Vikings: Lords of the Ice Sea

Chapter 57 Trading
“That’s the fire giant Surtur breathing down his throat. We’ve disturbed his slumber.”

Faced with these celestial phenomena, the vast majority of Vikings collapsed to the ground, begging for salvation from the Aesir. As night fell, the black smoke continued to rise, turning the night sky a dark red. Volcanic ash fell in abundance, like black snowflakes. They huddled in the unfinished temple, quietly awaiting the end of their lives.

At dawn, the Vikings, who had endured a long night of hardship, left the temple and went to the mountaintop to look north. The muffled sounds gradually subsided, as if the fire giant had not taken any further action but had returned to the earth to continue its hibernation.

"Hurry and repair the ship, and leave this cursed land before He awakens again!"

Undoubtedly, this defeatist rhetoric resonated with most people. Bjorn remained silent, his gaze sweeping over each member; some lowered their heads to avoid his gaze, while others raised their heads to meet his eyes.

To win over the crowd, Bjorn declared in a loud voice, "This is still Midgard. Last night's volcanic eruption was just a natural phenomenon!"

(Midgard, one of the "Nine Realms" in Norse mythology, is the world inhabited by mortals.)
He pointed in the direction of the volcanic eruption, "The fire giants live in Muspelheim, a world filled with high temperatures and magma, where no other life can survive. Since there are trees, birds, and river fish on the island, it proves that this place is definitely not Muspelheim!"

Despite Bjorn's repeated persuasion, a few decided to stay a while longer, while the remaining eighty-odd people refused to listen to his nonsense, spent three days hastily repairing the ship, and forcibly took most of the supplies with them to sea.

After this upheaval, the settlement was reduced to 53 people. Bjorn allowed the remaining residents to continue building houses and smoking whale meat.

Over the next few days, small pieces of canvas, barrels, and fragments of ship hulls began to drift ashore. Bjorn collected the fragments and discovered that the shredded canvas came from two different sails, proving that both of the departing ship's longships had sunk to the bottom of the sea.

"Fellow countrymen, I have some bad news to announce."

He forced a deeply sorrowful expression. "The more than eighty people who left earlier perished at sea. Their cowardice must have angered the gods, thus incurring Odin's punishment. Alas, such a death means they are destined not to enter Valhalla. What a pity."

Sensing the faint fear emanating from the crowd, Bjorn was secretly pleased; at least for the time being, they wouldn't have any intention of leaving again, and he had luckily survived the first test.
At the same time, Tyneburg.

Six months after the news broke, four stonemasons arrived from all over the country. After a brief assessment, Vig dismissed the worst craftsman and hired the remaining three at a high price.

He then asked the three stonemasons to each provide a construction plan, with the following specific requirements:

The outer perimeter wall of Tyne was replaced with a stone structure, with a height of 6 meters, a base thickness of 3.5 meters, and a top thickness of 2.5 meters.

The inner walls of Tyneburg were also replaced with a stone structure, with similar specifications to the above, and a main castle about fifteen meters high was also built.

After surveying the site, the three stonemasons gave roughly similar estimates. The outer walls would cost 250-350 pounds of silver, the inner walls 60 pounds of silver, and the main castle was expected to cost 100 pounds of silver.

The Viggs went to a corner and whispered among themselves, then asked the craftsmen, "It's too expensive, can we save some money?"

"My lord, my lady, this is already the lowest price. According to construction experience, the cost of stone quarrying accounts for 20% of the total budget, and the transportation cost accounts for 40%. Fortunately, you can use the ruins of the Roman Wall to quarry the stone and transport it by ship, thus greatly reducing the cost. Otherwise, the total expenditure would have exceeded a thousand pounds of silver."

That night, the lord and his wife stayed up all night. The treasury's savings could only cover the inner walls and the main castle; the outer walls, costing a staggering three hundred pounds of silver, had to be temporarily put on hold. Vig's idea was to build the city defenses to stop raiders, especially when he was away and the territory's defenses were weak.

In the worst-case scenario, a large number of raiders would launch an attack while she was away, in which case Herrigif would have to hold the main castle for at least a month.

"First, repair the main castle, then the inner walls, and finally the outer walls of Tyne Town. The outer walls are currently about four meters high, which is enough to withstand attacks from small groups of troops. If the number of raiders exceeds five hundred, then all the shield guards will retreat into the castle and hold out for a long time."

Having made up his mind, Vig recruited the people within his territory to work, planning to complete the project in two years.

Having received no news from Bjorn, and unwilling to delay, he instructed the stonemasons to prepare the lime mortar using traditional methods. The recipe is as follows:
Limestone is calcined at high temperatures and mixed with water and sand to form mortar. A small amount of egg white and plant fiber are then added, which is said to further enhance its toughness.

"Egg whites? How many eggs do you need?" Vig was astonished by the extravagant use of ingredients and couldn't help but grumble.

Out of a sense of rigor, Harrigif spent an entire day in the library, finding a passage in the biography of a Roman senator.

“My dear, this man once served as a local official in the province of Gaul. The area lacked volcanic ash, so when they built the city walls and aqueducts, the craftsmen used a formula that was not much different from what we use now, adding egg whites, flax fibers, reeds, and other materials.”

"Really? With such a large-scale requisition of our people's eggs, our reputations will probably suffer a significant blow."

In June, Tyneburg became a bustling construction site, and considering it was the family business, Vig and Herigif devoted a great deal of time to it. When Ivar's messenger found him, he initially mistook him for a servant responsible for moving stones.

After quickly washing his face with well water, Vig tore off his smelly linen shirt, returned to his bedroom to change into a decent robe, and summoned the messenger. "What does Ivar want? Are you asking me to attack some settlement again?"

"No, the war is ongoing and the weapons are being severely damaged. My master needs a large number of bows and arrows, shields, and weapons."

“You should go to York. The Royal Armory has thirty blacksmiths. His Majesty is never stingy in this regard, especially when it comes to his eldest son.”

Suddenly, the envoy gave an awkward smile. "Some time ago, my master captured a wooden fortress and seized a precious ruby ​​and gold necklace. At the victory banquet, someone suggested giving it to the Queen. My master was quite drunk at the time and made a joke, which angered the King and Queen. There's no hope of reinforcements now."

I'd rather hang it around some prostitute's neck than give it to that damned witch.

These are Ivar's exact words. Upon learning the news, Ragnar was furious and sent messengers to severely reprimand his eldest son, also ordering him to apologize to the queen.

Knowing he was in the wrong, Ivar presented a large number of gifts, including a ruby ​​necklace, barely managing to gain his father's forgiveness. At this point, the internal conflicts within the Northumbrian royal family were completely exposed.

(End of this chapter)