I'm not a lord

Chapter 205 The Envoy from the Earl of Mirror Iron
Just as Kalebo embarked on his journey, Lynn was receiving an envoy from the Mirror Iron Territory at his military camp on the western outskirts of Three Rivers.

For various reasons, Lynn has not entered the city since he occupied Sanhe City more than half a month ago.

One reason is that transportation is more convenient outside the city.

Lynn currently controls three territories: the six counties of Baihe Territory, Sanhe City, and the western suburbs of the city.

By stationing itself in the western suburbs, it can both deter the newly occupied territories and coordinate operations from the center, while also handling the administrative affairs of the three territories.

On the other hand, it can avoid overstimulating the city's residents.

These days, the citizens of large municipalities are as sensitive as pregnant wildcats, reacting to the slightest disturbance.

The establishment of the Handicraft Association and the appointment of a mayor have already offended them. If Lynn continues to live in the city, it's hard to guarantee that no one will have any ulterior motives.

Lynn wasn't afraid of them because he had a knife, but there was no need to provoke them excessively.

Maintaining a certain distance from each other will allow them to gradually desensitize, and will also make it easier for Lynn to control the city from a higher 'perspective'.

In addition to these two reasons, there is also a safety consideration.

As a newly surrendered city, Sanhe City was a mixed bag of people, and Lynn did not want to put himself in danger.

He possesses exceptional martial arts skills and is not particularly afraid of assassination attempts.

However, if something unexpected happens, those around him might be affected, which is something he doesn't want to see.

Moreover, as his territory and influence grow, Lynn must also pay attention to his personal security.

The entire power was united because of him personally, and if anything happened to him, it would crumble like a sandcastle in an instant.

Currently, the person in charge of Lynn's security is no longer his second brother, Hugh, but another bandit henchman who has followed him for many years.

The burly Carol watched the visiting envoy warily like a watchdog, and said in an almost commanding tone, "Please remove your hat and take off your sword."

Ever since Hugh took command of the cavalry, Carroll has been responsible for protecting Lynn and his family.

In the original bandit gang, Carol's seniority was not low; he even joined earlier than the fourth and fifth oldest members.

He was simply not capable enough, which is why he was never able to enter the core leadership of the gang.

Now Lynn has promoted him to captain of the Earl's personal guard and significantly improved his treatment. He has also helped him marry Robert's daughter, the magistrate of Shallow Beach County, as a reward for his long-term loyalty.

Carroll has fifty fully armed elite soldiers under his command, half of whom are always by Lynn's side, while the other half are guarding the castle in River Marsh County.

Although the number of soldiers is not large, these soldiers are the absolute elite of the army and are equipped with high-quality warhorses, so that they can escort the lord to retreat in time in critical moments.

Faced with this aggressive watchdog, Evan from the Earl of Mirror Iron smiled and nodded slightly, then elegantly removed his black soft hat and placed it in Carol's hand.

Then, Evan held out his arms to show off his loose black linen priest's robe and invited Carol to search him.
“If you wish, I can present myself to you without reservation, and at the same time demonstrate to the Earl the sincerity of Mirror Iron Territory.”

Carol bent down expressionlessly and ran her hand over the priest's robe from top to bottom to make sure there was nothing hidden underneath before letting him into the military tent.

Lynn sat in the military tent, looking at Evan's polite demeanor, and thought that the priest was indeed quite suitable to be an envoy.

If one were to form a diplomatic team, it would be more appropriate to recruit a few well-educated clergy.

At this moment, Evan had already walked up to Lynn and bowed across the long table: "Your Excellency Earl of White River, please allow me to extend my sincerest greetings to you on behalf of Earl Vasa."

Vasa was none other than the Earl of Mirror Iron, and after the change of allegiance in Three Rivers, he was the first of the Northern nobles to send an envoy to Lynn.

This is, of course, because he had the advantage of being in a good position.

After all, Mirror Iron Territory and Three Rivers City are separated only by the Jing River, and their trade relations are extremely close.

After the ceremony, Evan presented a list of gifts and explained:

"Upon hearing that you have been granted the title of Earl of White River by the Royal Family, Earl Vasa has carefully selected a gift for you, and we urge you to accept it."

Then a guard took the list, confirmed that there were no problems, and presented it to Lynn.

The list contained a long string of gifts, including fifty helmets, one hundred longswords, thirty sets of chainmail, and two hundred horseshoes.

The rest are some more valuable luxury items, such as red wine, wool, spices, and glassware.

It can only be said that he is indeed Count Mirror Iron, who possesses a mountain of iron, and his gifts are mainly various iron weapons.

This gift list doesn't have many highlights; it consists of common items found on the market, and together it's worth about a thousand Northern Shields.

Overall, however, it is a gift that cannot go wrong, and it is valuable enough to be equivalent to a whole year's output of a large baron.

After looking at the gift list, Lynn smiled naturally: "I don't have much of a relationship with Count Vasa. If I accept such a valuable gift, I will inevitably feel a little guilty."

For Lynn, there's never too little gift; he'll accept anything as long as it's given.

Receiving gifts was a major source of income for nobles in those days.

In the North, receiving gifts has even become a mandatory custom.

We should collect money for weddings, births of children, and especially for children's weddings.

Many powerful noble families would even use various pretexts to forcibly collect exorbitant gifts from their vassals.

You won't give it to me? If you don't give it to me, I'll make things difficult for you from every angle.

Of course, while Lynn accepted the gifts, she still had to be polite in words.

The messenger, Evan, immediately replied, "Count Vasa admires your bravery and decisiveness; this gift is merely a token of his appreciation."

The Earl only wishes that Mirror Iron Territory maintain its past trade practices with Three Rivers City, and also desires to establish friendly relations with you; nothing more.

Upon hearing this, Lynn's smile became even brighter.

Oh, so you were just here to build connections?
This Earl of Mirror Iron is truly wealthy; he's willing to give away thousands of Northern Gold Shields just to curry favor.

It's good to have rich people; you should make more friends with them.

Back when he was a bandit leader, Lynn liked to associate with rich people, in a physical sense.

"Although Sanhe City has my flag, it is still an autonomous city. I will not interfere with its trade. You can go and discuss the new trade rules with the city council."

As for personal friendship, although I have never met Count Vasa, I already consider him a close friend.

Lynn accepted the gift with a smile, but completely shirked all responsibility.

trading?

Sanhe City is an autonomous city, so trade isn't under my jurisdiction. You'll have to go find the new mayor, Leon.

Personal friendship is no problem. If you don't mind, I can even pay you a visit! The kind where I bring an army.

“I’ve heard that Mayor Leon has a close relationship with you. If you could put in a good word for us, the friendship between Mirror Iron Territory and Three Rivers City would be stronger than that of Iron Helmet.”

But Evan was clearly prepared; he had even found out about Lynn's personal relationship with Leon.

Lynn declined again, saying, "The city is the city, and I really can't get involved in business matters."

He knew perfectly well what Evan and Earl Mirror Iron behind him were up to—they simply wanted to import grain and ale. Mirror Iron Territory's main industries were mining and smelting; serfs and arable land were extremely scarce, and they needed to import large quantities of grain and grain products from Three Rivers City every year.

This year, Sanhe City is facing a severe food shortage crisis, and the situation in Jingtie Territory is naturally not much better.

The loss rate of stored grain is extremely high. With current storage technology, a loss of 30% of the stored grain in a year is considered mild.

From a purely commercial perspective, proactively storing large quantities of grain is a behavior that seriously violates business logic.

In years of plenty, both farmers and merchants tend to brew the surplus grain into wine.

Because storing wine can actually increase its value.

In addition, there was no systematic military logistics system at that time, and the lords in various places would plunder whenever they could when they sent troops out, and they did not have the habit of storing food.

This is why famines were frequent in ancient times.

Who among decent people stores large quantities of grain?
Due to the war that began last autumn, Jingtie Territory had at most six months' worth of grain reserves. From last winter until now, the stored grain is estimated to be almost depleted.

There is still a whole month until this year's autumn harvest. The miners can't possibly eat iron ore as their only food.
Evan knew, of course, that the food supplies for Sanhe City were now provided by Baihe Territory.

Ever since Lynn occupied Three Rivers, a steady stream of cheap grain has been transported into Three Rivers by waterway.

Of course, this cheapness is relative; it was roughly twice the price before the war.

But for the Mirror Iron Territory, which has been short of food for a long time, even twice the price is cheap!

Seeing Lynn's repeated refusals, Evan had no choice but to be frank:
"The trade of grain and iron ingots between the Iron River Basin and the White River Basin has continued for over a century, and you are now the sole guardian of the White River Basin."

"For trades like grain and ale, I believe only you can make those decisions."

The so-called Sanhe City is the place where the Baihe River, Jinghe River and Tiehe River meet.

The Iron River runs through the entire Earl of Mirror Iron and is the main transportation artery within the territory.

In the past, merchants from Sanhe City dominated trade in this region.

They controlled almost all trade between the two major river basins; iron ingots from the Iron River basin and grain from the White River basin could only reach those in need through their hands.

The Duke of the Marshland was a patron of the merchants, protecting the trading privileges of Three Rivers.

Now, Lynn has not only unified the White River Territory, but also captured the Three Rivers City. He now possesses both trade channels and grain as a hard currency.

Therefore, Evan knew he had to ask Lynn for help.

The new mayor, Leon, is just a puppet; his words carry no weight.

After pondering for a long time, Lynn slowly said, "If you can answer a few questions for me, I might consider selling a batch of grain to Mirror Iron Territory."

Upon hearing that there was hope, Evan immediately replied, "I will answer to the best of my knowledge."

While Lynn was negotiating with Evan, news of his glorious deeds in Three Rivers City had already reached Amber Harbor.

For the past two months, Amber Harbor has faced fierce fighting almost every day.

But the city bravely withstood the almost frenzied offensive of the Marsh Duke, and even managed to launch several counterattacks outside the city, severely damaging the morale of the enemy.

The city has finally welcomed the rainy season it had been waiting for.

The continuous rain became a second wall for the citizens, forcing the Marsh Duke outside the city to reduce his forces and the frequency of his attacks.

King Maurice sat in the palace and heard good news every day.

Either they repelled the Marsh Duke's offensive, or another batch of transport ships arrived at the port, bringing much-needed food and weapons to the city.

Amber Harbor indeed has only a little over 20,000 permanent residents, but due to the scorched-earth policy, farmers from outside the city have also moved into the city.

This caused the city's population to soar to over 60,000, and the daily food consumption was astronomical.

Fortunately, the navy in Amber Harbor was quite strong, which not only protected the port but also opened up both waterway and sea transport channels.

Some coastal areas remained loyal to the royal family and were able to continuously transport supplies into the city by ship.

Today, even more exciting good news has arrived in the city by waterway.

"Excellent! Lynn did a great job! He actually breached the Three Rivers City and even killed the traitor Earl Black Shirt. He truly deserves the Earl and Royal Executive position I personally appointed! He has lived up to my trust and support!"

Holding the news of victory brought by the merchants from Three Rivers, Maurice danced excitedly in the palace hall.

In front of a group of officials, he directly claimed the main credit for himself.

He completely forgot that it was Princess Chloris who insisted on his opinion, which is why he reluctantly granted Lynn the title of Royal Executive.

Morris's top henchman, the royal prime minister, shouted, "Your Majesty, if you hadn't granted Lynn your authority, he would never have gained the recognition of White River Territory and Three Rivers City! Naturally, he wouldn't have been able to occupy Three Rivers City!"

The Prime Minister's sycophantic behavior was immediately approved by the officials present.

They all echoed this sentiment, saying that it was all thanks to His Majesty, and that Lynn, as the executor, was merely carrying out His Majesty's will on his behalf, and so on.

No one spoke up to stop their nonsense.

Since that contentious court meeting, Princess Chloris has been excluded from all meetings.

This little court in Amber Harbor cannot tolerate any dissenting voices.

Fortunately, there were still wise people in the court.

After the flattery subsided slightly, the mayor of Amber Harbor stepped forward:
“Your Majesty, I believe that Lynn should be rewarded immediately to encourage him to continue to spread the royal prestige for you and eliminate any rebellious elements that are detrimental to the royal family.”

“He will definitely be rewarded; I will personally write him a certificate of commendation.”

Morris decided on the content of the award without hesitation.

A certificate of commendation in its literal sense is one that only contains an award, but without any actual prize.

In Morris's opinion, Lynn's title was already high enough.

What's the next rank after Earl and Royal Executive?
Could it really be as Chloris said, that he was given the titles of Royal Governor and Royal Marshal?
Impossible, absolutely impossible!
As for material rewards, Morris was reluctant to give them up.

The price of grain in Amber Harbor has skyrocketed, and the royal family doesn't have much money left. They'd be lucky if they could find a silver scepter in the warehouse to reward him!

Besides, he has already captured Sanhe City, which is the premier commercial hub in the northern inland region. He can't do without it.
And isn't this all part of Lynn's job?
He is the royal executive officer, and it is his duty to eliminate rebels for the royal family.

Should I, Maurice, as king, lavishly reward a subject for doing his duty?
Judging from this, aren't there too many people who deserve rewards?

It cannot be said that Morris's idea was necessarily wrong.

From the king's perspective, granting a bandit leader the title of count was already the limit.

Moreover, according to the message sent back by the envoy, Earl Brun, this Lynn was unruly and incorrigible, and had no intention of serving the royal family at all.

It's true that Lynn conquered Three Rivers, but did he really take the city for the royal family?

Hard to say!

(End of this chapter)