Vikings: Lords of the Ice Sea

Chapter 105 Castle
As the commotion gradually subsided, Gunnar slowly spoke: "Gentlemen, this is not a personal grudge, but rather a matter of duty."

He quickly explained the situation: he had been granted the title of Duke of Normandy, ruling over the nearby coastline, including the Channel Islands. Given the current circumstances, the prisoners faced two choices.

First: If they leave the Channel Islands and attempt to plunder again, Gunnar will kill them without mercy.

Second: Settle ashore, and each person will be given a piece of land suitable for cultivation.

Realizing that Gunnar had no intention of killing or selling slaves, the prisoners breathed a sigh of relief. Some noticed the silver cross hanging around his neck and tentatively asked:

"Is it necessary to convert to Roman Catholicism to settle down?"

"No, Normandy is my territory, and all Normans who submit to me will be protected in this land."

Upon hearing this answer, all two hundred-plus pirates on Jersey submitted and led their supplies to settle on the mainland.

After taking Jersey, there was another smaller island to the northwest, Guernsey. By this time, the morning mist had dissipated, the sun was high in the sky, and the Vikings there were ready after Gunnar led his troops ashore.

Looking up, more than thirty women and children stood atop the cliff, each armed with a bow and arrow. On the path leading to the cliff, a hundred adult men formed a shield wall, ready for battle.

Surrounded by soldiers, Gunnar approached the shield wall fifty paces away, identified himself, and requested to negotiate with the pirate leader.

A man in his forties left the shield wall, wearing a worn-out iron scale armor, with a few strands of gray hair tucked behind his ear. "What do you want?"

Gunnar brought up his argument from Jersey, but the other party spat out a retort, "Ragnar occupied Britain, and now you're declaring the nearby coastline yours. You've taken all the benefits; how are the others supposed to survive?"

For decades, the Vikings' primary targets were the Seven Anglo-Saxon states, followed by West Francia.

If the pirates abandon the above two targets, it means that they can only go to Iberia in the southwest or plunder the eastern and southern Baltic Seas, resulting in reduced profits but a significant increase in danger.

As a former pirate, Gunnar understood the plight of these people. However, circumstances had changed; he had now been granted amnesty and became the Duke of Normandy under the French king, and naturally had to protect the interests of West Francia.

He advised, “You can give up looting. West Frankish land is fertile and perfect for growing crops. You’ve worked hard for most of your life; it’s time to enjoy a peaceful life.”

"Farming?" The pirate leader laughed sarcastically.
“You, Ragnar, Ivar, Vig, Orm and the others were all peasants. Why didn’t you stay in the countryside and farm? Now you’ve all become kings, dukes, and earls. Not only have you abandoned the traditions passed down through generations, but you’ve also turned your swords against your former kin. You are not worthy of being called Vikings.”

After arguing for a long time, the two sides could only resolve their differences by dueling.

Under the watchful eyes of the crowd, the two drew their longswords and faced each other. The salty sea breeze ruffled their hair. Before long, the pirate leader shouted and raised his iron sword to strike with full force.

Facing the dark figure descending from above, Gunnar took a step to the right, simultaneously using the latter half of the "Dawn" blade to catch the opponent's slash and twist it in the process.

The next moment, Gunnar used the cross-shaped hilt to block the leader's sword. With a slight exertion of his wrist, the tip of "Dawn" reached the leader's left neck. A few drops of blood seeped out, forming a faint red line along the edge of the sword.

"you lose."

At this moment, Gunnar suddenly remembered that he knew the other person. More than ten years ago, the two of them went to East Anglia to raid with Ragnar. At that time, they were poor and destitute, without iron armor or iron swords, only equipped with round shields and one-handed axes. They almost died in the encirclement and annihilation of the local militia. They barely escaped back to Northern Europe, only to be severely reprimanded by the nobles for not paying enough spoils.

After so many years, I never expected to meet you again in this kind of setting.

Noticing the flicker in Gunnar's eyes, the leader chuckled self-deprecatingly. "Your Grace, you've finally remembered? Someone as insignificant as me certainly doesn't have much to be remembered. Don't hesitate, Valhalla is summoning me." "Are you sure?"

“I’ll be fifty in a few years. I’ve become like this. I’m too ashamed to go back to my hometown and farm. Let’s do it and end this in the tradition of the Vikings.”

"Farewell, my brother." Sensing the leader's resolute attitude, Gunnar reluctantly killed him.

With the duel decided, nearly half of the pirates were willing to surrender. Gunnar did not make things difficult for the remaining men, allowing them to sail back to Northern Europe or Britain and spread the news that he had become the Duke of Normandy.

"Remember, I welcome Vikings to settle and trade, but I will also kill any pirate who tries to plunder without mercy."

At the same time, in Tyne Town.

After more than half a year of busy work, Vig returned to his territory with supplies and horses. Led by Helijif, he went to visit his new home in the southwest corner of town.

Tyneburg took two years to build and is situated on a low hill in the southwest that is more than 20 meters high.

The outermost perimeter of the castle is a moat about four meters deep, behind which is a six-meter-high stone wall, meaning that the attackers would need to climb nearly ten meters.

The city wall is 2.5 meters thick, with crenellations and arrow slits on top, and a round arrow tower stands at each of the four corners, with a small catapult on top of the tower.

The castle’s main entrance is the east gate, which has double iron gates and a wooden drawbridge that crosses the moat. The drawbridge is raised at night to prevent intrusion.

Surrounded by guards, Vig crossed the drawbridge and the city gate, and found that the size of the castle had not changed; it was still a square with sides of two hundred meters.

Inside the castle, the most prominent building is the main building, which is roughly a rectangle measuring 24 x 18 meters. The walls are 2.5 meters thick and about 15 meters high, and it has four floors.

The first floor is the lobby, used as a venue for banquets and meetings.

The second and third floors are used to entertain visitors.

The fourth floor served as the lord's residence and a storage area for valuables such as gold, silver, and books.

During last year's Mercia-Wessex War, Vig and Pascal divided the captured scrolls, which, along with the books they had collected over the years, filled a total of ten bookshelves.

In addition, cellars were dug beneath the main building to store food, weapons, and daily necessities. In extreme circumstances, if the outer walls were to fall, the main building could still hold out for a period of time.

Climbing to the top of the main building, Vig overlooks the various facilities, and the overall layout is almost identical to the contents of the construction drawings.

The courtyard, the deep well in the center of the courtyard, the warehouse, the kitchen, the stables, the soldiers' barracks, and the toilet.

The two underground floors of the soldiers' barracks served as prisons for guarding prisoners.

"How much did it cost in total?"

Heligef snuggled into her husband's arms and hummed lazily, saying, "There was a slight overspending, totaling two hundred pounds of silver. Fortunately, Hadrian's Wall nearby provided the stone, otherwise the cost would have been at least four hundred pounds."

(End of this chapter)