Tyrell family of the Reach. He and Stannis have always been at odds." This feud had been forged seventeen years ago, when Lord Mace Tyrell led his army to besiege Stannis for more than a year, almost starving Stannis to death. Davos saved Stannis and others at a critical moment by smuggling a boatload of onions. Davos continued to deceive, "Although Stannis is dead, Dragonstone is still there. As long as I cooperate with you, I can take you into Dragonstone to get the gold."

Stannis's territory, Dragonstone, was in the sea outside the Blackwater. Dragonstone Castle on Dragonstone was easy to defend and difficult to attack, all built of giant rocks. Once the city gate was closed, the pirates could not break through. If no one cooperated from the inside, it was basically impossible for the pirates to attack Dragonstone and get their gold. This was also the reason why Petyr Ebb's first words after capturing Davos Seaworth were not about going to Dragonstone to get gold. Dragonstone Castle was difficult to break. He threatened Davos's family with their lives, telling him they were going to Shipbreaker Bay.

But if Davos was an inside man, it would be different. Just by opening the city gate, Dragonstone would become the pirates' territory, and they could loot as they pleased.

The garrison on Dragonstone was not large, and most of the warriors had followed Stannis to King's Landing.

"You're trying to trick us again?" Petyr Ebb said, "I know you, Onion Knight. You are loyal to Stannis and will not take us to Dragonstone to get gold."

"What about Shipbreaker Bay? If I don't keep my word, you can go to Shipbreaker Bay and take revenge on my wife and children," Davos said decisively, leaving no room for doubt.

Petyr Ebb and his brothers exchanged glances: "Onion Knight, if you dare to trick us again, I will kill you first, then burn Shipbreaker Bay to the ground, capture your wife and sell her to a brothel in Lys, and sell your three children into slavery in Volantis."

"I won't deceive you, but if you want to get the gold, you have to listen to me now."

Petyr Ebb was afraid of hearing this sentence, that everything would have to be listened to the liar Davos again, just like Alester had persuaded Salladhor Saan.

Petyr and the pirates exchanged glances again, and Petyr said: "Onion Knight, tell us, what do you want us to do?"

"The warships should dock and pick up Hand Alester. There are still Stannis's officials and rearguard troops in the forest, about three thousand people," Davos said.

After listening to Davos's words, Petyr Ebb pondered for a moment and said: "Brothers, the warships should approach the south bank, but don't dock."

"What are you afraid of? Petyr, you're not a coward," Davos taunted.

"I have courage, but I don't want to be a fool," Petyr Ebb ordered, "Pass down the order, the warships should maintain a half-arrow distance from the south bank, don't get too close, and be ready to retreat at any time."

"There are no other warships here. Your fleet is the overlord of the Blackwater. What are you afraid of? You are the king of the entire Blackwater, up and down," Davos said with certainty, flattering him. "Petyr, if I were you, I would lead my brothers ashore and pick up Hand Alester. He is also one of your creditors. If you want to get gold from Dragonstone, I alone am not enough. If you have Hand Alester, the situation will be completely different. Queen Selyse Florent is the niece of Alester Florent. Think about it, for the sake of gold, it is worth it for you."

Petyr stared at Davos, his eyes like a wolf, and shouted: "Warships dock, prepare for battle!"

Davos felt a sense of relief in his heart.

Twenty-one warships docked, and the pirates gathered on the deck.

"Turn the broadsides, aim the ballistae at the shore."

Twenty-one warships turned sideways, and the ballistae muzzles aimed at the shore.

"No one is allowed to go ashore without my order," Petyr Ebb ordered again. He looked at Davos Seaworth's stunned face, "I will never fall for your tricks again, Onion Knight. If Alester can escape, I will pick him up here. If he can't escape, then that's his bad luck."

"Don't you want the gold anymore?"

"With you here, am I still afraid of not getting the gold? Moreover, the gold is already what you owe us. Why should I risk my life for you? If you want us to go ashore, you have to pay extra. But obviously you won't have any money anymore, so we won't go ashore unless you pay the full amount this time."

Davos was speechless!

Petyr Ebb had learned to be bad!

*

On the north bank of the Blackwater, the Mountain and others were also attracted by the fire and sounds on the opposite bank. The soldiers all turned their heads to look at the opposite bank, their faces filled with suspicion. Who was attacking Stannis's camp? Was it Julie Clegane? But she only had a company of a hundred men and twenty shipwrights. Although Stannis had been cut into two pieces by the Mountain, the rearguard and officials he left on the opposite bank numbered at least two thousand.

Julie's horse archers could only harass such a legion, but could not launch a strong attack!

The Mountain said: "The army of the Tyrell family of the Reach has arrived."

The soldiers were still suspicious. The Tyrell family had suddenly arrived. Were they here to attack Stannis? Or would they take the opportunity to capture King's Landing?

"The Tyrell family is here to attack Stannis?" The Imp had already thought of this, but he still asked the Mountain to confirm.

The Mountain had close ties with his father, and knew more about many things than the Imp.

However, Lord Tywin had not contacted the Mountain privately about this matter. His persuading the Tyrell family to come to the rescue of King's Landing via raven was a very secret military plan that no one else knew about except himself.

Looking at the fire on the opposite bank, the Mountain knew that while Tywin was persuading and allying with the Tyrell family, he was also simultaneously working to persuade the other two great families to defect to him. One was the Frey family of the Twins—Tywin had a sister who had married into the Frey family—and the other was the Northern family with whom Tywin had always had private relations: the Bolton family.

The Mountain understood that Tywin's means of attracting people were very simple and effective: profit! Just like the straight thrust in all swordsmanship, and the straight punch in all boxing techniques. The shortest distance between two points is a straight line.

Lord Tywin was already deeply convinced of the witch's prophetic abilities.

With the blessing of witchcraft prophecy, Lord Tywin had already accomplished at least two major things: the fall of Winterfell in the North had proven his successful alliance with Balon Greyjoy of the Iron Islands; the fire in the Kingswood had proven his successful alliance with the Tyrell family of the Reach.

The Mountain looked at the fire on the opposite bank and heard the shouts of the soldiers. He remembered a famous saying the Duke had said: Paper and pen are also swords, sometimes sharper than swords.

The Duke had used the recognition of King Balon of the Iron Islands' independence as a condition to persuade the Iron Islands to send troops to attack the empty North without any effort. The effectiveness of this was obvious. All the nobles of the North panicked, and the unstoppable Robb Stark had to withdraw his troops and return to the North. After all, there was nothing more serious than having one's own lair raided.

While recognizing the independence of King Balon of the Iron Islands, Tywin also gave Balon a piece of candy, which was that as long as Balon could take the North, he would recognize the North as Balon's territory. This candy was so sweet that King Balon took every step in the direction Tywin wanted him to go.

After getting Balon to work for him, Tywin secretly promised the same piece of candy to another ambitious man in the North—Roose Bolton. As long as Roose Bolton betrayed the Stark family, Tywin promised to fully support Roose Bolton in becoming the Lord of the North and would name Roose Bolton as Warden of the North.

Tywin gave the same very sweet candy to Balon and Roose to compete for. As for who would eventually eat the candy, Tywin didn't care.

The Mountain knew that the Duke's alliances were all conducted in the most secret manner.

The Duke had succeeded in two secret alliances, and the Mountain knew that the Duke was stepping up efforts on two more: in addition to instigating the Northern great family Roose Bolton, the other was instigating the Frey family of the Riverlands.

In the Riverlands, the most powerful great family was the Frey family, and the most disloyal great family was also the Frey family, and the most ambitious? Still the Frey family. Tywin knew this very well.

He sent out ravens and secret envoys. When Robb was still in Riverrun, they went to the Twins. The sweet candy he used to pry the Frey family into rebellion was the fertile Riverlands, the right of ownership of the Seven Kingdoms' granary.

As long as the Frey family rebelled, Tywin would recognize Lord Walder Frey as the Lord of the Riverlands and would have the King issue a decree of knighthood, bestowing Walder Frey as the Duke of the Riverlands. As for the nobles of the Riverlands who did not submit, Tywin would join forces with Lord Walder Frey to eliminate all the unyielding nobles of the Riverlands one by one.

As for whether these two instigations would succeed and what the outcome would be, the Mountain could not be sure now.

He had warned Eddard Stark twice, clearly telling Eddard what he could not do, otherwise what kind of bad consequences he would suffer. Two practices proved that Eddard could not listen to him even once. So, would the Red Wedding appear again in the same way as the original world trajectory? The Mountain did not know, he was not sure if he should do something. The first was to consider the risks; the second, Eddard Stark was difficult to persuade, he was a frozen stone from the North...

*

"All Stannis's soldiers, please line up in squares of a hundred men and enter the city," the Mountain ordered.

Thus, the black-armored army formed into squares of a hundred men, and under the escort of the red robes and gold robes, they entered the city at a uniform speed, becoming prisoners waiting for the King, Queen Mother, and Small Council to deal with.

As the soldiers escorted the black-armored army into the city, the Imp came to the Mountain's side.

"The Mountain, will the Tyrell family take the opportunity to attack the city?"

"Of course not," the Mountain thought, "Mace Tyrell is an incompetent man. Although his mother, the Queen of Thorns, Olenna Redwyne, has courage and wisdom, she is old and the Tyrell family can agree to ally with Duke Tywin, naturally with the consent of the Queen of Thorns. Duke Tywin took out the sweet candy that Lady Redwyne could not refuse, and the lady would no longer have excessive extravagant hopes. Everyone in the Seven Kingdoms knows that Duke Tywin is not easy to mess with. Mace's vassal, the famous Randyll Tarly, is only a military general, not a political talent. The Tyrells lack both the strength and the courage to take the opportunity to attack the city."

"I don't know, Hand," the Mountain said.

The Mountain feigned ignorance!

*

On the opposite side of the Kingswood, a group of people and horses rushed out, the military flag askew, the people and horses in chaos. A team of black-armored cavalry protected a person running in the front. The man saw the warships on the shore, knew that Davos was recuperating on the ship, and also knew that Davos had a close relationship with the pirates: "Ser Davos, save me!"

It was Alester Florent, Stannis's Hand, who was fleeing like a bereaved dog.

Davos shouted: "Brothers, lower the gangplank, quickly save the Hand on board."

The thousand pirates on the twenty-one warships remained unmoved.

The pirate leader Petyr Ebb said: "Onion Knight, your king is gone, where is there any Hand."

"Stannis still has a wife and daughter, his wife is the queen, and his daughter is the princess, and both can inherit Stannis's throne. The Starks of the North, the Tullys of the Riverlands, the Arryns of the Vale, and all the nobles of the Stormlands have sworn allegiance to the Stannis family." Of course, the Riverlands and the Arryns had not, and only a part of the Stormlands nobles. After this great battle, how many could still remain could actually be ignored. "Lord Petyr, saving a Hand of the King will only make you profit and not lose."

"Okay, Davos, I'll trust you one more time, brothers, save him!"

*

"Lord Mountain, Lord Hand, an army has also arrived from the north, flying the golden lion banner, five miles away from here."

A Clegane scout came to report.

The Mountain and the Imp turned to look north together. The sky to the north was as if it were on fire, and the sound of horses' hooves was faintly heard. The night wind also carried the faint noise of the soldiers' drums.

"Our father has also arrived," the Imp laughed.

"Yes, they are obviously a little early," the Mountain looked at the sky, "It's still early before dawn, Imp, guess how many hours until dawn, one, two, or half?!"

"I won't guess, I just want to go to Shae's brothel for a drink now."

"Let's go together!"

"Okay!" The Imp laughed, in a good mood, and sang loudly, "I want to live to eighty years old—hey—eighty years old—

Drink a bellyful of Arbor Gold—hey—Arbor Gold—"

The Mountain knew that there was a heartbreaking story in this song that the Imp was still unaware of. He cleared his throat and sang with the Imp.

Thanks to [雾笼心] [飘尘入世] for the reward support, thank you, handshake!