After entering the stone hall, Linde and the others were seated in the observers' section, and then someone brought them some food.
Linde looked at the food in front of him, then glanced at Kafu, the Gravel Tribe leader, with a hint of surprise.
Kafu grumbled, "Although you call us savages, we are not savages. We are Free Folk, and we understand guest right."
Linde didn't argue. He reached out, took a bit of food, and ate it. The others also ate some food, establishing their guest right with each other.
Seeing this, everyone present breathed a sigh of relief.
In fact, these Savage Tribes didn't truly understand guest right; they only knew that if a guest ate the host's food, they wouldn't attack the host. However, they didn't know that the specific food for this was bread and salt.
Earlier, Linde's group had already scared them. They were worried Linde might suddenly turn hostile, so they prepared some food for Linde and his group to eat, establishing guest right.
"Everyone knows why we're here, so I won't say much more. Cast your stones! White means agreement, black means disagreement." Kafu, the Gravel Tribe leader, spoke very simply, then walked directly to a pile of stones in the hall, picked up a stone, and placed it into a stone pit next to the pile that had been brushed with white powder.
Immediately after, the leaders of the other Gravel Tribe families also stood up, picked up stones, and cast them into the stone pits. Except for a few who hesitated, all of them cast their stones into the white pit.
Seeing this scene, Linde felt speechless. He hadn't expected to see such a form of democratic voting in a semi-primitive tribe like the Savage Tribes. What made him feel like laughing and crying was that shouldn't this kind of voting be anonymous?
Not to mention asking them, the parties involved, to temporarily leave, at least there should be some kind of cover around the stone pits, right?
By openly displaying the voting choices in front of them, were they trusting that they wouldn't retaliate against those who didn't vote for agreement afterwards?
Moreover, Kafu's explanation of the tribe's allegiance to Tengshi Town was too simple, practically nonexistent. He directly assumed that all the family leaders of the tribes present knew what was going on, which was almost childish.
If it weren't for Kafu's serious expression, and the fact that no one else around, including the old shaman, showed any abnormality, and even White Deer Wenda watched the stone-casting process seriously, Linde might have thought Kafu was deliberately creating trouble this way. Now it seemed this might just be the way the Gravel Tribe discussed matters internally.
Soon, the results of the stone casting came out. Almost everyone voted for agreement, with only the old shaman symbolically casting his stone into the black pit of disagreement.
After receiving the results, Kafu sighed, turned, and walked to a stone platform on one side of the hall. He picked up an ancient-looking stone axe placed there, then came before Nameria, knelt on one knee, and held the axe up with both hands, offering it to Nameria.
The others also walked behind Kafu, kneeling before Nameria in submission.
Nameria hadn't expected things to end so simply. Just moments ago, they were in a tense standoff at the tribe's entrance, ready to fight at any moment. But after coming here, in less than five minutes, the leaders of the Gravel Tribe had already decided to pledge allegiance, rendering all the persuasive words she had prepared to convince the Gravel Tribe leader useless.
Although surprised, Nameria showed no hesitation. She took the axe with both hands, then held it high above her head, and read the liege's oath to all the leaders of the Gravel Tribe, confirming the Gravel Tribe's status as her subjects and her own obligations as their liege.
After the liege's oath was read, the leaders of the Gravel Tribe, led by White Deer Wenda, read the oath of fealty, swearing loyalty to Nameria.
Upon completing the oaths, Nameria handed the stone axe, symbolizing the Gravel Tribe's authority, to her handmaiden to keep. Then, according to what she had discussed with Linde beforehand, she said, "Since you have become my subjects, I naturally must take good care of you. Now I give you two choices; you yourselves decide what to do."
"The first choice is to continue your current lives unchanged. However, each year you must pay a certain tax per person and send people to join my army to fight for me."
After Nameria stated the first choice, the Gravel Tribe leaders shook their heads, indicating they would not choose it, as they saw no benefit in it.
"The second choice is that I will provide you with a suitable settlement. All of you will relocate to the new settlement, where there are farmlands that can be cultivated, lakes for fishing, and besides that, there is also a silver mine. I will hire people from your tribe to mine the silver, or I will cooperate with you in mining the silver."
As soon as Nameria finished speaking, the breathing in the hall clearly quickened. Kafu, the Gravel Tribe leader, eagerly asked, "How do we cooperate?"
Nameria looked at Linde and said, "The method of cooperation is simple: the silver mine's excavation will be entirely handled by your tribe. I will only send supervisors. Ninety-five percent of all silver mine output will belong to me, and five percent will belong to your tribe."
"Two tenths! Give us two tenths, and we'll do it." Before Kafu, the Gravel Tribe leader, could speak, a family leader couldn't help but interject.
"Only five percent." Nameria said firmly, "And you will also be responsible for the silver mine's security."
That family leader wanted to say more, but Kafu stopped him. Then Kafu nodded and said, "We agree."
After the Gravel Tribe made their choice, Nameria briefly discussed the relocation matters with them. Since the situation of the relocation site was still unknown and required the Gravel Tribe to send people to inspect it, the discussion was very superficial. Specific matters would be discussed further after the Gravel Tribe sent people to Tengshi Town.
When Linde and his group left, there were two hundred more people than when they arrived. One hundred of them were elite warriors selected by Kafu from the tribe's fighters, who joined Nameria's guard, fulfilling their duties as subjects. The other one hundred were divine guards sent by the old shaman, specifically to serve Glory, though this was only in name; Linde was actually in charge of these one hundred people.
"Is it really alright to hand over the silver mine to them?" Nameria looked back at the hillside where the Gravel Tribe was located, sounding slightly doubtful.
"Please rest assured, the Gravel Tribe is very skilled at mining. In fact, it was because they were so skilled at mining that they were besieged by the lords of the Vale, driven out of the Vale, and have been wandering until they reached here," White Deer Wenda explained.
"You have no other choice now," Linde said more directly. "The reconstruction of Tengshi Town is too fast; money is flowing like water. The money you have on hand is almost spent. You must have seen the ledger Scholar Yves brought. At the current rate of consumption, even if I put my money in, it won't last long. You need a fixed and sufficiently profitable source of income, and the silver mine is your only option at this stage."
Nameria explained her concerns, saying, "I don't have a problem with the Gravel Tribe being responsible for mining; I just feel that the silver mine's location is too far from Tengshi Town. If the West sends a large number of people to attack them, it might be difficult for us to provide timely aid. Can the Gravel Tribe alone defend it?"
"This is indeed a problem," Linde also nodded and said.
Just as Nameria said, if there was a problem with the silver mine on the west bank, support sent from Tengshi Town would either have to go around the upper reaches of the Mander River or send the support troops by boat to the other side of the river.
One of these methods would waste a lot of precious time on the road, and the other would carry the risk of being ambushed on the other side of the river.
Linde thought for a moment and said, "It seems we need to find a way to build a bridge near Tengshi Town."
Nameria also nodded in agreement. She understood that if there was a bridge near Tengshi Town connecting the east and west banks, she would be able to truly control her territory on the west bank, unlike now where large areas of the west bank remained idle.
After returning from the Gravel Tribe, he handed all matters concerning the Gravel Tribe's migration, silver mine excavation, and bridge construction to Bert and Jon; he only needed to grasp the general direction.
Nameria also followed suit, entrusting matters to Scholar Yves. However, due to Scholar Yves's current age, she selected some people with a certain level of knowledge and experience as noble attendants from those who came to Tengshi Town seeking a living to assist Scholar Yves in handling these matters.
The acceptance of the Savage Tribes as subjects by Tengshi Town did not cause much commotion in Tengshi Town; at most, it just added another topic of conversation in the taverns.
Currently, the most attention-grabbing event for everyone in Tengshi Town was the appearance of Glory. Although many people who had seen Glory before had spoken about Glory's immense size, at the time, listeners only dismissed these words as bragging, with few taking them seriously.
But now, when Glory returned to Tengshi Town with Linde from the Gravel Tribe, those who hadn't believed realized that all those earlier words were true, with no exaggeration whatsoever.
For a time, curious people would always gather outside the ruined barracks, hoping to catch a glimpse of Glory through the gaps in the barracks' fence.
Unlike Tengshi Town, where most of the focus was on Glory, the lords and nobles throughout the Seven Kingdoms outside were more concerned with the Tengshi Town liege accepting the Savage Tribes as subjects. Their view of the rumors about Glory was similar to those who hadn't seen Glory firsthand—they simply regarded it as an unreliable marvel.
Regarding Tengshi Town's acceptance of the Savage Tribes as subjects, almost all noble lords viewed it with extreme disdain, believing that the Tengshi Town liege was debasing herself, and even thought it wouldn't be long before the Tengshi Town liege also became a Savage Tribes liege.
The nobles of the Seven Kingdoms held a consistent attitude towards the Savage Tribes: disdain and discrimination. In their eyes, the status of the savages was even lower than that of the animals in their hunting grounds. If their subjects poached animals in their hunting grounds, they would hang these poachers, but if their subjects killed savages hiding in their hunting grounds, not only would there be no crime, but they might even receive a reward.
Even if some lords would hire Savage Tribes to participate in certain wars, it was only temporary employment. Once the war ended, the relationship would immediately be severed, and it was even possible that they would suddenly terminate the employment before the war ended, then slaughter the savages who had just helped them fight as enemies.
It was precisely because of this that most of the Savage Tribes within the Seven Kingdoms' territories did not trust the lords' oaths very much.
Therefore, when the news from Tengshi Town also reached the Savage Tribes, their attitude was somewhat similar to that of the lords and nobles of the Seven Kingdoms, only the object became the Gravel Tribe. They believed that the Gravel Tribe leader was utterly foolish to believe the Tengshi Town liege's nonsense, thinking that the Savage Tribes could become subjects. They seemed to have already foreseen the scene of the Gravel Tribe being slaughtered by the Tengshi Town liege after being tricked out of the mountains.
Almost everyone was looking forward to Tengshi Town's downfall, believing that something bad would happen to Tengshi Town sooner or later. Even Highgarden sent several ravens to Bitterbridge, and then fast horses carried the letters to Tengshi Town, asking Linde what the situation was.
Linde had no intention of letting Nameria explain the matter of taking in the Savage Tribes as subjects, because these noble lords had preconceived notions, so no matter how she explained it, it would be impossible to make it clear.
Therefore, he wanted to use other matters to divert Highgarden's attention from this issue, and the silver mine was the best bait.
Linde had no thought of having Nameria hide the silver mine matter, because it couldn't be hidden anyway. So, revealing it first to gain Highgarden's trust was the correct approach.
Thus, he had Nameria write back as the liege of Tengshi Town, describing the discovery of a silver mine in the center of their territory on the west bank of the Mander River. She also mentioned the possibility that the Westerlands might already know about this silver mine, and at the same time, she made a request to Highgarden, asking them to grant Tengshi Town the right to mint silver stags.
The Duke of each of the Seven Kingdoms possessed their own minting rights. Besides minting some currency that circulated only within their own territories, such as Highgarden's Rose Coins, they could also mint currency like Gold Dragons, silver stags, and copper coins that circulated throughout the Seven Kingdoms and even the continent of Essos.
For example, the Lannister of the Westerlands controlled the largest gold mine in all of Westeros. About seventy percent of all Gold Dragons in the Seven Kingdoms came from the Westerlands, and the lords of the Westerlands, led by the Lannister, thus became the wealthiest nobles in the Seven Kingdoms. There's a saying that the Lannister's members' excrement is gold.
Under normal circumstances, minting rights were held by the Duke of each kingdom, but sometimes the Duke's territory did not have corresponding mines, so minting rights would also be granted by the Duke to lords who had the corresponding mines. Of course, the lord still needed to pay a substantial tax.
Regarding the minting rights, although Nameria was very intelligent, due to her limited perspective, her understanding was not very deep. She only felt that with minting rights, she wouldn't have to sell the extracted silver ore cheaply; she could mint higher-value silver stags herself and use them.
However, Linde knew very well that controlling minting rights, to a certain extent, meant controlling the economy. In many cases, the weapon of economics might be more powerful than a direct army.
More importantly, when he communicated with Rhys Farwell, he learned that several large silver mines had been discovered near Slaver's Bay in Essos, which had caused a significant drop in the price of silver ore in the Free Trade City States.
As long as Nameria obtained the minting rights, Rhys Farwell could transport large quantities of silver ore to Tengshi Town and have it minted into silver stags. The price difference would be pure profit, no less profitable than mining and minting silver herself.
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