Viking: Master of the Icy Sea

Chapter 156: The Wind Rises

The excitement lasted until September, when the first Football League crowned its inaugural champion—the Stirling Team.

Viggo was not surprised. This team was composed entirely of iron miners; their cohesion and organizational discipline far exceeded that of the other teams. They had won every match by a wide margin. At this rate, he figured they would continue to claim the championship for years to come.

Under the watchful eyes of the entire audience, Viggo awarded the bounty to the sixteen members—eleven players, plus four substitutes, and mining supervisor Keso, who doubled as their coach. Each person received 1.5 pounds of silver. Converted into grain, this was enough to feed a player for twenty to thirty years.

Furthermore, the winning team received a silver trophy plated with a layer of gold. The cup was engraved with the team's name and the date of their victory.

As a symbol of their championship, the trophy would be enshrined in the temple of Stirling County for a year, before being handed over to the next champion the following year.

Handing the heavy trophy over to the young men, Viggo turned and left, allowing the victors to fully enjoy the cheers of the crowd.

Feeling the passionate atmosphere of the venue, he let out a long sigh of relief. Although the rebellion had been quelled, the rifts in the hearts of the people would take a long time to mend. He hoped that competitive sports and drama could accelerate this process.

When it came to drama, Viggo had no time to write original scripts from scratch. Instead, he referenced many literary works from future generations, as well as the plots of some video games. Given the limited horizons of the current populace, these stories would be enough for them to digest for a very long time.

In October, Viggo traveled to Londinium to seek an audience with the King. The entire journey went smoothly without any hiccups.

The only interesting development was that the Berber Merchant Guild, eager to curry favor, had presented Ragnar with a eunuch from the Eastern Roman Empire named Paffis.Compared to other groups, eunuchs posed an extremely low threat to Kingship and easily earned the trust of monarchs. Relying on his outstanding ability to read the room, Paffis quickly established a foothold in the Royal Palace, becoming a highly trusted Deputy Palace Steward.

Viggo, well-versed in history, took this news in stride. He was completely unfazed, unlike those Viking nobles who made a huge fuss as if they had just seen some exotic animal.

For a long time, the Eastern Roman Empire had maintained the tradition of employing eunuchs. Several powerful eunuchs had emerged throughout their history, including an outstanding general named Narses (480–574 AD).

In the library collections stored at Teyne, there was a specific piece of parchment recording his life, heavily detailing the war to reclaim Italy.

During the decisive battle against the Ostrogoths, Narses employed a highly groundbreaking tactic. Facing the superbly skilled Gothic cavalry, Narses ordered his own cavalry to dismount and fight on foot, forming a spear phalanx. He then utilized a massive number of elite archers wielding bows and arrows to rain down volleys, ultimately defeating the Ostrogothic King, Totila.

'Using infantry to defeat cavalry is truly rare. Perhaps the Battle of Crécy and the Battle of Agincourt during the Hundred Years' War were influenced by Narses.'

After his audience concluded, Viggo returned to his own territory. According to reports from his subordinate officials, Northern Europe's recent imports of pig iron had seen a massive increase, doubling their usual volume. The demand for commodities like grain and tar had also surged.

"That much? Are they preparing for war?"

The North Sea was frequently wracked by storms, but Viggo took the risk of dispatching an envoy to Bergen to seek out Erik Jr. and gather intelligence.

Over half a month later, the envoy brought back Erik Jr.'s reply:

Over the past half year, Halfdan had successively annexed five settlements surrounding Gothenburg. The nobles in the Swedish region were deeply alarmed and sought help from King Erik to the west, requesting that he take on the mantle of King of Sweden as well.

In the past, this would have been a highly coveted opportunity, but now, Erik outright refused. He simply could not guess Ragnar's intentions and worried about angering him. Therefore, he only provided a small amount of financial backing and allowed the nobles to purchase ironware at a discounted price.

As for Erik Jr. himself, he chose to watch from the sidelines. The more intense the war became, the easier it was to do business. He advised Viggo to focus on making money in peace and avoid getting dragged into this bewildering conflict. "We finally had a few days of peace, and now everything is in chaos again. I just hope the flames of war don't spread to Britain."

The turbulent situation in Northern Europe brought about a significant increase in immigration. By the end of the year, the population of Teyne County had swelled to forty-five thousand, with the number of town residents reaching five thousand.

On the financial front, revenues for the year 852 increased to two thousand four hundred pounds. There were two main reasons for this.

First, agricultural taxes. As each annual batch of graduates entered the administrative system, their governance capabilities gradually improved, allowing them to collect a total of eight hundred pounds in agricultural taxes from the Northern Marches.

Second, the development of Greenland. The local pelts, animal fats, and walrus ivory produced there were shipped to Teyne Town, where artisans crafted them into various goods such as leather coats, soft hats, boots, whale oil soap, and ornaments. This greatly stimulated market prosperity.

On the return voyages, the Knarr ships were fully loaded with ironware, woolen cloth, beer, and honeycomb coal, supplying the company employees and surrounding tribes. This attracted more and more indigenous people to join the external economic cycle.

Having tallied up the income, Viggo turned his attention to the expenses.

Thanks to the quelling of the rebellion, military expenditures had seen a minor decrease. The total expenses for 852 only saw a slight increase, reaching one thousand five hundred pounds. In addition, he secretly allocated six hundred pounds for the production of brigandine armor to prepare for the increasingly volatile situation.

While armor production was on track, the issue of warhorses continued to trouble Viggo. The military stud farm on the western side of Teyne Town housed three hundred Frankish horses, of which roughly two hundred were fit for riding into battle.

Logically speaking, he could simply spend money to purchase more warhorses, considering the market had an ample supply. But the issue was not money; he had to consider the political implications.

Britain had a singular source for warhorses; nearly eighty percent came from the Duke of Normandy. This made it very easy for the royal family to estimate the number of warhorses possessed by each noble house in Britain.

Take Duke Ethelwulf and Duke Theowulf, for instance. Because they were not Vikings, their standing was rather awkward. To avoid arousing the suspicion of the royal family, the former kept his military stud farm at around two hundred horses, while the latter maintained just over a hundred. Aside from Gunnar, Viggo owned the largest number of warhorses. If he continued to expand his herd, it would very likely trigger unfavorable suspicions.

'It is easy to conceal the number of armors. I have already relocated the artisans involved in crafting the brigandine armor to remote corners, strictly maintaining secrecy from production to storage. Unfortunately, the same cannot be done for warhorses.'

Out of caution, Viggo suppressed the urge to bulk-purchase warhorses, instead diverting those resources toward armor production.

Before he knew it, the peaceful and leisurely winter had passed, bringing them to the spring of 853.

The storms over the North Sea gradually subsided, and the shipping routes between Northern Europe and Britain once again opened up. Viggo received news from the Swedish region, and the outcome was quite surprising:

Driven by the critical situation, nobles across Sweden abandoned their last shred of illusion. They formed an encirclement network targeting Halfdan, uniting their strength to deal with the Swords of the North.

Over the following period, the nobles emptied their savings to purchase low-priced armor and weapons from Norway, rapidly boosting their combat capabilities.

In comparison, although the Swords of the North had expanded to one thousand eight hundred members—and their bear-pelt Berserkers and wolf-pelt Berserkers boasted formidable strength—their numbers were simply too small. Over ninety percent of their ranks consisted of relatively inexperienced novice warriors.

After multiple small-scale skirmishes throughout the winter, the number of elite warriors in the Swords of the North steadily dwindled, causing their overall combat strength to plummet.

By the time temperatures warmed, a massive battle erupted between the two sides near Kalmar. Facing the Allied Forces, which numbered over three thousand men, Halfdan was defeated once again. Left with no other choice, he retreated to Gothenburg and dispatched messengers to Londinium to plead for reinforcements.