Vikings: Lords of the Ice Sea

Chapter 106 Planning
At night, the Viggs tallied their accounts by the bright candlelight.

Due to the construction of castles and the mass production of weapons, the territory's fiscal surplus in recent years has been largely depleted, leaving only 30,000 bushels of grain piled up in the barns.

30,000 bushels?
Vig quickly drew up a calculation: assuming a force of 4,000 men would be assembled next year to conquer the North, with the campaign lasting eight months—from spring to early winter—and considering the severe physical strain of marching and fighting, each soldier would need at least one kilogram of grain per day. This would translate to a ration requirement of 42,000 bushels.

"Continue to purchase grain during this period, and also buy a batch of oats as feed for the warhorses. Also, before the North can react, have Mitcham quickly purchase their pig iron, as much as he can."

Besides grain, there are currently 1,200 pounds of silver on the books, all from the spoils of the past two years.

(In last year’s Mercia-Wessex War, Vig earned 200 pounds of silver; in this year’s Frankish War, he earned 600 pounds; and after conquering Wales, Ragnar awarded him an additional 400 pounds of silver, for a total of 1,200 pounds.)

Hearing her husband's request, Helijif turned her head. "Buying in large quantities in a short period of time will inevitably cause prices to skyrocket. Are you sure you want to do this?"

"Correct."

Even a lion uses its full strength to hunt a rabbit. Vig planned to throw all 1,200 pounds at the problem, including military rations and iron ingots, and he also planned to hire knights from within Britain to help.

"Hmm, let me think. Each knight's appearance fee of three pounds of silver is equivalent to the amount of five ordinary soldiers when dividing the spoils."

"So expensive?" Herrijiffle's voice suddenly rose, almost waking her sleeping son in the cradle.

"There are advantages to being expensive. You haven't witnessed a cavalry charge in person. Alas, times have changed. Future wars will largely depend on cavalry. The more cavalry you have, the greater your chances of victory."

Based on his experience over the past two years, Vig categorized the cavalry he encountered into four classes.

The original Anglo-Saxon riders did not have stirrups and were essentially equivalent to mounted infantry, only capable of reconnaissance and relaying orders. They were the weakest in combat and were ranked in the fourth tier.

Viking/Norman riders, equipped with metal stirrups and riding Anglo-style warhorses, were placed in the third tier.

Frankish Knights are in the second tier.

After acquiring the Frankish warhorses, Gunnar and his men gradually developed a lance-flanking charge tactic. Equipped with improved high-bridged saddles, their charge power was greatly enhanced, and their combat strength surpassed that of the Frankish knights who were equipped with longswords and chain hammers, placing them in the top tier of combat power.

In later historical records, in the 11th century, a group of Norman knights passed through Constantinople and demonstrated the tactic of charging with lances to Emperor Alexius Komnenos. Their indomitable spirit greatly impressed the Eastern Roman audience.

Years later, Princess Anna Komnenos wrote a biography of her father, Alexius, in which she highly praised the bravery of the Norman knights, claiming that their lances could even carve a hole in the walls of Babylon.

After hearing Vig's explanation, Helijif was skeptical. Since she did not need to lead troops into battle, she temporarily put the issue aside and continued to discuss the expenses of the war.

Vig ruffled his wife's hair and comforted her, "Don't worry, we can always borrow money from others. We can borrow tens or hundreds of pounds from each of Ragnar, Bjorn, Theowough, Pascal, and Ulf, and crush the enemy in the north with overwhelming force."

Of the aforementioned borrowers, Ivar is conspicuously absent. The reason is simple: the situation in Ireland remains volatile, and Ivar simply cannot spare the resources to assist Tyneburg.

After a short three-day holiday, Vig returned to work, strolled through the market, and then went to the school to check on the results of his teaching over the past few years. It was now late September 848 AD, four years since the Crow Whisperers opened the school. The primary school stage lasted five years, and the first batch of students should graduate next year.

Upon arriving at his office, Vig flipped through the roster of fourth-grade students and their past grades, then personally set questions to assess them in roughly three areas.

First, there is the North language, which requires students to master basic and commonly used vocabulary. The most crucial task is to be given some key information and asked to write a tax report to Tyneburg as a tax collector.

Next came arithmetic. Vig retrieved the transaction records from the livestock market and asked them to calculate the taxes due for each item, which were then compiled.

Finally, there is elementary natural science, which examines some basic physics and agricultural knowledge, such as designing pulley systems for hoisting heavy objects, the planting time of various crops, and how to care for sick livestock.

After drafting the exam questions, Vig asked the teachers to help copy the test papers and then gathered the students for the first exam.

Standing on the podium, looking at the students below deep in thought, he suddenly felt a strange sadness, and then immersed himself in memories from many years ago until the exam ended.

Seeing that his boss hadn't responded for a long time, the Crow Whisperer assumed he was very dissatisfied with the student's performance and cautiously moved closer:

"Sir, shouldn't we conduct an arithmetic test?"

Vig snapped out of his reverie. "Okay, hand out the test papers."

At noon, Vig had the teachers grade the papers. The performances of the forty-five students were mixed, and they would be of some use once the northern border was conquered.

"Students trained personally are more reliable. In contrast, Ragnar employs a large number of Anglossians for clerical work, which has many drawbacks. In addition to the most common corruption, it is also easy to leak intelligence. If nothing unexpected happens, his court has long been infiltrated by Wessex and West Francia."

With this in mind, Vig decided to allocate an additional twenty pounds of silver to improve the treatment of the forty teachers (shamans) and two hundred and sixty students, and to purchase more paper and ink.

"What's still missing?" he asked, looking at the group of teachers and students.

"Well, clothing, food, and charcoal are in ample supply; there doesn't seem to be anything particularly urgent." After pondering for a long time, the Raven Whisperer requested to borrow a batch of scrolls that the lord had recently acquired.

Have you finished reading that batch of books from last time?

Vig didn't say much, and led the Raven Whisperer, Kemi Wildfire, and other shamans back to Tyneburg, letting them enter the library on the fourth floor of the main building to select books.

"Wait, we can't lend out 'The War of Britain' and 'The War of the Franks'!"

"Why?" The Raven Whisperer was very surprised. He had intended to encourage the children to learn about the lord's illustrious military achievements in order to further enhance their loyalty. Could there be some secret hidden in this?
He guessed correctly.

When Vig wrote his battlefield diary, he occasionally included a few complaints about his colleagues, such as someone being greedy for credit and reckless, someone indulging soldiers and causing lax discipline, and some people being unable to keep their mouths shut and easily leaking secrets.
Clearly, the contents inside must not be leaked. Seeing Vig's resolute attitude, the Raven Whisperer left with a puzzled look on his face.

(End of this chapter)