Chapter 26 Contact with the Center of Power

"This is all the information we have heard this time." On the Lion Hill outside King's Landing City, Linde stood in the main camp tent and reported all the information collected in King's Landing City to the sitters one by one. Garland on the throne.

In the tent, in addition to Garland and Fertimo, there was an old man dressed as a bachelor and a fat middle-aged knight. The two of them kept looking at Lin De with curious eyes the moment he entered. De, it's like looking at a rare item.

When Linde reported the results of the mission, his eyes swept over the two people without leaving any trace.

The identities of these two people are easy to identify. The old maester wears a maester's necklace with eight links made of different materials around his neck. Among the maester advisors of the Tyrell family, there is only one person with such academic achievements. He should It was Maester Morath, the most knowledgeable person in the Tyrell family, and the Duke's chief advisor. Maester Selik, who had previously assisted Garland, was his student.

This middle-aged knight is the garrison commander of the Tyrell family, Roger Redwine. He is the nephew of the Queen of Thorns. His parents died very early and he is not taken seriously by the Redwin family. He has followed the Thorns since he was a child. The queen came to the Tyrell house and later became Mace Tyrell's entourage. After Mace Tyrell became the Duke of Highgarden, he was appointed as the garrison commander of Highgarden.

Although he is also the garrison commander, Janos Slynt's rights are much inferior to those of Rogel Redwin, and his status cannot be compared with him.

However, although Roger Redwin had great powers, he rarely used these powers. He even split up his command rights and handed them over to the commanders of the garrison knights, while he was completely responsible for them. An idler who only knows how to eat, drink and have fun.

Because he knew very well that his talents were on par with Mace Tyrell, and asking him to do things would only be a disservice. For example, during the Usurper War, he completely handed over the command of the army to Landau Tower, Lord of Horn Hill. He, the garrison commander, acted as a logistics officer. This self-awareness was also where he was better than Mace Tyrell.

Perhaps because of this, he was able to gain the trust of the Tyrell family and has always served as the garrison commander.

After the Usurper's War, these two people stayed in King's Landing with Duke Mace Tyrell. Unfortunately, neither of them was the kind of person who was good at dancing. Their expertise was mainly in auxiliary and advisory roles, and they were not able to work in the King's Landing. What role does King's Landing play here.

So after Garland went to see the Duke of Highgarden, the two of them offered to come here to help. After all, little Garland obviously needed them more than Duke Mace Tyrell, who already had his own opinions.

Because the two of them have an unusual relationship with Garland, one is Garland's teacher and the other is Garland's uncle, so their conversation on the way back to the camp from King's Landing was more casual than ordinary people. Garland also told about what happened on the way. The experience, especially the mention of Linde, the legendary bear hunter, undoubtedly attracted the attention of two important ministers of Highgarden.

When they met Linde who came to report the results of the mission, neither of them thought there was anything special about Linde. The only thing worth noting was that Linde was very tall and burly. When he walked into the tent, his head almost touched the roof of the tent. The whole person looked like a standing mountain bear. It was difficult for them to imagine that Lind could move like dancing during battle and use gorgeous and exquisite swordsmanship as Garland and Fortimer said.

It was precisely because the first impression was so strong that both of them subconsciously classified Linde into the category of martial arts warriors who prefer hands over brains.

But this view soon changed, because when Linde reported the results of the mission, he clearly described each piece of information collected in order of priority, which made them realize that Linde must have reviewed the information in advance. He did some sorting, and this kind of intelligence sorting ability requires very meticulous thinking, which is completely inconsistent with his rough appearance.

The rough appearance and the delicate mind shown by the actual ability immediately produced a strong sense of difference. This sense of difference was a disguised form that amplified the psychological impact of Linde's display of abilities several times, let alone This was the first time they met Linde's two important ministers. Even Garland and Fortimo showed surprised expressions.

After Lind reported all the information, Maester Moras couldn't wait to smile and said: "I almost thought the person who reported the information to us was Mr. Varys, the intelligence chief of the Iron Throne."

"Do you feel this way too? I thought I was the only one who felt this way." Roger Redwin also said with a surprised look on his face.

Maester Morath turned to look at Garland and said, "Garland, it seems that the biggest gain of your trip to King's Landing is this bear hunter."

Hearing the praise, Garland couldn't help but smile proudly on his face.

For the Tyrell family, the more outstanding their subordinates' abilities are, the happier they are, because they know very well that for the family to prosper for a long time, it is not enough to just rely on the family's own members, but also need to constantly absorb capable people. Only when outsiders join the family can the family's prosperity continue.

Especially after the current Tyrell family experienced the Usurper War and the subsequent civil strife in the Reach, a large number of talents were lost. Even Garland, who had just turned ten, had to step forward to do things. This shows that the Tyrell family's The brain drain is serious.

The Tyrell family now needs more talents than ever, which is why in New Barrel City Garland so abruptly transferred Lind from the Klian family to the Tyrell family.

However, there are not many lords and nobles in the Seven Kingdoms who value foreign talents as much as the Tyrell family. The supremacy of blood is their core idea, even if the Lannister family, like the Tyrell family, also values ​​foreign talents. The attitude towards talents is not as tolerant as the Tyrell family.

"Since you have compiled the information in advance, you must have analyzed it as well." Bachelor Moras looked at Linde with admiration and said, "Tell me your opinion first and see if there is any reference. value."

After hearing this, Lind turned to look at Fertimo. After seeing Fertimo nodded slightly, he recounted some of his analysis and thoughts on the intelligence, especially about King Robert and Duke Eddard of the North. Speculations about the relationship between them, rumors about the relationship between the three brothers of the Baratheon family, and the current importance of Renly Baratheon to the Tyrell family were all seriously discussed.

In addition, Linde also expressed some of the thoughts he had just generated due to other intelligence: "I think now is also a good opportunity to make friends with the Stark family in the North. According to the information we have collected, this time the Northern leader Lord Benjen Stark came to King's Landing not only to attend the prince's birth party for Lord Eddard, but also to recruit the Night's Watch."

"It's just that our Lord Robert seems to be complaining that Lord Eddard has not come to King's Landing, so he is making things difficult for Lord Benjen Stark and does not agree to any of his requests."

As he spoke, Lind paused for a moment, looked at the people in the tent, and said, "We can actually contact Lord Benjen Stark now and express to him our willingness to send the prisoners in the Highgarden cell to the Great Wall in the North." I think Lord Benjen Stark will be happy to accept our goodwill. At this time, we can express our hope to improve relations with the Stark family and let Benjen Stark. Mr. Ke will act as a middleman to make peace. I believe that the brotherhood between Mr. Eddard Stark and Mr. Benjen Stark will not refuse the proposal to improve relations with us. In this way, we can also indirectly Improve the relationship with King Robert. After all, the close relationship between the Warden of the North and our majesty is obvious to all. My lords, what do you think?"

Linde did not receive a response, because for a long time after he finished speaking, there was no sound in the tent, because everyone was looking at him with strange eyes, especially the eyes of Fortimo and Garland. It's like looking at a stranger.

After a while, Roger Redwin asked seriously: "If I remember correctly, you were just an Orion before. Why have you mastered such a strong intelligence analysis ability? This is not an ability that ordinary people can master? "

Because there was already a precedent of Joel, Linde was already prepared, so he used the same rhetoric he explained to Joel a few months ago.

Everyone in the tent had no doubts about Linde's rhetoric, because in their opinion, only the bachelors of the academy could train Linde like this.

Moreover, a large number of bachelors from the school city leave Old Town every year and go to various parts of the Seven Kingdoms. However, not every bachelor can be appreciated by the nobles, become their consultants, and have a stable salary. The vast majority of them have paid their dues. Living a life without enough food, not counting those exiles who were deprived of their bachelor's titles, so it was common for ordinary people to hire bachelors to teach them knowledge.

However, in their opinion, the bachelor who could teach Linde so well must be extraordinary, so they also thought of recruiting that bachelor.

Unfortunately, after they asked, Linde said that he did not know the name of the bachelor, and his appearance was very ordinary, so it would be difficult to find this person through these clues.

Just when everyone was regretting that they had missed a talent, Bachelor Morath suddenly suggested: "Let him work under me when we return to Highgarden! I am very short of people there."

Maester Morath is responsible for intelligence affairs in Highgarden, but because he is old, he no longer has the energy to deal with the large amount of intelligence collected from all parties and manage the Tyrell family's spies across Westeros. organization, so a few years ago he handed over all the matters at hand to his students.

It's just that his students are very good at research and knowledge, but they find it a bit difficult to deal with all kinds of complicated intelligence work.

From the fact that the Tyrell family's spy outposts in King's Landing were uprooted by Jon Arryn and Varys this time, and there was no one from Highgarden who could come up with a solution, it can be seen that his students are very concerned about this. The ability is somewhat lacking.

Now that he has seen Linde's excellent intelligence compilation and analysis capabilities, Bachelor Moras sincerely feels that Linde is more reliable than his students, so he thinks of transferring Linde to his staff for specialized training. If Linde If De can continue to perform so well, it is not impossible to take over his position and become the intelligence director of the Tyrell family in the future. After all, the position of intelligence director is the one that least values ​​family background among all important positions.

"No." However, as soon as Bachelor Moras finished speaking, someone directly objected, and the objectors were not Linde as the person involved, but Garland and Fortimo.

Garland and Fertimo did not expect that the other would object, and couldn't help but glance at each other, as if they wanted to see the reason for the other's objection.

The reason for Garland's objection is simple. It is because Lind has just joined the Tyrell family not long ago and his loyalty has not yet been tested. It is obviously not a good idea for him to contact the core power center of the Tyrell family now.

As for the reason for Fortimo's opposition, it was much simpler. He knew very well what Linde's ambitions were, and he knew even more clearly that once Linde worked under Maester Moras, his ambitions would no longer be realized, because no lord It will make people who have all kinds of information about their own family become wealthy knights, even sworn knights.

Seeing Garland and Fertimo objecting at the same time, Maester Morath and Sir Roger were also surprised, but they did not ask why. In their opinion, the two people must have reasons to oppose.

After that, the topic in the tent returned to the topic, and everyone began to consider how to use this information. They did not let Linde leave, but instead let Linde participate in the discussion. Soon the discussion came to an end. Linde’s previous suggestions It can be said that it was fully accepted by them, and only some operational details were slightly modified.

"I didn't expect you to have such an ability." After returning to the tent, Fortimo took the warm handkerchief from the servant's hand, wiped his face, and turned to Linde who followed him into the tent. , said: "I hope you don't blame me for not agreeing to let you work for Maester Morath. After all, that will allow you to directly contact the center of power in Highgarden."

Linde shook his head and said: "No, even if you didn't object, I would not agree. Being the intelligence chief is not my ideal."

"It's best if you can think like this." Fertimo signaled the servant to go out, and then said seriously: "You performed outstandingly in front of Maester Moraes this time, especially your ability in intelligence has been recorded by Maester Moraes. In my heart, although I have rejected the proposal of Maester Morath for you, it is impossible for Maester Morath to give up like this, especially when there are Maester Selik and others to compare, your ability is even more outstanding. So in the future, Bachelor Moras will definitely come to you for help with various intelligence matters. You must refuse his request and try not to expose yourself too much to those things. Do you understand?"

"Yes, sir." Lind nodded, then hesitated and said, "With my current status, if Bachelor Moras forces me to do something for him, I can't refuse, right?"

Fertimo was silent for a moment and said: "Go to the camp and select ten people to form a cavalry team. They will be responsible for the daily patrols of the camp. They should also dress more gorgeously and wander around the city when they have time, so that everyone in King's Landing will be attracted by it. You know, our Rose family should stay in the camp as little as possible.”

Linde could tell that Fertimo was offering him a promotion in disguise, so naturally he would not refuse. However, there was a more important thing that he needed to confirm, so he asked: "Sir, does this count as a meritorious service?" "

Fertimo looked at Linde, took off the long sword from his waist, threw it to Linde, and said: "My sword has not been well maintained during this period. You can polish it tonight, oil it well, and take good care of it." Please take care of my armor so that it won’t affect my participation in the tournament in a few days.”

After receiving a response, Linde smiled and said, "Yes, sir."