I'm not a lord

Chapter 314 Making Many Friends
The old guard, led by Count Gae, and the middle and lower nobility, led by Bogdan, both favored defending Golden Deer Castle to the death and were determined not to leave the city to fight Lynn in the open field.

With these two taking the lead, the other civil and military officials who were qualified to speak quickly reached a consensus.

However, a somewhat immature voice of opposition emerged in the hall of Golden Deer Castle.

“Defending the castle is certainly the safe choice, but that would mean giving up the city and manor outside the castle to Lynn, and the castle would be completely besieged by the enemy. Wouldn’t destruction be the only path waiting for us?”

Everyone looked in the direction of the voice and saw that the speaker was none other than Duke Olge of the Marsh, who was sitting in a high-backed chair.

He was only fifteen years old when he suffered the pain of losing his father, mother, and brother in succession.

With all the older male members of his family having passed away, he, the second son, was jointly elected as the new duke by the officials of Golden Deer Castle.

Despite his young age, Orge has inherited his parents' excellent genes. He is not only outstanding in martial arts and horsemanship, but also has beautiful cursive handwriting.

If it weren't for his elder brother László, Olg might have been a more suitable heir to the dukedom.

Given his abilities and knowledge, he would never willingly be a silent, nodding puppet.

He certainly had his own insights and opinions regarding the upcoming war.

Count Gae and Bogdan exchanged a glance, with the former speaking up to ask, "My lord, do you mean to send troops to guard the various outposts outside the castle? Do you know exactly how many troops are left inside Golden Deer Castle?"

Count Gae did not intend to refute the hot-blooded young duke with rudeness, but rather to present data and logic to completely refute him head-on, so as to do a good job of pre-war united front work.

After all, Olger nominally had the authority to command all the troops, and he also had the blood of the dukes of the past, giving him a certain prestige and influence among the lower-ranking soldiers.

Org could see the fleeting disdain in Count Gae's eyes. He gritted his teeth and nodded calmly.
"Of course I know that the garrison inside the castle should not exceed two thousand men, but we don't necessarily have to send out a large number of troops. Even just sending a small number of renowned cavalrymen to garrison various strongholds should be enough to effectively stop the enemy's advance."

Orge's answer was quite insightful. He had been taught by his mother Anna since childhood and, if not thoroughly, he was at least somewhat knowledgeable about military tactics.

As the saying goes, "To defend a city, one must defend the wilderness."

If you abandon all the outposts outside the castle from the start and only defend the castle, it's not much different from waiting to die.

Golden Deer Castle is indeed easy to defend and difficult to attack, but due to the small size of the island in the lake, the castle's overall capacity is not very large.

The castle is now crammed full of two thousand garrison soldiers and their families, with the remaining space used to store food, drinks and equipment.

In other words, the castle only has two thousand soldiers capable of fighting. If Lynn only besieges it without attacking, the defending army will eventually be forced to surrender due to running out of food or the collapse of morale.

However, if defensive forces are deployed at various strongholds, a large-scale defensive system can be built around Golden Deer Fortress.

Each stronghold can hinder the enemy's advance and effectively coordinate with the main force inside the castle to find opportunities to annihilate the enemy in the field.

Moreover, Org's original intention was not to divide his troops, but to mobilize the defensive enthusiasm of each stronghold with a small number of troops.

Cities and manors, for example, possessed relatively independent defensive forces, such as armed citizens and conscripted serfs.

By dispatching court cavalry in the name of the Duke to command the defenses, the people in each stronghold could be convinced that the Duke had not abandoned them, and this would inspire them to fight with considerable determination.

This Golden Deer County was, after all, the core territory painstakingly managed by successive dukes, and the dukes' names and prestige would inevitably have a strong appeal in the area.

Faced with the young duke's suggestion, Count Gae pondered for a moment before replying:
"My lord, your idea does have some merit, but it is not very feasible. You may think that you can gain the support of the citizens and people by virtue of the Duke’s name, but the disastrous defeats at River Bend and the north bank of the Sami River have already exhausted the prestige accumulated by the dukes of all generations."

Although Olger omitted many details, how could the experienced Count Gae not see through the Duke's true thoughts?

Prestige and reputation are absolutely consumables.

The defeat and death of the first two dukes dealt a heavy blow to the reputation of the 'Dukes of the Marsh'.

This is like a well-known author whose two novels flopped completely, the kind of complete failure where the author abandons the book altogether. How many die-hard fans will his third novel have left?
Moreover, the former Duke Lothair imposed heavy taxes on cities and manors in order to support four thousand court cavalry.

The manors in the four core counties could not store much grain, and almost all of the surplus output was given to Golden Deer Castle.

When news of his death reached the Marshlands, countless people celebrated with drinks at home.

Now that Olger has inherited a nearly ruined brand and is young and lacks prestige, why should he naively believe that the citizens and the people will be willing to risk their lives for him?

The citizens of Jinlu City are probably already preparing supplies to welcome Earl Baihe!

Only by holding the castle until Lynn retreats on his own initiative can Org salvage some dignity for his deceased father and brother.

Therefore, his proposal, while seemingly reasonable, completely failed to take into account the current situation in the swamp territory.

To put it mildly, it's naivety; to put it bluntly, it's foolishness without realizing it!

Org was clearly unconvinced, slamming his hand on the armrest and angrily retorting, "So we're just going to do nothing and let Lynn take our cities and manors, then use the plundered resources and people to besiege Golden Deer Castle? Are we in the Marshlands now just cowards and no warriors?"

Count Gae stared at the young and impetuous Duke and said in a low voice, "My lord, the warriors you speak of are all long gone. Half of them died at River Bend Castle, and the other half died on the north bank of the Sami River."

"You," Orge was speechless after being rebuked, his fair face turning bright red.

Count Gae sighed and continued, "But the rest are no cowards either. We were just following Lady Anna's orders to protect Golden Deer Castle and to protect you, nothing more."

As a survivor of the Battle of the Sami River, Count Gae was by no means a coward.

As the commander of the right wing, he led thousands of cavalrymen in a charge against Lynn's left wing, but was forced to withdraw from the battlefield after being hit by several arrows.

Even now, the white bandage on his shoulder is still seeping with traces of blood.

In that brutal battle, he was shocked by the strength and resilience of Lynn's army, an army he had never encountered before and could hardly describe.

Despite being infantry, they showed no fear whatsoever when faced with a cavalry charge, and their formation remained perfectly orderly, as if they had experienced countless similar charges before.

Judging by their faces, the infantrymen were undoubtedly young men, many of whom hadn't even grown beards yet.

After reflection, Count Gae realized that the damned Lynn must possess an extremely sophisticated method of training troops, capable of quickly creating an infantry force so brave and resolute that it could withstand cavalry. Such an opponent, such an army, was far beyond the reach of the two thousand remaining soldiers at Golden Deer Castle.

But Count Gae was unwilling to surrender, and he also had to carry out Lady Anne's dying wish, so he could only hold out at Golden Deer Castle and wait for a real miracle.

“My lord, you need not worry too much. With Count Gae in charge of the defense, and Golden Deer Castle being an invincible castle that has never fallen, I guarantee you will get a good night’s sleep every night.” Bogdan stepped forward to reassure the young duke.

Bogdan was ultimately an outsider, with little influence and could only play a supporting role.

Another court count spoke up: "My lord, news has come from the east that the Southerners have surrounded Three Rivers City and Iron Fortress. If we can hold out for a quarter of a year, the enemy will surely retreat on their own."

Subsequently, a large number of officials echoed this sentiment, urging Olger to focus on defending the city and not to repeat the same mistake.

Their behavior can only be described as questioning Anna, understanding Anna, and becoming Anna.

Holding out to the death is the right thing to do. Fighting Lynn in the open would be suicide.
As for the cities and manors surrounding the castle, let's leave them to Lynn for now. He won't be staying in Golden Deer County for long anyway, or the Southerners will destroy his stronghold sooner or later.

These civil and military officials, like Bogdan, suffered from a similar 'Lynn phobia'.

Lynn's rise to power was too rapid, and his achievements were too dazzling.

Whether it was the Battle of Greenwater River last year or the Battle of Sami River this year, Lynn accomplished the feat of defeating a larger force with fewer troops and achieving a resounding victory.

Anyone who dared to stand in his way was crushed into the soil of the North.

Who the hell would dare to fight him head-on?
Only a young man like Orger, fearless and burdened with the hatred of killing his mother and brother, still dared to dream of having sex with Lynn in the wild.

The young duke sat in a high-backed chair, his face turning from crimson to ashen, and then to a helpless gray.

He was not a father or mother, and could not have absolute authority or make arbitrary decisions at Golden Deer Fortress. Now that his suggestions had been rejected by the courtiers, he could only swallow his resentment.

Suddenly, he felt a rumbling in his stomach.

Well, since things have come to this, let's have lunch first.

Meanwhile, Lynn was also having lunch at the military camp.

Accompanying him at the meal were not only key civil and military officials, but also several representatives from local cities and estates in Golden Deer County.

Just as Count Gae had guessed, these representatives had learned of Lynn's main force's movements well in advance and had prepared generous supplies for the troops.

In the eyes of these representatives, the world in the swamp territory was about to change.

From now on, Lynn will be the only sky and sun in the Swamp Territory, so they naturally need to establish a good relationship with the new lord as early as possible.

Although the city mayor and manor magistrate have close ties with Golden Stag Castle, many of them were appointed by the former Duke Lothair.

But this did not stop them from decisively switching allegiance.

After all, loyalty can't put food on the table. They are just middle and lower-level power holders, and they will be loyal to whoever has the biggest fist in their territory.

In their eyes, Lynn was by no means an 'outsider'.

It's important to know that Lynn is the Earl of White River and a royal executive officer, personally bestowed by the King of the North. He is a legitimate nobleman of the North, not a brutal bandit or a vicious and tyrannical invader from the South.

Incidentally, although Otto III has been officially crowned King in the North in Amber Harbor, his bastard son Maurice has not publicly abdicated, so most people in the North still regard Maurice as the true king.

Besides the legitimacy granted by his title, the discipline of Lynn's army also contributed significantly to his reputation.

These local representatives all knew that the Earl of Shirakawa's army were practically saints. Not only did they not plunder villages and cities, but they would also pay people to buy sheep and geese from the villages. They even took the initiative to drive away marauding soldiers and bandits and protect the serfs to carry out spring plowing.

Even the court cavalry of the Marsh Duke in the past could not do this. When they were on campaign, it was common for them to steal things and they would also harass pretty village women from time to time.

In many villages in the swamp territory, Lynn now enjoys the reputation of being the 'Armored Saint'.

After the luncheon, Victor calculated the list of supplies presented by the representatives and said with great excitement, "My lord, you have completely won the support and loyalty of the local forces in Oak County and Golden Deer County. The army's food reserves are almost enough to last a year!"

He never imagined that the war could be fought like this. The soldiers did not loot any supplies, and no more supplies were transported from the rear, yet the army's food supplies kept increasing.

Lynn took the list, glanced at it, and smiled, "I've talked to several manor stewards, and they all resent the tax rates imposed by Lothair. I only got these lists from you by promising to halve the tax rates for the next two years."

"Half the tax rate? That's no small price to pay." Victor was clearly taken aback by Lynn's generosity.

“We don’t have many troops right now, so we have to implement lenient tax rates and policies to gain the support of local forces. And is that too much of a price to pay? Next year I will promote the planting techniques of the White River Territory in the Swamp Territory. Even if the tax rate is only half, that’s still more than 30 percent.”

Lynn currently has only about 6,000 men available for combat, more than 1,000 of whom were temporarily recruited from prisoners of war.

To attack Golden Deer Castle with this small army, it is essential to eliminate all unstable factors outside the castle.

Implementing benevolent policies was a strategy Lynn had set before the war.

Especially in Golden Deer County, which is the heart of the Marshland Territory and also the region with the heaviest tax rate.

To support the court cavalry of Golden Deer Castle, the tax rate at each estate generally exceeded 70%.

Lynn only needs to spread a little favor to gain the initial loyalty of these manors, so why not?

Moreover, tax rates are just a word game. Once he promotes the county system in the future and firmly grasps the jurisdiction of these manors, he can generate countless additional tax revenues simply by checking the population and land.

Lynn then instructed, "By the way, go to the POW camp and pick a few respected representatives. I just received some good news: Golden Deer Fort is too crowded, so they can only house the families of these POWs in a few estates on the north shore of the lake, with only a small number of soldiers guarding them."

Military affairs are an extension of politics. The core secret to doing politics is to make as many friends as possible and as few enemies as possible.

Lynn had long had his eye on the court cavalry in the prisoner-of-war camp. If he could win over these experienced warriors, he was confident he could take Golden Deer Castle within a month.

(End of this chapter)