Vikings: Nordic women

Chapter 58 Fire takes advantage of the wind

“These people are poorer than we are!”

Margaret turned her head quickly when she heard the sound. In an environment with only footsteps, she saw a Viking warrior carrying out a small bag of barley from the house while cursing.

He even spat in the direction of the house.

Eastern Europe is not England, so it is definitely poor. If it weren't for the rinderpest outbreak in England, it would be like the autumn wind that used to blow against the monasteries of Christ.

"Your Majesty, a total of 62 warriors were killed and more than 100 were injured! Lord Sigrun asked me to ask what to do with these bodies?" A warrior found Margaret sitting on a bag of grain, and a strong smell of sweat and blood hit her in the face.

"What about the enemy?" Margaret looked at him and wrinkled her nose.

She was still very sad about the death of so many people, as she only had more than 3,000 soldiers. This made her regret the forced attack.

"The slaves carried more than 1,300 bodies of Curonians, half of whom were our captives."

"Bury the bodies of our people nearby, burn the bodies of the enemy on the spot, and pack up the ashes!"

“What do we want with those ashes?”

Margaret lowered her head and focused on the map without explaining, scratching her chin with the tail feathers of her quill.

Nonsense, of course it is used as waste!

The warrior was embarrassed when she didn't respond: "Yes, Your Majesty, I will reply right away!"

Margaret nodded.

The smell of blood here is still strong, but after smelling it for a long time, she has gotten used to it.

There will be more and more such scenes in the future, and they will even get bigger and bigger. She knows that she must adapt to the environment because the environment cannot adapt to her.

After a while, footsteps sounded in front of her. She did not look up, but Lord Sven's voice rang out: "Your Majesty, what should we do with those captured slaves?"

"How do you want to deal with it? How do you want to deal with it?" Margaret asked back.

Her meaning was very clear. Someone was in charge of the matter, and it was not Sven's business. The other party was now in a situation where the dog was trying to catch the rat.

"Are you going to kill him?" Sven seemed not to understand what she meant and thought she was asking him what he was going to do.

Seeing that the other party seemed to really want to ask for management rights, she didn't want to discourage the other party's enthusiasm to get close to her.

She would report to her superiors for all matters, big or small, even if they were not her business. She also did such stupid things in her later life.

It's nothing more than wanting to show off in front of the boss.

She explained: "Keep them. After the work is done, separate the men and women into separate cells. Divide the men into teams of ten. Let them supervise each other. If anyone escapes, kill the whole team!"

"Also, tell them that if they want to join us, we will take the heads of our enemies in exchange for their freedom in the subsequent wars. One head for one person's freedom!"

"Good idea, Your Majesty! I'll arrange it right away!" Sven flattered him.

"Come back!" Margaret called him, "I have already asked Ralph to handle this matter. Go and gather all the lords. I have something to announce!"

"Your Majesty, what is it?"

Margaret raised her head and looked at Lord Sven who was a little too attentive, feeling a little puzzled.

A few more of these men would bore her to death. She began to miss the days when Polly was around and could always keep things in order.

"It's nothing. We need to bring our people over to Gotland. Otherwise, I'm worried they'll be in danger due to the lack of military strength!"

"Aren't we going back?"

"I'm not going back!"

Margaret frowned when she saw Sven hesitated to speak. She had not intended to explain so much, but considering that the other party was trying to curry favor with her, she didn't want to dampen his enthusiasm. However, the other party's endless questions made her a little impatient.

"Go quickly!" she urged patiently.

"Yes, Your Majesty!"

Margaret watched Sven leave, then she stood up, stretched, and walked towards the temporary house where they were living.

She set up that place as a temporary lord's hall. It was nothing special, just big enough.

After a while, there were sounds of conversation outside the house, some talking and laughing, but they stopped talking after they entered the room.

"Find a place to sit down, wait quietly, don't ask anything, wait until everyone is here!" Margaret thought about the problem and gave the instructions.

As time went by, more and more lords came to the temporary hall, and almost everyone came. Margaret guessed that maybe they thought she was going to distribute the spoils?
But in fact, it is not like that. Vikings basically will not return until they have robbed enough spoils, and she has no intention of returning, because her appetite is not small.

"Your Majesty, do you have anything to announce to us?"

"I have ordered the fleet to return and pick up all the people on Gotland. Old Florent, you must set off immediately and return to Faroe Island to pick up your people as well!"

"Why? Aren't we going back?"

"We have just planted our spring wheat. Are we going to give up on harvesting it?"

Margaret tapped the stool under her butt with her sword to draw their attention back: "Use your brains to think about it. Our troops are all here to develop new territories. So who will protect the people on Gotland?"

The lords in the room fell silent.

"If someone raids Gotland at this time, who will protect our people? And if we transfer half of our forces back to Gotland, how will we defend the new territory?"

"Your Majesty, you seem to have anticipated this?"

Margaret looked at the lord in surprise, not knowing whether he was complimenting her or being confident. She nodded and said, "We will bring all the people on Gotland here and settle them down. By autumn, there will likely be a group of new residents on Gotland. While we are harvesting barley, we can capture those who have intruded into Gotland and bring them here to enrich the population of the territory!
Moreover, every year there is a small and isolated new population that can be incorporated into our territory.”

Some people understood, but the other half were confused, and Margaret did not intend to elaborate on her explanation.

She had originally intended to use Gotland as a recruitment ground, so that there would be enough Norsemen to assimilate the Eastern European settlements instead of being assimilated themselves.

It was impossible for her to go to Sweden to snatch people, so she could only use Gotland as bait to lure those who thought it was an uninhabited area and they could occupy it and dominate.

The Gotland Island today is not the unsinkable battleship of later generations. No matter how much it is developed, it is just a trade transit station.

And it doesn't necessarily mean trade, it could also be an invasion.

"Go ahead and do it. I won't treat you unfairly if you follow me! Besides, we are about to face a large-scale counterattack from the enemy."

Margaret stood up and said, "Huscarz reported that a group of enemy riders gathered in a town not far from us. Judging from their attire, they are probably important figures of the enemy."

"So, they are probably discussing how to deal with us. If it were normal, I would definitely attack the town where they gathered and trap them in the town to kill them!

But considering the heavy losses in this siege, I plan to wait for them to gather their forces, and then directly defeat their main force in a decisive battle! "

"Your Majesty, how many enemies are there?"

"I don't know, but they must have more people than us, otherwise they would never dare to attack us!"

“Don’t worry, I have already invited my allies, so I have decided to give up the initiative of war for the time being.

When they take the initiative to attack us, our allies will send out troops, and you just need to charge behind them!"

Margaret smiled mysteriously and kept the secret. She knew that if you don't plan carefully, you will suffer the consequences.

Although it is unlikely to be leaked, in order to ensure everything is foolproof, she will not reveal it until the last moment.

"Allies?" Ralph frowned. "Your Majesty, have you contacted your allies? Are they reliable?"

"They are more reliable than you think. They are brave and fearless, and..." Margaret smiled, "Ralph, take some people to gather all the cows in the village!"

She lit a piece of parchment and threw it on the ground, her eyes flickering with fire. "I guess our enemies will gather soon. Then let me teach them how to fight a war!"

"Okay!" Ralph nodded.

"Xigrune, go get some barley straw. I only want dry ones!"

"As you command, Your Majesty!"

"Sven, go prepare the animal fat!"

"Okay, Your Majesty!"

"Everyone else, sharpen your weapons, conserve your strength, and prepare for the decisive battle!"

"Listen carefully. In war, you must do everything you can to defeat the enemy. Make as few mistakes as possible or no mistakes at all, and wait for the enemy to make mistakes. If the enemy has more troops than us, then we should take the initiative to avoid them and seize the opportunity when they make mistakes, just like wind can help flames burn more fiercely! If they don't make mistakes, then we have to create opportunities for them to make mistakes!"

Margaret clenched her fists.

"Once the horn sounds, everyone will charge out of the city and kill all the enemies who resist. Do you understand?"

"Understood!"

"Go, arrange everything, then take a rest. Let the slaves do the physical work!" Margaret waved her hand, signaling the lords to act on their own.

(End of this chapter)