Upon entering the Westerling family's territory, Jenny Westerling and her uncle, Lofo Spicer, led a hundred Westerling family soldiers to greet her.
This made Edmure feel respected as soon as he entered Westerling.
Jenny Westerling's beauty and aristocratic elegance greatly surprised Edmund. He had thought the woman who married the Mountain would be an elephant, but she turned out to be a lark.
The female guard beside this lark was actually an elephant. She was Bernie's wife, formerly named Bull by Bernie, and later named Zeligorda by Jenny, or Zeligorda for short.
Edmure thought Zerek was a better match for The Mountain, and he doubted how Jenny, with her delicate and petite frame, could withstand The Mountain's onslaught at night.
Although he is single, he has had a lot of experience with women.
Edmure was incredibly envious that a scoundrel like The Mountain could marry such a beautiful and dignified noblewoman.
Edmure, heir to the Riverlands and future Duke of Riverrun, is twenty-five years old and still single, having yet to find a noblewoman of exceptional beauty and charm who can capture his heart. He has yet to meet a daughter as elegant and beautiful as Jenny. Edmure surpasses the Mountain in every aspect—title, power, wealth, family background, appearance, future prospects, and personal honor—but in the matter of finding a wife, he lacks the Mountain's good fortune.
Edmure was unaware that the Mountain's marriage was forced upon him. The four great houses of the Westerlings looked down on the decline of the Westerlings, partly because Jenny's mother was not a noblewoman but the daughter of a spice merchant from Lannister. As a result, the Mountain got a huge advantage over Jenny, the Westerlings' carefully cultivated lady.
Edmure was deeply in love with Jenny, but she was already the wife of his friend The Mountain. Out of respect for his friend's wife and fear of The Mountain's power, Edmure chose to treat her with courtesy.
It was fashionable among the nobility to secretly develop one's crush on another man's wife into a secret lover. When Edmure was amazed by Jenny's beauty, he abandoned his suicidal idea and nipped the temptation of digging his own grave in the bud.
The Mountain and Jenny, being a married couple, noticed Jenny's slightly furrowed brow and knew that something was on her mind.
"Jenny, what happened?" the Mountain asked. He and Jenny walked to the side, the two of them snuggling close together intimately.
"Several children in the countryside have died from drinking milk," Jenny said softly.
Children from the countryside?
Yes, in this season, there's a saying that drinking milk is like drinking poison. Nobles are quite particular; they usually have the poor taste it first, and if there are no problems, then they'll eat it. High-ranking nobles even have their own dedicated poison testers; for example, when Sir Ador Salriot's mine guard captain, Alan Salriot, sent his wife, son, and brothers to Clegane by Sir Ador Salriot, Alan's wife, in order to save her life, volunteered to be the Mountain's poison tester.
The poison testers didn't just test milk; they tested all kinds of food.
"The thermometers you requested have been made; nine were made in total. I don't know if the milk-related illness has already broken out this year, but it's a bad sign."
"So, you're going to buy up all the milk in the country and issue a decree for it?"
"My mother and father were hesitant; they said they would wait for you to come back first."
Mo Shan's expression immediately turned displeased.
Jenny whispered, "Sir Gregor, you didn't tell me what to do after we acquire it?"
"We can buy up the milk first. This decree was already issued when we were recruiting soldiers. In July, if there are any problems with the milk of the people throughout the territory, we will buy it all. This is a decree to gain the trust of the people. The lord must not break his promise; that would be a great taboo."
"Milk expires very easily." Jenny carefully observed her husband's expression.
"I know." The Mountain was even more displeased.
His brother-in-law, Leonard Westerling, and his foul mouth were in charge of mining and minting gold coins in Castamere's gold mine. Polliver Clegane's wife, Esther, and her grandfather, Master Booz, came from Clegane's village to teach the minting techniques. In the desolate underground of Castamere, Leonard and his foul mouth were producing money every day.
The Mountain also told Lord Gavin Westerling that he would pay for the milk purchases and military training.
He has the confidence to back it up.
But the reality is, they still have to wait for the Mountain to return...
"My parents didn't say they wouldn't buy it. They just want to hold off for now. It's only the beginning of July, there's still plenty of time!" Jenny said softly and cautiously.
Mo Shan's expression grew even more grim. In his understanding, one was a military order, and the other was a government order; neither could be broken.
"Military orders must not be broken by the army, and government orders must not be broken by the people." The Mountain said softly to Jenny, "For the Westerling family to rise in the Westerlands, the first thing is to gain the trust of the people and win their support. Military orders and government orders should not be delayed."
Jenny was intelligent and quick-witted, yet she was speechless and unable to respond.
The Mountain beckoned Bernie up.
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Bernie followed not far behind his idol, boasting to his wife, Bull Zelly, about his legendary adventures with Lord Mountain, emphasizing his own tales and Lord Mountain's feats of devastation. When Lord Mountain summoned him, Bernie immediately spurred his horse forward.
"Go tell General Lofo Spicer to send soldiers throughout the region to announce that all milk that is undrinkable should be transported to Cliff Rock, and Sir Gregor has ordered its purchase. Also, considering the inconvenience of delivering milk to Cliff Rock each time, have the dairy farmers drive their cows to Cliff Rock, and we will purchase fresh milk every day."
Bernie said, "Yes, sir, but all the cows have been driven to Cliff Rock..."
"Don't worry, Cliff Rock City is very large. At least two-thirds of it is now abandoned and dilapidated. Those houses have been uninhabited for nearly a hundred years, which is enough for the dairy farmers to live in. They can also freely raise their cows in the grasslands and forests inside and outside Cliff Rock City, and then sell the milk to us to make money. It's convenient for everyone."
"Yes, sir!"
Bernie received the order and went to Lofoten Spicer, who was in charge of the rear guard, and repeated the Mountain's order.
Rover Spicer was slightly puzzled because the Mountain had said he would buy the milk in Gregor Clegane's name, not Lord Gavin's. But he didn't think much of it; his brother-in-law Gavin and sister Sybil had been waiting for the Mountain's arrival before announcing the milk purchase. Buying it in the Mountain's name wasn't unusual. The Mountain was also funding the milk purchase and the army's upkeep. Outsiders might not know, but Rover did.
So the order was passed down, and Westerling soldiers rode in pairs to deliver the message to Westerling's vassals, large and small.
After walking for a while, the Mountain and his wife stopped by the roadside and waited for Edmure to catch up so they could walk together.
"Sir Edmure, I have ordered the purchase of milk throughout the land. Tomorrow, you will see a thousand soldiers in Westerling drinking fresh milk for dinner to replenish their strength. Once we cooperate, the milk of the Riverlands dairy farmers will never be poured into the river again. Year after year, month after month, the Riverlands will be able to drink fresh and nutritious milk."
"If that's really the case, Lord Mountain, you can extort 13,000 gold dragons and 1,000 warhorses from me, and my Tully family will truly not hold it against you. Of course, there's also the cooperation on snow salt and noodles. Now that I'm here, I can't leave out any of them."