You weren't inside, you can't pretend this.
that is why I wrote ''maybe'' to the right of my sentence there. yeah, maybe something is different inside of it, but you dont need to declare a war to him. you can only declare your independence, that was ok. well, we see here mercs bought you and made you dream some more fiefs in the future. but remember, kinn was an organiser. he spent many times for his clan and you also. now, you need an organiser who can spend his time for that. after your leader cannot hold anymore, you will fall. cos growing is not only about fiefs. it is about also being active and getting more members+making them have fun with you,etc... So it is about time. It is only a guess with my experience.
See ottomans, they have many fiefs without no work. After their organiser went offline, they falled with same way. Or other many fallen clans.
Kinn was spending his time for organisng mostly. He was spending many game time with writing on steam, visiting ts by ts, etc. Hope your leaders can make same so you can stand alive. But sadly, there are not much that kind of leaders.