I'm not a lord

Chapter 276 Let Lynn's voice be heard throughout the North

A harsh winter descends upon the North.

The reed marshes of Kawanuma Prefecture were covered with thick snow, the smoke from the castle fireplaces pierced straight into the leaden sky, and occasionally the sound of sled bells drifted from the snowfield, startling a few ravens.

With roads and rivers frozen, people throughout Baihe Territory quickly switched to other modes of transportation, and communication speeds did not decrease significantly.

Inside the castle study, Lynn was discussing the letter in Otto's handwriting, which had been brought by a sled, with his core subordinates.

“Otto has returned to Amber Harbor and should be preparing for his coronation. He has promised me that if I acknowledge him as King in the North, he will grant me the title of Duke after the coronation.”

Lynn stood beside the upright map of the North, explaining the general contents of the letter while his gaze swept across the Crown Territory.

According to the intelligence gathered so far, Duke Lothair of the Marsh fled back to Riverbend Castle after his defeat, and is once again licking his wounds.

It always seems to be him who gets hurt.

Otto III, who had achieved a great victory north of Cologne, did not pursue the enemy to the end. After cleaning up the battlefield, he returned to Amber Harbor with a large number of captured royal nobles, preparing to be crowned king.

The war in the Crown Territory has temporarily come to an end. Due to the severe cold weather, Otto will not be able to wage war again until February of next year at the earliest, giving the Duke of the Swamp a rare respite.

Without a doubt, Otto is the ultimate victor in the battle for the Crown Territory. He is able to leverage the resources of the Crown Territory by utilizing his 'noble' captives and will become Lynn's most formidable rival.

As for the Valley Duchy to the south, the situation is equally clear.

Count Vasa of Mirror Iron has secured the allegiance of most of the local nobles, and his thousands of troops have surrounded White Eagle Castle, waiting only for the temperature to warm up before launching the final offensive.

At this time, Otto suddenly sent someone to recruit Lynn, his purpose being obvious: to divide and weaken the local forces in the North and clear the final obstacle to his coronation as king.

Foreign Minister Kalebo sat by the fireplace, looking up at the map, and analyzed incisively: "Otto should have also sent letters to Count Mirror Iron and Duke Grassland, and the contents are probably not much different from the one you have."

It would take Otto about a year to digest the Crown Territory, and he certainly wouldn't want to wage war against all three duchies simultaneously before the end of next year. If the actual controllers of these three territories were willing to acknowledge his kingship, he would gain valuable time to maneuver.

In Kalebo’s view, Otto’s main task next is to digest the royal domain, a large piece of fat meat, and to find a way to divide and disintegrate the three duchies in the inland region.

The Crown Territory is not large in area, but it is densely populated, roughly equal to the combined area of ​​the three duchies.

Otto did defeat the Duke of the Swamp and capture a large number of local nobles, but he would still need to spend a lot of effort and time to completely take over the land.

Moreover, due to the effects of successive battles and the 'intensive farming' of the army under the Duke of the Swamp, agricultural production in the northern part of the royal domain is on the verge of collapse, and it will take time to restore normal production in the region.

This period is the golden time for Lynn to develop his strength. He should conquer Golden Deer Castle to the west and recruit nobles from the royal domains to the east, thus consolidating his power. By the year after next, he will be able to compete with Otto for both life and death and to determine who is superior.

The clerk, Victor, was in charge of taking notes at the meeting. He frowned as he wrote down Kalebo's remarks.

After Calybe finished speaking, he put down his quill and eagerly expressed his personal opinions:
“I think your analysis is not reasonable enough. If I were Otto, I could have been more decisive and simply sent all the captured royal nobles to the guillotine, and divided all the territories among the southern nobles who had submitted to him, which is to emulate the actions of the King of Conquest.”

The Conqueror King was the first King of the North. He implemented a policy of complete extermination against the native inhabitants of the North and distributed lands to the Southerners who followed him north, forcing the Wilderness people to flee to the wilderness.

Victor's meaning was also very clear: the local nobles in the North were the barbarians of the past, and Otto was the conqueror king from more than two hundred years ago.

Moreover, the local forces in the North were still fighting amongst themselves even when facing a formidable enemy, which was strikingly similar to the internal conflicts within the Nine Wilderness Tribes.

Upon hearing this, Kalebo shook his head: "If Otto really sends all the prisoners to the guillotine, he will be forcing all the people of the North to unite. I don't think he would take such a risky step. It's too risky and irrational. If he really wanted to do that, why would he send someone to win over the Earl?"

It should be noted that half of the Crown Territory is still in the hands of the Duke of the Swamp; he has been defeated, but he is not dead.

If Otto were to actually kill all the captured nobles, both the Duke of Meadow and the Earl of Mirror Iron would immediately stand with the Duke of Swamp and urge Lynn to send troops to fight against Otto.

Lynn's power is quite unique. White River Territory is an emerging power with almost no noble foundation. Most of its core generals and officials come from the grassroots and have difficulty empathizing with traditional noble forces.

Victor immediately retorted, "What is there to be afraid of in Otto? He can keep recruiting impoverished nobles from the South. Don't be fooled by the fact that he only has a little over ten thousand men now. By next summer, his army will have swelled to twenty or even thirty thousand, and they will all be well-trained noble troops. The entire army of the North combined is no match for him. You know too little about the South."

As for why he wanted to win over the Earl, that was merely a smokescreen, simply to prevent the Earl from sending troops to support the Duke of the Swamp.

Lynn remained standing by the map, silently listening to the two's argument.

In his view, both of them made sense, but ultimately it was just speculation about Otto's next move, and no one could be sure what the real future would look like.

Lynn didn't know much about Otto's character, since he had never been to the Southern Territory and his knowledge of Otto came from various rumors.

From his personal perspective, he naturally hoped that Otto would spare the lives of those prisoners and, ideally, continue to entangle with the Duke of the Swamp for another year or two.

A more loosely defined North would clearly be more advantageous for Lynn.

Given the current level and speed of development of Baihe Territory, he has no fear whatsoever of the so-called Southern Border Noble Army.

The more diverse and complex Otto's forces are, the easier they are to deal with on the battlefield.

Compared to well-trained professional armies of the new era, aristocratic armies are outdated relics that should be swept into the dustbin of history.

Joseph, the fourth brother, sat next to Calybo. Listening to their argument, he asked in bewilderment, "Otto can do whatever he wants. We can't affect Amber Harbor right now. Can't we just focus on doing our own thing?"

Joseph was recently promoted to commander of the 'White River Legion' and is currently conducting intensive training of his two thousand soldiers.

In chaotic times, everything is fake except for the army.

In his view, as long as the army can be trained to be invincible, there is no need to guess the enemy's movements; the battlefield is all about hard power.

Before Kalebo could speak, Victor answered for him, "But the Earl is currently facing a choice: either reject Otto's overtures or acknowledge his royal authority. There is no middle ground." For Lynn, the issue was not whether to intervene or not, but that a clear answer was necessary, which would affect the White River Territory's future diplomatic environment and development plans.

Lynn glanced around at the civil and military officials in the room, his gaze finally settling on Kalebo. Without hesitation, he issued the order:
"Kalebo, I will not see Otto's envoy. After the meeting, go to Three Rivers and tell him that Otto is not qualified to bestow titles upon me, and I will not accept any of his good intentions. The North can only be the North of the North."

Kalebo's expression was very solemn; he was well aware of the deeper meaning behind those words.

This clearly demonstrates that they intend to fight Otto to the death, while also exposing Lynn's ambition to seize the highest power in the North to the entire North.

But Lynn didn't care.

He then instructed, “Send envoys to Earl of Mirror Iron and Duke of Grassland to tell them of my choice and to make them weigh the consequences of being my enemy. Otto is far away in Amber Harbor, while I am right beside them. Oh, and don’t forget the royal domain either. Nobles in all regions must hear my true voice.”

Kalebo rose and replied, "I understand, sir."

Meanwhile, the secretary Victor was engrossed in writing, meticulously recording every word the Earl had said.
If Lynn truly accomplishes the great task of unifying the North in the future, then his words today will surely be remembered for eternity.

At this moment, Lynn looked at the fourth brother and smiled, "Joseph, what you just said makes a lot of sense. We just need to do our best, and then no one can compete with us."

Lynn had absolute confidence in the regime and army he had created.

He now has four major legions: the 4,000-strong Wilderness Legion, which he personally commands; the White River Legion of his fourth brother Joseph; the Turbulent Legion of his third brother Yang; and the Cavalry Legion of his second brother Hugh.

The four legions together number nearly nine thousand soldiers, which is a significant military force even in the powerful southern region.

In other words, Otto was too unfair. With the huge promise of the Northern Kingdom, he was able to continuously recruit various mercenaries and impoverished nobles from the Southern Kingdom, all without spending any money. He only needed to fulfill the promises of the territory after the war.

When it comes to impoverished nobles, the Southern Territory is truly a land of inexhaustible resources.

Nobles who lost their lands in the struggle, sons of noble families who were not heirs, and illegitimate children of various nobles could all be counted as impoverished nobles.

These individuals had all received professional knightly training, were proficient in horsemanship and various killing techniques, and possessed extremely strong individual combat capabilities on the battlefield.

But in Lynn's eyes, they were nothing but chickens and dogs, completely insignificant.

His biggest concern right now is that Otto can focus on integrating the army in the Crown Territory.

According to the intelligence provided by Chloris, Otto actually has a high-quality direct army, numbering around four thousand.

This army was likely directly supported by his royal domain in the south and was highly loyal.

However, this army did not accompany Otto on his expedition to the north, but remained in the south to protect the Kingdom of Rui.

This shows that Otto has the ability and experience to integrate an army. He has now occupied the relatively wealthy coastal areas of the Crown Territory and captured a large number of knights from the North.

If he were willing to spend time integrating the army, he should be able to train a well-trained direct army in the North in about six months.

Of course, Lynn believed that the impoverished nobles from the South would not give Otto the space and time he needed.

Any approach that relies on external forces is a double-edged sword.

Otto enjoyed the benefits brought by the nobles of the South, but he had to endure their greed and demands. He was also constantly being used by these nobles to wage wars and conquer territories, leaving him no time to reorganize his army.

In the latter part of the meeting, Lynn focused on two major issues: army building and officer training.

In terms of military construction, the training of the four major legions is proceeding in an orderly manner. Even the third legion, which is far away in Tuanliu County, is stepping up the training of a thousand new recruits recruited locally.

The generals knew that once the weather warmed up, Lynn would continue to expand outwards, and it was imperative to train these new recruits into qualified soldiers as soon as possible.

Training officials was Timo's job.

The official school in Canglu County underwent another expansion, recruiting more than twenty young intellectuals from other places.

"My lord, I have set up a new accelerated class for officials in the school and invited Oleg, the county magistrate of Heron County, to be the teacher. The purpose is to familiarize these young people from other places with the various policies of Baihe Territory. They are all at least graduates of the monastery, with a very good foundation. After a few months of training, they will become excellent officials."

Timo has become increasingly adept at handling school affairs, and he is able to develop corresponding teaching plans based on the different backgrounds and foundations of his students.

Of course, all of this is inseparable from Lynn's support.

Without his approval, why would a county magistrate bother to teach at a school? Especially since Oleg is Lynn's top prospect, and he'll likely be able to govern a county in the future.

However, Timo and Oleg have a close personal relationship, and Timo will become Oleg's brother-in-law next year.

After hearing this, Lynn instructed Victor beside him, "Once these young people from outside graduate, let them gain some experience at the grassroots level in White River Territory for a period of time, working as tax collectors and managing the docks. Once they are sure they can handle the job, then we can consider promotions."

After conquering Turbulent County, Lynn's reputation had spread far and wide, and he no longer needed to recruit; young intellectuals from all over the country came to join him on their own initiative.

This group of young people expanded the number of reserve officials, and the schools in Heron County continued to produce qualified officials, which was the source of Lynn's confidence in completely abolishing the noble territories.

Even if the bureaucratic group has a thousand faults, it is still better than the separatist aristocratic group, isn't it?

Moreover, Lynn's bureaucratic group has only just been established and has not yet had time to become corrupt, which is the stage when its administrative efficiency is at its highest.

After the meeting, Lynn hosted a luncheon at the castle restaurant for all the civil and military officials.

These young and passionate faces will be the core team he builds to unify the North.

(End of this chapter)