Crusader Kings: Prisoners of War.

Chapter 145 Ragnar's Sons

After arranging the military affairs, Orville had basically arranged everything, and the rest just needed to be done step by step.

Collecting taxes is not difficult. With an armed army, the resistance to tax collection is much smaller than imagined. The Romans have established a complete tax system in Gaul, and maintaining a system is easier than starting from scratch.

Those senators of the Senate would occasionally be sent to the Senate provinces to serve as governors. Some of them were indeed capable of making achievements, but more of them just spent a year in a daze. Orville at least believed that he was not below the average level of the senators and could collect the money smoothly and then send it to Tia or the national treasury.

The taxes in the early Roman Empire were not harsh, and there were not many miscellaneous taxes - 10% direct tax, which was mainly 1% of grain. 5% consumption tax, 1% inheritance tax, tariff rate of 5-25%, % high tariff for oriental luxury goods, and the rest of the tax was not much, provided that the emperor or governor did not levy taxes anymore.

The province of Lugden in Gaul was relatively wealthy, and the taxes could barely support two legions and the supporting auxiliary troops. Orville's own soldiers had the financial support of Vespa, so it was not a big deal. There was no need to levy more taxes, and the status quo could be maintained.

Dozens of days passed uneventfully until the end of May. Then the Viking leader Rollo suddenly approached Orville and brought him a very interesting and unexpected news.

“My Viking friend in Frank has received news from Northern Europe, which you should know.

Ragnar Lothbrok led his Viking army back to his hometown in the spring. After a brief celebration, he was ready to start the next raid. However, this time the fleet encountered an abnormal storm while sailing on the sea, resulting in a shipwreck. Ragnar was separated from his army and his whereabouts are currently unknown.

"How is he? Is he still alive?"

"Few people can survive a shipwreck. I speak from experience."

Orville frowned unconsciously as he listened to the other person talking. He had heard this story before, the most famous version being the story of Ragnar and his children.

It is said that Ragnar was shipwrecked while sailing near England, and then drifted to the small kingdom of Northumbria, where he was captured by the local king Ella, who sentenced the plunderer to the snake punishment and let him die by being bitten to death by a group of snakes.

Before his death, Ragnar left his last words: "When the boars cry, the piglets are coming."

To be honest, Orville felt that the other party deserved it. He had robbed many places along the coast of England in his life. It was somewhat God's blessing that he died in England. However, it did not stop his sons and the Vikings who regarded Ragnar as a hero and leader from being furious. After all, my hero is his enemy, and Ragnar was a legendary figure and a hero of the Nordic countries in their eyes.

Taking this as an excuse, several of Ragnar's sons gathered a Viking army. More than 300 Viking longships went to England, conquered large tracts of land in England, and killed King Ella with the cruel Blood Eagle punishment. The era of the Vikings' formal invasion of England began.

The historical Ragnar is a semi-legendary figure, but several of his sons are certain to exist. The records and rankings of these sons vary in different legends and poems. The sons of Ragnar in this time and space are in their complete form, with five brothers.

Bjorn the Brave, Halfdan the Whiteshirt, Ivar the Boneless, Sigurd the Snake-Eyes, and Ubbe, the five brothers are all Viking leaders and are quite famous lords.

Apart from other things, the Vikings were really good at giving nicknames, each of which was easy to remember and not ugly. Other representative characters include Harald the Blond, Olaf the White, Harald the Ruthless, Rollo the Walker, etc. These are like the nicknames of the Liangshan heroes, which are loud and can show the characteristics of the characters. In comparison, the nicknames of the monarchs in the early Middle Ages in Europe are somewhat indecent.

"Shorty", "bald", "fat", "bastard", "stutterer", and so on, to name a few, but there are not many nice ones.

If Orville were them, he would rather not have this nickname.

The Vikings' codes of conduct also differed, and generally they fell into three different directions.

Ragnar's thinking is traditional Viking. They believe that since their land is barren, they should find a way to make their land rich, whether it is introducing technology or plundering wealth and slaves, the ultimate goal is to achieve this effect.

People like Rollo believe that since their land is barren, they should find a way to survive in places with rich land. They don't necessarily have to use force to seize it. As long as they can live a rich and healthy life, it doesn't matter whether they are subjects of others or not. They can accept changes in culture and beliefs. Now Rollo has even begun to believe in Roman gods.

Some of Ragnar's sons believed that since their land was barren, they should conquer the rich land by force, and also preserve the life logic of their northerners as much as possible and bring their own culture and laws to each conquered place.

It is hard to say who is right, but in terms of influence, the second and third have a more far-reaching impact. The first is represented by Ragnar himself, the second is represented by William the Bastard and the Norman Conquest, and the third is represented by the North Sea Empire of Canute the Great, who was also a figure of the times.

In a sense, Ragnar's sons are more harmful than Ragnar himself. Ragnar is a Viking pirate who only wants money, food and slaves. At most, he pursues advanced culture and technology privately. Overall, he is a minor disease to a country. Being entangled by him is troublesome but not fatal.

This was not the case with all of Ragnar's good sons. Some of them pursued control, kingship and land, especially Ivar the Boneless, who had already been plotting for a wider world before Ragnar got into trouble.

After unremitting efforts, he had his own territories in Ireland, Scotland and other places. There may not be such a person as Ragnar in real history, but Ivar the Boneless did exist, and his remains may even have been dug up.

Many thoughts flashed through his mind, and finally Orville asked Rollo: "How long ago was this news?"

"At most a month. I am well-informed. The intelligence should have just reached my hometown. We know about it very quickly."

"Let me ask you a serious question. What do you Vikings think about wars among your own people?"

Rollo didn't understand what Orville meant. His thoughts were not so jumpy. Now that Ragnar's death had not been confirmed, he couldn't imagine that the Vikings would take advantage of the situation to invade England. But this did not stop him from telling the truth.

(End of this chapter)