Vikings: Lords of the Ice Sea

Chapter 341 The Vassal

Upon arriving at the palace gates, Imon requested an audience with the Crown Prince. After waiting a few minutes, he followed a guard into the main hall.

The throne on the steps was empty, with Frode and Heligef seated on either side, receiving the Duke's audience.

After some polite pleasantries, Imon reported on the number and composition of the troops. The Crown Prince took the list, glanced at it briefly, praised the Duke's loyalty again, and invited him to the evening banquet.

After leaving the palace, Aemon headed to his own residence, where, despite his short stay in Landineum, he still invested heavily to maintain the dignity of the duke.

After settling his luggage, Aemon went out for a stroll with five guards. The population of Rendinium now exceeded 30,000, and its prosperity and wealth held an inexplicable attraction for nobles from other places.

"These, these, and this one, I want them all."

Before he knew it, Eamon had bought a lot of seemingly useful items. Suddenly, a strong fishy smell caught his attention.

The group arrived at the dock area, where two dinghys were moored, with many wooden barrels on the deck, filled with large quantities of pickled herring.

At that moment, the crew was loading barrels with fishing nets and using a treadmill crane to lift them onto the railcars. Imon, curious, approached a worker who, scratching his disheveled hair, casually replied:
"The King issued an order that each soldier should receive half a pound of meat per day during the training period. Instead of providing beef, mutton, and sausages, the Cabinet chose the cheapest fish. The Cabinet placed orders with fishermen to purchase herring or cod daily and transport them to the northern camp by railcar."

Half a pound of fish every day?

Imon thought the cabinet's approach was wise; had they provided other meats, they probably would have gone bankrupt long ago.

"According to the fishermen, the cabinet spends thousands of pounds of silver every month to purchase fish, plus grain, wine and other supplies that are lost or damaged. How much does that actually cost?"

He was shocked by the royal family's immense wealth; his grandfather (Ragnar) could not have afforded such extravagance during his reign.

Recalling the past, Aemon became depressed. He returned to his mansion and slept for more than an hour before going out to a banquet in the evening.

The royal banquet was of a very high standard, but Imon's attention was not on the food and drink. Instead, he chatted with other nobles, trying to obtain more information.

He whispered to Leonard on his right, "Why are some people missing? Where are the Crown Prince, the Prime Minister, and Torga?"

Leonard's face flushed red, and he let out a loud burp. "They have things to do, they're busy all day long, and they often miss royal banquets, unlike us idle folks."

After the conversation, Imon learned the general situation of the field troops:
Shrike, Utgard, and Viper were appointed commanders of three field divisions, while Torga commanded the heavy cavalry division. Due to a shortage of officers, students from the military academy graduated early, and even 60% of the students from the University of Rendene enlisted, serving as junior officers, clerks, and signalmen.
Imon had no complaints about the King and the cabinet's personnel arrangements. He understood that he was mediocre, lacked experience in military school, and was completely unsuited to the current war situation.

During the previous long march, Aemon encountered several mishaps, leaving him no choice but to delegate authority to five noble sons, allowing these young military academy graduates to coordinate various affairs, with the duke himself acting as the nominal commander. At this moment, Earl Rickard on the left joined the conversation, "His Majesty has mobilized 50,000 troops; what do you think the objective is this time?"

Leonard: "His Majesty is different from the previous Ragnar. He values ​​land, not a little money. I think his goal is the territory of West Frankish territory, including at least the most fertile lands like Paris and Orléans."

"I hope that after the war, His Majesty will grant me a large estate in Burgundy, where the wines are absolutely exquisite. Wow, I'll be eating beef stew in red wine every day! Have you ever tried this new dish? It requires red wine, beef, olive oil, onions, and pepper."

To realize this aspiration, Leonard not only conscripted soldiers for the war but also purchased an additional five hundred pounds of war bonds. For years, he had grown accustomed to Vig's victories and didn't believe the man could lose, especially with nearly forty thousand suits of armor.

After a brief conversation, Attorney General Om approached with a jug of sugarcane liquor, grabbed a piece of fried lamb chop, and popped it into his mouth, saying as he chewed:
“I don’t care about the land, I just want to kill that damned traitor (Gonnar) myself.”

Eleven years ago, in the Battle of Auxerre, Gunnar defeated Ragnar's forces, and Om's two sons were captured. The eldest son died of illness in the prisoner-of-war camp, while the younger son was shot in the right arm with an arrow. Due to a lack of proper care, after the wound healed, his arm strength was greatly diminished, making him unsuitable for sword fighting.

At nine o'clock in the evening, Frode concluded the military meeting and attended a banquet with the Prime Minister and others. Frode did not make much noise, but remained quietly in his seat, observing the expressions of the people and the conversations among them, and speculating on the relationships between them.

The banquet finally ended late into the night, and the tipsy nobles were helped into carriages and transported back to their respective residences. Frode returned wearily to his room and jotted down some personal insights in his notebook.

The next morning, Frode attended the cabinet meeting on time. Because of his lack of administrative experience, he could not participate in most of the discussions and could only pretend to be calm and listen to the ministers' discussions.

Afterwards, he handed the meeting briefing to the intelligence agency, which transcribed it into a specific coded message. This coded message was delivered by rider to Plymouth and then by ship to the Brittany front.

Conversely, Vig's letters from the front lines back home were also transcribed into ciphertext, so even if the ships carrying the letters encountered storms and ran aground in Frankish-controlled territory, the enemy would not be able to decipher the contents of the letters.

Busy until noon, after having lunch, Frode suddenly received news that a new batch of Pecheneg riders had arrived at the dock.

In the six months following the end of the Bulgarian War, the price of mercenaries in Eastern Europe continued to fall, prompting Britain to allow Rurik to expand his recruitment efforts, with an expected recruitment of over a thousand men this year.

He observed the group of nomads; some of them had cold faces and undisguised ferocity in their eyes, suggesting they had fought many battles in Bulgaria.

"Their horsemanship and combat skills are up to standard, but their weakness lies in their difficulty to control. My father's primary goal in forming the Rangers was reconnaissance, but these men are wild and untamed, and when they are out on missions, they are likely to abandon their duties and prioritize robbing nearby civilians."

Under the Crown Prince's watchful eye, three hundred mercenaries headed to the eastern suburban camp for a brief thirty-day training period. The war was urgent, and there was no more time for them to adapt.

(End of this chapter)