Ch 54: Raiders

Warfare was frequent in Northern Europe, and more and more Viking immigrants flooded into Tyne. In April alone, six hundred Viking peasants remained to settle.

For these people, Vig followed past practices, allotting them land and exempting them from taxes for two years, while requiring the promotion of the three-field system.

In addition, many Vikings were unwilling to farm, clamoring for Vig to lead them on raids.

“How about this, I’ll introduce you to Ireland. Ivar is currently short-handed and needs warriors like you who are full of energy.”

To get rid of these troublemakers, Vig ordered two shield-bearers to lead them west to Derwent, then sail across the sea to Dyfflin.

“It’s finally over.” On the west side watchtower of Tyne, he watched the group’s departing backs, unable to help but sigh.

At this time, Herigifu ran over in a panic, “Beacon fire! Someone’s attacking!”

Vig turned around and saw a towering black column of smoke rising in the east. Soon after, the North Temple in the central area of Tyne Town frantically rang its bells. The once lively marketplace instantly descended into chaos. Merchants selling salt overturned their scales, fishermen dropped their fishing nets they were repairing and ran home. The whole town was filled with an atmosphere of impending doom.

“Sound the horn, muster the troops.” He gestured to the soldier beside him to blow the horn. In just a few minutes, forty-five shield-bearers ran out of the barracks one after another, forming ranks in the open space.

“What’s the panic? Only one column of smoke proves the enemy’s number doesn’t surpass one hundred.”

Vig, with a gloomy face, scolded several overly panicked young men, then led the team out of the East Gate of Tyne. Accompanied by the anxious gazes of the residents along the street, forty-five soldiers crossed the entire town and arrived at the unfinished east wall.

Currently, Tyne Town has two hundred households with a population exceeding eight hundred. According to tradition, once the town is attacked by a foreign enemy, every adult male has the obligation to defend, totaling three hundred and forty armed commoners.

To be safe, he dispatched one hundred militiamen to guard the gap in the east wall, with the remaining militiamen distributed along the four walls, and the forty-five shield-bearers serving as reserves.

Vig climbed the eight-meter-high watchtower, overlooking the east river surface, but found no sign of enemy ships. He sent five shield-bearers on horseback to scout. Half an hour later, the scouting team ran back to report that the enemy was pillaging villages downstream, and there were only about sixty or seventy of them.

“Unbelievable! Even such a small number dares to mess with my territory?”

Vig went to the dock to board a ship. Besides the shield-bearers, he additionally employed fifty commoners to fight alongside him. The commoners’ fighting skills were low and unsuitable for close combat, so they all served as crossbowmen.

Leaving the dock, three longships took advantage of the west wind and sailed downstream. The fifteen-kilometer journey passed in a flash. Vig stood at the bow, gazing at the large plumes of black smoke in the distance, occasionally turning to look at the dense bushes on both banks, trying to find traces of an ambush.

“Sir, they’re there!”

A sharp-eyed shield-bearer pointed to the front left. Two longships were moored on the gravel riverbank, and ragged raiders were carrying grain back and forth.

Before the enemy could react, Vig ordered the sailors to row hard, blocking them on the riverbank. “Crossbow bolts loaded, listen to my orders!”

At this time, a tall, thin bald man stood up, stating that he was the lord of Vasa, willing to give up all spoils of war, only asking for a way to live.

Vig asked those around him, “Vasa? Have you heard of this place?”

“It seems to be a place name in Finland.”

Finland?

Vig searched his memory, confirming that this man was just an insignificant small fry, so he ordered him to surrender, “I am the lord of Tyne, appointed by Ragnar, I order you to lay down your weapons immediately, or you will be killed without mercy!”

Feeling the undisguised killing intent, the chieftain panicked, “Hey, Chosen One, is it necessary to do this for a few Anglo-Saxon commoners?”

“You’ve heard of my name, and you still dare to mess with my territory? You even dare to kill the people I protect, thinking I’m a nobody?”

Vig stopped talking nonsense, waved his arm fiercely, and dozens of crossbow bolts shot out, instantly knocking down a large number of people. Although the chieftain wore a worn iron scale armor, he couldn’t withstand the simultaneous volley of four heavy crossbows and was killed on the spot.

Faced with the continuous arrow shower, the remaining raiders were forced to form a shield wall, and anyone who dared to leave would be shot.

At the same time, the shield-bearers jumped off the ship’s side, quickly flanking the raiders’ rear, forcing forty-three men and women to surrender.

Looking at the large pool of blood spreading on the shore, Vig sighed: “Joren, return the grain and livestock to the surviving villagers. And tell them that if they want a safe place, I will allocate land for them on the south bank of Tyne.”

“Yes, sir.”

Looking at those dejected prisoners, he suddenly had a realization, the days ahead would be difficult.

King Eric ignited warfare in Norway, forcing many people to flee their homes, with Britain, due to its mild climate and fertile soil, being the preferred destination. If the Vikings choose the northern route to Britain, they will inevitably pass the east coast of Tyne.

“Departing from the west coast of Norway, passing through the Shetland Islands, the Orkney Islands, then the desolate coast of northeastern Scotland, and the more prosperous Edinburgh area in the south, then further south is Tyne and Tees.” As long as the war continues, there will be a continuous influx of Viking immigrants into Tyne. This is a big problem.

After returning the supplies, the fleet returned to Tyne. On the way, Joren asked how to deal with the prisoners, and Vig responded lazily, “Incorporate them into the construction team to build walls. There’s a pile of projects waiting to start, so it’s a good use of waste.”

Subsequent events confirmed Vig’s guess. By mid-May, Tyne was raided three more times, with the scale generally below one hundred people.

He blocked two of the groups, bringing the number of special laborers in the construction team to one hundred and sixty. The last group of raiders was relatively cunning. Seeing that the situation was not good, they immediately ran away, not at all cherishing the looted supplies, making Vig furious.

However, from another perspective, this immigration wave also had benefits. The number of Viking residents in the territory exceeded three thousand, and the number of Anglo-Saxon residents approached ten thousand. In addition, the population of Tyne Town successfully exceeded one thousand, finally gaining some rare lively atmosphere.

In Vig’s impression, the urban population of medieval Europe usually accounted for 5-15% of the total population. If the town’s population continues to swell, I’m afraid the grain produced by the various manors and rural areas won’t be able to support them.

Therefore, he intended to limit the population size of Tyne Town, ordering people to spread the word, announcing the revocation of the preferential policies issued last year, no longer providing free land, unless it was for rare high-skilled personnel like blacksmiths and stonemasons.