Chapter 61 Unexpected

The next day, Linde and Nymeria each led a hundred people as planned to a free folk village closest to Tengshi Town.

However, to the surprise of the two, it was easier than they expected to regain the free folk village. Without any effort, the village expressed its willingness to swear allegiance to Nymeria and become Nymeria's subjects. .

This was not an isolated case. In the next three days, the two of them took two hundred people along the abandoned road and visited seven free people villages near the road. The people in those villages had no idea about becoming Nymeria's subjects again. Anyone who resists is willing to swear allegiance to Nymeria and become a citizen of Tengshi Town.

Later, through the words revealed by the people in these villages, Linde and Nymeria figured out why these free people villages, which had previously been extremely resistant to becoming territorial citizens, had now undergone such a big change in attitude.

The reason for this was partly due to the bandits that Linde deliberately let go. When these bandits were fleeing, they also spread the story of how Linde easily annihilated the bandit alliance with a number of seven to eight hundred people. There was quite a stir among the gangs of robbers in the area north of Bitterbridge.

After all, although there are many bandits here, the largest bandit group only has one or two hundred people, and most of them only have a few dozen people. Now a bandit alliance of hundreds of people has been wiped out easily, which makes them think of the imperial concubine back then. The scene of Lin Tiewei wiping out the Royal Forest Brotherhood.

Later, they learned that the person who led the army to suppress the bandits this time was Linde, a legendary figure who almost killed a hundred people at the King's Landing Tournament. They became even more worried. They felt that Linde could easily do it alone. Killing hundreds of people, if you add the army, their number of people is not enough to crack Lindsey's teeth.

Therefore, the bandits entrenched in this area either hid in the mountain forests and observed the situation before deciding the next step, or they went north to the Blackwater River to temporarily avoid Linde's sharp edge, and some simply crossed over directly. Rose Avenue, went to the opposite storm land to seek life.

These bandits have more or less connections with the villages in this area. Their movements are naturally noticed by the people in the village, and the people in the village are also affected. They feel that this time the nobles are going to do something. Let’s solve the problem of bandits ruthlessly.

Under the influence of this fear and panic, when the people in the village saw Linde and Nymeria arriving with fully armed troops, they dared not resist. Naturally, it was Nymeria who made any request. They agree to whatever is requested.

As for whether those requirements can be fulfilled, they can't think about it. They need to get through this difficulty first. Perhaps in their opinion, even if they can't fulfill it, they can escape to the mountains and become mountain residents at the worst.

In addition to the deterrent effect generated by Linde's encirclement and suppression of the bandit alliance, the people in these villages are also unable to survive. This is also an important reason why they, the free people, are willing to be ruled by Nymeria.

Although these villages have grown all kinds of food, because they are not territorial citizens and have no protection from the lord, anyone can steal their things and will not be punished by the laws of the Seven Kingdoms. Therefore, they are worried that even if they have grown food, they will not be able to survive. They would also be easily snatched away, and they would not be in the mood to take care of the farmland, and the food produced would barely be enough to make ends meet.

The main source of income for these villages is actually helping the bandit gangs sell stolen goods.

Selling stolen goods is not just as simple as selling the stolen goods. Sometimes it is also necessary to change the stolen goods. These villages are mainly engaged in this industry and obtain part of the profits from the stolen goods.

However, since the beginning of the Usurper's War, the trade route of Rose Avenue has been in a semi-abandoned state. Even if a caravan passes through Rose Avenue, there are so many guards accompanying the caravan that they cannot grab much at all.

If you can't grab something, there will be no loot. Without the loot, these villages will have no extra income.

Over the past year, some of the money accumulated by these villages has been almost consumed. If they continue, they will definitely starve. Now the arrival of Nymeria just gives them a chance to solve the problem of survival.

"If this is the case, then I can take back all the villages without spending a single soldier." After understanding the situation, Nymeria said excitedly.

"Do you have so much food?" Lind poured cold water on Nymeria and said, "Before the autumn harvest, you need to provide food to feed them. After the autumn harvest, the food in their hands will not be there." There will be a lot, and you also need to provide food to fill the gap. Next spring, you will also need to provide seeds and pray for good weather next year, otherwise you will need to continue to provide food to take care of them. "

After hearing what Linde said, Nymeria was stunned for a long time and was speechless.

Linde continued: "Of course, you can also ignore them completely and let them fend for themselves. In that case, your bad reputation will spread. When the time comes, if you want to regain these villages so smoothly, you will not Too possible."

Nymeria's face also became a little ugly. She also realized the seriousness of the problem and was glad that Lind stopped her, otherwise the consequences would be disastrous.

Not to mention taking care of all the villages now, it is very difficult for her to take care of even the villages that she has sworn allegiance to.

Lind looked at Nymeria's gloomy expression and said with relief: "You don't have to worry too much. We can provide work-for-relief to solve their living problems and also solve the problem of repairing the roads."

"Work-for-relief?" Nymeria looked at Lind in puzzlement. Obviously, there was no such practice in this world.

Linde explained: "We can pay to hire people from these villages to repair the roads. Once the roads are repaired, the docks are restored, the ships are ready, the trade routes start to operate, and caravans use this road, these villages can be used as merchants." It will be a resting station for the team. When the time comes, they will find ways to earn extra income to support themselves, and they will not need you to take care of them.”

Nymeria nodded after hearing this, and then asked Lind: "Are you still going to those mountain villagers?"

Linde shook his head and said in a deep voice: "There is no need to go. If those mountain people villages surrender directly like these villages, we will be really in trouble. I heard they said that the smallest mountain people village nearby has two thousand people." Multiple people.”

"It's impossible for the mountain people to surrender so easily." Nymeria said with a smile: "The mountain people here are not as tough as the free people in these villages. They are much wilder. Either you beat them severely. He must be unable to hold his head up, or cut off his head directly, otherwise he will not be able to surrender. "

Lind looked at Nymeria and said, "It seems that you have dealt with the mountain people."

Nymeria raised the ax in her hand and said: "Half a year ago, an arrogant mountain leader came to be my suitor, and I chopped off his head."

Just when Linde was about to ask the mountain man if there was any revenge in the village later, he suddenly felt someone spying on him, so he turned his head and looked towards the top of the hillside where the spying source was.

Nymeria also noticed Lind's actions and glanced at the top of the hillside. Although she saw nothing, she still guessed the reason for Lind's actions. She immediately raised the giant ax in her hand and shouted loudly. Said: "Alert!"

Following Nymeria's order, the hundred sword and shield soldiers from Tengshi Town immediately swarmed up, protecting Lind and Nymeria in the middle. After seeing Lind's gesture, the Guards also They quickly rushed towards the hillside, taking away their short bows at the same time, ready to attack at any time.

After a while, the Guards soon escorted the two people down the hillside. Although the distance was a bit far, it was still clear that the two men were not dressed like free people, mountain people, or savages.

The two of them arrived in front of Linde and Nymeria. Before Linde could speak, they all knelt in front of them and said in unison: "Messenger, messenger! We are messengers, we are messengers!"

Upon hearing the two calling themselves, Linde and Nymeria looked at each other, and then Nymeria asked in a deep voice: "Whose messenger are you?"

"Our leader's messenger." One of them replied quickly.

"Who is your leader?" Nymeria asked again.

"Our head is our head." Apparently the person who answered was somewhat simple-minded.

Just when Nymeria asked again impatiently, Lind stopped her and asked himself: "What do you want by sending you here?"

"Negotiation, our leader wants to negotiate with the bear hunter Lind." After one person answered, his eyes looked back and forth between Lind and Nymeria, and then fell on Nymeria, who was obviously taller and stronger. Ya body, said: "Our leader wants to negotiate with you, the bear hunter Linde."

Seeing the wrong judgment made by the other party, Nymeria suddenly had the urge to split him in half with an axe. When she saw Lind with a smile on his face, she raised her eyebrows and gritted her teeth and asked: " Is this funny? Lind the Bear Hunter."

Lind did not answer Nymeria who was a little embarrassed. He looked at the two bandits in front of him and asked, "How do you want to negotiate with us?"

The two looked at each other and said, "Four days later at night, in the valley outside Tengshi Town."

"Valley?" Linde and Nymeria looked at each other and vaguely guessed where the valley was.

The two bandits thought they didn't know where the valley they were talking about was, so they pointed out the location of the valley in detail. Just as Lind and Nymeria thought, this valley was the valley where the remnants of the Long family were hiding.

"Let them go." Linde ordered.

The rider released the two bandits. The two bandits looked at Linde and Nymeria, then hunched out of the crowd, ran towards the nearest forest as if running away, and disappeared from everyone's eyes.

"What kind of messengers do you believe they really are?" Nymeria asked.

Linde said nonchalantly: "There's no loss anyway, it's just two robbers."

"I'll go with you that day," Nymeria requested.

Linde looked at her and nodded without refusing.

Although eight villages were successfully recovered, the matter did not end there. Later, Nymeria would need to send people to deliver some food to these villages. In addition, she would also need to assign some tasks to hire them to repair roads, etc.

However, Lind had no intention of taking care of these matters personally. When he was at the camp two days later, he handed over the matter to Bert and Jon, and Nymeria was also handed over to Maester Ives.

Since there was no anti-bandit operation for the time being, Linde left the daily training of the army to Brin, Raul and Scar Eye respectively, while he went to the ruins of the castle at the top of the old Tengshi Town to take care of the evolving of glory.

Ten days ago, Glory fell into a deep sleep after eating food that was almost the same size as its body. Lind was able to sense some unpredictable changes taking place in Glory's body through his spiritual connection with Glory.

In order to avoid attracting unnecessary attention, he sent Glory to the ruins of the castle at the top of the hillside, and asked people to guard the ruins, waiting for Glory to wake up after his body transformation was completed.

However, after ten days, there was no sign of Glory waking up. If Linde had not been able to sense Glory's situation through spiritual contact, he might have thought that something had happened to Glory.

Just when he returned to the camp, he sensed that the changes in Glory's body had stopped and Glory was gradually awakening. This time, the evolution caused by the resentful soul energy seemed to be over.

So he put down what he was doing and came to the ruins of the castle to wait for Glory to wake up.

After this evolution, Glory's body size has grown again as Linde expected. Lying on the ground, it is already much higher than Linde's waist. If the limbs are upright, it may be the same as Linde's current height. As tall as they are, such a huge creature can already be considered a giant beast.

Such a huge size reminded Lind of Arya Stark's direwolf Nymeria more than ten years later. It seemed that the direwolf later became the wolf king and moved around the riverlands, and its shape was beyond Extraordinarily huge.

Being huge has both advantages and disadvantages. The advantage is that it can give people an unimaginable sense of shock. If this kind of shock is placed on the battlefield, it may have the effect of reversing the situation of the battle. There are also disadvantages. Then Even if your body is bigger, you are more likely to be shot by weapons such as bows and arrows, and you will become a living target if you are not careful.

However, Glory didn't seem to need to worry about this, because Linde touched Glory's fur and found that Glory's black and white fur acted as a soft armor, able to defend against certain weapon attacks, and the skin under the fur was even more... It is extremely tough, and it would be difficult for ordinary swords to damage it.

Although the mutation of Glory's body had stopped, its awakening was very slow. Linde waited for another day and night to fully wake up.

However, after waking up, it seemed that it was still not used to its enlarged body. When it saw the much smaller Linde, its eyes were full of confusion. It took a long time to confirm that Linde was its master, and he rubbed his head affectionately. Rub Linde.

However, it obviously underestimated its own strength. It didn't hold back when it rubbed against Linde, and knocked him away. Afterwards, it looked at Linde with an aggrieved look, as if complaining that Linde was not getting close to it.