I'm not a lord

Chapter 218 Lynn, the Unchosen One

"How exactly can we kill that Lynn?"

At the trial in the city of Three Rivers, as the heads of former mayor Jürgen and former bishop Rothegi fell to the ground, some people in the audience broke down.

The two young men who broke through the defenses were standing in the northwest corner of the square.

The two men were dressed in ordinary linen short-sleeved shirts and shorts, with short hair that reached their ears. At first glance, they looked like two lowly apprentices who had sneaked out of the workshop to watch the trial.

However, the two men were actually the right-hand men of Arno, the leader of the Power Mercenary Group, and their mission was to assassinate Lynn.

Previously, the Duke of the Marshland had ordered Arno to join forces with the Earl of the Coldwind to assassinate Lynn.

After discussing with Earl of the Cold Wind, Arno decided that the former would provide the manpower and the latter the money, regardless of the cost, to kill Lynn.

Although Arno was the overall commander of this assassination operation, he also had to lead his mercenary group to stay with the Duke of the Swamp, so he could only entrust the matter to two capable men.

Assassinations are commonplace these days.

Economic disputes, political disagreements, military conflicts—when faced with irreconcilable conflicts, one side in a conflict will always resort to despicable means such as assassination.

The main reason is that the cost of assassination is too low, while the reward for success is too high.

In classical times, power was often vested in a specific individual; killing that person could potentially dismantle an entire power, making it incredibly efficient.

For this reason, the leaders of all major powers attach great importance to security issues, making assassinations extremely difficult.

Before arriving in Sanhe City, these two key mercenaries had already anticipated the difficulty of the mission.

They first disguised themselves as merchants to enter the city, found a hotel they had previously worked with, and lay in ambush to find an opportunity to assassinate Lynn.

After observing for a while, they realized that assassinating Lynn was extremely difficult!
Generally speaking, methods to assassinate a high-ranking lord include, but are not limited to: assassination in the street, poisoning during a meal, causing family members to turn against each other, killing at a banquet, and ambushing in the toilet.

The essence of all these assassination methods is to find a weakness in the lord's defenses and seize the opportunity to assassinate him.

Today, a grand trial is being held in Sanhe City. The streets and squares are crowded with people, making it the perfect place for an assassination.

Two key mercenary members had assumed Lynn would be present, so they made preparations well in advance and ambushed more than ten experts on the road from the West Gate to the execution ground.

But Lynn didn't even enter the city!
Even after the former mayor Jürgen's head was chopped off, he never appeared in Three Rivers City, leaving the mercenaries with nowhere to assassinate him.
This is no longer a question of whether to kill or not; Lynn is completely unselectable!
"This doesn't make sense, does it? He didn't even come into the city for the interrogation? And as far as I know, he didn't enter Sanhe City for more than a month after he occupied it! Is he still considered the lord of Sanhe City?"

One of the mercenary leaders was completely speechless at Lynn's antics.

“This job is impossible to do. We need to send someone back to Tote City to report to the boss immediately,” another key member concluded.

Assassinating someone in the street is the most successful method they can find.

As for poisoning during meals, family feuds, or even killing at banquets, those would require turning Lynn's close associates against him or colluding with Lynn's diplomatic allies.

But for a rising and thriving emerging power, how easy is it to bribe and turn the leader's close associates against him?
Forget about bribing them, we can't even find a way to contact these mercenaries.

Without reliable intermediaries, rashly attempting bribery and defection would only alert the enemy and increase the difficulty of the assassination.

As for allies, Lynn has not yet publicly formed an alliance with any force.

The banquets were all held in his own western suburban palace, where security was extremely tight and virtually impenetrable.

“I’ll stay in Sanhe City and continue looking for opportunities. You go back to Tote City to find the boss.”

After a brief discussion, the two key mercenaries decided to split up.

They realized that to kill Lynn, a simple ambush and assassination was unlikely; they would have to rely on the special methods of some special talents.

Lynn was unaware that there was a group of assassins in Three Rivers City whose defenses had been breached because of him, but he knew that the Duke of Swampland wanted him dead.

Therefore, he attached great importance to the security of his surroundings and even promoted Carol, an old member of the original bandit gang, to the position of captain of his personal guard.

In addition to protecting himself, Lynn also paid great attention to the security of the River Marsh County Castle.

His woman and children live in that castle; we must be wary.

"I have already arranged the specific battle plan. Once the rainy season is over, you can proceed according to the plan. Hugo, Yang, and Soward will lead the troops out to fight, while the fourth brother will stay behind to guard the western suburbs of Sanhe City to provide support."

In the military camp, Lynn issued the final battle orders.

The plan was simple: the second son, Hugh, the third son, Young, and Soward Jr. would jointly attack Turbulent County to the west, with a total force of nearly three thousand, under the command of Young. The fourth son, Joseph, would lead eight hundred soldiers to garrison the western suburbs, forming a pincer movement with the Qunno militia within the city to jointly construct the Three Rivers defense line.

If an enemy attacks, the black marketeer Leon, who serves as mayor, can mobilize armed merchant ships and a small number of naval troops in the city to blockade the White River shipping route and prevent the enemy from advancing deep into the White River territory.

These days, local nobles don't pay much attention to building up their naval forces. In terms of self-defense, Sanhe City's naval strength is more than enough.

Lynn has already ascertained the military situation; the Duke of the Marsh's main force is indeed holed up in Tot City, which is four or five hundred kilometers away from Three Rivers City.

Putting aside the Duke of Waste Valley, the Duke of Meadows would certainly be able to tie down the remaining forces at Golden Deer Castle.

In other words, Turbulent County is now isolated and helpless, and can only rely on the castle defenses and a small number of local troops to put up a defensive position.

How could Lynn not seize this golden opportunity?
While castles are certainly disgusting, their actual defensive effectiveness is quite limited.

In the past month or so, through the infiltration and investigation by city merchants and the armed reconnaissance by the light cavalry under the command of the second brother, Lynn has basically figured out the strengths and weaknesses of the more than thirty castles in Turbulent County.

These castles may seem numerous, but most of them only have twenty or thirty soldiers on a daily basis, and these are mostly local noble troops, not exactly elite.

Only five of the larger castles had 'lords' appointed by the Duke of the Marsh, with garrison forces of around sixty or seventy men, basically at the level of an ordinary baronial territory.

For these outdated and 'small' castles, artillery is naturally the most effective weapon for breaching the walls.

After a few solid cannonballs were fired, whether the city wall broke or not was another matter, but the dozens of soldiers inside must have lost all their courage.

Lynn, of course, also wanted to give the soldiers in the North a little shock of firearms.

Unfortunately, the rainy season is not over yet, and Linas, the head of the foundry in Sanhe City, has not even made the casting molds. The first batch of cannons will not be cast until next year.

Lynn certainly couldn't wait until next year.

The matter of striking at the enemy and expanding our influence cannot be delayed for even a moment.

Does the absence of artillery mean that a city cannot be besieged?
The answer is of course no.

With thousands of troops surrounding the castle and hundreds of archers firing in unison, the sheer spectacle was enough to persuade many castles to surrender.

If there are any stubborn soldiers unwilling to surrender, send out an advance force to scale the walls, supplemented by elite archers for ranged suppression. After a few rounds, the castle can be captured.

Faced with Lynn's overwhelming military superiority, all castles were nothing but clay and earthen walls.

The Duke of the Marsh's castles are only good for annoying the other two useless dukes.

After all, these two dukes were still relying on the outdated feudal noble army.

It's manageable for noble lords to fight when things are going well, but asking them to grit their teeth and attack a city is simply a pipe dream.

After issuing the orders, Lynn left the western suburban palace the next day with his personal guard and returned to River Marsh County by land.

With Leon and Marcel in charge of the city, along with the residents of former Mayor Jürgen, the city was enough to deter most petty criminals.

There's not much to pay attention to in the battle over Tuanliu County; the disparity in troop strength is too great, and the enemy is completely powerless in open battle.

Lynn's next plan was to launch a new round of inspections of the six counties in the White River Territory.

With the autumn harvest season approaching, he wanted to personally inspect the preparations for the harvest in each county.

Except for the oldest prefecture, Shirokuma, the other five prefectures are using new planting methods and techniques for the first time this year. The first few months have gone very smoothly, so they can't afford to fail during the autumn harvest.

In addition to inspecting agriculture, Lynn also had to visit various new facilities, such as the two schools in Canglu County, the ironworks and armor workshop in Chixi County, etc.

Students need to know who they are studying for and who they will serve in the future.

Talent has always been the foundation of territory development.

Finally, Lynn might make a rare visit to the salt mine.

On the way back, it should coincide with Leah's due date; she became pregnant last December.

In September, Lynn will welcome his second child.

(End of this chapter)