I'm not a lord

Chapter 273 The Decisive Battle to Determine the Ownership of the Crown Territory

Go back in time a little.

Late November, River Bend Fortress in the western part of the Crown Territory.

Since the crushing defeat at Amber Harbor, Duke Lothair of the Marshland has been lying in wait there for more than two months.

During this time, he learned that Otto III was constantly transferring troops from the south, and his forces were rapidly expanding.

He also received the devastating news that Turbulentshire had been captured by Lynn, and that his troops stationed there had been almost completely wiped out, with only a few court knights serving as lords escaping back to Golden Deer.

But Lothair remained unmoved; he simply continued to send envoys outwards in an effort to unite the nobles of the Crown Territory as much as possible.

He even sent invitations to Earl Lynn of White River and Earl Vasa of Mirror Iron in the west, inviting these two newly risen nobles to join the 'Anti-Otto Alliance'.

The invitations, unsurprisingly, went unanswered, but Lothair was not discouraged.

After two months of reorganization and recruitment, the number of troops gathered under his command once again exceeded 10,000, even after he transferred 1,000 palace cavalrymen.

The core fighting force of this unit consists of about 5,000 noble cavalrymen, including the most elite 1,000 knights and nobles, plus more than 4,000 knight squires who have received professional training.

These cavalrymen achieved almost 100% armor coverage; even the lowest-ranking squires wore a chainmail jacket and an iron helmet.

It can be said that more than 90% of the noble cavalry in the entire Crown Territory are here.

If it weren't for Lothair killing a group of them in the forest north of Koren at the beginning of the year, the number of noble cavalry might have been about a thousand more.

But aside from the five thousand noble cavalry, the remaining few thousand soldiers were of varying quality.

This group of soldiers included mercenaries, bandits, urban militia, and a small number of peasant conscripts.

Their equipment varied, their affiliation was unclear, and most of them had not received professional training. More than half of them did not have iron armor, so their combat effectiveness was questionable.

During these two months, Lothair hosted banquets for nobles at night and spent his days training his army relentlessly, ensuring that the soldiers could understand commands and wouldn't be completely lost on the battlefield.

If possible, Lothair would certainly prefer to spend more time reorganizing the army.

But time waits for no one.

"My lord, Otto himself has left Amber Harbor and is advancing westward. It is said that he has more than 10,000 troops under his command."

At the end of November, Lothair received the latest news from Amber Harbor.

In the past two months, the two sides have actually had no fewer than thirty small-scale clashes, with the combat forces usually not exceeding three hundred men. Lothair, with the advantage of terrain and popular support, has achieved a relatively impressive record.

Ultimately, it was Otto III who lost his composure and led all his elite troops out in full force.

Upon hearing the news, Lothair abruptly stood up from his chair: "Inform all generals that they will be accompanying me on the expedition in two days!"

In fact, even if Otto hadn't sent troops first, Lothair was already on the verge of losing his temper.

Or rather, it was the local nobles gathered under his command who couldn't hold back any longer.

Indeed, Lothair has won quite a few small-scale battles in the past two months.

But that was all because Otto's army underestimated the enemy and advanced recklessly after conquering cities, castles and territories.

The impoverished nobles from the southern border charged forward with the ferocity of someone on steroids, seemingly utterly fearless of death, relentlessly pursuing anyone they caught and unleashing astonishing fighting power.

Lothair only managed to gain some kills through ambushes and other means, but lost a large amount of territory.

Many local nobles' strongholds have been destroyed; how could they not be anxious?

Impatience is contagious; once a small group of nobles starts to get anxious, the rest will also become restless.

Under pressure, Lothair publicly promised to send troops before December.

Now that Otto has placed his bet first, he has no choice but to wager all his chips as well.

Tens of thousands of troops gathered around Hewanbao set out and headed east along the soon-to-be-frozen Jinghe River.

The vanguard was comprised of five thousand noble cavalrymen under the command of Earl of Coldwind.

He was already a prominent nobleman in the Crown Territory, and he was the first to pledge allegiance to the Duke of the Swamp, so he naturally became the representative and commander of the local nobles.

In the center was a ragtag army of nearly six thousand men, commanded by another local count.

Arno, the leader of the Power Mercenary Group, serves as the deputy commander, overseeing a large mercenary group of about three thousand people.

This impoverished nobleman, who fled from the South to the North, has finally achieved his goal. He not only became the absolute leader in the mercenary field in the North, but also received the title of Earl personally bestowed upon him by the Duke of the Swamp before the war.

Judging by titles alone, Arno has finally caught up with Lynn, his junior.

However, Arnault was not the only lucky one.

Before the war began, Lothair bestowed titles upon over a hundred new nobles in River Bend, most of whom were his court knights, mercenary leaders, and bandit chiefs.

Although this move harmed the interests of the local nobles, with a formidable enemy at hand, few nobles cared about a little bit of empty fame; expelling Otto was the real priority.

In short, Lothair's core generals all had "hats" to wear, but they only had empty titles and no actual territory.

To gain territory, you must defeat Otto and take a share from the lands he has occupied.

As for the rearguard force of less than a thousand men, it was personally commanded by Lothair, and this force was mainly composed of the court cavalry he brought from Golden Deer Fortress.

He always had a habit of keeping something in reserve. Although he ordered his eldest son to lead the palace cavalry back to Golden Deer Fort to garrison, he still kept a trusted force of more than 600 men by his side.

If the final battle goes poorly, he can still escape the battlefield under the escort of these trusted men.

He didn't have much confidence in the troops he had gathered under his command, but he had no choice but to take the gamble.

Incidentally, during these two months, Lothair ordered blacksmiths to produce a batch of over a hundred replicas of the Southern Plateau armor.

Due to the tight schedule, the quality of this batch of plate armor was quite rough, much worse than the captured plate armor, but still better than ordinary chainmail.

Lothair distributed these plate armor suits to his trusted troops.

Just as Lothair was advancing eastward along the Tranquil River, Otto III was leading his army upstream along the Tranquil River.

Both sides have embarked on a fast track of mutual cooperation.

Otto, of course, wanted to postpone the decisive battle until next year, as he had not yet gathered the 30,000 troops he envisioned.

The Duke of the Swamp was renowned, and the overwhelming decisive battle he fought north of Coron City had spread throughout both the north and south.

Otto really didn't want to send troops rashly without achieving a complete and overwhelming military victory.

But objective circumstances did not allow him to delay any longer.

The biggest problem was the lack of food supplies. Previously, the illegitimate son Maurice had implemented a scorched-earth policy around Amber Harbor, resulting in a complete crop failure in the region this autumn.

Subsequently, the Duke of the Swamp's besieging army carried out inhumane 'intensive cultivation' of the region.

With a two-pronged approach, they effectively turned a 30-kilometer radius around Amber Harbor into a no-man's-land. The farmers either fled to the city to make a living, went to other places, or simply raised their flags and gathered together.

I'm not going to be a farmer anymore!

When Otto took over Amber Harbor, he was faced with a situation of food shortages and rampant banditry.

He not only had to support tens of thousands of soldiers, but also had to allocate some grain to tens of thousands of refugees in the city.

Some suggested that he should ignore the plight of the refugees, but Otto resolutely refused.

He had no desire to rule a country with no people.

The refugees in the city are all excellent farmers. As long as they are given a stable living environment, they can transform the no-man's-land around Amber Harbor back into a paradise on earth.

To meet Amber Harbor's growing food demand, Otto had to continuously purchase grain and ale from the South.

However, the coastal areas of the southern border have developed industry and commerce, but the grain production is quite limited, which is not enough to supply the local area. Every year, a large amount of grain must be imported from the northern border.

This has turned the tables, as the grain importing zone now has to supply grain to the grain exporting zone, causing grain prices in the coastal areas of the southern border to rise sharply.

To save money, Otto had to transfer grain from the interior of the Kingdom of Rui, which was not only a lot of trouble but also very expensive.

The vast ocean to the east of Amber Harbor is called the 'Ice Sea', naturally because this area freezes in winter.

By late December, sea routes will be completely disrupted.

Putting aside other factors, even just to obtain food for the winter, Otto had to seize as much territory and population as possible before the roads froze over, and squeeze some surplus food out of the pockets of these northern locals.

Moreover, the impoverished nobles from the southern border were constantly urging Otto to send troops; these nobles were all there for wealth and promotion.

In the feudal aristocratic era, occupying more territory meant promotion.

Although the North is vast, there is only so much valuable land.

If Otto were to gather 30,000 men before setting out, how many lands in the North would there be left to divide? Most of the impoverished nobles would end up with nothing.

By early December, the distance between Otto and Lothair had been reduced to forty kilometers, almost the distance of a day's forced march.

At the border between the two spheres of influence lies a familiar place name—Koren City.

This city was once the second largest autonomous city in the Crown Territory, and it provided the royal family with a large amount of tax revenue every year.

At the end of February this year, Duke Lothair of the Marshland led his army to besiege the city of Coron, which attracted reinforcements from the bastard King Maurice.

The two sides engaged in a decisive battle on the outskirts of the forest north of the city.

Lothair ordered the court cavalry to dismount and form a dense formation to meet the noble cavalry force led by Maurice.

Lothair ultimately won a great victory, defeating Morris's 5,000-strong army with only a few hundred casualties, and a large number of royal nobles died on the spot.

King Maurice barely escaped with his life and fled back to Amber Harbor in haste. From then on, he lost all prestige and could only remain in the capital in solitude.

Lothair, riding high on his victory, besieged Coron again, but the city's council and citizens remained steadfastly loyal to the royal family and refused to surrender.

Ultimately, he dispatched his court cavalry to storm the city, and after its fall, he carried out a brutal massacre, leaving almost none of the city's tens of thousands of residents alive.

Riding on the momentum of their great victory and the massacre of cities, Lothair quickly forced the surrender of several cities downstream of the Tranquil River and sailed unimpeded to the port of Amber.

"At the time, I thought Amber Harbor would open its arms to me like the previous cities. You all know what happened next, so I won't go into details."

Nearly ten months later, Lothair revisited the place. Standing on a hillside west of Coron, he gazed at the deserted and dilapidated city, filled with mixed emotions.

Back then, how spirited he was after his great victory over the royal army!
He was confident that the crown of the North would be within his grasp, never imagining the many twists and turns that would follow.

Ironically, Lothair actually did gain the approval of the local nobles in the royal domain, achieving some of the goals he set when he started his rebellion, although the process was slightly different.

Count Coldwind stood behind Lothair, facing the biting wind, and said, "My lord, this city of Coron is your lucky place. You will surely win another glorious victory here."

The mercenary group leader, Arno, then chimed in, "Sir, the weather is on your side too. Otto's southerners are definitely not used to the cold winds of the North, and their winter clothing is probably inadequate."

Upon hearing this, Lothair turned his head and smiled, "That depends on whether Otto cooperates. What if he's unwilling to fight me in this city of Coron?"

Just then, a scout cavalryman galloped up to report: "Your Grace, Otto's army is only ten kilometers away from the city of Kolen and is still closing in. We have spotted the blue royal banner of the Rui royal family!"

Arno was quite surprised to hear this: "Otto actually dares to fight us in the city of Kolen?"

"Hahaha, he certainly has guts! No wonder he's a warrior who dares to cross the sea to conquer the North. Since he dares to fight, then I'll fight him to the death!" With the decisive battle approaching, Lothair felt no tension at all, and even had the leisure to laugh heartily.

Earl of Coldwind shouted, "My lord, please return to camp immediately to command the battle. This is an opportunity we absolutely cannot miss!"

Not long after, Lothair returned to the military camp on the west side of Coron. Just as he was holding a pre-battle military conference, Otto III's declaration of war was delivered to the camp.

The challenge was quite brief, simply agreeing to a decisive battle the next day on the plains north of Koren.

After glancing at the challenge letter, Lothair slammed it on the table: "The decisive battle is tomorrow!"

Meanwhile, in the military camp east of the city of Koren, Otto also issued the order for a decisive battle. After receiving the order, the generals prepared their troops and made preparations for battle overnight.

His close advisors advised him not to choose the city of Kolen as the location for the decisive battle.

Many people these days believe in superstitions. Cologne is considered a lucky place for the Duke of the Swamp, and a decisive battle here might be disadvantageous for Otto's side.

"I will utterly defeat him in Lothair's lucky place, and let the whole North know that I am the only master of the North, and no one can match me, no one!"

Otto was as arrogant as ever, and he certainly had the right to be arrogant.

In terms of army size, soldier quality, and equipment level, his army was superior to Lothair's.

The following morning, the winter wind howled and swept across the battlefield.

The two armies lined up in the most ordinary left and right flank formations on the plains north of Koren City and engaged in a decisive battle without any tricks.

Neither side's army supports their commanders using tricks and schemes. Their troops have not undergone long-term intensive training and are not familiar with each other. A hasty change of formation would only backfire.

Both commanders placed their main forces on their respective right flanks, because most people are right-handed, and the right flank is where the elite troops can best exert their fighting power.

On King Otto III's side, the right wing consisted of four thousand noble cavalrymen he had brought from his own country, while the left wing was made up of six thousand troops recruited from various southern countries. He himself led two thousand cavalrymen to guard the rear, serving as the general reserve.

Duke Lothair of the Marsh was naturally led by Earl of Coldwind's five thousand cavalry on the right wing, and by six thousand miscellaneous troops on the left wing. He himself led a close-knit force of less than a thousand men, positioned in the center and rear.

The two sides' formations were completely mirror images of each other, without any fancy moves; the competition was simply about which side's strong side could break through the opponent's weak side faster.

(End of this chapter)