Crusader Kings: Prisoners of War.

Chapter 148: The Spring and Autumn Period of an Isolated Country
According to the research of later scholars, the Celts were not actually the first group of humans to set foot on the British Isles. It is said that the Celts were the ninth group of humans to set foot on the British Isles. However, the previous ones were either primitive tribes or completely primitive people. In short, they had nothing to do with civilization.

Although the Celts were not a very advanced nation, they were still a clan tribe after all. Their productivity and cultural level were much stronger than those primitive tribes that could only be discovered through archaeological discoveries. Therefore, the Celts eventually succeeded in taking root on the British Isles. This is also the current understanding of the Romans and Celts, that the Celts are the native people of Britain.

It is generally believed that the Gauls were the most important branch of the Celts. The Celts represented by them had no written language and relied on word of mouth for inheritance, but they also possessed some good technology. For example, in metallurgy and military, the Romans learned from the advanced experience of the Gauls and put it into practice.

However, with the development of history, they gradually lost ground in the competition with the Romans, Germanic peoples and other nations, and then became a relatively marginalized ethnic group on the European continent. Now the Anglo-Saxons' conquest of Britain is also confirming this and repeating this process.

These Germanic people drove the Celts to relatively desolate and barren places, and then established their own countries and new civilizations in the fertile and wealthy places. The only places left for the Celts were Wales, Scotland, Ireland and other places, which were either blocked by the sea or by mountains. In short, they were relatively unworthy of being conquered and difficult to govern.

But now, the Germans also encountered difficulties - challenges from another group of Germans, who were more warlike than the Anglo-Saxons and relatively more barbaric.

A few months later, Ragnar's sons assembled a huge fleet with more than 300 ships carrying tens of thousands of warriors. They sailed to the coastline of England in a mighty manner, and then rushed into the villages and farmhouses of England like wolves into a flock of sheep, and began to destroy and loot.

Unlike the previous small-scale fights, this time the Vikings were serious. The total population of several Nordic countries in this era should be only more than two million, which is higher than historical facts, but they gathered 10,000 people to participate in this expedition. You must know that Ragnar is not the king of a country, but only a landlord and the leader of the Viking pirates, but he was able to gather such a large army.

On the one hand, it shows that Ragnar's status in the underworld is really high. By analogy, he is at least equal to Chao Gai, the King of Chao in Liangshanpo. On the other hand, it also shows that Ivar has good organizational and inciting power, and can convince so many soldiers to participate in this expedition.

Ivar claimed that Ragnar did not die in the shipwreck, but was taken to the territory of Northumbria after the shipwreck and was finally captured and executed by King Ella. Therefore, Ella was the murderer who killed his father, and he wanted to kill Ella to avenge his father.

Britain is now in the Seven Kingdoms era, which is a bit like the Seven Kingdoms era in the Central Plains, but the scale is a few levels smaller, and it is also an era of endless wars among the princes. A Song of Ice and Fire, a masterpiece by a certain British fantasy history writer in later generations, is based on this era, of course, it has been more or less beautified and adapted.

The so-called Heptarchy refers to the seven small Anglo-Saxon kingdoms: Kent, Sussex, Wessex, Essex, Northumbria, East Anglia and Mercia.

Ivar the Boneless chose to land in the Kingdom of Kent, the weakest of the seven kingdoms. The King of Kent could not resist the Vikings and wanted to pay them as before. The Vikings pretended to agree to the other party's request, but after receiving the money, they continued to plunder the entire Kingdom of Kent, and then continued to go north along the river and coastline to attack the Kingdom of East Anglia. The information Orville knew so far was up to this point, but he knew what would happen in the future.

The Kingdom of East Anglia would submit to the Vikings, and then they would not leave and return to their land to farm and live as usual, but would stay on the British Isles for the winter.

After the winter, they will continue to attack King Ella of Northumbria. If Ella is defeated, he will be punished severely. The Vikings will not be satisfied with the status quo, and they will continue to invade the land of the Anglo-Saxons. Mercia will not be spared, but the Vikings will encounter difficulties when attacking the Kingdom of Wessex. The Kingdom of Wessex is stronger than many kingdoms, and the monarch is also capable.

Among them was Alfred the Great, who is much talked about by the British and whose descendants would briefly become Kings of England.

In the face of powerful external enemies, these scattered small countries were able to be quickly integrated together. From a certain perspective, the Vikings actually contributed to the unification of England. Of course, they probably don't realize it now.

Due to Britain's hegemonic position in modern history, they have been engaged in cultural propaganda for a long time, and have whitewashed many things in their country, such as Alfred the Great. Although this is one of the prototypes of the famous King Arthur, and his various civil and military achievements are indeed not bad, and he is a great ruler by the standards of a monarch, but Orwell has always questioned how he can bear the title of "the Great".

In his eyes, an emperor should at least expand territory and defeat foreign enemies, not to mention conquering Asia and Europe. Although Alfred was able to fight the Vikings back and forth, he was unable to completely drive the Vikings out of England throughout his lifetime. Instead, it was the Danish prince Knut who eventually conquered England and established the North Sea Empire which included Denmark, Norway and England. It is quite worthy of such a person to be called the great emperor, as his country is big enough after all.

Some things do not follow the logic of history. It is hard to say who will win between the Anglo-Saxons and the Vikings in this world, because they still have the help of their fellow Franks. But Orwell estimates that they will not be able to determine the winner in their lifetime, because the Roman Empire will enter the scene and will not be on the same level as these two "barbarians".

The next few years will be very lively on the British Isles - Romans, Celts, Vikings, Anglo-Saxons and even Franks will shed blood and sweat on this hot land. The outcome cannot be said to be certain, and in any case, there will be intense exchanges of opinions.

War is the ultimate solution. If there is a core conflict among the demands of the various parties, this is the only way to resolve it.

(End of this chapter)