Chapter 58 Win-win

Lind was immediately shocked after hearing Nymeria's description. He didn't expect Nymeria to be so powerful.

But he soon discovered that something was wrong. If Nymeria was really so strong, how could she allow bandits to run rampant in this area, let alone rely on the people sent by her father to protect the safety of Tengshi Town.

Lind, who found the doubt, thought about it for a moment, and soon realized the trap of Nymeria's words. He looked at Nymeria, who turned her face aside and did not want to look at him, and said: "Earl Sir, are those thirty-seven villages under your control? Not to mention recruiting soldiers, can you collect some taxes from those villages?"

"Ahem!" Nymeria coughed twice, relieved her embarrassment, and then said a little bit harshly: "Those villages just broke off the relationship with Tengshi Town because of the bandits, and they are not under my control for the time being. Once the bandits are wiped out, those villages will definitely come under my command again. "

"So that means it's not that you led the troops to help me suppress the bandits, but that I led the troops to assist you in regaining the lost territory?" Linde directly pointed out the relationship between the two, and then couldn't help but smile: "Excuse me, Lord Earl, Did you come up with this idea?”

"Yes." Now that she had made it clear, Nymeria had no need to hide anything anymore. She nodded and said, "Actually, this approach is also good for you, Lord Linde. I am not the only one who can do it." profit."

"Tell me about it." Linde gestured.

Nymeria asked: "Lord Lynd, you should know how the Kingsguard wiped out the Kingswood Brotherhood, right?"

"I know." Linde nodded.

"At first it was difficult for the Kingsguard to completely wipe out the Kingswood Brotherhood. That was mainly because the villages around the Kingswood provided cover and supplies to the Kingswood Brotherhood. They could almost be said to be the logistics base of the Kingswood Brotherhood." Nymeli Ya Weiwei recounted: "Later, the Kingsguard changed their strategy and decided to capture those villages first, and then win over those villages through bribery and profit sharing, so that those villages would no longer provide supplies to the Kingswood Brotherhood, and no longer provide services to the Kingswood Brotherhood. They use cover to completely wipe out the Royal Forest Brotherhood."

Linde said: "You mean that the situation in those villages is the same as that of the villages around the Royal Forest. They are all providing cover and supplies to the bandits wandering around this area?"

"It's not just about covering up and providing supplies. People in some villages are usually just farmers, but once they see the caravan, they will become bandits." Nymeria smiled bitterly, as if she felt that the villages under her rule were like this. De Xing was a little embarrassed, but she did not stop talking and continued: "If you want to wipe out the bandits here, you must also deal with those bandit villages. This does not conflict with the cooperation I proposed, and with me joining, you are right It became justifiable for those villages to take action.”

It has to be said that Nymeria's words are very reasonable, and Lind can't find a point to refute for the time being.

After thinking for a moment, Lind extended his hand towards Nymeria and said: "I think I have no reason to refuse this cooperation, Lord Earl."

Nymeria also showed a little proud smile on her face, shook Lind's hand and said, "In this case, we have made an agreement."

Linde nodded and said: "Yes, that's what we have agreed. Of course, if you need to sign an oath contract with me, you can."

"No need! I never believe in any oath." Nymeria said with a look of disdain.

Afterwards, the two briefly discussed the general direction of cooperation, and after determining the key issue of Linde taking the lead in the bandit suppression operation, the subsequent details were left to Nymeria's bachelor and Linde's affairs officer to discuss.

After returning to the ruined camp from the tower house, Lind told his subordinates the process of his discussion with Nymeria. Although the matter was a foregone conclusion, he still wanted to hear their opinions.

After hearing this, Bryn Hewen couldn't help but sigh: "This countess is really not simple. I seem to see the shadow of Countess Sheila He'an of Harrenhal in her. They are all declining nobles. We are doing everything we can to keep the family going.”

Raul and Scar Eye didn't know much about these high-level politics, but they just instinctively felt that this matter would be beneficial to them.

On the contrary, Bert thought for a moment and then said: "The thirty-seven villages mentioned by Count Nymeria should not be all villages east of the Mander River, right? There should also be many villages west of the Mander River. It belongs to Tengshi Town, and Duke Tywin's army is currently operating there. If we help the earl regain those villages, we will definitely conflict with Duke Tywin's army. Doesn't this go against your original intention, sir?"

Hearing Bert's analysis, Lind couldn't help but frowned, and everyone fell into deep thought.

After a while, Bert suddenly spoke again and said, "Actually, we don't have to worry too much about the villages west of the Mander River."

"What do you mean, are we going to abandon those villages and let people from the Western Region occupy them?" Raul said displeased.

"Of course not." Bert shook his head and explained: "Actually, we can just focus on dealing with the bandits east of the Mander River and those villages that have escaped the control of Count Nymeria. After these villages are recovered, we can let Count Nymeria wrote a public letter of thanks to Highgarden, thanking Highgarden for sending Lord Lynd to help Tengshi Town suppress the bandits and regain the village. By the way, he mentioned in the thank-you letter that the army of the West now occupied those areas west of the Mander River. Villages, and those villages are lands that belong to the Reach."

"I understand!" Brin said with a look of surprise at this moment: "You want to force Gao Ting to die."

Bert shook his head and was about to explain.

Lind seemed to have seen through Bert's thoughts and said: "No, he is not forcing High Court to die, but forcing High Court to write a letter of accusation to the Iron Throne."

Burt smiled and nodded.

It is taboo for any noble to enter the territory of other lords without authorization and occupy other lords' villages. If you do it secretly, it will be fine if you are not caught. But if you are discovered, the nature of the matter will change. .

Once the High Court writes a letter of accusation to the Iron Throne, no matter how strong Duke Tywin is, he will not be able to withstand the accusations of the other six kingdoms. In the end, he can only withdraw the troops sent and give up the villages that have been controlled. The only way The problem is that it is not known whether the villages that were released can still be kept intact.

With Lord Tywin's character, he would definitely be willing to destroy them completely, and he would never give them up to anyone else.

However, this is not a bad thing for Nymeria. After all, those villages have been out of the control of Tengshi Town for many years. The villagers have long been separated from Tengshi Town. Even if they are recovered, it will take a long time and energy to regain these villagers. It is impossible to get the loyalty you want even by spending a lot of time and energy. After all, these villagers did not need to pay taxes before. Once they are taken back by Tengshi Town, the due taxes will definitely be indispensable.

Therefore, if Duke Tywin can completely clear out these villages and leave only the land, Nymeria can recruit free people to farm, which will make it easier to gain the loyalty of the new people.

And it's not just Nymeria who benefits, Linde can also get a stable source of troops.

In the following days, Nymeria led a hundred villagers selected by her to the ruins of the camp as agreed, and conducted cooperative training with Linde's cavalry.

In fact, the coordination training is very simple, that is, the cavalry team surrounds and kills the enemy through riding and shooting. When the enemy's army is completely defeated, Nymeria leads her warriors to charge into the formation and finish.

Although these warriors of Nymeria were farmers not long ago, this does not mean that their strength is poor. In fact, Nymeria consciously trained them in the sword and shield skills of Essos in the past. These farmers are already considered warriors. Like Nymeria, what they lack is actual combat experience.

So after completing several cooperation trainings, Linde arranged for the cavalry team to conduct actual combat training with these soldiers.

What's interesting is that if they fight alone, Linde's cavalry can easily defeat Nymeria's soldiers, but if the number becomes a ten-man team, then Linde's cavalry has almost no chance of winning. The sword and shield skills of the Tengshi Town soldiers cooperated with each other to form a battle formation effect, and easily suppressed Linde's cavalry. Of course, the premise was that the cavalry did not ride horses and were not equipped with bows and arrows.

The performance of these soldiers undoubtedly gave Linde a great surprise. The only problem was how to make good use of Nymeria and her men.

In addition, Linde's geographical intelligence has been greatly supplemented by the addition of Nymeria.

As a lord, Nymeria also has a certain grasp of the situation in her territory. She has provided a lot of information about the activity areas of thieves gangs, mountain people villages and wildling tribes, and she has also marked thieves and mountain people who can be attracted. came out, as for the savage tribes, they were all marked as non-negotiable.

Lind had different views on the nature of the wildling tribes. Although Nymeria was very smart and knowledgeable, and was a qualified lord, when it came to the wildlings, she was different from the other noble lords of the Seven Kingdoms. There is no difference in perception. They almost equate savages with beasts.

However, as a foreigner, Linde knew very well that the savage tribe was not inaccessible to communication. Especially the savage tribe that had been living in the south for a long time could not only communicate with each other, but also accept employment. More than ten years later, the little devil hired a man. A wildling army fights for Lord Tywin.

In fact, in Lind's view, the completely tamed savage tribe may be more in line with his requirements than the ordinary soldiers hired with money, because the single-minded savage tribe is not easy to betray.

After learning that Lind had the idea of ​​regaining the savage tribe, not only Nymeria looked at him with a strange look, but even Bryn, Raul, and Scar-Eye couldn't help but show strange expressions. Bert looked thoughtful.

"Burt, you seem to have a different opinion?" Lind asked after seeing Burt's expression.

Everyone also looked at Bert, because of his recent performance, they already regarded Bert as one of their own.

"Yes, sir." Bert nodded and said: "In fact, I spent some time with a savage tribe a few years ago. At that time, I injured my leg and was abandoned by my companions in the forest. If it hadn't been for the savage tribe to save me, Take me and take care of me until my wounds are healed and I may be dead."

As he said that, he looked at Nymeria and said: "I think the outside world is too discriminatory towards the savage tribe. In fact, the famous nobles and lords of the Seven Kingdoms can trace their ancestors back, and they also They are all from the savage tribe. There is no difference between the savage tribe and us. I think your idea of ​​regaining the savage tribe is feasible."

Lind nodded, turned to look at Nymeria, and asked: "Lord Earl, do you know where the closest savage tribe is from here?"

"Although I still don't think the savage tribe can be recovered, I have no objection if you want to try." Nymeria thought about it seriously and said: "Continuing upstream along the Mander River, there is a place called There is a tribe of savages in Butui Ridge. They migrated from the Riverlands more than ten years ago. They now number about 3,000 people. They usually focus on fishing and hunting and rarely attack the surrounding villages. If you. If you want to choose a target to recover, the savage tribe should be very suitable."

"I know that savage tribe," Bert interrupted at this time: "I passed near that tribe when we were marching. The tribe's warriors were watching us in the woods on both sides of the team, but I don't know how many there are."

"If you are going to the savage tribe, you'd better bring it with you." Nymeria pointed to Glory sitting at Lind's feet and said with a smile: "Many savage tribes worship the shadow lynx, and your This shadow lynx is so special, if you mess with it a little bit, it might be worshiped by the savage tribe as some sort of holy spirit."

Although Nymeria's words had a hint of teasing, hearing it in Lind's ears reminded him that glory might really play an extraordinary role in regaining the savage tribe.

Glory is now much bigger than when he left King's Landing. When standing on all fours, his back is already at the same level as Linde's waist, almost the same size as an adult shadow lynx, and Glory's body growth has not stopped yet. As for How big it will grow, Linde doesn't know.

Linde also thought about riding Glory in the future, but Glory was extremely averse to being ridden, even by Linde, the master.

Although Glory can play a big role in regaining the savage tribe, Linde does not intend to take Glory to contact the savage tribe immediately because the current shock effect of Glory is not big enough.

Linde could feel that after Glory absorbed the resentful soul energy from the ruins of the old Tengshi Town, his body would develop again in a short period of time. According to previous experience, this development period may take about ten days.

By then, Glory's size may have grown a lot, and it will definitely exceed the normal size of the shadow lynx. In addition, Glory's unique ability to continuously change the black and white stripes on its body, Lind believes that the savage tribes will feel... shocking.