Chapter 53 Upgrading Ships
The next time Vig asked in detail about the intricacies of Berber shipbuilding, including types of wood, sail materials, and the location of the rudder...
As the banquet drew to a close, Bjorn finally got rid of the endless questions and, holding on to the wall, headed toward his room. In a daze, he saw a pretty figure standing behind the door.
"Princess Eva?" Bjorn rubbed his eyes vigorously. He was not particularly friendly with the interlocutor and froze for a while in amazement.
The woman approached him herself, exuding a light sweet aroma: "I am very interested in the Iberian Peninsula, Prince Bjorn. Could you introduce me in detail when you have time?"
"Of course, the beautiful princess."
...
The next day, Vig found Bjorn in the garden behind the palace, walking with Princess Eva. "Hey, I thought about this a lot last night, and I think we should adopt Berber shipbuilding technology, improve on the Viking longship, and create a large ship suitable for sea travel."
To facilitate inland shipping, the Viking longship had to sacrifice some characteristics in exchange for greater maneuverability, so that the Vikings could plunder on the river.
However, in the future, seagoing vessels will develop primarily under sail, gradually abandoning oars, acquiring larger hulls and greater stability, and eventually three-masted sailing ships with a displacement of hundreds and even thousands of tons will appear.
(In the later stages of their development, sailing battleships typically displaced over a thousand tons, such as Nelson's flagship Victory, which displaced 3,500 tons.)
This gave Vig the idea of forming a special technical group to build a new type of ocean-going cargo ship, propelled primarily by sail, with a full displacement of over 100 tons, to facilitate the development of maritime trade.
When Bjorn mentioned sailing, he was immediately interested and discussed the subject with Vig at length. They went into the main hall to find Ragnar.
...
"Hmm, that seems reasonable."
Ragnar scratched his chin and thought for a long time. He was about to accept the offer when Pascal, who was standing next to him, dissuaded him: "Your Majesty, there is not much gold and silver left in the treasury. Please be careful."
"Understood." Ragnar waved his hands in irritation and complained to Bjorn and Vig:
"The life of a king is not as joyful as it used to be. Every day, countless people eat, drink, defecate and urinate near you. Your wife demands jewels, the guards noisily demand to plunder foreign countries, and nobles come to you for decisions on trivial matters. Alone, just because one family's sheep ate another's wheat field, these two nobles bothered me for half a day!"
Bjorn asked with interest: "And then what? How will you resolve this conflict?"
"I ordered the guards to throw away the two swords and let them fight to determine the winner, life or death. Haha, these two have finally calmed down. Maybe I should continue to use the "trial by combat" method. Whenever someone is in irreconcilable conflict, let them fight in public."
After some gossip, Ragnar agreed to their request: "I will pay twenty pounds of silver and find experienced shipwrights to build new ships together with these Berber prisoners." "
Your Majesty, I thank you for your wisdom." Vig bowed and walked out of the hall side by side with Bjorn.
The next moment, Bjorn suddenly reacted: "It seems that Princess Eva is still in the garden. She will not be angry, right? This is all your fault, Vig."
Without waiting for Vig's objections, his figure quickly disappeared into the corner of the corridor.
…
After spending more than a week in York, doing various things, Vig said goodbye to Ragnar and headed north.
Returning to Tyneburg, the first thing Geligiv asked when they met was the location of the Common Hop.
"I have a contract with a wool merchant. He will come to Tyneburg in the summer to buy woolen fabric and bring seeds along the way."
After two days of annoying interrogations from Geligiv, Vig began to examine the situation in Tyne Town. He arrived at Carpenter Street in the southwest corner of the city and placed an expensive order with fifteen carpenters:
"Five hundred bows, ten thousand arrows, and a thousand round shields."
According to the information he had received in York, King Eric had saved up enough money and was planning to start a war in the spring to force the nobles of all Norway to surrender to him.
With war approaching, Vig decided to take advantage of the opportunity to make a quick buck. If the military situation worsened, he would manufacture more weapons and sell them to northern Europe.
"Yes, sir." Once the price was agreed upon, the carpenters gladly accepted it and soon discussed the share of each family. The skilled carpenters were responsible for making the bows, while the unskilled ones were responsible for the arrow shafts and round shields.
After some time, Vig began to supervise the making of the bow for the purple shirt when he had free time.
First, the carpenter saws the yew into rough blanks lengthwise. The heartwood, located closer to the heart of the tree, is relatively hard and forms the back of the bow, while the sapwood, located closer to the bark, is relatively flexible and forms the bottom of the bow. All processing must be done along the grain to prevent cracking.
After completing the blank, it is necessary to air dry for at least six months to reduce the moisture content of the bow material and prevent deformation. After air drying, the carpenter scrapes the blanks with a knife so that both handles bend symmetrically when the bow is drawn.
During the observation, Wig asked a question: "I have been to Eastern Europe and Constantinople. Their bows require horn, sinew and glue for the floats. Why do British purple bows not need it?"
After asking several people in succession, the elderly carpenter finally gave an answer: "Sir, in my youth I was an apprentice in Wessex. The master was commissioned to make a war bow from horn and sinew. We fiddled around for a long time and found that every rainy day the glued body of the bow loosened and eventually fell apart. We also insulted a nobleman and were forced to flee to Northumbria to avoid disaster. "
Exactly."
Wig suddenly realized that the wet and rainy climate could easily lead to the destruction of the glue layer. No wonder the English army was armed with only a bow.
Time passed, and soon April 846 arrived. The wind and waves that had lasted in the North Sea all winter gradually died down, and Viking ships arrived from Northern Europe one after another.
According to the news brought by travelers, King Eric had gathered an army of 2,000 men and personally led them to conquest. 300 men were equipped with iron armor, and the armor percentage reached 15%.
Whenever a settlement was captured, Eric usually executed the lord's family and expelled the shield-bearers who surrendered in battle. After that, he adopted the Frankish system and appointed his confidants as counts or knights to govern the newly conquered lands. Knights are obliged to serve forty days a year without pay, and for exceeding the term they are paid a salary. In case of failure to fulfill vassal obligations, the king has the right to take away their lands and noble titles.
"It is strange, even in Britain the fief system is not fully implemented, why should Eric take the initiative?"
Wig repeatedly asked for details and learned that Eric appointed a group of merchants who had traveled many times throughout Europe as consultants and asked them to tell the history of the Frankish kingdom orally. It seems he wanted to be the Charlemagne of the Scandinavian world.
(Charlemagne, 742–814. During his reign, he actively promoted the feudal system. The Frankish kingdom reached its peak, its territory spanning France, the Netherlands, Germany, Italy, and most of Western Europe. He was later crowned "Great Roman Emperor" by the Pope, so the country he ruled can also be called the empire of Charlemagne.)
"It seems he was very inspired by the Battle of Northumbria. Perhaps it has something to do with me. Forget about it, let's first profit from this war."
With a sigh, Vig quickly found the carpenters and convinced them to increase their production. The war was not ending anytime soon, and now was the time to make money.