Chapter 50 Establishing Rules

Linde rode on horseback and entered the simple camp built by the defeated Blood Shoes Brotherhood. The men of the First Cavalry were cleaning up the corpses in the camp. Counting the wounded in the camp, this time they wiped out a total of There are one hundred and seventeen enemies.

 Although all the bandits in the camp were wiped out, Linde was not satisfied with the performance of the 1st Cavalry this time.

 After Glory sneaked in and eliminated all the sentries and guards, the men of the First Cavalry only needed to quietly sneak in and eliminate the sleeping people in the camp. As a result, they were not able to complete such a simple thing smoothly. On the contrary, it alerted some bandits and even allowed those bandits to obtain weapons, giving them a chance to resist.

 Although in the end these people who made a hasty resistance could not compete with the heavily armed First Cavalry and died in the hands of the First Cavalry, several cavalrymen were still injured, and one of them had his hand cut off. A combat force was lost.

 Such a result naturally did not satisfy Linde. After this test, his evaluation of the 1st Cavalry was average, not yet excellent, and it would take a long period of training to change their fighting habits.

 A glimpse of the leopard in the picture, the First Cavalry is like this, the Second Cavalry and the Guards may also need a period of training.

 Originally, Linde planned to lead his men to fight for support after entering the area east of the Mander River, starting with cleaning up the smallest bandits, but now it seems that he needs to change his plan, at least while the cavalry team adapts to the new situation. Before learning how to fight, he must focus on training and combat as a supplement.

 Thinking about things, Linde has arrived at the main building of the camp. Compared with other rickety houses in the camp, the main building is more intact. Judging from the foundation, it should have been a building similar to an outpost.

 After entering, the first thing he saw was a pile of coins piled inside. There were indentations and blood stains on them. It looked like there had been a battle here.

 Bryn Rivers, who was cleaning these coins, saw Linde arriving and quickly stepped forward to report the situation.

 It turned out that the current leader of the Blood Shoes Brotherhood was sleeping on the pile of money. When the men of the First Cavalry approached, they accidentally collapsed a pile of money and made a noise. The leader was alarmed, which eventually caused the First Cavalry to collapse. The assassination team was not entirely successful.

 Linde looked at the pile of coins. Although the appearance of so much money piled up was very visual the money was not very much. Except for the top layer, which contained less than a hundred gold dragons, the middle ones were all filled with silver deer. , and it is a bad coin with a blackened surface and severe wear, not to mention the copper plate at the bottom. A rough estimate shows that the total value of this pile of coins is only a little over a hundred gold dragons at most.

 However, Linde soon realized that his judgment was somewhat subjective. The championship bonus of 20,000 gold dragons gave him the illusion that the money was worthless so he did not take the more than 100 gold dragons seriously.

 But, let alone this kind of bandit group, even for the regular army under the great lord, one hundred golden dragons is a very large number, enough to support hundreds of people to live comfortably for several years.

 "Everyone who participated in the battle this time will be rewarded with five silver deer. Those who killed the enemy or were injured will be given five more, and the one who lost his hand will be given twenty silver deer." Linde ordered: "Also, ask Is the one with the broken hand is willing to continue fighting for me. If so, after his injury is healed, let the blacksmith make a prosthetic hand for his broken hand and transfer it to my side as a personal guard."

 "Yes, sir." Bryn Rivers responded.

 Linde asked again: "During the battle just now, did anyone grab anything?"

 Bryn Rivers was stunned and nodded: "Yes, almost everyone grabbed it."

 After hearing this, Linde was silent for a moment and said: "When everyone has arrived, let the person who grabbed the things hand over all the things they grabbed, and then they will be punished with ten lashes. They will be executed in the middle of the camp so that everyone can see them. They will be executed by the Second Cavalry Team. ."

 "Sir, this..." Bryn Rivers hesitated for a moment as if he wanted to persuade Linde.

 Lind turned to look at his cavalry captain and said, "This is an order."

 "I obey your orders, my lord." Bryn Rivers lowered his head and responded.

 Afterward, Bryn Rivers announced Linde's reward immediately, and cheers rang out in the camp. Obviously, for these low-level warriors, no matter how high the honor is, it cannot compare with what coins can bring. excited.

 However, they didn't know that there would be punishment later. At that time, they didn't know if they would still be as happy as they are now.

 After about half an hour, the Guards, the Second Cavalry Brigade, and the logistics team also arrived outside the camp. Although the camp was simple and many buildings still leaked, it was much better than being exposed to the rain in the open air. There were cheers. The sound also came out of their mouths.

 With the entry of a large number of people, the cleanup work of the camp has also accelerated a lot. All the garbage in the camp has been cleared out, and all the corpses have been stripped and piled outside. No additional fires are needed. The animals living on this land Wild animals will clean up these corpses.

 The logistics team repaired the leaky house and then began to clean up the harvested spoils and prepare hot food. The Guards also took over the defense of the camp.

 Then, under orders, everyone gathered in the open space in the middle of the camp.

 At this time, careful people discovered that the First Cavalry, except for a few people such as Bryn Rivers, were all standing in the center of the field, and they had no weapons in their hands. They all lowered their heads, with panic written on their faces, completely There's no sense of elation like getting rewards after a big win at the beginning.

 Linde walked out of the main building, raised his hand to signal for silence, and then said loudly to the people in front of him: "I know that you have all been accustomed to fighting and robbing at the same time. Whoever robs belongs to whom. This is the tradition of war. , no one has any objection to this. But I'm sorry, I don't like this tradition. In my opinion, when fighting, just kill the enemy honestly and you will be rewarded. After the battle, it will naturally be based on military merit statistics. Rewards, don't take things you shouldn't take. These are my rules, and I also hope that my people can abide by my rules."

 After saying that, he stopped, looked at everyone's reactions, and then looked at the first person. The people from the cavalry asked, "Have you handed over all the things you robbed?"

 The people from the first cavalry didn't know how to answer, so they looked at each other, and Brin stood up and answered for them: "Report to your lord. , have been handed over!"

 At this time, someone in the First Cavalry shouted dissatisfied: "Since we grabbed the things through fighting, why can't they be ours?"

 The shouting person was originally hiding in the crowd. , but what he didn't expect was that when he shouted out, the other members of the First Cavalry looked at him in unison, and moved their position away from him, leaving a clear space around him, which made him look particularly special. Eye-catching.

 Most of the people in the First Cavalry are those who came to King's Landing with Highgarden's team this time. When Lind was transferred to the Scouts, they all worked with Lind and accepted Lind's command, so they were very familiar with it. They knew Linde's character and habits well, so when Linde punished him, they all followed it honestly.

 But there are still several people in the First Cavalry who are mercenaries hired in King's Landing. They don't know much about Linde. They are used to freedom and don't know how to restrain their temper. If they are dissatisfied, they will directly ask questions. And now This man is one of them.

 Being pushed out in this way, the mercenary couldn't help but have a look of fear on his face, but he still took a few steps forward and walked to Linde.

 "You said that you grabbed something through fighting, so it should be yours," Linde looked at the other person calmly and said, "Then according to what you mean, if someone is stronger than you and snatches something from you, then The thing should be his, right?" The mercenary was stunned for a moment and opened his mouth, not knowing how to answer.

 "Scar-Eye," Lind shouted.

 Scar-eyed Mitt walked out of the crowd, saluted Linde, and said, "Sir."

 Linde pointed at the mercenary and said, "He is yours. What you can grab depends on your ability."

 " Yes, sir." Scar Eye looked at the mercenary with a sinister smile and walked over.

 The mercenary seemed to be scared, lowering his head and not daring to look at Scar Eye. But when Scar Eye walked up to him, he suddenly pulled out the dagger hidden in his sleeve and stabbed Scar Eye in the chest. past.

 However, Scar Eye had already anticipated the opponent's movements and quickly avoided the mercenary's attack. At the same time, the spiked iron gauntlet hit the mercenary's neck hard, and the sharp thorns instantly penetrated the mercenary's neck. It was stuck in the opponent's throat, and when it was pulled out, a hole was made.

 The mercenary fell to the ground, blood kept coming out of his throat, his body was shaking, and he soon stopped breathing.

 Everyone around looked at all this quietly, and no one raised any questions.

 Scar Eye squatted down and searched the mercenary's body, and found the silver deer as a reward and some of his own money from him.

 "Sir, these things should be mine, right?" When Scar Eye was about to put the things in his pocket, he seemed to have thought of something and hurriedly asked Linde.

 "I just said, he is yours. What you can grab depends on your ability." Linde looked at Scar's eyes, then looked at the others, and said, "I'll say it again, when fighting, fight seriously. , you will not be short of the reward you deserve, and I don't want there to be a next time." He paused, and when no one spoke again, he nodded towards Scar Eyes and said, "Let's start now!

 " After that, the punished people in the First Cavalry looked at each other, then spontaneously took off their clothes and stood up. The people in the Second Cavalry also stood behind each holding a whip. On command, he was given ten lashes.

 After the execution, the men of the First Cavalry turned around and glared at the executioner behind them, and then were taken to the house for simple treatment.

 Conflict between the 1st and 2nd Cavalry undoubtedly arose, which was not a bad thing for Linde and was also his purpose in having the 2nd Cavalry carry out the execution.

 The weather in the next few days was also rainy as Brin predicted. The team was trapped in this camp. Linde's emphasis on food and grass played a role. Even if they were trapped, these hundreds of people would at least not need food. worry about what.

 Although they are trapped in the camp, it does not mean that these soldiers can do nothing and be idle every day. Even if it rains heavily outside, they must complete the training plan formulated by Linde.

 Fortunately, such days did not last long. After the fifth day, the weather began to improve and the rain became intermittent. At night, there were no clouds in the sky, and the stars in the sky could be seen.

 "It looks like tomorrow will be a sunny day. I hope it won't be too hot." Bryn Rivers looked at the sky and was not happy because the rainy day was over. His experience of living in the wild all year round taught him that heavy rainy days are followed by sunny days. The temperature will be much hotter than a normal sunny day.

 "Let the logistics prepare more water and fill everyone's water bottles." Lind ordered, and then asked Jon Bulwe: "Have everything been packed?"

 "It has been packed, tomorrow You can go on the road directly at dawn." After Jon responded, he asked: "My lord, is it unnecessary to burn the camp?"

 Lind shook his head and said, "No, such a good camp should be kept for use."

 "Is it true? Will we come back?" Raul looked at Linde puzzled.

 "I think you are talking about other people." Brin vaguely guessed Lind's idea and explained to him: "This camp is in a mountain col, surrounded by hills, and it is very well hidden. Those who wander on this land When the bandits see such a good unowned camp, they will move here and treat it as a stronghold. We only need to come here to check from time to time, and we can regularly harvest a group of bandits without going anywhere. Looking for it."

 "It turned out to be bait," Raul said with a look of surprise.

 At this time, Scar Eye, who was in charge of camp security, walked in from outside the camp, and in front of him was a poorly dressed prisoner.

 "Sir, this guy sneaked close to our camp. After he was discovered by us, he tried to escape, but we caught him." When he came to Linde, Scar Eye pressed the prisoner to the ground with force and then asked Linde to Report.

 The prisoner looked at Linde in panic and explained: "Sir... Sir, I am not a bad person. I am just a farmer nearby who got lost on a rainy day and came here."

 "Farmer? How could you possibly Be a farmer?" Scar Eye punched the prisoner hard on the head, then untied the cloth wrapped around his wrist, revealing the scorpion tattoo on his arm, and said: "I have never seen a farmer who can On it is the mark of the Venomous Scorpion Society." The Venomous

 Scorpion Society existed more than ten years ago. At first, they were entrenched in the Royal Forest area, specializing in ambushing the Royal Forest and robbing passing caravans.

 However, with the emergence of the Royal Forest Brotherhood, they were driven out of the Royal Forest and could only stay in the mountains and hills north of Bitter Bridge, mainly robbing merchants on Rose Avenue in this area.

 Compared to the complete Blood Shoes Brotherhood, the number of members of the Poisonous Scorpions is not very large, with only more than a hundred people. According to the information provided by Wallis, they belong to a small to medium-sized bandit group.

 Seeing that his identity was revealed, the prisoner didn't make excuses anymore and lowered his head so that no one could see his expression.

 Lin De ordered towards Scar Eye: "Scar Eye, I leave it to you. Before dawn tomorrow, I want to know why the Poison Scorpion Society sent him here, and where is the stronghold of the Poison Scorpion Society. In short, whatever he has in his mind, I will give him I'll take it out."

 "Yes, sir." Scarred Eyes showed a ferocious smile on his face, his eyes full of excitement.

 (End of chapter)