I'm not a lord

Chapter 310 Lynn Once Again Besieged on Three Sides
In late April, Lynn once again came to his loyal city of Hafen. He led his troops to the familiar military camp in the north of the city and settled the prisoners of war in a temporary camp on the west side of the camp.

He did not dismantle the camp when he retreated, and the army at Golden Deer Fort later used the camp as well.

Now, revisiting this familiar place, everything in the military camp remains unchanged, seemingly the same as when he left.

The only difference was that the messengers who came to comfort the troops had changed.

"Your Excellency, on behalf of all the citizens of Hafen, I offer these foods and wines to you and your most valiant soldiers. This is not only a token of our appreciation, but also a testament to Hafen's loyalty and respect for you."

The person in charge of entertaining the troops is no longer an ordinary city councilor, but rather Daniel, the mayor of Hafen.

He personally escorted more than ten large carts to the military camp and respectfully presented Lynn with supplies for the troops.

Lynn ran his hand over a barrel of ale, turned to Daniel beside him, and asked with a light laugh, "I was wondering, did you say the same thing to Laszlo about two weeks ago?"

Daniel, who had been smiling ingratiatingly, froze instantly upon hearing this, and stammered, "This, I..."

Lynn patted him on the shoulder and said, "Relax, I'm not blaming you. After all, you were forced into it, weren't you?"

Although Lynn's smile remained warm, it seemed sinister to Daniel, who lowered his head in fear: "Thank you for your leniency, sir. The citizens of Hafen City do not like to be involved in disputes; they simply want to maintain a peaceful and stable life."

The implication is that Hafen City will only be loyal to the strong, and they will pay taxes to whoever is the strongest.

However, this statement also has another meaning: the citizens of Hafen City are not willing to completely submit to the great nobles. They are willing to pay taxes, but they should not expect to send troops to fight.

In the decisive battle on the north bank of the Sami River, Hafen did not send militia to support Golden Deer Fortress.

“I can understand the citizens’ choice. As long as Hafen City is willing to remain loyal to me, I am willing to respect the rights of the citizens.”

Lynn's promise seemed clear at first glance, but upon closer inspection, it revealed some ambiguity.

He did respect rights, but he didn't specify which rights he was respecting.

Lynn was not particularly satisfied with the municipal system.

In his eyes, anyone living on his territory was his subject and had to abide by the policies and laws he set and pay taxes to him.

The concept of a "state within a state" like a municipality clearly does not align with Lynn's governing philosophy.

The only reason he retained this system was to facilitate the appeasement of the urban population in the North.

When the time is right, he will intervene in the mayoral elections of these autonomous cities. He has already drafted the relevant edicts, which will simply designate the candidates for mayor.

Power is usually only accountable for its source, and Lynn only needed to control the power to appoint and dismiss the mayor to exert a great influence on the city.

Just like in the current Three Rivers City, Mayor Leon was elected with Lynn's strong support, so naturally he will only be responsible to Lynn.

Some citizens and councilors may have complaints about this, but they dare not show them due to Lynn's military might and can only endure it for now.

As long as Lynn can maintain his power for a long time, these cities will naturally get used to having their mayors appointed by the lord.

Daniel could more or less guess Lynn's plan, after all, the 'example' of Three Rivers City was right there.

The bizarre incident of a black marketeer suddenly rising to the position of mayor caught the attention of the Hafen City Council last year, and the councilors conducted an in-depth investigation into Leon's background, connections, and promotion trajectory.

When the councilors learned that Leon's sister had a close relationship with Lynn, they were relieved and could only conclude that such a close relationship was indeed effective.

After presenting the supplies, Daniel handed Lynn a stack of parchment: "Sir, this is the accounting and tax payment details of the Harfen City Council for the past twenty years. Please be sure to take a look."

When Hafen first pledged allegiance to Lynn, Daniel had only presented a key symbolizing ownership of the city.

That thing was only somewhat significant, not very significant, indicating that Hafen City at that time did not have absolute confidence in Lynn and could not completely submit to him.

Now that Daniel has brought out all the account books and is willing to pay the full city tax every year, he is clearly truly submitting to Lynn.

The councilors of Harfen City saw it clearly: no one in the Marshlands could threaten Lynn's rule anymore, and Golden Deer Castle was merely clinging to life.

If we sincerely submit as soon as possible, we may be able to avoid a brutal reckoning in the future.

“Very well, I’ll accept this gift.” Lynn took the ledger, glanced at it briefly, and then handed it to Victor, the clerk beside him.

The relevant tax matters are naturally handled by officials in the secretariat.

The secretariat under Lynn's command can handle almost all major matters in the territory, including military supplies allocation, and the financial revenue and expenditure of various places are also arranged by it.

The Ministry of Finance, which was established earlier, had relatively little power and was temporarily only responsible for compiling statistics on the fiscal revenue and expenditure of the six counties under the jurisdiction of Baihe.

Of course, this is only a temporary expedient, since Lynn's territory and population are not large enough, and it is more efficient to rely on a single department to handle government affairs.

Once he takes control of the entire swamp territory, he will inevitably carry out a profound bureaucratic reform.

That noon, Lynn hosted a banquet at the military camp for Daniel and other city representatives. The banquet was lively and the guests enjoyed themselves immensely.

The main force of the army did not stop and continued northward toward Jinlubao.

In the afternoon, several military intelligence reports were delivered to Lynn at the same time.

Several reports of victory came from Turbulent County. The Black Cedar Cavalry, which had been active in the northern part of the county, had all withdrawn. The garrison troops of various counties pursued the enemy and fought several brilliant pursuit battles, capturing a batch of warhorses and equipment.

The messages coming from Sanhe City and the western suburbs were urgent military intelligence.

"My lord, Reiner's army has split into three parts. One part stayed behind at the camp, one part went north along the Baihe River, and the third part has disappeared. Yang believes that this part went to Jingtie Territory and has sent soldiers across the river to investigate."

Victor summarized the two urgent military reports in just a few words.

Currently, the overall defense of Baihe Territory is being handled by the third brother, Yang. He ordered two thousand archers to march slowly while he himself rode back to the western suburbs and quickly took over command from the fifth brother, Andrei.

Upon learning of Leiner's troop split, Yang immediately guessed the enemy's intentions and responded accordingly.

Mirror Iron Territory was, after all, the territory of Lynn's ally, so Yang could only send a small number of elite troops across the river to scout.

Lynn put down the report of victory from Turbulent County, walked to the map, and studied it closely, analyzing it as follows:
"Although Leiner has more than 10,000 troops at his disposal, he has hesitated to cross the river to attack Sanhe City and Baihe Territory, which is obviously due to his fear of Baihe Territory's defense system."

This time, he divided his forces into three routes, probably to test the weaknesses in this defensive line and, incidentally, to solve the problem of food supply. If his main force wanted to detour through Jingtieling and then cross the river to attack the western suburbs, Yang would definitely give him a big surprise.

Lynn now has a keen analytical ability regarding the battle situation, and he personally constructed the entire defense line of White River Territory.

Therefore, he didn't need to be on the battlefield; he could analyze Reiner's intentions fairly well based solely on military intelligence.

Victor glanced at the Iron Fortress marked on the map and sighed softly, "Mirror Iron Territory is truly pitiful. Now that tens of thousands of troops from two southern armies have gathered there, the local farmers are going to suffer."

Neither Earl Reiner nor Earl Harvey, the two commanders of the Southern Invading Army, had a stable logistical supply. To keep their tens of thousands of troops combat-ready, they had to solve the problem of food and supplies on the spot.

Since they dared not attack Baihe Territory and could not penetrate it, they could only go to Jingtie Territory to plunder.

"Who told Vasa to still not be able to take White Eagle Fortress? It'll be good enough if he can hold Iron Fortress this time." Lynn said with a hint of schadenfreude.

Although he and Vasa were allies, they were always wary of and suspicious of each other.

While Vasa concentrated his forces to besiege White Eagle Fortress, he never relaxed his vigilance against White River Territory. He set up a large number of watchtowers along the south bank of the Jing River. Weren't these facilities meant to guard against Lynn?
However, he was too fixated on White Eagle Fortress and left too few troops in Mirror Iron Territory, which allowed the two armies from the south to take advantage of the situation.

He has now withdrawn all the troops from the watchtowers back to Iron Fortress, clearly intending to defend his base.

As for the remaining population and resources on the territory, they can only temporarily benefit the southern invaders.

Lynn's attitude toward this was to watch from the sidelines.

The more trouble those two southern armies caused in Mirror Iron Territory, the happier he became.

"Better to die than to die myself," Lynn hoped Vasa would buy him more time to develop and expand.

Victor stared at the map for a moment, then suddenly remembered something, his expression changed, and he quickly reminded him:
“But if these Southerners completely break through Mirror Iron Territory, they may cross the river to harass the core areas of Turbulent Stream County and even Swamp Territory. If you can free up troops in the future, perhaps you should consider supporting Earl Mirror Iron.”

Upon hearing this, Lynn frowned slightly and nodded, saying, "Your analysis makes a lot of sense. I will consider it."

After Victor's reminder, Lynn instantly realized what was happening.

That is, these two invading armies in the south should never be regarded as regular armies.

More like two highly professional bandit groups with proper equipment than the military.

Their targets were not only wealth, but also people, territories, and titles.

Because they lack a logistical system, they will act with impunity, exploiting the resources of the occupied territories by any means necessary in order to achieve their goals and fill their stomachs.

Lynn did not hesitate to assume the worst about these two invading armies, suggesting that when they were truly starving, they might even treat people as food.

To them, the entire North was nothing more than resources; if they couldn't have it, they would destroy it.

You can't use logistics to deduce the marching routes of these two armies.

In their quest to plunder resources, they can venture deep into the heart of the North, disregarding their own safety, roaming the North like locusts, and appearing anywhere in the North at any time.

"My lord, relying solely on the defenses of Baihe Territory will hardly stop them from crossing the Jing River to the north. If these two groups of invaders are not completely eliminated, they may even appear near Hafen City."

Victor's words were by no means alarmist. He pointed to the banks of the Quiet River in the Valley Territory. Although the area was long and narrow, the terrain was relatively flat, making it suitable for large armies to move through.

After breaking through Mirror Iron Territory, the two armies from the south can advance westward along the riverbank and look for weakly defended areas to cross the river and head north.

Although Count Vasa of Mirror Iron has basically taken over the entire Valley Territory and become the duke of the Valley in fact, his control over the various regions is still quite weak.

The autonomous cities on the south bank of the Jinghe River remain independent and are unlikely to be able to stop the advance of the southern invaders.

These invaders only need to gather enough ships on the south bank to cross the wide Tranquil River and invade the soft interior of the Marshland Territory.

At that time, the territory that Lynn had finally managed to occupy would become a paradise for invaders from the southern border, which he absolutely could not tolerate.

Of course, all of this was just his and Victor's speculation and deduction, and there was no conclusion yet on how the two southern armies should proceed.

However, necessary precautions must still be taken.

Lynn's expression suddenly turned serious, and he ordered, "Victor, have the secretariat draft an official document as soon as possible to remind the autonomous cities and manors on the north shore to pay attention to the movements on the south shore, and to report any enemy activity immediately."

“Yes, sir.” Victor nodded in agreement, wanting to say something more, but ultimately remained silent.

Lynn gave a rare wry smile: "I know even if you don't say it. Simply relying on defense can't eliminate all the hidden dangers. But right now I not only lack troops, but also time. Write a letter to Vasa for me, saying that I am willing to provide him with the necessary support, and that he must spare some troops to stop the advance of the southern invaders."

That being said, Lynn could only offer Vasa all the support he could, except for the support he was given.

Golden Deer Fort has not yet surrendered, and his main force must march north to attack Golden Deer Fort, while also diverting troops to defend the Jinghe River area.

With only the limited number of troops he had, he was really stretched thin.

It can only be said that the two armies from the southern border advanced at a truly astonishing speed, having already crossed the Crown Territory and invaded the northern inland areas before May.

This somewhat disrupted Lynn's original plan, which was to quickly conquer the Swamp Territory within three months, so that he could spare troops to counter the southern invaders.

But plans can't keep up with changes. It's not even May yet, and Lynn is already facing a predicament of being attacked from three sides.

To the north lies the seemingly indestructible Golden Deer Fortress, while to the east and south, they must guard against invaders from the southern border.

If the Duke of the Meadows in the west were to cause any more trouble, things would truly become unbearable to watch.

With this in mind, Lynn instructed, "By the way, we also need to take care of Duke Samuel of the Meadows. Write him another letter, saying that my forces will only reach Canyon County and will never cross the River of Stillness, let alone threaten his sphere of influence. If possible, persuade him to send some troops to support the Valley Territory."

Canyon County is located southwest of Oak County and is named after the 'Still River Canyon' within its borders.

This canyon is also the natural boundary between the swamp territory and the grassland territory. Crossing the Tranquil River westward from the canyon county, you can reach the sparsely populated grassland territory.

"Yes, sir, I'll make the arrangements right away." Victor knew the situation was urgent, so he bowed and quickly left the military tent.

He is now Lynn's personal scribe; he drafts many confidential letters before Lynn makes the final version.

That afternoon, a large number of envoys left the military camp and headed to various places.

Lynn then personally met with Daniel, the mayor of Hafen, and ordered him to deploy city militia and armed merchant ships to patrol the Tranquil River waters within a hundred kilometers of Hafen.

The navy sent by Golden Deer Castle to blockade the city had already withdrawn, so Daniel agreed without hesitation.

He was certainly aware of the terrifying destructive power of the southern invaders.

If Lynn were replaced by Earl Reiner from the Southern Territory, Harfen City would probably have been completely looted by the Southern Territory people by now.

For the next two days, Lynn remained in the military camp north of Hafen, where he met with representatives from various places, accepting their surrender while also instructing these local powers to pay attention to the security and defense of their territories.

In the short term, it will be difficult for Lynn to establish an authoritarian regime in the newly occupied territories, so he can only temporarily acknowledge and utilize these local strongmen.

After a brief rest outside Hafen, he led his personal guard to catch up with the main force of the army and entered the territory of Jinlu County.

(End of this chapter)