I'm not a lord

Chapter 225 Changes in the Wasteland and the Transformation of Customs

In White Bear County, the northernmost part of White River Territory, Lynn, led by old Soward, visited Manor No. 7, a settlement inhabited by the Lowland tribes.

That noon, Lynn had lunch at Old So's house.

The food on the table was very plentiful, with a large table full of dishes, including several specialties of the Wilderness Tribe.

For example, venison cooked with wild vegetables and mushrooms that have a unique aroma, various fermented raw meats, smoked bird meat, and several kinds of dried mushrooms.

Of course, the table was also laden with delicacies brought by the immigrants from the South, such as cheese, bread, and pork dumplings.

The Wilderness Estate in Shirokuma Prefecture is located in the northwest of the prefecture and is a brand-new piece of land cleared by logging.

In addition to farming, the people of the wilderness were still able to go into the forest to hunt and gather food, and their meals were naturally a combination of hunting and farming.

It retains the wild wilderness landscape while adding a lot of pastoral tranquility.

The hunting rights of the wastelanders were granted by Lynn.

Although the lowland tribes have gradually shifted to agriculture, he still needs the wasteland people to continue providing more skilled archers.

Skills like archery, which rely heavily on accumulation, naturally need to be taught from a young age.

Old Soward, of course, understood Lynn's intentions. To this end, he specially organized children to practice archery in the manor, urging the tribesmen not to abandon the skills they had honed in the forest.

For non-civilized groups like the lowland tribes that actively migrate inland, their internal customs can usually be preserved for two to three generations.

In forty or fifty years, their customs and lifestyles will be almost identical to those of the immigrants from the South.

This is what is known as changing customs and habits.

Customs are things that evolve from daily production and life. The kind of life you lead will accumulate corresponding customs.

The spontaneous transformation of ethnic minorities is essentially irreversible.

However, Lynn didn't have high expectations for them; he just wanted them to maintain the archery habit of another generation.

According to the foreman Eric, the technology for making plate armor has been gradually spreading in the Southern Reach.

Although this type of armor is slightly less defensive than a one-piece forged plate armor, it is sufficient for protection against arrows.

As Lynn expands outwards, more advanced plate armor manufacturing technology will also begin to spread in the North.

Advances in armor will render weapons with insufficient lethality obsolete on the battlefield, with bows and arrows being the first to be eliminated.

Thanks to the large number of archers they have contributed, the two barbarian tribes are still able to maintain a place in Lynn's camp.

It's hard to say what will happen in the future.

"How have you and your people been settling into life in White Bear County these past few months? Have the local county magistrate and tax collectors been giving you any trouble?"

During lunch, Lynn naturally chatted with old Soward about the current situation of the Lowland tribes.

“My people and I are all subjects of the Earl. Thanks to your protection, we have adapted well to our new life. Not only did County Magistrate Albert not make things difficult for us, but he even sent an official who understands the language of the local people to guide us in cultivating the land.”

Old Soward had recently learned a great deal of common language vocabulary from the local officials, and now he even spoke with a somewhat refined manner.

Lynn tasted the wild venison stewed with wild vegetables; it had a unique aroma that blended wildness and freshness. Then he suddenly asked, "Have you been to Manor No. 6 next door? What did you think of it?"

Manor No. 6 in White Bear County was a temporary settlement built by Lynn last year to house women and children of the deserters and surrendered runaway slaves.

Before lunch, he also made a special trip to inspect Manor No. 6.

After more than a year of development, the manor has gotten on the right track.

The women and children of the deserters, along with the male runaway slaves who surrendered, formed hundreds of families, and these families were thriving.

The vast tracts of reclaimed wasteland are about to yield a bountiful harvest, and the mud houses that were hastily built have been largely replaced with stone houses.

Furthermore, some families have produced mixed-race children who inherit the azure blue eyes of the Wildlings, but have the black, red, or blonde hair of the Southerners.

After a moment of contemplation, old Soward replied, "I have been to Manor No. 6 many times. I am surprised and delighted by the current situation there. I never thought that two groups that were once enemies could live in harmony."

In the past, old Soward's biggest concern about submitting to Lynn was the centuries-old blood feud between the Wildlings and the Southern settlers.

But judging from the situation at Manor No. 6, this so-called grudge doesn't seem to be that deep.

Suppressed by basic physiological needs such as filling their stomachs and starting families, the conflict between the two groups completely disappeared at Manor No. 6.

Lynn put down his cutlery and then said, "Next, I will introduce several policies. Anyone who intermarries between the two tribes will receive a series of rewards, such as more land and exemption from certain taxes."

If the goal was to completely eliminate the overly prominent physical characteristics of the Wildlings, Lynn could have implemented a more radical racial integration policy.

The simplest solution is to prohibit inhabitants from marrying within their own tribe and only allow them to marry immigrants from the southern border.

It only takes three generations to completely integrate the bloodline of the Wildlings into the Southern Border immigrants.

However, after weighing the options, Lynn decided to take a relatively mild approach, not prohibiting marriage within the wasteland, but only encouraging intermarriage between the two tribes.

After all, the proportion of the wild people in the White River Territory is relatively high, and implementing overly radical policies is likely to cause trouble.

Moreover, Lynn still had his sights set on the wasteland's population. He had only taken control of two of the nine tribes, and there were still seven tribes with nearly 100,000 people waiting for him to subdue them.

His relatively appeasement policy made it easier for him to recruit other tribes and peoples from the wilderness.

Upon hearing this, Old Soward immediately agreed, "Sir, please rest assured, I will not obstruct any clansmen who are willing to marry outside the clan. Besides, my two daughters have already married you, which can be considered as setting an example for the clansmen."

Lynn immediately made a second request: "In addition, I plan to recruit a group of students from your tribe after the autumn harvest. They should be no more than fifteen years old and should be intelligent and quick-witted. I will arrange for teachers to teach them common language, arithmetic and other skills. As long as they can graduate successfully, they can at least become tax collectors, and perhaps even county magistrates in the future."

Old Soward was overjoyed: "This is good news, great news! I will compile a list and submit it to you as soon as possible!"

This really hit old Soward's sore spot.

The steward and two tax collectors currently managing Manor No. 7 are all locals from White Bear County. Although they are all easy to communicate with and quite friendly, they are ultimately very different from the wildlings in appearance.

Old Suo had fantasized more than once about how wonderful it would be if some of his fellow villagers could become tax collectors, stewards of manors, or even county magistrates who governed the entire county.

The problem was that the vast majority of the people living in the wilderness were illiterate, let alone able to calculate taxes or write official documents.

Now that Lynn had personally promised to recruit a group of students from the wastelands, old Soward readily agreed, fearing that Lynn might go back on his word.

With the two policies implemented in succession, Lynn was in a good mood. He picked up his utensils and ate some cheese and bread, then asked, "By the way, how's the situation on the wasteland lately?" Lynn had deliberately left Old Soward, a three-star rated general, in White Bear County. Besides appeasing the lowland tribes that had just migrated inland, his main purpose was to guard against threats from the north.

The conditions in the wasteland are extremely harsh, and the inhabitants of the wasteland would naturally want to migrate to the warmer northern kingdoms.

Only because of the Duke of the Swamp, the nine tribes of the Wilderness dared to huddle in the wilderness.

Now that the Northern Kingdom is in chaos, and the two major tribes of Lowland and High Cliff have left the wasteland one after another, the most powerful of the nine tribes, the Rift Valley tribe, must have noticed this.

"In the past two months, I have sent four groups of people to the wasteland to gather information. It is said that the Rift Valley tribe has recently annexed another tribe, bringing the total number of tribes annexed to three, with a total population of over 60,000, and they have occupied most of the arable land in the wasteland."

The original territory of the High Cliff tribe has been occupied by the Rift Valley tribe. I suspect that the Rift Valley tribe may have its eyes on the salt mines and White Bear County.

Old Soward was well aware of the heavy responsibility on his shoulders, and therefore never relaxed his attention to the wasteland.

His lowland tribe was the first of the wasteland tribes to join the southern settlers, making him a kind of "leader in the migration."

As the strongest of the nine tribes, the Rift Valley Tribe has always taken it upon itself to unify the wasteland and reclaim its homeland, and would certainly regard the Lowland Tribes as a thorn in its side.

Upon hearing this, Lynn laughed and said, "I'm not afraid of the Rift Valley Tribe moving south, I'm just afraid they won't come."

The wasteland's production level was extremely backward, and coupled with the lack of mineral resources, it remained in the Stone Age and Bone Age.

With this level of weaponry, Lynn wouldn't be afraid of 60,000 men, let alone 160,000 or 600,000.

If the Rift Valley tribes dare to invade the south, they will never return!
If it weren't for the inconvenient transportation, Lynn would have sent troops to raid the wasteland long ago.

Going to the wasteland to fight the crazy cavemen is much easier than going to Turbulent County to gnaw on the brick castle.
"Yes, I'm afraid they won't come," old Soward chuckled.

He had visited the military base and knew how powerful and terrifying Lynn's army was.

He even felt that as long as Lynn was willing to pay the price, unifying the wasteland in the north would not be difficult.

The only problem is that resupply is too difficult.

The Baihe River basin and the wilderness are separated by an east-west watershed.

The route was filled with towering mountains and primeval forests, and the cost of traversing mountains and valleys to supply thousands of troops was too high, making it completely not worth the effort.

While the two were chatting, old Soward's two wives came in with freshly cooked dishes to add to the meal.

It was late August, and Lynn could clearly see the slightly protruding bellies of the two desert women under their thin clothing.

It's clear that Lao Su has been working very hard lately, having given birth to another bunch of younger siblings for Xiao Su.

After lunch, Lynn and his guards left Manor No. 7 to inspect other manors in White Bear County.

Albert Jr. followed in his father's footsteps and indeed did a remarkable job as county magistrate.

Under his rule, Shirokuma Prefecture prospered, and the paper mill located north of the castle expanded fivefold, supplying the entire Shirokuma territory with a surplus.

Next year, Lynn should be able to sell paper through the commercial channels of Three Rivers City, which will bring in a large sum of revenue for the Earl's court.

Inside the paper mill, manager Lloyd introduced Lynn to the mill's recent achievements:

“Sir, you once gave me a recipe and asked me to try making paper using birch bark and alder bark. We have recently made some attempts and produced several samples by mixing the bark with linen.”

Previously, paper mills typically used tattered linen as raw material to make paper.

This type of paper is tough and writes smoothly. Except for its poor resistance to moisture, its quality is comparable to parchment, but its price is only one-fifth that of parchment.

However, the price is still a bit high, after all, linen, as the raw material, is not cheap to begin with.

To further reduce the price of paper, cheaper raw materials, such as bark or wood, need to be used to replace linen.

The difficulty in making paper from tree bark lies in the numerous and complex processing steps, which place higher demands on the workers' skills.

The paper mill has been operating for over a year now, and has trained a group of relatively skilled paper mill workers.

Lynn timely presented the technology of making paper from tree bark, allowing Lloyd to lead the workers to try making paper from tree bark.

"It's not as tough or smooth as linen paper, but it's still usable. We've deployed half of our workers to make this kind of paper, and we're prioritizing supplying it to schools."

Lynn checked the quality of several sample sheets of paper and even picked up a quill pen to write and draw on them.

This type of paper, which contains a large amount of bark fiber, is brittle and easily damaged. It also tends to bleed ink when writing on it, making it unsuitable for government use.

But it's perfect for students to use to learn writing and arithmetic.

Students don't need such good paper, especially notebooks used for homework, which are usually thrown away after use.

The school is still expanding rapidly, and using linen paper would be too wasteful.

Most importantly, this 'hybrid' paper costs only a quarter of the price of paper made entirely of linen fibers.

All things considered, it's one-twentieth the price of parchment, which truly brought down the price of paper.

After inspecting the paper mill, Lynn returned to the castle located on the banks of the White River.

This castle holds his memories of the past year and bears witness to his efforts to develop his territory.

The castle is currently undergoing renovation and restoration.

County Magistrate Albert planned to dig a two-meter-deep moat outside the wooden fence and fill it with water from the White River, making the castle a strong fortress against the northern barbarians, and also a safe palace where the lord could spend the night in peace.

"Sir, I plan to spend about six months digging this trench. After the autumn harvest, Bai Xiong County can conscript about two thousand laborers, and it should be completed by next spring without delaying the farming season."

The main reason why Albert dared to undertake large-scale construction in his first year as county magistrate was that the lowland tribes brought a large number of laborers to White Bear County.

Even though the army has drawn away several hundred able-bodied men, Bai Xiong County still has relatively abundant human resources, enough to meet the needs of various projects within the county.

If that's really not enough, the more than four thousand people of the tribe on the high cliffs of the northern salt mines are all hoping to become leaders.

In order to better govern the Wilderness People, Comrade Xiao Ai recently found a lover from one of their tribes and is leading the way in racial integration with them.

Just as Lynn was inspecting the trench construction site, a messenger arrived from Three Rivers City with an urgent message, claiming that Earl of Mirror Iron had sent a large delegation hoping to conclude several treaties with Earl of White River, covering political, military, and trade matters.

(End of this chapter)