Because the fleet's cargo space was limited, the soldiers prioritized loading amber, furs, woolens, and pig iron, leaving behind low-value goods such as grain and salted fish.
The fleet stayed in Bergen for two days. Since neither Auh nor his close followers could be found anywhere nearby, Vig chose to leave while the winds remained Favelable.
Before departure, he ordered the city's two thousand residents to gather and addressed them directly:
"People of Bergen, I am Vig, Duke of Tyne Town. This matter concerns only me and your lord. He has been in arrears for years, and last month he even murdered my envoy. It is clear he holds me in contempt. Therefore, I now offer a bounty of fifty pounds of silver for his head!"
Sensing the crowd's uneasy mood, Vig deliberately added some good news.
"I apologize for disturbing your lives. As compensation, all remaining grain, salted fish, and ale in the storehouses are yours to take freely. The furniture in the longhouse is also yours to haul away. Consider it my apology."
Amid roaring cheers, Vig led his forces back aboard and set sail.
Inspecting the Furnace at Stirling
By mid-May, the fleet reached the Firth of Forth near Edinburgh. Instead of heading south to Tyne Town immediately, Vig went ashore to inspect Stirling's ironworks.
From earlier letters, he knew the mine supervisor was experimenting with wooden rails to solve the growing transport bottleneck.
Sailing some distance upriver, Mackerel furled her sail and eased toward the northern jetty. Sailors dropped the iron anchor and tied the mooring ropes to the posts.
Stepping ashore, Vig walked toward the cluster of miners surrounding Supervisor Kaeso.
"How's the rail cart working?"
"Very well," Kaeso replied.
He led the duke to the northern edge of the ironworks, where a temporary hundred-meter length of wooden rail had been laid—two beams spaced about one and a half meters apart.
At his command, the workers hitched a draft horse to a loaded ore cart. The horse dragged it back and forth twice, still full of energy.
By later standards, the draft horse moved at roughly six kilometers per hour, pulling a cart weighing about 1.5 tons—twice as much as a regular wagon.
If the cart carried miners instead of ore, the horse could move even faster. A trip that once took two hours would now take only half an hour.
Vig gave a few suggestions: lay sleepers under the rails, fill the gaps with gravel to divert rainwater, and prevent the tracks from rotting. In a few years, once ironworking improved, they could nail iron strips atop the rails to increase durability and load capacity.
He then turned toward the furnaces. This time, he intended to add a new process—stirring the molten iron.
Unfolding a diagram, he explained:
"This is a water-powered stirrer. It agitates the molten iron that comes out of the furnace."
The technique dated back to the Han Dynasty. Vig vaguely remembered its effect: iron ore contained many impurities; stirring exposed the molten iron to air, allowing impurities to oxidize and float to the surface, where workers could skim them off.
The resulting metal held less carbon, making it far easier to smith into tools and weapons. If the quality improved significantly, Vig intended to raise the selling price slightly.
"Hm… with the rail carts, Kaeso says transport capacity has increased by at least fifty percent."
Vig worked out the numbers on papyrus. With the rail carts and water-powered stirrers added, annual pig iron output would surge. Converted to silver, yearly profits would reach four hundred pounds of silver.
"Excellent. With just the iron mine north of the Forth, we can fund the entire northern garrison. No more draining Tyne Town's coffers."
A greater supply of pig iron meant farmers could buy more iron tools—heavy plowshares, horseshoes, metal implements—boosting agricultural output and eventually tax revenue.
Pleased, Vig awarded the ironworkers an extra month's bonus.
Counting Everyone's Money
Back in Tyne Town, Vig shared the good news with Herligev. After running the numbers together, they confirmed there would be no deficit this year. A weight lifted from both of their minds.
Holding his quill, Vig suddenly felt curious—and began calculating the income of other nobles.
First was Ragnar, High King of Britain. Vig had once handled Mercia's royal accounts and prepared London's supplies for the Frankish campaign. From those records, Ragnar's annual income was roughly 6,000–8,000 pounds of silver.
Next was Erik, King of Norway. Norway was larger than Britain, but its climate harsh; crop yields were low, and many Northerners had emigrated to Britain. From merchants' gossip, Vig estimated Erik's annual revenue at 1,000–2,000 pounds.
Within Britain, Wessex's finances were strong. After Winchester fell, Vig reviewed its ledgers. Excluding Oxfordshire and Southampton's customs income, the Duke of Wessex earned about 1,500 pounds yearly.
As for Theowulf, Duke of Mercia, his lands were roughly half the old kingdom's area. A small silver vein had recently been discovered. His overall annual revenue was about 1,000 pounds.
Then came the three newly risen dukes: Vig, Ivar, and Gunnar.
Vig's own territory—thanks to Stirling's iron mine and new taxation in the four northern shires—would likely bring in 1,000–1,400 pounds in the year 850.
Ivar controlled Deventer and two-fifths of Ireland. But bogged down in endless war, all taxes went straight into military expenses; he constantly borrowed money and had even pawned his wife's jewelry to a wool merchant. In March he asked Vig for help, and Vig sent a team of clerks to sort through years of financial chaos.
Preliminary numbers showed Ivar's yearly income to be about five hundred pounds, with huge room to grow if the war ever ended.
Then there was Gunnar, Duke of Normandy—the strangest case of all.
Nominally he was still Lord of Cambridge, but in reality he had slipped free of Ragnar's control and attached himself to King Charles the Bald. Rumor had it he and his Vikings had begun adopting Frankish customs and abandoning the northern gods.
Vig didn't know Normandy's exact income, but he estimated:
Western Francia's climate and soils were far superior to Britain's—some of the finest lands in Europe. Add to that the profits from the horse trade, and Gunnar's annual income was likely 2,000–3,000 pounds.
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