The Mountain of Ice and Fire

The Vale has one of the most powerful families: House Royce.

Before the Andals (the ancestors of House Arryn) invaded, the Vale was ruled by House Royce, whose head was known as the Bronze King of the Vale.

The Royce family's armor was cast in bronze, not steel, hence the title of Bronze King. The bronze armor was inscribed with magical runes to protect the wearer from harm. Even thousands of years later, the Royces still wear bronze armor engraved with mystical runes, though the truth is that many Royces have died in their bronze armor.

Thousands of years ago, House Shett, which ruled Gulltown, was at war with the Royce Bronze King, who ruled the Vale. House Shett was no match for House Royce, suffering defeat after defeat. So, they spent a fortune to hire Andal mercenaries from across the Narrow Sea, who became the ancestors of House Arryn, the current rulers of the Vale.

After the Andals arrived, they swept through Gulltown and the Vale, becoming the Kings of the Vale. Their family has prospered to this day, with the current Duke Robert Arryn being a descendant of those invading Andals.

*

Bronze Yohn Royce is the current head of House Royce, an Earl, and he also dreams of marrying Lysa Tully. Since Lysa Tully returned to the Vale, he has been staying at the Eyrie, hoping to win the lady's heart.

"Madam, if we cannot rescue Gulltown, we may lose it," said Bronze Yohn Royce, a Great Lord of the Vale. "Gulltown cannot withstand the Mountain's attack. The gathered mountain clans could easily take Gulltown. Gulltown is a major source of tax revenue for the Vale. Once Gulltown is plundered, it will not only be a loss of enormous wealth, but also a blow to our honor. Madam, we should send the Knights of the Vale to defeat the Mountain."

"There are ten thousand troops stationed at the Bloody Gate. How can we defeat the Mountain?" Morton Waynwood sneered. He is the brother of Ser Donnel Waynwood of the Bloody Gate, and the eldest son and heir of House Waynwood. "The mountain pass is narrow, so more troops are useless. The Mountain and his mountain clan chiefs guarding the strategic positions, who can break through the Mountain's defenses? Ice is a two-handed greatsword. When swung, no one facing it head-on can block the Mountain."

"Ten thousand troops is just a show," Lyn Corbray said flatly.

"Does it take ten thousand people to guard the strategic positions outside the Bloody Gate? The Mountain and his generals, leading five hundred men, are enough, with two companies of archers stationed halfway up the mountain to support them. We cannot defeat the Mountain," Morton said calmly. "Madam, Lords, no one can break through the Bloody Gate and enter our Vale plains, but no one can defeat the Mountain on the narrow mountain road with a military advantage."

"I think Ser Morton makes a lot of sense," said Earl Lyonel Corbray. He is the Earl of Heart's Home, over forty years old, and has no children. He is also one of the nobles who is desperately pursuing Lysa Tully. As long as Lysa Tully agrees to marry him, he will divorce immediately.

Lyn Corbray is the brother of Lyonel Corbray, and the two brothers are at odds. Lyonel, as the head of the family, believes that only he is suitable to wield 'Lady Forlorn,' but the two brothers' father bestowed 'Lady Forlorn' upon his younger brother Lyn. This made Lyonel resentful. When his brother Lyn advocated for war, Lyonel stood up to support Morton, advocating for peace.

A young knight raised his hand amidst the nobles'吵闹, receiving Lysa Tully's permission to speak. He was Ser Mychel Redfort, the youngest son of the Earl of Redfort: "Madam, please give me a legion of five thousand men, and I will reinforce the Bloody Gate. Once the situation outside changes, I will lead the army out of the Bloody Gate and attack the Mountain."

Lyn said: "Madam, I propose that we should immediately summon twenty thousand Vale soldiers and fight the Mountain outside the Bloody Gate as soon as possible. The Mountain's military fortress and walls have not yet been completed. Once he completes them, our Vale will truly be sealed off."

The pro-war nobles echoed, and House Royce, the most powerful in the Vale, agreed to go to war with the Mountain, which made many nobles tend to choose to fight.

Lyn glanced at his brother Lyonel: "If we don't care about the life and death of Gulltown, Gulltown's taxes and trade may no longer be ours in the future. The Mountain can relocate the people of the mountain clans to the Westerlands, or he can leave some of the mountain clans stationed in the military fortress outside the Bloody Gate. The isolated Gulltown and Redfort will only have the option of surrendering when facing the Mountain's coalition forces. Once Gulltown submits, the profits from taxes will naturally belong to the Mountain."

Lyonel Corbray sneered: "Madam, even if we send out fifty thousand troops, we cannot carry out flanking maneuvers on the narrow mountain road outside the Bloody Gate, we cannot launch cavalry charges, and we cannot deploy infantry on a large scale. How can we defeat the Mountain? We have lost our advantage in troop strength, madam."

This statement hit the nail on the head!

The mountain road outside the Bloody Gate is so narrow that only two horses can pass through in some places. The Mountain leads a hundred warriors to defend strategic locations. Even if the Vale has thousands of troops, it will be of no avail.

The Vale nobles looked at each other!

Lyonel continued: "Ser Lyn, Ser Royce, do you think you are the Mountain's opponents? If so, please be the vanguard and immediately lead your troops out of the Bloody Gate to defeat the Mountain. What if you are defeated? I'm sorry, the Mountain will definitely ask for more money and food before he is willing to withdraw. You have to come up with this money and food to make up for it."

Lysa Tully is someone who just wants to defend her own territory. Her sister, father, uncle, brother, brother-in-law, and nephew fought the enemy for two years, and she was asked for support countless times. Most of the Vale nobles were pro-war, requesting to send troops, but she suppressed them all, not sending a single soldier or grain, and never replying, her position was very firm.

"Earl Lyonel Corbray, in your opinion, what do you think is the most appropriate thing for us to do?"

"Madam, let the Mountain stop building military fortresses and withdraw his troops from the Vale first, and we will send him one hundred thousand gold dragons and one thousand carts of grain."

"Bah!" Bronze Yohn scolded. He is the father of Waymar Royce, the first Night's Watch ranger to be killed by Others, the young knight (the first young man to receive a lunchbox in the first episode of the TV series). "House Royce will never surrender to the Mountain."

"The valiant knights of the Vale will laugh at you, my dear brother," Lyn laughed.

"Earl, if you are afraid of the Mountain, you can hide behind the knight's horse," Ser Mychel Redfort mocked.

For a time, the pro-war faction opened fire on Earl Lyonel Corbray, engaging in a war of words.

…………

Lysa Tully signaled the maester, who stretched out his hands to stop the noise. Lady Lysa said: "Earl Lyonel, continue."

Lyonel looked around at the Vale nobles who were glaring at him and said: "One hundred thousand gold dragons seems like a lot, but if the Vale nobles share it equally, the great nobles will contribute ten thousand gold dragons, and the small nobles will contribute three thousand or one thousand gold dragons. Every knight can take out this sum of money, and it will not have a significant impact on our wealth. The same goes for grain. The great nobles will contribute one hundred carts of grain, and the small nobles will contribute thirty carts or ten carts of grain. When divided equally, it will have almost no impact on the grain reserves of each of our knights. But if we go to war, think about the consequences…"

"Earl, what if the Mountain gets the money and food and refuses to withdraw his troops?" Mychel sneered.

"Knight, my condition is that the Mountain withdraws his troops first, and then we pay the money and food."

"What if the Mountain continues to advance after we pay the money and food?"

"As soon as the Mountain withdraws, we will send troops to seize the strategic locations outside the Bloody Gate first, such as the place where the Mountain is building a military fortress. We will occupy it first. If the Mountain goes back on his word and attacks again, we will have already occupied the high ground. At that time, the Knights of the Vale will come out in force, and the Mountain will surely be defeated. The money and food we paid can also be recovered."

"Good idea!" Ser Morton Waynwood said, "Madam, Earl Lyonel's proposal is the most suitable for the interests of our Vale. If the Mountain sincerely wants to go to war with us, he will definitely not give us a letter. He will attack Redfort and Gulltown by surprise. Plundering a Gulltown and getting millions of gold dragons is a small matter, and thousands of carts of grain is even more so. But the Mountain did not attack by surprise, but wrote a letter to openly borrow money and grain from us. He built a military fortress, also deliberately doing it for us to see, not really wanting to station outside the Bloody Gate. We might as well take this opportunity to repair our relationship with the Mountain. In the future, if the Seven Kingdoms change again, we can still have an ally."

"Good idea! Let's do it!" Lysa Tully said, "Earl Lyonel Corbray, Ser Morton Waynwood, I am sending you two to be responsible for repairing relations with the Mountain, and let the Mountain withdraw his troops from the Vale first, and retreat to the crossroads of the Trident River. We will give him one hundred thousand gold dragons and one thousand carts of grain. As for the alliance, the Mountain is an evil person in the Seven Kingdoms, and the Vale will not form an alliance with him."

"As you command, Madam!" Lyonel and Morton bowed together.

*

Mountains of the Moon. The Burned Men.

The leader of the Burned Men is called Teemo, and his son is also called Teemo, who is the one-eyed Teemo who follows the Mountain.

The mountain clans' naming skills are lacking. Often, one name is the same for three generations of grandparents and grandchildren. Teemo, the son of Teemo, the leader of the Burned Men, and Shagga, the son of Shagga, the leader of the Stone Crows. One name is used for many generations or even dozens of generations.

Teemo's son, Teemo, led his people out of the tribe along the mountain road, while the older generation did not want to move to a better and more comfortable place.

Teemo's father, Teemo, squatted on a rock, silently watching his son, Teemo, lead the villagers down the mountain and leave, going to another rich place with fertile land, and living the same rich life as the knights of the Vale.

The old leader Teemo held a delicate dagger in his hand. The dagger was well-made, and the scabbard had beautiful patterns and gold thread decorations, which was of great value. But after seeing Teemo's armor and helmet, the older generation was full of admiration for the younger generation. The achievements that the children have made after going down the mountain have exceeded the glory of their several generations.

Just the armor of Teemo and the warriors is an immeasurable wealth in the tribe. Before this, the old leader Teemo himself did not have a decent set of armor. He had a helmet that he had snatched, but it was rusty.

Behind the old Teemo stood his many wives, each wearing brand-new silk clothes that they had never seen before, and holding several gold dragons in their hands, which were gifts from the young leader Teemo.

"When the children are settled, we can go and see them too," an old woman said.

"It's two thousand miles away, and it will take half a year to walk," another old woman said.

"You don't need to ride a horse!" The old Teemo said, "We want the elders to learn how to raise the ravens given by Lord Mountain, and don't let the ravens die."

The Burned Men streamed down the mountain one after another. Young people were willing to follow the young leader Teemo and move to a place with lush water and grass, tall stone houses, fertile land, and the ability to grow corn and wheat. More teenagers dreamed of becoming fully armored warriors and owning a long sword that they dreamed of.

Every Burned Men warrior who returned home was returning in glory, which was envied by everyone.

The situation in other tribes was similar.

Although some people were poor and did not even have a few decent firewood knives at home, they envied the returning warriors who had gold, armor, and long swords, but they were still unwilling to leave the villages where they had lived for many years. Most of the young people were willing to accept change.

In some remote tribes, only a few warriors were willing to join the Mountain's army, and the rest were unwilling to leave their tribes and villages. This time, the Mountain mobilized dozens of mountain clan tribes, gaining three thousand soldiers and relocating more than six thousand people. All of the Tree Men tribes followed the Mountain to relocate, but regrettably, the number was limited. There were less than one hundred warriors and more than three hundred people. The entire tribe, including men, women, old and young, totaled less than five hundred people.

The Mountain claimed to have ten thousand soldiers. Adding up all the warriors and people, it was almost ten thousand people, not just ten thousand warriors.

The Burned Men, the Black Ears, the Stone Crows, the Moon Brothers, the Milk Snakes, the Painted Dogs, the Tree Men, the Howlers, the Redsmiths, the Black Bears, the Wild Wolves...dozens of large and small tribes, adding up to three thousand new soldiers, this proportion of people is not large, it can be said to be very low.

There were some tribes where no one was willing to follow the Mountain. They accepted the grain, gold, and ironware that the Mountain sent, but the tribe finally decided not to relocate. They felt unsafe about the outside world and were full of distrust of the Mountain and other tribes.

The Mountain could only give up!

*

A few days later, outside the Bloody Gate, between the Bloody Gate military fortress and the military fortress that the Mountain was building, the Mountain, Earl Mooton, and Earl Lyonel Corbray and Ser Morton Waynwood, who were sent by the Vale, met.

The Mountain rode on Red Smoke, like a giant god. Lyonel and Morton had to try their best to appease their warhorses, but the warhorses were afraid of Red Smoke after all and refused to go forward.

In the end, Lyonel and Morton dismounted and walked over with their soldiers.

Ser Donnel, a knight of the Bloody Gate, led his soldiers to form a formation not far away, ready for battle.

The Mountain and Earl Mooton also dismounted and stood there.

"Duke Gregor, I am Lyonel Corbray," the Earl lowered his head and bowed slightly.

The Mountain did not speak, but just stared at Lyonel.

Lyonel felt uneasy. The Mountain's evil reputation, brutality, and bloodthirstiness made him take people's lives if he disagreed with them.

"Earl Mooton," Lyonel then greeted Earl Mooton.

Mooton returned the greeting: "Earl Lyonel, hello!"

Lyonel felt a little relieved: "Duke Gregor, Earl Mooton, our madam agreed to pay Duke Mountain 100,000 gold dragons for the cost of relocating the mountain clans, and of course, 1,000 carts of grain. Lady Lysa has ordered that the gold dragons and grain be shared equally by the Vale nobles. It will take time for the maesters and knights of the Eyrie to collect the money and grain. Please give Duke Gregor fifteen days."

The Mountain nodded slightly.

"Duke, our lady says that within these fifteen days, please lead your generals and soldiers to withdraw from the Vale completely. We will deliver the money and grain to the crossroads outside the Vale. At that time, Ser Morton and I will personally hand over the money and grain to you."

Morton Waynwood stared intently at the Mountain. He was afraid, afraid that the Mountain would not agree. Although he judged that the Mountain's true purpose in building the military fortress was not to start a war, but to coerce, he did not dare to say that his judgment was 100% accurate!

The Mountain still did not answer Leonor's words. He glanced at an attendant beside him.

The attendant immediately mounted his horse, raised the command flag, and waved it towards the rear. Soon, the clanging sound of building the military fortress outside stopped…

The Mountain glanced at a young female general on horseback behind him. The female general immediately raised her hand, and the banner bearer waved the Red Smoke Beast and Ice Sword banner. On the cliffs on both sides of the mountain road, the Clegane archers descended the mountain one after another.

Not far away, the legion stationed on the mountain road also began to stir. In the distance, on the hills, the sound of retreat horns wailed.

Although the Mountain did not say a word from beginning to end of this negotiation, the effect of the negotiation was very significant, and the time was very short!

Earl Leonor and Ser Morton completed the seemingly complex negotiation task with a few simple words and achieved their goal effortlessly. It was almost unbelievable that this was true.

The Mountain mounted the Red Smoke Beast and retreated, his guards mounted their horses and followed closely beside him.

In the distance, the craftsmen building the military fortress also descended the mountain one after another…

Earl Mooton walked to the end and said to Earl Leonor, who looked astonished and felt like he was dreaming, "Earl, we must see your money and grain outside the Vale in fifteen days. If you deceive us, we will seize Gulltown and force House Redwyne to swear allegiance to Lord Mountain."