I'm not a lord

Chapter 99 What is a surprise? (First order)
Manpower, manpower!
Now everyone is asking Lin En for help.

Eric, the head blacksmith, wants it, Tolima, the head carpenter, wants it, and the military camp also wants it.

The first two require more intelligent apprentices, while the latter requires support staff.

An army cannot be composed entirely of soldiers; it also requires a large number of logistical personnel.

When the number of people is small and the equipment is simple, soldiers can be used as substitutes.

But now the army has expanded to two hundred people, and some soldiers are wearing armor that is difficult to maintain, so naturally more professional logistics personnel are needed to provide support.

Lynn once worked for a while in the Power Mercenary Group, the largest mercenary group in the North.

The Strength Mercenary Group is currently accompanying the Duke of Swampland to conquer the Crown Territory, and has approximately 500 professional mercenaries under their command.

But the total number of this mercenary group exceeds 1,500.

Putting aside the nearly one thousand family members, five hundred mercenaries would require a logistics team of about fifty people.

Including two blacksmiths, six cooks, and about forty grooms.

By proportional conversion, the four squadrons of 200 people under Lin En require at least 20 logistics personnel.

It must also be professional.

Where can he get so many people now?
In fact, Lynn was already trying to find ways to increase the number of free people in the territory.

In addition to the "military households" who received special treatment, the White Bear Territory now had a new class of contract farmers, about sixty households, all of whom were active participants in corvee labor and had obtained new identities bestowed by Lin En.

Each contract farmer has 120 mu of land, including 60 mu of fertile and cultivated land and 60 mu of semi-arid and semi-cultivated land.

According to Lin En, many contract farming families have tried to send their children to various artisan workshops.

But it takes time for these seedlings to grow.

Lin En could indeed just wave his hand and turn all the serfs into indentured farmers, and I believe most of the serfs would be happy to accept it.

This will not only stimulate their enthusiasm for farming, but also liberate more labor.

But the management system of White Bear Territory is obviously not enough to support him to do so.

An old feudal manor accustomed to serfdom was transformed overnight into a loose village community filled with indentured farmers.

It's like asking a long-distance runner to participate in the 110-meter hurdles without any training.

Can you get used to this?
Lin En could only take it slowly and gradually transform the remaining 300 or so serfs into relatively free indentured farmers.

Now the school of Laoliu Timo has started, and the first batch of twenty students have been enrolled, most of whom are around fourteen or fifteen years old.

These students were all born into families of stewards or village heads, received varying degrees of elementary education, and could barely read and do math.

Lin Enran Timo wrote special teaching materials for these students, mainly teaching them how to measure land, draw tables, calculate taxes, write official documents and laws and codes, etc.

Qualified grassroots tax collectors must master these skills. After completing the training, one person can be responsible for the tax collection of 200 to 300 households.

In a year or two, Lynn will be able to build a professional tax management team.

As for the present, he needs to find a way to reach out to artisans and intellectuals more directly and effectively.

For example, refugees.

The war has been going on for more than two months, and he believes that the third brother, who has stayed in Sanhe City for a long time, will bring him a big surprise.

But before Lin En received this big surprise, someone else got the surprise even faster. "One, two, three, six! Six boats! All full of people! What on earth is White Bear Lord planning to do?"

The six boats were too big a target and would be too conspicuous parading on the Baihe River.

As soon as he passed through the Shoal Territory, he was discovered by the maid of the castle, who then reported it to the Regent Flora.

Flora was calculating the grain stored in the study this year. She ran to the window and saw the densely packed heads on the boat. She was not surprised but frightened.

Henryk, who had better eyesight, had just entered the study. He squinted his eyes in confusion and said, "Their clothes are tattered. I think they are either refugees or beggars. What does the second son of the northern earl want with these people?"

"Refugees and beggars? They must be used for mining, that's for sure." Flora stood up and paced anxiously in the study, looking at the paddle boat on the river from time to time.

Then she suddenly realized: "I understand, these are all serfs fleeing the war!"

"War? Escape? I see." Henrik was just a bit hot-tempered, but he wasn't too stupid. It didn't take him long to figure out the whole thing.

He then asked, "The territory has had a bumper harvest this year. Why don't we also go to Sanhe City and get some refugees here? Aren't we just picking up people for free?"

Flora stopped and glared at her lover, saying, "Idiot! Do we have any connections in Sanhe City? Can we just bring these refugees here? Do you have a boat?"

Henryk nodded. "That makes sense. Then where did the Earl's second son get the ship?"

"You said he was the count's second son." Flora wanted to slap her lover.

Henrik laughed awkwardly, then noticed the opened envelope on the table and asked:

"Come to think of it, didn't you send an envoy to the Noble Court at the end of July? I saw him when I came to the castle today. So what did the Noble Court say?"

"Haha, do you know what the judge of the noble court said in the letter?" Flora laughed dryly, picked up the envelope and threw it to her lover.

Henrik opened the letter and asked, "What does it say?"

"He told us to look more closely at our own problems. Why did the bandits rob your envoy? Didn't we bring enough guards?"

As she said this, Flora exuded a deep sense of powerlessness throughout her body.

The poor neighbor in the north suddenly brought people to the territory in boatloads, and it seemed that they were about to get rich.

Once the nobles have money, they will definitely expand their military.

He dared to expand his army, so Flora didn't dare to imagine what he would do next.

Yet, the aristocratic court blatantly took sides.

Didn't we agree to maintain peace and justice among the nobles?

My people have been killed, why do you do nothing?
Just because he is the second son of an earl?
Just because his father, the earl, defected to the duke?
Henrik was too lazy to read the letter and threw it hard on the cashmere carpet:

"Isn't that ridiculous? How can we blame ourselves for something like this? Is it our fault that our neighbor disguised himself as a bandit and robbed the envoy? Is it also our fault that he discovered a mineral deposit in our territory?"

Then he turned and walked out: "We can't wait any longer, I need to summon all the knights immediately!"

Flora screamed, "Come back!"

Henryk turned his head and said, "You can tolerate it, but I can't! I am now in command of all the knights, and they have been complaining to me these days. How can I expect them to obey if this continues?"

"Why are you in such a hurry? I've already sent an envoy to the Green Lake Territory in the south. If we really want to fight, we have to find an ally first."

Flora has sensed the impending danger, and she must do everything she can to preserve her hard-earned title and territory.

(End of this chapter)