By the time September rolled around, the first football league had concluded, and its inaugural champion emerged—the Stirling Team.
Vig wasn't surprised.
The entire team was made up of iron miners—far more cohesive and disciplined than the others.
They crushed opponents by huge margins every match.
At this rate, they might very well dominate the championships for years.
Under the gaze of all spectators, Vig awarded the sixteen members—eleven players, four substitutes, and their part-time coach, the mining overseer Qesso—1.5 pounds of silver each, enough grain to feed a man for twenty to thirty years.
Additionally, the winners received a trophy cast in solid silver, plated with gold, engraved with the team name and year.
As a symbol of victory, the trophy would be enshrined in Stirling County's temple for one year before passing to the next champion.
Handing the heavy trophy to the jubilant players, Vig turned and left, letting the victors bask in the roars of the crowd.
Feeling the heat and joy of the celebration, he let out a long breath.
The rebellion had been put down, yes—but the wounds in people's hearts would take years to heal.
He hoped competitive sports and theatrical performances would hasten that healing.
As for theater, Vig didn't have time to write original plays, so he borrowed plots from future-era literature and even video games.
To the imagination-starved public, such stories were more than enough to keep them enthralled for a long while.
A Eunuch from the East
In October, Vig traveled to Londinium to meet the king—without encountering any complications.
One interesting incident occurred:
The Berber Merchant Guild, eager to curry Favel, presented Ragnar with a gift—
a eunuch from the Eastern Roman Empire, named Paphes.
Across many societies, eunuchs were considered low-risk to royal authority and thus easily trusted.
With sharp intuition and social perception, Paphes quickly found his footing at court, rising to become a Deputy Chamberlain.
Vig, familiar with history, remained wholly unbothered.
The Viking nobles, however, looked at the eunuch as if he were some bizarre animal.
For centuries, the Eastern Roman Empire had employed eunuchs, including several powerful court eunuchs—
and even the brilliant general Narses (480–574 AD).
Among Vig's library in Tyne Town, there was even a parchment biography detailing Narses' campaigns, especially the war to reconquer Italy.
In his decisive battle against the Ostrogoths, Narses employed a groundbreaking tactic:
Against the superior Gothic cavalry, he had his own horsemen dismount, forming a long-spear infantry phalanx, while masses of elite archers loosed arrow storms behind them—
crushing King Totila's cavalry.
"Infantry defeating cavalry—remarkable. Perhaps the English and French battles of Crécy and Agincourt centuries later drew inspiration from him."
The North Trembles
After the audience, Vig returned home.
Local officials reported that imports of pig iron from Scandinavia had suddenly surged—doubling the usual amount.
Demand for grain, tar, and other supplies rose as well.
"So much? Are they preparing for war?"
Despite the stormy North Sea, Vig sent an envoy to Bergen to ask Prince Little Erik for information.
Half a month later, the envoy returned:
Over the past six months, Halfdan had successively absorbed five settlements near Gothenburg.
The Swedish nobles were terrified.
They turned west to King Erik, begging him to assume the title of Swedish King.
This would normally have been a dream opportunity—
but Erik refused immediately.
He couldn't guess Ragnar's intentions and feared provoking him, so he only gave minor aid and allowed nobles to purchase iron tools at reduced prices.
As for Little Erik, he chose to sit back and watch.
The fiercer the war, the better his business.
He advised Vig to focus on making money and not involve himself in a senseless conflict.
"Finally got a few peaceful days… and now the chaos returns. Hopefully this fire doesn't spread to Britain."
Growth at Home
The turbulence in Scandinavia produced one noticeable effect—
immigration skyrocketed.
By year's end:
Tyne County population rose to 45,000
Town residents increased to 5,000
In finances, the year 852 brought £2,400 in income—up sharply for two reasons:
Agricultural Taxes
As more graduating students entered administration, governance improved.
Total agricultural tax collected across the North reached £800.
Greenland Development
Furs, animal oil, and walrus ivory arrived from Greenland, where craftsmen transformed them into:
leather coats
soft hats
boots
whale-oil soap
ornaments
These luxuries flooded the market, stimulating prosperity.
Outbound, the knarr ships carried pig iron, woollen cloth, beer, and honeycomb coal to supply company workers and nearby tribes—drawing more and more natives into the economic network.
Expenditures and the Horse Problem
After calculating revenues, Vig reviewed expenditures.
Thanks to peace, military costs fell somewhat.
Total spending for 852 reached £1,500.
Additionally, Vig covertly allocated £600 to manufacture cloth armor, preparing for unrest.
Armor production was now running smoothly—
but horses remained a headache.
The Tyne Town stud farm held 300 Frankish warhorses, roughly 200 fit for battle.
He could easily buy more; the market was full.
The problem wasn't money—
it was politics.
In Britain, 80% of warhorses came from the Duke of Normandy.
The royal court therefore knew exactly how many horses each noble possessed.
For example:
Æthelwulf kept around 200 warhorses.
Theowulf around 100.
Both were non-Viking nobles and kept their numbers low to avoid suspicion.
Apart from Gunnar, Vig already owned the most warhorses in Britain.
If he expanded much further, it could provoke dangerous speculation.
"Armor I can hide. Cloth armor production is already moved to a secluded area—strictly confidential.
But horses? Impossible to conceal."
For safety, he restrained the urge to buy more and diverted resources into armor instead.
The Storm Breaks
The peaceful winter slipped by, and spring of 853 arrived.
As North Sea storms calmed, trade routes reopened.
News from Sweden soon reached him—and it was startling:
The situation had grown dire.
Swedish nobles, abandoning their last illusions, formed a coalition to encircle Halfdan, uniting against the Norse Sword.
In the following months, nobles emptied their savings to buy cheap armor and weapons from Norway.
Their combat strength surged.
Meanwhile, the Norse Sword had swollen to 1,800 members, including bear-skin and wolf-skin berserkers—
but their elite numbers were tiny.
Over 90% were inexperienced trainees.
Repeated winter skirmishes further drained Halfdan's veterans; his forces weakened rapidly.
When spring warmth returned, the decisive battle erupted near Kalmar.
Facing a coalition of more than 3,000,
Halfdan was defeated once again.
Cornered, he retreated to Gothenburg—
and sent envoys to Londinium, begging Ragnar for aid.
—------------------------------
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