I'm not a lord

Chapter 190 Extraordinary moves

In the North and throughout the entire continent of Dievas, merchants are generally inclined to compromise and moderation.

For example, if Lynn were to demand that Three Rivers City accept six times the price of grain, or betray the Duke of the Marsh and pledge allegiance to him, the city council would certainly not accept it.

However, if Lynn reduced the grain price to four times and only allowed designated merchants to purchase grain, the city council would be willing to accept the mediation.

Of course, the councilors were all prominent figures in the city, so they had to maintain a certain level of reserve and couldn't just nod in agreement on the spot; that would be too undignified and would damage their reputation.

Mayor Jürgen coughed twice, cleared his throat, and said in a pretentious tone, "If Count Baihe is sincere in his negotiations, then I think the city council might be able to restart the talks."

It is now early June.

Because of the need to support Count Blackwood's three hundred cavalrymen, the grain reserves in Sanhe City can only last for a little over a month at most, and are simply not enough to last until the autumn harvest in August.

The retail price of grain in the city has already risen to five times that of the year before last, and most of the lower-class citizens are in a state of semi-starvation, living a hard life of eating only one meal a day.

With rising grain prices, the permanent resident population of Sanhe City has fallen below 7,000, and half of the lowest-class laborers who moved from rural areas to the city have fled.

Fortunately, the core population, such as merchants and artisans, has not yet begun to leave on a large scale.

A little manual labor isn't important; once the city returns to normal, the job can be filled in one to two months.

After all, there are still over two thousand unregistered serfs active in the city. If the city can provide jobs and food, these unregistered people can be transformed into legal citizens in an instant.

As long as he could get food to tide him over, Jürgen accepted the fourfold price increase, even if it meant paying four times the price.

At worst, the city council can organize wealthy businessmen to subsidize the citizens to tide them over until August, and then settle accounts with Lynn later.

As for Lynn's 'small' request to have a merchant buy grain, Jürgen naturally had no choice but to concede.

“Since Earl Baihe has asked me to act as the middleman, his sincerity is beyond doubt. I believe the city council should send an envoy to Baihe territory as soon as possible, and then we will surely get a result that satisfies you all.”

As the king's envoy and the intermediary for Lynn's message, Earl Brun's words carried some weight.

Originally, Earl Brun hoped that Lynn would start fighting with Three Rivers as soon as possible, which was also what King Morris hoped for.

But when he arrived at the destination, he learned that the two sides had already fought several rounds.

Even Golden Deer Castle was alarmed and sent Earl Blackwood to rescue Three Rivers.

Currently, the military strength of both sides is relatively balanced, and neither side can gain the upper hand. Whoever attacks will suffer losses.

If you can't gain an advantage on the battlefield, you should resort to some underhanded tactics.

Specifying a businessman might seem trivial, even unnecessary.

In reality, it was a ruthless tactic to divide the forces within the city and support one's own side.

For example, Lynn appointed a certain merchant to monopolize the foreign grain trade of the White River Territory.

Then this businessman would naturally form a community of interests with Lynn.

Furthermore, his ships and personnel will be able to freely enter and leave Mikawa City and Shirakawa Territory.

Isn't it normal to slip in some personal agendas at that time?
The city not only could not restrain him, but even had to treat him with courtesy.

Without this merchant, the grain transport route would be cut off immediately, and Sanhe City would once again fall into a state of food shortage.

Earl Brune was worldly-wise and could understand Lynn's intentions.

He also knew that such underhanded tactics would sooner or later trigger new disputes or even war, so he was happy to act as a messenger.

If even Earl Brun could see through Lynn's intentions, Mayor Jürgen and the councilors could certainly see them too. But what good would it do to see them?
Lynn is playing his cards right: I want to divide the city's power, and I'm trying to incite infighting within the city!

But Sanhe City simply couldn't handle this open game.

In most cases, the struggle is a contest of hard power.

Lynn has grain, but Three Rivers City has no grain, so the latter must make concessions.

Even if these grains contain slow-acting poisons, the city has no choice but to eat them.

It's better to die two months from now than to die now.

If we can just keep dragging this out, maybe hope will come.

For example, the Duke of the Marshland conquered Amber Harbor and was crowned king.

Unfortunately, the Duke was also covered in bumps at this moment.

With his army surrounding Amber Harbor by land and various siege weapons arriving, a fierce siege ensued.

On the first day of the war, the Duke of the Marsh gathered a large number of bandits and brigands, along with a small number of local nobles, and launched a massive offensive against the city walls, with a total force of over two thousand.

Before launching the attack, the Duke promised them that if they could capture Amber Harbor, they could not only plunder the city at will, but also be granted fertile lands and noble titles in the future.

Their thirst for endless wealth and high-ranking positions, coupled with the charismatic reputation of the Marsh Duke who had never been defeated in battle, gave these desperados the courage to charge into the towering city walls with their bare hands.

The Duke of the Marsh provided them with a full set of chainmail and weapons, and also used large siege engines such as catapults, siege towers, and battering rams for cover, and dispatched thousands of crossbowmen to suppress the defenders on the city walls.

In the Duke's eyes, even if this offensive failed to breach the city walls, it would at least inflict heavy casualties on the city's defenders and severely damage their morale.

But the result greatly disappointed him.

Braving a hail of stones and arrows, the defenders poured buckets of scalding oil down the city walls. Black smoke billowed from the wooden frames of the siege towers, and the screams of the bandits mingled with the sizzling sound of burning oil, echoing across the battlefield.

At the same time, they used crossbows to shoot down enemy soldiers who tried to climb the city walls through narrow firing holes.

Under the fierce resistance of the Amber Harbor defenders, the charge launched by this ragtag army was like a wave crashing against a solid reef.

The reef remained intact, but the waves shattered into a pile of foam.

As evening fell, when the defeated soldiers scrambled back to their camp beneath the city walls, the Duke of the Swamp clearly heard a burst of enthusiastic cheers erupting from the walls.

"Glory belongs to the king!"

"Long live King Maurice!"

"Cut off Lothair's head!"

Then a giant banner depicting a narwhal piercing a golden deer was hung on the city wall.

The golden deer on the flag is pierced through the belly by a whale horn, its proud head bowed downwards, and its red blood flows into the azure ocean.

The meaning is self-evident: the golden stag represents the marsh duke, while the narwhal is a symbol of royalty.

The duke's face was ashen, and his hand gripping the sword hilt trembled uncontrollably.

Judging from the situation on the first day of the siege, King Maurice had indeed won the support of the citizens of Amber Harbor.

The city has found its leader and the will and determination to fight to the end.

(End of this chapter)