I'm not a lord

Chapter 262, an epic titled 'Lynn'
Under Augusta's leadership and coercion, tens of thousands of deserters followed him south, either voluntarily or under duress.

The villagers, with their families, walked in winding lines through the vast wilderness in late autumn, like a series of azure streams flowing across the golden land.

Augusta, riding a grey moorland pony, arrived at a small hill with a large guard.

Looking at his people marching forward with their heads bowed, he raised his whip and said with great pride, "This southern expedition will surely bring us the most glorious victory, and this victory is just the beginning. We will continue to achieve more victories!"

"Praise the chieftain!"

"Great patriarch!"

"Only you can bring glory back to the wasteland people!"

The young guards showered their 'wise and mighty' clan leader with praise, almost making him sound like a god descended from heaven.

In fact, Augusta truly deserves the praise from these young tribesmen.

Regardless, he was the chieftain who came closest to unifying the various tribes of the wilderness in the long history.

He also elevated the Rift Valley tribe to the very top of the Wilderness tribes, granting them absolute privileges. The young members of his tribe who followed him received numerous slaves from other tribes.

Moreover, he is now leading all the people of the wasteland southward, attempting to reclaim their dreamland, which is covered in wheat and flows with fine wine.

Augusta turned his head, his gaze sweeping over the young warriors of his tribe, and then looking at the goddess of war, Karula, standing behind them. He felt a surge of passion welling up in his chest.

The day has finally come. He will lead all the people of the wilderness south to write the most glorious chapter in the history of the wilderness people. His great achievements will be sung by children for eternity.

What, you're saying the barbarians don't have their own written language?
That's easy. Just invent a system once the population is a bit larger.
In recent years, the rudiments of writing have emerged among the people of the wilderness, and they have gained a certain foundation.

Moreover, after conquering Shirokuma County, they could refer to the Rui people's writing system, modify and integrate it to create their own writing system.

What? You're saying the Wilderness people haven't unified yet, and the Lowland and High Cliff tribes have already sided with the Lui people to the south?
Augusta had long since stopped regarding these two tribes as barbarians.

Once he has conquered these two tribes, he will utterly crush the names of the 'Lowlands' and 'High Cliffs' tribes into dust.

He would also enslave the people of both tribes, strip the tribal chiefs of their 'names' passed down through generations, and make a precious wine cup from their skulls.

However, Augusta was not completely blinded by passion.

He was well aware of the two fatal flaws of the desert people: sparse population and backward technology.

Even if we include the lowlands and high cliffs, as well as other scattered populations living in the corners of the wasteland, the total number of the entire wasteland population is estimated to be less than 100,000.

With such a small local population, and armed with bone bows and spears, it would be almost impossible for them to occupy the White River Territory for an extended period.

It's unrealistic to expect the Rui people in the south to be fighting amongst themselves.

Once their internal strife ends, they will turn around and drive out the barbarians.

Therefore, Augusta never thought of becoming fat overnight, nor was he blindly confident enough to want to occupy the entire White River Territory.

His primary objective was to plunder Shirokuma County, the northernmost part of Shirokawa Territory, and to target the county's winter food reserves, iron tools, and tens of thousands of people.

As long as they can acquire these valuable resources, even if they cannot occupy White Bear County for a long time, the Wasteland People can still take the most determined step on the road to revival.

If the infighting among the Rui people becomes too intense and Lynn is too preoccupied with the situation in the north, that would be even better for Augusta.

He could occupy Shirokuma County for a long time and use it as a base to continuously harass and devour lands and people further south.

In short, a successful robbery is a huge profit, and occupying White Bear County is an even bigger windfall.

Either way, you're going to win; if you win to the point of exhaustion, that's it.

Amidst a chorus of hymns, Augusta rode up to Karula and said, "Kalura, please help me one more time."

Although his tone was sincere, he did not dismount.

A rare smile appeared on Karula's lips: "Of course, for the sake of the wastelanders."

“Yes, it’s all for the sake of the wasteland people.” Augusta turned back again, looking at the endless stream of people below the hillside.

This time, after leaving the wasteland, he didn't want to come back.

The barrenness and cold of the wilderness severely limited the growth of the population of the wilderness inhabitants.

Although he hadn't done any statistics, he knew that most of the deserters didn't live past thirty, and most of their babies would die of hunger.

Having fled to the wilderness for over two hundred years, far from the pursuit of foreign tribes, the population of the wilderness people has actually decreased instead of increased. How ridiculous is that?

Augusta has made up his mind that even if he cannot occupy White Bear County for a long time, the wasteland people must never return to the wasteland that only brings hunger and cold.

At the very least, the wilderness people should establish themselves at the southern end of the Centaur Mountains and develop villages and farmland in the valleys. The abundant animal resources in the mountains can also provide the wilderness people with meat.

This so-called 'centaur' mountain range is naturally the east-west dividing line between the wasteland and the Northern Kingdom.

In the ancient legends of the Wildlings, the area north of the Centaur Mountains is the settlement of the Centaur tribe, also known as the Wasteland.

The mountain range got its name from this.

However, when the people fled to the wasteland, they did not see even a single centaur.

It is clear that the legend is just a legend and should not be taken seriously.

The Centaur Mountains are characterized by crisscrossing valleys, complex terrain, and variable climate.

For this reason, the Rui people stopped south of the mountains and did not choose to continue expanding northward.

The main Rui people have made enough money and there is no need for them to continue expanding.

But in Augusta's view, even if the Centaur Mountains were terrible, they were still better than the wasteland.

Relying on the complex terrain of the mountains, the wilderness people were able to deal with the Rui people to the south and constantly harass and plunder them.

By accumulating more population and strength, and then quietly waiting for the Rui people in the south to cause even greater trouble, the Wild People can seize the opportunity to rise up and achieve a true rise.

Augusta, accompanied by his guards, galloped along both sides of the crowd, constantly waving his whip to urge his people to quicken their pace.
"Hurry up, hurry up! There's hot, fragrant rye porridge waiting for you in the south, as well as endless farmland and an ever-flowing supply of fine wine!"

In fact, Augusta did not dare to leave all the tribesmen of the seven tribes on the wasteland.

He took all the adult males with him on this expedition. If the three tribes he had just conquered took the opportunity to cause trouble, he would suffer a great loss.

Therefore, even for the safety of his own people, he had to take all the barbarian people with him south.

Carla did not ride a horse; she stayed close behind Augusta and watched his performance quietly.

Both men claimed it was for the sake of the desolate people, but their plans to achieve this goal were vastly different.

Indeed, the deserters could live better lives returning to their warm homeland, and the suffering deserters truly had the right to a better life.

But to Carula, who only possessed the appearance of a Wildling, it seemed the Wildlings would be better off under Lynn's rule. Augusta's strength was indeed too weak; no matter what she did, she was no match for Lynn.

Even if Karula hadn't defected, the outcome wouldn't have been any different; it would have spared these tens of thousands of barbarians from a completely one-sided massacre.

The so-called war god, who was invincible and could dominate the wilderness, was no match for a dozen fully armed guards in the south.

Wouldn't it be better if everyone sat down together, drank beer, and ate rye porridge?

Is it really necessary to fight to the death?

Lynn was not prejudiced against the barbarians at all; in fact, the palace was full of barbarians, and he even married a barbarian woman.

Carla couldn't understand Augusta's unwavering determination; she was simply acting according to her own understanding.

Now she hopes that Lynn can make comprehensive and thorough pre-battle preparations so that he can quickly and effectively conquer this barbarian tribe.

More than ten days later, news of the seven tribes of the Wasteland People mobilizing in full force was delivered to Lynn by express courier.

"Okay, it's finally here!"

Upon receiving the news, Lynn rushed south to Three Rivers City, as fast as an old farmer plucking ripe wheat from a field.

That same day, he rode to the military camp on the western outskirts of Sanhe City and summoned the main generals in the camp.

Lynn stood in front of the map and tapped the northern part of it with his riding whip: "The barbarians are coming. Their total number is estimated at 60,000, of which nearly 15,000 are men capable of fighting."

The people of the wilderness integrated farming and warfare. Males over the age of thirteen could take up arms and go to the battlefield. Since there was little cost to equipment, it was normal to have a high proportion of combat population.

"My lord, even if the price doubles again, there's no need to be afraid. You know the equipment level of the barbarians."

The one who raised his hand and spoke was Sowad, a young man from a lowland tribe.

He now commands seven hundred barbarian archers and is qualified to attend the meeting.

Joseph, the fourth brother, laughed and chimed in, "That's right. I think these 60,000 barbarians are harder to catch than 60,000 wild boars."

Over the past year, Shirakawa has won a series of victories, and these generals have naturally become increasingly arrogant.

At this point, Lynn naturally had to give these arrogant generals a warning. He said sternly:

"Defeating these tens of thousands of barbarians is indeed not difficult for us, but our goal is not just to defeat them, but to swallow them all up without letting a single one escape. This is quite difficult, so we must not underestimate them."

The second brother, Hugo, stared at the map of the northern part of Baihe Territory and analyzed, "If we want to swallow all these tens of thousands of barbarians, we need to send troops to cut off their retreat. However, the terrain in the northern part of Baihe Territory is somewhat complicated and too wide in length, making it difficult to completely cut off the barbarians' retreat."

After training in Turbulent County for a while, the second brother has become more mature and experienced. Under Lynn's guidance, he has begun to use the terrain to analyze the battle situation.

The main reason is that his cavalry units are very dependent on the terrain of the battlefield. Even an inconspicuous uphill slope can have a significant impact on the cavalry's charging speed, which he, as the commander, cannot ignore.

Lynn stopped his whip at the location of White Bear County and said, "Hugo's view is quite correct. Therefore, in the early stages of the war, we must be patient and never launch an attack on the wasteland people rashly. We must create an illusion for them that they can completely occupy White Bear County. Only when they lower their guard will it be time for us to strike."

You can't catch a wolf without risking your cub; without paying some necessary price, you can't lure these tens of thousands of deserters into the trap.

To lure them in, Lynn was even willing to offer White Bear County as the price.

He wouldn't evacuate many people and supplies from White Bear County; in fact, he would deliberately leave large quantities of grain in the farmhouses of the people, so that the people could taste some real benefits.

The purpose was to make the wasteland people, especially Augusta, believe that Lynn was indeed engaged in a fierce battle with the Duke of the Swamp, as the false intelligence claimed, and had neglected to pay attention to the north.

In the end, it's all our own people who are consuming this food, so we're not losing out at all.

For the next few days, Lynn stayed at the military camp.

This is his usual practice: to eat and live with his generals and soldiers as much as possible before the battle.

It may be old-fashioned, but it's definitely effective.

Although Lynn focused his main energy on governing his territory, he knew that the army was his foundation. Therefore, every batch of new recruits passed through his hands, and every veteran remembered his face.

At the same time, he was also making intensive preparations for the war.

Both Hugh Go and Soward's troops suffered losses in the Battle of Turbulent County, but after a period of rest and replenishment, their strength has returned to the planned number.

The Hughes cavalry unit still consisted of 500 armored cavalrymen plus 500 cavalry apprentices.

The number of cavalrymen is actually the easiest to inflate.

Of the second brother's unit, only five hundred were regular armored cavalrymen capable of launching high-speed charges on the battlefield.

Those five hundred cavalry apprentices were all equipped with slow horses, which could only be used for marching and were not capable of charging on the battlefield.

Are warhorses that cost 60 or 70 gold coins each the same as nags that cost 3 or 4 gold coins each?
When making public announcements, is it excessive for the second son's troops to claim that they have a thousand cavalry?

Not excessive.

If we were to be even bolder and include all the grooms and cooks in the army, would it be an exaggeration to say that there were 1,500 riders?
That's not excessive at all.

The Duke of Marsh's four thousand court cavalry and the Earl of Mirror Iron's two thousand cavalry were acquired in this way.

The former should have only about two thousand riders who could truly be called cavalry, while the latter had at most eight or nine hundred riders.

The rest were mostly infantrymen on horseback, who could go to the battlefield once they put on armor, but they could definitely not be called cavalry.

As for the claim that a single war can involve hundreds of thousands of troops, that's mostly nonsense.

Given the level of transportation and military communication in ancient times, a general who could command 50,000 troops at the same time was a famous general of his time, the kind of general you could only find a handful of in an entire era.

As for the war that Lynn was about to command, he could only mobilize about 5,000 troops, while the enemy had more than 15,000 men.

In the North, this would be considered a large-scale battle worthy of being recorded in history.

While following Lynn through the military camps, scribe Victor suddenly felt a heavy sense of mission.

He pleaded with Lynn, “My lord, please allow me to accompany you on this campaign. As your scribe, I must record the entire course of this war. A hundred years from now, this will be invaluable historical material for studying a king.”

Prior to this, Victor had already begun to consciously collect and record Lynn's words and actions, and had also created files for the main officials and generals around Lynn.

To this end, he specially assigned two secretaries with elegant writing skills to be in charge of taking notes.

He firmly believed that Lynn would become a true king, and a king must have an epic to match.

Of course, all of this was done with Lynn's permission in advance.

In his spare time, he would even personally review the secretaries' records and point out any errors or omissions.

In response to Victor's request, Lynn jokingly said, "Even if you're afraid, I'll still tie you up and take you to the battlefield with me. You're my scribe."

(End of this chapter)