Vikings: Lords of the Ice Sea

Chapter 270 Monarch and Commander
With the situation in Ireland stabilizing, Vigé ordered the conscripted militia to stay and build the wooden fort. The following day, he led the regular army and the royal guard to Duflin.

Fearing a possible invasion by the West Franks at any moment, Vigé did not linger in Duffield and immediately boarded a ship to Liverpool, returning to his loyal British Isles.

After landing, Vig found Frode and asked, "How does it feel to experience your first war?"

Frode: "Most of my energy was spent on marching and setting up camp. The battles between the two armies lasted very short periods of time and were over in the blink of an eye. Overall, the army's rules were strict and complicated. I felt like I was in a room without windows, which was boring and suffocating."

Vig: "In large-scale military operations, the most important thing is discipline. From the lowest-ranking soldier to the commander, everyone must fulfill their responsibilities. For example, in the recent siege of Magdeburg, Nils only relaxed his guard for a moment, and Carloman quickly seized the opportunity. In one night, the results of his twenty years of hard work vanished."

Sentimental about his old friend's plight, Vigé's spirits sank slightly. Gazing at the vast expanse of sails on the River Mersey, he posed a crucial question:

"You are the crown prince, and you will be the king in the future. After experiencing all this, do you know how to be a good king?"

Frode: "Justice?"

Vig shook his head. "Everyone has a different perspective and a different definition of justice. What you consider to be justice may be seen as tyranny by some people."

Frode hesitated before asking, "Command ability?"

Vig: "Yes and no. As the founding emperor, I naturally cannot avoid war. As the successor, you can go to the battlefield yourself, or you can appoint commanders to lead the expedition, provided you judge their abilities and loyalty."

I don't expect you to be a top-tier general, but you should at least be familiar with the course of war and able to select capable commanders. As for their loyalty, that depends on your observation and judgment. As king, you cannot handle everything personally; the key is careful observation, diligent thinking, and assigning the right people to the right positions.

Upon returning to Lundynewm, Helgef saw a tired and thin figure following Vig, and it took her a few seconds to realize that this was her eldest son.

At this moment, she finally understood how Britta had felt when she welcomed Leif. She hugged her eldest son and cried for a while, then ordered the servants to prepare a feast.

Faced with these dishes he hadn't had for three months, Frode didn't hesitate at all. He first chose the roast goose that was closest to him. The skin of the roast goose was crispy, and the moment the goose's belly was cut open with a knife and fork, the secret sauce inside emitted a rich aroma. He tore off a small piece of the goose and ate it in big bites. Next came lamprey and goat cheese, all of which were his favorite kinds of food.

The only annoyance was that his younger brother Frey clung to Frode, repeatedly asking about the details of the battle and occasionally begging for gifts, which caused the third brother, Greck, to clap his hands and mumble the word "gift" repeatedly.

"First of all, I didn't fight anyone. Secondly, my salary and combat allowance combined amounted to a paltry ten silver pence. What can you buy with that little bit of money?"

After explaining for a long time, Frode suddenly had a brilliant idea. He took out two uniquely patterned seashells from his pocket and used them to fool the two men.

“Alright, these are druidic relics I found in a ruin on the west coast. They are said to contain some kind of lost natural magic. You can each have one.”

After finishing the lamprey meat in his bowl, Vig stood up and left, saying, "You all eat slowly, I have to go and get busy."

Back in his office, he found a dozen boxes of documents piled up in the corner. During his absence, the Queen and the Cabinet had handled state affairs; while nothing particularly chaotic had occurred, Vig felt it necessary to review them. "Personnel changes, financial situation, security in various regions, construction progress."

By examining the labels on the boxes, Vig identified the box containing the technological breakthroughs. Inside were five reports, the two most important of which came from the University of London: one on the formulation of a new dye and the other on a treadmill crane.

He took out the first document and read it carefully. According to the students' experiments, the substance from the madder root could be directly dyed to obtain a light yellow color. With different mordants, it could produce colors such as crimson, brownish-red, purplish-red, and orange-red, thus producing high-grade red fabrics.

In the next five pages, the students meticulously documented the steps of the dyeing process and listed the high prices of red fabrics on the market, demonstrating the potential benefits of this technique.

Unfortunately, Agriculture and Education Minister Kemi Wildfire listed a disadvantage at the end of his report: he had tried to cultivate madder early on, but the plant was not suitable for the kingdom's climate, and he could only import dried madder roots from the Mediterranean.

Mediterranean region?
Vig drew a parallel to the Canary Islands, which have a similar climate, but the islands are busy growing sugarcane, with grapes and citrus as their second priority, so they probably don't have time to grow madder.

After a moment's thought, he instructed the school to contact major textile factories and the Canary Islands to discuss cooperation among the three parties. Whether they could make money afterward would depend entirely on their abilities.

Vig found a report about the textile industry in another box. During the long conflict, privateers had captured a total of ten Flanders dyers. With the acquisition of such "scarce" talent, the color matching and dyeing techniques in textile factories improved significantly, enabling them to produce mid-grade blue and yellow cloth.

In the first half of the year, the textile industry contributed over £2,500 in royalties and taxes, and the industry continues to grow rapidly.
Yawning, Vig pulled out another document about a treadmill crane. Turning to the end, he found that the students claimed to have built a trial model at the South City Wharf, which was working well.

crane?
He went to the scene in person and found a wooden crane about twelve meters high standing at the dock, with a giant treadmill five meters in diameter underneath. Inside the treadmill were pedals that were operated by two workers.

"It looks a bit like the hamster wheel used by pet hamsters in later generations."

Vig chose a spot with a good view. At that moment, a Kirk was unloading cargo. On the deck, workers were using iron hooks to hang nets containing about two tons of cargo.

Then, the treadmill rotates at a constant speed, pulling the net bag up slowly. Once it reaches a certain height, the horizontal cantilever begins to rotate, transferring the net bag above the track carriage.

"The position is too far to the side, move it a little closer to me! Okay, this is the right position, put it there!"

Following the foreman's instructions, the treadmill reversed its direction, slowly releasing the cable and gently placing the goods onto the carriage of the railcar.

Pulled by two draft horses, the railcart left the unloading area. Immediately afterward, another empty railcar arrived, waiting to be unloaded.

"A fine invention. It seems my investment in education has been worthwhile." Vig was in high spirits and decided to promote the treadle crane in the busy ports of Tyne and Edinburgh. Having witnessed its effectiveness, it wouldn't be long before Dover, Southampton, Mancini, and Duffield would also request permission to use it.

(End of this chapter)