Chapter 267 Changes on the West Coast of Essos

Several years have passed since Nymeria established her kingdom on Na Sa and became king. In the past few years, both Westeros and Essos have been very stable. There have been no major wars, only some small ones. Conflicts, such as the conflict between the Kingdom of Lorne and the Dothraki.

The kingdom of Lorne founded by Nymeria was joined by Qohor and Chayon, and after Ge Dohor completed its reconstruction, the kingdom's territory was completely fixed.

It reaches the Velvet Hills and the Norvos Hills on the north, Chajon on the south, the plains of Pentos on the west, and the Great Forest of Qohor on the east, basically occupying all the land covered by the tributaries of the middle section of the Rhoyne. .

Because the kingdom implements a centralized monarchy rather than the city-state federation of the ancient Rhoynar people, the country of Lorne is extremely powerful and has surpassed the ancient kingdom of Rhoynar in just a few years.

After several years of recovery, the Dothraki also recovered from the great plague and annexed each other, forming several large Kals tribes.

Among the many KLS tribes, there is a KLS tribe named Khal Quigo who is very powerful. Its reputation is only lower than that of Khal Drogo. He felt that he was strong enough, so he decided to go to the Western Free Trade City-State to harvest a tribe. Pay tribute and loot the town.

As a result, he happened to run into the powerfully rising nation of Lorne, and started a battle with the Rhoynar army led by Nymeria in the northern section of the Golden Fields, near Qohor.

In this battle, Nymeria did not use any of the armed forces of Summer Hall. The troops she led were all the Lorne Legion formed after the founding of the country.

The battle ended with Nymeria losing more than 3,000 people and the Dothraki warriors losing 2,000 people. During the battle, Khal Quego was split in half by Nymeria's axe. After exiting the battlefield, it was swallowed up by Khal Drogo who followed.

Afterwards, Khal Drogo led the army towards the Kingdom of Lorne, seemingly wanting to take advantage of Nymeria's weakness in the battle, but Lind led the Chosen Legion to appear on the side of Nymeria's army. Afterwards, Khal Drogo retreated.

After that, Khal Drogo's KaLS signed an agreement with the Kingdom of Lorne. No one knew the specific content of this agreement. Everyone just knew that Khal Drogo's KaLS could pass through the Kingdom of Lorne smoothly, and they would not Looting all the villages and towns in the Kingdom of Lorne, and even doing business with villages along the way, it doesn't look like a Dothraki KaLS at all.

For Khal Drogo, although signing the agreement caused some losses to his reputation, the final actual benefits were huge. The three Free Trade City-states, Norvos, Pentos, and Volantis, He was the only one to enjoy the city's tribute. The other Kalls were blocked to the east by the Kingdom of Lorne. They could only harvest something from Slaver's Bay, or they could all direct their plundering towards the east. area.

In the disputed land, with the establishment of the Holy City of Scourge, Tyrosh, Lys and Myr were closely linked together, forming a parish of the God of Scourge. The three major city-states also entered an unprecedented state of development, never before. The peace that once existed covered this area.

For the residents of the three major city-states and the disputed areas, they naturally like this peaceful environment because they no longer need to worry about the flames of war burning them.

For those mercenary groups that rely on war to survive, such an environment has indeed made them feel uncomfortable for a period of time. Long-term tasks such as hiring city-state guards to defend the city no longer exist. Coupled with the legal changes here, The regulations were extremely strict, and even ordinary fights would result in fines. All these factors forced various mercenary groups to leave the disputed areas and go to other free trade city-states to work.

However, as various mineral deposits contained in the disputed land were developed, both domestic and foreign trade in the disputed land became extremely active. A large number of caravans came to the disputed land from various places to trade, and the caravans also It must be protected by mercenaries, which has caused the mercenary groups that originally left the disputed area to gradually gather near the disputed area. The large commission to protect the caravan is enough to make up for the past losses, and escorting the caravan is safer than participating in the war. many.

Tristan Hewen came from the Riverlands and was the illegitimate son of a certain great nobleman in the Riverlands. He said someone because he didn’t know who his father was, but he was definitely a great nobleman because he was an adult. Before, his mother was able to get a large sum of money every month and live a luxurious life.

Tristan is not a person who is content with the status quo. After he became sensible and knew that he was the illegitimate son of a great noble, he hoped that he could become a real noble. To this end, he asked his mother to spend money to hire a wandering knight. Learn the etiquette and swordsmanship of knights, and when you reach adulthood, you will participate in some martial arts competitions without status restrictions.

However, as his mysterious father stopped providing monthly living expenses and married a wandering knight who taught him the skills of knighthood, he had to start fending for himself.

In the beginning, he was able to maintain the spirit of chivalry, hoeing the strong and supporting the weak, just like Sir Duncan the Tall in the story in the book. He admired Sir Duncan very much and hoped that he could get a wise master like Sir Duncan. However, with the pressure of life, he quickly gave up his past ideals and became a bandit who robbed caravans. He eventually became a wanted criminal and had to live in a foreign country.

Just like other illegitimate sons and wanted criminals from the continent of Westeros, he also joined the Golden Company and became a mercenary. He has done so until now and became a sergeant major of the Golden Company.

Since the disputed land was controlled by Linde, the leader of the Golden Company, Myth Toin, had the foresight to move the headquarters of the Golden Company to Volantis, using Volantis's geographical advantages to provide services for caravans traveling between various places. Provided escorts and signed long-term contracts with some large chambers of commerce.

After that, they participated in the war between the Kingdom of Lorne and the Dothraki, and achieved military exploits in the war. Therefore, they received a large sum of employment money, which allowed the Golden Company to recover quickly. The current Golden Company is no longer as good as the Great Plague. What a difference from the previous Golden Group.

Tristan was also promoted to sergeant major after the war with the Dothraki. However, the reason for his promotion was not because he had made enough military exploits, but because he was old enough.

In the Golden Company, those who were more senior than him either died from the Great Plague or died in battles with the Dothraki. However, those who were more capable than him were not qualified enough to convince the crowd, and were eventually killed by Tristan. Got a bargain.

Mistoin was also very aware of Tristan's abilities and knew that he would not be able to handle tasks that were too complex, so he only asked Tristan to be responsible for the caravan escort missions in Volantis and the Holy City of Scourge.

This time Tristan's mission was not to escort the caravan, but to escort a pair of sisters from the Meguya family on a pilgrimage to the Holy City of Scourge.

The Meguya family is an old family of the Tiger Party. It has a very good relationship with the Summer Hall and has a lot of trade exchanges. During the great plague, the Meguya sisters were also infected with the plague and their lives were in danger. In the end, they were the victims of a natural disaster. The priests of the god brought them back from death, and their faith was transferred from R'hllor, the Lord of Light, to the God of Scourge.

"Lord Tristan, is the Holy City of Scourge really as gorgeous as you say?" My sister, Meri Meguya, stuck her head out of the carriage and asked Tristan.

"Yes." Tristan nodded and responded.

Tristan likes these sisters very much, not because of their beauty, but because they are not as arrogant and indifferent as other Volantis dignitaries he has come into contact with. They treat everyone kindly, including The servant knew that Tristan was not a noble, but he still addressed him as "sir."

So when faced with Meili's inquiry, he took the trouble to answer seriously: "The stone materials used to build the Holy City of Natural Disaster were mined from the quarries around the nearby gem mines. There are more or less small gems in the stones. Use these The stone buildings will emit colorful light under the sunlight and are very gorgeous. Although the Holy City of Natural Disasters has not yet been completely built, only the Temple of the God of Natural Disasters and the City Hall have been built, and stone slabs have been paved on the main roads. , but even so, you can still imagine how gorgeous the Calamity Holy City will be after it is completely built."

"Using gems as building materials, the Holy City of Natural Disaster is indeed gorgeous." My sister Joanna Meguya, who was a little bored in the carriage, also raised the curtains, inserted into the topic, and asked: "Lord Tristan, can you Tell us about the temple of the God of Scourge?"

"Sorry, Miss Joanna, I only saw the Temple of the God of Natural Disasters from a distance, and I have never entered the temple." Tristan tightened the reins, slowed down the horse, and when it was flush with the carriage window, Then he continued: "Unlike the temples of the God of Natural Disasters in other places, you need certain qualifications to enter the temple of the Holy City of Natural Disasters for pilgrimage. Only those who have passed the piety test are eligible to enter the temple for pilgrimage."

"Is the piety trial difficult?" Joanna immediately asked.

"It's not difficult." Tristan shook his head and said: "Every month, the high priest of Malfas will conduct a piety test for pilgrim believers. He will take out a gem and give it to the believers, so that the believers can recite the God of Disasters. Only a devout believer in the god of disaster can make the gem shine like a candle."

"Glow like a candle?" Merry's face showed a look of fascination.

Just when the Meguya sisters wanted to ask more about the Scourge Holy City, a scout mercenary that Tristan had sent to explore the way came from a distance on a fast horse and came to the team. He hadn't even looked at it yet. When he arrived, Tristan shouted loudly: "There are bandits. There is a group of bandits in front of us, rushing towards this direction."

Hearing a small commotion in the team, Tristan immediately apologized to the two sisters, then came to the team, scolded the scout, and then ordered the team to gather the carriages and supplies to form a simple The fortifications were built, and then everyone hid behind the carriage, took out bows and arrows and other weapons, and prepared for battle.

Soon the bandits that the scouts were talking about appeared in everyone's sight. There were about a hundred people in this group of bandits. They were all riding horses and had simple leather armor on their bodies. They looked like they should be a group of veterans.

"Why are there so many bandits?" After Tristan judged the number of people, he was also a little surprised, because since the disputed area was controlled by the Shengxia Hall, there have been very few bandits in this area, let alone a group of more than a hundred bandits. Now, even a bandit team of dozens of people rarely appears.

Although there are now more than 300 people in the caravan, which is much larger than those bandits, not all the people in the caravan are warriors. Most of them are servants without combat effectiveness. He is the only real warrior to lead the team. There were more than forty people, so Tristan had no confidence that he could save the caravan from these bandits.

After assessing the situation, Tristan immediately asked the two sisters to get off the carriage and stay next to his mount. Once he found that he could not resist the bandits, he would immediately escape with his men and the two sisters. As for the rest of the caravan, they would not Don't give up, after all, the most important thing in the caravan now is the safety of the Meguya sisters.

Just when Tristan was ready to fight, the bandits rushing in front of him strangely bypassed Tristan's car array and passed by. Tristan could even see the panic on the faces of the bandits, as if they were in front of him. It was like something scary was chasing them behind them.

Before Tristan could figure out what was going on, he saw a hail of arrows falling from the sky, piercing into the bandits as accurately as nails, knocking them down one by one. Soon all the more than a hundred bandits were gone. After falling to the ground, many of the bandits were killed on the spot due to the injuries from the arrows and the fall. A few of them survived and lay on the ground groaning in pain.

Most of the arrows that fell from the sky avoided the caravan formation, and only a few of them struck the goods on the edge of the caravan.

Immediately afterwards, a burst of rapid horse hooves was heard from the distance, and then a group of cavalry in armor was seen rushing towards this side in neat order.

"It's the Scourge Rangers of the God's Chosen Corps!" Tristan immediately recognized who it was from the armor worn by the cavalry.

Soon the Scourge Rangers came to the caravan carriage. They ignored the people on the caravan side. After dismounting, they walked directly to the bandits. They tied up the living bandits and threw them on the horse. They looted the dead bandits. Get rid of all valuable things on them, and then dig a hole and bury them on the spot.

At this time, the captain of the rangers rode up to the caravan. He saw a few arrows shot on the caravan's goods, and his face became a little gloomy. Then he turned to his men and shouted loudly: "These arrows Whose arrow is it?”

His adjutant immediately stepped forward and pulled out the arrow, looked at the mark on the arrow tail, and said, "It's the arrow from Adric, Malik, and Dano."

"Adric, Malik, Dano!" The captain shouted the names of these people. When these people arrived, he pointed at the arrow and said, "Is that your arrow?"

"Yes, sir." The three nodded awkwardly.

The captain said solemnly: "When I go back, I will go to the Military Law Office to receive my whip, and my daily training will be doubled."

"As you command, my lord." The three of them responded quickly without daring to refute.

The captain then turned to the adjutant and asked the adjutant to write down the name of the caravan, and asked the caravan members to send the goods to the Miracle Chamber of Commerce to identify the damage, and then take the proof of loss to the Divine Chosen Corps station to receive compensation.

After doing all this, the rangers took their trophies and prisoners and hurriedly turned around and left.