Viking: Master of the Icy Sea

Chapter 202: The Chaos Begins

In April, Oleg assembled an expeditionary force of about three thousand men, including one thousand soldiers from the Royal Guard, fifteen hundred men scraped together by the minor nobles of the royal domain, and five hundred civilian volunteers.

After landing on the west coast of Denmark, he headed to his fiefdom in Vejle. He stored their supplies there and took the opportunity to conscript civilians from within his territory, expanding the expeditionary force to three thousand five hundred men.

During this period, Niels dispatched envoys on several occasions, all of whom were detained by Oleg. By late April, with all preparations complete, Oleg marched straight south toward Schleswig.

Having learned of the enemy's numbers and equipment from his scouts, Niels did not dare to engage Oleg in a direct confrontation. With only three hundred sets of armor, his forces were far too weak to withstand a blow.

Previously, to expand his military strength, Niels had thought of many methods, including approaching Wigg to purchase pig iron ingots, weapons, and armor. However, Wigg showed absolutely no regard for their past friendship, insisting on immediate payment upon delivery and refusing any credit.

Left with no other choice, Niels borrowed money from his father-in-law. Including his wife's dowry, he managed to scrape together five hundred pounds of silver to order a hundred sets of armor and various weapons from Teyne. Ever since Ragnar's death, the shadow of war had loomed over the entire Viking world, causing the prices of military supplies to skyrocket. A standard set of armor now cost over three pounds of silver, and even then, demand far outstripped supply.

"Every man in the Royal Guard is armored, and the minor nobles of the royal domain have over four hundred sets of armor as well. This battle is impossible to fight," Niels declared.

Inside the lord's longhouse, Niels paced back and forth in frustration, speaking to his newly wedded Slavic wife. "I plan to abandon Schleswig. Pack your things quickly and return to Pomerania for a while."

Originally, the prosperity of Schleswig had far exceeded that of other settlements in Denmark. That was until four years ago when Niels captured the area and his troops took the opportunity to plunder it ruthlessly. The town suffered a devastating blow, and its residents fled in droves. The population sharply declined to less than a thousand. It had remained in a half-dead state for years, offering little wealth to squeeze out, so there was no need to defend it to the death.

Now, with the enemy strong and his own forces weak, Niels planned to seek allies.The first option was Ubbe in northern Denmark. He was nominally the Duke of Denmark, directly governing the northern territory of the Jutland Peninsula. His drawback was his lack of seniority, coupled with the hostility he faced from the Queen Mother. Unsurprisingly, the Royal Guard's mission also included killing Ubbe. The young duke would have no other choice but to accept Niels's offer of an alliance.

The second option was Halfdan. As the Duke of Sweden, he firmly rejected the half-true, half-false royal decree. He had ordered craftsmen to forge a crown and recently declared himself King.

'Halfdan lacks prestige, so he certainly won't pass up the chance to preside over the funeral,' Niels calculated inwardly. 'How about this—I will leave the coffin for the Royal Guard. When they head to Gothenburg, a clash between the two sides will be inevitable.'

Beating the enemy to the punch, Niels sent his wife back to her family, boarded a ship with eight hundred soldiers, and fled. Just before leaving, he intentionally threw open the storehouses, allowing the residents to take whatever supplies he could not carry away.

Three days later, Oleg arrived at Schleswig, only to find the town gates wide open. No soldiers were stationed on the wooden palisade, nor was Niels's feathered arrow banner anywhere to be seen. Only a flock of birds lingered on the grass outside the walls, eagerly pecking at scattered oats.

"An ambush?" Oleg wondered aloud.

Oleg dispatched scouts into the town. From the residents, they learned that Niels had long since fled, even taking that highly significant gilded chair with him.

"I do not care about that broken chair," Oleg demanded. "Where is His Majesty's coffin?"

Oleg gathered the townsfolk, and under their guidance, he arrived at a low mound south of the town. Ragnar's coffin was buried there, with its back to a hill and facing the sea to the east. Overgrown with weeds and circled by ravens, the site appeared exceptionally bleak and lonely.

After acquiring the gilded chair, Niels had lost interest in hauling around a coffin that was growing increasingly foul. He had temporarily buried Ragnar with the modest rites of a common noble. A rough, uncarved boulder stood in front of the grave, not yet engraved with any words. "Your Majesty, I am too late."

Whether out of genuine emotion or merely putting on an act, Oleg fell heavily to his knees, hugging the boulder and weeping bitterly. Behind him, the Royal Guard, barons, and knights knelt in a sweeping wave, their expressions filled with sorrow.

Across the entire Viking world, these barons and knights who depended on the royal family held the highest loyalty to Ragnar; they were the old brothers-in-arms who had followed him in battle for years. In contrast, great nobles like Wigg, Om, Leonard, and Ulf had established their own domains and possessed greater independence, which inevitably discounted their loyalty.

After crying for about ten minutes, Oleg used the stone monument for support as he stood up, pondering his next move.

'Rumor has it that Halfdan recently declared himself King, which is tantamount to treason,' Oleg thought. 'If we take the coffin to Gothenburg for the funeral, won't we end up having to fight him...'

For the next period of time, Oleg stationed his forces in Schleswig and dispatched envoys to Gothenburg to gather information.

The worst-case scenario occurred. Halfdan had indeed donned the crown, just as the rumors claimed. Facing the envoys, he used his authority as King to order the Royal Guard to hand over the coffin and swear personal loyalty to him. This blatantly exceeded the limits of what the Royal Guard could tolerate.

Soon after, Oleg received another piece of bad news. Fearing assassination by the Royal Guard, Ubbe had already fled by ship to Oslo in Norway to seek the protection of his cousin, Erik Jr.

If the Royal Guard went to war with Halfdan, Erik Jr. would inevitably come to Halfdan's aid. There was no avoiding it; by killing Sola without any solid evidence, Aslaug had completely pushed the Kingdom of Norway over to the side of her enemies.

"Niels, Halfdan, Ubbe, and Erik Jr... with the four of them banded together, what should we do?" Oleg murmured.

In June, a steady stream of news from Northern Europe reached Stirling, but Wigg showed no reaction. During this time, he had calmed his mind and focused on organizing his notes from over the years, covering military strategy, finances, and the geographical information of every place he had visited.

Once organized, Wigg selectively taught parts of this knowledge to Leif and Hrogeir. The former studied military strategy, while the latter learned commerce. His own two children were still too young, so their priority was to complete their basic education and master the Norse language and the Anglo-Saxon tongue. They would learn these advanced subjects and Latin when they were a bit older.

In addition, Wigg ordered Teyne to organize its archives, using the records to select a hundred experienced grassroots officers and soldiers. He personally taught them how to read and write, along with the most fundamental tactical knowledge.

"The turmoil in Northern Europe is merely a prelude," Wigg remarked. "The true war has yet to arrive. Let them exhaust themselves with their petty squabbles."

In the time that followed, Wigg remained in the Northern Marches, training his battalion and company-level officers, and continuing to ignore the letters sent from Londinium.

The contents of the letters were largely the same—nothing more than demands for Wigg to travel to Londinium for an audience with the new King, and to conveniently pay a slew of miscellaneous taxes. Wigg could not be bothered to entertain them, instead having Heregyth, who had stayed behind to manage Teyne, write perfunctory replies.

As time passed, the great nobles of the Kingdom of Britain neither presented themselves at court nor openly rebelled. Instead, they sat back and watched the Queen Mother run amok in Londinium, waiting until the kingdom's situation completely collapsed.