The Mountain of Ice and Fire

In the early part of 301 AC, Dragonstone Naval Commander Waggener Gahl received an order from the Queen Regent Cersei Lannister, instructing him to lead the Mountain's navy of over three hundred warships into King's Landing's Royal Navy harbor, retake command of the Royal Navy fleet, and appointing him as the Lord Admiral and Master of Ships, a high-ranking member of the Small Council.

At the same time, the Queen Mother appointed the Kingsguard Gerold Goodbrook as the captain of the Maegor's Holdfast royal guard, Geremy Goodbrook as the captain of the Queen Mother's guard, and Kingsguard Barristan Swyft as the commander-in-chief of the King's Landing Allied Forces, overseeing a total of one hundred thousand soldiers from the Reach, the Stormlands, and the Crownlands.

Bronn was appointed as the commander-in-chief of the six thousand-strong King's Landing City Watch.

Normally, the King's Landing City Watch only has two thousand men, but in times of war, it expands to six thousand.

The Queen Mother also promoted Master of Whisperers Burny Clegane to deputy commander of the Allied Forces, in charge of royal military affairs and intelligence.

Simultaneously, the Queen Mother sent out a raven decree, ordering Governor Euron Goodbrook of the Iron Islands to serve as the vice-admiral of the Royal Navy, leading the Iron Fleet to quickly station in King's Landing. She also mobilized over two hundred warships from the Redwyne family of the Arbor to quickly enter the Blackwater Rush harbor in King's Landing.

With this, the Royal Navy fleet in King's Landing reached an unprecedented size, with a total of approximately one thousand warships gathered in the Blackwater Rush harbor, creating a miracle in naval history.

During Robert's era and Joffrey's era, the Royal Navy fleet was only a few dozen ships!

Thus, the Queen Mother Cersei had the Grand Maester Qyburn, the Master of Whisperers Burny Clegane as her civil officials; the Goodbrook brothers as her personal guard captains; Barristan Swyft and Bronn as her military generals; Waggener Gahl, Gavin Westerling, and Governor Euron Goodbrook as her naval commanders.

For a time, King's Landing's military power was strong, and its naval combat strength reached an unprecedented peak that no past monarch could match.

*

In the North, the first batch of military supplies was transported by sea, passing through the Sunset Sea of the Westerlands, through the Iron Islands bay, and arriving at the fishing village dock of Torrhen's Square, then disembarking and using carriages and oxcarts to transport armor, cloaks, wildfire, weapons, food, and other supplies into Winterfell.

With the arrival of supplies from the South, the morale of the Winterfell Allied Forces was strengthened.

The day after the Allied Forces' supplies arrived, the Queen Mother's raven also flew to Winterfell, and the raven letter was passed through the Winterfell maester's hands to the Mountain. The Queen Mother promised that when the Mountain led his army back to King's Landing, the Lady of Lannisport, Rosamund Lannister, would marry the Mountain's adopted son, Comm Warg.

The news that Queen Cersei was re-appointing Burny Clegane, Grand Maester Qyburn, and the Kingsguard Goodbrook brothers in King's Landing; and re-employing Waggener Gahl as Master of Ships and Lord Admiral had also reached Winterfell early on, which surprised the Mountain and his accompanying priestess Melisandre. Now, the confidants surrounding the Queen Mother were all subordinates loyal to the Mountain.

It seemed that suddenly, Queen Cersei had changed completely, vigorously employing the Mountain's people, entrusting them with important tasks, and even entrusting her life to the two Kingsguard arranged by the Mountain: Gerold and Geremy. The power of the Maegor's Holdfast guard and the Queen Mother's guard was firmly controlled by these two brothers.

In Winterfell, Cersei's series of personnel changes made Jaime very uneasy. The Mountain's forces were too strong, the dragons were invincible, and Cersei was re-employing the Mountain's people to control the military and political affairs of the Red Keep in King's Landing. What did she want to do? Completely weaken the Lannister family's power?

However, these changes were not the most unsettling. What followed was another major event.

*

Jeyne Westerling, who had returned to the Westerlands from the Mountains of the Moon with the last group of mountain tribe warriors and people, received a secret letter from the Queen Mother through Acting Lord of Lannisport, Maester Bancroft, in the Clegane Bank of Lannisport not long after returning to the Westerlands.

Jeyne broke the wax seal, poured out the parchment scroll, unfolded it, and after reading it, she was completely stunned.

The letter was a secret letter from the Queen Mother, and the content made Jeyne Westerling unable to believe it. Queen Cersei hoped that she could go to King's Landing, and she begged Jeyne Westerling to serve as the Hand of Justice, a high-ranking member of the Small Council.

This was simply unbelievable.

The Hand of Justice of the kingdom, during Robert's era, was Renly Baratheon, King Robert's favorite brother; during Joffrey's era, it was Mace Tyrell; after Mace was promoted to Hand of the King during Tommen's era, the position of Hand of Justice had been vacant.

The position of Hand of Justice was very important, in charge of national justice and judgment. The royal chief justice was usually held or appointed by the Hand of Justice. This position had always been controlled by the royal family.

Jeyne read Cersei's letter repeatedly, she couldn't believe it. What did Cersei want to do? Did she want to trick her into King's Landing using the position and then use her as a hostage to threaten the Mountain?

This was entirely possible!

When the Mountain's power was strong, if Cersei controlled Jeyne Westerling, she could restrain the Mountain.

However, could Cersei control Jeyne Westerling?

In King's Landing, the Master of Whisperers who cultivated the little birds organization to flourish was Ser Burny Clegane, the Lord Admiral in charge of the Royal Navy was Waggener Gahl, and the two captains responsible for protecting the royal family members, one Gerold and one Geremy, were both confidants of the Mountain. In addition, there was also a Grand Maester who the Queen Mother listened to, who was also arranged by the Mountain to enter the palace and achieve fame.

Queen Cersei suddenly sent a secret letter asking Jeyne Westerling to be the Hand of Justice of the kingdom and wield power with her. What exactly did this mean?

After a brief daze, Jeyne Westerling came to the sept. She entered the secret room, took out a silver needle, took out a silver bottle from dozens of silver bottles filled with blood, opened the lid, stretched the silver needle into the bottle, dipped it in blood, and licked it on the tip of her tongue... This was Cersei's blood. Jeyne had secretly obtained it through Maester Qyburn when she was in King's Landing.

In her secret room, there were nearly a hundred silver bottles, each containing someone's blood.

The blood gave Jeyne a clear revelation: Queen Cersei was in trouble!

Since the prophecy showed that Queen Cersei was in trouble...

However, could the prophecy be misinterpreted?

Jeyne decided to be more careful. She tasted the blood of several other people again, and finally decided to release several ravens to King's Landing in the south.

*

A few days later, a mixed army of three thousand cavalry and infantry gathered in the new Clegane village in the Westerlands. The leader was Duchess Jeyne Westerling, accompanied by two female generals who were stronger and taller than men: Brienne of Tarth, Burny Clegane's wife Zelie Griselda, Centurion Luke, Weapons Master Tobho Mott, Weapons Apprentice Gendry Clegane, Countess Sharlot of Silverhall, Acting Lord of Casterly Rock Donna Swyft... and more than thirty accompanying knights from the Clegane, Sharlot, and Swyft families...

*

Two days later, in the dead of night, the Mountain of Winterfell was riding the Red Rider with Melisandre, the grand master of the Alchemist's Guild, and Robb Stark, King in the North, leading dozens of alchemists under the walls of Winterfell. Maester Hallis brought the secret letter just sent by Lady Jeyne of the Westerlands.

The Mountain took the secret letter and read it under the torchlight, his face uncertain and his eyes flickering.

King Robb Stark of the North and the grand master turned a blind eye, and no one asked the Mountain what thorny matter he had encountered. This was not a thorny matter, but a strange matter for the Mountain.

Queen Cersei secretly ordered Jeyne Westerling to go to the Red Keep in King's Landing, where she would be elected as the Hand of Justice of the kingdom through the Small Council vote.

The Hand of Justice would not be appointed to someone who was not a confidant noble of the king or an ally with vested interests. The position of Hand of Justice had been vacant since Mace Tyrell was promoted to Hand of the King.

What was wrong with Queen Cersei? Had she decided to bind herself firmly to the Clegane family? Her vigilance, wariness, fear, and hostility towards the Clegane family had disappeared, and there was a complete reversal?

Things were abnormal!

The Mountain's face changed in the light of the torch. After a while, he handed the letter to Melisandre beside him. When reason and wisdom could not discern the abnormality, the Mountain believed that he should seek the prophecy of the gods.

Melisandre's flames did not foresee this series of abnormalities of the Queen Mother. Cersei was not stupid, and there must be her internal logic and reason for doing so.

Melisandre also paused slightly after reading the letter. What was wrong with Queen Cersei? The recent series of actions not only surprised the Mountain, but also made the royal courtiers discuss political affairs in private, and in the end, they were all 'looking at each other'.

"Lord Mountain, the long night is dark and dangerous everywhere. I hope to see the revelation of God from the flames tonight."

"Hmm." The Mountain snorted.

The grand master and King Robb of the North maintained their demeanor. If the Mountain did not speak, they would never ask. Dealing with smart people would reduce a lot of embarrassment.

"Continue!" The Mountain said.

So, dozens of alchemists worked together, and jar after jar of wildfire was buried under the city walls. This was wildfire used for detonation, similar to the Mountain's understanding of big explosions in Earth civilization. Wildfire was also secretly buried in various key points and key castles within the city.

Wildfire burning the city could not be extinguished unless the wildfire substance was completely burned out. Storms and heavy rain could not extinguish the wildfire; wind and snow could not weaken the power of the wildfire.

This was a secret military operation, and because it was in charge of by the Mountain, the grand master, the King of the North, and Melisandre, no news was leaked. Every time they went to a place to secretly bury wildfire, first, it was in the middle of the night, and second, all the soldiers and patrolling generals nearby were transferred in advance. As long as the King of the North's warhorse and the Mountain's Red Rider were present, no one else could be seen far or near.

This was a secret operation in the middle of the night, with one goal: to burn the entire Winterfell into a white ground. Among them, Robb Stark was the only person who personally wanted to destroy his family's eight-thousand-year-old castle. He was young, but he was a truly ruthless person.

Dozens of alchemists worked together, burying wildfire point by point according to the secret map designed by the Mountain, Melisandre, the grand master, and King Robb of the North. Nine-tenths of the wildfire points on the secret map had been completed, and it would take a few more nights of hard work for the entire Winterfell to be completely surrounded by wildfire.

Setting fire to oneself! Suicide attack!

After the wildfire substance was buried, the soil was restored to its original state. Although it was still hot in the south, it was already snowing every day in Winterfell, as if winter had arrived. As long as it was dawn, the snow would erase all traces.

*

The next morning, Jaime Lannister patrolled the entire Allied Forces camp on horseback. The Mountain's fifteen thousand Clegane Legion was training. Swordsmen, spearmen, archers, and cavalry were all training outside their respective camps, shouting loudly. They were the Southern soldiers who adapted to the Northern weather the fastest.

Restrained by the Mountain's military orders, the Vale Legion and the King's Landing soldiers also got up early to run and exercise their cold resistance. Many King's Landing noble knights and soldiers were weak due to the extreme cold and caught a cold; some of the Vale Legion's noble soldiers fell ill. Only a hundred veterans of the Mountain Legion caught a cold, but even so, as long as they were not unable to move, the soldiers with minor injuries and colds had to get up early to run and train.

Jaime had never seen a legion with such iron discipline. The soldiers under the Mountain seemed to be desperadoes.

The sound of hooves came. A team of cavalry came head-on, led by a flame-like strange beast, with the Mountain, as big as a hill, sitting on it. The Mountain and his cavalry guard of dozens of people came, they had just inspected the training of the Clegane Legion and were returning to the main castle of Winterfell.

"Ser Jaime," the Mountain called out to Jaime.

Jaime stopped and stood at attention.

He was the deputy, and the Mountain was his superior.

"Ser Jaime, I have a letter here that I think you need to see." The Mountain gestured, and Ser Gerold Goodbrook immediately stepped forward and handed Jaime a piece of parchment.

Jaime did not take the letter and said lightly: "Lord Mountain, I have no interest in anything other than fighting the Others."

Jaime was very proud, and he tried his best to maintain his dignity in front of the Mountain.

"Oh, Jaime, Cersei wrote a letter hoping to marry Rosamund Lannister, the Lady of Lannisport, to my adopted son, Comm Warg. Comm Warg, come out."

The sound of horses' hooves rang, and Comm Warg rode out. The young man had been fighting constantly, running around, immersed in the Mountain's group of fierce men, and tempered in the flames of war. He had already grown into a fierce and sharp man, mature and capable beyond his age, and heroic.

"This is my adopted son, the chief of the Warg tribe, Ser Jaime, do you think he is worthy of Rosamund?"

The corners of Jaime's eyes twitched slightly. He tried his best to prevent Rosamund from marrying the Mountain's people, but in the rear, Cersei had already made the decision to marry Rosamund to Comm Warg.

It was not a question of whether Comm Warg was worthy of Rosamund, but that the Mountain wanted to annex Lannisport, the largest piece of fat in the Westerlands.

Jaime felt like he had been stabbed in the heart by the Mountain.

The Mountain looked down at Jaime and smiled: "Lady Jeyne Westerling has already set off for King's Landing. The Queen Mother has ordered her to go to King's Landing to serve as the Hand of Justice of the kingdom and to draw up a marriage contract between Rosamund and Comm Warg. Ser Jaime, from now on, we are a family." The Mountain bent down and extended his hand to Jaime.

Jaime pulled on the reins, and the warhorse moved away. He did not shake hands with the Mountain: "Lord Mountain, I only care about when Lord Eddard Stark will lead the Others army here. I have no interest in anything else. If there is anything similar in the future, please do not tell me, Lord Mountain. I - have no interest."

The sound of horses' hooves rang, and Jaime led a group of followers and roared away.

In front of him, Cersei's face was superimposed on the Mountain's face, lingering.

James' face was ashen, his heart aching as if it would break!