Tengshi Town had completely transformed compared to a few months prior; the surrounding forests had all been cleared, and the original thatched huts where the townspeople lived, along with the land around the village, had been leveled.
All the felled trees were used to construct wooden houses, and the entire town's layout was re-planned, with crisscrossing roads dividing the town into different areas.
Although Tengshi Town was still in its nascent stage, it was evident from the road planning that once fully constructed, it would be no less impressive than cities like New Barrel City.
The townspeople of Tengshi Town had been the Fudeli Family's vassals for generations, and they had never betrayed the Fudeli Family over the years, proving their unwavering loyalty.
Nameria did not explain much to the townspeople regarding the reconstruction of Tengshi Town, but they did not object, as they would be allocated new houses and new farmland, which was already very good for them.
Moreover, participating in the town's reconstruction also earned them ten copper coins daily, which was undoubtedly an additional income for the farmers in the town.
Compared to the still-nascent town, the old pier in the ruins of Old Tengshi Town had been completely repaired, with all six berths replaced with stone materials salvaged from the ruins, making them more robust than before they were abandoned.
During the repair, the land around the pier was also cleared, and six or seven large warehouses were built, along with a long shed for trading goods.
As for the dedicated area for parking carts and horses, it was also allocated, though facilities like stables and carriage houses had not yet been built.
Extending from the pier, the intermediate area between New Tengshi Town and Old Tengshi Town, which Linde currently used as a temporary military camp, was not abandoned but meticulously designated for roads and housing.
However, Nameria was not prepared to spend money building here; Scholar Yves suggested entrusting this area to the merchants who would soon gather there, and Nameria could sell the land to acquire funds, thereby binding those merchants to New Tengshi Town.
Although most merchants were still observing, ever since Linde spread the news about restoring the trade route through Tengshi Town, merchant caravans had begun to arrive successively.
However, the longboats used for cargo transport had not yet been built at that time, so Linde purchased the merchants' goods; grain was stored in the army's logistics, while other goods were kept in the military camp's warehouse.
After the longboats were built and successfully tested, Linde instructed Jon to form a merchant caravan to transport the goods to Highgarden.
Ten-odd days later, Jon returned to Tengshi Town with four longboats, not empty-handed, but carrying some specialties from Highgarden.
Although the cargo capacity was not comparable to when sailing downstream, the quantity was still considerable, and selling these goods would allow Linde to make a significant profit.
Linde did not conceal the immense profits he made from this round trip; he even held a grand banquet for it, attended not only by his subordinates but also by ordinary farmers from Tengshi Town and the merchant caravans.
With this banquet, the news that transporting goods via the Tengshi Town trade route could yield substantial profits would quickly spread, attracting a large number of merchants to the area.
Nameria also expedited the construction of longboats and expanded the pier by another twofold to facilitate ship mooring.
Perhaps seeing the business opportunity, the merchant caravans that arrived in Tengshi Town this time did not sell all their goods to Linde but directly rented or purchased the longboats.
Merchant caravans that could not acquire longboats would temporarily store their goods in the warehouses, awaiting the construction of new ships.
Upon his return, Jon recounted the details of the shipping journey to Linde.
Things indeed unfolded as Linde had anticipated; upon reaching Bitterbridge, the ship encountered difficulties from Baron Caswell of Bitterbridge, who blocked them from passing through Bitterbridge.
However, when Jon directly met Baron Caswell, he recounted the incident of his ambush after he left Bitterbridge.
Although he did not explicitly state that Baron Caswell was responsible, he subtly hinted at it throughout, and then showed Baron Caswell the Duke Tyrell's reply letter to Linde, directly highlighting Duke Tyrell's emphasis on the Mander River's water transport.
Baron Caswell naturally could say nothing more and had to allow passage, and when the fleet returned from Highgarden, there was no further obstruction.
This left Linde feeling somewhat regretful; he genuinely wanted to replace Bitterbridge's lord with a more compliant one, as Bitterbridge was too crucial to the Mander River's trade route, and having it controlled by someone hostile made him uneasy.
However, since Baron Kraste was not causing trouble anymore, it was difficult to take action against him, so Linde could only temporarily keep this matter in mind.
In fact, merchants had already moved in a month ago, but instead of buying land to build houses, they set up some tents outside the ruined military camp and began doing business with the soldiers inside.
Although Linde disliked establishments like brothels, taverns, and casinos, he had to admit that providing his cavalrymen with a place to spend money and release energy was beneficial for army stability.
It was just that Nameria's mood was somewhat complex, as she never expected that the first tax revenue she received after rebuilding Tengshi Town would come from prostitutes, not from goods passing through.
In the Seven Kingdoms, transit taxes on goods were the most important source of revenue for lords; for example, in Bitterbridge, transit taxes accounted for one-third of all tax revenues.
However, at Linde's suggestion, Nameria abolished the transit tax.
Although she didn't understand why Linde made such a suggestion, and Scholar Yves also wanted to prevent her from abolishing it, she trusted that Linde had his reasons for doing so.
Linde did not offer much explanation, as the news of Nameria abolishing the transit tax would soon spread, and the benefits it brought would follow, at which point Nameria would understand without needing his explanation.
Nearly two months had passed since he met White Deer Wenda; he had incorporated over a hundred survivors of the Kingswood Brotherhood into his command, forming a secret unit similar to the Night's Watch Rangers.
Normally, they continued to operate as bandits around Tengshi Town, and they designated the road from Tengshi Town to Rose Road as their territory, expelling bandits from this area to ensure the safety of merchant caravans on the road.
As for the public explanation, it was that the Lord of Tengshi Town was willing to pay them a regular protection fee to maintain the smooth and safe flow of this trade route.
Although Linde had been staying in the ruined military camp during this period, training soldiers and handling matters related to the reconstruction of Tengshi Town, appearing as if he had never left the camp, in reality, every night, Linde would use his shared vision with Glory to explore the areas around Tengshi Town and understand the local situation.
Linde also attempted to test the limit of their mental connection's distance, so he had Glory swim across the Blackwater River, enter the Riverlands, and go to the outside of Harrenhal by Gods Eye Lake.
Even at such a distance, his mental connection with Glory remained strong, as if Glory was always by his side.
Through Glory's eyes, he also saw that Harrenhal was similarly enveloped by a large amount of wraith energy, covering the entire ruined castle; however, there was no dragon soul within this wraith energy, so Glory had no desire to devour it.
In fact, he could even feel that Glory's heart was extremely disgusted by this kind of wraith energy, as if its appetite had become too refined.
After going to Harrenhal, Linde did not let Glory go north again, but instead had it go south, and a week ago, it went to the Kingswood and met Spark, a Forest Children.
Glory barely needed to search; the moment it entered the Kingswood, Spark, a Forest Children's treehouse emerged from underground.
And Spark, upon first seeing Glory, was also startled, as she had not expected Glory to grow so large and unique.
What was even more miraculous was that she could see Linde possessing Glory, and even directly communicate with Linde, who was far away in Tengshi Town, through Glory.
She inquired about Glory, mainly asking why Glory had become like this, and Linde did not hide anything, telling Spark that Glory could devour wraiths and would experience rapid growth after doing so, though he concealed the fact that Glory could devour dragon souls.
Spark did not fully understand this matter and kept Glory in the Kingswood, studying it for several days without reaching a conclusion.
The only certainty was that Glory's growth had not stopped, meaning that the next time it absorbed wraith energy, Glory could continue to grow.
Although during the day, when Linde wasn't controlling Glory, he would have Glory hide itself in the forest to avoid being seen, some unlucky farmers and hunters still saw Glory, or rather, Glory intentionally let them see it; it enjoyed watching those people being scared out of their wits by it.
After teasing those people several times in this manner, news began to spread about a black monster appearing in the area between the Riverlands, The Reach, the Westerlands, and the Crownlands.
When this news reached Tengshi Town, those who had seen Glory's enormous size quickly realized that the so-called black monster was actually Linde's pet, and these people also revealed this news while drinking.
However, even if they spoke in unison and swore oaths, not many outsiders believed their words.
Although Linde did not travel to the mountain villages and Savage Tribes around Tengshi Town, he had Glory visit them occasionally, appearing before the mountain people and savages, causing them some psychological shock.
When he began to interact with these mountain villages and Savage Tribes, this shock would provide him with considerable assistance.
The reason Linde did not proceed as planned to Buttocks Ridge further up the Mander River to conquer the Savage Tribes there was entirely due to the unexpected appearance of White Deer Wenda.
With the addition of the Kingswood Brotherhood survivors, Linde temporarily no longer needed to expand his manpower by conquering Savage Tribes, and the Kingswood Brotherhood was much more effective than savages, at least when it came to dealing with bandit gangs.
"Give these two documents to Scarface and Bulin respectively; the batch of goods they are responsible for needs to be shipped out today."
Linde signed and stamped the two shipping documents, handed them to Jon, who had just walked in from outside, and then asked, "Has the supplies for White Deer Wenda been handed over?"
Jon took the documents and replied, "They've been handed over, but they said there was too much smoked fish and asked if we could change the food next time."
Linde instructed, "Then change it to smoked meat! The kind I taught you all to make."
"Isn't that the same as smoked fish?" Jon couldn't help but murmur softly after hearing this.
"Anything else?" Linde naturally heard him, so he looked at Jon and asked.
"Hmm, there's one more thing." Jon was about to speak but hesitated, glancing at Nameria, who was also working on the other side of the room.
When Tengshi Town was being renovated, Nameria also had her lord's tower house dismantled and ordered the abandoned castle on top of the Old Tengshi Town hill to be repaired.
Before the castle was repaired, she resided in Linde's ruined military camp and worked in Linde's Hall of Affairs.
Linde looked at Nameria and said, "It's fine, just say it! Nameria is both a collaborator and a friend; she's no different from one of our own."
Although Nameria was busy with her own affairs, she was also listening attentively to Linde and Jon's conversation, and upon hearing Linde's answer to Jon's question, a satisfied smile involuntarily appeared on her face.
"Treasurer Mus has made contact with Ser Rhys," Jon said, taking out a recently received letter and placing it on the table, while also reporting, "However, Ser Rhys seems to have misunderstood that Bert is our captive and that we are demanding ransom from him."
Linde was startled when he heard this and asked, confused, "Didn't Bert write to his father?"
"That letter was too brief and ambiguous, so Ser Rhys misunderstood," Jon explained, taking out the draft document of Bert's letter and placing it in front of Linde.
Linde looked at it and felt that if he hadn't known Bert's true situation, he too would have misunderstood.
Nameria also came over curiously, looked at the document, and couldn't help but laugh.
Linde looked up at Nameria, then turned to Jon and asked, "What about now? Has the misunderstanding been cleared up?"
Jon replied, "It has been cleared up, but Ser Rhys doesn't seem to fully believe that Bert's current situation is as good as Mus described.
So, he wants to come here first to see and confirm before deciding whether to become our logistics supplier."
"That's reasonable." Linde nodded and asked, "When will Ser Rhys arrive?"
Jon responded, "He has already arrived, along with Mus's letter."
Linde was stunned for a moment, then chuckled in exasperation, saying, "Why didn't you say such an important thing as soon as you walked in?"
Jon said innocently, "When I wanted to tell you, you told me to wait a moment."
Linde opened his mouth to scold him but held back, then stood up from his chair and turned to Nameria, saying, "As the owner of Tengshi Town, it's inappropriate for you not to be present."
"I also wanted to meet this great merchant," Nameria nodded and said.
With that, the two walked out of the room and headed towards the pier.
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