I'm not a lord

Chapter 246 Central Circuit Court
In White River Marsh County, Lynn is attending the first hearing of the Central Circuit Court.

Currently, the judicial system in Baihe Territory can be roughly divided into two levels.

The first level consists of the lower-level courts owned by each county, which are concurrently managed by the local county head and are responsible for hearing some civil cases with low degree of controversy, including property disputes, family affairs, and minor violence.

These county magistrates were originally the territorial stewards. They lacked professional legal knowledge and often used local customary law when handling cases, such as simple moral concepts like paying compensation for theft and paying for murder with one's life.

The second level is the Central Circuit Court, which Lynn just established in September.

The chief judge, assistant judges, and clerks in the circuit courts are all legal professionals, and at least have a diploma from a monastic school.

The chief judge comes from the city court of Three Rivers and has more than 20 years of judicial experience. He also studied at a church university in Amber Harbour for many years.

The court clerk also came from Sanhe City and was a veteran legal professional.

The assistant judges' ranks were rather meager, mostly young graduates from the Valley Duchy whose knowledge was barely sufficient for the job, but whose main problem was a lack of experience.

However, experience is easy to accumulate; just handle more cases.

Despite the current prosperity of Baihe Territory, the increasing population has led to a rise in the frequency of criminal cases. It is impossible for all of the more than 60,000 residents of the territory to be law-abiding citizens.

If serious crimes such as rape or murder are involved, the lower courts at the county level cannot handle the case and can only detain the suspect pending trial by the Central Circuit Court.

Currently, nearly ten major cases are piling up in the six counties of Baihe. The circuit courts have a heavy workload, with a group of officials working around the clock to hear cases. After finishing one county, they have to rush to the next.

The establishment of the Central Circuit Court was one of Lynn's methods to strengthen his centralized power.

Through this court, he could firmly grasp the judicial power of the territory and monitor whether the county magistrates were corrupt, abusing their power, or committing other illegal acts.

In addition, the circuit courts could also spread the Earl's fame to the counties.

Let all the people know that only the Earl can sentence them to death, and that the Earl is the only true ruler of the land.

It was precisely because of the importance of the circuit courts that Lynn came to support the judges she had appointed on the first day of the trial.

But just an hour into the trial, Clerk Victor entered the courtroom through the back door, strode over to Lynn, and whispered, "Sir, Otto has taken over Amber Harbor."

The fewer words, the bigger the matter.

These eight short characters contain a wealth of information.

Lynn's expression remained unchanged; he simply nodded slightly and said, "We'll talk about it later."

About half an hour later, during the recess for deliberation, he led Victor to the lounge at the back of the courtroom.

As soon as he entered, Lynn asked, "Is the information reliable?"

Victor quickly handed over a stack of documents: "The credibility is very high. Several channels have sent similar messages."

Lynn sat in his chair, took the document, and glanced at it briefly. His expression was quite relaxed: "It's better for Otto to take Amber Harbor than for Lothair to take it. Otto is from the South and his claim comes from his wife. Most of the nobles in the Crown Territory won't obey his orders." For Lynn, the only thing he lacked now was time.

If given another year or two to develop and peacefully conquer most of the Marshland Duchy, he could build an elite professional army of tens of thousands, equipped with a large number of bronze mortars, enough to flatten the North.

The geographical environment of White River Territory is actually quite bad. It doesn't occupy any of the prime or desirable locations, and Three Rivers City at the southern end of the territory is located in the heart of the Northern Kingdom.

If Lothair were to actually seize Amber Harbor and be crowned king, then White River Territory would face immense pressure from both the east and west starting next year.

The Earl of Mirror Iron in the south might even side with Lothair, as the two families have a very close relationship.

Although Otto is stronger than Lothair, his base is ultimately separated from the North by a sea, so the military force he can deploy to the North is likely to be relatively limited.

Furthermore, he was too distant from the noble class in the Crown Territory, and there were many conflicts between the two sides on core interests.

The pie of power is only so big, and the nobles Otto brought from the South will definitely want a share of the North's pie, which will lead to major conflicts with the local forces.

While Otto was purging the royal territory, Lynn could safely develop for a while longer.

Victor stood beside Lynn and added, "My lord, according to multiple sources, the Duke of the Swamp actually stormed into Amber Harbor and engaged in fierce fighting with Otto, who had landed there. However, he eventually withdrew from Amber Harbor with an unspecified number of troops and is likely still alive."

Lynn continued flipping through the documents, and casually asked, "What about Maurice? Where did that bastard king go?"

Victor immediately replied, "There are many rumors about Maurice, but the most reliable one is that he fled to the South with his family and followers."

"He fled to the Southern Territory? That's quite clever. He had no chance of survival if he stayed in the Northern Territory, but going to the Southern Territory might turn a hopeless situation into a winning one."

Lynn had a keen political eye and could see at a glance Maurice's true intentions in fleeing to the South.

To put it bluntly, they wanted to use Otto's opposing forces to launch a counterattack on the North.

A king who has lost his battle and his crown is worthless in the North, but gains some political influence in the South.

Lynn then commented, "It's good for us that Lothair is still alive. Without Morris, the nobles of the Crown Territory need another banner, a banner to fight against Otto."

If I were Lothair, I would already be contacting powerful nobles throughout the royal domain, trying to organize an army to continue the attack on Amber Harbor.

The nobles of the North still possessed a deep-seated pride, and whether for reasons of self-interest or sentiment, they were unlikely to accept a ruler from the South.

Lynn had spent many years in the North and knew the local nobles very well.

Victor offered his opinion: "I think we can't rule out the possibility that Lothair will withdraw to Golden Deer Castle. His court knights have been fighting abroad for more than a year and have suffered two defeats at Amber Harbor. Their hometown is under attack, and they must want to go home."

Lynn smiled and said, "There's nothing to panic about. They can't possibly launch a full-scale attack on Sanhe City. Even if they go home, they can only pass through Jingtie Territory in the south, which poses no threat to us."

He then instructed, "Go and summon Kalebo and send him as an envoy to Mirror Iron Territory. Count Vasa of Mirror Iron is a smart man; he will not let Lothair go back."

(End of this chapter)