novelraw Chapter 131: Pirates
Chapter 131: Pirates
Ch 131: Pirates
In mid-June, the second graduating class completed their five-year courses. Vig and Herigifu went to the school to preside over the graduation ceremony and assign positions to fifty students.
After discussion, Vig made the following decisions:
Thirty-five students would enter the administrative system, ten would serve as apprentice shamans in various local temples, and the remaining five would stay at the school to teach, while simultaneously self-studying first-year middle school material.
“With these students filling the vacancies, the administrative efficiency of the Four Northern Counties will be significantly improved. Starting next year, we can gradually establish town-level institutions.”
As Vig was planning for the future, two columns of black smoke rose from the eastern sky.
Enemy attack?
Two columns of smoke meant the enemy numbered between 100 and 500.
The graduation ceremony was stopped. Vig escorted Herigifu back to Tyne, leaving fifty shield-bearers to guard the hideout. He led the remaining fifty shield-bearers to the southeast wall of Tyne Town.
Ten minutes later, the newly formed Town Defense Infantry Company assembled. One hundred and fifty men, all equipped with iron armor, waited for orders in the open space behind the wall. Over the next hour, armed commoners arrived successively.
Tyne Town had a permanent resident population of three thousand two hundred. During an attack, every adult male had an obligation to defend the town. They formed squads of 30-50 people according to their residential areas. After hearing the alarm bell, they went to Tyne to collect weapons. A total of eight hundred people, nearly half, received crossbows.
“I didn’t expect Eric to have the courage to attack Tyne Town. Interesting.”
Including the armed commoners, Vig had gathered nearly a thousand soldiers. Holding the wall was not a problem.
Under his orders, the garrison brought many oil jars from the storehouse and piled them near six small catapults.
Everything was ready. Seeing that the enemy had not yet arrived, Vig sent out two hundred armed commoners to move the ships docked at the dock as far upstream as possible, to avoid being affected during the engagement.
At two in the afternoon, the enemy fleet finally appeared on the river surface: twenty longships, about five hundred men.
Strangely, the fleet did not fly Eric’s Sword and Axe Banner. The formation was disorganized, like a flock of wild ducks that had just learned to swim.
“Only 10% are armored. It’s pathetic. They don’t look like Eric’s men.”
Vig signaled the catapults to stop loading and asked the militiamen behind the battlements to sit down, creating the illusion of empty defenses.
Soon, the raiders’ ships docked at the dock. They wandered around messily, formed a shield wall in the open space, and gradually approached the south side of Tyne Town’s wall.
“Who are you? Why attack King Ragnar’s Britain?”
The next moment, a reply came from behind the shield wall: “We only target Vig. We have no intention of offending King Ragnar or occupying this place. After killing Vig, we swear to leave by ship and will not disturb the local people.”
Lord Ohr of Bergen?
Learning that the enemy was imitating his tactics, Vig couldn’t help but laugh. He waved his left hand, signaling most people to remain seated until the distance between the two sides was reduced to fifty meters.
“Fire!”
Following Vig’s order, the militiamen aimed at the crevices in the shield wall and pulled the triggers. Hundreds of bolts pierced the shield wall, instantly knocking down more than twenty raiders.
In response, the archers behind the shield wall counterattacked.
There were only forty archers, powerless against such a large-scale crossbow force, and the crossbowmen had the battlements as protection. After two rounds of exchange of arrows, the archers were suppressed by the crossbowmen and dared not stick their heads out of the shield wall again.
Faced with countless bolts, the raiders became discouraged, and the shield wall slowly retreated.
Suddenly, the catapults behind the wall began to throw oil jars. The target was not the moving shield wall, but the raiders’ ships parked on the shore.
The counterweights fell with a crash. Six oil jars flew through the air, whistling as they slammed into the longships a hundred meters away.
Amid the cheers of the defenders, the oil jars hit the outermost ship. Fiery flames engulfed the woolen sailcloth, then spread to another ship on the west side.
With the ships attacked, there was a small commotion in the slowly retreating shield wall. The crossbowmen aimed at the suddenly enlarged crevices and pulled the triggers. A volley of bolts knocked down more than thirty men.
“The enemy can’t hold on! Shield-bearers, Town Defense Infantry Company, attack!”
Under Vig’s command, two hundred soldiers in iron armor poured out of the south gate and charged towards the enemy.
At this moment, the raiders were in a difficult situation. If they maintained their formation and retreated, they would be entangled by the energetic soldiers. If they fled at full speed towards the ships, it meant exposing their backs to the crossbowmen.
After a few seconds of hesitation, a small group of raiders at the edge of the shield wall chose to run. Seeing their comrades retreating, the remaining raiders lost their fighting spirit and crowded towards the ships.
The next moment, in their desperate eyes, a second round of oil jars smashed onto the shore, again igniting two longships.
Without choosing, the raiders ran towards the nearest ship. Due to the chaotic organization, some longships were overcrowded, while others had too few people. Before they could agree on an order, two hundred soldiers had already caught up.
The fleet went upstream from the River Tyne mouth. The journey was twenty kilometers. The raiders rowed for more than four hours, their stamina greatly depleted, unable to fight these ferocious soldiers.
After a short melee, most of the raiders surrendered, only two longships leaving the riverbank and fleeing downstream along the river.
After the battle, Vig ordered the armed commoners to quickly extinguish the fire to prevent it from spreading to the entire dock area. When the fire was extinguished, he received the interrogation records from others.
Combining the confessions of many raiders, they had been called upon by Lord Ohr to raid Tyne. This was done without the permission of King Eric and was an unauthorized action.
After a few seconds of consideration, Vig asked the clerk to write to Londinium to inform Ragnar of the raid and send two prisoners as witnesses.
“Following the old rules, the remaining three hundred prisoners will be sent to the construction team to reclaim wasteland and clear swamps.”
As of now, the population of Tyne County has exceeded thirty thousand: fifteen thousand Vikings, four thousand plus people from three Welsh tribes, and the remaining ten thousand plus are Anglo-Saxon residents.
To accommodate the increasing number of immigrants, Vig intended to reclaim a large area south of the River Tyne.
“Viking raiders and Pictish bandits provide a continuous supply of labor, greatly saving construction costs, suitable for large-scale projects.”
The population of the south bank is increasing. Perhaps I should consider building a pontoon bridge and building a small stone fortress at the bridgehead on the south bank. Iceland currently ships a large amount of volcanic ash every month. It would be a waste to leave it unused.”
With abundant labor, Vig even agreed to the Raven Speaker’s request to build a grand and magnificent Norse temple in the town center, showcasing a new, progressive, and adaptable Norse Paganism that would completely overshadow the traditional sacred sites of Uppsala, Nidaros, and Lake Tisso.