Ch 25: Standoff

All the ships were destroyed, and a despondent Eric returned to the Outer City Camp outside York.

Horrible news arrived, and Ragnar and his confidant fell into a rage, roaring about killing all the members of the Northumbrian Royal Family.

“Gentlemen, our retreat is cut off. Now there is only one choice—fight to the death.”

Ragnar did not blame anyone, but instead gave an inspiring speech in public. With his superb oratory skills, he successfully transformed despair into a desire for revenge. Thus, the remaining 2,100 Vikings regained their fighting spirit and were once again united as one.

Among the crowd, Vig’s lips curled into an almost imperceptible smile. The first stage of the plan was a complete success; the next goal was to conquer this kingdom.

In his opinion, the Viking Army was like a pack of wild wolves; being too full would make them lose their fighting spirit. Only when they were half-hungry and half-full would their combat power be at its strongest.

Meanwhile, the city of York not far away was jubilant. Thousands of soldiers escorted a long caravan that arrived at the West Bank of the Ouse River, transporting the looted supplies into the city by ship.

Riding a White Horse and wearing chainmail, Ælla entered the city surrounded by soldiers. Residents along the roadside enthusiastically shouted the name of the young Prince. Girls at the windows threw flowers at him. Instantly, petals fluttered down from the sky. He inadvertently reached out, caught a few pinkish-white petals, and brought them to his nose to smell them lightly, sensing a fragrance he had never smelled before.

Is this the taste of victory?

Arriving at the Royal Palace, Ælla found his Father, Eilaud, convening a meeting with nine Earls, mainly about this year’s taxation.

Due to traditions remaining from the Roman Period, the various kingdoms of Britain generally chose Silver as their currency. One Silver Penny weighed about 1.46g and bore the image of the country’s Monarch. During this period, one Anglo-Pound was approximately 349.9 grams; one pound of Silver could be exchanged for 240 Silver Pence. （1 pound = 20 shillings = 240 pence）.

Last year, Northumbria enjoyed good weather and harvests, and the county farmlands had a bumper harvest. If the supplies paid by various places were converted into currency, the Royal Family’s income reached 1,300 pounds of Silver, the highest income during Eilaud’s reign. Sadly, fate is unpredictable; the sudden arrival of the Viking Army brought the kingdom’s finances to the brink of collapse.

In less than three months, more than half of the kingdom was plundered by the Vikings, especially the wealthy regions of Leeds and Sheffield. This year’s tax revenue is expected to be only 500 pounds, provided that the Vikings are annihilated as soon as possible; otherwise, even this goal may not be achieved.

“Father, my Lords.”

Upon discovering Prince Ælla’s return from the expedition, the nine Earls bowed. Eilaud, noticing that his son was unharmed, inquired about the amount of wealth looted and whether the legendary 3,000 pounds of Silver had been obtained.

“1,030 pounds of Silver, 57 pounds of Gold; the rest are ironware, woolen cloth, and grain.”

Ælla sighed and frankly admitted that a Viking ship, under an arrow shower, had managed to escape, presumably carrying a considerable amount of Silver; the remaining part probably sank to the riverbed with the shipwreck and shouldn’t be expected to be salvaged in the short term.

“Not enough, far from enough.” Eilaud rubbed his eyes. He had originally thought that the surprise attack would cause the Vikings outside the city to scatter, but he hadn’t expected these people to be so tenacious; they had actually stubbornly fought to the death under the walls of York.

As a result, the end of the war was still far away; the looted wealth was insufficient to meet the needs; where would he get the money?

War is a bottomless pit that devours gold and silver. Taking the Royal Guard, with a full complement of 300 men, as an example, each soldier’s standard equipment includes iron scale armor, a helmet, a square shield, an iron sword, several sets of spare clothes and socks, and a yellow robe worn over the iron armor, totaling three pounds of silver.

After the Battle of Mancunium, only a quarter of the guard remained. To rebuild this only standing army would require over 700 pounds of silver to purchase equipment, and adding soldier salaries and training expenses, the overall cost would reach 1,000 pounds, exceeding 80% of the annual income!

“Has the situation deteriorated to this point?”

When it came to finances, Prince Ælla first thought of taxation; however, the southern region was severely damaged and couldn’t squeeze out much; rash taxation would cause a large population to flee to the Kingdom of Mercia in the south.

Unable to levy taxes, the only way out was to borrow money. Ælla looked at his father and proposed borrowing a sum of money from the Church to tide them over.

“Let me think,” Eilaud hesitated.

The various monasteries in Northumbria owned their own lands; not only did they not pay taxes, they could also demand a tenth of the agricultural output from believers to support the clergy and church maintenance, and their financial situation was far better than other classes.

Having been in power for many years, the King had borrowed money from the Church five times, and had never been able to repay the debts, only able to repay them with land.

In his opinion, using land to repay debts was a last resort. For every piece of land given away, the Royal Family would lose the corresponding tax revenue. The less royal income there was, the more frequent the borrowing from the Church became; over time, who would rule Northumbria in the future?

At this time, an Earl suggested, “Borrow money from the Church to overcome the difficulties, and after repelling the Vikings, convene a Council of Wise Men to levy a special tax to repay the debt.”

After he finished speaking, another Earl named Pascal made a shocking suggestion, “Since the war cannot be won, why not negotiate with the Vikings outside the city and let them plunder Mercia; anyway, we can’t loot much more.”

“What nonsense are you talking about?” Prince Ælla was furious, wishing he could beat this man up. “We just burned the warships at the Humber Estuary, and yet you intend to let them go? If they don’t want to leave, do you also want to bribe them?”

Up to now, Britain has never paid indemnity to the Vikings. Once the Royal Family paid money, it would inevitably become the laughingstock of other countries.

Unfortunately, no one present could have imagined that in 991, a century and a half later, Wessex would have unified the entire region of England, its strength flourishing; however, the then King first paid 10,000 pounds of silver to the Vikings to beg for peace, and three years later paid another 16,000 pounds, after which it became unstoppable.

After a long debate, the King adopted Pascal’s suggestion for peace negotiations and sent him to the besieging camp under the pretext of negotiations to probe the Vikings’ true intentions.

Understanding that he had said the wrong thing, Pascal walked out of York with a mournful face, moving towards the Viking camp with difficulty.

After identifying himself to the pirate on watch, Pascal stayed at the camp gate until the afternoon, waiting for a full five hours. He couldn’t help but wonder if the pirate leader had forgotten about him.

As dusk approached, someone woke the sleeping Pascal and led him eastward through the barracks.

Along the way, the Vikings were unfriendly toward the well-dressed Pascal, as if teasing a friend’s rare pet, deliberately making strange noises to scare him, or simply 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 threw a stone projectile, like the legendary Cyclops throwing stones, whistling as it smashed towards the distant forest.

Crack.

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

“No good, the barbarians intend to use it to destroy our city walls!”