Chapter 64 Months of Change

Compared to a few months ago, Tengshi Town has completely changed its appearance. All the surrounding woods have been cut down. The thatched houses where the townspeople used to live have also been bulldozed along with the land around the village. All the felled trees have been Wooden houses were built, and the layout of the entire town was re-planned. The crisscrossing roads divided the town into different areas.

Although Tengshi Town is still just a prototype, it is not difficult to see from the road planning that when Tengshi Town is finally built, it will not be much worse than a city like New Tong City.

The citizens of Tengshi Town have been members of the Fu Deli family for generations. They have never abandoned the Fu Deli family for so many years, which can be said to be loyal.

Although Nymeria did not explain much to the townspeople about the reconstruction of Tengshi Town, they did not object. After all, they could be allocated new houses and new farmland, which was very good for them. Not to mention that you can get a daily commission of ten copper coins for participating in the reconstruction of the town, which is undoubtedly an additional income for the farmers in the town.

Compared to the town that was still in its infancy, the old wharf located in the ruins of the old Tengshi Town has been completely restored. All six docking stations have been replaced with stones taken from the ruins, making them stronger than before they were abandoned.

And at the same time as the restoration, the land around the dock was also cleared, and six or seven large warehouses and a long shed used for trading goods were built. As for the site specially used to park trucks and horses, it was also designated It's just that the horse gallery, garage and other facilities have not yet been built.

Extending from the dock, the middle area between New Tengshi Town and Old Tengshi Town, which is now used as a temporary military camp by Linde, has not been abandoned, but has been carefully designated as roads and houses.

However, Nymeria was not prepared to spend money to build this place. Maester Ives suggested that this place be handed over to the businessmen who gathered here soon, and Nymeria could sell the land here to obtain a sum of money, and at the same time Bind those merchants to New Tengshi Town.

Although most merchants are still waiting and watching, caravans have been arriving here since Linde spread the news that Tengshi Town has restored trade routes.

However, the long paddle boats used for freight had not yet been built, so Linde bought the merchants' goods. The grain and grass were received into the army's logistics, and other goods were stored in the warehouse of the military camp.

After the long oar boat was built and tested successfully, Lynd asked Jon to form a caravan to transport the goods to Highgarden.

More than ten days later, Jon returned to Tengshi Town together with four long-rowed boats, and they did not come back empty-handed, but brought some specialties of Highgarden. Although the cargo capacity was not comparable to that of going down the river, But the quantity is still considerable, and selling these goods can make Linde a big profit.

Linde did not hide the huge benefits he had earned this time. He even held a grand banquet for this purpose. Not only his men participated, but even ordinary farmers and caravans in Tengshi Town also participated. All got invitations.

With this banquet, the news that people can make a lot of money by taking goods through Tengshi Town's business route will soon spread, and a large number of businessmen will gather here.

Nymeria also stepped up the construction of long oars and doubled the dock again to facilitate the docking of ships.

Perhaps seeing business opportunities, the caravans who came to Tengshi Town did not resell all their goods to Linde this time. Instead, they directly rented or bought those long-oared boats. The caravans who were not able to take the long-oared boats also The goods will be temporarily stored in the warehouse, waiting for the new ship to be built.

When Jon came back, he told Lynd the story of the shipment.

Things were indeed as Lind expected. After the ship arrived at Bitterbridge, it did encounter difficulties from Baron Caswell of Bitterbridge, who blocked them from allowing the ship to pass through Bitterbridge.

However, when Jon met Baron Caswell directly, he told the story of the attack after he left Bitterbridge.

Although it was not pointed out that it was Baron Caswell who did it, he gave hints everywhere. Later, he showed Baron Caswell the reply letter written by Duke Tyrell to Linde, and directly pointed out Duke Tyrell's relationship with him in the letter. The Mandeb River is important for water navigation.

Naturally, Baron Casway could not say anything more and could only let them go, and when the fleet returned from Highgarden, he did not create any difficulties.

This made Linde feel a little regretful. He really wanted to change the owner of the Kuqiao Bridge to a more obedient one. After all, the Kuqiao Bridge was too important to the river transport trade route of the Mande River. It's very unsettling in the hands of someone you dislike.

However, now that Baron Custer has not caused himself any more trouble and it is not easy to attack him, Lind can only keep this matter in mind for the time being.

In fact, businessmen had already settled here a few months ago, but instead of buying a piece of land to build houses, these businessmen set up some tents outside the ruined military camp and started doing business with the soldiers in the military camp.

Although Linde did not like brothels, taverns and casinos, he had to admit that giving his cavalry a place to spend money and vent their energy was beneficial to the stability of the army.

It's just that Nymeria's mood is a little complicated, because she never thought that the first tax she received after rebuilding Tengshi Town would be paid by prostitutes, and not from a certain amount of tax on the transit of goods.

In the Seven Kingdoms, the transit tax on goods is the most important tax among all the taxes of the lords. For example, among the various taxes in Bitterbridge, the transit tax accounts for one-third of all taxes.

However, at Lind's suggestion, Nymeria canceled the transit tax. Although she didn't know why Lind suggested this, and Maester Eves also wanted to stop her from making fun of the transit tax, she believed Lind did this. He must have his intentions.

Linde did not explain too much, because soon the news of Nymeria's cancellation of transit tax would spread, and the benefits of this matter would follow, and there would be no need to explain Nymeria by then. Leah also knew what was going on.

Nearly two months have passed since he met Wenda the White Deer. He has recruited more than a hundred remaining members of the Kingswood Brotherhood under his command, forming a secret force similar to the Night's Watch Rangers.

In normal times, they still operate as bandits around Tengshi Town, and add the road from Tengshi Town to Rose Avenue to their territory, and expel the bandits around this territory to ensure the safety of the road. caravan security.

As for the public statement, the lords of Tengshi Town are willing to pay them a protection fee on a regular basis to allow them to maintain the smooth flow and safety of this trade road.

Although Linde spent this time in the ruined military camp training troops and handling some matters related to the reconstruction of Tengshi Town, it seemed that he had never left the military camp, but in fact every night, Linde would share the vision with Glory, together Activities around Tengshi Town to understand the situation in the surrounding areas.

Lind also tried to test the distance limit of the spiritual connection between the two, so he asked Glory to swim across the Blackwater River, enter the Riverlands, and go outside Harrenhal next to the Lake of the God's Eye.

Even though he was so far away, his spiritual connection with Glory still did not weaken, as if Glory was always by his side.

Through Glory's eyes, he also saw that Harrenburg also had a large amount of resentful soul energy surrounding the entire ruin-like castle. However, there was no dragon soul in these resentful soul energies, so Glory did not have any desire to devour it. He could even feel that Glory's heart was extremely disgusted with this kind of resentful soul energy, as if his appetite had been nourished.

After going to Harrenhal, Linde did not let Glory go north again, but let it go south. A week ago, he went to the Kingswood and met the Son of the Forest, Sparkle.

There is almost no need to look for Glory. The moment it enters the Kingswood, the tree house of Spark, the Son of the Forest, emerges from the ground.

When Hua Hua saw Glory for the first time, she was shocked because she didn't expect Glory to be so big and special.

What's even more amazing is that she can see Linde possessing Glory, and even directly talk to Linde in Tengshi Town through Glory.

She asked about Glory, mainly why Glory became like this, and Linde did not hide it. He also told the story that Glory can swallow resentful souls and will grow rapidly after swallowing resentful souls. Huo Huo heard that he just concealed the fact that Glory could swallow the dragon soul.

Huo Huo didn't understand this matter, so he left Glory in the royal forest. After studying for several days, he still couldn't come up with a reason. The only thing that was certain was that Glory's growth had not stopped yet, which meant that it would continue next time. By absorbing the energy of resentful souls, Glory can continue to grow.

Although during the day, when Linde did not control Glory, he would let Glory hide himself in the forest to avoid being seen, but some unlucky farmers and hunters still saw Glory, or it was Glory that deliberately let them see it. , it likes to see those people scared to death by it.

After teasing those people several times, news began to spread about a black monster haunting the lands between the Riverlands, the Reach, the Westerlands and the Crown.

When the news reached Tengshi Town, people who had seen Glory's huge size quickly realized that the so-called black monster was actually Linde's pet, and these people also revealed the news while drinking. , but even if they speak in unison and swear, not many outsiders believe their words.

Although Linde did not go to the mountain people villages and savage tribes around Tengshi Town, Linde asked Glory to visit from time to time and appear in front of those mountain people and savages, which caused some psychological shock to these people. , when he starts to get in touch with these mountain villages and savage tribes, this kind of shock will help him a lot.

The reason why Linde did not go to Butt Ridge further upstream of the Mander River and capture the savage tribe there as planned was entirely due to the unexpected appearance of White Deer Wenda. With the addition of the remaining members of the Kingswood Brotherhood, Linde had temporarily There is no need to expand one's manpower by taking down the barbarian tribe, and the Kingswood Brotherhood is much easier to use than the barbarians, at least when it comes to dealing with bandit gangs.

"Give these two documents to Scar Eye and Brin respectively. The batch of goods they are responsible for will be shipped out today." Linde signed his name on the two shipping documents, stamped them, and handed them to those who had just left the house. Jon walked in and asked, "Have the materials delivered to White Deer Wenda been handed over?"

After taking the document, Jon said: "It has been handed over, but they said there is too much smoked fish. Can they change the food next time?"

Linde ordered: "Then change it to bacon! The kind I taught you to make."

"Isn't that the same as smoked fish?" Jon couldn't help but muttered in a low voice after hearing this.

"Is there anything else?" Lind naturally heard it, so he looked at Jon and asked.

"Well, there's one more thing." Jon was about to say, but hesitated and looked at Nymeria, who was also working at the other side of the room.

When Tumbling Stone Town was being renovated, Nymeria also demolished her lord's tower house and had the abandoned castle on the top of the hill in Old Tumbling Stone Town renovated. Before the castle was restored, she lived in the forest. He worked in De's ruined military camp and in Linde's meeting hall.

Lind looked at Nymeria and said: "It doesn't matter, just say it! Nymeria is both a collaborator and a friend, no different from one of us."

Although Nymeria was busy with her own affairs, she was also listening to the conversation between Lind and Jon. After hearing Lind's answer to Jon's question, she couldn't help but have a satisfied smile on her face. .

"Finance Officer Moose has contacted Sir Reese," Jon took out the letter he had just received, placed it on the table, and reported at the same time: "But Sir Reese seems to have misunderstood that Bert is our prisoner. He demands ransom."

Linde was stunned when he heard this, and asked doubtfully: "Didn't Bert write a letter to his father?"

"The letter was too short and the content was ambiguous, so Sir Reese had a misunderstanding." Jon said as he took out the manuscript document recording the contents of Bert's letter and placed it in front of Lynd.

Lind looked at it and felt that if he didn't know Bert's true situation, there would be ambiguity.

Nymeria also came over curiously, looked at the document, and couldn't help laughing.

Lind raised his head and glanced at Nymeria, then asked Jon: "What now? Has the misunderstanding been resolved?"

Jon replied: "It has been lifted, but Sir Reese doesn't seem to believe that Bert's current situation is as good as what Moose introduced, so he needs to come here to take a look first, make sure, and then decide whether to become our logistics supplier."

"That makes sense." Lind nodded and asked, "When will Sir Rees arrive?"

Jon responded: "It's here, along with Moose's letter."

Linde was stunned after hearing this, then he smiled angrily and said, "Why didn't you talk about such an important thing before entering the house?"

Jon said innocently: "When I wanted to say something, you asked me to wait aside for a while."

Lind opened his mouth to curse him, but he still endured it, then stood up from the chair, turned to Nymeria and said: "As the master of Tengshi Town, it is inappropriate for you not to be here."

"I also happen to want to get to know this great merchant." Nymeria also nodded and said.

After saying that, the two of them walked out of the room and walked towards the dock.