Game of Thrones: Kings in the North

Chapter 140
At the meeting of the northern lords in the Barren Tomb Hall, under the watchful eyes of the lords from all over the northern border, Ed lost the opportunity to take the mouth of the Saltspear Beach for free because of Mrs. Ballerina's argument.

Ballerina smiles triumphantly, and the Widow of Blightton fights again on the eve of her wedding for the good of the Dustins and Barrowton.

Ed turned to Ballet and said helplessly: "I'm glad that Brandon didn't marry you back then. You were such a difficult opponent. I will give you a chance. Winterfell is willing to spend a thousand gold dragons to buy the River of the First Men and the River of the Barren Tomb. the mouth of the sea."

"Winterfell's West Coast Fleet protects Bear Island, Flint's Finger, Deepwood Motte, and also protects the territories of Saltspear Flat Stream and Barren Mound. The West Coast Fleet is paid for by Winterfell, and I didn't let you It costs one copper plate. Now I spend money to buy land, you can refuse, if you refuse, you can spend your own money to build the fortress at the mouth of the sea, these fortresses are to protect your territory, you should think about it carefully."

A thousand golden dragons is a huge sum of money for nobles in the northern border. You must know that during the war, the price for redeeming nobles was only a few hundred golden dragons.

For Xiliudi, a thousand golden dragons are hundreds of high-quality war horses.For the barren mound land, a thousand golden dragons is the income of many manor turnips and onions.

Earl Rodrik in the streamland was a little moved. He looked at his daughter, Mrs. Barbaret. Mrs. Barbaret said indifferently: "I don't want a single coin. I would rather ask for taxes from the mouth of the Xianmin River and the Huangzuo River."

Ballet is always a visionary. During her visit to Winterfell recently, she witnessed a series of inventions by Ed and the rapid development of the handicrafts, medicine, and brewing industries in Winterfell. Therefore, she would rather spend a huge amount of money to build the fortress herself, but also keep the potential tax revenue from the mouth of the sea in the future.

Ed smiled, "I respect your choice, Mrs. Barbaret, the Dustin family should bear the cost of the fortress at the mouth of the sea! According to my experience in the construction of Winterfell, this is a lot of money. Even according to the ancestors To build the ring castle according to the specifications, at least it will cost thousands of gold dragons."

Ed deliberately let the "thousands of gold dragons" reverberate in the hall for a while, Ed knew very well that thousands of gold dragons were not a small amount for the northern vassals who were facing the test of the cold winter.

Jason, Steve, Paul, Deron of the Dustin family, Roger, Luce, and Rickard of the Ryswell family in the creek, either frowned and sighed, or communicated in whispers.

The golden dragon quickly made the nobles of the stream land fry. These cousins ​​of Earl Rodrik, Roger, Rickard and Luce, competed endlessly with each other, and often caused trouble for the earl of the stream land.

During the time of foreign invasion, the stream cavalry can be united to the outside world, but when the time of peace comes, the Leswells are intriguing and plotting against each other.The mouth of the First Men's River could be sold for money, and these Laswells immediately persuaded Earl Rodrik to accept it, so that they could share a sum of money.

Next, it was the Dustin family's turn to make a decision.

Mrs. Ballet was still unwilling to accept it. The bald Jason Dustin said: "Ballet, I think Lord Ed's bargaining chip is very fair! Winterfell paid for the entrance to the sea and built a fort to protect the barren land. , let's accept it!"

Paul Dustin echoed: "Where does Huangzhongtun have the money to build a fortress at the mouth of the sea? Whether it is the fishing village on the east bank of the Xianmin River or the fishing village at the mouth of the Huangzhong River, the tax revenue is pitiful."

Mrs. Ballerina looked at Dustin's clansmen with some gloom, "Okay, you guys are going to sell it into Haikou, so don't regret it in the future."

Ed showed a triumphant smile, and Mrs. Ballerina said: "Master Ed, the mouth of the sea can be sold to you, but our price is higher than that of Streamland. Streamland only owns the territory on the west bank of the Pioneers River. We desolate Zhongdi, with the mouth of the Xianmin River on the east bank and the mouth of the entire Huangzuo River, the price must be higher."

Ed nodded resignedly, "Yes."

After some bargaining, the Dustin family finally sold the two mouths of Saltspear Beach to Winterfell for two thousand golden dragons.

After the meeting of the lords, the nobles in the north left the hall one after another, and beside Ed, only Caitlin, Helen Pike, Robb, Theon, and the guard Dawson were left.

Caitlin raised an eyebrow, "Why spend money to buy the mouth of the Saltspear Flat? What's the value of the Saltspear Flat?"

Ed smiled and said: "In the future, merchant ships from the Reach, the Western Territory, the Iron Islands, and the Riverlands can go to the west coast of the Northern Territory and transport their goods directly to the Saltspear Flat, from the mouths of the First Men River and the Barren Mound River, If it is sent to the north, the goods from the north can also go through these ports and be sold to the riverlands, the west and the riverlands."

Caitlin smiled wryly and said, "The ironborn pirates of the Iron Islands have cut off the trade routes on the west coast of the northern border. How many merchant ships dare to cross the pirate-infested waters to trade in the northern border?" Caitlin said and turned away.

In addition to the economic value of the estuary, the strategic value is huge.Winterfell spent money to buy land on Saltspear Beach, and later had a port fortress, which on the one hand defended against the Ironborn, and on the other hand, had Winterfell's fortresses in Streamland and Barren Mound, which strengthened Winterfell's defense against the two. Control of family vassals.

As soon as Ed waved, the guard Dawson handed over a map of the northern territory, and he and Helen spread the map flat in front of Ed.

"Helen, you are a born pirate queen, tell me, what are the ironmen most afraid of when they are plundering the west coast of the northern border?"

This question made Helen quite interesting, and she said with a smirk: "What are the Ironborn pirates afraid of? After King Balon's rebellion was suppressed, King Balon restrained his nobles and did not allow them to plunder in the Seven Kingdoms. All drowned to the Drowned God, at least on paper."

"But why are the Ironborn pirates banned repeatedly? This is because the Iron Islands are barren and have a large population. The land and minerals cannot support so many people. Those civilians, the descendants of slave labor, can only become pirates in order to survive. Like The ironborn pirates who came to the north to plunder are nothing more than the lack of sea power in the north."

"When you come to the north to plunder, apart from plundering women and children, there are actually not many valuable things on the coast of the north. If there is a decent fleet in the north, patrolling the waters west of Kraken Point, the Ironborn pirates have to think about it. In order to rob Some animal furs, women, it's not worth the risk of fighting the enemy."

Ed placed his right index finger on Kraken Point on the map of the North, which was almost as large as all the islands of the Iron Islands combined.

Winterfell used to entrust many nobles in Kraken Point, but due to the rampage of iron people pirates, all of them became extinct.Now Sea Monster Corner is under the direct jurisdiction of Winterfell, and Flint of Flint Finger is in charge of Sea Monster Corner.

The Flint family is ancient and proud, and has many branches, the most famous being the Flint of the Mountains, the Flint of the Widow's Watch, and the Flint of Flint's Finger. Among them, the Flint of the Mountains belongs to the Mountain Clan, and the Flint of the Widow's Watch It is located on the southeast coast of the northern border, the territory of Flint in Flint's Finger, next to Kraken Cape, and the closest distance to the Iron Islands.

Because Kraken Point has been controlled by the ironmen for a long period of time in history, many residents of Kraken Point have ironborn blood, and many of them are as resolute as the ironborn. They may be the people in the north who are best at water warfare. ethnic group.

(End of this chapter)