I'm not a lord

Chapter 355 The War to Decide the North's Ownership Has Begun

Several official documents were laid out on Lynn's desk, all presented by the county magistrates and county heads from various parts of the Marshland.

The contents of the official documents were largely the same, either mentioning how many bandits had been eliminated recently, or how thorough the preparations for spring plowing in the county were, or how smoothly the promotion of new technologies was going.

In short, they were all there to claim credit.

Of course, one can't blame these officials for taking credit for Lynn's work.

In the early days of the kingdom, opportunities seemed to abound.

Most of these officials were young and had just taken office. They were all eager to make a name for themselves and demonstrate their governing abilities to His Majesty the King, so that they could be promoted, receive a raise, and reach the pinnacle of their careers.

"Carol, get ready, I'm going out on patrol tomorrow."

Lynn naturally wouldn't fully believe these officials who were boasting about their achievements, so he decided to personally inspect the area and judge the local officials' preparations for spring plowing with his own eyes.

Despite his current status as king, he still needs to handle many matters personally.

The main problem is that the bureaucratic system has not been fully established yet, and there is a significant shortage of personnel for supervision and inspection.

Lynn still faces the problem of a 'talent shortage'.

After all, he built a complete centralized bureaucratic system from scratch, and he couldn't find suitable talent in many highly specialized fields.

Even for the most basic grassroots position of county magistrate, he had to promote young students who had just graduated from the civil service academy by "pulling up seedlings to help them grow".

There are quite a few intellectuals in the Marshlands, but Lynn is not suitable for them.

County magistrates and prefectural governors bear the heavy responsibility of promoting advanced agricultural technologies, and those who have not received professional training are simply not up to the task.

The group of intellectuals he recruited from the Swamp Territory are still studying at Old Six Timo's Academy of Officials, and it will take some time before they complete their studies.

“I understand, Your Majesty. I will go and prepare immediately.” The chief steward, Carol, was not at all surprised by Lynn’s order.

When Lynn first arrived in White Bear Territory, he was a restless person who would patrol his territory almost every day like a lion.

Carroll had accompanied Lynn on numerous patrols of the territory, and had even followed Lynn to explore the forests north of White Bear Territory, braving the wilderness in early spring and participating in the exploration of minerals such as salt and bitumen mines.

“Those young men are indeed passionate, but too much passion can easily lead to failure. Now that the snow on the roads has melted, it’s the perfect time for His Majesty to inspect the territory.” Chief Secretary Victor naturally agreed with Lynn’s idea of ​​personally inspecting the area.

In the common understanding of the Northerners, the king is actually the greatest lord, and cannot escape the category of 'lord'.

The first King of the North famously said, "Nobles should patrol their lands like eagles, and strike down when they see injustice."

To put it bluntly, under the traditional feudal framework, the great nobles lacked convenient ways to supervise the lower-level institutions and had to personally inspect their territories and play a role similar to that of an oversight body.

These lower-level institutions included lower-ranking feudal nobles as well as manors or cities belonging to higher nobles.

In Lynn's view, even if he did build a bureaucracy to oversee lower-level officials, and even if the Northern Kingdom became centralized, the supreme ruler should still leave his residence from time to time to inspect the territory.

After all, mutual protection among officials has always been a traditional virtue of the bureaucratic system in any era, and supervisory institutions can also become corrupt.

If a king or emperor spends most of his time in the palace, he will eventually be blinded by the bureaucracy.

While reviewing the official documents on the table, Lynn said, "This year's spring planting has far-reaching consequences. If the spring planting in Baihe Territory is disrupted by the war, then from the second half of this year to next autumn, we will have to rely on the food from the Swamp Territory. We have recruited a lot of new troops this year. If there are problems with food supply and tax collection, everything will collapse like dominoes."

During the long winter that just passed, Lynn was not only busy hiding in the castle making babies.

Under his leadership, all legions completed their expansion and reorganization.

The second-ranking Hugo Cavalry Regiment still consisted of 3,000 cavalrymen, half light and half heavy.

Lao Sanyang's Turbulent Legion was renamed the First Legion. It was reorganized into ten full-strength battalions, with the former refugee battalion as its core, totaling eight infantry battalions, one artillery battalion, and one light cavalry battalion.

Joseph the Fourth Prince's White River Legion originally numbered only two thousand men, but it has now been renamed the Second Legion. In the winter, it recruits three thousand new soldiers in the Marsh Territory, with a configuration similar to that of the First Legion, also known as the Eighth Legion.

The fifth brother, Andrei, renamed his garrison corps the Third Corps, which expanded from one thousand men to three thousand. This corps was mainly composed of infantry, with half a battalion of light cavalry.

Lynn's Wilderness Legion retained its original name, but its strength was expanded from four thousand to six thousand, and all its members were Wilderness, with half being infantry and half being archers.

The first three legions are currently stationed near Golden Deer Fortress, while the latter two legions are responsible for protecting White River Territory.

The total strength of the five legions exceeds 20,000, and all of them are professional soldiers who do not engage in production. They continue to train diligently even in winter, and the overall quality of the soldiers has been further improved.

To impress these soldiers, Lynn often braved wind, snow, and low temperatures to inspect the barracks, and even personally led the soldiers in various training exercises.

In addition to these professional soldiers, each municipality and county has a number of semi-professional security forces.

According to the household registration data that Lynn currently has, the total population under his command is only about 1.5 million.

Such a large number of armed personnel is undoubtedly a heavy burden on the kingdom's finances, with the quarterly military pay alone being an astronomical figure.

The expenses for weapons and equipment were even greater than those for military pay. The price of a single bronze mortar was enough to pay the wages of thousands of soldiers for a quarter.

Just to support these armies, Lynn's entire financial revenue was almost completely drained.

If it weren't for his skillful financial management, supplementing the national treasury with commercial income from selling paper, salt, asphalt, etc., he probably would have had to borrow money to fight the war this year, just like Otto.

Incidentally, Lynn's coronation speech last year was a great success. Under his call, all the municipalities in the Marshland organized fundraising events, with everyone from wealthy businessmen to ordinary citizens contributing generously to raise a considerable amount of military funds for the royal family.

Of course, a number of top business tycoons are also willing to jointly provide Lynn with low-interest loans, with an annual interest rate of around eight percent.

The interest rate wasn't high by today's standards in the North, but he politely declined.

As for plundering wealth from the merchant class by force, Lynn cannot do that now, since he still needs the local municipalities to provide him with a navy.

In ancient times, there was a saying that it took ten years for an army and a hundred years for a navy.

While this statement may be somewhat exaggerated, the development of a navy does indeed require years of accumulation.

Not to mention the accumulation and inheritance of sailors' experience, the time required for the wood needed to build warships to air-dry is measured in years.

To control the Jinghe waterway, Lynn can only rely on the surface ships and skilled sailors provided by merchants for the time being. Under these circumstances, this year's spring planting becomes crucial.

If spring planting goes poorly, the autumn harvest will naturally be lackluster, which in turn will affect tax collection in the second half of the year.

If tax revenue issues arise, instability will inevitably occur in the military as well.

Lynn couldn't possibly let his own soldiers take out loans to fight, could he?
As for the serious consequences of soldiers not receiving their pay, history has repeated this countless times.

Victor stood in front of the desk, a hint of helplessness flashing in his eyes, and gently shook his head, sighing:

"We have roughly ascertained the strength of Otto's forces. There are about 25,000 men along the line from Colen City to River Bend Fortress, about 15,000 men in Luyuan Territory east of Mirror Iron Territory, and about 2,000 men can be mobilized from royal autonomous cities such as Amber Harbor, totaling more than 40,000 men."

It would be difficult to support so many soldiers with the current Crown Territory. Last autumn, many serfs from the Crown Territory fled to the White River Territory due to excessive taxes.

To defeat Otto, you will have to expand your army, which will be a huge burden on your territory. Once Otto learns of His Majesty's military expansion, he will surely continue to conscript troops from the south. This is truly a difficult problem to solve.

As Victor said, the North is now caught in a death spiral of arms race.

Not only are Lynn and Otto expanding their armies, but even the Duke of Vasa in the south is frantically recruiting new soldiers.

At the beginning of last year, Vasa had fewer than 3,000 direct troops under his command, but this year, his direct troops have grown to 6,000.

Including the troops that can be recruited from lords in various regions, Vasa can barely muster an army of 10,000 men.

Given the generally underdeveloped agricultural production capacity in the North, how could a population of several million support so many soldiers?

The consequences of militarism are, of course, the flight of serfs and the neglect of agriculture. Many of the fleeing serfs then gather in the mountains and forests, further damaging agricultural production.

Within three to five years, the entire North will be turned into a living hell.

The two territories under Lynn's rule were in a better position, having undergone agricultural reforms, with average yields per acre far exceeding those of other regions.

It's hard to say about the Valley Territory and the Royal Territory.

Expanding the army rashly would be too destructive, but not expanding the army is even worse. An insufficient army would only lead to being completely crushed by the enemy. Which ruler would willingly let his whole family perish?
Lynn put down the official documents in his hand, a confident smile playing on his lips: "That's simple. All I have to do is drive Otto out of the North within two years, right?"

It appears that Lynn is significantly outnumbered by Otto, and even with Vasa to the south, the allied forces are still at a disadvantage in terms of troop strength.

However, troop strength is not the only factor that determines the outcome of a war; history is full of classic battles in which the few defeated the many.

Lynn's confidence stemmed from the superiority of his military system and technology.

More importantly, he had no way out, and neither did his army.

If they retreat further west, are all these northerners going to the grasslands to compete with the Grassland Duke for grass roots?

Otto, however, had a way out: Amber Harbor was behind the Southerners, and if things went wrong, they could escape back to the warmer South by boat.

This seemingly subtle difference will translate into a significant gap in morale and fighting spirit on the battlefield.

After all, the people of the North are fighting to survive, while the people of the South are only after making money.

During the Battle of Bass City last year, the Southern Invaders were initially in high spirits and were overwhelming Vasa's army. However, as soon as Lynn led a large number of reinforcements to appear on the plains, the morale of the Southern Invaders collapsed instantly.

These invaders share a similar problem with the aristocratic armies of the past: they excel at winning when things are going well, but encounter major problems when things go against them.

Otto probably saw this as well, which is why the new army he formed in Amber Harbor was entirely recruited from the North.

However, the core officers of this new army were all Otto's trusted confidants from the South, and he ultimately did not trust the people of the North.

In Lynn's view, the misalignment between generals and soldiers might be one of the weaknesses of this army.

"The time is almost up. Pass on my orders: the three legions near Golden Deer Fortress shall prepare for war within a week. A week later, Hugh and Yang shall lead their respective legions eastward by land to White River Territory."

He then sent another order to the White River Territory, instructing Andrei's garrison to complete its assembly as soon as possible, and to immediately relieve them once Hugh's cavalry corps arrived, leading his troops to Golden Deer Fortress.

Furthermore, the Secretariat was instructed to send official documents to the county heads of each county along the route, ordering them to prepare the necessary provisions and supplies for the army's passage.

Before leaving the city for inspection, Lynn issued several military and political orders.

Of course, he only needs to give the order; the secretariat and staff responsible for related matters have a lot of things to handle.

The officials responsible for drafting the official documents worked late into the night before finally preparing all the documents.

Before dawn the next day, the gates of Golden Deer Castle opened wide, and a dozen knights carrying official documents sped out, spreading Lynn's orders along the newly repaired and wide roads.

In the morning, Lynn left Golden Deer Castle, surrounded by a hundred guards, to begin his early spring inspection tour.

His entourage included more than ten core officials, plus several maids to take care of his daily life, including his lover Hela, and the two barbarian sisters Millie and Mira.

After years of training, the Millie sisters had become accustomed to handling Lynn's daily life matters.

For example, organizing files, organizing files, organizing files, etc.

The inspection team consisted of more than 150 people, but for a king, this size was considered frugal.

Two hundred years ago, before the era of centralized power began, the kings of the Southern Territory would travel with tens of thousands of people, wishing they could bring the entire palace with them.

Just as Lynn began his operation, Otto of the Royal Territory and Vasa of the Valley Territory simultaneously mobilized their armies.

Spring is approaching, all things are reviving, and the North is once again in the season for war.

These three major powers no longer care about the impact of spring battles on spring planting; they are all thinking about killing their opponent as soon as possible and monopolizing the entire northern territory.

Otto's forces were the first to move, with tens of thousands of troops stationed in the city of Coron awakening from hibernation and advancing westward along the gradually thawing River of Stillness.

Earl Harvey, located in Luyuan Territory, followed suit and sent multiple forces to attack Mirror Iron Territory along the valley.

A large-scale war to determine the fate of the North has begun.

(End of this chapter)