I'm not a lord

Chapter 109 Showing Strength
Leon has been living in fear in Three Rivers City recently.

Because the refugee rebellion occurred near Sanhe City.

To be more precise, the origin of the refugee rebellion was the several suburban manors under the jurisdiction of the Three Rivers City Church.

Stepping onto the solid soil of White Bear Territory and seeing two rows of armored soldiers behind Lin En, Leon instantly felt safe.

"It's said that because the food distribution was too little, the refugees simply rebelled. Within a week, more than a dozen monasteries and manors were looted, and hundreds of priests were massacred. But who told them to exploit the refugees? And what about the Three Saints Church? Where are the saints? They deserve it!"

Leon has never believed in religion. Rather than believing in the so-called "Three Saints", he would rather believe in the jingling gold coins in his pocket!

The church was looted, but instead of showing sympathy, he wanted to add insult to injury.

In recent decades, the church's influence in Sanhe City and surrounding areas has continued to grow, and it has gradually become involved in the city's daily management and business activities.

The priests not only engaged in business, purchased shops, and speculated on housing prices, but also pushed up shop rents in Sanhe City year after year.

They even tried to get a permanent seat on the city council.

Leon got angry whenever he thought about it.

The church is clearly a parasite sucking blood from the city, relying on donations from a small number of believers to make its fortune. After becoming rich, it not only refuses to pay taxes, but also speculates on real estate and land.

Is this enough to join the city council?

The most infuriating thing is that the church actually won a seat on the city council.

On the other hand, Leon is still a black market businessman who is not presentable.

Every year he had to pay high taxes and bribes to the city council and tax officials in exchange for the qualification to continue operating the black market.

Lynn took Leon towards the castle, and the two chatted as they walked.

"Is the rebellion large-scale? Where have these refugees gone now? Have they attacked Sanhe City? Has it affected business?"

Lynn also didn't care how many priests died.

But if there is a chance to recruit refugees, or if a refugee rebellion affects his private salt trade, he can no longer sit idly by.

Leon had long guessed that Lin En would have these questions, and his answers were very organized:

"The rebellion was quite large, reportedly numbering no less than 4,000 people. Some serfs and bandits from nearby territories also joined the rebels. But with their limited weapons and equipment, how could they have the guts to attack the city?

After looting the monasteries and manors around Sanhe City, they fled westward. When I left, it was said that some territories in the west had already been looted. For the lords and knights who followed the Duke on the expedition, this was truly an unexpected disaster.

As for the impact of the refugee rebellion on business, I can't say there is none, but it's not significant, and I estimate they will be crushed by next month at the latest."

The rebellion of several thousand refugee serfs seemed to be massive.

But for professional knights, they are just a group of chickens and dogs that will collapse at the first charge.

Even the White Bear Territory has more than 3,000 serfs, and five knights with their attendants can crush these serfs.

The Duke of Swampland deliberately left some vassal knights to garrison the core area. Once they gathered together, it would only take a week or two to wipe out the rebels.

Even if the two hundred serfs under Lin En were pulled out, suppressing the rebellion would be easy.

However, if we continue to indulge these rebels, a group of elite troops will automatically emerge from their ranks in a few months, and it will be hard to say what will happen then.

Lynn felt a little sorry about this.

These refugees are excellent soldiers and labor, but they are destined to die tragically under the butcher knife of the Duke's army.

No one is left behind, regardless of age.

The ruling class will never show any mercy to the lower classes who dare to resist.

But when it comes to rebellion, once there is one, there will usually be another.

The territories and manors ravaged by the rebels are the breeding grounds for further rebellion.

Some horse bandits and thieves will also take this opportunity to expand their power.

The future chaos of the Northern Kingdom has begun to emerge.

Lynn took Leon into the restaurant on the first floor of the castle.

Soon, the maids brought out biscuits, honey, jam, beer and wine for the guests to enjoy.

Lin En sat diagonally on the main seat on the north side, looking very relaxed.

"Come to think of it, you didn't bring any refugees with you this time. Could it be that no refugees have come from the Crown Territory recently?"

Lynn had previously glanced at the three oared sailboats at the dock and did not see any refugees.

Leon took a sip of his freshly brewed beer, put down his glass and replied:
"Perhaps there won't be any more of them in the future. The Duke of Swampland has appointed a group of court knights at Riverbend Castle, allowing them to serve as local lords of the newly occupied lands. With the lords' protection and constraints, the serfs will no longer easily escape."

The main force that accompanied the Duke of Swamp to conquer the crown territory this time was none other than the hundreds of court knights under his command.

This group of knights was mainly composed of landless nobles.

Including noble children who have no inheritance rights, knights who have been deprived of their territory, descendants of nobles who have fallen into poverty, and illegitimate children of nobles.

Most of them received chivalrous education, but for various reasons did not receive fiefs, so they could only work for the nobles to support themselves and their families.

Before Lin En arrived in the White Bear Territory, there were five feudal knights in the territory.

After the previous lord disappeared, they quickly took away all the valuables in the territory and ran away, voluntarily becoming landless nobles.

This behavior may seem stupid, but it is actually very smart.

The nobles these days are very fertile, but a piece of territory can only have one owner.

As a result, a large number of landless nobles emerged.

The new lord is the second son of Earl Cold Wind, so of course he will bring a group of landless nobles with him.

There are limited places in the White Bear Territory. When the new lord arrives, he will definitely confiscate the fiefs of these five knights and reward the territory to his confidants.

If they don't run away with the money, are they waiting to be kicked out?

There is a famous proverb in the North: Anyone who doesn't know what to do tomorrow night is definitely a serf.

Serfs had no personal freedom and could be conscripted by their lords at any time.

Their essence is uncertainty. They don’t know where their future lies, nor do they have a direction to work towards.

Court knights who emerged from the landless nobility were often contemptuously called "serf knights."

They also depended on the lords and nobles for their lives, were also subject to conscription at any time, and had no personal freedom.

The desire for territory is deeply engraved in the bones of every court knight.

After listening to the news brought by Leon, Lynn had reason to suspect that the reason why the Duke of Swamp was in such a hurry to send troops was most likely because he was instigated by his court knights.

These guys are too eager for territory.

As long as they can obtain a real piece of territory, they can get rid of the derogatory title of "serf knight" and become a real lord.

The Duke of Swampland hasn't even entered Amber Harbor to be crowned king yet, but he has already begun to lavishly reward his subordinates. It is likely that he has no choice.

Because he did not enfeoff them, there were many people willing to grant fiefs to his court knights. When the time came, it might not only be the fiefs, but even himself.

The disadvantages of dividing the territory are obvious.

The Duke of the Swamp will be forced to send a large number of elite knights to guard the newly occupied territories, and the number of troops under his command will be greatly reduced.

To do this, he must hire more mercenary groups or recruit more fiefdom knights to fight for him.

This would explain why he wants to impose next year's shield tax in advance.

These days, the Duke's family doesn't have much surplus food.

As to whether there will be large-scale migration in the future, Lin En has reservations.

He picked up the beer, took a sip, and changed the subject. "Last month, the Duke's tax collector came to White Bear Territory and levied an additional 50% territory tax. He also asked me to pay next year's shield tax in advance. I believe the city tax in Three Rivers City will also increase this year and next year."

In the Duchy of the Swamp, all cities named "Free City" are directly under the Duke.

Free cities can appoint their own city officials, have their own armed forces, and collect tariffs from passing merchants.

The price is that they have to pay a hefty city tax every year in exchange for autonomy.

As far as Lin En knew, the annual city tax of Sanhe City should be around one thousand Northern Gold Shields.

Snapped!
Leon drained his glass in one gulp and slammed it down on the table. "I'm irritated by the mention of this tax. Do you know how much the Duke of Swamp wants to levy in city taxes? A full five hundred! Why doesn't he just rob people? Even horse bandits don't rob people this quickly!"

And do you know how the city council apportioned the five hundred gold coins? They actually asked the Moonlight Market to bear one hundred Northern Gold Shields! One hundred! These sons of bitches!"

The Moonlight Market is the underground black market in Sanhe City, and it gets its name because the trading hours are often at night.

Most of the goods traded on the black market are not visible.

For example, the stolen goods of horse bandits, slaves with special identities, illegal salt of unknown origin, as well as the fine steel heavy crossbows and various banned books that are prohibited from being sold in the north.

Leon is the boss of the Moonlight Market. He is responsible for collecting taxes from the small black merchants and paying the taxes to the city council.

Now there is an additional tax of one hundred gold coins, and he must bear the bulk of it. After all, he alone accounts for more than half of the trade volume of the Moonlight Market.

Of course, he is not short of this money now. The profits brought to him by the private salt trade have long exceeded those of the black market.

But why should he bear such a high proportion of the contribution?
Just because he's easy to bully?
Just because the city council has the power to raid his lair at any time?

He dared to ask for a hundred gold coins now, so he didn't dare to imagine what the city council would do in the future.

Lin En suddenly asked, "How much gold coins have you earned from the illegal salt trade in the past few months?"

Leon answered truthfully: "About four hundred."

Then his tone became more intense. "But this isn't about the money! There's no reason for them to put 20 percent of the tax on me!"

The salt mine in Baixiongling officially started production at the end of June.

So far, Leon has only taken away more than two months' worth of salt production, and the salt produced in September is still lying in the dock warehouse.

Lin En roughly calculated that the monthly output of the White Bear Territory Salt Mine could account for roughly one-sixth to one-seventh of the monthly consumption of the entire Northern Kingdom.

The illegal salt produced in the White Bear Territory mainly flows to the upper reaches of the White River. Half of the huge profits go to Lynn, and the other half goes to Leon and several of his close partners.

Lynn earned one thousand gold coins, which was enough to buy a hundred sets of chain mail at the market price, while Leon earned more than four hundred, which shows how profitable it is to smuggle salt.

These profits should have originally belonged to the salt field family and were distributed proportionally to the upper nobles in the north.

It is said that the Salt Field Family has formed an alliance with the Duke of Swamp, and what Lynn and Leon stole was the huge dividend that originally belonged to the Duke of Swamp.

By next year, when the two families reconcile their accounts, they will most likely discover the hole and start investigating the illegal salt trafficking.

But Lynn didn't care, nor was he afraid.

By the time they were able to investigate White Bear Territory, he would probably be able to sell salt legitimately.

Lin En tapped the table with her index finger, her tone hinting at temptation.
"Leon, I know this isn't about money, it's about your dignity, but you don't have the ability or the courage to resist the city council right now.

Unless you can take control of the Three Rivers militia, and the city council is unwilling to give you a seat, why don't you try to become the master of the city?"

Previously, the third brother suggested to Lynn that while the Duke of Swamp was stuck in the quagmire, he should find a way to take all six baronies in the White River Basin.

But Lynn's vision is longer-term than the third brother's.

It is more important to control Sanhe City first than to take over these territories and populations.

Sanhe City is the confluence of Baihe River and Jinghe River. It is the gateway to the entire Baihe River Basin and an important port city on Jinghe River.

If we take Sanhe City first, we can form a "closing the door to beat the dog" situation against the several baronies in the Baihe River Basin, and it will be easier to capture them.

The key that can open the gate of Sanhe City for Lin En is Leon.

Leon is ambitious, not content with his current situation, and eager to move up.

Lin En understood all of this and felt the same way.

Leon looked up at Lin En, his breathing suddenly becoming urgent: "You mean, I'm a tyrant?"

It is said that the free city system originated in the ancient city-state era.

Thousands of years ago, there was no large-scale unified country in the southern part of the Diewas continent, and there were small city-states everywhere.

Most of these city-states adopted a democratic system and were governed by consultation among citizen assemblies.

The opposite of this is the one-man dictatorship, also known as tyranny.

Most of these tyrants came to power through military coups, using brutal and tough tactics.

Lin En knew that Leon was moved, and all he had to do was add fuel to the fire:

"What kind of person you want to be is up to you. You have seen the chaos in the North right now, but neither you nor I can predict what the North will look like in the future.

But it was undoubtedly a world of unprecedented chaos.

This very month, I will march south to capture the Shoal Territory and completely control that land.

Everything I do is to be able to decide my own destiny in troubled times.

I hate being dominated by others.

And you, my friend, we are alike, and that is why we sit together in this castle, drinking wine together."

After that, Lin En picked up the wine glass and smiled: "Cheers to our future self."

Leon's face flushed with excitement. He picked up the flagon, poured himself a full glass, and then drank it all in one gulp.

Liquor emboldened him, Leon suddenly became interested in the war: "Can I go with you to the shallows?"

"As long as you are willing to."

Lin En naturally would not refuse. He wanted to use this war to show his strength to his allies.

(End of this chapter)