Vikings: Lords of the Ice Sea

Chapter 107 Mission
After finishing his school affairs, Vig toured the various workshops in the city, and the one that surprised him the most was the brewery.

Today, large hop fields have been created on the western side of Tyne, and as the plants mature, workers are attempting to brew beer on a large scale.

According to the techniques passed down from the German region, workers first dry and chop the malt, then pour it into water and simmer it over low heat to maintain a warm water temperature for a period of time. Then, they use coarse linen cloth to separate the wort from the lees, resulting in a cloudy, sweet wort.

Next, bring the wort to a boil over high heat, add hops and continue boiling for an hour, then let it cool naturally and add yeast to ferment for two weeks.

Thanks to a certain substance contained in hops, beer has a shelf life of up to six months, making it ideal for sale in Northern Europe for profit. The Vikings loved to drink, but local grain yields were low, making it unsuitable for large-scale brewing, so they had a very high demand for alcoholic beverages from other regions.

"Is this brewed beer?"

After trying a glass, Vig felt that the beer tasted acceptable. Although it couldn't compare to mead or wine, the price of beer was relatively low, so it didn't need to compete with the other two products and was suitable for sale to the lower and middle classes.

Currently, a whole barrel of beer weighs about fifty kilograms, requires ten kilograms of barley, as well as a certain amount of hops and herbs. Including labor costs, the cost of each barrel is about two pence, while the selling price is eight pence, which can be described as an absolute profiteering.

"Finally, a new source of income has been found. Making money is really not easy."

After some reflection, he planned to expand the planting area of ​​hops and develop the brewing industry, making it the second pillar industry after textiles.

Over the next few days, Vig visited four pubs in Tyne and unexpectedly encountered the Welsh chief, the Shrike, who was buying a large quantity of alcohol.

Are you satisfied with your new territory?

For the three Welsh tribes that voluntarily surrendered, Vig settled them in the west, northwest, and north, respectively, in the area where plains and hills meet.

According to his plan, the farmland owned by Welsh immigrants was enough to provide for their basic needs. If they wanted to improve their lives further, they would have to go into the mountains to hunt, hone their tracking and archery skills by hunting animals, and become qualified mountain infantrymen.

"Reporting to Your Excellency, we are very satisfied. Construction of the houses for each family is currently underway and is expected to be completed before the heavy snowfall."

Vig didn't say anything more, but offered to pay the bill for the shrike and watched the Welshmen drive the carriage away.

A week later, ten ships carrying pig iron ingots urgently procured from the north arrived at Tynburg docks. With enough iron stored, Vig no longer concealed his ambition. He instructed passing ships to help spread the word upon their return to Northern Europe, calling upon all ambitious raiders, in the name of the Serpent of the North, to gather at Tynburg the following year for a grand undertaking.

"Remember, it's best to arrive before May next year; don't delay too long."

Besides Northern Europe, Vig also sent envoys to the south to visit various knightly manors in turn, hiring them to fight for a high price of three pounds of silver, and afterwards they could also get a large share of the spoils.

As the news spread, the Pictish nobles in the north realized what was happening, and with the help of lords such as Arkansas in Edinburgh and Hughy in Glasgow, the Northern Alliance was officially established in late November, with the primary goal of resisting the Viking threat.

In order to weaken the enemy's strength, the alliance cut off the export of pig iron to Tyneburg and sent envoys south to gather information.

Five days later, a ship from Edinburgh arrived at Tyne dock.

The cold wind howled, and snowflakes fell heavily from the sky. Many boats were moored on the pier, and there were few people around the dock. Only five listless militiamen were warming themselves by the fire inside the house.

"Finally, the last day has arrived. These days have been really tough."

"Indeed, drinking alcohol is forbidden during the duty period. I've never heard of such a rule before." Currently, the garrison and security force of Tyne Town has a total of 100 people, of which 40 are long-term employees, and the remaining 60 positions are filled by residents of the town by lottery for a period of half a month. The five people in the house are the unlucky ones who drew the worst lot.

After complaining for a while, they noticed the arrival of outsiders. Five militiamen, carrying round shields and iron axes, rushed out of the house and asked the outsiders for their identities.

The envoy arrogantly raised his chin. "I represent the Northern Alliance and have business with your lord."

"The Northern Alliance?"

Although they didn't know what it was, given the man's respectable attire, a militiaman led him through the south gate and then directly to Tyneburg on the southwest hill.

"What a magnificent building."

Compared to the wooden fortresses in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Stirling, and other places, this stone castle in front of him can be described as tall and magnificent, and is arguably the tallest building the envoy had ever seen in his life.

How much did it actually cost?

After crossing the drawbridge and the east gate, the envoy entered the castle. Directly in front of him was a spacious open area where dozens of soldiers were training. To his right was a long row of low soldiers' barracks, and to his left were warehouses, stables, kitchens, and other facilities.

Crossing the open space, the envoy unconsciously abandoned his arrogant attitude and stood outside the main building's entrance awaiting news. Five minutes later, at the servants' urging, he climbed the steps into the first-floor hall.

Passing through the thick curtains, the messenger immediately felt the air was much warmer. Looking around, he saw a stone fireplace on each side of the hall, with firewood burning brightly, serving both as lighting and cooking facilities.

Pulling at his collar, the envoy slowly walked towards the high platform at the end of the hall. As expected, the man sitting on it was the person he was here to visit—the Serpent of the North.

"My name is Vig. Do you speak Latin?"

Upon hearing Vig's question, the messenger nodded and then identified himself in Latin, saying that his name was Morgan and that he was a nobleman from some unknown small place.

After rambling on with a bunch of useless nonsense, he got to the point: "I heard you're assembling an army and planning to attack the northern border?"

As time passed, news of Vig's attack on the North spread throughout Britain. Lying was pointless, so he calmly replied, "Yes, the attack will be next year."

The envoy was momentarily at a loss for words in the face of the Serpent of the North's composure. He took the wine glass offered by the maid, took a sip of warm beer, and managed to stammer, "You have no reason to attack us; it's against the rules."

"rule?"

Vig offered a seemingly reasonable pretext for war: "In recent years, Pictish bandits have frequently crossed the border to attack my territory, supposedly orchestrated by someone. In light of the repeated appeals from the people, I have decided to assemble an army to eliminate this threat."

To make his argument more convincing, he had his guards hand him a list filled with reports of all the bandit attacks, totaling thirty-two, with more than half of them occurring in 847.

"In addition to these attacks that caused casualties, there were countless cases of livestock theft and wheat theft."

The three-field system and heavy iron plows were promoted. The crops harvested by farmers in the area were converted into silver coins, which was equivalent to 1.4 times the previous amount. Their living standards improved dramatically, which attracted more and more mountain bandits. In a few years, there may be a raiding team of thousands of people.

(End of this chapter)