I'm not a lord

Chapter 308 A Decree Issued to Settle the Situation
As noon approached, the battle on the north bank of the Sami River had become a foregone conclusion.

The right wing of the Golden Deer Fort army withdrew from the battlefield due to heavy losses. Most of the thousand cavalrymen were killed in action, and the right wing commander, Count Gae, led a small number of defeated soldiers in a horseback retreat. The thousand infantrymen were routed in a panic by the counterattack of the left wing infantry of the White River Territory.

Many infantrymen, in their panic, even jumped into the turbulent Sami River, ultimately perishing in the river.

As for the two thousand soldiers on the left wing commanded by László, their situation was even more dire.

Commander László was killed in action, and his thousand elite cavalrymen were wiped out, half of them killed and half surrendered. The infantry fared slightly better, with casualties around 30%.

These infantrymen were all serf soldiers temporarily conscripted last winter. Lacking courage and fighting spirit, they turned and ran away as soon as they saw the Golden Deer Banner fall, which is why they were lucky enough to escape with their lives.

Since most of them were locals from Oakshire, they could simply find a secluded place to discard their armor and weapons, return to their hometowns, and become serfs again.

Anna then sent another 800 cavalry reinforcements to the left flank. These cavalrymen clashed head-on with Hugh's 500 heavy cavalry. After a brief battle, seeing the Golden Deer banner fall, they lost their will to fight and retreated while being pursued by Hugh. Less than a third of them managed to withdraw from the battlefield.

However, if we're talking about sheer misery, those three armies don't really stand out.

The central army and reserve forces, personally commanded by Anna, suffered the most.

At her insistence, this force of over six thousand men fought to the death and launched several threatening offensives against Lynn's central army.

However, Lynn's central army was like a high-quality spring; no matter how much pressure it faced, it could bounce back to its original state as soon as it relaxed slightly.

Furthermore, Count Shirakawa himself led his most elite personal guard to reinforce the central army, which greatly boosted the morale of the central army soldiers.

"Brothers, I, Lynn, will always stand with you!"

Lynn brandished his longsword, cutting down several enemy swordsmen and shieldmen who had charged into the enemy ranks.

The hundreds of guards who accompanied him also dismounted and fought, holding back the biggest gaps in the defense line.

Under his leadership, the soldiers of the Central Army were all as fierce as dragons, and they held the front line firmly and there was almost no retreat of the front line.

As soldiers on both sides fell one after another, Anna, who was in the rear of the central army, led her personal guards to the front line.

The woman, too, brandished her longsword and shouted repeatedly, "Forward! Forward! Keep going!"

She no longer cared about the battle situation on the flanks; she only wanted to make a desperate gamble and break through in the center.

But Lynn's flanking forces had already surrounded them.

The archers on the left flank galloped along the riverbank and then unleashed volleys of arrows at the enemy's unprotected flank.

Although the archers on the right flank had run out of arrows in the fierce battle, they could replenish their arrows by picking off the corpses of enemy soldiers.

The archers on both flanks unleashed their combined attack, immediately inflicting heavy casualties on the central army of Golden Deer Fortress.

After they had finished shooting arrows, they took longswords and round shields from their backs and charged into the exhausted enemy army together with the elite infantry on both flanks.

With their flanks wide open, the enemy forces could no longer hold out and soon collapsed completely.

Amid the chaos of battle, Anna's trusted generals repeatedly urged her to retreat.

"Madam, our defeat is inevitable. Let us retreat!"

"As long as you are here, Golden Deer Castle will never fall!"

Although Anna was surrounded on three sides by Lynn's army, she still had the possibility of retreating.

At least there aren't many enemy troops to the west. As long as we concentrate our elite forces to break through, we'll likely be able to create an opening.

No matter how much her confidants tried to persuade her, Anna refused to retreat.

At this final juncture, she seemed to have lost her usual rationality and caution, and placed her hopes on a breakthrough in the center with an extremely low probability.

But she didn't really have a choice; from the very beginning of the war, her decisions and plans were flawed.

Or rather, Lynn keenly noticed these 'small' problems.

details make a difference.

She did not bring her eldest son László with her, but instead allowed him to lead the most elite left wing.

When László could no longer resist the provocations and temptations and impulsively launched an attack, she was coerced by her eldest son to order the central army and the right wing to also launch a full-scale attack.

That's when she fell for Lynn's trick.

Later, she discovered that Lynn's central force seemed rather weak, and with the attacks on both flanks faltering, she mistakenly committed most of her reserves to the central line, attempting to open a breach there.

Thus, she fell into Lynn's trap once again.

Once Lynn's two flanks closed in, and Anna was unable to break through the White River Territory's central army, she had no chance of winning this battle.

In the end, she insisted on not retreating, purely out of defiance against herself and fate.

She was unwilling to accept, or rather, unwilling to believe, that she had lost so utterly, especially to Lynn, whose forces were far inferior to her own.

At the same time, she also regretted not sticking to the defensive strategy set at the beginning of the war.

If she had remained stuck south of Golden Deer Fortress, how could she have suffered such an unprecedented defeat?
Once Otto arrives at the walls of Three Rivers, and once Lynn's entire army has truly retreated, won't she have plenty of opportunities to reclaim her territory?
But there's no going back, and the deed was already done, so Anna simply decided she didn't want to live anymore.

With her eldest son killed in battle and her elite troops lost, she had no face to return to Golden Deer Castle, no confidence to rule the territory again, and no words to face her dead husband.

In the very end, as the enemy soldiers advanced into her line of sight, Anna made her decision and entrusted her words to her trusted general:

“You all retreat. I will cover your retreat and protect my second son. He is the new Duke of the Marshland.”

After several trusted generals led half of their personal guards in a breakout to the west, Anna no longer hesitated. She spurred her horse and charged toward the approaching White River infantry with her longsword in hand.

At noon, on the battlefield littered with corpses, Lucas, covered in blood, pulled a middle-aged woman's body from the pile of corpses and pointed at it, saying, "My lord, this body should be Anna from Golden Deer Fortress."

Although there were thousands of corpses on the battlefield, female corpses were extremely rare. In addition, the expensive armor and robe on this person's body, as well as the appearance of a middle-aged woman, made it easy to identify her true identity.

Lucas remembered clearly that this woman's fighting ability was quite astonishing; even when surrounded, she could suddenly launch an attack and kill three people.

Finally, it took four heavy halberdiers working together to kill him.

Even the most formidable individual martial arts skills cannot play a decisive role on a large-scale battlefield.

No matter how skilled you are, can you grow three heads and six arms to fight from all sides? No matter how tough your bones are, can you withstand the slashing and sweeping blows of a heavy halberd?
Victor looked at the middle-aged woman's corpse on the ground, shook his head with a sigh, and then turned to Lynn and said, "My lord, Laszlo and Anna are both dead. You no longer need to send troops. Just send an envoy with documents and seals to persuade the entire Swamp Territory to surrender." This is what is called 'pacification by issuing a proclamation'.

In the battle that just ended, Lynn annihilated 3,000 enemies and captured 5,000, but only suffered fewer than 800 casualties, which can be described as a great victory.

After this battle, no force in the entire Swamp Territory could stop Lynn's advance.

Golden Deer Castle might be able to hold out for a while, but it would only be a desperate struggle like a cornered beast.

With the Duke and Mistress both dead, what can the remaining officials and soldiers in the castle do to withstand Lynn's rising power?

Lynn, smelling the thick stench of blood on the battlefield, silently gazed at Anna's corpse and said softly, "Golden Deer Fortress and Blackfurion Territory, these two places may require the army to pacify."

Victor replied with a hint of excitement, “Most of the court cavalry perished on the banks of the Sami River. Golden Deer Fortress can only muster an army of one or two thousand men at most, and they are all terrified deserters. As for Black Shirtland, my lord, you only need to send a legion there, and one to two months will be enough to bring back the head of the Black Shirt Earl.”

Each successive duke of the marshlands centralized the territory, placing the most central and fertile areas under the direct control of the court.

While this move allowed the Duke to support a larger army, it also inadvertently provided convenience for foreign invaders.

After winning this decisive battle, Lynn only needed to send envoys with documents to easily persuade the most central counties of the Marshland to surrender.

Aside from Golden Deer Castle, Black Shirtland, which harbors the deepest hatred for Lynn, will require some more effort.

Even Golden Deer Fortress might accept surrender, since the officials and soldiers inside the city have lost the will to resist.

Even if they supported another marshland duke, it would be in vain.

Lynn's gaze shifted to the familiar faces around Anna, and she nodded slightly upon hearing this: "You can take charge of this matter."

"Sir, the secretaries are drafting the surrender document. You just need to confirm it once later." Victor looked around. Although there was blood everywhere, his heart was surging with emotion.

When the outcome of this war spreads far and wide, the entire North will be awestruck by the Earl of White River's formidable reputation.

And the swamp territory will soon fall entirely into the hands of Count Shirakawa.

As the Earl's scribe, Victor was naturally honored.

He had even begun to fantasize about the boundless glory when the Earl unified the North.

At that time, he will naturally be able to hold a high position, and incidentally, he can also write a magnificent epic for the Earl that will be passed down through the ages.

Lynn nodded again, but his tone was weary: "Yes, I'll check later. For now, let's clean up the battlefield."

In this battle, the Shirakawa Territory achieved a remarkably high casualty ratio and won a truly great war.

But Lynn felt more melancholy than excitement.

The two thousand soldiers he deployed in the central army suffered heavy losses. In addition to nearly four hundred dead, almost every surviving soldier was wounded.

The soldiers in the central army were the most senior, many of whom were trained by Lynn from White Bear Territory. He led these soldiers on hunts and marches, and even ate and slept with them.

He could name just a few of the soldiers who had died alongside Anna.

It was precisely because he was familiar with the loyalty and fighting spirit of these soldiers that he assigned them to the central army, where the mission was the most demanding and dangerous.

Lynn won the war, but lost one of his most loyal and elite soldiers.

At this moment, the third brother, Yang, arrived at the very center of the battlefield. He saw the familiar melancholy on his eldest brother's face and stepped forward to comfort him, saying, "Sir, we have indeed lost many veterans in this battle, but many more soldiers have survived the war. They will inherit the will of the dead and continue to fight for you."

Humans are not plants or trees, how can they be without feelings? Even a general with a heart of stone will feel some heartache after seeing many familiar soldiers die in battle.

The right wing, commanded by the third prince, also suffered heavy casualties this time. The right wing had fought against the most elite thousand palace cavalry for nearly half an hour.

The third brother could also name all the fallen soldiers.

But that's the cruelty of war.

Even the ultimate victor will see familiar souls everywhere.

Lynn patted Yang on the shoulder and forced a smile: "Don't worry about me. Go and prepare a victory banquet. Use fine wine, delicious food and joy to ease the soldiers' sorrow."

In this battle, Lynn had no choice but to deploy his most elite troops in the central army, as only this force could hold the line.

As night fell, the soldiers who had been pursuing the enemy returned to their camp one after another, bringing back even more prisoners and spoils of war.

The army's cooks and auxiliary soldiers prepared a sumptuous dinner.

They bought fat sheep and geese from nearby villages, as well as a large amount of fresh wild vegetables.

Precious spices captured from the enemy camp were thrown into the stew pot as if they were free, creating an enticing aroma that filled the entire camp, and every surviving soldier could share enough fresh meat to fill their stomachs.

Soldiers were strictly prohibited from drinking excessive amounts of ale and beer on weekdays, but these were provided in unlimited quantities.

That evening, Lynn drank wine, sang songs, and even danced a boisterous celebratory dance around a campfire with the soldiers in the barracks.

Even Karula, who usually prefers to stay indoors and drink alone, broke with tradition and drank heartily with her students.

She even held a drinking contest, and she single-handedly drank more than a dozen soldiers under the table.

For the next two days, Lynn's soldiers did not break camp, but instead rested on the spot.

After a major battle, soldiers need enough time to rest and recover their strength.

At the same time, he dispatched a large number of messengers to various parts of the swamp territory.

The first to pledge allegiance to him were the cities and estates of Oakshire, which kept shifting their allegiance.

When Lynn retreated earlier, these cities and estates had already surrendered to Golden Deer Castle.

When the battle on the north bank of the Sami River came to an end, they surrendered again and again, and tearfully told the messengers about their helplessness and sorrow.

Lynn readily accepted their blunder, with Oakshire serving as a model and a window for him to demonstrate his sincerity to the entire Marshland.

Following closely in Oakshire's footsteps is Canyonshire, located to its southwest.

Many manors and cities in this county had previously had secret dealings with Lynn, and now they can be considered to be 'legitimately' joining the new lord's strong embrace.

(End of this chapter)