Bancrown Castle.
The castle closest to Cliff City.
The Count of Bancrown's territory and the territory of Cliff Rock City are intertwined.
Bancrown Castle was also the last castle in the Mountain's sweep of the twenty cities.
By then it was already dawn. When the Mountain arrived at the gates of Bancrown Castle with more than twenty knights, led by Earl Damon Marblen and Baron Adam Marblen, Earl Bancrown voluntarily gave up all resistance and sincerely raised his hand to make peace.
The Earl, standing atop the high wall (not the city wall), frankly stated that he had no intention of antagonizing the noble Westerling family. He had already prepared to return all the Westerling family's lands, but out of consideration for Earl Damon, he reluctantly agreed to Earl Damon's request and had not yet returned the lands to the esteemed Earl Gavin.
In truth, Count Bancrown had a selfish motive: if Count Damon could withstand the pressure from the Mountain, he would still want to continue to occupy the Westerling family's lands. If Count Damon lost the struggle against the Mountain, then he would change his tune and return all the lands belonging to the Westerling family.
The Mountain gave Lord Bancloth an opportunity to change his mind, and Lord Bancloth wisely seized the opportunity, declaring in front of all the knights that he would return all the Westerling family's lands immediately.
After the Mountain, in a similarly hypocritical manner, expressed his sincere gratitude to Count Bancrown for his understanding, he led Count Damon and the others into Bancrown Castle. These counts or barons, who had been captured in the dead of night, were all free of their own legs, but had many wounds on their bodies and faces. Those who resisted fiercely were bound hand and foot; those who were more compliant were simply bound by their hands.
The ringleader, Damon Marbran, was laid across on horseback by the Mountain, his face to the ground and back to the sky. As for his beloved son, Ser Adam Marbran, who was Jaime Lannister's closest friend, he was bound hand and foot, his lips were torn, several teeth were broken, his lips were swollen, and his clothes were covered in bloodstains.
Count Damon's face was half-swollen, gleaming with the golden light from the two slaps he received the previous night, half of his face swollen like a loaf of bread. His eye was now just a slit. All the arrogance he had displayed before, his usual haughtiness, his pride as Tywin Lannister's cousin, and his disdain for others had vanished.
After the Mountain and his entourage had eaten and drunk their fill at Earl Bancloth's house, and fed the horses that had been traveling all night, Bancloth had already sent ravens to report the good news of Lord Gregor's recent situation to the Westerling family without the Mountain's instruction. Following this, Earl Bancloth presented a gift of one hundred golden dragons to celebrate Lord Gregor's family wedding, on which lay the deeds to the Westerling family's land.
The Mountain restrained himself and only took the land deed. He desperately wanted the hundred golden dragons that Count Bancrown had given him, but he refused them just as firmly.
The goal this time is very clear, and the slogan is known to everyone: to take back the land passed down from our ancestors, not to extort money from anyone.
There is a legitimate reason to take back the land. The land has people, taxes, and soldiers—that's enough. This matter is both reasonable and unreasonable. Once the land is in hand, there's no need to take any more money from anyone else; greed is the biggest taboo.
If you take both the land and the money, you may be happy, but others will always have a grudge against you. That's really going too far.
Lord Bancrown was delighted to see that the Mountain resolutely refused the hundred golden dragons. The Mountain was cruel but measured, so he was very considerate and understanding. He arranged ten carriages and 'invited' the twenty-odd captured knights onto them one by one. The Mountain and his twenty-two Clegane 'assassins' rode their warhorses, protecting the ten carriages, and slowly made their way towards the Westerling family's Rock.
Bancrown Castle is dozens of miles from Cliff Rock.
As soon as the carriage entered the Westerling family's territory, Earl Angus stopped it, dismounted, and invited Lord Mountain to the back of the procession. He begged the Mountain to let him go back, promising to immediately send someone to deliver the Westerling family's land deeds to Casterly Rock.
After much deliberation, Angus decided against going to the Westerling family's territory to suffer further humiliation. He was a chivalrous man, but such men have a fatal flaw: they value their honor too much.
Since his fists weren't as powerful as the Mountain's, and his backer, Count Damon, was in an even worse situation, no matter how many soldiers his family had, with him in the Mountain's hands, no one in the family dared to make a move. He had only sided with Count Damon because of Count Damon's guarantee and persuasion, but things had escalated to this point, and with him in the Mountain's clutches, there was no point in playing along anymore!
Since everything has been repaid cleanly, then let's repay it!
Moreover, the Mountain is a fierce warrior favored by Lord Tywin Lannister, the strongest fighter in the Westerlands; and recently he has invented a series of things that have further won over Lord Tywin's heart. Considering Lord Tywin's adoption of Jenny Westerling and then his marriage to the Mountain, who would dare to kill the Mountain? Without Tywin's approval, no one would dare!
So Angus made a quick decision: sooner or later he would have to give the Mountain what he wanted, so why wait and suffer more humiliation?
The Mountain stared at Count Angus for a while without saying a word. He then drew his knife and cut the rope binding Count Angus's hands. He nodded, pursed his lips, and gestured for the Count to ride away.
Along the way, Mo Shan and his brothers took some good horses whenever they saw them, which increased the number of horses in the caravan. There were plenty of empty horses!
So, Count Angus thanked the Mountain and rode away!
The procession continued onward, and soon they saw a large banner ahead: three roaring black hounds charging across golden earth. — Sweetmouth Ravander Clegane, leading his Clegane cavalry, had come to meet the Mountain.
Soon, another group of people arrived. It was the young hero Leonard Westerling and the heavy-axe-wielding Rolf Spicer leading a team of twenty men to greet the Mountain!
The procession continued forward, and after a while, another large banner appeared, bearing six white seashells on a golden beach—Lady Jenny and Earl Gavin Westerling, leading thirty family soldiers, came to greet the Mountain.
This immediately made the group lively.
After exchanging pleasantries with the Mountain, Gavin Westerling was about to go and greet Damon Marbran in the carriage, adopting a friendly demeanor, when he heard the Mountain say, "Sir Leonard."
Upon hearing this, Leonard's face turned bright red, and he said, "Sir Gregor, I am not yet a knight."
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"Oh!" Gregor said, "If you behave well, I would be happy to knight you."
"Thank you, Sir Gregor!" Leonard exclaimed with delight.
With only twenty-two men, the Mountain took down more than twenty noble families in the North in one night and captured more than twenty knights. In the mind of the young Leonard, the Mountain was already a very remarkable figure.
"Reinard, I need to send you to do something!" It's "send," not "ask."
"As you command, Sir Gregor, you are now family to me by blood, and Leonard is willing to serve under you."
The Mountain was waiting for Leonard to say those words.
He knew Leonard's character well; he was an extremely reliable young man, his loyalty needing no test. Given time and proper guidance, this child could amount to great things. Although the Earl of Gavin was utterly useless, his greatest achievement was fathering the siblings Jenny Westerling and Leonard Westerling.
"Reinard, I order you to lead the family scouts to patrol the borders of the Westerling territory. The scouts will take turns patrolling day and night. If any suspicious persons are found entering the territory, immediately send someone to report to me!"
"Yes, Sir Gregor!" Leonard was overjoyed. The feeling of impending war filled the young man with excited fighting spirit. He immediately called the family scouts, saluted the Mountain to take his leave, and rode off with the scouts at breakneck speed.
Without a trace, without a sound, the Mountain subtly intervened and seized control of the Westerling family's military power! Only one person could see this on the spot: Jenny Westerling!