I'm not a lord

Chapter 332 Establishment of the Imperial Council
It was late June, the sun was high in the sky, and the surface of the Baihe River shimmered with golden light. Cargo ships carrying salt mines and stones were sailing downstream, and the emblem of Mikawa Castle on their sails swayed gently with the waves.

This is the most difficult time of the year in Baihe Territory, as major crops such as wheat, rye, and soybeans enter their critical growth period and their demand for water increases dramatically.

But the sky was clear and cloudless, showing no sign of rain.

At this critical juncture in the fight against drought, Oleg, the county magistrate of Heron County in Shirakawa Prefecture, is about to embark on a long journey.

"Timo, just take him to the dock. From here to Golden Deer Castle, the Earl's army will escort him all the way, so there won't be any problems."

Oleg stood on the dock, bidding farewell to his relatives and friends who had come to see him off.

He was recently promoted to the position of county magistrate of Jinlu County and needs to take up his post as soon as possible.

As for agricultural production in Canglu County, he didn't need to worry about it too much.

In addition to the upcoming rainy season in July, Oleg had already directed the entire county's workforce to dredge irrigation projects before the beginning of spring.

These projects connect the Baihe River and several streams originating from the mountain range, continuously irrigating the vast fields of Canglu County.

Moreover, Canglu County began to vigorously develop the domestic goose breeding industry last year, and dug many ponds for raising geese. These ponds can also provide valuable water sources for the fields during the dry season.

Overall, the population of Canglu County is far from reaching the critical value, and even the land near water sources has not been fully developed. Currently, the land used for growing grain can be considered irrigated fields.

Only when the population expands to the point where mountainous and plateau areas need to be cultivated will dry land, which can only rely on the weather, emerge.

Timo, the sixth brother, was among the crowd seeing him off. He looked at his brother-in-law with a worried expression and said, "I'm not worried about you having any problems on the road, but I'm afraid you'll encounter danger when you get to Golden Deer County."

According to Lao Liu, being a county magistrate seems to be a high-risk job.

Indeed, this was the case; in the newly conquered territory of Lynn, there were still many active bandit gangs in the Swamp Territory.

These bandits either originated from defeated soldiers in war or were serfs who turned to banditry due to excessive taxes.

In addition to these overt factors of instability, a county magistrate also has to face open and covert attacks from within the power structure.

The county magistrate's office was located in the autonomous city of Jinlu, and neither the autonomous city nor the local manors would welcome this parachuted local official.

Lynn's original intention in establishing the county magistrate was to limit and gradually reclaim the power held by these local forces.

As the executor of Lynn's will, Oleg is bound to fight for the Count and contend with these local powers for power and profit.

Oleg could certainly foresee the dangers involved, but he pretended to be relaxed and said with a smile, "There may be dangers, but you don't need to worry. The Count will arrange for the army to protect us officials at all times."

Oleg felt nothing but gratitude for Lynn's appreciation and promotion.

He came from an ordinary family of land stewards and worked his way up to become the steward of a barony.

Later, Lynn conquered Heron Territory and established Heron County, and appointed Oleg as the county's first magistrate.

Now, he is about to take up the post of governor of Jinlu County, where he will be in charge of a population of over 200,000. This is undoubtedly a great leap forward in his life.

When Oleg was the steward of the baron, although he had the power to manage thousands of serfs on the land, he was essentially still a serf and servant of the lord.

Even when meeting ordinary knights in his territory, he had to bow and show deference.

After all, he was not a free man, and there was a pitiful thick barrier separating him from the knightly class.

But things are different now. Whether it's a county magistrate or a prefectural magistrate, they are the local officials in charge of the people's livelihood. Even if we disregard the power they wield, they can at least escape the constraints of being unfree citizens.

“Indeed, the Earl always sees further ahead than we do. Since he intends to establish a county-level administrative unit, he must have made the necessary preparations and arrangements in advance. Just follow him and obey all his orders; you can’t go wrong that way.”

Although Timo was more than ten years younger than Oleg and had become his brother-in-law, his words unconsciously carried a slightly didactic tone.

This is partly an occupational hazard of being a teacher.

On the other hand, Timo was Lynn's trusted confidant and a sworn brother of the Earl, so he naturally understood the direction of court policies better than an outsider like Oleg.

For Oleg to marry his sister to Timo was definitely a step up for him.

And don't let Timo's current position of just being a principal fool you; he's no ordinary principal. Countless officials in the territory have been his students.

The county magistrates who were about to take up their posts in Jinlu County had all studied at the official school in Canglu County.

Upon hearing this, Oleg shook his head with a wry smile: "The Earl's wisdom is beyond my reach, and I cannot fully comprehend many of his ideas. I can only discuss it after I meet the Earl at Golden Deer Castle."

To be honest, Oleg doesn't really feel like he's going to be a sheriff right now, since there's no one to give him any reference or experience.

He was very uneasy, and could hardly imagine the troubles he might encounter in the future.

After all, he had always had a smooth life in Canglu County, and no one under him could fight against him. He only needed to firmly carry out Lynn's orders.

In other words, Timo had been reminding him all along to be careful about his personal safety after taking office, and to pay close attention to the power of the autonomous cities and local manors in Golden Deer County.

That morning, after bidding farewell to his family and friends, Oleg boarded a ship bound for Golden Deer Castle, where his wife and children would also accompany him.

His sister chased after the ship all the way to the very top of the dock, waving her handkerchief at the receding sails.

As the sails disappeared around the bend in the river, the young woman threw herself into Timo's arms, asking tearfully, "My brother will be safe, won't he?"

Timo lowered his head and kissed his wife's trembling eyelashes, replying gently, "Of course, once he settles down, I'll take you on a trip to Golden Deer County, and we'll go boating on Golden Deer Lake and taste the most famous apple pie there together."

He certainly wouldn't say anything discouraging at a time like this.

When he returned to school, he was immediately surrounded by several teachers.

"Headmaster, will the school also move to Golden Deer County? I heard that the Earl will soon become the new Duke of the Swamp, and his court in the River Swamp County is said to have already begun to relocate." These teachers are all locals of White River Territory, and most of them were selected from outstanding students, and are as young as Timo.

They have all heard a lot of rumors recently and are worried that they will have to leave their hometown when the school relocates.

"There are no plans to relocate the school at the moment, so please focus on your teaching. I will notify you immediately if there are any changes," Timo reassured the teachers patiently.

He wasn't lying about this.

Although Lynn clearly intends to invest most of his manpower, resources, and even energy into the newly occupied territories, the changes in the old territory of Baihe Territory are not significant.

It was simply a matter of a group of officials being promoted to various newly established counties in the swamp territory, and the positions they vacated were immediately filled by local low-level officials.

As for the relocation of the palace, this is not surprising.

The courts of great nobles would move with the nobles. In the past, in the North, although the dukes all had their own family castles, they did not live in the castles for most of the year.

They sought refuge from the cold in winter, escaped the heat in summer, and hunted in autumn. Coupled with the frequent outbreaks of war, the great nobles and their courts were often either living in other palaces or traveling or on their way to war.

Their families and court officials also had to travel with the nobles.

Lynn has not yet established a fixed 'capital', and schools in Heron County have not received any relocation orders.

Meanwhile, in the castle in River Marsh County, Chloris was directing the servants to pack their luggage.

"Yes, bring all these down comforters, and don't forget the matching pillows either."

"My clothes? Pack them all up and take them with you, don't leave a single one behind."

"Take as much as you can with you. We probably won't be coming back for a long time to come."

Chloris has received clear instructions from Lynn that the castle in River Marsh County will at most be a palace, and there is no need to leave too much behind.

Geographically, Kawanuma Prefecture is currently adjacent to Otto's sphere of influence and could face war at any time, making it an unsuitable place for families to stay.

Golden Deer Fortress was, after all, the stronghold that the Marshland Dukes had maintained for over two hundred years, and it was located in the heart of the North, keeping a safe distance from the Crownlands.

The war between Lynn and Otto is about to begin, and its duration is unknown. Moving families to Golden Deer Fortress is essential; at least it will prevent the enemy from taking hostages.

The following morning, after getting ready, Chloris boarded the deck bound for Golden Deer Castle, accompanied by Leah and her son, as well as Agna and her daughter.

In addition to Lynn's family, the families of court officials were also among those relocating.

For example, the families of Clerk Victor and Foreign Minister Kalebo, as well as the families of a number of secretaries.

In the spacious study of Golden Deer Castle, Victor respectfully handed two lists to Lynn: "My lord, this is the list I have prepared for the Imperial Council, and the one below is the list of officials from various counties."

The so-called Imperial Council was a core bureaucratic group surrounding the monarch or high-ranking nobles, somewhat similar to the Grand Secretariat and the Six Ministries of the Ming Dynasty. Its core functions were nothing more than 'consultation, administration, and justice'.

If we refer to the existing example of the Northern Kingdoms, it would roughly consist of the following officials or noble religious representatives:
The Archbishop of Amber Harbor was in charge of religious affairs; the Principal Earl of the Royal Domain was in charge of local administration; the Grand Steward of the Royal Guard was in charge of the Royal Court; the Chancellor of the Royal Court was in charge of the Royal Treasury; and the Royal Secretary was in charge of the monarch's correspondence.

In addition to these officials, there are usually two or three royal marshals and military advisors who attend royal meetings to assist the king, who is not familiar with military affairs, in dealing with military matters.

Lynn now needs to rule over a territory that extends beyond a duchy, and a population well over a million.

Having abolished the feudal system, he needed to quickly establish an efficient bureaucratic system and reduce his own workload.

Indeed, due to the lack of a sound bureaucratic system, Lynn is currently extremely busy every day.

One moment it's an officer or soldier in an army getting into trouble, the next it's a manor being robbed by bandits, and then a serf committing a serious crime that requires a death sentence.

The vast territory he had just conquered always seemed to be filled with endless official business, with documents arriving at Golden Deer Castle almost every quarter of an hour, requiring his personal review and signature.

Not only Lynn himself, but even his secretaries were working non-stop.

Human energy is always limited. Even the most energetic monarch will usually limit the number of officials he needs to directly manage to within twenty.

Lynn took the list, rubbing his aching temples as he looked at it, and said:
"The most urgent task now is to establish a military staff to handle various military affairs, and to establish a chief justice to handle judicial issues in various regions. As for the complicated local government affairs, let those county magistrates and prefects take care of them."

Regarding military affairs, Lynn planned to take a one-step approach and establish a military staff composed of professional officers.

The General Staff's function was similar to that of the Ministry of War in ancient Eastern China, responsible for handling miscellaneous military affairs such as the distribution of military pay, the manufacture of equipment, and the recruitment and replenishment of soldiers.

At the same time, this department must also be able to accompany Lynn on expeditions and handle various troubles encountered by the army during marches and battles, such as the transportation of provisions, the distribution of spoils of war, and the planning of army marching routes.

The officers of the General Staff were like a finely woven fishing net, filtering out the unimportant and tedious matters and leaving only the truly important decisions to Lynn.

The Grand Justice, similar to the Ministry of Justice, controls all important judicial decisions in the territory, saving Lynn the trouble of personally adjudicating cases.

The county magistrate and the county head form another net; they are responsible for filtering out local miscellaneous matters. It's unacceptable for a county to have to alarm Lynn just because it's dredging a canal.

The principles of the world are always the same. In essence, bureaucracy is just a division of labor and supervision. All kinds of bureaucratic systems are just different names for the positions, but their core is pretty much the same.

However, Lynn doesn't have time to manage the supervision right now; he needs to sort out the division of labor first.

Victor was also somewhat tired, but he still forced himself to reply: "As for the General Staff, my idea is to draw a few officials from the Secretariat, add a few veterans from the Palace Cavalry, and promote a few excellent quartermasters from the army to form a team."

These tasks, which were originally the responsibility of the General Staff, have been handled by Victor and the secretariat in recent months, which shows how overworked they have been.

Without personal involvement, one has no right to investigate. It was precisely because he personally handled various miscellaneous matters in the military that Victor knew which talents were suitable for these jobs.

Lynn immediately nodded and said, "Good suggestion, let's do it this way. Please draft another list as soon as possible."

(End of this chapter)