While everyone was celebrating, Whig was in the camp outside the city, writing a war diary by bright candlelight.
Although Wessex had capitulated, he dared not let his guard down and asked to be put on duty in the camp himself. If he had been caught in the net at the celebratory banquet, such a death would have been too painful.
Hearing the cheers from the city, Whig raised his eyebrows and spent two hours finishing the chapter of "The British War" dedicated to Wessex.
After that, he took out a brand new roll of parchment and began the long and painstaking work of writing a war book.
The war book was to consist of three parts: training, logistics, and tactics.
Considering that these materials would be passed on to future generations and trusted people, Vig wrote it in great detail. The camp section of "Logistics" took up two thousand words, and he spent a lot of time on the outlines.
"Hmm, how tired I am."
Having worked until late at night, the work in the camp was still not finished. Vig stretched his aching wrists, went out to walk around the camp, blew out the candle and went to bed...
The next morning he was shocked by the news that the troops would be sent to Franco the following year.
In connection with this, Ragnar explained with slight embarrassment: "As a king, I must fulfill public statements, otherwise it will undermine my power. I do not intend to occupy Frankish lands. At best, I will conduct an armed campaign as a lesson to Charles the Bald."
After waiting for half an hour, the nobles who had been feasting all night arrived one by one and began to divide the spoils.
Ragnar took the ledger from Goodwin and leafed through it from beginning to end:
The war had lasted for more than half a year, and the Vikings had won an unexpected victory. The total value of precious metals, jewelry, armor, weapons, war horses, cattle, sheep and woolen fabrics exceeded 12,000 pounds of silver.
After a long pause, he cleared his throat: "Warriors and ordinary commanders get 45%, the royal family 15%, and the nobility 40%. Ivar, Vig and Gunnar have contributed the most to this battle, so they will be chosen first. Then…"
Ivar's territory was deeply involved in the war. He took 300 suits of damaged armor, 600 purple bows, and 50,000 arrows, and exchanged the rest for silver coins.
It was Vig's turn, and his share of the spoils was 600 pounds of silver.
Leafing through the war booty book, Vig first thought of warhorses, but unfortunately the number of horses that could be exchanged was limited, and he received only 30 Frankish horses, including 20 mares and 10 young stallions with bad tempers.
Each mare was worth five pounds of silver, and the stallion's price was doubled, for a total of 200 pounds of silver.
Vig then asked for 200 suits of damaged armor. Since the Angles were shorter, they might have to be modified to be suitable for Viking wear.
He didn't need anything else, so he closed the book and handed it back to Goodwin: "Take another 200 pounds of silver."
Next was Gunnar. As commander of the cavalry, he also asked for 30 warhorses, followed by a small amount of armour, weapons and 6,000 sheep.
"The land in Cambridge is level, why give up farming and choose pasture?" Wig was puzzled, and the only reason he could think of was that herding was less troublesome.
With sheepdogs, a shepherd can herd 200 sheep, but 6,000 sheep only need 30 shepherds. On the plains, each acre of pasture can support three sheep, requiring about 2,000 acres, the equivalent of two large estates.
"In addition to wool, sheep provide milk and meat. If Gunnar focuses on grazing in Cambridge and allows the sheep to continue to grow, the price of wool on the market is expected to fall."
…
After the division of the spoils, before the army set out, the army shaman Kemi Wildfire sought out Vig: "Sir, there are rumors in the army that there are large ruins 20 kilometers west of Winchester." "
Ruins? I hope you have not lied to me."
Out of boredom, Vig led several shield bearers on a visit. Under the guidance of a local shepherd, they arrived at a deserted and silent pasture.
From a distance, dozens of grey-white boulders formed many concentric circles. The tallest stone was about seven meters high, and on top of it lay several long stones.
"Stonehenge!"
Feeling the excitement of his master, the grey horse suddenly picked up speed and ran first, ahead of all the others. Vig reached out and touched the nearest stone. It was rough and cold, and there were obvious signs of weathering on the edges and corners.
At this moment, a breeze ran through the grass, several hoarse cries were heard in the air, and several dark ravens landed on the top of the stone.
Pulling out a roll of parchment, Vig sat down on the grass and with a clumsy brush stroke painted the scene in rather mystical colours. The shaman of Kemi led a group of shield-bearers to shout and collect money for the shepherd to buy a sheep and two hens, and performed a temporary sacrifice ceremony.
When they had finished, Vig's painting was almost finished. They camped in the wilderness for the night and returned to Winchester the next day.
...
At this time, Ragnar faced a difficult problem.
The war was over and the army was about to set out. He had originally planned to choose a fine estate in Tamworth to send his new love, Aslaki, there as compensation for her having accompanied him for over six months.
However, when the senior leaders of the coalition were having dinner in the evening, Aslaki suddenly stood up, calmly stroked her belly and said that she was pregnant.
Vig immediately suppressed a smile and looked down at the eel soup on the table. The other nobles acted as if they had not heard anything, and silently ate food from their bowls.
"What are you looking at? This is a great thing!" Ivar was the first to rejoice and recalled his experience of twenty years ago.
At that time, Ragnar was just a pirate on the verge of death. Sometimes he went out to plunder, and the rest of the time he worked at home on the farm.
One cold winter, a traveler in a tattered black cloak asked to stay with him for the night. He had an old face, one eye, and leaned on a strong oak cane. Ragnar and his wife entertained him.
At that time Ivar was eight years old, and Björn was even younger, only five. They pestered the traveler with stories, and he, being knowledgeable, seemed to be able to answer all their questions.
Finally, Björn asked a tricky question to confuse the traveler: "Can you predict the future?"
"What an interesting little fellow, what do you want to know?"
Björn: "Every spring my father goes to the lord to plunder, and in the autumn he returns. He said that when he has saved enough money, he will no longer go to sea, but will stay at home and play with me. Will this come true?"
"No, he has more important things to do."
By the warm fire, the old traveler sipped his cloudy beer and turned to the two children with a smile: "Ragnar is destined to achieve great things. He will have three wives and five children. Unfortunately, he has no time for you."
...
Having told about this past, Ivar offered his father to take Aslaki back to York. Since Queen Sora did not like him, it was better to find her a competitor to kill time and energy.