The Mountain of Ice and Fire

Luke rode his horse down the street, heading towards Dona's carriage.

As they approached, they would collide if neither stopped.

Dona's coachman slowed down, and a knight on the left rode out to meet Luke.

Luke reined in his warhorse, his hand on the sword hilt, watching the knight quietly.

The knight's chest bore the Lannister family's lion sigil, while Luke's armor displayed the Ice Sword Red Smoker Beast.

"General of the Clegane army?"

"A small guard, my lord knight." Luke's tone and expression were as ordinary as he was, without any hint of killing intent.

"Get out of the way, this is the carriage of Countess Dona Swift."

"I'm sorry, but I have a few words I must say to the Countess," Luke said calmly. He was neither angry nor upset, his tone was gentle, but his hand remained on the sword hilt. This was a very dangerous signal, and although this kid wasn't burly and only had a sword, his calmness was like ice.

"Wait!" The proud knight weighed the situation. The 'Red Smoker Beast Ice Sword' sigil made him fearful. He remained silent for a while before speaking.

The Clegane's momentum was strong. Nowadays, about 90% of the nobles in the Westerlands were pro-Clegane.

"Yes, my lord knight." Luke was neither humble nor arrogant. He blocked Dona Swift's path in the street, calmly and peacefully.

Dona Swift, having been informed by the knight, could only suppress the shame and anger in her heart. A mere soldier, not even a knight, dared to block her carriage!

Dona ordered the coachman to drive the carriage in front of Luke and opened the curtain: "Soldier, are you a knight or an officer?"

"Good day, Countess. I am an ordinary guard beside Lady Janei." Luke placed his right palm on his left chest and bowed slightly on horseback, following etiquette to the letter.

"Not a knight?" Countess Dona's tone was contemptuous, and she deliberately raised her voice.

"Yes, Countess."

"Not a knight, yet you dare to block my path? Have we violated Lord Mountain's laws?"

Dona hated the Mountain with a passion!

"I'm sorry, Countess, but you must return the spices to the spice shop, or send one of your servants with gold dragons to exchange for equivalent bank notes at the Clegane Bank, and then take the notes to the spice shop to pay. The Guardian of the West, Gregor, has ordered that all goods in the Westerlands must be traded using bank notes from now on. Lord Bancroft has also issued relevant decrees and posted notices throughout the city yesterday afternoon."

Dona had heard of Bancroft issuing a banknote trading decree, but she hadn't taken it to heart.

"What if I don't?" Countess Dona's voice revealed sharpness.

A small guard, not even a knight, dared to block her path in the street. She had two knights with swords by her side, both from branches of the Lannister family.

"If you violate the law, Countess, I will have to arrest you and escort you to the city lord's main hall for trial," Luke said indifferently, his voice devoid of emotion, like a cold sword.

Clang!

With a crisp sound, a knight drew his long sword, glaring at Luke. If it weren't for the fear of the Red Smoker Beast Ice Sword sigil, the knight would have already pounced on Luke.

Luke was not tall, and his appearance was ordinary.

Luke's expression remained unchanged. He looked at Countess Dona and bowed slightly again, expressing his apology. His right hand came down from his left chest and gripped the sword hilt, ready to draw his sword at any moment.

"Soldier, I have already paid. I will take the spices, and we will not go to the bank to exchange for paper money and then return to pay. If I have broken the law, the city guards will naturally come to arrest me. Clegane's soldiers have no right to arrest people. I am a Countess," Dona found that with every word she spoke, the sense of humiliation deepened. This made her feel very frustrated.

Why explain so much to a soldier? Why explain? Why not just order the knight to knock him down?

Because his armor had the Clegane family crest!

Luke remained consistent, immovable as a mountain, ordinary: "Countess, I am under the orders of Lady Janei and the city lord to arrest those who refuse to use paper money for transactions. If you find it troublesome to exchange for paper money at the Clegane Bank, please send a servant with me to the Clegane Bank to exchange for equivalent paper money. I guarantee that I will not make your servant wait in line. Countess, this is the best way to solve the problem, so you will not violate the law, and I will not delay your time to return home."

"Soldier, get out of the way!" Dona shouted coldly.

Clang!

Luke drew his long sword: "Countess, you refuse to listen to my kind advice and violate the city lord's promulgated transaction law. I now announce that Guard Luke is ordered to arrest you."

The knight, who had been staring at Luke with his long sword drawn, roared, clamped his legs, and the warhorse rushed out, heading straight for Luke. Luke's expression did not change, plain and calm, he gently twirled the single-handed sword into a sword flower, his eyes fixed, waiting for the knight to kill him.

"Stop!" Countess Dona shouted in a timely manner.

The charging knight suddenly reached out and reined in the warhorse, the warhorse stood up, neighing loudly, its front hooves raised high.

Luke's defensive sword stance remained motionless, his expression calm, as if nothing had happened.

"Hobson, go to the Clegane Bank with this soldier and exchange for paper money worth two gold dragons, two silver stags, and seven copper stars."

"Yes, Countess!" An old man beside the carriage replied with a bow.

Hobson was Countess Dona's purse, the family's financial officer.

Luke held his long sword upright in front of his chest: "Countess, perhaps you should let Hobson exchange for more paper money. Any shop in Lannisport, according to the new law promulgated by City Lord Bancroft, must use the bank's paper money for transactions."

Dona snorted coldly and lowered the curtain! The coachman shouted, and the carriage deviated slightly, driving past Luke's warhorse.

Countess Dona's face in the departing carriage was pale and her brows were deeply furrowed:

Paper money?

Bank paper money?

Paper money cast by the Mountain's bank?

Dona had heard some noble ladies mention the Mountain's bank many times, but this kind of bank currency was only heard recently, and the noble ladies who mentioned paper money to her had never used it.

Dona knew that the power to mint coins had always been controlled by the royal power, and the Mountain's Clegane Bank was privately minting paper money in the Westerlands to replace metal coins. Wasn't this a capital crime that violated national law?

Back home, I must send a raven to King's Landing!

*

Financial Officer Hobson followed Guard Luke to the Clegane Bank. There were long queues at the entrance of the bank, the poor were in one queue, and the well-dressed rich were in another.

There were many people.

What were these people doing queuing at the bank entrance? Were they also here to exchange for paper money? Hobson wasn't sure, but he wisely chose to shut up.

Luke jumped off his horse and handed the reins to a Clegane soldier. There were several Clegane soldiers maintaining order here.

Luke led Hobson through the queues and entered the bank gate. His armor was his pass, and the people queuing on both sides dared not complain. Some rich people recognized Luke, and Luke had taken action on the streets several times recently. Some people didn't believe in evil and were killed by him.

Hobson noticed that several captains from foreign lands were also in the rich people's queue. These people's faces were different from those of the Westeros continent, and it was obvious that they were captains from across the Narrow Sea.

Lannisport was a huge seaport city, and captains from all over the world did maritime trade through this port.

Were these captains also here to exchange for bank notes?

Hobson was very suspicious!

Across the Narrow Sea, people couldn't possibly use the Clegane Bank's notes for transactions. If they weren't here to exchange for paper money, were they here to borrow money? It was said that the Clegane Bank did dare to lend money to captains of the Free Trade City-States, but they needed the guarantee of local merchants.

Or were these foreigners here to deposit money?

Put the gold in the bank, and then take it out when they leave, to avoid being robbed by hooligans and bandits?

Regardless of what the foreign captains were queuing for, this scene surprised and unwilling to believe Hobson.

The bank established by the Mountain, a lending and storage bank, everyone had never heard of a bank before. But suddenly, in Lannisport, buying and selling things was only allowed to circulate bank-minted paper money!

This was confusing, incomprehensible, and unsettling!

Lannisport, the city lord had the right to promulgate some local laws. The powers to veto these laws were the Guardian of the West and the royal power.

The current Guardian of the West was the Mountain - Gregor Clegane.

The highest person of royal power was - King Tommen Baratheon I. That child king was said to be less than ten years old.

With Luke's help, Hobson didn't have to queue and went directly to a separate bank window to exchange for paper money. To facilitate buying things in the future, Hobson accepted Luke's suggestion and exchanged for the equivalent of ten gold dragons in paper money. These paper money included gold dragon notes, silver stag notes, and copper star notes, which made it easier to pay when buying things.

Watching ten gold dragons being taken away by a bank woman, and a stack of colorful paper money being counted out, Hobson felt a very strong sense of unease in his heart.

These colorful paper money had numbers on them, which allowed people to understand the monetary value represented by a piece of paper money, but how could these light papers have the value of gold?!

Hobson was Countess Dona's financial officer, and he had a strong feeling of being at a disadvantage in his heart, but he couldn't do anything and couldn't say anything against this exchange. He carefully put away the paper money and then left the bank in a hurry.

Hobson would go to Boss Myrne's spice shop to pay for the spices the Countess bought with the colorful round paper money he had exchanged, and take back the two gold dragons, two silver stags, and seven copper stars that had been paid but the spice clerk refused to accept.

Financial Officer Hobson would report everything he saw in the bank, including the situation of the people queuing outside the bank, to Countess Dona.

Worrying changes were taking place in Lannisport, and Countess Dona needed to understand these new changes. Perhaps the Lannisters in King's Landing also needed to understand these worrying things happening in the Westerlands.

The unease brought about by these changes was all because of an evil person in the Westerlands: the Mountain!

At the same time, on the other side of the continent, disturbing and frightening things were also happening on the outer sea of ​​another seaport city - Gulltown.

Gulltown, the place where Littlefinger Petyr Baelish made his fortune, and also the largest city under the Arryn family in the Vale - a prosperous and wealthy port city.

*

"What's that?" On the bridge of a patrol warship in the waters of Gulltown, a lookout soldier's voice was slightly surprised.

"What?" The captain on the deck below was enthusiastically retrieving the net. He didn't even lift his head and asked casually.

The daily routine patrol was the most boring thing. Although the War of the Seven Kingdoms had been fought for three years, the territory of the Vale was still an isolated paradise outside the war. Except for the sudden attack by the Mountain last year, who extorted a batch of grain and gold coins, Gulltown had comfortably spent eighteen years of peaceful, happy, wealthy, and leisurely time.

"Sir, you need to come up and take a look. The situation seems a bit wrong." The lookout soldier on the bridge shouted to the captain on the deck.

Beside the captain was a centurion of the navy soldiers. Saying he was a centurion, there were actually only thirty soldiers on the warship besides the sailors.

The captain was retrieving the net. As the fishing net continued to rise, with a crash, a white fish appeared on the surface of the water, its tail beating up white waves.

The captain and the centurion laughed together, and the surrounding soldiers were all jumping for joy. Several soldiers stepped forward to help retrieve the net, and a second big fish floated to the surface.

"Captain, many more ship sails have appeared." The soldier on the bridge reported loudly.

"What flag?" A soldier laughed.

"The distance is too far, the pattern on the flag can't be seen at all, but there are too many ships coming. It's impossible for there to be so many merchant ships. God, more ships are appearing. A huge fleet."

Wow!

A cheer rang out on the deck. A huge fish was struggling in the fishing net, its body shape visibly longer than an adult. It stirred the sea and made a huge sound.

The captain and centurion and navy soldiers were elated, cheering constantly.

The happiest thing about the daily idle patrol was catching fat fish.

No one heard the soldier's voice on the bridge. The huge fishing net was constantly being tightened and lifted, and every fish in the net was a source of joy for the captain and soldiers.

"Sir, it's the Mountain!" On the bridge, the lookout soldier's voice sounded in horror, like a sharp whistle.

The captain and soldiers' cheers disappeared instantly, as if a long knife had suddenly cut off their joy.

"The Mountain, the Mountain's flag is on the ship, God, so many warships, densely packed, hurry, hurry, hurry, row back to the port at attack speed, the Mountain is here!" The soldier's voice was high-pitched to the point of losing his voice.

The captain grabbed the rope and jumped onto the ship's side, looking out at the sea. Sure enough, densely packed, many warships were coming with the wind, and the huge flag on the leading warship was waving in the wind, it was the 'Red Smoker Beast Ice Sword'.

"Enemy attack!" The captain's voice was abrupt and panicked, as if he had been stabbed in the chest with a knife. "Attack speed, return!"

The first mate received the order and hammered out the drumbeat for attack speed. Sailors, who had been resting in a scattered manner throughout the cabins, burst into motion, rushing to their respective positions in a chaotic flurry. Each took their place, some sailors rowing, while others held their oars still in the water. The ship spun quickly in the waves, turning its head. To the rhythm of the dense drumbeats, the sailors on both sides shouted in unison as they rowed with all their might, their movements synchronized. The patrol boat sped swiftly towards the harbor.

*

Woooooo——

The long and deep sound of a horn echoed.

On the Mountain's flagship, a messenger blew the horn!

Woooooo——

The second horn sounded, echoing the first.

Then the third, and the fourth horns joined in.

The wailing of the horns converged, forming a powerful force that resonated across the sea.

Even without the patrol boat from Gulltown sounding the 'enemy attack' alarm, the Mountain's warship's horn had already reached Gulltown and the harbor.

Gulltown and White Harbor were the fourth and fifth largest port cities on the continent of Westeros. Due to trade, they were the largest and most prosperous cities in the Vale and the North.

However, Gulltown and White Harbor had a fatal weakness: they practically had no navy. Gulltown had only twenty warships, and White Harbor, due to a Stark family head who never returned from a voyage in history, had possessed almost no real warships for hundreds of years.

The Mountain's hundred or so warships did not chase after the fleeing patrol boat; it was just a small vessel. Instead, they began to spread out on the sea, sailing towards Gulltown at a steady speed.

Gulltown was right there; there was no escape.

The Mountain's 'Red Kraken-Ice Sword' banner and the King's stag-lion banner were planted all over the bow of the flagship 'Dragonstone' warship.

The nobles and commoners of Gulltown were very sensitive to the Mountain's banner. The Mountain had come once last year and extorted grain and gold coins from Gulltown. Anguy, leading a small cavalry squad, had frightened Gulltown out of its wits.

As one warship after another appeared in the waters near Gulltown, sailing towards the harbor at a steady speed, the entire Gulltown resounded with the horns of enemy attack.

Gulltown had high walls, but the harbor was connected to the sea. Unless there were warships to meet the enemy, the control of the sea would be surrendered.

On the sea, the Mountain's hundred or so warships were like a huge dark cloud, slowly pushing towards the harbor of Gulltown.

The large and small boats inside and outside the harbor were in a desperate state, scurrying like stray dogs and fleeing like fish escaping a net, rushing towards the shore in a chaotic manner. People on the hundred or so fishing boats, merchant ships, sailboats, flat-bottomed boats, and other vessels docked on the shore clamored and crowded ashore, helping the old and carrying the young, fleeing into Gulltown.

On the walls of Gulltown, the dense sound of marching footsteps rang out as archers, swordsmen, shieldmen, and spearmen took their positions on the walls.

Inside the harbor, Gulltown's twenty warships wanted to go out, but they could not form a battle formation. They were disrupted by the chaotic fleeing ships. On the navy flagship, which lacked any fighting spirit, the naval commander reluctantly ordered the hornblower to sound the horn.

"We should retreat back to the city!" the captain of the escort ship on the left shouted over, "Commander, retreat! We can only retreat! Rely on the city walls to defend the city!"

"Retreat requires the approval of the city lord!" the commander shouted back.

"Retreat! Retreat!" The captain on the warship behind heard 'retreat' and immediately shouted to the brother warships behind, "Retreat back, quickly retreat, join the defense team."

Because of the blockage of various returning ships, and because of the space in the harbor, it was not easy for the twenty warships to turn around in the harbor. Therefore, everyone retreated in a straight line.