Vikings: Lords of the Ice Sea

Chapter 131 Pirates
In mid-June, the second cohort of students completed their five-year course, and the Viggs went to the school to officiate the graduation ceremony and, incidentally, assign jobs to the fifty students.

After discussion, Vig made the following decision:
Thirty-five people entered the administrative system, ten served as apprentice shamans in temples in various places, and the remaining five stayed at the school to teach, while also studying the first year of junior high school content on their own.

"With these students filling the vacancies, the administrative efficiency of the four northern counties will be greatly improved, and starting next year, we can gradually establish 'town' level institutions."

Just as Vig was planning for the future, two plumes of black smoke rose into the eastern sky.

Enemy attack?

Two plumes of smoke indicate that the number of enemies is in the range of 100 to 500.

The graduation ceremony was abruptly ended. Vig escorted Herigif back to Tyneburg, leaving fifty shield guards to defend the stronghold. He then led the remaining fifty shield guards to the southeast wall of Tyneburg.

Ten minutes later, the newly formed city defense infantry company was assembled. All 150 men were equipped with iron armor and waited for orders in the open space behind the wall.

Over the next hour or so, armed civilians arrived one after another.

Tyne has a permanent population of 3,200. In the event of an attack, every adult male is obligated to defend the town. They are organized into squads of 30 to 50 men according to their residential area. Upon hearing the alarm, they go to Tyne Fortress to collect weapons. A total of 800 men are involved, and nearly half of them receive crossbows.

"I didn't expect Eric to actually have the guts to attack Tyne Town. That's interesting."

Including armed civilians, Vig had amassed nearly a thousand soldiers, making it no problem for him to defend the wall.

Under his orders, the garrison brought many oil canisters from the warehouse and piled them up near the six small catapults.

With everything prepared and the enemy yet to arrive, Vig dispatched two hundred armed civilians to move the boats moored at the dock upstream as much as possible to avoid being caught in the crossfire.

At 2 p.m., the enemy fleet finally appeared on the river, consisting of twenty longboats and about five hundred men.

Strangely, the fleet did not fly Eric's sword and axe flag, and its formation was chaotic, like a flock of wild ducks that had just learned to swim.

"Only 10% of them are armored, which is really pathetic. They don't seem like Eric's men."

Vig signaled the catapults to stop loading and had all the militiamen behind the battlements sit down, creating the illusion that the defenses were weak.

Before long, the raiders' ships docked at the pier. They wandered around in a chaotic manner, forming a shield wall in the open space, and gradually approached the southern wall of Tyne Town.

"Who are you? Why are you attacking King Ragnar's Britain?"

The next moment, a reply came from behind the shield wall: "We are only targeting Vig. We have no intention of offending King Ragnar, nor do we intend to occupy this place. After killing Vig, we swear to leave by ship and never disturb the local people."

Lord Oher of Bergen?
Upon learning that the enemy was imitating him, Vig couldn't help but laugh. He waved his left hand, signaling most people to remain seated until the distance between them was reduced to fifty meters.

"Everyone shoot!"

Following Vig's orders, the militiamen aimed at the gaps in the shield wall and pulled the triggers. Hundreds of crossbow bolts pierced the shield wall, instantly felling more than twenty raiders.

In response, the raider archers behind the shield wall launched a counterattack.

The archers numbered only forty, no match for such a large force of crossbowmen, who were also protected by the battlements. After two rounds of exchange, the archers were suppressed by the crossbowmen and dared not peek out from behind the shield wall to retaliate. Faced with the overwhelming barrage of crossbow bolts, the raiders began to retreat, and the shield wall slowly withdrew.

Suddenly, the catapults behind the wall began hurling oil canisters, not at the moving shield wall, but at the raiders' ships moored on the shore.

The counterweight box crashed down, and the six oil canisters arced through the air before hurtling towards the longship a hundred meters away.

Amid cheers from the defenders, the oil tanker struck the outermost vessel, the blazing flames engulfing the wool canvas and then spreading to another longship on the west side.

The ships were attacked, and a small commotion broke out in the slowly retreating shield wall. The crossbowmen aimed at the suddenly widening gaps and pulled the triggers, and a volley of crossbow bolts felled more than thirty people.

"The enemy can't hold out any longer! Shield Guards and City Defense Infantry Company, launch an attack!"

Under Vig's command, two hundred armored soldiers poured out of the south gate and charged toward the enemy.

The raiders were now in a dilemma. If they retreated in formation, they would be entangled by the energetic armored soldiers. If they fled at full speed towards the ship's anchorage, they would be exposing their backs to the crossbowmen.

After hesitating for a few seconds, the small group of raiders at the very edge of the shield wall chose to run away. Seeing their companions retreat, the remaining raiders lost all fighting spirit and crowded towards the ship's anchorage.

The next moment, to their despair, a second batch of oil canisters crashed onto the shore, setting the two longboats ablaze once more.

Without bothering to choose, the raiders ran towards the nearest ship. Due to the disorganization, some longships were crowded with people, while others were too few. Before they could even discuss the order, two hundred armored soldiers had already surrounded them.

The fleet sailed upstream from the mouth of the Tyne River, a journey of twenty kilometers. The raiders had been rowing for more than four hours, and were exhausted, unable to fight against these fierce and armored warriors.

After a few minutes of fighting, most of the raiders surrendered, and only two longboats left the riverbank, fleeing downstream in a sorry state.

After the battle, Vig ordered the armed civilians to quickly extinguish the fire to prevent it from spreading to the entire dock area. Once the fire was out, he took the interrogation records from someone nearby.

Based on the testimonies of numerous raiders, they were summoned by Lord Oher to plunder Tyneburg, an act carried out without the permission of King Eric and thus without authorization.

After a few seconds of thought, Vigé instructed his clerk to write to Lentinium, informing Ragnar of the raid and sending two prisoners as witnesses.

"According to the old rules, the remaining three hundred prisoners were thrown into the construction team to be responsible for reclaiming wasteland and clearing swamps."

To date, Tyne County's population has exceeded 30,000, with 15,000 Vikings, over 4,000 Welsh tribes, and the remaining 10,000-plus Anglo residents.

To accommodate the growing number of immigrants, Vig intends to cultivate a large area south of the Tyne River.

"Viking raiders and Pictish bandits, these two groups provided a continuous source of labor, greatly saving construction costs and making them suitable for building large-scale projects."

With the population increasing on the south bank, perhaps I should consider building a pontoon bridge and a small stone fortress at one end. Iceland is currently receiving large amounts of volcanic ash every month; it's a waste to leave it idle.”

With an abundant workforce, Vig even agreed to the Raven Whisperers' request to build a tall and magnificent Nordic temple in the town center, showcasing a new, progressive, and modern Nordic polytheism that would completely overshadow traditional holy sites such as Uppsala, Nidaros, and Lake Tisso.

(End of this chapter)