The fleet's carrying capacity was limited, and the soldiers preferred amber, furs, woollen fabrics and cast iron ingots, refusing low-value materials such as grain and pickled fish.
After staying in Bergen for two days, Ol and his entourage were nowhere to be seen. Taking advantage of the favorable wind, Vig decided to flee as quickly as possible.
Before leaving, he asked the soldiers to gather two thousand inhabitants of Bergen and made a speech to them:
"That's it, I am Vig, Duke of Tyneburg. This is all a personal feud between me and the Lord of Bergen. He has long been in debt to his debts and last month he killed my envoy. He simply did not take me seriously. I put a reward of fifty pounds of silver on his head!"
Sensing that the mood in the crowd had become somewhat unsettled, Whig deliberately announced the good news.
"My deepest apologies for the disturbance. The remaining provisions, pickled fish and wine in the warehouse are provided to you free of charge. You may also move the furniture from the lord's house as you please. This is my small compensation."
. With that, Whig led his men aboard and sailed away to the cheers of two thousand inhabitants.
In mid-May, the fleet arrived in the Firth of Forth, near the Edinburgh Sea. Whig did not rush south to return to Tyne,
but found time to go to Stirlingshire to inspect the local iron smelting conditions.
From previous letters, he had learned that the mine manager was attempting to lay wooden rails to solve his increasingly serious transportation problems. After sailing some distance up the River Forth, the Bluefish furled her sails and slowly approached the north pier. A sailor turned the capstan to lower the anchor, then made fast with a rope to the wooden piles on the bank.
Stepping onto the planks, Wig approached Caesar, who was surrounded by miners. "How does the trolley work?"
"Very well,"
replied Caesar, leading the Duke to the north end of the ironworks, where
a temporary 100-metre stretch of wooden tracks, spaced about 1.5 metres apart, had been laid.
At the boss's command, the workers brought draft horses and hitched them to a cart loaded with reddish-brown ore. After two trips, the horses were still full of strength.
According to later measurements, the draft horses could reach a speed of about 6 kilometers per hour, and the cart weighed about 1.5 tons - twice as much as a regular horse-drawn cart.
If the horses were to pull the miners into the mine, their speed would be even greater. The journey that had previously taken two hours now took only half an hour to the foot of the mountain.
As for the current track, Vig offered several suggestions: lay sleepers under the wooden rails, filling the cracks between the sleepers with gravel so that rainwater could drain through the cracks, preventing the track from becoming soaked with water and shortening its service life.
In a few years, as ironworking technology improved, it might even be possible to nail a layer of iron sheets to wooden rails, increasing the load-bearing capacity of the mine cars and, in the process, extending their life.
Then Vig turned his attention to the iron smelting furnace. This time, he decided to add a new step: stirring the molten iron.
Laying out a drawing, he explained to Caesar and the other workers: "This is a hydraulic mixer. It is used to stir the molten iron coming out of the furnace..."
The process, first used during the Han Dynasty, was vaguely familiar to Vig: iron ore contains many impurities. When stirred,
these impurities react with oxygen in the air, forming less dense oxides that float to the surface, making them easier to scoop up with a ladle.
This method produced iron with a lower carbon content, making it much easier to process into iron. Wig suggested that if the quality of the iron material was significantly better than previous products, he might even be able to raise the price a little.
"Well, Caesar says that with the use of railroad cars, the daily volume of traffic will increase by at least 50%..."
Whig wrote down his calculations on papyrus. With the advent of railway cars and hydraulic mixers, the annual output of pig iron would increase even more. In terms of silver coins, the annual profit could reach 400 pounds of silver!
"Excellent! The iron ore on the north bank of the Forth alone is enough to cover the cost of garrisons throughout the North, so that Tyneburg will not be left out in the cold."
With the increased supply of pig iron, farmers will be able to purchase more iron tools, including heavy ploughs, horseshoes and iron farm implements. The yield
will increase, and agricultural taxes will gradually increase.
Thinking about this, Whig was in high spirits and gave the ironworkers an additional bonus.
Back in Tyneburg, Vig shared the good news with Helgift. The two of them tallied up the accounts and confirmed that there would be no budget deficit this year. Their long-standing worries were allayed.
Pen in hand, Vig suddenly had an idea and began to tally up the incomes of other nobles.
The first was High King Ragnar of Britain. Vig had originally been responsible for managing the revenues of the Mercian royal family, and then, while preparing supplies for the Frankish campaign in Londinium, he had access to extensive financial information. All in all, Ragnar's annual income was roughly equivalent to between 6,000 and 8,000 pounds of silver.
Next was King Eric of Norway. Norway was larger than Britain, but its harsh climate and poor crop yields led to a large migration of people to Britain.
Based on fragmentary accounts handed in by merchants, Vig calculated that the annual income of the Norwegian royal family was roughly equivalent to between 1,000 and 2,000 pounds of silver.
Within Britain, Wessex's finances were strong. After the capture of Winchester, Vig looked at the relevant accounts and found that, excluding the customs offices in Oxfordshire and Southampton, the annual income of the Duke of Wessex was approximately 1,500 pounds.
As for Duke Theowulf of Mercia, his domain was equivalent to half the size of the original Mercian region. A small silver mine had recently been discovered, bringing the annual income to around 1,000 pounds of silver.
Then came three new Dukes of Britain: Vig, Ivar, and Gunnar.
First their own territories. The iron mines of Stirlingshire were working smoothly, and the four new counties began collecting agricultural taxes. Overall,
By 850 AD, revenues would have totalled between £1,000 and £1,400.
As for Ivar, he now controlled Derwent and two-fifths of Ireland. Unfortunately, he was mired in war, spending all his annual taxes on the war effort. He often had to borrow money, even pawning his wife's jewellery to wool merchants.
To deal with his financial receipts, Ivar turned to Whig in March, lending a team of clerks to clear the accumulated accounts.
Ivar's annual income was currently £500 in silver, with huge potential for growth. If the war ended, his income could at least double after a few years of patient land management.
Next was Duke Genard of Normandy, whose position was truly unique.
Gunnar remained nominally Lord of Cambridge, but in fact broke away from Ragnar's rule and allied himself with his new master, Charles the Bald. It is rumoured that he and his Viking followers gradually adopted Frankish customs and abandoned the worship of the Norse gods.
Vigee was unaware of Normandy's tax revenues, but could only estimate them roughly:
The climate and soil of West Franconia were considerably superior to those of Britain, making it the most habitable area in Europe. The region was rich in produce, and, taking into account the horse trade, he estimated Gunnar's annual income at £2,000–£3,000.