The Mountain of Ice and Fire

Daenerys stood at the bow of the ship, coldly watching the towering city walls, the docks, and the countless ships of all sizes in the harbor.

On the majestic city walls, banners fluttered in the wind, and the city guard was lined up. Looking through the crenellations, one could see the soldiers' golden cloaks and shining armor. Standing at the bow of the ship and looking up, only a dense and orderly row of helmets could be seen above the battlements, extending to the left and right along the wall.

Countless laborers, servants, fishermen, free folk, sailors, mercenaries from all over the world, and orderly legions of guards maintaining order... these people crowded hundreds of docks.

And away from the docks, along the riverbank, far and near, were densely packed crowds of people.

King's Landing was a large city with a population of hundreds of thousands in peacetime and a million in wartime.

The entire city's population had turned out to see Daenerys Targaryen, known as the Mother of Dragons, as a prisoner of war.

The city's commoners, nobles, soldiers, and generals still remembered the scene not long ago when Daenerys rode her dragon over King's Landing, loudly demanding their surrender. At that time, Daenerys, riding the black dragon, and accompanied by a white dragon and a bronze dragon, flaunted her power over King's Landing, arrogant and invincible; and at that time, the Mountain, it was rumored his dragon was severely damaged by the Night King and could no longer be healed.

But miracles and luck had always been on the side of the people of King's Landing.

After the civil war began, a large number of refugees poured into King's Landing to escape the war, which caused overcrowding and food shortages in the city. On the verge of starvation, the Mountain sent bread and wheat from Harrenhal, helping the refugees and commoners of King's Landing through the most difficult time, and resolving another riot of commoners and refugees in King's Landing.

And not long ago, when the entire city was in fear of being destroyed by dragonfire, it was still the Mountain who suddenly returned riding a dragon, giving everyone confidence, boosting the morale of the navy, and enabling the navy to easily defeat Daenerys's naval fleet, repel the powerful foreign navy, force Daenerys to sit down and negotiate, and accept the conditions proposed by the Mountain.

But the despicable Mother of Dragons harmed the guest right at the banquet of the agreement and killed the peace envoy delegation. But in the end, the evil person who trampled on the guest right reaped the consequences of their actions, evil was repaid with evil, and became the Mountain's prisoner of war.

The people of King's Landing numbered in the hundreds of thousands, and they were very clear about the suffering and dangers King's Landing had encountered. They shared a common hatred and had the strongest contempt and hostility towards Daenerys, an evil person who dared to violate guest right.

In the Blackwater harbor, the ships of all sizes had cleared the docks, and under the command of the Royal Navy, they retreated far away, forming a closed loop-like fleet on the Blackwater River. The bows of the ships were also crowded with people watching the Mother of Dragons.

There were not many soldiers on Daenerys's flagship, the Queen. Dozens of her warships were surrounded by the Royal Navy fleet, the Clegane fleet, the Iron Islands fleet, and the Redwyne fleet in a fan shape, slowly sailing towards the harbor.

The people and soldiers of King's Landing saw that all the enemy prisoners of war were empty-handed, without weapons, armor, sword belts, or helmets, and everyone was dressed in plain clothes.

They had been disarmed by order of Wagner Gall!

Every one of them was a prisoner who had lost their freedom and dignity.

Seeing Daenerys's ship enter the harbor, cheers erupted on the riverbank, on hundreds of docks, and on countless ships of all sizes.

Vicious curses also rang out, and people threw stones and rubble in their hands towards Daenerys, although the distance was far and it was impossible to harm the Mother of Dragons, but this was the way the people expressed their anger.

In the center, at the dock named after Robert, stood a very conspicuous giant: the Mountain!

The Mountain wore fine, shining armor, with the Ice giant sword on his back. On his left and right were two resolute and burly white-robed knights, Ser Osmund Kettleblack and Ser Barristan Selmy, the captain of the Kingsguard.

The two Kingsguard represented royal power.

King Gendry Baratheon did not appear on the dock.

For a prisoner of war, the Hand of the King personally came to greet them, which was already giving Daenerys enough face.

Behind the Mountain followed dozens of generals and dozens of courtiers, including Lady Melisandre and Arya Stark.

Behind the generals and courtiers was an orderly cavalry of a thousand men. The team was led by Sweetmouth Ralf Clegane, Executioner Dunsen Clegane, and the artist Polliver Clegane.

Although almost all the citizens of King's Landing had turned out to watch and scold Daenerys, the riverside avenue was left empty with a wide passage. The riverside city gate was also wide open, and although the riverside square inside the city gate was also crowded with citizens, the passage in the middle was still clear, and no one entered.

From Robert's Dock to entering the riverside square, although it was crowded with people, the center of the road was cleared, unobstructed.

*

Daenerys and her soldiers all noticed the people's hostility and anger towards them.

Daenerys knew that the people of King's Landing blamed her for violating guest right.

Her face was cold and stern, her lips tightly pursed, like a blade.

The escort ships on both sides of the Queen's flagship, captained by Wagner Gall and Count Gylbert Farwynd of the Iron Islands, guarded the Queen's ship into the Royal Navy harbor and docked at Robert's Dock.

Daenerys, escorted by Missandei, Jon, Jorah, Barristan, Grey Worm, Hero, Rakharo, Daario, and others, disembarked and stepped onto the dock.

"Queen, welcome to King's Landing," the Mountain said indifferently.

Daenerys was not sure if the Mountain's words were mocking her.

"Lord Hand, are you going to lock us in the dungeons, or welcome us as guests of King's Landing?"

"Look at these people," the Mountain said. He raised his hand, gesturing to the people surrounding them on three sides, as if it were a pre-arranged signal, tens of thousands of people all over the riverbank erupted in earth-shattering shouts and cheers.

The shouts of 'Long live the Mountain' drowned out the sound of the waves of the Blackwater River.

"Lord Hand, did you have your men escort us here just so I could see the people's hatred for me and admire their love for you?"

"Daenerys, do you think you have any chance of regaining the Iron Throne?" The Mountain called Daenerys by her name, his tone indifferent, but his arrogance was like a mountain.

Daenerys's face became even colder, her eyes like ice, sharp with indignant unwillingness.

"The people of King's Landing will no longer support a Targaryen to be their king. They hate the Targaryens. It may not be fair to blame you for Bran Stark's violation of guest right, but for the dozens of generals and courtiers who were killed, and my naval soldiers who sacrificed themselves, they suffered even greater injustice."

Daenerys closed her mouth tightly, her face pale and terrible.

"No matter what Bran Stark has behind him to deal with me, I want you to come here to see a fact clearly, you and Bran, no matter what you do, no matter what plans we don't know about, you can no longer win the hearts of the people of King's Landing. The people, nobles, and soldiers of the continent of Westeros will not welcome your arrival, let alone try to seize the Iron Throne. You have no chance."

The Mountain watched Daenerys's pale face turn into a morbid blush.

Daenerys was suffering inwardly, she needed to face this fact.

The Mountain turned around and raised his hands high: "People of King's Landing, be happy, cheer for our victory!"

Boom!

Tens of thousands of soldiers, hundreds of thousands of people, above and below the city walls, on both sides of the riverbank, soldiers and people erupted in deafening cheers!

The shouts of 'Long live King's Landing, long live the Mountain' were earth-shattering.

Daenerys, Jon, Missandei, Jorah, Barristan, Rakharo, Grey Worm, Hero... the Queen and her generals all changed color.

The Mountain's soldiers and people's hearts were united. They all regarded Daenerys as an enemy.

The Mountain pressed his raised hands down, and to Daenerys's disbelief, as if it were a trained army, the shouts of tens of thousands of soldiers and people subsided, and the sound of the wind, water, and the chirping of insects and birds in nature returned to Daenerys's ears.

It was not surprising that the soldiers stopped shouting together, because they had been trained. But tens of thousands of civilians were also able to stop shouting together, the Mountain's prestige was so high that it was unbelievable.

"Ser Barristan Selmy, you were once the captain of the Kingsguard, do you want to see these people in the city fall into dragonfire and war again? They are all your people," the Mountain looked at Barristan and asked in a deep voice.

Barristan Selmy opened his mouth, speechless. His heart was in chaos, had he made a mistake again? When Cersei dismissed him as the captain of the Kingsguard, when Joffrey drove him out of King's Landing, Barristan believed that he had done something wrong, that was, after witnessing Cersei tear up the late King Robert's will, after witnessing Cersei and Littlefinger jointly slaughter all of Eddard Stark's guards, he still chose to be loyal to Cersei and Joffrey.

Barristan Selmy was an upright and loyal knight, with extremely high honor and prestige in the hearts of the people of King's Landing. He was unwilling to leave this land, he was forced to leave by Cersei and Joffrey, and then went to find Daenerys and swore allegiance to her.

"Commander Jon Targaryen, do you support Daenerys leading her army to attack this city again, and be enemies with the soldiers and people here, just for her to get the Iron Throne, and kill the lives of thousands of people?"

Jon Targaryen had always been against Daenerys attacking Westeros. He went to Dragonstone to persuade Daenerys to withdraw her troops in the name of the same bloodline of the Targaryen family.

"Lord Hand, I oppose the war between the two sides. I do not support Daenerys attacking Westeros, nor do I support you attacking Essos."

"Very good, then do you oppose me bringing snow salt, cloth, grain, silk, fruit wine, new paper, opening banks, and establishing schools to the North?"

"Lord Hand, I have no reason to refuse."

"Then, can I bring weaving technology, animal husbandry technology, agricultural technology, fruit wine technology, open banks, and establish schools to those people in Slaver's Bay on the continent of Essos?"

"I don't think anyone would refuse."

"Someone will definitely refuse, Jon."

"Who would refuse?"

"The Butcher King, the Butcher King who is frantically practicing slavery. I bring my salt and wine, animal husbandry and planting technology that can benefit the people to Slaver's Bay, I need to conquer the Butcher King first."

"How would Lord Hand know that Slaver's Bay still practices slavery?"

"Everything I said is true, Jon. I killed the Night King, you are the least likely person to question the truth of my words. I will not lie about this, don't you believe in my honor?" The Mountain said coldly.

Jon's eyes turned to the ground: "I am very sorry, Lord Hand." He raised his head and glanced apologetically at the Mountain, and then glanced at Daenerys, he closed his mouth.

"Kill her!" A voice said behind the Mountain, "Kill Daenerys, Lord Hand, she will not help us conquer Essos."

The speaker was Arianne Martell.

The Mountain looked back, Arianne Martell's heart jumped, she obediently closed her mouth.

"Daenerys, will you tell me where Bran Stark has gone?"

"The Mountain, are you going to put me on trial right here on the dock?" Daenerys's voice was full of coldness. She felt extremely humiliated.

The Mountain looked at Jon: "Jon, can you tell me anything about Bran, tell me everything you know."

"I'm sorry, Lord Hand, I don't know what Bran's next plan is."

"Okay, Jon, I will return Rhaegal to you, but you must return to the North."

"Lord Hand, what will you do to Daenerys?"

"I will keep her by my side until she tells me everything about Bran. She knows what Bran will do next, I am very sure of this."

"And then?"

"If she still refuses to say, I will kill her."

"We have surrendered, the Mountain," Jorah Mormont said sternly, "You want to find Bran, that is the job of the master of whisperers, we are not your master of whisperers."

The Mountain suddenly took a step forward, reached out and lifted Jorah Mormont up: "Jorah, you are a Bear Islander, a knight of the continent of Westeros, what face do you have to lead foreign warriors to attack and slaughter your own countrymen?" The Mountain shook his hand, and Jorah flew out, over the heads of the crowd, and with a bang, crashed into the Blackwater River.

"Bailiff!" The Mountain shouted.

Dornishman Ser Alyn stepped out of the courtiers: "Lord Hand."

"Send someone to arrest Jorah and cut out his tongue."

"Yes, Lord Hand."

Alyn raised his hand, and immediately a team of gold cloak soldiers ran out of the queue, and everyone ran to the Blackwater River. In the river, Jorah Mormont was swimming back to the shore.

"The Mountain, did you sentence Jorah guilty?" Daenerys's face was full of anger.

"Daenerys, you absolutely refuse to tell the whereabouts and plans of Bran, this is unacceptable to me. You still regard me as an enemy and have not surrendered. Then this is the dock trial, your generals, soldiers, I will execute them all. Prince Arianne—"

Arianne stepped forward.

"Go to Rhaenys's Hill and ride the dragon down."

"Yes, Lord Hand."

"I order you to burn Daenerys's entire fleet to ashes, along with all the soldiers on board."

"Yes, Prime Minister."