Vikings: Lords of the Ice Sea

Chapter 292 Land
In early October, Leonard went to Rendynewum and admitted that he had not been strict with his personnel. Vig did not pursue the matter further, but exiled his butler and factory manager and demanded that he compensate the investors for their losses. The whole incident thus passed by in a muddled manner.

For the next two weeks, Vig devoted all his energy to dealing with the nobles from all over the country who came to pay their respects, listening to their demands, mediating their disputes, and holding banquets at night for them to eat and drink to their hearts' content.

On October 15th, a battered sailboat docked at the Thames River pier. The captain excitedly ran to the palace and handed Bjorn's letter to Vigé.

"Your Majesty, the expedition has been a success! We have discovered a vast new continent."

Vig leaned forward slightly as he examined the animal pelts displayed by the crew. When they brought out local crops, Vig rose from his throne and went over to touch these things that existed deep in his memory: corn, beans, and pumpkins.

Upon discovering that the king was very interested in exotic crops, the captain quickly explained:
"This is the main crop of the locals, and they plant it together in a way they call the 'three sisters planting method.' This plant (corn) is at the top, this bean climbs on top of the corn, and the last one (pumpkin) is at the bottom. The brothers have tasted it, and it tastes pretty good."

Then, the captain, named Tolliver, produced a nautical chart and recounted the entire expedition:

In March of this year, Bjorn once again led a new sailboat out of Greenland. With the help of a five-day northerly wind, the ship unexpectedly arrived at a strange land with lush vegetation, which Bjorn named "Venland".

Greenland is short of timber, so Bjorn established a logging camp there as a future source of timber. During his stay, he encountered the local indigenous people.

Given the painful lessons of the first landing in Greenland, Bjorn was much more cautious this time. Instead of rushing to communicate with the locals, he ordered his crew to quickly build fences and dig trenches.

With the defensive structures completed, Bjorn gradually made contact with the indigenous people, buying food from them with knives and spirits.

In May, taking advantage of favorable winds, he returned to Greenland, joined the remaining two brigs, and transported two hundred residents to Vinland.

Bjørn planned to establish a permanent settlement here because Vinland's lower latitude meant its winters were far less harsh than Greenland's. Furthermore, the area's freshwater bodies were teeming with beavers, allowing the Vikings to easily purchase large quantities of beaver pelts from the natives simply by providing them with spirits and knives.

To develop this new business, Bjorn stayed in Vinland for the winter and sent one of his most trusted assistants back to Britain to sell furs, purchase new sailing ships, and acquire more supplies.

As news of the New World spread, the West Sea Fur Company's stock price soared, doubling its market value in five days to an astonishing £50,000, and it was still rising.

At the end of October, an unexpected visitor requested an audience.

"Salomon?"

At the servant's prompting, Vig recalled his time in Brittany, when Ragnar sent him with several thousand men to western Frankish territory to incite a rebellion in Brittany.

Afterwards, Vig conquered Raine—the largest settlement in the area—and chose a nobleman named Salomon as the leader of the rebels. Years later, it turned out that this man was still alive.

Looking at the old man, who was over fifty years old, and the dozen or so thin followers behind him, Vig sighed. Since it was almost noon, he simply had his servants bring out a long table and invited the group of Brittanys to have lunch in the hall.

“Thank you for your generosity, Your Majesty.” Salomon took his seat without hesitation. He didn’t use silver cutlery, but grabbed a piece of piping hot wild boar meat with his bare hands, the fat dripping between his fingers. He opened his mouth and tore into it, the heavy, rapid chewing sounds echoing in the solemn hall.

After licking the grease off his fingers, he grabbed another piece of roasted venison rib, gnawed on the meat, broke the bone, and sucked out the marrow.

"Pour me another glass of this sweet wine, glug, glug, burp, just one more glass."

After downing two large glasses of sugarcane liquor, Salomon reached for a lamprey pie, chewing and muttering incoherently, "Pepper, haha, seven whole years, I've forgotten what this seasoning tastes like."

The attendants ate in the same manners, scrambling for food on their plates. The palace servants nearby remained calm, bringing out dishes and clearing away empty plates in a steady stream, though their lips curled down slightly, silently revealing their contempt and disdain.

Vig sat upright on the throne. He was used to such scenes. His face showed neither anger nor pity, only a calmness akin to that of a marble sculpture.

After a hearty meal and drinks, Salomon tearfully recounted his experiences in recent years. Since the Viking army was defeated, Charles the Bald was able to free up his forces to retake Brittany, and Salomon had once again fled back to the mountains for refuge.

For the next seven years, he barely survived on the charity of the local gentry, and during this time he did not launch any rebellion and managed to escape the search by the Frankish nobles.

Last year, Salomon lost two of his friends to illness, leaving him without a source of income. He had no choice but to lead his relatives across the sea to the north to seek help from Vig.

"Understood. After the meal, someone approached you to inquire about the details of the local situation. I will also send someone to Brittany to conduct an on-site investigation later."

Vig made no explicit commitment, much less would he launch an attack on Western Europe's leading power over such a trivial matter. Ultimately, he and Ragnar were not the same kind of people.

Hearing his master's reply, Salomon was slightly disappointed and could only change the subject to avoid embarrassment, mentioning the widely circulated New World. "If we can't overthrow the Frankish tyranny, we might as well move to the New World and settle down."

"No, that idea is impractical."

Wiegard, drawing on the experiences of Bjorn and others, advised Salomon to abandon this unrealistic idea.

Currently, Bjorn has explored the following route: a two-masted sailing ship departs from Rendeneum, sails north along the coastline, passes through the Faroe Islands, Iceland, Greenland, and then sails south to Vinland (Canada). The entire journey takes 2 to 3 months, and the number of immigrants required for such a long-distance voyage is relatively small, estimated at only 60 to 80 people, making it extremely inefficient.

In Vig's memory, during the Age of Exploration, the more logical way to travel from Europe to the New World was to sail south, using the trade winds and the North Equatorial Current to cross the ocean.

However, this route is not yet developed, and for the foreseeable future, Bjorn will have to endure the harsh conditions of the northern route and migrate in small groups, like ants carrying grains, to slowly develop his fur company.

After a long pause, Vig concluded, "For our generation, the development of the New World is destined to be a distant undertaking, left to our descendants."

(End of this chapter)