Chapter 376 Brandon’s experiences

Brandon, the captain of the Red Woman, has been sailing at sea for almost two years. When he left King's Landing two years ago, it was still the Baratheon Dynasty and King Robert was still there. He still remembers King Robert's preparations to welcome the new Prime Minister. Eddard Stark held a grand tourney.

Who could have imagined that in just two years, the Baratheon dynasty would disappear. Along with the dynasty, those famous figures such as Robert Baratheon, Eddard Stark, and Tai Win Lannister's house and so on.

Instead, there was a new dynasty of Terra and a group of upstarts, but this group of upstarts was a bit too new, such as Sansa Stark, Warden of the North and Duke of Winterfell, and Shireen Byrne, Warden of the Stormlands and Duke of Storm's End. Lathien, the Warden of the East, Duke Robert Arryn of the Eagle's Nest, etc. are all still children. Fortunately, the leader of the new dynasty is the Chosen One Lynd Terra. As long as the Chosen One is there, other kingdoms It's no big deal that all the guardians turned into babies.

In addition to the changes in people in the past two years, things have also changed tremendously. The first place that made him feel the change was the dock outside the mud gate.

The originally crude and chaotic dock has now become neat and orderly. All dock docks have been repaired, the dock roads have become wider, the surrounding slum houses have been cleared, and the poor people living in those houses have also been cleared. They became dock workers, and those who were disobedient and liked to make trouble were all sent to the Great Wall of Despair.

However, the dock was not the place that impressed Brandon the most. The place that really made Brandon feel the biggest change was that the smell of shit and urine surrounding King's Landing disappeared.

Although Brandon is not a native of King's Landing, he has lived in King's Landing for more than 20 years, and his familiarity with King's Landing is as good as any other King's Landing person, especially the smell of feces and urine that fills the entire city. became part of his life.

However, when he entered the city through the mud door, he found that there was no smell of feces and urine. Instead, there was the aroma of plants, which gave him the illusion that he had come to the wrong place.

The plant aroma that replaces the smell of feces and urine comes from various fragrant flowers, plants and trees planted on both sides of the road. These flowers, plants and trees were transported from Highgarden and planted on both sides of the road after all the main roads in King's Landing were widened and renovated. .

In addition to the flowers and trees planted on the road, Brandon also found that almost every house had some flower baskets hanging on the walls or near the eaves, with some flowers and plants planted in them. Surrounded by the fragrance of so many flowers, plants and trees, The entire city of King's Landing was naturally unable to resist the turmoil and could only disappear.

However, these plants are not the root cause of the disappearance of the smell of feces and urine. The real reason is that the large cesspit of Flea Bottom has been completely bulldozed. This is the place that makes Brandon feel the biggest change in King's Landing.

Brandon's home is near the Flea Bottom. It is a two-story building along the street. It is directly opposite the Flea Bottom. He can smell the special odor every day, so he doesn't like staying at home.

It's just that he doesn't like the environment here anymore, but this is also the home where he has lived for more than 20 years. When he came back, he found that the flea bottom was gone, his home was gone, and the place where his home originally belonged had become an empty space. , and Flea Bottom has turned into a noisy construction site. Hundreds of workers are busy on the construction site. It is said that a library as big as a school city is to be built for ordinary people to learn and read, and all the stones used to build the library are It comes from the ruins of the dragon's lair on the hills of Rhaenys not far away.

The ruins of the dragon's lair in Rhaenys Hills can be said to be the ugliest building in the entire city of King's Landing. It is like a rotten scar sticking tightly to the city of King's Landing. Compared with it, Flea Bottom can only be regarded as a piece of land. Insignificant little scars.

Now the ruins of the Dragon Cave have been bulldozed, the corpses in the ruins have been cleaned up, the potholes have been filled, and the entire Dragon Cave has been transformed into a huge platform square, but the role of this platform square has not changed, because it is still It was for dragons to use. At this moment, a terrifying giant dragon covered in pitch black and covered with flame cracks lay on the platform.

"Brenton? You're back!" Just as Brandon was standing where his former home was and lamenting the great changes in King's Landing, a middle-aged man who had just gotten off work passed by him. He was stunned and stopped. , looked Brandon up and down, his eyes stayed on the scar on Brandon's forehead, and said with a surprised look: "Blanton, you are still alive, are you getting rich?"

"Barrel Bill, how did you become like this?" Brandon also looked at the middle-aged man in front of him in surprise. In his memory, the man was an alcoholic and beggar in ragged clothes who couldn't even afford to eat. The clothes the other party is wearing now indicate that although he is not a rich person, he can be regarded as one of the people who are living a good life among the people of King's Landing.

Barrel Bill scratched his head in embarrassment and said with a grateful tone: "These are gifts from His Majesty Linde, allowing us people at the lowest level to live like human beings. Although we are a little tired from working every day, but At least you can have food and clothing, save some money, and find a woman. By the way, you didn't know, right? I got married just last month. I had a chance to go to my place for a drink. It just happened to be a good time to repay your ex. The money you lent me over the years.”

Looking at the sober-minded and optimistic Barrel Bill in front of him, Brandon was completely confused. He felt that he had been delusional.

Two years ago, Barrel Bill was a bad guy in this area. He had borrowed money from almost every place where he could borrow money. Even those who were lending money were unwilling to lend him a copper coin.

Now he seemed to be a completely different person. Not only his clothes and appearance had changed, but his temperament had also changed.

Curious, Brandon couldn't help asking about the reason for Bucket Bill's change.

It turns out that after Linde ascended the throne, he set out to transform King's Landing, and all the manpower needed to transform King's Landing was recruited from King's Landing, even compulsorily. As long as they could do things, even children and old people were recruited. Barrel Bill It was at that time that he was recruited, and middle-aged adults with physical problems like him had to receive training from the Chosen Sons Corps before officially starting work. They were not allowed to go out to work until their bodies recovered completely.

"What? You still need to be trained as a warrior?" Brandon felt a little incredible.

Drunkard Bill puffed up his chest with great pride and said: "Yes, our group of people also need to receive combat training, because we are the reserves of the Chosen Son of God. Once the Chosen Son of God suffers too much damage, we will be the first to respond. ”

Brandon saw the admiration, admiration and admiration that Drunkard Bill now showed. In the past two years, he had only seen it among the believers of the God of Scourge in the Holy City of Scourge. It was obvious that Drunkard Bill now considered joining the Legion of God's Chosen Sons. goals in life.

In less than half a day after returning, Brandon has already seen what kind of impact the new king Lind Terra has had on the entire city of King's Landing and the residents of King's Landing. This is simply like a miracle. No wonder on the other side of the narrow sea In Tyrosh, Myr, the Holy City of Scourge and other places, some people have already used the name God King to refer to him.

"By the way! I remember your old house was here, right?" Drunkard Bill suddenly remembered something and pointed to an open space next to him.

Brandon smiled bitterly and nodded, and said, "Yes, my house is here, but now it has been demolished. I'm afraid I need to stay in a hotel today."

"Congratulations! Brandon, congratulations!" Drunkard Bill said to Brandon with a smile, and an uncontrollable look of envy in his eyes.

"What's going on? Why do you want to congratulate me?" Brandon looked at Drunkard Bill in confusion and asked.

Drunkard Bill said enthusiastically: "When His Majesty the King requisitioned this land, he compensated the people living on this land a large sum of money, and many people became rich in the city. All you need to do is bring your land deed." If you have the property deed, you can go directly to the supervisor of the Miracle Library over there, and he will pay you the expropriation fee immediately, so that you can get at least two hundred God's Choice Golden Dragons for your house."

"Two hundred golden dragons chosen by Gods? So much?" Brandon was also shocked. He knew very well that his house was only worth about fifty golden dragons at most, but now it can be sold for two hundred golden dragons chosen by Gods, and the price has increased several times. times, which made him a little unbelievable.

Drunkard Bill rolled his eyes at him and said, "That's not too much. Do you remember the old houses of Old Dog that have been abandoned for many years?"

Brandon thought about it and asked: "Are those ruins with only walls and no roofs left? Can those be sold for money?"

"Of course he can sell it for money, and he sold it for a high price of four hundred gold dragons. Now he has bought a villa in the outer city and married a woman. She is only in her twenties and is a refugee from the Riverlands. She can be his Granddaughter." Drunkard Bill said with envy, and despised the old dog for marrying a young woman, and habitually spat aside.

"Hey! Hey!" A whistle suddenly sounded, and then an old man with a red badge ran over and said to Drunkard Bill: "Two copper coins for spitting."

After saying that, he took out a stack of note-sized small strips of paper with patterns printed on the surface, tore off a piece and handed it to Drunkard Bill.

Drunkard Bill curled his lips, cursed, took out two copper coins, handed them to the other party, and took the note.

"What is this?" Brandon took the note and looked at it. He found that the paper was made of new paper. This new paper was said to have been invented by Lind Terra several years ago. It was already in use on the continent of Essos and soon replaced the old paper.

However, in Westeros, due to the obstruction of some forces, the application of new paper has not become popular.

"What kind of sanitation fine is this!" Drunkard Bill said slightly dissatisfied: "Our new king is good at everything, but he loves cleanliness too much. Not only does it stipulate that the toilet must be dumped at a fixed time for the perfume workers who transport feces, but also every day They all hire special people to clean the streets, and even send many health workers to monitor us. If we are caught by these health workers with so-called bad habits such as throwing garbage everywhere and spitting, we will be fined. The lowest is two copper coins, and the highest is He will even be fined a golden dragon."

Brandon was a little surprised and said: "A golden dragon? Why such a high fine?"

"It depends on who is punished." Drunkard Bill explained: "When the Duke of Mace left King's Landing, he was fined a gold dragon for throwing away garbage carelessly."

Brandon couldn't help but mutter: "It's incredible."

"Oh, by the way! There is one more thing to remind you." Drunkard Bill said as he took out a few more copper coins from his pocket and said: "His Majesty the King has unified the national currency, which is this kind of God's Choice Coin. It is no longer allowed to use privately minted currency for any transactions. You’d better take your money to the God’s Choice Bank and exchange it for the corresponding God’s Choice Coin.”

Brandon took the God's Choice Coin, looked at it, and handed it back to Drunkard Bill, saying, "Don't worry about that. The Free Trade City has already used the God's Choice Coin as its only currency."

Unifying the currency has always been what Lind has been doing. With him controlling most of the Free Trade City, coupled with Nymeria's Lorne Kingdom, he can forcefully promote the use of his own God's Choice Coin.

As long as you do business with the Miracle Chamber of Commerce, you must use the God's Choice Coin. At first, merchants on the Essos continent were not used to it, but as the benefits of using a single currency gradually became apparent, such as no need to exchange for other currencies and reducing the need for intermediate Exchange fees, etc., have caused merchants to actively use God's Choice Coins. Now even Braavos, who is hostile to Lind, has to use God's Choice Coins.

Brandon chatted with Drunkard Bill for a few more words, then agreed on a time and place to go drinking together, and separated from Drunkard Bill. He also found the construction site supervisor of the Miracle Library according to Drunkard Bill's instructions, and sent his The situation was told to him.

After learning about Brandon's situation, the supervisor carefully checked Brandon's land deed and house deed. After confirming that they were correct, he filled out a form, stamped his exclusive seal, and filled out the corresponding purchase information. After paying the amount of land, ask him to go to Miracle Bank to get the money.

Brandon looked at the amount filled in on the form in his hand and looked slightly surprised, because the amount was twenty gold dragons more than expected.

Afterwards, he went to the Miracle Chamber of Commerce. After taking out the land deed, house deed and previous forms, the Miracle Chamber of Commerce quickly handed him the corresponding number of golden dragons.

Although Brandon's assets now include more than a thousand gold dragons, he was still very shocked when faced with more than two hundred gold dragons.

When Brandon walked out of the Miracle Chamber of Commerce, a group of people immediately surrounded him. He was so scared that he thought it was a robbery. After all, this kind of thing happened often in the past.

However, the misunderstanding was soon resolved. It turned out that these people knew that Brandon was handling a house expropriation transaction and that Brandon must have received a large sum of money, so they wanted to sell new houses to Brandon.

Brandon happened to need a new place to live, so he bought a small villa in the new city outside the city wall from one of the people who seemed to be quite honest.