I'm not a lord

Chapter 188 Establishing the Enlightenment School
Although Lynn had never met King Morris, he had a very poor impression of this temporary ally.

The messenger sent by Morris was quite cunning; after being pressured, he revealed all his cards, just like a fallen knight stripped of his armor.

As for Maurice himself, he was clearly an illegitimate child, yet he dared to be arrogant and stingy, unwilling to even give up a few worthless official positions, as miserly as a hoarder clutching gold coins.

The internal strife within the royal court was a classic example. Three envoys were sent to reside in Baihe Territory, but they were all people affiliated with the former king's daughter. They began attacking each other as soon as they disembarked.

This is perfectly normal, fitting Lynn's stereotypes about the down-on-their-luck little regime, which is both incompetent and playful.

Fortunately, he didn't have high demands on the king and the small court; he considered it a victory if he could keep the Duke of the Swamp in the Crown Territory.

Through these events, Lynn could see that Maurice did not trust him, nor did he trust Princess Chloris.

Morris's decision to have the princess send an envoy to reside permanently in White River Territory, rather than sending his own confidants, was most likely to facilitate a future break with Lynn.

Who told Lynn to come from a humble background?

If the Duke of the Valley hadn't already acknowledged the title of Earl of Lynn White River, he doubted that Morris wouldn't even be willing to grant him an earldom.

But it doesn't really matter. It was a temporary alliance formed because of a common enemy, and both sides hoped that the other could tie down more of the Duke of the Swamp's troops and energy.

Once this common enemy collapses, the so-called alliance will naturally dissipate quickly as well.

After meeting with the key figures in the delegation, Lynn hosted a grand welcoming banquet in the castle hall.

He was still willing to give Count Brune this small favor.

The mission also only rested for one day in the White River Territory.

Earl Brun also had two other missions: to visit the White Eagle Castle of the Duke of the Valley and the Wolf Castle of the Duke of the Meadows, to forge an alliance with the two dukes on behalf of the king, and to persuade them to send troops as soon as possible to cooperate with King Maurice in besieging the Duke of the Marsh.

The delegation sailed south, leaving behind the little princess's three stewards and several servants.

According to Earl Brun, these people will remain in White River Territory on behalf of the royal family, firstly to supervise the duties of 'Royal Northern Frontier Executive Officer' Lynn, and secondly to be responsible for communications between the two sides.

Lynn could easily feed those few mouths, not to mention he didn't need to pay them a salary.

But even just three bowls of porridge a day costs money!

Adhering to the principle of not supporting idlers, Lynn plans to have the three remaining housekeepers become teachers at the school.

The school, originally located in Shirokuma Prefecture at the northernmost tip, has now been relocated to Heron Prefecture, and its size of teachers and students has expanded significantly, with the total number of students approaching two hundred.

But Lynn still felt it wasn't enough, and with a wave of his hand, he prepared to establish another specialized school for early childhood education.

This school was not intended to train bureaucrats and tax collectors, but rather to provide literacy and early education for children under the age of ten.

If the school founded by Timo the Sixth could be considered a vocational high school, then this introductory school was a combination of primary and junior high school.

Lynn had two main purposes in establishing the school for the young.

One of them is to train more reserve officials.

Despite the large number of students in Lao Liu's school, it actually encompasses the vast majority of young men in the territory who have completed their basic education.

These young people mostly come from families of stewards and village heads, and have a certain family cultural heritage, which allows them to skip the early education stage.

However, this number was far from enough to meet Lynn's ever-growing demand for officials.

After all, not every student has the talent and diligence to complete their studies.

According to Timo, the sixth student, only half of the twenty-odd students who enrolled last year were able to achieve academic success, while the others had to repeat a year or drop out.

Therefore, Lynn hoped to build a complete education chain to continuously cultivate a large number of qualified officials.

These officials will all receive an education program set by Lord Lynn, growing up under his patronage so that they can assist him in quickly integrating the resources of the newly occupied territories in the future.

Secondly, it was to satisfy the consumption desires of the wealthy class in the territory.

Over the past year, Lynn has been spending lavishly across the territory. Mid- to high-ranking officers and skilled craftsmen have all amassed fortunes in gleaming Northern Gold Shields.

Lynn's money wasn't unlimited; he needed to make it circulate throughout his territory.

Therefore, it is necessary to provide these newly wealthy individuals with channels to spend their money.

Throughout history, there have only been a few channels that can consume large sums of money: education, housing, healthcare, and luxury goods.

Healthcare in the North is practically nonexistent, housing in rural territories doesn't cost much, and luxury goods consumption is temporarily suspended due to the blockade of trade routes.

Therefore, Lynn naturally set his sights on education.

These newly wealthy individuals also have a need to educate their younger generations.

As soon as Lynn announced his plan to establish an enlightenment school, it immediately caused a strong reaction in Baihe Territory.

The most proactive were the skilled blacksmiths and carpenters.

They were wealthy but lacked education, and they didn't want all their descendants to inherit their craft. They were worried about how to arrange their children's future, and the establishment of the school solved their urgent problem.

Lynn promised them that every student who successfully graduated from the elementary school would be guaranteed a place in the civil service school.

If one can graduate from the civil service school, then one will certainly be assigned a suitable job.

Lured by Lynn's allocation policy, even though the annual tuition and fees for elementary schools were as high as three gold shields, roughly equivalent to half a year's income for a skilled craftsman, the enthusiasm of the newly rich class could not be resisted.

There's no worry about student enrollment now, but a new problem has arisen: who will be the teachers?
Being a primary school teacher isn't too difficult; being able to recognize characters and write is enough, and it's best to also have some arithmetic skills.

Based on these criteria, the most suitable candidates to be teachers are actually the county magistrates and senior stewards of each territory.

But Lynn couldn't just neglect the governance of his territory and send these people to school as introductory teachers.

Originally, he planned to wait for the talents recommended by Kalebo to arrive before gradually establishing new schools.

Kalebo was the priestly envoy who had visited the White River Territory on behalf of the Duke of the Valley. He was a proper monastery graduate and had been involved in officialdom for many years, so he must have had a considerable network of connections in the Duchy of the Valley.

Now, Princess Chloris has delivered three middle-aged butlers to Lynn's doorstep.

These three individuals are not particularly outstanding in their individual abilities, but they do possess basic writing and arithmetic skills; otherwise, they would not be able to fulfill the duties of a public servant and housekeeper.

When the three stewards had barely settled into their new homes in Baihe, they were all utterly dumbfounded when they learned they were to be teachers at a school still under construction.
"Your Excellency, this...this is inappropriate, isn't it?"

Lynn said confidently, "Why wouldn't it be suitable? It's perfect! You were originally stewards who managed the princess's servants and maids, so educating and managing naughty students is exactly what you're capable of."

These days, children in the countryside are extremely wild, and they need the discipline and education of these experienced stewards.

The three hesitated: "But..."

Lynn said firmly, "There are no 'buts'! You either pack your bags and leave White River Territory, or you come to the school and become my tutors. That way, you might be able to complete the task assigned by Princess Chloris. I need a definite answer from you now, immediately!"

Lynn gave them no choice, no time to hesitate, only to tell them to either get out or obey orders.

Lynn simply didn't need anyone to supervise or urge him on, and he was even less willing to support a few freeloaders on his territory.

Being a tutor for little kids is the most suitable job for these three housekeepers.

The three stewards looked at each other, none of them daring to speak for a moment.

But under immense pressure from Lynn, the three could only reluctantly nod in the end.

Being a teacher is better than failing at a task.

Chloris's task for them was actually quite simple: to observe Lynn's character and the situation in White River Territory over a long period of time.

As for the so-called supervision and urging, the princess didn't expect these little stewards to be able to do it.

(End of this chapter)