The Mountain of Ice and Fire

Chapter 3: The Claw Peninsula (2/2)

It was early morning, the mist was thin, and the sunlight shone like gold on Rosby Road outside the Iron Gate.

The Mountain, with his three hundred ironclad knights and two hundred wagons of supplies, set out for the Claw Peninsula.

The people of King's Landing lacked food and clothing, but the Mountain's military supplies and living necessities were plentiful, a generous reward for occupying Harrenhal.

However, these supplies to 'appease' the families of fallen soldiers were not the Mountain's own, but rather items allocated from the royal treasury. The official in charge of King's Landing's supplies was Lord Petyr Baelish, Littlefinger.

Before the Battle of the Blackwater, the Mountain still had most of the supplies he had 'extorted' from the lords of the Crownlands. The Tyrell family, in order to extend their hand into the Red Keep of King's Landing, bore the cost of the living supplies for the people of King's Landing. Littlefinger no longer worried about the food supply of King's Landing, so allocating two hundred wagons of goods for the Mountain was not a difficult matter.

*

Cavalry Captain Sweetmouth Rafford Clegane and Light Cavalry Captain Jory Clegane were responsible for building warships in Blackwater Bay; Chiswyck the Big Head and Pyg Zollo were responsible for fighting bandits in the Kingswood and protecting the safety of the lumberjacks. Building warships required a large amount of wood. The armory had a large reserve of dry wood, but more was needed.

General Jacelyn Bywater was in charge of all training for the Clegane forces; Chief Steward Mark Notebook was in charge of all living supplies and the distribution of military pay.

Large Black Walder and Rorge were responsible for military discipline patrols.

*

The Mountain, with his Ice greatsword on his back, walked beside a carriage. The curtains of the carriage were all drawn up, and inside sat Lady Jeyne and a small handmaiden.

On either side of the Lady's carriage followed two female generals: Brienne of Tarth and Zella, responsible for protecting Jeyne's safety.

In addition, before and after the carriage were Anguy, Erren, Grahald, Polliver, Dunsen, and other fierce men.

This time, none of the mountain tribe warriors or leaders were used, because their tempers were particularly bad and they were prone to disputes with the peninsula tribes over a cup of wine or a single word. The residents of the Claw Peninsula also had fiery tempers, said to be even fiercer than the mountain tribes.

Master of Horse Thommann drove a carriage carrying the Mountain's set of heavy armor. This set of heavy armor was brought by Jeyne from Clegane's Keep. It was another set of super plate armor for battlefield charges carefully crafted by Weapons Master Tobho Mott and his apprentice Gendry, a pile of steel that two soldiers could not move, and ordinary swords could hardly penetrate.

In addition, the carriage also carried the Mountain's shield: an incredibly heavy iron-rimmed oak shield. Ordinary soldiers had great difficulty lifting it, let alone wielding it to meet the enemy!

"Duke, do you know that we might encounter some trouble on this trip to the Claw Peninsula?" Jeyne said.

"Oh?" The Mountain glanced at the generals beside him. The generals all had smiles on their faces, not taking it seriously. These people were all young and had not participated in the War of the Usurper seventeen years ago, nor did they know about the bloody record of the warriors of the Claw Peninsula.

Jeyne's eyes swept over Brienne, Zella, Anguy, Erren, Grahald, Polliver, and Dunsen, and a worry arose in her heart. When the War of the Usurper broke out seventeen years ago, Duke Tywin Lannister of the Westerlands waited and watched, and none of the Westerlands' generals and soldiers had the opportunity to fight against the warriors of the Claw Peninsula led by Rhaegar.

Including the Mountain, it was clear that they had no real respect for that peninsula, which was a dangerous sign.

Jeyne, who was well-versed in history and anecdotes, knew the history, geography, people, and events of the Claw Peninsula very well. As a lady carefully cultivated by a great noble, familiarity with the characters of the various families of the kingdom and the history of special places throughout the kingdom was a compulsory course.

"Hey, Duke, generals, would you like to hear a story about the Claw Peninsula?"

"It would be an honor, Lady," Brienne replied with a bow. Although she was also born of a great noble family, she was a strange woman who refused to hold a quill and only wanted to hold a longsword.

"Okay, then I'll tell you about the Claw Peninsula."

*

The Claw Peninsula is located in the northeast of the Crownlands, with the peninsula extending into the Narrow Sea, bordering the Bay of Crabs to the north and Blackwater Bay to the south. The peninsula is barren and desolate, with only three things: mountains, swamps, and pine forests.

The peninsula is very large, hundreds of miles wide.

Starting from the Iron Gate of King's Landing, stepping onto Rosby Road, passing Rosby's castle, and then passing through the territory of House Stokeworth controlled by Bronn, the end of Rosby Road is the Claw Peninsula.

If riding at full speed, it's a day and a half's ride.

The edge of the territory of Ser Anguy's betrothed, Elan Mutton's family, borders the Claw Peninsula to the south.

On the Claw Peninsula, there are dozens of valleys where people can live. Each valley has its own lord.

Historically, the lords and their subjects never trusted any outsiders. They are descendants of the First Men.

Six thousand years ago, when the Andals led a large army to seize the Claw Peninsula, they were constantly thwarted and suffered repeated defeats. In the end, they realized that they could only win the conquest that swords could not achieve through marriage.

Previously, the kings of House Darklyn of Duskendale in Blackwater Bay had tried to conquer the Claw Peninsula, as well as House Mutton of Maidenpool, including House Celtigar, which later rose on Claw Isle, but they were all defeated by the mountain people of the peninsula and the fishermen by the sea.

When the peninsula's residents were not fighting against foreign enemies, they would slaughter each other internally for the peninsula's scarce living resources, the few valley plains, and hunting rights in the forests. In history, several heroes had emerged from the Claw Peninsula, unifying the entire peninsula, but it did not last long. When the hero died, everything returned to its original state.

Three hundred years ago, Aegon Targaryen came to conquer Westeros with dragons. After taking the Riverlands, the Vale, the Stormlands, and the Reach, Aegon sent his sister Visenya Targaryen to the Claw Peninsula to offer amnesty. The fierce lords of the peninsula, after hearing about the fate of Harren the Black of Harrenhal in the Riverlands, all knelt down and swore allegiance to the Targaryen family. So the Queen took them as direct vassals.

For three hundred years, no matter how turbulent the Targaryen family was, the people of the Claw Peninsula always remained loyal to the Targaryen family. Seventeen years ago, when the War of the Usurper broke out, the people of the Claw Peninsula became involved in the war to protect the royal power; sixteen years ago, in the Battle of the Trident, the various families of the peninsula fought alongside Prince Rhaegar to the end, until Rhaegar was killed, the royalist army was completely defeated, and the surviving warriors of the Claw Peninsula fled back to the peninsula.

Later, Robert became king and sent people to offer amnesty to the people of the Claw Peninsula, but the people of the Claw Peninsula did not yield. They proudly called themselves the model subjects of the dragon family and erected the Targaryen family's three-headed dragon banner. They did not pay taxes, drove away the garrison sent by the king, and killed the tax collectors. King Robert rejected the proposals of his courtiers and did not send a large army to exterminate the warriors on the peninsula. He respected the loyalty of the people of the Claw Peninsula to the Targaryen royal family, recognized the locals as the model subjects of the dragon family, and allowed them to erect the Targaryen family's three-headed dragon banner in the valleys.

Robert's generosity won the hearts of the people of the Claw Peninsula. They then submitted, nominally under the jurisdiction of the Baratheon family, acknowledging Robert's royal power, but in reality they were independent, paying no taxes and not allowing foreign nobles to garrison troops.

The peninsula was barren, and the people were poor, so even if taxes were collected, they could not be collected. Only the warriors were brave and good at fighting, and once they were loyal, their loyalty was extremely high. Robert liked this. The Royal Navy he personally established mostly recruited soldiers from the Claw Peninsula, because the generous and magnanimous king personally recruited soldiers, and the military pay was extremely high, so the warriors on the Claw Peninsula did not have much resistance. Thus, a considerable number of warriors from the great noble families became members of the Royal Navy. Captain Archibald Warner of the royal warship King Robert came from the Claw Peninsula.

*

"Lady, I understand what you're saying," the Mountain said.

"No, you don't understand," Jeyne said.

"Oh?"

"Lord, Ser Archibald Warner died in battle, didn't he?"

"Yes, Lady."

"What did you promise him?"

"To take his eleven-year-old son, Cole Warner, as a squire and knight him on his coming-of-age ceremony."

"Is that so?"

"Yes!"

"If you understood the people of the Claw Peninsula, you wouldn't have made such a promise."

"Why?"

"After Commander Archibald Warner died in battle, his child may have been killed by a neighboring tribe, or driven away by his own family for control of the territory. We may not even be able to find where that child is."

The Mountain and the generals were all stunned.

"His own family would drive him away too?" Zella asked.

"Zella, how did you end up wandering the streets?" Jeyne asked.

"My family had no food," Zella said.

"No food, but you eat a lot, so your parents drove you out of the house, right?"

"Yes, Lady."

"For the sake of profit, the people of the Claw Peninsula would do the same. If an eleven-year-old child still owns Stonekeep, owns land, owns forests, there is even more reason to do so. If the family is united, the people of the neighboring tribes will not let this child go. On the Claw Peninsula, the strong are respected. The way the beasts of the forest live is roughly the way the residents of the Claw Peninsula live. Once there is a foreign enemy, they can work together, but once they lose the foreign enemy, they will kill each other. There is rarely peace between tribes."

Brienne said, "Lady, I didn't know there was such a terrible place in the Crownlands."

"I can't believe it either," Anguy said.

"The people of the Claw Peninsula have produced several heroes in history who brought brief periods of peace, and then the Targaryen family brought them a longer period of peace. Robert was just a king they had a good impression of. He never really went deep into the peninsula to rule. What I'm worried about is that after Robert dies and the kingdom changes to a new king, the lords and warriors on the Claw Peninsula will not recognize the royal power we represent at all. We are going there, firstly, to fulfill the Duke's promise, which is an explanation to the fallen soldiers. The compensation in other places has already been distributed, leaving only these soldiers on the Claw Peninsula; secondly, to recruit soldiers. Both of these things are probably risky. We must be psychologically prepared."

Dunsen said, "Since that's the case, is it really necessary for us to go to the Claw Peninsula?"

"Yes," Jeyne said, "As long as we handle it properly and win the favor of the people of the Claw Peninsula, we can get a very powerful army." In fact, there was an even deeper reason Jeyne didn't say. If successful, this army would only be loyal to the Mountain alone.

Although there were some unpredictable risks, the rewards would be high if successful!

The Mountain said, "Lady, according to you, what should we do best after entering the Claw Peninsula?"

"Two days later, we will enter the edge of the Claw Peninsula's territory. From then on, I hope that when we encounter some things, the Duke and the generals can listen to my opinions," Jeyne said.

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