Chapter 57 Cooperation with Nymeria

"I didn't expect you to solve my big trouble so easily." Nymeria Fudley met Lind, who had just returned from the battlefield, in her tower house, her tone full of disbelief.

Linde said solemnly: "It's just good luck. They didn't expect there would be a team like me. They thought Tengshi Town was all they had to deal with."

"What are you going to do next?" Nymeria asked again.

"After building the stronghold, re-build the dock first. It is too troublesome to transport supplies from the road. There are too many mountains, canyons and hills here. It is difficult for carriages to travel such roads. In addition, the old roads have been abandoned for too long. Many places They are all damaged. If they are not repaired, they are not suitable for carriages." Linde briefly introduced his thoughts, and then asked: "You don't mind if I demolish some ruins and use those stones?"

"I don't mind. If there weren't very few people here and there weren't many houses needed, those ruins would have been demolished long ago." Nymeria pointed to the current tower house and said, "This is built with the stone of the meeting hall. It’s very good and has been standing for hundreds of years.”

"Thank you, sir." Linde said.

"No, I should be the one to say thank you." Nymeria bowed to Linde and then said: "I think Lord Linde, you still have a lot to do, so I won't waste your time. I hope you have time. You can tell me about the battle."

"My Lord Earl, are you eager to fight?" Linde did not leave immediately, but asked with interest.

Nymeria turned to look at the double-edged giant ax hanging on the wall, and admitted directly: "Yes, I am eager to fight, but unfortunately my identity determines that I cannot fight freely. "

Linde looked at the double-edged giant axe. It could be seen that this weapon was made of plenty of materials, and the steel chosen was not much worse than Garland's two knight swords. It was not difficult to see from the state of the weapon that it had been regularly maintained. , the last maintenance was just these two days.

"Is that okay?" Linde asked, pointing to the double-edged axe.

"Of course." Nymeria nodded.

Linde walked over, took down the double-edged axe, and waved it casually a few times.

Although Lind could swing it easily, in terms of weight, this double-edged ax was much heavier than his knight's sword, almost as much as the combined weight of the two knight's swords.

"I can see that you don't know how to use an axe." Nymeria saw that Lind was swinging the ax easily but his movements were very clumsy. She stood up with a smile, took the giant ax from Lind's hand, and then like The demonstration usually started dancing inside the tower house.

It has to be said that Nymeria's double-edged ax technique is very clever. It is completely created to match her body shape and strength. It is very suitable for fighting in battle, especially in group attacks. Her ax can easily sweep over. The attack caused a large amount of damage, but because the movement was too large, it was not conducive to individual duels.

"Who taught you to fight?" Lind asked curiously when Nymeria stopped.

Nymeria calmed down her somewhat chaotic breathing, put the giant ax back on the shelf, and said: "A competitive champion from Meereen, someone paid a big price to teach me how to fight." As she said this, she seemed not to want it. Continuing this topic, he turned to look at Linde and said, "I watched you fight the Red Viper last night. You defeated him easily."

"Do you think the Red Viper is weak?" Linde asked.

"No, if the Red Viper is weak, then what am I like a child in front of him." Nymeria shook her head and said, "I hope you can train me and teach me how to fight?"

"Your fighting skills are already very mature and are very suitable for you. You don't need to be taught by others. The only thing you lack is actual combat." Lind shook his head. When Nymeria showed disappointment, he changed the subject and said : "If you don't mind, I can be your sparring partner."

A smile appeared on Nymeria's face and she said: "Thank you, Lord Linde! In that case, I won't delay Lord Linde from doing your work."

Linde did not stay here anymore and turned around to leave the tower house. When he passed by the village, the people in the village looked at him curiously. Apparently, the news about him annihilating the bandits had spread in Tengshi Town.

Linde also took a look at the people in Tengshi Town. He found that the people in Tengshi Town were all strong and more like soldiers than farmers. Judging from the walking movements of some people, they should also have received certain training. For military training, these people are undoubtedly a very suitable source of soldiers. The only drawback is that these people have masters.

Lind, who returned to the ruins, ordered Jon to write down everything that happened in the past few days, especially Duke Tywin's plan, the remnants of the Dragon family hiding in the valley, and the attitude of Countess Nymeria Fowdery. Written down.

After writing, stamp it with a seal, seal it with wax, and give it to Jon, asking him to bring a few people to deliver the report letter to Duke Tyrell immediately.

In order to avoid accidents, Linder did not let Jon take the land route. Instead, he asked the fishermen in Tengshi Town to buy a small fishing boat and let him sail down the Mander River. After reaching Bitter Bridge, he switched to horses.

After Jon left, the position of steward was handed over to Bert. Although Bert may not be very good at fighting, he did a very good job as steward, and he also gave great advice on building a stronghold. Lots of useful advice.

Because of the ready-made stone materials and foundations, the camp houses were built very quickly. It only took two days to build a prototype of the camp. Facilities such as barracks and stables would still take some time to build.

However, there were some problems with the construction of the pier.

Although the Mandeb River is a gentle river, even from the mountainous and hilly areas in the upper reaches to the plains in the middle reaches, the river water is very gentle, and there is almost no difference in height.

However, no matter how gentle the river looks, there are still differences in heights in the water, so it is very difficult to use a boat to go upstream to Tengshi Town upstream.

In the past, the unique method of long oar boats and trackers was used to allow downstream cargo ships to reach Tengshi Town smoothly. However, after Tengshi Town became ruins, the long oar boats and trackers disappeared on the Mander River. , so it is impossible for the materials on the Kuqiao side to be transported to Tengshi Town through the Mande River as Linde expected. They can only take the land route, so some people feel that there is no need to waste time and energy to rebuild the dock.

Brin and Raul both hold this idea. They feel that Linde should focus more on suppressing bandits and training the army. Things like rebuilding the docks waste precious manpower and have no substantive effect on suppressing bandits. .

But as a half outsider, Bert believed that rebuilding the dock would be of great help to Linde's career.

Because after the dock is repaired and the abandoned road connecting Tengshi Town to Rose Avenue is cleared, a more convenient one-way trade road can be formed.

Although the tax revenue generated by this trade route does not belong to Linde, Linde has tax exemption rights, so he can use this trade route to do freight business and earn military expenses.

From Bert's point of view, Linde's huge sum of more than 20,000 gold dragons seems to be a lot, but if there is no income, he will not be able to maintain an army for a long time. Whether it is salary, post-war rewards, etc., it is very important to Linde. It's a big burden to say the least, so Linde's top priority now is to make his wallet full.

Although what Bert said made sense, he actually didn't know much about Linde's actual situation. He didn't know that this army of two hundred people did not require Linde to pay wages, and even the daily consumption of grain, grass and other supplies was not required. No money is needed from Linde.

But Bert is right about one thing, that is, Linde really needs to keep his money bag full, because he will definitely need to expand his troops, and half of the military expenses for the expanded troops will need to be paid for by himself, as well as food and grass. Part of the funds, plus rewards and other miscellaneous expenses, combined into a large expenditure.

And more importantly, he didn't want to just recruit some farmers like other lords' armies, and then let the farmers prepare their own weapons for the battlefield, and then disband and go home after the war.

He wants to train a group of professional soldiers who will completely obey his orders. Even after the bandit suppression mission is completed, he can still control this army. Only with enough military power can he have enough voice, so weapons and equipment, etc. He needs to be responsible. Faced with such a large expenditure, 20,000 gold dragons are really stretched.

Although there are some problems, the matter of rebuilding the pier has not changed. Linde still feels that the pier should be rebuilt, but he does not intend to rebuild it alone.

"You want to repair and rebuild that abandoned dock?" Nymeria couldn't help but be stunned after hearing Lind's proposal, and asked doubtfully: "There were no merchant ships coming and going more than a hundred years ago, so what's the point of rebuilding it now?" use?"

"There are no commercial ships coming and going now, but that doesn't mean there won't be in the future." Linde explained seriously that after rebuilding the dock, he would clear out the abandoned road connecting Rose Avenue and remove the bandits and gangsters entrenched on both sides of the road. The mountain people and the savage tribes were cleared together, so that a group of southbound caravans could be diverted from Rose Avenue.

After Linde finished explaining, he said: "This is also good for you. The tax revenue brought by the caravan is a large amount of income. You can also build warehouses, trading centers, etc. here. I believe it will not take long. Stone Town can regain its former prosperity.”

After listening to Lind's narration, Nymeria looked at Lind with a strange expression and asked confusedly: "Lord Lind, you should be a knight of the Tyrell family, right?"

"Yes." Linde nodded.

Nymeria smiled and said: "But why do I feel that you are a knight of my Fodeli family?"

"The Duke has given me tax-free rights for a certain period of time. If the Tengshi Town business road is opened, I can use the tax-free rights to gain considerable benefits." Linde explained with a smile: "I have always been I believe in a win-win situation and it is very satisfying to be able to benefit yourself while helping your peers.”

"In that case, I agree with you to rebuild the ruined dock." Nymeria did not care about Lind's thoughts, and agreed to Lind's request straightforwardly, but she saw that Lind did not respond. Then he asked: "Do you have any more questions?"

"There are two problems." Linde said truthfully: "One problem is that I am currently short of manpower. Because of the need to suppress bandits, my people need to train and perform various tasks every day. There is no way to spare enough manpower. Come and rebuild the pier..."

Hearing Lind's words, Nymeria couldn't help but laugh and said, "It turns out that you just talked for a long time, but in the end you still asked me to rebuild the dock."

Linde responded: "I can pay the people involved in rebuilding the pier."

"No need. Since the dock is mine, I will naturally pay for it." Nymeria shook her head, rejected Lind's kindness, and then asked: "What about the second question?"

Linde continued: "The second problem is the problem of ships. Ordinary ships can only go down the river. If you want to go upstream from the middle reaches and return to Tengshi Town, you need the special long-oared boats of the past..."

Before Lind could finish speaking, Nymeria interrupted him again and said, "You don't have to worry about this. Some old people in my territory also know how to make this kind of long oar boat. I heard that this kind of Unless a long-oar boat carries too much cargo, it can return to Tengshi Town from the upstream by rowing alone.”

"In this case, then the matter is settled." Linde promised: "I will also clear the abandoned road as soon as possible."

"Wait, Lord Linde." Just as Linde was about to leave, Nymeria stopped him and said, "Sir. Linde, although you have finished speaking, I still have something to say."

Linde's expression was startled, but he quickly returned to normal and said, "Please tell me."

Nymeria said: "I hope to cooperate with you to suppress the bandits."

"Aren't we just cooperating now?" Linde asked confused.

"The cooperation I'm talking about is military cooperation." Nymeria said with a serious look: "Sooner or later, the Tyrell army you lead will leave here and return to Highgarden. If I need to keep trade routes open in the future, I will inevitably Bandits need to be cleared out regularly, so I need to prepare in advance." She paused and said in a deep voice, "I will personally lead troops to participate in every subsequent bandit suppression operation."

I have to say that Nymeria's proposal really moved Lind's heart. After all, he had been thinking about how to recruit farmers from Tengshi Town two days ago. Now Nymeria has taken the initiative to send it to his door, and he does not need any additional help. Paying wages is a good thing no matter how you look at it.

However, he did not agree. Instead, he thought about it and said, "Although I don't know how many residents there are in your Tengshi Town, I made a rough calculation and found that there are probably no more than two thousand people. Between these two thousand people, More than half of them are old, weak, sick and disabled. Among the remaining hundreds of people, there are probably less than 200 who can take up arms and fight immediately. Moreover, these two hundred people can be said to be the most important labor force in Tengshi Town, cultivating farmland and planting crops. We all need them. If there are a lot of casualties, it may affect the stability of Tengshi Town. I don’t want any trouble in Tengshi Town as the rear.”

Nymeria smiled and said: "Lord Linde, you made a mistake. Although I only control Tengshi Town now, I have thirty-seven villages in my territory. It has a total population of more than 70,000 people and can mobilize 10,000 young men. "