Duke Tywin Lannister looked at the Mountain.
For the first time, Bachelor Potter sensed an inexplicable and strange rapport between the Duke and the Mountain.
This is something he just realized; he's never felt this way before.
"Did you hear some prophecy from the witch?" the Duke asked the Mountain.
"Yes."
"What prophecy?" The Duke stared at the Demon Mountain, his eyes piercing through everything.
"Father, you should ask the witch yourself. The witch's prophecy requires your blood. And the prophecy about me is not good."
"What prophecy?" the Duke asked again.
"Two years from now, in the Great Hall of Maegor in King's Landing, I will be felled by Oberyn Martell, the Red Viper from Dorne, whose spear tip is coated with snake venom."
The Duke and the Maester both made slight adjustments to their postures.
Sixteen years ago, Oberyn Martell's sister, Elia Martell, was raped and murdered by the Mountain in the palace nursery, and the one who gave the order was Lord Tywin Lannister. The Mountain then also threw the Queen's baby boy to his death.
The Duke said in a deep voice, "Nonsense."
The Mountain said, "Well, I'm half-believing it too."
"Absolutely not," Duke Tywin said categorically.
Cocoa!
A guard knocked on the door.
The Duke nodded, and the scholar went to open the door.
The servant entered, and there was a boy with all the characteristics of the Lannister family. His name was William Lannister, the second son of Kevan Lannister, and he was thirteen years old.
The little boy was clearly afraid of the Demon Mountain. He leaned closer to the scholar and said, "Your Grace, the envoy from the Iron Islands would like to ask if you need the iron ore to disembark. If we don't need the iron ore, they will be leaving."
"How much higher will they raise the price this time before they'll release the goods?" Mo Shan asked in a deep voice.
William was startled and stammered, "They raised the price by five gold dragons this time, and they sent five ships full of iron ore."
"The price of iron ore in the Iron Islands has increased from seven gold dragons per ship to twenty-eight gold dragons per ship. Now, five more gold dragons are being demanded out of thin air for these five ships of ore. This is outrageous! Father, the Iron Seeds should be completely eradicated!" Demon Mountain roared.
Duke Tywin's face turned cold and hard.
"Are they really going to raise prices this time?"
"Yes." The boy shrank back a little. "Your Grace, they said this is the lowest price they could offer. They were originally going to raise the price by two gold dragons per ship, but this time they're only raising it by one gold dragon."
"Fine, go ahead, I understand," the Duke said coldly.
"Yes, Your Grace."
William bowed slightly, turned and walked out, gently closing the door behind him.
The child pays great attention to proper manners in details.
The Mountain was furious and said, "Father, I want to see the bastard from the Iron Islands." He was imposing.
"what you up to?"
"I want to talk to them; we will absolutely not accept their price increase again."
Lord Tywin Lannister looked at the Mountain expressionlessly, leaning back slightly: "Sir Gregor, you go ahead and attend to your business. I'll handle this matter."
Demon Mountain snorted: "Father, the Ironborn are lowly people and must be eradicated. Let the Iron Islands become subordinate islands of the Western Territory. I am willing to take the lead."
The Duke stared at the Mountain: "You go first. Don't cause trouble for the Iron Seed. I'll handle it. I'll let you know in advance if I need you."
The Mountain didn't answer, glanced at the Duke, and strode out, leaving the door open without closing it. Scholar Potter hurriedly ran over and closed the study door.
"A Bachelor?!" the Duke exclaimed.
"Yes, sir."
"What good reason could we possibly have if we were to go to war with the Iron Islands?"
Porter, a bachelor, does have some knowledge in this area.
"Your Grace, whether it was during the Targaryen dynasty or the reign of King Robert, the Iron Islands have always rebelled and declared independence once they have gained some strength. They have never had any loyalty whatsoever. Throughout history, rebellion and independence have always been a tradition of the Ironborn."
"Hmm, rebellion is a good excuse," Duke Tywin said slowly. "If we raise an army to eradicate the Iron Ore, we will never have to worry about iron ore again. However, we still have a problem. Once there are no gold mines, a large number of our miners will have to return home, but there is not enough land for them to cultivate."
"Yes," the scholar said worriedly. "We have many mountains and little arable land, and we have to import large amounts of food every year. We cannot be self-sufficient like the riverine and river bend regions. Once tens of thousands of miners lose their jobs and there is not enough land for them to cultivate when they return home, a large amount of idle labor will become a serious social problem."
Tywin put his hands together and rested his chin on his hand: "Scholar, bring out the map of the Seven Kingdoms and let me see it."
"Yes, sir!"
*
There is a port inside the western part of Casterly Rock.
This port is a huge depression formed by the sea eroding the rocks over many years.
The crater, eroded over thousands of years, leads directly into the interior of the western city.
More than a dozen docks are arranged around the concave cave.
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While it cannot compare to the nearly one hundred docks of Lannisport, nor to the massive scale of King's Landing's one hundred and so many docks, it is still a rare sight to find a dock so deep within the city.
Five ships carrying iron ore from the Iron Islands were docked at one of the piers.
The Demon Mountain arrived at the West City Port and saw the five ships carrying iron ore.
The five ships carrying iron ore are noticeably smaller than they used to be.
If His Excellency is forced to accept this price increase, then the iron ore sold from the Iron Islands to Lannisport, to Fairy Isle, and to Rocky Hall and Cliff Rock will undoubtedly all increase in price.
This will be another significant expense that the Western Frontier will have to incur. But that's not the key issue; the real key issue is that the Ironborn's greed is insatiable.
The Mountain came with his brothers.
He cannot intervene in this matter.
The Duke told him that His Excellency the Duke would handle this matter personally.
Okay, the Mountain won't interfere with the price negotiations, but if these Iron Islands guys dare to harass women in the Westerlands, it's only fair that they get their legs broken.
The Ironborn's favorite pastime is plundering. It's their tradition, which they call the 'Ancient Road.' The Ancient Road is the concrete outward expression of the Ironborn's traditional plundering culture. In this pirate culture, a person's value depends primarily on their plundering skills and how much resources they can seize.
Ironborn do not wear any jewelry unless they "pay iron money." Paying iron money has nothing to do with buying things; for an Ironborn, iron money is their sword and fist. When they kill or defeat you, that's considered paying iron money. Then, your jewelry becomes their property, because they have "paid iron money" and completed the purchase.
You can tell how fierce a warrior is by the number of ornaments and accessories he wears.
The Iron Islands have abundant iron ore deposits, with the entire island of Great Wake being composed of iron ore. In addition to iron ore, the Ironborn also own island farms.
Those who worked in the mines and farms of the Iron Islands were called slave laborers. All of them were prisoners captured by the Ironborn during raids, while the Ironborn, as the true inhabitants of the Iron Islands, disdained to do such lowly work.
They have a high opinion of themselves and a strong sense of superiority.
In addition to performing slave labor, the female prisoners were also responsible for "warming the beds" for the Iron People at night.
A man from the Iron Islands can have an unlimited number of "salt concubines," but can only have one "rock wife." The rock wife must be a native Iron Islander, because in the eyes of the Iron Islanders, all races other than those from the Iron Islands are weak and inferior.
Therefore, the unbridled behavior towards women from the 'Green Land' has always been a fine tradition of the Ironborn who feel superior.
The Mountain entered the most famous restaurant in the port, went up to the top floor, and sat down by the window. Looking down, he saw two alluringly dressed women swaying their hips as they walked along the dock, while his brothers were idly strolling around the stalls of the dock vendors.
A short while later, whistles sounded from the iron ore ship, and several iron miners jumped ashore, rudely harassing the two women, touching them inappropriately, and asking about the price.
They mistook two respectable women for prostitutes.
Okay, so these two women pretending to be respectable women are indeed prostitutes.
The world is about to descend into chaos, and the Iron race must be eradicated. Let's start the first fire.