Chapter 135 The Shackles of Dark Harbor

"Thank you for your hospitality, Lord Beric Dondarrion." Lind put down the water glass in his hand, looked at the Lightning King next to him, who was not much younger than himself and looked slightly immature, and said, "I think we should say It’s business.”

After hearing Linde's words, Berry's hands couldn't help but tremble, and then he instinctively looked at the bachelor sitting beside him, as if asking for his opinion.

At the banquet, Beric Dondarrion, who had golden-red hair, tried hard to behave like a mature adult. He carefully considered every word when talking to Linde and Nymeria, trying not to He offended two people with his words, but also prevented himself from appearing weak, so he felt very slow in speaking, giving people the impression that he was not very smart.

The maester said on behalf of Beric Dondarrion: "Lord Lynde, our Blackport City has been the key to guarding against the invasion of Dorne for hundreds of years, and has also maintained the security of the border areas. Dozens of surrounding villages are under our protection... …”

"Maester Cton, what you say is nothing more than showing that Blackport City is very important." Lind interrupted the maester directly, then looked at Beric Dondarrion and said: "But this is not the reason for you to invade other people's territory. "

The hall that had just been noisy due to the banquet immediately fell silent. Everyone's eyes fell on the people in the chief positions, especially the people in Blackport. They knew very well that the decisions that determined the future direction of Blackport City were taking place there. , everyone was quietly waiting for the results, only Linde and Nymeria's subordinates ate without any worries.

"Lord Lynd, you have misunderstood. We have not invaded your territory," Beric Dondarrion explained anxiously: "We had already reclaimed that land before you came, and Highgarden did not pay any attention to it at that time. We raised no questions about our actions, and even acquiesced to our reclamation. When Duke Leo Tyrell came to Castle Black to participate in the tourney, he also visited the land we reclaimed and praised our use of the land. Lord Barristan, Captain of the Kingsguard, also knows this."

Lind pointed to the point: "Then Duke Leo Tyrell assigned this land to the Blackport territory?"

The Lightning King immediately fell silent.

As Linde said, as long as this land does not belong to Blackport City, no matter how well the owners of the land praise them for how well they have used this land, they are essentially occupying the land of other lords, not to mention the current land. The owner is no longer the Tyrell family, but Lind.

Linde said seriously: "At the banquet, I also listened to your introduction to the situation of Black Harbor. I know how important the land that has been cultivated for many years is to you, but I still want to say sorry and ensure that the territory is intact. It is the unshirkable responsibility of a lord. I must take back that land. Otherwise, I will give you Black Harbor an exception. What about the other lords? Will Weir City, Stonehelm City, and Crow's Nest Castle do the same? Give them the territory they invaded? If so, how much territory will I have left and how can I gain a foothold in the Seven Kingdoms?"

Although Linde's words were not loud, the hall was quiet and everyone could hear him clearly.

Although the nobles and knights of Blackport were unwilling to give up the fertile land that had been reclaimed, they had to admit that Linde's decision was blameless. Not to mention Linde, even if other lords encountered The same decision will be made when it comes to such matters. After all, it is related to whether a lord can gain a foothold in the Seven Kingdoms.

Realizing that the land could no longer be used by Blackport, all the nobles and knights of Blackport seemed a little depressed, and some smart people had begun to consider other issues, such as food and garrison troops.

Because once that piece of land is taken back by Linde, Blackport will inevitably fall into a situation of food shortage. It will need to purchase a large amount of food from abroad. At the same time, it will not be able to maintain a standing army of a thousand people. It will definitely reduce its soldiers significantly and have a negative impact on the surrounding villages. The protection will also be weakened. When the bandits in the mountains run rampant, the security of the entire territory will deteriorate rapidly.

If the public security of a place is very bad, it will inevitably lead to population loss. Blackport, which originally had a small population, will also fall into a population dilemma, and there is still a population dilemma that cannot be solved.

So among those who wanted to understand this, those nobles and knights who were not too loyal to the Dondarrion family had already begun to consider a retreat.

Beric Dondarrion, who had realized that the matter was irreversible, looked depressed. He picked up the wine glass on the table and drank it all in one gulp. However, he drank too quickly and choked. He coughed repeatedly and spit out the wine on the table. .

Berry's behavior was a bit rude. The steward on the side wanted to help him down, but was stopped by Lind. He reached out and patted Berry's back to make his cough subside a little, and then waited for Berry. Back to normal.

After a while, Berry's coughing gradually slowed down and turned into heavy breathing. However, his face turned red due to coughing, which made him look a little funny.

Lind picked up the kettle next to him, filled a glass of water into the empty wine glass in front of Berry, and said, "Lord Berry, you don't have to be in a hurry. Drink a glass of water and take your time."

Beric Dondarrion thanked Lynde in a hoarse voice, then picked up the water glass and took a sip to soothe his throat a little.

Seeing that Berry had regained his composure, Linde continued: "Although I will definitely take that land back, Black Harbor can't continue to use that land."

Hearing Linde's words, Berry looked towards him in surprise. This was obviously unexpected. Everyone else also looked at Linde nervously, and the hall that had been a little restless suddenly became quiet again.

"I can lease the land to Black Harbor for use, and you only need to pay a portion of the rent every year." Linde said his solution, and then the amount of the rent.

Although this amount of rent is not small, compared with fertile land that can harvest a large amount of food, it is obviously very cost-effective.

Berry, his bachelor, steward, and noble knights all had surprised smiles on their faces, and the tense atmosphere in the hall just now eased due to their emotional changes.

However, before they could completely relax, Linde's subsequent addition of conditions made them all become a little serious.

I saw Linde saying: "But there is a premise for this, and the premise is that I will only rent the land to my allies."

"Ally?" Berry looked at Lind with a puzzled expression, and then turned to look at his bachelor. Obviously this proposal made him very puzzled, and he even wondered if Lind didn't understand this because of his background. Basic rules among nobles.

You know, although Darkport City is closer to the Reach, it is actually within the scope of the Stormlands. Its lord is Renly Baratheon, Duke of Storm's End, and Lord Lind is from the Reach. The Duke of Highgarden.

It is understandable that the lords of two places with different lordships may form temporary alliances during wartime. However, in the current non-wartime situation, it is impossible to bypass the lordship and form alliances with lords from other areas without authorization. It is an act of betrayal against one's own lord.

"You seem to have misunderstood me. The allies I mentioned are not the kind of allies you thought." Lind waved to Jon, asking him to take the prepared offensive and defensive covenant, and then handed it to Beric Dondarrion said, "Just take a look at it first! Let's talk after you've finished it."

Beric Dondarrion opened the parchment and carefully read the contents of the offensive and defensive covenant. The expression on his face changed from seriousness to surprise and confusion, because in his opinion, the contents of this covenant were really It's so generous, it's almost like helping the Dondarrion family get rid of the shackles of Darkport City for so many years.

Not to mention other clauses in the covenant, just the most important offensive and defensive support clauses are already the greatest help to Black Harbor.

Although the main purpose of the existence of Blackport City is to prevent the invasion of Dorne, in fact Dorne does not pose a particularly great threat to Blackport. On the contrary, the biggest threat to Blackport is the bandits and savage tribes wandering in the surrounding mountains. .

Because almost all of the Black Harbor territory is mountainous, and it is the kind of mountainous land with exposed rocks. There is not much land suitable for farming and planting, and it is scattered around the territory. This also makes the villages built on the land scattered. Soon, Black Harbor had to maintain a large number of troops to protect these villages.

But even so, the knights and soldiers guarding the village were still unable to resist the bandits and savages who gathered together, so news of the village being looted often came out. This chaotic situation also greatly restricted Black Harbor. development of.

However, if this offensive and defensive alliance is signed with Linde, then just as Blackport needs to send support when Linde's territory is attacked, Linde also needs to send support to help Blackport when it encounters attacks and invasions. Blackport solves dangers, and the targets of attacks and invasions include not only Dorne, but also bandits and wildling tribes.

Once Linde intervenes in the suppression of bandits and the cleanup of the savage tribes in the territory of Blackport City and its surrounding areas, the final result is conceivable, because Tengshi Town and the area around Rose Avenue are the best examples, with dozens of people entrenched there. , hundreds of years of bandits and more than a hundred years of savage tribes have all been wiped out.

Some time ago, the incident that happened in Summer Hall is also the best proof. The bandits in that area fled just after hearing Linde's name. The savage tribe was even frightened and gathered together, and they were able to barely stabilize. The situation of collapse shows how great a deterrent Linde is to them.

When the bandits and savage tribes in Blackport are cleared away, then the Bone Road, a road connected to Dorne, can be restored to smooth flow like the Mander River in Tengshi Town and become one of the main trade routes. In the Blackport City at the pass, if nothing else, the tax alone is probably enough to maintain the normal operation of the entire castle.

And more importantly, there are no more bandits and savage tribes, so there is no need to maintain so many troops. The conventional troops are reduced to a hundred people, which is enough.

As for the safety of the bone tunnel, the covenant also mentioned that after the bone tunnel is restored, Linde will send people to guard the watchtowers and fortresses on both sides of the bone tunnel to take over the safety maintenance of the bone tunnel.

There is no doubt that this is a relief for Heigang. Even if Heigang cannot revive and prosper like Tengshi Town, it is definitely dozens of times better than the current situation.

With such favorable terms of the covenant, not to mention Linde agreeing to let Blackport rent the reclaimed land, Beric Dondarrion would definitely be willing to sign this covenant even if Linde refused to let Blackport use the land. .

However, what puzzled them was that Linde seemed to be only giving in this covenant, whether it was helping Blackport City suppress bandits, helping them clean up the barbarian tribe, or maintaining the safety of the Bone Road, etc. It is a thankless task that requires a lot of manpower and material resources, so they don't understand what benefit this covenant has to Linde.

"As long as the bone passage is unobstructed, then I will benefit." After hearing Beric Dondarrion's question about what benefits he could get, Lynd took the covenant signed with Baron Ewood from Jon and handed it to him. Showed it to Berry, and said in a deep voice: "I have signed a similar covenant with Baron Ewood, the lord of Green Valley City, and I have explored the terrain of Summer Hall and decided to build a castle near the ruins of Summer Hall. . The roads between Midsummer Hall, Green Valley City and Tengshi Town are completely connected. Once the Bone Road returns to normal, we can directly conduct business transactions with Dorn, and the benefits contained therein will be enough to compensate for my efforts."

Berry quickly took the covenant and looked at it. The contents were roughly the same as his covenant, except that the troops stationed were changed from maintaining bone roads to maintaining business roads, and he did not need to pay the relevant military expenses.

"In addition to trade with Dorne, I also plan to use the Bone Road to open up a trade route with the other side of the Narrow Sea." Linde continued: "I plan to choose a suitable location to build a building at the mouth of the Redwei River. As a port city, this city will directly trade with the Free City-State Alliance on the other side of the Narrow Sea. At that time, goods transported from the Free City-State Alliance can pass directly through the Bone Road and be transported to the inland for trade. "

Lind deliberately revealed the draft plan in the hall that he had not yet fully finalized and had only briefly discussed with Nymeria and others. This was not only to tell Beric Dondarrion and the subordinate nobles under his command, but also to let them know. I believe that I can obtain sufficient benefits without harming the interests of Black Harbor.

It was also for the purpose of telling the nobles and knights attending the banquet in the hall. Lind wanted to help him spread this plan through the mouths of these people.

He believes that it won't be long before this plan spreads throughout the Stormlands, the Reach and even Dorne. At that time, he wants to see how the lords in these places will react, and he can use this as a reference to adjust his plan. .

After listening to Linde's explanation, Beric Dondarrion had the urge to sign the covenant immediately, but he still resisted the urge and said to Linde: "This matter is very important to Darkport. It is very important. I need to discuss it with the Maester and Steward, and I also need to inform Duke Renly of Storm's End before I can determine whether I can sign this covenant with you. During this time, please stay in Blackport. Rest for a few days, and then continue your inspection trip after you have confirmed results."

Linde had no objection to this and said he would stay here for four days, hoping that the Dondarrion family could achieve results in these four days.