"But it doesn't belong to the territory of any other knight either," Gregor replied.
Gregor chose to mine gold in the Silver Mountains region, the closest point to Clegane Keep, a no-man's-land. He decided to acquire his first fortune nearby. As for the abandoned Castamere gold mine, firstly, it was too far away, located in the northern part of the Westerlands. Secondly, it was a 'landmark' deliberately left by Lord Tywin Lannister, the Warden of the West, to intimidate the other nobles and maintain their allegiance; he decided not to touch it lightly for now.
"Sir, there is no gold mine in the mountain area you ordered us to dig," another miner said.
"I know," Gregor replied.
"Sir, why are we mining in a place where there are no gold mines?" another miner asked.
"There's a gold mine on its back," Gregor replied, "and it's very close."
The miners exchanged glances; they understood. Lord Gregor intended to dig into the Sharlott family's gold mine area from the no-man's-land.
"Sir, the area with gold mines on the other side belongs to the Sharlott family's territory."
"Yes, sir, what if the Saloth family discovers us?"
"We'll be arrested and thrown into the dungeons of Casterly Rock."
"My lord, who among us dares to disobey the laws of Duke Tywin?"
The miners started talking all at once. The atmosphere was finally lively.
Gregor raised his hand, and the entire room immediately fell silent.
"If Duke Tywin wants to arrest you and send you to Casterly Rock, he will send me with troops to arrest you. Do you think I would arrest myself? What do you think? Yes or no!"
These words are outrageous!
But Gregor was the king of scoundrels; when had he ever reasoned with anyone?
It seems like it has never happened before.
His greatest strength is probably that he keeps his word.
Moreover, Lord Gregor and his garrison were indeed responsible for resolving noble disputes in the West, apprehending criminals, subduing disobedient nobles, disciplining troublesome knights, and patrolling the southern and eastern borders of the West.
The miners looked at each other, speechless.
"Now, you are all my soldiers. Although you are not the combat soldiers I respect, you are my mining soldiers. From this moment on, you are my mining soldiers."
Miners?
This was the first time anyone had ever heard of such a military unit.
It sounds ridiculous, but nobody finds it funny.
"The first step to becoming one of my miners is taking an oath. Sir Harry, it's your turn!"
So the young Maester Harry brought out the seven sacred statues—seven gods carved from wood: the Father representing judgment; the Mother representing maternal love and nurturing; the warrior representing battle; the maiden representing purity and innocence; the blacksmith representing labor and craftsmanship; the old woman representing wisdom; and the stranger representing death.
The seven gods are only a few inches in size, incomparable to the colorful statues in the sanctuary that are taller than a person.
Criggan Castle was too small to have a chapel for people to pray in.
The Seven Gods are actually seven different forms of one god, representing seven different virtues. Worshippers pray to a specific form of the Seven Gods according to their requests. The worship of the Seven Gods is the official religious belief on the continent of Westeros.
Upon seeing the seven statues, the miners immediately knelt down on one knee in unison.
*
On the continent of Westeros, there are only two places where people do not widely worship the Seven Gods: one is the North, which worships the Old Gods, and the other is the Iron Islands, which worship the Drowned Gods.
The transmigrated college junior was originally an atheist, but after transmigrating, he began to believe in the existence of supernatural forces in this world. These forces could be called gods or spirits. But regardless of the name, neither gods nor spirits would respond to the prayers of a tiny individual, just as an elephant cannot notice a tiny ant in the grass.
However, people do not understand this point. Using religious beliefs to rule a world with a low level of civilization is the most common method used by the ruling class.
The channels that connect and communicate between insignificant humans and God are the church and the city of schools. In specific terms, these include pastors, priests, scholars, silent sisters, nuns, wizards, and so on.
When Gregor saw the miners kneeling respectfully and praying sincerely before the wooden statues of the Seven Gods, he knew that he could actually use the Seven Gods faith in many matters.
The knight's oath and the master-servant contract can both make good use of the worship of the seven gods.
*
After Maester Harry led the eleven miners in taking their oath, they stood up and had no further objections to their mission to mine for gold. They had all sworn an oath to the Seven Gods under the Maester's guidance.
Gregor waved his hand, and the notebook called out loudly, "Blackstone, come and sign here."
The latest novels are first published on 69shuba!
A burly man ran out of the line and stood in front of the notebook table.
Sweet-talking Ralph called out in a singing voice, "Blackstone soldiers, receive Sir Gregor's bag of salt, a warhorse, a suit of armor, and a fine sword."
Black Stone couldn't believe it. Urged on by the notebook, he grabbed a dipped quill pen and drew a circle on the spot the notebook was pointing to.
Most poor people can't read or write. The better-off ones have names, the worse-off ones don't even have names. For example, Black Stone, too lazy to come up with a name, was called Black Stone because he was dark-skinned, tall, and had strong bones.
The notebook already contained the names of eleven miners, the prototype of Gregor's first mining army. The notebook didn't write down the list of items following these names; that was written down beforehand by Maester Harry.
Gregor beckoned Maester Harry over and whispered something in his ear, to which Maester Harry nodded repeatedly.
*
"Blackstone, do you want the warhorse, the armor, and the sword to become your private property?" Maester Harry asked.
"Wh...what...yes...I really want to...a bachelor, I really want to!" Blackstone felt like he was dreaming. He didn't even understand what he was saying; his ears were ringing.
A warhorse, a suit of armor, and a fine sword with a sheath—good heavens! Most mercenaries don't even have a decent suit of armor.
"Kneel down and swear allegiance to Lord Gregor to the Seven Gods. These things are now your property."
Private ownership and lord-granted items are two different things. A lord has the right to revoke an item granted by him at any time.
Blackstone knelt before the statues of the Seven Gods and, under the tutelage of Maester Harry, swore an oath of allegiance to Sir Gregor, pledging his family's honor and life, and his faith and loyalty to the Seven Gods.
Then, Blackstone received a bag of snow salt from Julie, a warhorse from the horseman Thomas Mann, and a suit of armor and a longsword from Dunsen.
Half an hour later, Gregor was joined by a group of miners: eleven warhorses, eleven new recruits, and eleven swords.
Gregor said, "From this moment on, you are loyal warriors of Crigganburg, my armed miners. Tomorrow morning, you will receive half an hour of swordsmanship training from Centurion Dunsen and half an hour of horsemanship training from Knight Raff. For the rest of the time, I want each of you to recruit at least five miners to join your ranks. Go and tell your miner friends that the wages I pay them each month are ten times their current wages. Today, each household will take ten gold dragons home."