I'm not a lord

Chapter 216 The Variables in the North

At a military conference held in the city hall of Tot, Duke Lothair of the Marsh publicly announced:

"The rainy season came late this year. Next month, once the rainy season is over, we will surround Amber Harbour again."

After what appeared to be a failed siege, the Duke of the Swamp actually had more troops under his command.

Moreover, the core palace cavalry force did not suffer many losses, and even expanded to more than 4,000 men by absorbing the cannon fodder troops.

In addition to the large amount of grain and money plundered from the Crown Territory, the Duke of the Swamp can now be considered to have a well-trained army and ample supplies.

Obtaining military supplies through plunder is indeed short-sighted and destructive.

But the Duke of the Marshland had no choice; the vast northern frontier and scattered territories made it impossible for him to maintain a stable logistical line.

His own original territory did not have that much grain reserves or spare transport capacity.

For him, looting on the spot was the only and best way to feed all the soldiers and their families.

The army under the Duke of the Marshland consisted of more than just soldiers. Apart from the court cavalry, most of the other troops were accompanied by their families.

The total 'troop strength' entrenched near Tote City is now close to 30,000.

"I can promise that when I wear the crown of the North, all of you present will receive titles and lands commensurate with your merits. The rich crown lands will satisfy all your desires, everything!"

While announcing his intention to stay and continue fighting, the Duke of the Swamp also made a grand promise.

After more than a year of war, his soldiers made a fortune through burning, killing, looting and plundering.

Even landless farmers who simply follow the crowd and take advantage of the chaos can earn a fortune they could never have in a lifetime.

Ordinary money could no longer motivate the soldiers to fight wholeheartedly for the Duke of the Marsh.

To ensure high morale, he could only promise to bestow titles and territories upon them in the future.

This reward was not limited to high-ranking generals, but was intended to benefit all the palace cavalry.

If the Duke of the Marshland were to actually don the crown and conquer the North, he might grant out three or four thousand knightly fiefs, plus dozens of earldoms.

There was nothing that could be done about it, since the families of these court cavalrymen were far away in Golden Deer Fortress and could be attacked from three sides by the Earl of White River, the Duke of the Valley, and the Duke of the Meadow at any time.

Those were the brothers, brothers, and dearest friends of the palace cavalry!

Without additional funding, it would be completely insufficient to reassure the troops.

The Marshland Duke, who had ruled with centralized power for three generations, had to revive the feudal system when faced with a difficult choice.

There's no way around it, this stuff really does boost morale, and the effect is incredibly simple and direct.

Who wouldn't want to own a vast estate of their own?

Who wouldn't want to experience being a lord?

With this pie in front of them, the court knights finally forgot about their families at Golden Deer Castle for the time being.

Actually, the situation in Golden Deerburg isn't that bad yet.

To the east lies Turbulent County, dotted with castles, which defends against Lynn and the Duke of the Vale.

To the west and south, there are also castle complexes serving as barriers, as well as the Tranquil River and vast wetlands and marshes as natural defenses.

Even without the Earl of Blackwood and three hundred cavalry, the Duchess of the Marsh can still mobilize more than seven hundred cavalrymen, making it not too difficult to defend a sturdy castle located on an island in the middle of the lake.

This is also the source of the Marsh Duke's confidence to use the base-trading tactic.

In short, any price is worth paying to take Amber Harbor.

The death of 10,000 people is a number, and the death of a million people is still a number.

In Lothair's eyes, every new throne was forged from countless corpses and blood.

Wasn't the throne of the first King of the North built upon the corpses of countless wildlings?

He was simply retracing the steps of the first king in the opposite direction; what could he possibly have done wrong?

Meanwhile, King Maurice in Amber Harbor was at his wits' end regarding the army.

After defeating the Duke of the Marsh, he set about building an army that was truly loyal to him.

This behavior is not based on so-called 'political wisdom,' but simply a person's subconscious desire to find a weapon for self-defense when faced with danger.

Through the two wars at Coron and Amber Harbor, Maurice realized that he needed a loyal army that he could command with ease.

When he said to retreat, they retreated in an orderly manner; when he said to attack, the whole army attacked; when he said to charge, they charged with their lives on the line.

Therefore, Maurice naturally set his sights on the mercenary force he had brought from the South and the civilian militia that had been tempered by blood and fire.

But how could he easily order these people around?
The mercenaries were hired by the Amber Harbor City Council; they don't care about anything except money.

So, is Morris rich?

the answer is negative.

In the past, the royal family's finances mainly came from three sources: the output of its directly owned territories and manors, the city taxes and customs duties paid annually by autonomous cities such as Amber Harbor, and various fees such as land taxes collected from nobles.

Now, the royal domains have either been ravaged into ruins by the Duke of the Marshland or distributed among his new nobles.

The various municipalities were either slaughtered or surrendered. The only surviving city, Amber Harbor, was exempted from taxes for three years to reward the citizens for their valiant fighting.

As for the tributes from nobles in various regions, there's no need to mention them. Right now, the Duke of the Marsh is stationed in Tot, a city sixty kilometers west of Amber Harbor, and could besiege Amber Harbor again at any time. There are hardly any prominent local nobles willing to serve the royal family.

The previous king was extravagant, and after his death, the national treasury was divided up by royal officials.

When Maurice ascended to the throne, he was faced with an empty treasury.

Given the current state of the royal family's finances, they are practically on the verge of bankruptcy, and Maurice still has to foot the bill for many expenses.

Fortunately, he had been an earl for twenty years and had some wealth, which was enough to support him.

With hiring mercenaries out of the question, Morris naturally turned his attention to civilian militias.

It must be said that the urban middle class was indeed an excellent source of soldiers in those days.

They had enough to eat and drink, so their bodies were naturally stronger than those of ordinary farmers.

They also had the money to provide their own weapons and armor, which is like bringing your own dipping sauce when you eat crab.

The problem is, why should the citizens listen to him, Morris?
When their interests align with the king's, they are willing to stand under the king's banner and fight for him.

But when their interests clash, they can also throw rotten eggs and hard stones at the king at any time.

Defending Amber Harbor? The citizens have an inescapable duty.

Reclaim lost territory for the king? Go away and cool off somewhere else!

Why should the blood of the citizens be used to protect the king's property?

After a series of setbacks, Maurice finally had no choice but to try his luck in the city's refugee camp.

The majority of the refugees were farmers who had previously retreated to the cities through scorched-earth policies, and their total number exceeded 40,000.

They huddled in an area designated by the city council, barely surviving on the remaining rations they had brought. Recruiting soldiers from among them wasn't difficult; the biggest problem was money.

A peasant with only a body is just a free kill for the enemy on the battlefield. Without money, Maurice has no way to arm and train soldiers.

In peacetime, it wouldn't be difficult for a king to make money.

Neither of Maurice's sons were married, so it wouldn't be difficult for them to marry into wealthy middle-ranking noble families; they could easily obtain a large dowry.

During the wedding, they could also collect gifts from nobles from all over the country, which was another large sum of money.

Besides 'selling' their sons, they can also sell their titles.

The titles of court baron and court earl can be sold for money, and many lower-class nobles or wealthy merchants are willing to pay for them.

The problem is that we are currently at war, and it's questionable whether Maurice will still be on the throne next year.

Which rich person would be willing to be the sucker?

Maurice was in the palace, so anxious that blisters appeared on his lips.

One after another, military intelligence reports were sent to the palace. The Duke of the Marshland had retreated to the city of Tot and refused to leave. He was also recruiting an army in a grand manner, clearly intending to wait for the rainy season to end before attacking Amber Harbor.

But Maurice's loyal army was still nowhere to be seen.

Fortunately, a small number of lower-ranking nobles broke away from the Duke of the Marsh and came to Amber Harbor to seek refuge with the royal family, which allowed him to barely assemble an army of less than five hundred men.

Maurice generously chose to forgive and forget these nobles who had "abandoned darkness for light".

This can be considered a form of advertising on his part, with the aim of attracting more nobles.

But this is still a drop in the ocean.

Given the current state of Amber Harbor, holding the city is not difficult; the real challenge lies in completely defeating the Duke of the Marsh.

If this fellow stays in the Crown Territory and refuses to leave, the situation within the territory will only get worse and worse.

The Marsh Duke's army, along with the displaced people resulting from the war, will disrupt the territory's daily production and turn ordinary farmers into displaced people as well.

This speed will increase faster and faster, just like cell mitosis, where one refugee can split into four refugees, and then more and more.

It is far easier to disrupt order than to establish it.

The war has been going on for more than a year. If it drags on into the third year, by next spring, the Crown Territory will be full of refugees and bandits. It may take two or three years just to suppress the bandits.

"Damn it, why haven't those useless bastards attacked Golden Deer Fortress yet?"

Upon reading the latest military intelligence report, Maurice was so enraged that he tore it in two.

The "wastes" he was referring to were naturally the Earl of White River, the Duke of the Valley, and the Duke of the Meadow.

Morris felt both aggrieved and angry, even though he had done everything in his power to keep Lothair in the Crown Territory.

Why are these three people not moving at all?

How empty is Golden Deer Castle now?

At the same time, Maurice finally realized how naive he had been and how difficult it was to build a powerful army that was loyal only to him.

"It's fine if these useless fools don't move, but why shouldn't those nobles south of the Jing River come to pledge their allegiance to me? As long as they are willing to rally under my banner, as long as they are capable..."

The situation evolved in ways that completely exceeded Morris's expectations.

The nobles are still observing, especially those whose territories are south of the Tranquil River.

Their territory suffered relatively minor losses, and they still possessed a certain amount of military strength, yet their attitude towards the envoy sent by Maurice remained ambiguous.

Just as Maurice was in a fit of impotent rage, three merchant ships from the South slowly sailed into Amber Harbor.

Along with the cloth, wine, and grain, the merchant ship also brought a letter—a letter from King Otto III of Rui.

The Northern Kingdom and King Rui already had frequent exchanges; when Maurice was crowned king last year, he received a congratulatory letter from Otto and a valuable gift.

But Maurice remained wary of Otto.

The reason is simple: Otto had once expressed his ambition for the Northern Crown.

After reading the letter, Maurice quickly summoned his ministers.

“Otto claims he will send a volunteer army of about eight hundred men to help me defeat the Duke of the Marsh. Do you think I should accept this army?”

The 'volunteer army' that Morris refers to is a temporary armed force that is different from mercenaries.

This type of army comes from non-war-torn regions and actively engages in wars out of a pursuit of morality, support for other regimes, or personal military ambitions.

They typically participate in wars for free, without charging any money, and then leave the war-torn region after the war ends.

In a sense, war is a high-risk investment.

Many impoverished knights or nobles longed to participate in wars, and if they could capture a noble of high status, they could become rich overnight.

Even if no nobles are captured, as long as armor or fine warhorses are seized, it can still be a considerable income.

A fine warhorse can fetch the price of a knight's lord's salary for several years, making it worth risking one's life for.

The nobles of the Southern Territory have diversified their economic practices, having progressed to the point of mortgaging, leasing, and selling their territories.

Some noble families go bankrupt and lose their family lands for various reasons. In such cases, they may hope to redeem their lands through the spoils of war.

During the war in the South, volunteer soldiers were a common sight and were generally quite disciplined.

Therefore, Morris was not particularly skeptical of the contents of the letter.

It's not uncommon for bankrupt nobles from the South to try and profit from the war in the North.

After all, the fighting in the North had been going on for over a year, and the news had already spread throughout the South.

Moreover, this volunteer army only numbered eight hundred people. Even if Otto III had ulterior motives, such a small number of people could not cause much trouble.

Mayor Neil of Amber Harbor immediately stepped forward: "Your Majesty, I do not believe this is necessary. With our citizens and mercenaries, we are sufficient to defend Amber Harbor."

Morris's lackey, the royal prime minister, immediately retorted: "Your Majesty, I believe we should accept this volunteer army. The nobles of the South cannot stand Lothair's rebellion and, out of a sense of justice, are helping us to quell it. At this critical moment, perhaps this army is all that's needed to turn the tide of the war."

This was naturally at Maurice's behest.

In fact, Maurice had already decided to accept the army the moment he read the letter.

What he lacks most right now is a well-trained army.

Even if it came from the Kingdom of Rui in the southern border, he had to accept it.

He needs a variable, a variable that can turn the tide of the battle.

When these volunteers landed at Amber Harbor, Maurice would first ask them to swear an oath to obey his command and serve him temporarily.

The nobles of the Southern Territory are devout followers of the Trinity Church and are known for their piety.

Morris believed that these volunteers would never break their oath.

(End of this chapter)