Vikings: Lords of the Ice Sea

Chapter 25 Confrontation
With all his ships destroyed, a distraught Eric returned to his camp outside York.

When the devastating news struck, Ragnar and his confidants flew into a rage, roaring that they would kill all the members of the Northumbrian royal family.

"Gentlemen, our retreat is cut off. We now have only one choice—to fight to the death."

Ragnar did not blame anyone. Instead, he delivered a highly inspiring speech, skillfully transforming the despair into a burning desire for revenge. With this, the remaining 2,100 Vikings regained their fighting spirit and reunited as a single force.

A barely perceptible smile played on Vig's lips amidst the crowd. The first phase of the plan had been a complete success; the next goal was to conquer the kingdom.

In his view, the Viking army was like a pack of wolves; if they ate too much, they would lose their fighting spirit, and they would be most powerful when they were half-starved.

Meanwhile, in nearby York, jubilation erupted as thousands of troops escorted a long convoy to the west bank of the River Ouse, where they transported captured supplies into the city by boat.

Riding a white horse and clad in chainmail, Ella entered the city surrounded by soldiers. Residents along the roadside chanted the young crown prince's name with fervor, and young girls threw flowers at him from their windows. Instantly, petals fluttered down from the sky. He reached out and caught a few pink and white petals, bringing them to his nose to inhale a fragrance he had never smelled before.

Is this what victory feels like?
Upon arriving at the palace, Ella discovers that her father, Elrod, is convening a meeting with the nine sheriffs, primarily to discuss this year's tax collection.

Due to traditions inherited from the Roman era, the British states generally chose silver as their currency. A silver penny weighed approximately 1.46g and was stamped with the portrait of the monarch. At this time, one ounce pound was approximately 349.9g, and one pound of silver could be exchanged for 240 silver pennies (1 pound = 20 shillings = 240 pence).

Last year, Northumbria enjoyed favorable weather and abundant harvests in all counties. If the tribute paid from various regions were converted into currency, the royal income reached 1,300 pounds of silver, the highest annual income during Ellaud's reign. Unfortunately, misfortune struck; the sudden arrival of the Viking army brought the kingdom's finances to the brink of collapse.

In less than three months, most of the kingdom had been plundered by the Vikings, especially the wealthy regions of Leeds and Sheffield. This year's tax revenue is projected to be only five hundred pounds, provided the Vikings are eliminated as soon as possible; otherwise, even that goal may not be achieved.

“Father, nine adults.”

Upon discovering Prince Ella's return from his campaign, the nine sheriffs bowed in greeting. Ellaud, noticing that he was unharmed, inquired about the extent of the spoils and whether the legendary three thousand pounds of silver had been captured.

“One thousand and thirty pounds of silver, fifty-seven pounds of gold, and the rest of ironware, woolen cloth, and grain.”

Ella sighed and admitted that a ship full of Vikings had fled under a hail of arrows, probably carrying a lot of silver. The rest had likely sunk to the bottom of the river with the ship, and there was no hope of salvaging it anytime soon.

“Not enough, far from enough.” Elrod rubbed his eyes. He had thought that the Vikings outside the city would scatter after the successful raid, but he did not expect that they would be so determined to fight to the death under the walls of York.

With the war seemingly far from over and the spoils insufficient to meet their needs, where would they get the money?

War is a bottomless pit that devours gold and silver. Take a full-strength palace guard of three hundred men as an example. Each soldier was equipped with iron armor, a helmet, a square shield, an iron sword, several sets of clothes and shoes for changing, and a yellow robe to wear over the iron armor, totaling three pounds of silver.

After the Battle of Manchuni, only a quarter of the Guard remained. To rebuild this remaining standing army would require more than seven hundred pounds of silver to purchase equipment, and with the soldiers' salaries and training expenses, the total cost would reach a thousand pounds, exceeding 80% of the annual income!

"Has the situation deteriorated to this extent?"

When it came to finances, Prince Ella's first thought was to levy taxes. However, the southern region had been severely damaged and could not be squeezed for much profit. Imposing taxes rashly would cause a large number of people to flee to the Kingdom of Mercia in the south. Unable to levy taxes, the only solution was to borrow money. Ella looked at her father and suggested borrowing a sum of money from the church for an emergency.

“Let me think about it,” Elrod said hesitantly.

The monasteries in Northumbria owned their own land and were not only exempt from taxes, but also required believers to contribute one-tenth of their agricultural output to support the clergy and church maintenance. Their financial situation was far better than that of other social classes.

During his many years in power, the king borrowed money from the church five times, but was never able to repay the debts and had to settle them with land.

In his view, using land to pay off debts was a last resort. Every piece of land given away meant a loss of tax revenue for the royal family. The less income the royal family had, the more frequently they had to borrow money from the church. Given this imbalance, who would govern Northumbria in the future?

At this point, a county magistrate suggested, "We should borrow money from the church to get through this crisis, defeat the Vikings, convene a council of wise men, and levy a special tax to repay the debt."

After he finished speaking, another sheriff named Pascal made a shocking suggestion: "Since the war can't be fought, why not negotiate with the Vikings outside the city and let them plunder Mercia? We can't take much more from them anyway."

"What nonsense are you spouting?" Prince Ella roared, wanting nothing more than to beat the man to a pulp. "We finally burned the warships at the mouth of the Humber River, and now you're planning to let them go? If they don't want to leave, are you going to try and bribe them?"

To date, Britain has no precedent for paying reparations to the Vikings, and if the royal family were to do so, it would inevitably become a laughing stock in other countries.

Unfortunately, no one present could have imagined that a century and a half later, in 991, Wessex had already unified the entire England region and was very powerful. However, the king at the time paid the Vikings 10,000 pounds of silver to beg for peace for the first time, and then paid them another 16,000 pounds three years later, and from then on, there was no stopping them.
After much debate, the king adopted Pascal's suggestion of peace talks and sent him to the siege camp under the pretext of negotiations to find out the Vikings' true intentions.

Realizing he had said the wrong thing, Pascal walked out of York with a mournful face and trudged toward the Viking camp.

After identifying himself to the pirate on guard duty, Pascal waited at the camp gate until the afternoon, enduring a full five hours. He couldn't help but wonder if the pirate leader had forgotten about him.

As dusk approached, someone woke Pascal from his deep sleep and led him eastward through the camp.

Along the way, the Vikings were very unfriendly to the well-dressed Pascal, as if they were teasing a friend's rare pet, deliberately making strange noises to scare him, or simply pushing and shoving him.

Arriving at the lawn on the east side of the camp, he found many Vikings fiddling with a tall machine. With a loud bang, the machine launched a stone projectile, like the legendary Cyclopes throwing stones, which roared and crashed into the distant forest.

Click.

To Pascal's astonishment, the stone easily snapped several tree trunks, startling the birds in the forest.

"Oh no! The barbarians are planning to use it to destroy our city walls!"

(End of this chapter)