Chapter 73 On the road

The long paddle boat that Bert arranged for Linde was the largest one. From the captain to the sailors, they were all veterans who had been on the Mander River channel several times. Although they could not say that they knew every location on this waterway. They know everything, but they also know the safest way to go.

Originally, Bert was not planning to load the ship, and it was only used to transport Linde and the others, but Linde refused. In Linde's opinion, this boat trip could earn dozens of silver deer, and it could not be wasted like this. .

So Burt simply stuffed all the furs accumulated in the warehouse into the cargo hold. Linde and the others even had to sit on the goods, which made Linde dumbfounded.

Taking a boat is not a big problem for Linde and Jon, but it is a pain for Glory. It actually gets seasick. From the moment it got on the boat, it has been lying on the cargo, looking listless and motionless. It will only sit on Linde's side. While stroking its head, he stretched out his tongue and licked Lind's palm.

However, the dragon rune magic attached to the sword of the Homeless Knight seemed to be able to help Glory relieve some of the symptoms of discomfort, so Linde took off the two swords of the Homeless Knight and let Glory hold them in his arms, and they changed slightly. Gotta be more energetic.

Although Glory was extremely uncomfortable and could only lie down, unable to show its true style at all, for other people on the ship who had only heard legends about Glory, such a huge shadow lynx was enough to make them feel scared and shocked. .

Sailing at night is taboo, so in order to avoid any accidents, the speed of the ship is only half of that during the day. It is not until after dawn that the fog on the river completely subsides, and the captain orders the sailors to sail at full speed.

By noon, they had arrived at Kuqiao, almost half a day faster than before.

When the boat passed under the stone arch bridge on the Mander River, Linde looked at the Bitterbridge Castle at both ends of the stone bridge, and couldn't help but feel a sigh in his heart.

A few months ago, when he walked across the Bitter Bridge, he was just a knight's attendant. But now that he passed the Bitter Bridge again, he was already a knight who commanded a heavy army, and he was also a knight canonized by the king. The significance of this Extraordinary.

At this time, he thought of the blacksmith's son who had caused him some trouble, and asked Jon about that man.

After all, Jon was also an implicated person and almost died due to the irrational revenge of Baron Bitterbridge. Naturally, he was very interested in the culprit who caused all this, so he would also ask people for information about that person.

Jon thought for a while and replied: "Someone saw him appearing at the dock of Tor City in Dorne and boarding a cargo ship heading to the other side of the Narrow Sea. He must have escaped to the other side of the Narrow Sea."

Linde didn't show any emotion after hearing this and just nodded.

The ship did not stop at the Bitter Bridge, but continued to move forward. However, the section of the Mandeb River from the Bitter Bridge to the Long Table Hall is the gentlest of all the stretches of the Mandeb River. It is so gentle that the ship needs to spread out. The sails, relying on the wind power and arranging some people to row, can keep the ship's speed at normal sailing speed.

It is precisely because this section of the river is very gentle that a large amount of silt washed down from the upper reaches accumulates on this plain. In addition, the Lamboon River, a tributary of the Mandeb River on the other side, also brings a large amount of silt from the upper reaches, making it The land in this delta plain is extremely fertile. Any seeds planted can grow and mature on their own without careful care, and they can mature several times a year.

Unfortunately, this place is just on the side of the Rose Avenue, close to the Kingswood. Next to it is a large number of mountains and forests where you can hide. A little further to the southeast is the junction of Dorne, the Reach and the Stormlands, so the bandits entrenched in this area are not at all vulnerable. There are no less than the bandits in the surrounding areas of Tengshi Town, and there are even many more, because many Dornish people like to pretend to be bandits, come here to rob, and then escape back to Dorne.

Therefore, although this land is extremely fertile, no one is willing to risk their lives to cultivate it.

However, as the Duke of Highgarden begins to focus on wiping out the bandit gangs entrenched on both sides of Rose Avenue, it will not be long before this fertile land becomes an important food production area for the Tyrell family.

On the river, Linde could see groups of cavalry galloping past on the riverside road from time to time, and he could also see groups of ragged farmers dragging their families forward. It was not difficult to see that the Duke of Highgarden was interested in determination to govern this land.

Because it was traveling very slowly, the ship did not reach the junction of the Lamboon River and the Mander River until late at night, the territory of the Mariweis family in Long Table Hall.

After a day and night of sailing, the sailors were exhausted, and the captain could only let the ship dock at the dock of Long Table Hall for one night before continuing the voyage.

The pier of the Long Table Hall is located in a natural river bend on the east side of the castle. Judging from the condition of the facilities on the pier, it is not difficult to find that this pier should be newly built. However, due to funding and manpower issues, the pier facilities are not complete yet, but the tax The official has already made arrangements.

When Linde's boat docked at the dock, the tax official came over and asked for the transit fee.

Because there was no light in the middle of the night, and because Glory turned the fur on his body back to black, he was completely hidden from the taxman.

After the captain handed the tax exemption certificate stamped with Linde's seal to the tax officer, the tax officer's face became a little ugly and he left cursing.

It is not difficult to see from the tax officer's attitude that the lords along the Mander River were very dissatisfied with Linde's tax-free rights.

Owain Marevius of Long Table Hall can be said to be one of the few die-hard royals in the Reach. During the Mad King's period, he was deprived of his territory and title by the Mad King because of his inability to conquer Robert, the usurper at the time, and was expelled. Westeros.

However, there is also a rumor that Earl Owen, who was the prime minister at the time, had seen that the Targaryen dynasty was bound to come to an end, so when he conquered Robert, he deliberately let loose to give Robert enough time to grow stronger.

Now it seems that this rumor may not be false, because after Robert ascended the throne, Prime Minister Jon Arryn immediately sent people to the Essos continent to retrieve Earl Owen and his family. The originally deprived territories and The title was returned to him.

For this reason, Earl Owen is very loyal to King Robert. In name, he is a vassal of Highgarden. In fact, he directly takes orders from the Iron Throne. It seems that the Iron Throne is an important nail in the Reach.

Because of this, Earl Owen was very disgusted with various orders from the High Court, which naturally included the tax-free rights in the Reach given to Lind by Duke Tyrell. He believed that Duke Tyrell was deliberately robbing him. The wealth of the vassal, and his view more or less affected the thoughts of the lower-level officials in the Long Table Hall.

However, for Linde, this is not an important matter. As long as the other party does not deliberately cause trouble for him, then there is no need for him to conflict with the other party.

After a night's rest, Linde's boat was on the road before the sun came up in the early morning.

After the Mandeb River passes through Long Table Hall, it enters the middle reaches. Although this section of the waterway is very fast, the river is not very deep. There are a large number of shoals and reefs on the river. Fortunately, the water flow here is not too deep. It's so fast that even if you find shoals and reefs, you still have enough time to avoid them.

When the ship entered the danger zone, the captain asked a sailor with good vision to climb onto the railing, observe the movement on the river in the distance, and direct the ship to avoid danger.

As the Mandeb River enters the middle reaches, there are more and more ships on the river. These ships are all flexible shuttle-shaped boats. Although they do not carry a lot of cargo, they are flexible enough. No matter how dense the reefs and shoals are in the water, It can also move freely inside.

However, with the opening of the Mander River channel, the long paddle boats in Tengshi Town also took away some business from these small boats to a certain extent, making them very resentful of the long paddle boats.

However, because the long paddle boats were usually equipped with guards equipped with crossbows, they did not dare to do anything to the long paddle boats. They could only spit at the long paddle boats when they passed by them.

Because this section of the river is very complicated and cannot be navigated at night, Linde's boat docked at a simple pier in a small fishing village called Fresh Fruit Village before dark.

This small fishing village happens to be located in a natural river bend, which is very suitable for docking boats. In addition to Linde's boat, there are more than twenty boats docked here, thirteen of them are long paddle boats from Tengshi Town.

This small fishing village belongs to the territory of the Cider Hall. It may be on the edge of the territory all year round, so the Cider Hall seems to have not realized the value of this small fishing village. Otherwise, the small wharf should have been expanded three or four times by now.

Because there are so many ships docked here, each long paddle boat has a guard, which makes people feel safe here and relax their vigilance.

In the early morning of the next day, when the river fog cleared, I heard people on several boats shouting that their cargo had been stolen. Fortunately, not many things were stolen.

Compared with others who never knew who stole the goods on these ships, Linde saw through the eyes of glory last night how these people climbed onto the ship from the water, stole the goods, and then escaped. Back to that small fishing village.

The stolen ships all came from Green Valley City in the upper reaches of the Blue Boon River, transporting goods from the Stormlands. Although there is no competitive relationship yet, sooner or later it will cause some obstacles to the freight in Tengshi Town, so they were damaged. , Linde is happy to see the results.

The section of river back from this small fishing boat was a little easier to walk. There were not so many shoals and reefs on the river, and the speed of the long paddle boat was also much faster. Just after noon, we arrived at the Cider Hall.

Almost all ships sailing on the Mander River will inevitably see the Fossoway family's magnificent castle across the Mande River when they come here, and they will also sigh from the bottom of their hearts about the profound heritage of the Fossoway family.

If one were to count down the oldest families in the entire Reach, the Fossoway family would definitely be among the top three.

Their family originated from the archer Fosso, the son of Garth Greenhand, and their family background was only slightly weaker than the Gardener family, which originated from the eldest son of Garth Greenhand. Therefore, after the Gardener family was destroyed by Aegon the Conqueror, the Fossoway family should have been the strongest. A family that was qualified to become the Lord of Highgarden was passed over by the Tyrell family as stewards. In the eyes of the Fossoway family, this was simply equivalent to a servant seizing the master's property.

So all this time, the Fossoway family has been causing trouble for the Tyrell family overtly and covertly, always thinking about pulling the Tyrell family down from the throne of the Warden of the South and the Duke of the River Bend, even if they split into green apples and red apples. Apple, whose strength has been greatly reduced, still has no intention of giving up on the throne of Lord of the Reach.

Although the Fossoway family now recognizes the Tyrell family's status as king due to various reasons, people in the entire Reach know that this recognition is just a verbal recognition, and the Fossoway family will not hesitate to do so if given the opportunity. He hesitated to attack the throne in Highgarden.

Perhaps it is to maintain a high enough reputation for his family in the Reach, or perhaps it is for other purposes. In short, the heads of the Fossoway family in the past generations like to hold martial arts tournaments in the Cider Hall. Basically, as long as there are any major festivals, A tournament will be held.

Although the championship bonus cannot be compared with King Robert's championship bonus of tens of thousands, for those hired knights and wandering knights, the tourney in the Cider Hall is the best place to become famous, and the nobles of the Reach also like it. Find knights you like and hire them at the tourney in the Cider Hall.

Therefore, these tournaments have indeed given the Fossoway family a good reputation in the Reach, where chivalry is prevalent. Even wandering knights in remote places know the reputation of the Fossoway family in the Reach. Once they know the fruit wine The hall holds a martial arts competition. Unless you really can't make it, you will rush to participate in it no matter how far away you are.

When Linde's ship arrived, the Cider Hall happened to be holding a tournament. Judging from the excitement on the shore, it was not much worse than the tournament in King's Landing. A rough count of the noble families hanging on the walls of the castle Emblem flag, almost most of the Reach nobles came, which also shows how high the Fossoway family's reputation is in the Reach.

Among the flags, there are also members of the Tyrell family, but I don’t know who the Tyrell family sent.

"I think it might be Master Garlan." Jon said, looking up at the banner of the Tyrell family.

"Why?" Lind asked.

Jon said: "I heard that Lady Olenna has fallen in love with Miss Leonie of the Fossoway family and plans to get them married when Master Garland comes of age."

Linde asked: "Will the Fossoway family agree?"

"You shouldn't refuse!" Jon wasn't so sure.

After hearing this, Lind looked up at the flag of the Tyrell family. He quickly discovered a detail. The Fossoway family actually placed the flag of the Tyrell family and their own flag together. It seemed that the Queen of Thorns The plan should have been successful.

Although the sailors on the ship all hoped to go to the shore to see the excitement, Lind had no intention of stopping at the Cider Hall, so he ordered the captain to let the ship pass through the river below the Cider Hall Castle and continue to the High Garden.

Compared with the section of the river from the Long Table Hall to the Cider Hall, which is full of shoals and reefs, the river after the Cider Hall has become much smoother. Not only is the river wide and deep, but the speed of the water is also much faster. The boat can sail quickly on the river with almost no need for paddle assistance.

And more importantly, even at night, there is no need to worry about hitting any reefs or the like, and naturally there is no need to find a place to park for the night like before.

After nightfall, the captain arranged for two groups of people to take care of the ship respectively. They sailed through the night and finally arrived at High Court in the afternoon of the next day.