I'm not a lord

Chapter 362 Military matters can certainly be outsourced.
"Your Majesty, in just one more day, Mayor Neil's fleet will arrive at River Bend and engage the enemy fleet as you have planned."

Upon hearing the good news from Arno, Otto III immediately stood up and pushed the table aside: "Good, very good! The key to completely defeating Lynn lies in this fleet!"

Otto understood perfectly well that if it came down to a contest of land combat strength, he would most likely be no match for Lynn in the localized battlefield of River Bend.

In terms of troop strength, Lynn mobilized less than 20,000 troops this time, while Otto could mobilize about 15,000 troops in a timely manner.

Although they seemed evenly matched, Otto didn't have much confidence in his army.

He had already transferred the most elite troops to Mirror Iron Territory and placed them under the command of Earl Tristan. The troops remaining in River Bend and Cologne were mostly new recruits from the North who had never experienced war.

After two weeks of fierce fighting, Count Tristan had captured most of the castles in Mirror Ironhold and was gradually closing the siege on Iron Castle.

Despite his best efforts to resist, Duke Vasa of the Valley suffered repeated defeats due to his small number of troops and was forced to retreat to the most fortified Iron Fortress.

Count Tristan's troops were not equipped with artillery, so they could only resort to a siege tactic against this fortified castle built on the mountain, which would inevitably take a lot of time.

Otto's mission was to buy time for his trusted and beloved generals.

"As long as Neil arrives on time, we'll win this war!"

As he spoke, the king, carrying two crowns on his shoulders, paced quickly across the carpet, like a child who had just received a favorite toy.

Logically, the dangerous task of acting as bait should be done by subordinates, while Otto should be happily reaping military merits and honors in Mirror Iron Territory.

Faced with two major resistance forces in the North, Otto greedily chose to have them all.

More importantly, only Otto in the entire North could mobilize the ships and sailors of those municipalities; none of his generals had such prestige.

Once Otto had calmed down and sat down again, Arno suggested, "Your Majesty, Lynn's vanguard is less than a hundred kilometers from River Bend Fortress and should currently be stationed in Haftown, with a force of about five to six thousand. Should we send troops to probe them?"

Otto replied without hesitation, “Test? No, there’s no need for that. The vanguard commander should be that Yang. I’ve heard of him. He’s Lynn’s trusted general, known for his caution. River Bend’s garrison isn’t large, so we can’t risk going out of the city.”

He then ordered, "Arno, send someone to urge Neil to get to River Bend as quickly as possible. Also tell him that I have prepared a sumptuous feast and fine wine for his sailors, and they can rest in River Bend for a few days before heading to the battlefield."

Furthermore, send an order to Coron, commanding the 10,000 troops stationed there to immediately advance westward and prepare to pursue the fleeing Lynn!

In name only, Otto had the authority to command Mayor Neil of Amber Harbor, and then indirectly command the 'massive' fleet under Neil's command.

In reality, the fleet commanded by Neil possessed a high degree of autonomy.

Otto could only give the fleet very general instructions, such as urging them to arrive at River Bend by a certain date.

The main reason is that this is a non-professional military fleet with multiple layers of outsourcing.

Most of the ships involved in the war were merchant ships before last winter, and not only did they come from different places, but their command was also difficult to unify.

Otto could neither appoint nor dismiss any of the captains, nor could he bypass Neil and give them specific instructions directly.

Neil was able to become the fleet commander simply because he held the highest position in the fleet. In reality, he was not very capable of commanding the ships under his command, let alone executing detailed instructions.

This is also a unique feature of the continent of Dievas: military outsourcing.

In the Battle of Coron, fought between Duke Lothair of the Marsh and the bastard King Maurice, both sides recruited their crossbowmen from various municipalities, which was essentially a form of military outsourcing.

For those in power on the mainland, maintaining a large professional army is too expensive, and different types of soldiers require specialized environments to develop.

For example, naval forces have strict requirements for the quality of their personnel, unlike infantrymen who carry spears, which cannot be trained quickly in a short period of time.

Crossbowmen require a high level of expertise in handicrafts, and autonomous cities with well-developed handicraft industries are the best source of recruits.

Lynn's barbarian archers were even more special, requiring soldiers to be trained in archery from a young age, and it would take two or three generations to train them.

Military outsourcing is essentially a matter of 'letting professionals do what they are good at'.

The advantages are that it is cheap and convenient and can ensure basic combat effectiveness, while the disadvantages are that it is difficult to carry out refined management and is prone to problems such as inconsistent commands.

Of course, this is not shameful. Many countries still outsource their military operations in modern times, even their core missile forces.

It can only be said that the world is a giant outsourcing company.

Moreover, Otto's fleet was outsourced, but wasn't Lynn's fleet also outsourced?
If you want to quickly build up an online army, you can only do so by finding an existing one.

None of Lynn's trusted generals were skilled in naval warfare, and he even had to outsource the command position to Captain Hawke of Three Rivers.

From this perspective, he and Otto are evenly matched.

This is why Lynn treated Captain Hawke and other naval commanders kindly and trusted these foreign officers.

Otto treated Neil like a brother, not only borrowing money from Neil at high interest rates to support the army, but also treating Neil's generals to good food and drink.

If Otto accidentally angers Neil or a renowned captain in the fleet, the fleet can leave at any time, and Otto can't do much about it.

The following morning, Otto personally went out of the city to greet Neil and other naval commanders at the dock outside River Bend.

"Oh, Neil, my good friend, I've been looking forward to your arrival as much as I've been looking forward to the spring sun!"

As soon as they met, Otto gave Neil a heartwarming hug.

“Your Majesty, as agreed, I have brought one hundred ships and more than four thousand sailors,” Neil replied in a rather formulaic manner.

Incidentally, Otto and Neil signed a 'military contract' last year.

According to this explicit contract, Neil's fleet would only receive a small fixed salary during the war, and how much commission they would receive would depend on how much spoils the sailors could capture.

In response, Otto granted these sailors a week-long ban on raiding White River Territory after their invasion. That evening, River Bend Castle hosted a grand banquet to welcome the captains and sailors from all sides.

Otto even drank and chatted with Neil and other key captains.

Ultimately, the reason these captains and sailors were willing to join the war was entirely due to Otto's prestigious status and the promised benefits.

After the banquet, Neil, who appeared drunk, did not rush to lie down and rest. Instead, he secretly sent someone to find Arno.

“Mayor, you sent someone to see me, surely it wasn’t just to invite me for a late-night snack?” As soon as Arno entered the bedroom, he noticed the several plates of pastries and cold dishes on the table, as well as a pair of silver wine glasses.

Neil smiled and rose to greet him: "Please sit down, Your Excellency. I just have a few small questions I'd like to ask you."

The two were not actually very familiar with each other; they had only met a few times at the royal palace in Amber Harbor.

"Then I hope my answer will satisfy the mayor." With the big battle imminent, Arno was willing to give Neil some face.

Arnault understands the simple truth that having more friends means having more options.

Through intelligence gathered from various sources, he also knew very well that the key to victory in this war lay on the water.

Neil poured a glass of hot wine, slowly pushed it towards Arno, and asked, "I heard in Amber Harbor that Lynn's army seems to possess a new type of weapon, small in size, yet capable of launching heavy stone projectiles like a catapult?"

Arno brought the glass to his lips, politely took a small sip, and then put it down, replying, "This weapon is called a bronze mortar. I think the mayor is already aware of its specific function and the relevant blueprints."

Last year, after receiving the rough blueprints for the bronze mortar, Otto immediately made multiple copies and sent them to various municipalities in the North, ordering craftsmen to attempt to replicate them.

Once the sea ice melted, Otto sent the blueprints to the southern border.

In a few days, this new weapon, the cannon, will probably spread throughout the entire continent of Dievas.

However, the core gunpowder formula has not yet been leaked, so even if a skilled craftsman were to replicate the bronze mortar, it would be in vain.

Neil said worriedly, "Lynn's rapid rise in the North is no accident. He is not only as cunning as a fox, but also possesses many amazing technologies that no one knows about. What I am most worried about now is whether he might make some modifications to the ships that we do not know about, such as mounting those bronze cannons on the ships?"

Arno chuckled and reassured him, “That is indeed possible, but I don’t think you need to be troubled or afraid of it. According to the intelligence I have, these bronze cannons don’t have a long range and seem to have difficulty hitting moving targets. Even if they can be mounted on ships, they will only be used to attack castles and certainly won’t cause much trouble for your fleet.”

The more intelligence he had, the less Arno feared artillery.

In his view, that thing was just a portable, miniaturized version of a catapult, its greatest effect being to scare away small castles with thin walls.

River Bend Fortress is the foremost stronghold in the North, capable of withstanding months of relentless bombardment by counterweight catapults. Clearly, mere bronze cannons would be utterly ineffective against this fortress.

But what Arnault didn't know was that during those four months when the North was frozen, Lynn's cannons had already undergone several modifications and iterations.

The artillery technology that originally required hundreds of years to accumulate was condensed by Lynn and 'infused' into the best craftsmen in the North.

A bronze mortar that could only fire in a parabolic trajectory? That thing was a product of early last year.

"With your answer, I can finally rest assured." Neil visibly breathed a sigh of relief.

Arno picked up his glass again and promised, “Mayor, I think we all know that the outcome of this war may determine the fate of the entire North. To help you defeat the enemy, I will do everything I can to assist you. Before you officially engage the enemy, my men will continue to gather intelligence and information on the enemy’s movements and share it with you at all times.”

In the days that followed, Arnault kept his promise and shared the military intelligence he had obtained with Neil.

"Judging from the number of large and medium-sized ships alone, Lynn's fleet has twenty to thirty fewer ships than yours. The ships do indeed carry a small number of bronze mortars, which matches the intelligence from the spy in Three Rivers City. Of course, this is not a cause for alarm."

To mislead the enemy, Lynn had already given orders that all ships must always cover the eagle cannons and new long-barreled cannons on the deck with wooden boxes, leaving only the oldest bronze mortars exposed.

Since these ships all function as transport vessels, it's not surprising that there are a few extra wooden crates on the deck.

"After a brief rest at Haftown, the enemy fleet sailed along the north bank of the Jinghe River toward River Bend Fort and moved together with the infantry on the shore."

"Although the enemy fleet is sailing downstream, the winds on the river have been blowing from the east recently, which is favorable to Your Majesty's fleet!"

Generally speaking, in naval battles on inland rivers, the side going downstream has a clear advantage.

But in those days, ships were powered by sails and oars. The Jinghe River flowed from west to east, and the east wind could offset the disadvantage of the ship going against the current, bringing both sides to the same starting line.

A week later, when Otto learned that Lynn's fleet was still fearlessly sailing downstream and was less than 20 kilometers from River Bend, he finally couldn't sit still.

Looking at the rough map on the table, he couldn't help but mutter to himself: Lynn must have already obtained information about Neil's fleet. Knowing that my ships are bigger and more numerous than his, his fleet not only did not stop or retreat, but instead sailed straight toward River Bend.
Moreover, his infantry and cavalry marched at a speed of more than 15 kilometers per day. Wasn't he afraid of losing logistical supplies after his fleet was defeated?

Although Otto couldn't fathom Lynn's true thoughts, faced with this inevitable war, he still decisively issued the order:

“Neil, you’ve seen it too, the winds have been blowing from the east these past few days. Even fate and the gods are on our side. Please sink these arrogant enemy ships for me! Let Lynn taste the bitterness of defeat!”

The following morning, Neil led his fleet away from River Bend, taking advantage of the east wind to head west towards the destined battlefield.

Otto, meanwhile, was preparing his troops at River Bend, ready to launch a full-scale attack and pursue the fleeing enemy once the outcome was decided on the water.

Soon, information about the Southern Army's movements was delivered to Lynn.

For the past week, his army had encountered no resistance. From Three Rivers to Riverbend Fort, there were no decent garrisons at any of the outposts, castles, or manors along the way.

Lynn only needed to send some people over to give a notification, and that would be enough to claim these territories.

The farmers in the local estates and villages had long been desensitized to, or rather, numb to, the army's passing by; most of their surplus grain had been forcibly requisitioned last autumn.

The seeds were just sown in the ground this spring, and there's nothing in the house that can be stolen.

(End of this chapter)