The Mountain of Ice and Fire

Chapter 566: Cersei Orders a Strict Retreat

(5,000-word chapter, seeking recommendations and monthly tickets. There will be an extra chapter today.)

*

The Mountain's army was camped in a forest with a small stream in the mountain range bordering the Westerlands and the Crownlands.

The sky was darkening, the sun setting in the west, and golden sunlight spilled through the gaps in the leaves onto the Mountain's massive command tent.

Rustle!

A raven flew through the trees.

Ravens weren't afraid of people, but they were afraid of soldiers' arrows.

In times of war, scouts favored shooting down enemy ravens.

This raven flying into the forest was testing whether people would harm it.

No one harmed it; the soldiers all looked up at the raven, knowing it was searching for a familiar maester.

Ravens were intelligent and spiritual creatures; the white ravens of the Citadel could even mimic human speech. Whether white or black, ravens were raised exclusively by maesters, a technique originating from the Citadel in Oldtown. Ravens served the nobles of the Seven Kingdoms, providing the most convenient means of communication. They could travel thousands of miles in a day and a night, undeterred by wind or rain. Ravens had few natural enemies; the greatest threat to their lives was the king of the sky – the eagle.

*

Among the Mountain's accompanying maesters was a court maester named Petyr.

Petyr was assigned to the Mountain by Kevan Lannister.

The Mountain and the High Septon of the Great Sept of Baelor had jointly lent King Tommen Baratheon I a colossal sum of 3.6 million gold dragons in exchange for the tax revenue rights of the Seven Kingdoms. To oversee the Mountain's tax affairs and record a detailed tax ledger, Kevan had dispatched Court Maester Petyr to accompany the Mountain.

Maester Petyr was Kevan's eyes and ears, but on his very first day with the Mountain, he was won over.

Petyr was wise; when a person no longer had life, any dreams, actions, or persistence were a joke.

Everything in life was built upon the foundation of life itself.

Losing life meant losing everything.

Now, Maester Petyr was the Mountain's maester, utterly loyal and wholeheartedly serving the Mountain.

If one could not leave and had no power to resist, then one should accept.

Petyr had chosen to accept the Mountain's 'suggestion,' and he stood on the Mountain's side.

*

The raven circled above the Mountain's command tent. Maester Potter and several noble maesters emerged from their tents, but the raven bypassed them, merely cooing. When Maester Petyr came out and extended his hand, the raven swooped down and landed on Petyr's palm.

The raven had come looking for Maester Petyr.

Petyr held corn in his other hand. He opened his palm, and the raven flew to the other hand, pecking at the kernels.

Petyr removed the letter from the raven's leg; the wax seal bore the royal sigil.

Petyr dared not open it himself. He was now a lord's maester, and everything he did had to serve his lord; this was a maester's basic principle.

Petyr hurried into the central tent and respectfully presented the letter to the Mountain.

The Mountain broke the seal, opened the letter, and read Cersei's message. Cersei had changed her mind and ordered the Mountain to halt his advance on King's Landing.

The Mountain held the letter to the candle, lit it, and watched it burn into a curling gray ash.

Petyr didn't know what the letter said. He didn't dare ask if the Mountain didn't tell him.

Maester Petyr came from a poor family. He had extraordinary talent and had risen step by step from a maester's assistant to a grand maester and entered the royal palace. He had achieved his ideal and reached the pinnacle of his life. His embroidered white robe alone was enough to cover a peasant's living expenses for a year.

Petyr silently touched the metal link necklace around his neck. Each metal link was a certificate of passing an academic examination and a testament to a maester's glory, a witness to erudite authority.

The maester's chain was a certificate granted by the Citadel, allowing maesters to travel freely throughout the Seven Kingdoms.

"Ser Gregor, everyone saw the raven deliver a letter. Do you need me to..."

"No need, Maester," the Mountain clearly understood Petyr's meaning. Petyr hoped to announce news that the Mountain wanted the soldiers to hear.

But the Mountain didn't need it at all.

"Yes, my lord!" Petyr bowed and took his leave.

From Clegane village in the Westerlands to King's Landing was over two thousand miles, and the army of eighteen thousand was primarily infantry. The infantry had to walk every step of the way to King's Landing to fight, and with the addition of supplies and livestock, the army's march would not be fast.

If the Mountain wanted to launch a surprise attack, he could personally lead a force of elite cavalry and travel to the woods outside King's Landing in three or four days. But the main army would need a month.

The Mountain's army marched for ten days before leaving the territory of the Westerlands and entering the border between the Westerlands and the Crownlands.

*

After Petyr left the tent, the Mountain fell into deep thought.

In her letter, Cersei said that she and Prime Minister Kevan had reached a reconciliation. She ordered the Mountain to withdraw his troops, return to the Westerlands, and disband the Westerlands allied forces.

Cersei was easily persuaded and swayed. She was very clever in small matters, but she lacked a sense of the big picture. From her forcing out Ser Barristan Selmy, the fearless Lord Commander of the Kingsguard, everyone with eyes could see her incompetence and foolishness.

Whoever gained the service of the fearless Barristan Selmy would win the hearts of the people. Barristan Selmy was a true knight of the former Targaryen dynasty, an absolute hero of integrity. He had extremely high prestige in the hearts of the soldiers and people of the Seven Kingdoms, being upright and selfless. Although he had killed Robert's good friend, a considerable number of Robert's bannermen, Robert still pardoned him and asked him to be the Lord Commander of the Kingsguard.

Such a great hero, deeply admired, loved, and respected by the nobles and people of the Seven Kingdoms, was driven away by Cersei. This made the people of King's Landing deeply resent the Lannister family, and the extremely negative impact had not been eliminated to this day.

The Mountain had thought that provoking conflict between Cersei and Kevan was a conflict over power, and that Cersei would never give in. However, in just over ten days, things had turned around, and Cersei ordered the Mountain to withdraw his troops.

The Mountain burned Cersei's order!

Kevan had already drawn his sword against him, and he had to kill Kevan.

Wasn't Tywin's death enough to deter Kevan?

Clearly, this wasn't a matter of deterrence; it was an irreconcilable conflict between enemies.

Once Cersei and Kevan reconciled and joined forces, the Mountain would have no justification for his actions.

A small thug didn't need a justification; a great villain didn't need a justification; but as the Master of War of the Seven Kingdoms, the Warden of the West, the Duke of Dragonstone, the Commander-in-Chief of the Clegane Legion, the King of the Claw Peninsula, and the Lord of Clegane Keep, Castamere, and Tarbeck Hall, he had to act differently from a small thug or a bloodthirsty villain.

Everything needed a superficial justification!

Who had persuaded Cersei?

The Mountain couldn't figure it out!

Even his wife, Lady Jeyne's, predictions hadn't foreseen this change.

The blood mage, Lady Daenerys Qyburn, hadn't foreseen the change in this campaign either.

The change came from Cersei!

Cersei was easily persuaded by the Mountain's letters, but she was also easily persuaded by others. This was her personality; her shortsightedness determined this.

There were no brilliant schemers around Cersei, like Littlefinger Petyr Baelish. Littlefinger was still in the Eyrie in the Vale. News had spread that the widow of the Eyrie, Duchess Lysa Tully, was preparing a grand wedding with Littlefinger.

So, who had persuaded Cersei to change her mind and decide to reconcile with Kevan first?!

If the Mountain forced his way into King's Landing without Cersei's order, it would be unreasonable, illegal, and against the code of the small council.

Although the Mountain had burned Cersei's order, he knew that he hadn't eliminated Cersei's order.

Why did Cersei use Maester Petyr to deliver the order, when Maester Petyr was clearly Kevan's man?

Could it be that Prime Minister Kevan was falsely conveying Cersei's order?

At this time, Cersei was on her way back to King's Landing from the Reach.

Could it be that Cersei had listened to Kevan's advice and deliberately sent a letter to Maester Petyr, so that Maester Petyr would know the contents of the letter, and they hoped that Maester Petyr would inadvertently reveal the contents of the letter? Spreading it to the Westerlands soldiers?

But even without the Westerlands people and the Ironborn soldiers, the Mountain's eight thousand warriors could still take King's Landing.

Things suddenly became very complicated!

However, politics were never simple!

The Mountain released a raven that night, sending letters to Grand Maester Qyburn and Spymaster Bronn Clegane. He needed to know why Cersei had changed her mind, and why Qyburn and Bronn, his two assistants, had such a slow sense of smell this time, failing to report any sensitive information to the Mountain beforehand.

*

Two days later, the army advanced to the Cageta River. In the sky, a raven flew from the direction of King's Landing again.

The Mountain, riding high on the Red Smoke beast, was the first to see the raven flying in the sky.

Was it a letter from Bronn or a letter from Qyburn?

Or was it another letter from Cersei ordering the Mountain to withdraw?

Under everyone's gaze, the raven landed on Maester Petyr's shoulder.

This was the second letter Petyr had received.

Like the first letter, the dark red wax seal bore the royal sigil.

Petyr removed the letter and respectfully handed it to the Mountain.

The Mountain broke the seal on the Red Smoke beast, opened the letter, and it was still a letter from Cersei, again requesting the Mountain to withdraw.

Cersei reiterated that she and Prime Minister Kevan had reached a reconciliation and did not want to see the people of the Westerlands killing each other.

The Mountain was also a Westerlander; the Mountain's main cavalry and infantry were all Westerlanders.

If the Mountain insisted on advancing, Kevan would recall the more than twenty thousand Reachmen and Westerlands allied forces from the Riverlands and gather the Stormlands bannermen of House Baratheon of Storm's End. However, Cersei and Kevan did not want to go to war with the Mountain. They hoped to sit down with the Mountain and reach a reconciliation between Kevan, the Mountain, and Cersei for the sake of the kingdom's peace.

The Mountain rolled up the letter and handed it to Ser Gratton Goodbrother, the Ironborn knight beside him: "Ser, burn it."

"As you command, my lord!" Gratton Goodbrother took the letter, put it in his mouth, chewed it a few times, and swallowed it. His expression didn't change at all, as if swallowing a parchment letter was commonplace.

It was more convenient than taking out a flint and steel to light it!

The army continued to advance towards King's Landing. This time, the Mountain ordered no rest at night, accelerating the pace of the march.

Three days later, the army advanced to the village of Smalmouth, which was still eight hundred miles away from King's Landing.

The next morning, the army continued to break camp and advance. In the clear blue sky, the Mountain saw another raven appear.

The raven flew over the Mountain's head and swooped down, landing on Maester Harry's shoulder.

This made the Mountain slightly relieved. He was worried that Cersei would write again, ordering a retreat.

Harry removed the raven's letter and handed it to the Mountain. The Mountain broke the unsealed wax seal, unfolded the letter, and it was a letter jointly written by Bronn Clegane and Grand Maester Qyburn. It was a long letter.

The letter said that they had found out that Jaime Lannister, returning to King's Landing from Dorne with Princess Myrcella Baratheon and Rosamund Lannister of Lannisport, was ambushed by the Dornish fleet sent by Prince Doran, who had gone back on his word, shortly after leaving Dorne.

To escape the Dornish pursuit, Jaime ordered the fleet to continue north, fleeing towards the Blackwater Rush port of King's Landing, while he secretly took Myrcella and Rosamund aboard a royal warship, changing course west at night, abandoning ship in a small fishing village near Storm's End, and quietly entering the Kingswood, returning to King's Landing via the storm road in the Kingswood.

Prince Doran of Dorne went back on his word and returned Princess Myrcella?

That was impossible!

The Mountain understood Prince Doran's character. The prince was cautious, careful, and thoughtful. He did not want to rely on the strength of Dorne alone to start a war. The time was not yet ripe. The Mountain knew that Prince Doran was waiting for someone: Daenerys Targaryen, the Mother of Dragons.

If the Dornish fleet pursued Jaime, then the order received by this fleet must not have come from Prince Doran, but from Doran's heir: Princess Arianne Martell of Dorne.

Arianne Martell had someone she admired: her uncle Oberyn Martell. She was proficient in the art of spears, which came from her uncle Oberyn's guidance. Her lifestyle, wanton and romantic, was exactly the same as Oberyn's. In Princess Arianne's heart, the Red Viper Oberyn was closer.

In the original world trajectory, Arianne plotted to rebel against Prince Doran for revenge, hoping to control her father, take control of Dorne, and then support Princess Myrcella as queen, tearing the royal family apart, and then launching an army to kill King's Landing.

If the Dornish fleet suddenly pursued the departing Jaime, it was most likely that Arianne had joined forces with Oberyn's several Sand Snake daughters to issue the order.

It seemed that a mutiny might have occurred in Dorne!

Princess Arianne and Oberyn's six Sand Snake daughters were not to be trifled with!

The Mountain continued to read the letter.

The letter said that Jaime had received a raven letter sent by Kevan Lannister midway. This letter caused Jaime to change his route. Jaime turned at the crossroads where the storm road, the rose road, and the king's road converged, and went to the rose road to meet Cersei.

Jaime went to Dorne to bring back Princess Myrcella. The princess herself had an accompanying team. There was a maester in the team responsible for receiving and sending raven letters, and a Kingsguard knight, Ser Arys Oakheart, responsible for protecting the princess.

After Cersei left King's Landing, Prime Minister Kevan controlled everything. The recipient of the raven letter sent by Jaime was no longer Cersei, but Kevan.

After analyzing, Qyburn and Bronn believed that the only people who could change Cersei's mind were Jaime and Princess Myrcella. And those contact letters sent by Prime Minister Kevan to Jaime were also key.

Things changed quickly.

Kevan was not a lamb to be slaughtered!

He had a strategy and saw the crux of the problem.

He didn't want to engage the Mountain in a military confrontation; he knew his chances of winning were slim.

The Royal Navy had recruited another two thousand naval warriors, bringing the total force to five thousand. Twenty new warships had been built, bringing the total to fifty. However, the commander-in-chief of the navy was a man of the Mountain: Wagner Gahr, from the Claw Isle.

The Master of Whisperers, Bernie, was also one of the Mountain's men.

Once the Mountain had Cersei's support, and once Cersei left Highgarden and returned to King's Landing, Kevan's situation would become very dangerous.

But Kevan had seized a key figure: Jaime Lannister!

This was a rich second-generation heir who didn't care about fame or wealth, but he wasn't muddle-headed when it came to doing things. Except for his confusion over Cersei, Jaime had a sense of right and wrong, and the ability to assess the situation. As long as he wasn't infatuated with Cersei, he was still a normal, true knight.

Jaime!

The Mountain's considerations lacked this link of Jaime.

But Jaime had returned at the most critical moment, and Jaime was a good general. His appeal to the Westerlands soldiers far exceeded Kevan and the current commander-in-chief, Addam Marbrand. This guy had a special ability to make the Westerlands soldiers' blood boil for him with just a few words, an ability that Tyrion envied very much.

At the end of the letter, Bernie and Qyburn reminded the Mountain: Euron Greyjoy had arrived in King's Landing and secretly entered the Hand's Tower. Hand of the King Kevan had already mentioned in the Small Council meeting that he was preparing to accept the submission of House Greyjoy from the Iron Islands and asked the King to pardon the Ironborn's betrayal. Euron would submit to Tommen, kneel and swear allegiance. Kevan would gain a great achievement: subduing the Iron Islands.

This move was also very clever!

While the Mountain fought in the Westerlands, Kevan would reap the rewards. If Euron surrendered to Kevan, King Tommen would have completed the unification of the Iron Islands.

The Iron Fleet that had been harassing and robbing the Reach had all withdrawn from the Reach. The Ironborn's most powerful fleet was not the one following Euron to attack the Westerlands, but the Iron Fleet led by Victarion Greyjoy.

In the Westerlands war, the most significant loss for Euron was not the Ironborn fleet, but his own pirate fleet. The true core strength of the Ironborn fleet had not been defeated; they were in the Reach.

The Mountain's gaze lingered on a sentence in the letter: Recently, Euron's remnants have been entering King's Landing one after another, gathering on the hill of the Dragonpit.

Obviously, Euron had made the worst plan when he retreated and fled. If the team was ambushed and scattered, and everyone could not evacuate according to the original plan, they would go to King's Landing to find him.

The Mountain rolled up the letter and handed it to Ser Gerold Hightower beside him: "Burn it, Ser."

"As you command, my Lord."

This was a long letter!

Under the gaze of Captain of the Guard Alyn, Joffrey Lydden, personal servant Koam Warner, ward Landon Gahr, sworn shield Norris, maester Hallyne, and maester Pycelle, Ser Gerold Hightower stuffed the parchment letter into his mouth, chewed it a few times, and swallowed it.

Taking out a fire starter to light the parchment, to be honest, Ser Gerold Hightower was not used to it.

The Mountain's army continued to advance!

Half an hour later, another raven flew in the sky and landed on Maester Pycelle's shoulder.

Cersei sent a letter, strictly ordering the Mountain to withdraw!

Cersei did not receive the Mountain's reply to withdraw, and sent three withdrawal orders in a row, each with more severe wording!

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