Chapter 198 Two Uninvited Guests

The Summer Hall Tournament lasted for ten days. In terms of grandeur, it was not much worse than the tournament in King's Landing.

There were more than 4,000 people participating in the team competition, which was almost equivalent to a small war, and the number of archers in the archery competition was as high as 5,000.

As for the lance competition, more than 2,000 people participated, and most of the more than 2,000 people were famous knights in the Seven Kingdoms. Every knight competition was extremely exciting, and everyone was aiming for that gun. He came with the Valyrian steel sword, so he naturally tried his best.

The final was a duel between Brienne and Jaime Lannister. Although the duel between these two people was not as exciting as the one between Brienne and Barristan in King's Landing, it was still extremely exciting. The two fought against each other eleven times. The wheel, shattering eleven lances, finally ended with Brienne narrowly winning and winning the Valyrian steel sword. At this point, the model knight Brienne has really become famous in Westeros and Erso. Sri Lanka continent.

During the tourney, Lynde met the visiting King Robert, but the experience and result of the meeting were not very pleasant.

However, from the conversation with King Robert, Lind still obtained some information. For example, the increase in taxes on Summer Hall was not caused by King Robert, but by Jon Arryn's insistent decision. At that time, the Iron Throne happened to have financial problems, so he acquiesced.

In addition, he can also feel that the reason for the cold relationship between himself and Robert is more because he subdued Hailong.

Robert said that he believed that he could not have the blood of the Targaryen family, but what he was thinking in his heart was unknown, and Lind could also tell from the unconcealed look in his eyes when he mentioned the sea dragon. A look of jealousy and envy.

Through this meeting with Robert, Lynd can be sure that he can no longer gain complete trust from Robert. The relationship between the two will only become colder and colder, and it is unknown whether it will eventually turn into hostility.

However, for Linde, these are not problems. He has full wings now. As long as he is careful and avoids becoming a public enemy of the Seven Kingdoms, there will be no big problem.

However, this tournament also let Linde know his current status in the eyes of the top lords of the Seven Kingdoms.

Except for King Robert, none of the other guardian lords of the seven kingdoms came to Summer Hall. They were all representatives. From here, it can be seen that although they recognized Linde's strength, they still felt that Linde was He is just an upstart with no background, and may not be as good as those lords in Twin River City and the Royal Territory who only have a century-old heritage.

The long inheritance made them focus only on the history and glory inherited by the family, completely forgetting that the pillar supporting this history and glory must be strong strength.

The martial arts tournament was just an interlude for Linde. While the martial arts tournament was still going on, Linde had already begun preparations for the Unified Stone Step Islands. He planned to wait for the little guy to grow up a little and survive. During the most dangerous period of infancy, he set off for the Stepstone Islands.

Just as he was preparing for a unified operation against the Stepstone Islands, the arrival of two people slightly disrupted his plan.

"The Iron Throne wants to take back my right to use the Stepstone Islands?" Linde looked at the visiting Iron Throne envoy with a slight surprise in his eyes. The reason for his surprise was not the behavior of the Iron Throne, but what he saw before him. This messenger is because he is the little finger Petyr Baelish whom he was extremely worried about before.

Lind had known for a long time that Littlefinger had been transferred from Gulltown to King's Landing by Jon Arryn, and he also knew that Littlefinger had quickly been reused through his financial means, and in less than a year he had become Chancellor of the Council.

However, what puzzled Lind was that Jon Arryn actually sent Littlefinger as a messenger, and at a key point when he planned to launch a unification war against the Stepstone Islands.

He didn't understand what Jon Arryn meant by doing this. Did he want Littlefinger to persuade him to give up the agreement he signed and return the Stepstone Islands leased to him by the Iron Throne? Or did he want to make himself angry and accidentally kill the Duchess? This lover, this person who cuckolded him.

"This decision was made by the Prime Minister at the Royal Council. Although many people disagree with it, it has been passed. I hope you can understand it." Little Finger lowered his posture and explained to Lin De respectfully. , the meaning of the words is almost clear that all this is Jon Arryn's willful action, don't take it out on him as the messenger.

When looking at Lind, although Littlefinger tried his best to hide his inner emotions and always had a harmless smile on his face, a trace of jealousy still inevitably emerged from his heart.

You know, when he heard the name of Linde, Linde was just a little person who could be stepped on at will, but now Linde has become someone he needs to look up to, and although he has become a financial Minister, but he could still only be manipulated by others, and even had to accept this dangerous mission, which made him feel inexplicably aggrieved.

"I can withdraw from the Stepstone Islands under the Iron Throne's name, but according to the terms of the agreement, if the rental agreement is terminated midway, the Iron Throne must pay me three times the rent, that is, in addition to the principal of 500,000 gold dragons, it must also pay me a One and a half million gold dragons, a total of two million gold dragons." Lin De looked at Littlefinger calmly and said, "Your Excellency is the finance minister of the Imperial Council. You should know very well that it is impossible to pay for these two million gold dragons with the Iron Throne's finances. Yes, that means you are going to break the agreement and default on the debt, right?"

"It's not a repudiation, it's just a delay in repayment." Although Petyr had a smile on his face, he had obviously cursed Jon Arryn in his heart.

"Then tell me the plan and process for deferred repayment, such as when and how much will be repaid, or how will it be repaid?" Linde continued to press.

Petyr knew very well that the Iron Throne had no plan to return the rent and break-up money, so he could only forcefully change the situation and said: "This is still under discussion."

Linde sneered and said: "In other words, you have no plan, and then you want me to take out the Stone Step Islands that I rented for a lot of money. What is the difference between this and banditry? Is this the Guardian of the East? A style that has been passed down for thousands of years?”

As he spoke, he paused, and without waiting for Littlefinger to explain, he continued: "Lord Petyr, you are a smart man. You think that if I follow your ideas and return the rented Stepstone Islands, then you Who are you going to send to take charge? You know that pirates are rampant on the Stone Steps Islands, and there are also mysterious sea monsters. Can you guys handle it?"

Petyr could hear that Lind was already making a clear threat, and he almost said that as long as the Iron Throne dares to send people to the Stepstone Islands, he dares to let those people sink to the bottom of the sea.

Although Littlefinger really wants to create turmoil in the Seven Kingdoms and give himself a chance to climb higher, it is definitely not now. His current foundation is too shallow. Even if there is turmoil in the Seven Kingdoms, he will not be able to profit from it. , and may even cause him to lose the rights he already had. He knew this very well, and so did Linde, who was sitting opposite.

Therefore, in Lind's view, it is extremely interesting that Littlefinger, who will be the source of turmoil in the Seven Kingdoms in the future, now needs to stabilize the situation in the Seven Kingdoms.

Petyr carefully considered the bargaining chip he had on hand now, and said: "As long as your Excellency can agree to revoke the lease agreement and return the Stone Steps Islands, then we can cancel the additional taxes on Summer Hall and completely Open the market in King's Landing..."

"You don't need to say anything, Lord Petyr." Lind stopped Littlefinger from continuing and said, "If it were a year ago, I might have agreed to this rude request, but now I have unified the Stepstone Islands. The plan has already begun to advance, and it is impossible to make any changes, so it is impossible to return that part of the Stepstone Islands." As he spoke, he raised his hand to stop Petyr from speaking, and continued: "But in view of my respect for the Iron Throne. , I will give an additional 100,000 gold dragons to the Iron Throne as compensation for the rent, and I will give you 20,000 gold dragons as a reward for helping me persuade Duke Arryn, Lord Petyr."

After hearing this, Petyr was silent for a moment, then nodded and said, "I am willing to serve you, my lord."

After saying that, he quietly retreated.

Although Petyr's expression was always smiling when he left, Lind could clearly feel a hint of anger in Petyr's eyes. It seemed that Petyr felt that his act of directly buying him with money was an insult. .

Lind didn't care about this. When his strength reached his current height, Littlefinger's machinations were no longer important to him, and his concerns about Littlefinger were not as strong as before.

What's more, he had arranged a back-up plan a long time ago. Not only was Varys keeping an eye on Little Finger for him, but there were also people arranged by him around Little Finger. As long as he wanted to, Little Finger would be there silently at any time. Die and leave no trace.

After meeting Littlefinger, Lind met another uninvited guest, but this guest was his old acquaintance, Prince Oberon Martell, the Red Viper.

"I didn't see you in the tournament, but now you suddenly came to see me secretly. Prince Oberon, you must not just come to see Augustus, right?" Lind looked at the Red Viper casually slumped in a chair. , asked with a smile.

"Of course not, I don't like children." Red Viper said bluntly, then looked at Lind and said: "I came with a mission this time. We in Sunspear City are willing to take out the Gray Gallows Island that Dorne currently controls. and the surrounding islands, and are willing to send troops to assist you in the future when you take action on the disputed areas.”

Linde was stunned and said, "You can see that I am going to take action on the disputed area?"

"Selling so many weapons to the three city-states of Tyrosh, Lys, and Myr, and then provoking conflicts among them, the entire disputed land is now like a pile of dry firewood poured with oil. It only needs a little spark, and it will be over. Let them burn completely and fall into the flames of war." The Red Viper smiled, picked up a bottle of wine from the table, uncorked it, took a few sips directly to the mouth of the bottle, and said, "You. The method is not clever, but it is very effective. Even if the top leaders of the three major city-states see through your intentions, they cannot stop their subordinates from being eager to fight and can only continue to develop according to your plan. "

"What do you want to gain?" Linde asked in a deep voice.

"Revenge and judgment." Red Viper sat up straight and said very seriously.

"Do you want to start a war with the Iron Throne? Or do you want to start a war with the West?" Linde asked in a deep voice.

"Of course not." The Red Viper shook his head and said: "If we just want revenge, I have thousands of ways to easily kill Tywin and the beasts under his command, and make them suffer in incomparable pain. But I didn’t do that, because what I wanted was a trial, a trial that would make everyone in the Seven Kingdoms aware of Tywin’s atrocities.”

Linde heard the meaning of the Red Viper and said: "You want me to promote the church's trial." After that, he smiled and said: "Have you ever thought about the consequences of the church's trial of such a big lord? "

"Of course we know what the consequences will be." Red Viper nodded and said, "Don't worry, the trial will not start immediately. It may take a long time. We just hope that you can stand up and support us by then."

"You must have just returned from the Essos continent not long ago, right?" Linde suddenly asked a completely unrelated question inexplicably.

The Red Viper was stunned after hearing this, nodded, and said, "Yes."

Lind looked at the Red Viper and said sternly: "Why do you think the Targaryen family can regain the Iron Throne? Rely on the Blackfire descendants of the Golden Company? Or rely on the mercenary group formed by you and Jon Clinton? You know that Aegon the Conqueror was not able to conquer the Seven Kingdoms with three dragons, so why do you think you can do it without dragons?"

Red Viper was also a little surprised that Lind knew what he was doing on the Essos continent. This made him wonder if there were any traitors hidden under his men, and his face became slightly gloomier.

However, he soon returned to normal and said: "You forgot, we still have Dorne, the Reach and your Summer Hall."

Lind was not surprised that Dorne and the Reach had secretly reached some kind of agreement, because neither the Red Viper nor Arianne was to blame for what happened to Willas. The relationship between the two seemed superficial. Although the two countries are still not very friendly, the relationship between the two is actually very close, as can be seen from the increasing trade between the two parties year by year.

It was just that the Red Viper included himself, which made Lind feel a little want to laugh. Then he said to the Red Viper very formally: "King Robert is kind to me. As long as King Robert is alive for one day, I will not Do anything against the Baratheon dynasty."

After hearing this, Red Viper was silent for a moment and said: "I understand. In this case, our agreement is still valid, Gray Gallows Island is still handed over to you, and we will still send troops to support you when you attack the disputed land. I hope you will Able to abide by agreement commitments.”

After hearing Red Viper's words, Linde understood that the other party had misunderstood him, but he did not intend to explain more. He did not think so much about the future. Now his primary goal is to capture the Stepped Stone Islands and win the dispute. place.