In November, Ooryphas received Basil's approval.
Using his fleet, he transported Frankish refugees from Naples to Sicily, including nine thousand infantry and one thousand cavalry.
In truth, Alfred had claimed he could provide twenty thousand men.
However, Ooryphas declined.
He feared that if too many Franks arrived, they might refuse to leave Sicily afterward, creating an entirely new problem.
During winter, westerly winds dominated the Mediterranean, making sea conditions particularly harsh.
The Moors of North Africa found it difficult to send large-scale reinforcements.
Seizing this valuable opportunity, Ooryphas marched out with fifteen thousand troops and began clearing Moorish settlements across the island.
During the campaign, he made an unexpected discovery.
The Franks possessed an efficient siege technique: sapping.
When besieging fortifications on flat terrain, Frankish soldiers could dig tunnels beneath the walls in as little as twenty days.
Afterward, they would set fire to the wooden supports inside the tunnel, causing the wall above to collapse.
"What an ingenious method," Ooryphas remarked.
"Who came up with it?"
Embarrassed by the praise, Alfred replied,
"We learned it from the Vikings.
"They used this exact method to conquer all Frankish lands north of the Alps in only two and a half years."
Ooryphas immediately asked how the tactic could be countered.
In exchange, he promised to hand over captured Moorish ships and sailors to the Franks once the campaign was over.
Using a stick to draw diagrams on the ground, Alfred explained the solution:
Countermining.
By digging defensive tunnels to intercept the attackers' tunnels, defenders could significantly slow the progress of siege works.
Ooryphas carefully recorded the procedure, along with its strengths and weaknesses.
He then forwarded the information to the emperor in Constantinople, hoping it would help accelerate the suppression of the empire's internal rebellions.
Afterward, he advanced steadily along the coast toward Palermo in western Sicily.
With the assistance of the formidable Frankish knights, the Eastern Romans successfully captured the largest Moorish settlement on the island.
The garrison was nearly annihilated.
At this point, the complete reconquest of Sicily was only a matter of time.
December, Londinium.
As the year drew to a close, reports from across the empire poured into the cabinet.
The expansion of both population and territory had multiplied the government's workload.
At the prime minister's request, the annual conference was postponed until January 5, 871.
That morning, the nine ministers gathered in the cabinet chamber to report on the state of the empire.
At present:
Britain itself contained 2.8 million people.
The three Nordic kingdoms contained approximately 900,000 people.
The newly conquered Frankish territories contained roughly 10 million people.
In addition, there were numerous smaller possessions:
Livonia, Gotland, Bornholm, the Canary Islands, the Azores, and settlements in the New World.
Together, they accounted for another 80,000 people.
Altogether, the empire now ruled approximately 13.8 million inhabitants.
The numbers appeared impressive.
Yet control over much of that territory remained weak.
The emperor's strongest authority existed in Britain's directly administered territories—eighteen counties with a population of 1.3 million.
Next came Britain's noble-held lands, with 1.5 million inhabitants.
After that came the twenty directly administered counties on the southern side of the Channel, containing 1.8 million people and presenting a much more complicated situation.
Normandy had once belonged to Gunnar.
Large numbers of converted Normans—Vikings settled in Frankish lands—still lived there.
These people traditionally respected strength above all else.
Since Vig had conquered Francia, they readily accepted missionary work from the Tainburg Cult and generally obeyed imperial rule.
Rebellion among them remained limited.
Brittany was another special case.
For decades, the region had suffered repeated Frankish invasions.
The local population had grown weary of warfare and largely accepted imperial authority.
Rebellions there were almost nonexistent.
The remaining regions—Île-de-France, Orléans, Rouen, Calais, Flanders, and others—were a different matter.
Their populations deeply resented imperial rule, and small uprisings occurred frequently.
Building administrative systems, relocating settlers, and suppressing rebellions consumed most of the cabinet's energy.
The prime minister estimated that it would require at least one generation before those twenty counties could truly become core territories of the empire.
Beyond these categories lay vast regions governed with minimal interference.
For the dukes and counts on the continent, Vig's expectations were simple:
Maintain order.
Keep local finances reasonably balanced.
Avoid triggering large-scale rebellions.
As for Little Erik, Halfdan, and the Nordic nobles under them, Vig did not particularly value their loyalty or tax contributions.
What mattered was Nordic population growth.
According to cabinet plans, Norwegians and Swedes would continue migrating into directly administered counties such as Paris, Rouen, and Flanders.
The goal was to strengthen imperial control over those regions.
Vig possessed overwhelming superiority over the Nordic kingdoms and enjoyed the support of the shamans.
The Nordic nobles dared not oppose him, though they managed to secure some financial compensation.
Ordinary Northerners, meanwhile, enthusiastically embraced the policy.
Moving from the cold, poor lands of Scandinavia to the warm and prosperous territories of western Francia was precisely the opportunity they had always dreamed of.
The prime minister read from a report:
"This year, more than ten thousand Northerners were relocated to Paris County.
"The region still contains large amounts of former royal, noble, and monastic lands, providing ample space for settlement.
"The situation remains stable overall.
"Next year, the cabinet intends to recruit thirty thousand more settlers.
"They will be distributed among Calais County, Bruges County, and Cambrai County—ten thousand migrants per county."
At half past nine, the meeting moved to the next major topic:
Finance.
Although agricultural taxes from newly conquered lands remained difficult to collect, Vig had gained access to an enormous market covering roughly one million square kilometers and populated by millions of consumers.
British manufacturing expanded rapidly.
Commercial tax revenues had already doubled and continued growing at a remarkable pace.
As a result, imperial revenue in 870 surged to 115,000 pounds.
At the same time, administrative, educational, and medical systems expanded throughout the empire.
Total expenditures exceeded 70,000 pounds.
"A surplus of forty-five thousand pounds," Vig said, tapping his fingers against the table.
"At this rate, we'll repay all outstanding debts within two years."
Satisfied with the empire's financial condition, he shifted the discussion toward continental affairs.
The first topic was the war in the Iberian Peninsula.
Intelligence reports indicated that Alfonso was building a navy to attack Moorish transport fleets and protect his coastlines.
In Vig's opinion, starting a navy from scratch was both slow and expensive.
Instead, Alfonso would be better served investing those resources into the army.
By capturing Moorish coastal cities and seizing experienced sailors and shipbuilders, he could acquire superior naval technology far more quickly.
The Minister of the Navy asked,
"What types of ships are they building?"
Vig handed him a report.
"Cogs, and Moorish lateen-rigged vessels.
"Alfonso requested permission to purchase twin-masted sailing ships.
"I refused."
To preserve Britain's maritime supremacy, Vig had never sold modern sailing vessels to foreign powers.
Furthermore, only shipyards within Britain itself were permitted to build advanced sailing ships.
The restriction existed specifically to prevent naval technology from spreading abroad and threatening the empire's dominance at sea.
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