I'm not a lord

Chapter 236 Do you want a boy or a girl?
Although Lin Enren sat in the River Marsh, he never relaxed his attention to the outside world.

The Mikawa City Handicraft Guild, which he founded, also served as an intelligence gathering organization, regularly submitting intelligence reports to the River Swamp Territory every two days.

In case of an emergency, the relevant person in charge of the Handicraft Guild will temporarily dispatch additional fast horses to ensure that the Earl can know what is happening in the world while sitting at home.

Intelligence networks can be established easily, as long as you have people, money, and territory.

Moreover, Lynn also controls Three Rivers City, a waterway hub and regional trade center, making it very convenient for him to gather intelligence, mainly thanks to the various commercial guilds within the city.

It is in a businessman's nature to pursue information.

War and turmoil are important factors affecting commodity prices and trade routes.

Last year, the Duke of the Marshland officially launched his offensive against the Crown Territory in June.

However, in April, just as news of the death of the former King of the North broke, grain prices in Three Rivers City had already begun to rise.

This is similar to the stock or futures markets in later generations, where huge fluctuations in ticket prices are often a warning sign of a major event.

Therefore, business people have high requirements for the timeliness of information.

The trade networks of the business guilds, which spanned various regions, also served as an efficient intelligence network.

What Lynn had to do was gather intelligence from all the major guilds and then screen and select the best information.

Of course, he wouldn't rely solely on merchants as his source of intelligence.

Whenever Lynn gained control of a new territory, his first task was to clear roads and establish relay stations to ensure the efficient collection and transmission of intelligence.

Today, Baihe Territory has two parallel 'highways': land and water.

On land, Lynn established several post stations and equipped them with professional managers and high-quality riding horses.

If something happens in the northernmost county of Shirokuma, he can receive the news within 24 hours and respond quickly.

In the western county of Turbulent Stream, his army would set up a temporary intelligence relay point every twenty kilometers it advanced.

While enabling intelligence sharing across the entire army, it also allows Lynn, who is stationed in the rear, to be informed of the military situation at the front in a timely manner.

However, the battle in Tuanliu County was indeed rather lackluster.

Due to the Duke of Meadows' massive invasion, there was no indication that Golden Deer Castle would send troops to aid Turbulentshire.

After losing several small-scale battles, most of the local garrison in Turbulent County also chose to "lie down" and cower in the castle, not daring to peek out.

Lynn receives regular intelligence reports from the front lines every day, with similar content, mainly about which castles have been captured and how many enemy soldiers have been killed.

This kind of stagnant, deadly battle is indeed very boring, and the losses are quite heavy.

Even a small castle with a dozen or so garrison soldiers can inflict double-digit casualties on our side if the defenders fight to the bitter end.

But these castles still had to be attacked, because Lynn's goal was to take over Turbulent County entirely and he couldn't tolerate the enemy's spies being planted on his territory.

Since the start of the war, less than a month has passed, and the total number of casualties in the army has already exceeded four hundred.

There was really no other way. The commanders of those castles were all court knights of the Duke of the Marsh, and their families lived near Golden Deer Castle. They had a reason to fight to the death.

As for highlights, a group of fearless siege warriors emerged on the battlefield of Tuanliu County.

Lucas was the most prominent among them.

This once frail young refugee has now grown into a renowned "suicide squad leader" in the army. Whenever there is a battle, he always volunteers to lead his squadron into the vanguard.

According to the third brother, Lucas saved at least a hundred lives for the entire army.

His bravery in leading the charge saved the precious lives of hundreds of soldiers.

Once the war is over, Lynn will award Lucas a medal and promote him to captain of a 500-man battalion.

Having made such a significant sacrifice, the victory in Turbulent County was undoubtedly brilliant.

The army of nearly three thousand men led by the third son, Yang, has already conquered twelve castles and occupied nearly half of Tuanliu County. In the context of Baihe Territory, this is roughly equivalent to the arable land and population of two large baronies.

Finn's thousand refugees have also settled in Turbulent County and are harvesting food and fodder to feed the army.

Because of Lynn's strict orders before the war, these refugees did indeed harvest only half of the wheat from each strip of land.

The army under the command of the third son maintained strict discipline, and looting incidents were almost nonexistent. As a result, the newly occupied territories quickly settled down, and the local farmers who had fled into the forests and mountains gradually returned to their homes.

The foreign army only harvested half the wheat, did not loot, and even announced a tax exemption for the next two years. In the eyes of the local farmers, this was much better than that of the Duke of the Marsh.

The Duke of the Marshland typically levied exorbitant taxes of over 70% on his directly owned estates and serfs, leaving the serfs barely able to feed themselves and unable to accumulate wealth.

In the military intelligence document sent today, the third brother is already requesting Lynn to formally send officials to take over the newly occupied territory. He only has more than two thousand troops under his command and cannot spare too many troops to manage local security.

With the situation looking very promising, Lynn naturally wanted to strike while the iron was hot.

That afternoon, he summoned the clerk Victor and gave him instructions:
"I hereby give the following instructions, please remember them: draw one steward and three village heads from each of Canglu County and Qiantan County."

These two stewards, along with Finn, who oversees a thousand refugees, will become the temporary county magistrates of the newly occupied territories, representing Lynn in governing the three newly established county-level administrative units.

For these managers from humble backgrounds, this was both an opportunity and a test.

If they can govern the newly occupied territory well, then the word "temporary" before "county magistrate" can be removed, and they can become a full-fledged county magistrate.

If Lynn can become the county magistrate in the early stages of his business, his future is definitely limitless.

After Victor finished taking notes, Lynn said again:

“Victor, let the secretaries of the Secretariat learn more about the current policies and management model of Kawanuma Prefecture. As the battle progresses, I should select a group of secretaries to serve as county-level officials.”

Promoting county magistrates is not only for better management of the newly occupied territories, but also for dividing up the power within the faction.

Being a county magistrate under Lynn's command, the official annual salary alone would reach fifteen Northern Gold Shields, higher than the income of a highly skilled cavalry squad leader.

The various minor officials under the county magistrate usually received between three and five gold shields.

Becoming a county magistrate is a triple win: money, power, and fame. If you do a good job, there's unlimited potential for promotion in the future.

Of the spoils from the newly occupied territories, the lion's share naturally went to Lynn and the army, while the smaller shares were divided between the two major factions: the 'city' and the 'country'.

"Yes, sir, I will urge them to study hard."

Victor nodded in agreement.

He currently holds the high position of clerk, responsible for drafting official documents for the Earl's court, and can be by Lynn's side every day.

His brother, grain merchant Marcel, benefited from the coup and became Lynn's handpicked councilor for the city of Three Rivers, second only to Mayor Leon in influence within the council.

With multiple accolades and Victor's truly outstanding talent and ability, he has become one of the leaders of the city faction, and the court secretaries below him all follow his lead.

In the evening, Lynn returned to the third floor of the castle and had dinner with Agna and Lia, who lived there.

The two still hold official positions in the Treasury and the Ministry of Finance, but most of the actual work is delegated to their subordinates.

Yagena devoted most of her energy to taking care of her children.

Her daughter with Lynn was just six months old and was at the age where she was most attached to milk, crying for milk every few hours.

Although she had a wet nurse to help take care of the child, Yagna insisted on feeding the baby herself, and naturally she no longer worried about work.

As for Leah, her due date is next week, so she has to stay in the castle most of the time and has to have someone take care of her at all times.

She was really struggling to keep up with the work at the Ministry of Finance.

Lynn was naturally pleased with this outcome.

In the past, the family business was small and there were few talented people, so the women around him were forced to participate in the management of the territory, and the most important things were finance and storage.

Now that their territory is larger and their status is higher, they naturally can no longer be allowed to show their faces in public so often.

Moreover, it's unreasonable for the harem to manage the finances of the entire territory; managing their own private treasuries would be sufficient.

After dinner, Lynn accompanied Leah for a walk in the corridor on the third floor.

"My lord, would you prefer the child in my womb to be a boy or a girl?"

Leah has asked this question many times, but she still enjoys asking it.

(End of this chapter)