Vikings: Lords of the Ice Sea

Chapter 271 Immigration and Trade

Back in his office, Vig continued processing documents, starting with the first half of the year's financial expenditures, the biggest costs of which were the war and immigration.

From the moment the standing army set out, the war lasted for more than three months. Food was provided locally in Ireland, and the remaining expenses were borne by the royal family, amounting to about three thousand four hundred pounds, which was within an affordable range.

Secondly, there are expenditures related to immigration.

Last year's turmoil in Northern Europe severely damaged production in central and southern Denmark, causing widespread famine and a massive influx of refugees into Britain. As of August, this year's immigrants exceeded 27,000, all of whom have been settled in Cambridge and East Anglia.

Including these Viking compatriots and the local residents of the newly established East Anglia County, the population of the Dominion reached 770,000, of which about 210,000 were Viking immigrants.

To accommodate the new immigrants, the cabinet spent £3,200, mainly on purchasing clothing and cheap food such as barley and oats, and building temporary housing.

Subsequently, the cabinet plans to recruit some immigrants and build various infrastructure projects, with an estimated additional £2,000 in funding.

After spending half an hour fiddling with the abacus, Vig found no mistakes and let out a helpless murmur.

"My money. My hard-earned savings, gone in the blink of an eye."

As evening fell, Vig walked toward the restaurant, yawning, and unexpectedly saw Hosa. Compared to the last time they met, the guy was darker and thinner, looking even more haggard than Frode, who had been fighting for three months.

"Hey, you got sold to a mine?"

Hearing this teasing, Hosa forced a pitiful expression and recounted his experiences over the past few days.

Since receiving the king's promise, Josa spent a fortune to buy a two-masted sailing ship, hired a captain and forty sailors, and sent them to explore the unknown islands in the western Iberian Sea.

The archipelago is located deep in the ocean. Legend has it that Arab merchant ships visited the area, but this is just a vague rumor and not suitable as a navigation reference. The difficulty of exploration is far greater than that of the Canary Islands (located near the coast of Africa).

At the beginning of the year, the expedition ship set sail from the Canary Islands and explored the deep ocean three times. During the journey, it encountered a storm, and four unfortunate sailors were swept to the bottom of the sea. In addition, ten crew members were lost due to disease, and morale plummeted to a critical point.

In June, the ship returned to Sunshine Island, and the crew announced their collective resignation, which could not be swayed even by increased commissions. Left with no other option, Hosa promised to personally board the ship and lead the employees on one last westward expedition.

For some time afterward, the exploration ship continued to roam aimlessly on the sea. One day, the lookout spotted a group of black dots flying across the distant horizon. The ship then changed course and headed due north.

Two days later, a lush archipelago covered with vast forests appeared ahead. Large numbers of albatrosses and grey pigeons circled in the sky, sperm whales occasionally appeared on the sea, dolphins chased the waves, and seals rested on the shore.

The expedition ship sailed to the largest island, and after landing, Hosa and twelve sailors, dressed in armor, carefully ventured inland.

At first, some people mistook the mountain mist for cooking smoke and were terrified. After four days of exploration, they found no roads or farmland.

The islands were uninhabited, which pleased Hosa greatly. To commemorate the flock of pigeons that had led the way, he named the place the Grey Pigeon Islands.

Having completed his exploration, Hosa returned to the Canary Islands and hired hundreds of Guache people to travel to the Grey Dove Islands on sugar company ships to build houses and a temporary harbor.

After dealing with various trivial matters, Hosa, despite his fatigue, transported sugar and cane wine back to Lundinium. Having heard this account of the expedition, Vig asked for two key pieces of information: the islands' climate and their approximate area.

Josa scratched his head, his tone slightly hesitant, "The local climate is similar to that of the Canary Islands and Lisbon. There are nine islands in total, and they are generally small, probably only one-third the size of the Canary Islands."

(The area of ​​the Grey Dove/Azores is 2344 square kilometers, and the area of ​​the Canary Islands is 7273 square kilometers.)
Sensing the other party's unease, Vig kept his promise and bestowed upon him the title of hereditary baron of the region.

"Thank you for your generosity! My descendants will be loyal to the Tyneburg family for generations to come."

The baron met Hosa's expectations. As a wealthy merchant with little to show for his achievements, he knew he was not qualified to be a high-ranking nobleman, and being granted the title of baron was already quite good.

The future is long, and Hosa places his hopes on his sons. As long as they work steadily, their blood relation with Crown Prince Frode will make it easy for them to rise from baron to earl, since the islands have already reached the standard of an earldom.

Moreover, the Grey Dove Islands have enormous development potential. In the early stages, whales and seals can be hunted to sell whale oil and leather to Britain. This money can be used to recruit people and build plantations. In the later stages, profits can be made from various cash crops.

Looking at the grinning Hosa, Vig suddenly thought of the red dye that the textile industry desperately needed and suggested planting madder locally, to which the latter readily agreed.

Due to mismanagement, Hosa's textile factory was driven out of business by merchants such as Harry and Pontiland, a humiliation he never forgot. One day, assuming he controlled the source of red dye, he vowed to exact revenge on a certain rival.

"Your Majesty, everything will be done as you command. I will prioritize planting madder, and things like grapes and citrus will be put on hold for now."

Seeing Hosa's sudden excitement, Vig didn't say anything and lowered his head to eat his dinner.

The following day, Vigé chaired a cabinet meeting, and based on the reports from the ministers, the situation in Britain was progressing steadily.

Meanwhile, the situation in West Francia was very favorable. Taking advantage of the internal strife in East Francia, Charles the Bald sent troops to force the three small states that had split in Middle Francia to submit. He then sent envoys to divide and weaken the power of East Francia, so that the three Carloman brothers were in a state of balance and checked each other.

Through a series of blackmails and diplomatic intrigues, Charles the Bald gained nominal allegiance from the Middle and East Franks, proclaimed himself Roman Emperor and King of all Franks, and his prestige grew rapidly.

"Tsk tsk, the uncle is bullying his nephew, this guy is really shameless."

Vig spoke lightly, showing no sign of worry.

Today, Charles the Bald is a powerful figure, but he actually controls very little territory, only the Paris Basin and the Loire Valley.

On the north shore of the Channel, the Tyneburg family held direct control of twelve counties in Britain. The five northern counties (Scotland) covered a vast area of ​​78,000 square kilometers. In addition, Tyne, York, Nottingham, Tamworth, Cambridge, East Anglia, and Londonnewum were included, making up about 40% of the kingdom's territory.

In the original timeline, William the Conqueror conquered England (130,000 square kilometers) and designated one-fifth of the country as royal territory, which was only 26,000 square kilometers.

Judging from the proportion of royal domains, Viggo's situation was far better than that of the English and French monarchs of the same period in history.

Time was on his side.

(End of this chapter)