I'm not a lord

Chapter 133 The Eve of War
When Earl Frostwind returned to the hall of Riverbank, he immediately found his eldest son Connor chatting and laughing with the young nobles.

"It was clearly his fault, but you have to bear the responsibility."

After listening to his father's brief account of what happened, Connor's face showed undisguised disgust.

Connor has looked down on his half brother Roman since they were young. He thinks Roman is incompetent and timid but he is unaware of it.

In his opinion, the idiot Roman must have been deceived by the Baron's daughter.

Yagna simply wanted to use the flag and bloodline of the Cold Wind Family to avoid being held accountable by the Duke of the Swamp later.

But Roman was completely unaware of this. As soon as Yagna hooked her finger, he couldn't wait to press forward.

"It's not a big deal. He's not stupid enough to resist paying taxes. Everything can be saved."

Count Frostwind was thankful for his second son Roman's cowardice.

The Duke of Swamp's early collection of shield tax was actually extremely excessive and completely violated the contract signed between the Duke and his nobles.

The nobles of all ranks in the duchy had every reason to resist taxation.

But if you don't pay it, you will be going against the Duke, and sooner or later you will be punished by the Duke.

The Cold Wind Family has now completely surrendered to the Duke of Swampland. If Roman refuses to pay taxes, it will plant a thorn in the Duke's heart, which is not conducive to the long-term development of the family.

"Let's go back now. I'll write the letter and you arrange someone to deliver it." Earl Cold Wind couldn't wait to scold Roman harshly in the letter.

"Do we have to send it now? It's nearly 800 kilometers from River Bay Castle to White Bear Territory. The river is frozen now, and it may take two months to go back and forth." Connor was obviously a little reluctant.

It is now mid-December in the North. The rivers are frozen, the roads are blocked, and there is continuous snow and wind. If someone sends someone to deliver a letter at this time, and the messenger dies on the way by accident, he will not be discovered until the beginning of next spring.

Precisely because of the weather, the Duke of Swamp and the royal faction tacitly gathered their troops, guarded the castles, and waited for the next spring to fight again.

"This is the Duke's order. You should arrange more people and make sure the letter is delivered to the White Bear Territory even if you die." Earl Hanfeng didn't care.

Lin En had no idea what happened at the night banquet thousands of miles away.

But there is one thing he is very clear about.

There is not much time left for him to develop peacefully.

Putting aside other factors, if Yagna failed to give birth to a baby boy in February, his relationship with the Duke would break down instantly.

There was no way Lynn would sit back and watch himself lose the Shoal Territory.

This territory is an important base and springboard for his southward advance.

Naturally, the Duke would not tolerate a baby girl ruling the Shoal Territory.

No matter how generous the Duke is, he still has to consider the opinions of other nobles.

In mid-December, a messenger from the Green Lake Territory in the south delivered a letter.

The letter stated that Golden Deer Castle and the four baronies in the White River Basin had decided to form a joint delegation and would visit the Shoal Castle in mid-February next year.

The delegation will include five prominent ladies.

They will witness the entire process of Yagna's delivery on site to ensure that the fetus is born from her womb and prevent anyone from replacing the fetus.

Lin En ordered Yagna to accept the letter and let the Green Lake envoy go.

Most of the new recruits had just received training, and it was impossible for him to fall out with the Duke and the four barons at the same time.

Yagna's due date is the end of February.

In three months, Lynn will let them know what cruelty is.

In order to prepare for both situations, he ordered his second son to garrison the Qiantan Castle for a long time.

If an accident occurs at that time, the second brother will immediately take down the joint mission.

Lin En will send troops to attack the Green Lake Territory in the south as quickly as possible. What about the alliance of the four baronies?

The photo is correct!

According to the last batch of intelligence sent by Leon from Three Rivers City this year, the Duke of Swampland did not send troops to the White River Basin.

After collecting this year's shield tax, the county governor stationed near Sanhe City also led his troops eastward and personally escorted the tax to Hewan Fort.

Midwinter had arrived, and before the snow melted completely, Lynn's only opponents were the four baronies in the south.

From north to south, the four territories are named Green Lake Territory, Red Creek Territory, Heron Territory and River Swamp Territory.

Among them, Green Lake Territory and Red Creek Territory are of the same level. The population size and cultivated land area of ​​these two territories are comparable to that of Shoal Territory, and the number of knights in the fiefdom will not exceed ten.

The Heron Territory and the River Swamp Territory are larger in size, with a population of around 7,000 people, and each has no fewer than 15 fiefdom knights.

However, these four baronies did not pay the shield tax for the next year in full in December.

This means that they have all sent some knights to follow the Duke of Swamp on the Eastern Expedition, leaving a gap in the military force in the territory.

Lin En roughly estimated that if they jointly sent troops to the Shallows Territory, they would be able to dispatch at least thirty regular knights and about two hundred knight attendants.

Don’t underestimate their numbers; they are elite soldiers who have received years of training.

Everyone was wearing armor. Regular knights wore a full set of chain mail and an iron helmet, and even the lowest servants could wear half-body chain mail.

Not only that, this unit will also be equipped with a large number of high-quality war horses and can launch a collective charge of about fifty people.

When ordinary conscripts and refugee rebels saw this scene, they would collectively become weak and flee in all directions.

But all the soldiers under Lynn's command are professional soldiers.

Especially the 200 veterans led by White Bear. They have received nearly half a year of training, have experienced the baptism of small-scale battles, and have received personal guidance from Lin En.

Before the Baihe River was completely frozen, Lin En deliberately cleared out all the chain mail on the streets of Sanhe City and equipped all 200 veterans with a full set of chain mail.

The two most elite teams have already put on freshly made plate armor.

Lin En firmly believed that even if they faced a head-on confrontation with the knight troops of the four baronies, these two hundred powerful infantrymen would be able to fight.

And it’s not like he doesn’t have cavalry.

The eighteen riders under the second brother's command are fully equipped with plate armor and plate armor clothes, and each of them is proficient in riding skills, and is not inferior to professional fiefdom knights.

After all, the treatment Lynn gave them was comparable to that of a fiefdom knight.

The only pity is that with the streams freezing, the blacksmith workshops in both territories have to return to the era of manual labor.

The production speed of plate armor and plate armor has dropped to less than half of its original speed.

In late December, Lynn made another trip to the salt mine.

With the help of the White Bear Steward, the barren people have built two large warehouses.

One stores salt and the other stores rye for the winter.

Although the warehouses are very simple in structure, their mission is to withstand this winter.

At the same time, old Thorward, who had been scouting the wilderness terrain, also returned to the lowland tribe.

"Your Excellency, Baron, I have contacted two tribes of barbarians. The tribe called 'High Cliff' may be able to win over."

Old Soward's trip was not in vain, and the news he brought back was exciting.

"Gao Ya? Did they offer any specific conditions?"

(End of this chapter)