Chapter 58: Zashir Worries About His Treasury
A crude longspear whistled through the air. Ser Pell dodged a Wildling's thrust, his sword flashing, and with the momentum, he severed the enemy's forearm.
Ser Pell's movements didn't stop. He kicked an enemy down with one foot and advanced, brutally stabbing the enemy's neck and chest three times with his sword.
With a 'whoosh', the whistling sound of an arrow tearing through the air was heard.
Just as Ser Pell was about to counter, a sharp pain shot through his flank.
A Wildling's bone-tipped arrow had pierced his leather armor, but the chainmail underneath blocked it.
Ser Pell cursed darkly and grabbed the still-quivering arrow shaft from his armor, pulling it out and throwing it to the ground.
"Protect Ser Pell!"
"There's still an archer, on the western slope!"
"Archers, return fire!"
The moonlight was dim, and the fighting continued.
...
A burly Wildling chieftain stared dead-eyed at Ser Pell, gritting his teeth, blood continuously oozing from his mouth, his eyes slowly filling with red.
The soldiers of the Scouting Party continuously pierced the Wildling chieftain's abdomen with their short swords.
In the past, it was always the Wildling tribes that were ambushed by the Scouting Party.
Tonight was the first time the Scouting Party had been ambushed by Wildling tribes, and this filled the steadfast Ser Pell with an unknown anger.
Ser Pell's gaze was cold as he glanced at the Wildling chieftain's corpse lying on the ground.
The Wildling chieftain's intestines spilled out, and his flesh was mangled from being stabbed by the Scouting Party.
The deeper the tribes were in the mountain valleys, the more ferocious they were.
Ser Pell's old comrade and friend, Knight Ma, under the command of Lord Glyn, had always been responsible for establishing new farming settlements in the Old Clegane Lands.
Knight Ma's demand for food and resources grew greater and greater, forcing Ser Pell to accelerate the pace of conquering the Wildling tribes.
As the Scouting Party delved deeper, the resistance of the Wildlings in the valleys grew stronger, and the Scouting Party's casualties gradually increased.
Every soldier of the Scouting Party had been carefully selected elites by Ser Pell, almost all of them renowned hunters in their local regions.
He needed more chainmail and shields. The warlike Ser Pell had also felt the fatigue in his body in recent days.
Ser Pell felt the Scouting Party needed a period of rest and recuperation.
Next time, the Scouting Party would bring them true terror.
...
In the camp, the summer night was illuminated by brilliant starlight.
"Use fear?" Samwell asked in return.
Glyn shrugged his shoulders. "The Targaryen dragons brought fear to the Seven Kingdoms; House Targaryen held the Iron Throne. If the Mad King had giant dragons, His Majesty Robert could only cling to his Invincible Warhammer, huddled by the stormy sea smashing fish."
Samwell originally wanted to laugh unreservedly, but his smile was still forced.
Glyn's brown eyes flickered. Considering the Gold Dragons, he proactively spoke, "Ser Samwell, I prefer to put myself in others' shoes. My intention is to imagine what I would do at that time."
"King's Landing would fall. The Mad King would burn the entire city to ashes with wildfire jars, and even demanded his father's head be offered."
"I've thought about it many times. If it were me, how would I choose, and what else could I do?"
Samwell's body trembled slightly, his eyes holding an unprecedented spark.
Glyn raised his eyes and looked into the night sky, lightly exhaling, "I contemplated it repeatedly. Every conclusion is not much different, Ser Jaime."
Glyn leaned to the side, his gaze shifting to Samwell, and he patted his arm. "Although you lost honor, many people have survived because of you. Your choice isn't considered too bad. Ser Samwell, be open-hearted and unafraid of what people say."
The quality Glyn appreciated most about Samwell Lannister was that Jaime didn't exploit others. This is simple to say, but extremely rare and commendable.
Samwell suddenly felt Glyn's wisdom was a bit sharp.
Samwell, deep in thought, after hearing Glyn's words, for a moment felt that Tyrion's idea seemed acceptable.
A small flicker of an idea, fleeting.
"No, absolutely not!"
Night was deep, and Glyn was ready to rest. He no longer cared about Jaime's changing emotions. For him, this was just a transaction.
...
Before leaving, Glyn unexpectedly said, "Ser Samwell, if you encounter stubborn people, you can also ask them back."
This was Glyn's gift.
...
Outside King's Landing, at Clegane Manor, the sky was clear.
Inside the manor, there were many more grooms. At this moment, they were meticulously grooming the horses.
Steward Rosser, who had finished dealing with the aftermath of his former master Joffrey, was now sitting with Steward Surana in the pavilion of Clegane Manor.
Steward Surana wore a long robe, and a short sword was hanging from the leather belt at her waist. Rosser couldn't help but glance at her a few more times.
Rosser's previous job was mainly managing Joffrey in King's Landing, and he hadn't been to Clegane Territory before.
Rosser had heard quite a bit about the "reputation" of the Clegane Spear-Wife from Joffrey.
If you haven't seen it with your own eyes, it's actually hard to imagine that scene.
Surana proactively resolved Rosser's doubts: "This sword? King's Landing's merchants are very cunning. Since I started wearing this, they've become much more honest."
Rosser smiled. "Lady Surana, if the method works, that's fine."
Surana didn't plan to continue this topic. She opened her mouth and said, "I thought I could relax for a while, but I didn't expect Lord Glyn to take Xie Nan south."
Rosser nodded and said, "We'll be back soon."
"Then I'll wait for you to come back. I'm already very certain: I'm not suitable for dealing with merchants."
"Okay, Lady, I'll set off immediately!"
...
At Crackclaw Point, The Whispers (Castle), the red sun hung overhead.
The middle-aged and portly Steward Zashir, although he had been busy, had become even fatter than before Glyn departed.
After the Old Clegane Lands were reclaimed, with the continuous addition of Mountain Clansmen to the new farming settlements managed by Knight Ma, the population there had been steadily growing.
Although the conquering army of Wildling tribes, primarily composed of the Scouting Party and the Thorn Legion, could continuously plunder resources, the current pace of plundering was a bit unable to keep up with the pace of population growth.
Zashir needed to purchase a batch of grain and seeds from outside in advance, always ready to support the Old Clegane Lands.
The recently built Mermaid Port had not yet aroused the interest of major merchants.
Those who came to Mermaid Port for trade were still all small merchants. Therefore, for larger transactions, they still had to rely on the Vale merchants.
The Gold Dragons the Lord painstakingly acquired from King's Landing would probably all be spent on the grain merchants of the Vale.
Zashir's heart ached terribly thinking about the 1,000 Gold Dragons that had just entered his treasury.
A few years ago, after Lady Lyanna Clegane married into Gulltown, the Vale Nobility, although they lifted the trade embargo on Clegane Territory, the Vale merchants' prices for trade with Clegane were still high.
Moreover, if Clegane Territory couldn't continue trade with the Vale merchants for a period of time, Zashir started to feel heartache for the Gold Dragons in his treasury again.
Steward Zashir was Glyn's absolute confidant. He naturally understood that Clegane Territory could not stop the pace of Wildlings assimilating into civilians; this concerned the future of the territory.
Zashir believed that as long as they could get through this period, the wheat on the large farmlands of the old land would eventually grow.
(end of chapter)