I'm not a lord

Chapter 293 I'll bear the bitterness of Oakshire and the infamy.
As the eldest son of Lothair, Duke of the Marshlands, László was clearly not an idiot, much less a fool.

He received the best education in the territory and inherited his parents' excellent genes. From the time he was old enough to understand, he was invincible among his peers.

The reason he was angered by Lynn's clumsy tricks was mainly because he genuinely wanted to keep the invading enemy out.

Turbulent County is the eastern gateway to the heart of the Marshlands, and beyond Turbulent County lies the rich, fertile, and flat Oak County.

If Lynn is allowed to occupy Oakshire and even advance on Golden Deer Castle, where will Laszlo put his face?

He had only recently inherited the title of Duke, and at such a young age, his prestige in the territory was already insufficient. If the enemy army were to drive him to the castle, the officials and nobles in various places would likely harbor rebellious intentions.

Often, some battles cannot be avoided simply by wanting to.

War is a continuation of politics. In order to achieve political goals, rulers must take the initiative to attack even if they know they are at a disadvantage.

Moreover, László doesn't believe he's at a disadvantage at all.

As he said, Lynn only occupied two counties, both of which were poor places with few people. How many soldiers could he possibly muster to fight?

The army recruited by Golden Deer Fortress consisted not only of new recruits from serf backgrounds, but also of many retired veterans from the court cavalry, as well as a small number of remnants who had escaped from River Bend Fortress.

Last winter, László used these court cavalrymen as a base to build up a cavalry force of more than two thousand men.

With this elite cavalry force, plus several thousand newly trained soldiers, he was confident he could engage Lynn in a decisive battle in the open.

Clászczuk's mother, Anna, completely disagreed with her son's opinion.

The middle-aged blonde woman's face darkened, her eyebrows furrowed, and her aura was terrifying. She glared at her son and said, "How many times have I told you not to underestimate the enemy? Not to underestimate the enemy!"

Have you forgotten that Lynn has already conquered the barbarian tribes, obtained soldiers from the wastelands, including a large number of longbowmen, and also mined salt and iron mines in his territory, acquiring enough wealth to arm a large army?

Anna also places great importance on intelligence gathering and reconnaissance.

Two years ago, when Lynn had just occupied Shallow Beach Territory in the name of Agna, she sent her personal maid to Shallow Beach Territory to gather intelligence, but Agna managed to fool her.

Furthermore, the Duke of the Swamp was away on campaign at the time, so the matter was ultimately left unresolved.

After Lynn took over the White River Territory last year, Anna was furious and sent a large number of people to the White River Territory to gather relevant intelligence. At the same time, she also transferred her own brother, Earl Blackwood, to garrison Three Rivers City to prevent Lynn from continuing to grow stronger.

However, Lynn skillfully thwarted all these tactics and even directly beheaded Earl Black Shirt in the western suburbs of Sanhe City.

Since then, Anna has been convinced that Lynn is the greatest enemy of the Swamp Territory and has launched a full-scale investigation into him.

She had little recourse against this formidable enemy because her husband, Lothair, had transferred all his elite troops away.

She was ultimately just a woman, a temporary regent while her husband was away on campaign. She couldn't mobilize all the forces in her territory, and the nobles and officials couldn't completely obey her.

It wasn't until her eldest son, László, returned from the front that she was finally able to expand the army and reorganize the border defenses in his name.

However, Lynn had already made his move ahead of time, taking over Turbulent County and opening a passage to the core area of ​​the Marshlands. From the western end of Turbulent County to Golden Deer Fortress, the road was smooth and almost indefensible.

His mother's admonitions did not quell László's restless heart. Instead, he shouted, "The barbarians are nothing to be afraid of. They are just a group of ignorant savages who were driven to the wasteland two hundred years ago. My ancestors were able to defeat them two hundred years ago, and of course I can easily crush them now!"

Anna scolded him angrily, "Lynn has more than just barbarian archers. Before you recruited new soldiers, he already had an army of eight or nine thousand men. To win this war, he was just short of selling his castle and his lover for money!"
Your enemy has fought with everything they have to defeat us, even using the last silver coin in their warehouse. Doesn't that deserve your serious attention? Even the smallest dog can bite a giant, and Lynn is no small dog, nor are you a giant! He can't afford to lose this war, and neither can we!

Anna had a deep understanding of White River Territory; apart from the bronze mortar that Lynn had deliberately hidden, she had discovered almost all of Lynn's trump cards.

When a lion hunts a rabbit, it uses its full strength.

The difference in strength between the two sides is far less than that between the lion and the rabbit; in terms of troop strength alone, they are almost evenly matched.

Therefore, Anna believed that her side must go all out and take this seriously, otherwise they would face annihilation.

The young duke was so angry at his mother's words that he stamped his feet: "I am the duke, my mother, I am the duke! I cannot stand by and watch the enemy ravage my territory. Do I need to teach you such a simple truth?"

Last fall, to prevent Lynn from continuing westward, Anna, in the name of Lasslow, artificially created a no-man's-land in Oakshire.

This was indeed very effective; Lynn's army stopped at Turbulent County and did not continue its invasion of Oak County.

However, this also brought countless negative comments to László, causing more than 50,000 people to be displaced, and the walls of many cities were piled high with frozen corpses.

Therefore, László really didn't want to continue letting his mother interfere with his territory.

Besides, he already had nowhere left to retreat.

The more the enemy advanced, the more he retreated.

If this continues, how can he continue to be a duke?
Would the serfs and citizens of his territory still trust him? And how could the soldiers be willing to obey a weak monarch?

He inherited the title of Duke of the Marsh, known for his toughness, not the weak Duke of the Valley! Or the Duke of the Grasslands, who would become a bandit.

Anna sighed softly and said, "I swear this is the last time. As long as you are willing to follow my plan, I will never allow anyone to publicly question you."

A deathly silence fell over the hall. Laszlo slumped back onto the duke's throne, pondered for a long time, and then finally spoke, "I must first hear your specific plan."

He ultimately didn't want to completely break ties with his biological mother. His foundation was relatively weak, and he still needed to work with his mother to control the territory.

Moreover, with a formidable enemy at hand, internal strife is a grave taboo, especially internal strife between the top leader and the second-in-command in a territory; in such a situation, it would be difficult to avoid the downfall of the country.

"All we need to do is delay; this is definitely a safer and more likely to succeed than launching a rash attack," Anna paused, then continued her analysis.
"I just received intelligence from Three Rivers City that the snow on the road has not completely melted yet. Lynn is like a goose that has broken out of its pen, hurriedly leading his army toward Turbulent County. Clearly, he is racing against time."

Why was he in such a hurry? Because once the snow melted, Otto of Amber Harbor would head west, and he wanted to capture Golden Deer Castle before Otto attacked Three Rivers.

Anna was experienced and had a very clear understanding of the situation in the North.

Since Otto landed in Amber Harbor last autumn, he has become the biggest variable in the North, and other factions in the North have been affected by this variable to varying degrees.

Especially ambitious individuals like Earl Lynn of White River and Earl Vasa of Mirror Iron, whose core territories border the Crown Territory, had to expand their lands and power as quickly as possible to defend against the invasion of the Southern Territory.

Logically, the best time for large-scale military operations in the North is during the six-month window from May to November.

In the North in March, nighttime temperatures are consistently below freezing. Snow that melts at noon will freeze over by night, severely slowing down the army's advance.

But this still couldn't stop Lynn's determination to send troops, which was enough to prove that he was in a hurry.

Since the enemy is in a hurry, what we should do is make the enemy even more anxious.

Anna concluded with certainty, "What we need to do is avoid direct combat and use every means to slow down Lynn's advance. As long as we can hold out until summer or autumn, when Otto's army arrives in Three Rivers, we can win this war."

When he is forced to withdraw his troops to defend Otto, we may even have the opportunity to reclaim Turbulent County and attack Three Rivers City and White River Territory, annihilating him completely!

Anna's entire strategy, to put it simply, boils down to one word: 'delay'. At first glance, this strategy doesn't seem to have many problems.

Although Oakshire is flat and indefensible, it still has a cluster of small castles built by previous dukes.

By simply sending more elite troops to these thirty-odd castles, we should be able to slow down Lynn's advance, just like we did with Turbulent County last year.

If we wait until summer, until Otto's army arrives at Three Rivers, then Golden Deer will be a complete victory.

Ironically, Anna's husband died because of Otto, and now she has to rely on this enemy of the North to keep another enemy in check.

Laszlo frowned and pondered for a moment, then asked with a grave expression, "But if we follow your plan, what will happen to the people of Oakshire? March and April are the season for spring planting. If I don't protect them, the enemy will steal their food, seeds, and even their wives, and the entire Oakshire will cease to exist!"

He did not believe that Lynn would continue to supply the expeditionary force with provisions.

These days, armies rely on plundering when fighting abroad. What legitimate army would transport supplies thousands of miles from its territory?

Moreover, Lynn chose to solve the food problem on the spot when he conquered Turbulent County last autumn.

But the spring planting season is not the same as the autumn harvest season. Robbing farmers during the planting season is truly driving them to their deaths.

Not only will their food and seeds be stolen, but this year's harvest will also be uncertain. What will be the point of the farmers living? They will have no choice but to flee to other places or become bandits.

Even if Laszlo manages to repel Lynn through delaying tactics and holding out, all he will gain is a devastated Oakshire and over two hundred thousand displaced people.

Anna stood up, gently patted her son's broad shoulders, and replied, "I will issue all the orders; I will not let you bear these responsibilities alone."

Well, let the serfs of Oakshire suffer, and I, Anna, will bear the blame.

Laszlo didn't give a direct answer, but suddenly changed the subject: "What did Wolfsburg say? Didn't Samuel say last year that he would send troops to fight alongside us against Lynn?"

“We can’t expect anything from him. He just robbed us last autumn. How can we expect a bunch of bandits to help us? Besides, he already made a deal with Lynn. After all, he still hopes that Lynn can hold off Otto. Hmph, that damned coward.”

Anna had no opinion of Samuel, the Duke of Meadows.

As she said, you can't expect to get anything from a bandit who comes to your house to rob you every autumn.

She then kindly advised, "My son, don't hesitate any longer. Just listen to me this once. Even after Lynn and Otto have exhausted their last drop of blood, you will still have a chance to fight for the Northern Crown."

To persuade her eldest son, Anna even brought up the Northern Crown.

That thing was her husband Lothair's ultimate pursuit, and also László's dream object.

Anna's heart ached at the thought of that damned crown.

If it weren't for her coveting the crown, why would her husband have died in the distant River Bend?
"Give me some time, I need to think about it some more." Despite saying this, László was clearly persuaded by his mother.

Anna's strategy clearly has the highest win rate and the lowest risk.

If the decisive battle in the wilderness is lost, then Golden Deer Fortress will truly perish.

It's just that the young and impetuous László is still somewhat unable to get over his inner conflict by curling up in a turtle shell and becoming a turtle man; he needs more time to convince himself.

Two days later, documents bearing Anna's mark were sent to various parts of the territory.

Nearly three thousand soldiers then left Golden Deer Castle and rushed to more than thirty castles in Oakshire to strengthen defenses.

Generally speaking, a small castle can be fully defensively effective by garrisoning only about twenty people.

Anna's deployment of such a large army could easily overcrowd these castles, making it difficult for soldiers to even stretch out and get a good night's sleep, which could actually weaken the castles' defensive capabilities.

But she couldn't care less about that right now.

These soldiers were all recruited locally in Oakshire, and Anna believed that they would fight to the death to protect their homeland.

A few days later, Lynn's expeditionary force entered Turbulent County in batches, set up camp and rested for a while, and he himself arrived at Redhawk County, the easternmost county.

"My lord, the road through Hongying County was completed last winter. It was built to the same standard as that of Baixiong County and is sufficient to carry a large army."

Although the county magistrate of Redhawk County, Finn, is young, he is an old man from White Bear County. He has worked for a long time with Old Albert, the master of construction, and is absolutely a pro when it comes to infrastructure.

To motivate local leaders to work on the road, he used the same old methods Lynn had employed in White Bear County: granting free citizen titles to those who worked hard and offering a small tax reduction for the year.

It can only be said that the old method was indeed effective. In less than two months, the local people repaired the straight road paved with gravel.

"Well done, keep up the good work. Once I take over Golden Deer Castle, there will be a bigger stage for you to shine."

Lynn's technique of making empty promises was equally old-fashioned, but it was indeed quite effective, since every promise he made could be successfully fulfilled.
Currently, his territory only has county-level administrative units, but once he fully controls the marshland, he will inevitably need to establish higher-level administrative units.

Lynn would certainly consider promoting a loyal, reliable, and talented young official like Finn to the position of county head.

Being young is not a problem; in chaotic times, young talents must be given important roles.

After a brief inspection and a day's rest in Red Eagle County, Lynn and his personal guard continued their westward journey.

At the same time, military intelligence from all directions was delivered to him in real time.

The three legions at the front had become accustomed to marching in March, and their advance speed had increased slightly.

The transport fleet on the Jinghe waterway also sailed smoothly, with none of the twenty transport ships damaged.

Two days later, urgent military intelligence from the front lines reached Lynn.

"László and Anna were cautious enough not to choose a direct confrontation, but instead hoped to slow down our advance by using the castle."

Lynn sat on a small stool warming himself by the fire. After reading the military intelligence report, his impression of László had changed somewhat.

This young man is young but not arrogant. Given time, he may be able to show some of his father Lothair's talent.

Despite Lothair's ignominious death in the rebellion, he was once just one step away from ultimate success, and he almost replaced Otto as Lynn's greatest enemy.

Such a temporary tyrant should still be given some respect.

Victor astutely observed, "Their strategy is to stall until Otto's army attacks Three Rivers City. It's quite shrewd, almost the best answer."

In the past, this would indeed have been the best solution, but unfortunately, Lynn had a cannon.

He won't resort to the old method of attacking the castle by killing as many people as he did last year.

(End of this chapter)