I'm not a lord

Chapter 258 Inspection of Turbulent County

Lynn stayed in River Marsh County for two days to finish his official business and make arrangements for the future development of the territory.

He then set off for Tuanliu County with his court officials and personal guards.

Incidentally, Carol's personal guard has been expanded, and with the help of elite soldiers drawn from various units, its total strength has reached 150 men, comprising three companies.

Apart from the troops necessary to protect the castle, two squadrons of personal guards accompanied Lynn on his inspection of the newly occupied territory.

They may not seem like a large number, but they are a full hundred fully armed professional armored cavalrymen, all of whom have seen blood and are highly skilled in martial arts.

Some weak earls couldn't even muster a cavalry force of this size.

Several days later, Lynn arrived at Redhawk County, the easternmost part of Turbulent County.

Without pausing, he began inspecting the county on horseback that afternoon.

Finn, who had recently taken office as county magistrate, followed Lynn around and introduced the history of the area:
“Your Excellency, this place used to be called the Red Eagle Barondom, which belonged to the Earl of Turbulent Currents. It is said that the first baron saw two giant red eagles circling in the sky above the territory. He found the eagles’ nest and built a castle next to it, hence the name of the territory.”

Superstition has a market in any era; creating something auspicious can naturally give the ruler of a territory a certain degree of legitimacy.

The name of Shirokuma Prefecture comes from a rare, snow-white giant bear.

Lynn suspected that these so-called red eagles were also magical beasts, and that the first baron had probably hunted down these two red eagles and used the money from selling magic stones to recruit subjects and build castles.

Many of the minor nobles in the North rose to prominence by hunting magical beasts, which is why magical beasts are now rarely seen in the Northern Kingdom.

The saying goes, "The predecessors cut down the trees, and the successors exposed them to the scorching sun."

After leaving the small castle where the county government was located, Finn continued, "Later, most of the territory of the Marsh Duke's Turbulent County was taken over by the court, and the place was renamed the Red Eagle Diocese, and priests were appointed to manage it."

It's clear that the Duke of the Swamp intends to directly utilize the Church's power to manage his directly controlled territories; however, these territories still operate under the traditional manor system, with the stewards of each manor appointed directly by the Duke.

Bound by the doctrines of the Trinity, priests are not allowed to marry or have legitimate heirs.

Therefore, some powerful nobles who sought to consolidate their power preferred to appoint officials who were clergy, in order to avoid the recurrence of local separatism in the territories that had been taken over by the court.

The successive dukes of the marshlands trusted the clergy, and almost all the county governors had clerical backgrounds. After arriving in their respective areas, these officials began to build churches and monasteries and promote the Trinity Church among the people.

However, below the county level, the castle garrison commanders and manor stewards were all former court knights.

The successive dukes have always had a firm grasp on the issue of decentralization.

Perhaps due to historical factors, unlike the religiously devout Southern Territory, the lower and middle-class nobles of the Northern Territory mostly reject the Trinity Church. Rather than the ethereal religion, they believe more in personal strength and blood ties.

Therefore, grassroots religious forces in Turbulent County are relatively weak, with only a few small towns having churches.

This saved Lynn a lot of trouble, but it also cost him one less gain.

Churches and monasteries are usually places where wealth is accumulated; seizing one could be enough to reward the entire army.

Upon arriving at a manor, Lynn carefully examined the neatly harvested fields and asked, "Have the population and arable land statistics for each manor been completed?"

Finn immediately replied: "Red Eagle County has been completed. It currently has a population of 5,325 and more than 120,000 mu of cultivated land."

After all, Finn was a veteran whom Lynn had personally trained in White Bear County, and he knew the importance of population and farmland statistics. Therefore, the first thing he did after taking office was to go door-to-door to count the population.

These days, he has traveled to all the manors and villages in the county, and he has personally entered almost every farmhouse.

Gazing at the familiar manor scenery under the setting sun, Finn was filled with emotion:
"The statistical work didn't go smoothly at first, and it was only with the help of the army that it was able to move forward. Moreover, in many households, only the elderly remained, while the young people and children had fled into the mountains."

Later, thanks to the strict discipline of your army, and because you exempted them from all taxes for the following year, most of these fleeing subjects returned to the manor.

Implementing grassroots rule in newly occupied territories is never easy, especially since Turbulent County is not a traditional noble territory, but rather a direct territory of the Marsh Duke.

Lynn's strategy was to appoint his own people to the county magistrate and steward positions, while mostly employing locals for the lowest-level village head positions, which was considered to fully respect the interests of the locals.

However, it will still face resistance and distrust from the lower classes.

Lynn's army was not truly 'clean' in Turbulent County.

To solve the problem of food supplies for his thousands of troops, Finn brought over a thousand serfs to harvest autumn wheat along the way.

Although only half was harvested, it was used as this year's tax, which made the local people feel that the Earl of Baihe was no different from other nobles.

The local inhabitants all have legs, and there are many mountains to the north of Turbulent County. Even if they escape into the mountains for a year or two, they can barely survive by hunting and gathering wild fruits.

This can be considered a kind of wisdom they used to avoid the chaos of war.

Later, Lynn introduced a preferential policy of exempting the next year's taxes, and the officials he sent were approachable enough, which gradually made the local people lower their guard, and the village chiefs at the grassroots level also began to cooperate with the county magistrate.

Lynn rode his horse toward the manor and said, "It is only right to exempt them from taxes. This Turbulent County has long suffered from the oppression of the Marsh Duke. I have seen many emaciated people along the way."

Over the past few decades, the Duke of Moorland has imposed a tax rate of approximately 70 to 80 percent in Turbulentshire.

In addition to cultivating his allotted land, the serfs were also required to pay a wide variety of taxes.

The Duke of the Marsh kept over four thousand court cavalrymen. Such a large cavalry force was like a terrifying money-devouring beast, consuming countless amounts of resources every year.

Given the North's low level of productivity, without resorting to exorbitant taxes and levies, he simply couldn't compete for the crown of the North.

Lynn said he would exempt Turbulent County from taxes next year, but that really meant exempting this part of the exorbitant taxes; the land that the lord was supposed to cultivate would still have to be exempted.

After all, he also has an army and bureaucracy to support, and once he conquers the barbarians, tens of thousands more mouths will be added to his territory out of thin air.

These days, even the Earl of Shirakawa doesn't have much surplus grain.

Of course, the county magistrate and estate stewards appointed by Lynn will do their utmost to promote advanced agricultural technology in the newly occupied territory, striving to bring an unprecedented bumper harvest to Turbulent County next year.

To put it simply, as long as we can continue to grow the pie, these problems will not be problems.

During the conversation, Lynn entered the manor, where the steward he had appointed was already waiting with five manor managers.

Upon seeing him, the group bowed in unison and exclaimed, "Your Excellency, Earl!" Lynn slowed his mount and passed by them with a smile, saying, "Rise, all of you."

Soon, he heard the villagers behind the village head whispering among themselves.

"This is Earl Shirakawa? How can he be so young?"

"So what if he's young? In the history of our Red Eagle Territory, there have been barons who inherited their territories while still in their mothers' wombs."

"Thank God, we have a new lord after the death of the Marsh Duke. He will surely protect us."

"Of course, he was personally appointed by the king as an earl, and his army is not only powerful but also very disciplined."

After hearing this, Lynn turned around and gave Finn an approving look.

Finn's clever maneuvering in the public sphere involved proclaiming the death of Lord Lothair, Duke of the Marsh, in Turbulentshire and vigorously promoting the legitimacy of Lord Lynn, Earl of White River.

Occupying the high ground in public opinion is crucial for dominating newly occupied territories.

After becoming county magistrate, Finn discovered that the local people were quite nostalgic for the rule of the Marsh Duke.

Although the Duke of the Marshland collected high taxes, he did actually do his job when he received the money.

He garrisoned over thirty castles in Turbulent County, making it impossible for ordinary thieves and bandits to survive there.

Even if powerful foreign enemies invaded their territory, they could only look at the fortified castles scattered throughout the land and sigh in despair.

Just like last year when the Duke of the Valley invaded Turbulent County, he only managed to harvest a few crops of wheat before hastily retreating.

To break this trend of nostalgia, Finn simply said that Duke Lothair of the Marsh was 'dead,' and then went on to praise Lynn.

This trick is quite effective.

Because the local people all knew that Lothair had led his troops to the Crown Territory to fight for the throne last year.

The battlefield is dangerous; isn't it normal for accidents to happen?

Furthermore, since Golden Deer Castle had not sent any reinforcements for a long time, the local people gradually came to believe that the Duke had died in battle, and that the renowned court cavalry had also been wiped out.

This also explains why the Duke completely abandoned Turbulentshire.

Lynn toured the manor and inspected the five villages under its jurisdiction.

During the dinner, he also warmly received five local village heads.

At the relatively simple dinner, Lynn raised a full ceramic cup of ale, looked around at the heads of the estate, and said loudly, "I have never been stingy with rewards for those who have made contributions. As long as you follow me loyally, you will receive unimaginable favors next year!"

For Lynn, getting these low-level estate leaders to obey him was very simple.

Besides money and status, he could also give these estate owners valuable opportunities to rise in social class.

Timo's official school still has plenty of vacant places, and the promise of guaranteed job placement for graduates is incredibly attractive to these estate owners.

On their way back to the castle, Lynn and County Magistrate Finn walked side by side on the country dirt road, aided by the bright moonlight.

He admired the autumn night scenery of Tuanliu County and instructed, "The conscription work in Tuanliu County should be accelerated. Red Eagle County should recruit at least two hundred soldiers. The conscription standards should refer to those of White Bear County last year. As for how to motivate them to join the army, you must know the answer."

Turbulent County is currently divided into five counties, but there is no county-level official. All of them are directly under the jurisdiction of Earl Lynn, and the county magistrates report their work directly to his court.

Hongying County had the smallest population among the five counties, but because it was the first to be conquered, its population statistics were also the first to be completed, so it naturally could not lag behind other counties in terms of troop allocation.

"Sir, I am confident that I can complete the conscription work within three days!" Finn's tone was extremely confident, almost as if he were patting his chest to guarantee it.

He had the entire population of the territory under his control, and he had already mastered the methods of conscription in White Bear County. Three days was even a bit too long.

As for how to motivate the people to join the army, frankly speaking, it's nothing more than offering them benefits and status.

Offering a generous salary, elevating the soldier's entire family to free status, and providing them with their full land allotments would be enough to motivate these young male citizens to bravely enlist.

This approach has been proven effective in White River Territory, and it will be even more effective in the more oppressed Turbulent County.

Over the next week, Lynn visited four other counties, where the situation was similar to that of Red Eagle County, and the outlook was relatively optimistic.

Most of the refugees who fled to various territories have returned to their hometowns, and population statistics and conscription work are progressing smoothly and in an orderly manner.

By the end of October, the required 1,000 new recruits will have been recruited.

In the large castle at the westernmost tip of Turbulent County, Lynn held a small military meeting with his core officers.

At the meeting, he first discussed various matters concerning the new recruits and then ordered the third brother, "It is not advisable to train new recruits in Baixiong County at the moment. These new recruits will receive training locally for the time being. You will be in full charge of the training matters."

"Received." The third brother stood up and accepted the task.

Currently, Lao Sanyang is effectively the highest military and political official of Tuanliu County. The taxes collected from the territory are given priority to his troops, and he has enough resources to arm these new recruits.

Then the second son, Hugo, stood up and said, "My lord, there are recent rumors from Golden Deer Castle that the eldest son of the Duke of the Marsh, László, has returned to the territory and brought back a group of court cavalry. The exact number is still unclear, but it should not be less than a thousand."

From Turbulent County westward, all inhabitants within a 50-kilometer radius have been evacuated by the Golden Deer Fortress, creating a 50-kilometer-wide no-man's-land between the two sides.

This not only made it more difficult for Lynn to continue westward, but also cut off most of the channels for intelligence transmission.

The crucial intelligence that the second brother obtained was provided by merchants from Sanhe City.

Lynn glanced at the map on the table and chuckled, "Lothair still can't completely sever ties with his stronghold; he's leaving himself a way out."

The next second, Lynn slammed his hand on the table and pointed his index finger at the northernmost point of the map:

"It should be inconvenient for us to continue our westward offensive this year. Lady Lothair is quite shrewd; she knows to evacuate people and create no-man's-land."

"Since that's the case, let's not attack her. Let her fight the Grassland Duke. Our primary target going forward is the northern barbarians. If we can subdue the seven tribes' fifty to sixty thousand people, we'll have enormous war potential by next year!"

(End of this chapter)