Vikings: Lords of the Ice Sea

Chapter 132 Boundary Demarcation
In mid-June, Vig's messengers escorted two raiders to Landineum, requesting an audience with the king.

Upon learning of the attack on Tyneburg by five hundred raiders, Ragnar interrupted the messenger's statement, saying in an unquestionable tone:
"That's the end of it! Tell Vig to let me negotiate with Eric next."

In Ragnar's view, as the conflict between the two sides escalated, the cause of the matter became less important. The domestic situation was unstable, and some nobles harbored disloyal intentions; it was not advisable to wage war against Norway, and the only solution was to resolve the dispute peacefully.

“Ulf, go to Oslo and tell Eric to keep his men in check. Britain and Norway have plenty of land; there’s no need to fight over a barren island.”

"I?"

Ulf had only come to hand over his warhorses and happened to be caught up in this mess, so he reluctantly agreed.

Soon, Ragnar had Pascal draft a letter of state on the spot, sealed it, and handed it to Ulf. "King Eric is my ally. Watch your attitude and don't be too ostentatious."

"As ordered."

At this moment, Queen Sora on the right had something to say, but Ragnar gestured for her to be quiet so as not to disturb his thoughts.

"Vigg crossed the sea to attack Bergen and won a great victory. Conversely, the lord of Bergen incited raiders to attack Tyneburg, resulting in a crushing defeat. Why was this?"

His first consideration was the number of men; Vig had brought a thousand men, compared to the Bergen lord's five hundred.

The former won, the latter lost. Was the Bergen lords' defeat due to their small numbers?
The next moment, Ragnar overturned this conclusion.

As a seasoned and legendary pirate, he believed that speed was paramount in a raid. The longer the Bergen lord recruited more raiders, the easier it would be for word to leak out, allowing Tyneburg to prepare in advance and thus diminishing the element of surprise.

"Therefore, the key to Vig's victory lies in the standing army. Once he made up his mind, he was able to immediately gather an army to attack Bergen, catching Lord Oher off guard."

Ragnar picked up his empty glass, and Aslachi quickly refilled it with mead.

As the sweet, cool liquor flowed down his throat, Ragnar's mind raced. He beckoned Pascal over and whispered a question to the Prime Minister:
What is the projected fiscal surplus for this year?

"It's hard to say, it might be between 500 and 1000 pounds."

enough.

Ragnar put down his wine glass and announced the formation of a new Imperial Guard, expected to consist of 1,700 infantry and 300 cavalry.

If a rebellion were to break out in a certain place, Ragnar would not need to wait for other nobles to arrive and assemble. Upon receiving the news, he would quickly dispatch the Royal Guard to suppress the rebellion before it could spread.

In addition, he planned to form a fleet to patrol the English Channel, eliminate pirates, and prevent the Franks from launching a surprise attack across the sea.

"Are you sure?" Pascal warned, "What if we use up all the surplus, and then something unexpected happens?"

"Raise taxes!" Ragnar cleared his throat and issued a new decree:
Effective immediately, a customs office will be established in Dover, Kent, where a 60-pence import duty will be levied on the purchase of warhorses, and all products sold to continental Europe will also be subject to taxation.

Pascal looked up at the king and, seeing his resolute attitude, reluctantly drafted the decree. After finishing, he handed the parchment to Ragnar for his seal, his heart filled with worry: "Is it worth sacrificing the goodwill of all the nobles by levying taxes to build this royal guard?"

Ten days later, Ulf arrived in Oslo aboard the Kirk ship and presented his credentials to Eric.

In the letter, Ragnar suggested that both sides acknowledge the status quo and that there was no need to provoke a war between the two countries over a dilapidated island; it would be better to focus their energy on dealing with domestic issues.

After reading the letter, Eric muttered a complaint:
"Domestic affairs? The population of Northern Europe has been declining. In the past, farmers fought for farmland, but now large tracts of farmland in the countryside are abandoned and no one cultivates them. Farmhouses have become habitats for wild animals. If Ragnar were to deal with this, I'm afraid he wouldn't be able to think of any other solutions."

Although he did not have specific figures, Eric understood that Norway's tax revenue and population were far lower than those of the Kingdom of Britain, and that he would not even be able to conquer Tyneburg in a direct confrontation.

Left with no other choice, he had to set aside some pride and announce the outcome of the dispute:

The two countries ceased hostilities, restrained their respective vassals, and restored the border to its pre-war state.

Given the disappearance of Lord Oher of Bergen, Eric sent Prince Eric the Younger to "temporarily" take over Bergen, and then return Bergen to Oher's successor ten years later.

With King Eric's rambling remarks, the Shetland Islands dispute came to an end.

Overall, Eric lost face but gained practical benefits. He eliminated a powerful vassal who liked to contradict others, acquired Bergen, the second largest settlement, and increased the royal family's annual income by three hundred pounds, making him the biggest beneficiary in this dispute.

After much effort, Vig acquired a barren archipelago with a total area of ​​1,500 square kilometers, from which little benefit could be expected.

The only one who suffered was Lord Oher, who not only lost his life (afterwards, Vig learned of this and swore that he had not killed Lord Oher at all), but also lost Bergen's control over his family.

Although King Eric announced that he would hand over the rule of Bergen to Oher's heir when he came of age, wise people knew that this was just an empty promise. Ten years was too long, and who knew that one day a "just right" accident might occur, and Bergen would completely become a direct royal domain.

After the peace treaty was reached, King Eric hosted a banquet for Ulf, mainly serving traditional dishes such as mead, roasted whole pig, and cheese, but unfortunately, the latter showed no interest whatsoever.

Since being transferred to Kent, Wolfe's standard of living has risen dramatically. Kent, as a trading hub between Britain and continental Europe, has provided him with enormous profits, including a wide variety of luxury goods such as wine, cinnamon, cloves, pepper, truffles, and sugar.

Six months ago, he even hired several Frankish chefs. Including the original North and Anglo chefs, their palates had become extremely picky, and they looked down on these coarse country dishes.

Out of respect for his host, Ulf forked a piece of pork chop, put it in his mouth, chewed it symbolically a couple of times, and swallowed it down with the mead.

"The country folk are really bad at cooking. The spices on the surface of the roasted whole pig didn't penetrate into the inside at all. The skin was burnt, but the pork inside still had a raw, fishy smell."

Eric is truly pitiful. As the King of Norway, his life is worse than that of an ordinary West Frankish lord. No wonder the Vikings always wanted to migrate to Britain and West Frankish territory. Tsk tsk, life in Northern Europe is simply inhuman.

From frugality to luxury is easy, from luxury to frugality.

At this point, Ulf gradually accepted the new lifestyle, as did most of his other colleagues. Ragnar wanted to dissuade him, but ultimately did not put it into practice, since his life was the most extravagant.

(End of this chapter)