I'm not a lord

Chapter 351 There are two suns in the sky, and two rulers in the country.

In Iron Castle of Mirror Ironhold, the newly appointed Duke of the Valley, Vasa, is facing a headache dealing with two financial documents.

Suddenly he remembered something, looked up and asked:

"Judging by the time, Lynn should be having his coronation ceremony today, right?"

Damian stood in front of the desk and immediately replied, "Yes, brother, according to the time on the invitation, it's today."

In recent months, Lynn sent Vasa two invitations, one for his wedding and one for his coronation.

Vasa was neither available nor dared to go to Lynn's territory himself, so he only sent an envoy to Golden Deer Fortress.

Right now, his most trusted court advisor, Evan, is attending Lynn's coronation ceremony at Golden Deer Castle.

Vasa gathered the two documents on the table, picked up the glass next to him, took a sip of hot ale, and sighed, "That cunning boy, he went straight from being a duke to a king. Luckily I announced myself as the Duke of the Valley beforehand, otherwise I would have really become his vassal."

Vasa was unwilling to accept Lynn's claim to the throne, but he was powerless to do anything about it.

In terms of military strength, Lynn is now completely capable of crushing him; the few legions he has deployed to quell the rebellion in the Swamp Territory alone are enough to terrify him.

If the two sides hadn't formed an alliance to fight against Otto, Vasa would have even feared that Lynn would lead his army across the river to the south.

Economically, it goes without saying that the Valley Territory is sparsely populated and poorly populated, relying entirely on mining to purchase various necessities. Its overall strength is far inferior to that of the more populous and wealthy Swamp Territory.

If Lynn hadn't been willing to provide relatively affordable food, the war-torn Valley Territory would certainly have faced famine this winter.

Prior to this, Lynn had also helped Vasa in Perch City, saving Vasa's forces from being defeated by the Southern Invaders.

It can be said that Vasa was able to maintain the defenses of Mirror Ironhold and sit in Iron Castle drinking hot ale entirely because of the grain sold by Lynn.

Upon hearing this, Damir looked worried and said, "Brother, that boy has already occupied the most prosperous swamp territory, become the King of the North, and has a huge army. Can we still defeat him in the future?"

Vasa took another sip of ale and laughed casually, "Haha, you're worrying too early. This war for the North is like a few hunters chasing a deer in the forest. It's not about who has the strongest weapon or who inflicts the most damage on the deer that will be the final winner."

Perhaps the deer will suddenly turn around and run into the last hunter's arms? Military strength and territory are only part of power, but luck is definitely a part of power as well.

Vasa knew very well that in terms of raw strength, he was now far inferior to Otto and Lynn, and either side could easily defeat him.

But that doesn't mean he'll necessarily fail.

"Two brown bears fought under a beehive, but in the end, it was the fox who stole the honey." This is a well-known proverb in the North.

Otto and Lynn are now both kings, and their strength is quite close, so they are likely to be locked in a long and fierce battle.

Once the two of them have inflicted significant damage on the 'red deer,' Nawasa will have a chance to become the lucky one to ultimately win the prey.

“Lynn’s coronation as King in the North might actually be a good thing for us.” Vasa picked up his wine glass, stood up, walked to the window, and looked up at the overcast sky.

The fierce, cold wind kept pounding against the glass window, like someone repeatedly pounding their fist against the window frame, scraping against the glass with a shrill "whooshing" sound, occasionally mixed with a "creaking" vibration.

Vasa was very familiar with the weather in the Mirror Iron Territory, and this was a sign that heavy snow was about to fall.

Once the heavy snow closes the mountain passes, there will be no need to worry about Otto's army harassing Mirror Iron Territory again.

With this thought in mind, Vasa's mood improved slightly. He raised his right hand and gently knocked on the window, saying, "Why is Otto so fixated on my Mirror Iron Territory? Isn't it because he thinks I'm weak and easy to bully? But with Lynn's coronation, the North will soon have two kings, both with legitimate claims. It's like two suns appearing in the sky at the same time; one of them will inevitably fall to earth!"

There can be no two suns in the sky, nor two masters on earth.

With two nominally legitimate kings emerging in the North, a life-or-death struggle will inevitably ensue in all areas until only one survives or one of them voluntarily abdicates and surrenders.

Incidentally, Maurice, the bastard son who fled to the South, did not actually abdicate. In principle, he was still the King in the North, but few people would recognize him as the king anymore.

“Heh heh.” Vasa chuckled coldly, then continued, “Lynn and Otto’s wife are sisters. Otto certainly can’t stand Lynn sharing the throne with him, and he will definitely move all his troops back to the north bank of the Jing River to compete with Lynn for the right to rule the North.”

Then we can secretly amass strength and wealth, and take advantage of their fierce fighting to launch a surprise attack on Luyuan Territory in the southwest of the Crown Territory!

The Vasa have coveted the rich lands of the Crown Territory for decades, especially the Luyuan Territory to the right of the Mirror Iron Territory.

It was a gently rolling hilly area at the foot of the mountains, with several rivers originating from Mirror Iron Territory, and large tracts of fertile grasslands and farmland, originally belonging to the Earl of Luyuan.

Despite their covetousness, Vasa never found an opportunity to seize control of Luyuan territory.

During the period when Duke Lothair of the Marsh launched his rebellion, the Earl family guarding the Lush Plains did not participate deeply in the war and maintained a considerable military force on the territory.

While Lothair and Otto were locked in a standoff in the Royal Territory, Vasana was busy conquering the Valley Territory and White Eagle Fortress and simply couldn't spare the time to deal with them.

By the time he finished dealing with White Eagle Fortress, Earl of Luyuan had already died on the battlefield, and his territory had been divided up by the southern nobles appointed by Otto. Moreover, Earl Harvey and Earl Reiner's troops soon passed through Luyuan territory and invaded Mirror Iron Territory.

Today, Luyuan Territory has largely become the territory of Earl Harvey, who leads an army of tens of thousands to garrison Luyuan Territory and has repeatedly sent small groups of troops to harass Jingtie Territory.

However, Earl Harvey's large-scale requisition of grain and fodder in Luyuan Territory severely disrupted local security, allowing Vasa to take the opportunity to recruit many refugees.

Damir chuckled twice, then asked in confusion, "Brother, why does it have to be Luyuan Territory? If Lynn is defeated, can't we take over the Swamp Territory? The land around Golden Deer Fortress is much richer than Luyuan Territory."

Vasa rolled his eyes in exasperation at his brother's stupidity. He turned and scolded, "You idiot! If Lynn fails completely, how long can our Valley Territory hold out? Right now, we should pray that Lynn can barely gain the upper hand, but not be able to expand eastward. That's the best situation for us!"

Vasa wasn't joking; for the past two months, he had genuinely prayed for Lynn every night before going to sleep.

Pray that Lynn can withstand Otto's pressure completely, and put some pressure on Otto to the east, forcing Otto to transfer Earl Harvey, who is located in Luyuan territory.

Harvin's more than 10,000 men were stationed on the east side of Mirror Iron Territory, which really made Vasa feel suffocated.

Vasa had already announced that he would move his residence to White Eagle Castle in the center of the Vale and properly inherit the entire mantle of the Duke of the Vale.

But now, under military pressure, he has no choice but to continue guarding Iron Fortress, only sending his eldest son to oversee White Eagle Fortress.

Only if Lynn draws away all of Otto's main forces will the weaker Vasa have a chance to seize the opportunity.

If Lynn is defeated by Otto in just a few moves, then the Valley Territory will only face destruction as well.

To put it bluntly, Vasa is currently in a state of hoping that his brother will stand out, but also fearing that his brother will actually drive a Land Rover.

Lynn can be strong, but not too strong. "Oh, I see, brother, I understand now." Damian nodded in sudden realization, then asked...

"Can Lynn really gain the upper hand against Otto? He probably only has an army of about 10,000 men right now, while Otto has 30,000 to 40,000 men on the surface, not counting the troops he can mobilize or recruit from the South."

Vasa poured himself another glass of wine, raised an eyebrow, and chuckled, "Number of men and troop strength are not the decisive factors in determining the outcome of a war. Besides, that cunning kid Lynn always manages to come up with some new tricks. Who knows, he might just be able to give Otto a major defeat?"

Meanwhile, Duke Samuel of the Meadows was also observing the celestial phenomena inside the Wolf Castle.

He counted the days on his fingers and asked, "This year's first heavy snow seems to be a little late?"

As a duke of the meadows, Samuel paid great attention to observing and predicting the weather.

The western grasslands are already short of water, and they desperately need winter snowfall to replenish the grasslands and ensure the growth of pasture grasses the following year.

However, the grasslands are very afraid of heavy snowfall, which can easily cause a "white disaster," preventing livestock from digging through the snow to eat normally, and leading to large-scale starvation deaths of livestock.

Behind Samuel, an elderly astrologer replied, "It's probably a week or two late, but the snow shouldn't be too heavy."

“Lynn certainly picked a good time, to be crowned when the first snow fell,” Samuel said, turning to pick up the gold invitation from the table.

His right hand slid slowly across the invitation, and when he saw the words "Lynn is about to be crowned King in the North," his eyes revealed a mixture of longing and envy.

In this world, how many nobles can resist the temptation of the crown?
The three dukes in the northern inland region all possess some royal blood; in other words, as long as they have sufficient strength, they are all qualified to claim the throne.

Throughout the history of the North, there have been numerous instances of marshland dukes, valley dukes, and even powerful earls of the Crownlands claiming the throne.

But no duke of the meadows has ever committed such a transgression.

It can only be said that they had the desire to steal but lacked the courage.

The excessive barrenness of the Meadowlands restrained the ambitions of successive Meadowland Dukes, and Samuel was no exception.

He had considered taking advantage of the chaos in the North to seize the throne, but no matter how chaotic the North became, he had no chance of winning.

Grassland territory is not only weak, but its geographical conditions are also poor.

For example, if Samuel wants to be crowned in Amber Harbor, he must first conquer any duchy in the swamp or valley, then dominate the Crown Territory, and only then will he have a chance to seize the crown.

With the meager military strength of the grassland territories, it's simply impossible for them to conquer a duchy!

If one of the duchies is so weak that it can't even compete with the grassland territories, it can only mean that a stronger and more terrifying force has risen in the North.

In the North, for example, two powerful forces are vying for supremacy, with the Vale Territory poised to make its move.

As for the weakest of the three, the grassland faction, they can basically only be spectators or viewers, waiting for the other three to decide the winner before surrendering.

This is actually the best possible outcome.

Deep down, Samuel didn't want Lynn or Otto to be the ultimate winner.

The former is a heretic and a gravedigger of the aristocratic feudal system. Even if Samuel surrenders to him and hands over his territory, he might only get a useless empty title in return.

Although the latter was of traditional noble birth, he was not much better than Lynn, and being a Southerner, he would not consider the interests of the Northern native nobles at all.

If Samuel falls into Otto's hands, his fate will only be worse; the Earl of Coldwind and other royal nobles who died in prison will serve as his 'examples'.

"I really hope this year's snow will be just like the one two years ago, neither too heavy nor too light."

Having said that, Samuel put down the invitation in his hand and sighed deeply.

The grasslands do not want change, but the North has already been completely transformed.

Most of the nobles he knew were dead, and the high chair of power was filled with new, unfamiliar faces.

Only Samuel remained a man who reminisced about the past.

While Samuel at Wolf's Keep was still lamenting the passing of spring, Golden Deer Keep was filled with joy and happiness.

"Third brother, you're really something! You took Blackwood Fortress without much effort and wiped out all the nobles in Blackwood County! That place is all mountainous terrain; I get a headache just looking at the map!"

"And you, Fourth Brother, with just two thousand men, you actually managed to wipe out the rebels in four counties. You must have learned a lot from your eldest brother!"

When the second brother, Hugo, saw his good brothers, he couldn't wait to dismount and hug them. He would pat the third brother's shoulder and then the fourth brother's back.

Although Hughes always presents a cold and ruthless image to others, he is a warm and enthusiastic second brother to his brothers.

Northshire was quite far from Golden Deer Castle, and there were so many nobles involved in the rebellion that they were like weeds that could never be eradicated. He barely made it back to Golden Deer Castle on the day of the coronation ceremony.

The brothers and the second brother were completely at ease with each other, chattering away: "Second brother, you've achieved quite a few victories in the Northern Prefecture! We've all heard that you've broken through more than a dozen rebel strongholds, and the entire prefecture is trembling under your iron hooves!"

At this moment, Hugh noticed the youngest, Timo, and immediately put his arm around his shoulder, saying with a smile, "Sixth brother, long time no see. I heard you're going to be the principal, is that true?"

Timo scratched his head shyly and said, "My older brother mentioned it to me, but I'm a little nervous now, afraid of letting him down."

Joseph, the fourth brother, encouraged him from the side: "There's no need to be nervous. If your eldest brother thinks you can be the principal, then you definitely can be the principal! When I first met him, he said I had the potential to become a marshal. Now, although I haven't become a marshal yet, I'm already a legion commander!"

The third brother nodded and said, "Yes, our achievements today are all thanks to our eldest brother's unwavering belief in and nurturing of us."

The second brother, Hugh, echoed the sentiment, saying, "A few years ago, we were just mercenaries or bandits without even a home. Without our eldest brother, we wouldn't be who we are today."

After a few words of reflection, Hugh sighed again, "It's a pity that the fifth brother couldn't attend today's coronation ceremony."

Joseph, the fourth brother, curled his lip and said, "Tch, what's so regrettable about him? Apart from the eldest brother, he was the first to get married and even had a daughter! What's worse, his daughter is already betrothed to the eldest brother's eldest son!"

As the group walked through the castle gates amidst laughter and conversation, they were immediately welcomed into the castle by the waiting palace guards.

Lynn's coronation as King in the North is about to begin.

(End of this chapter)