Ch 141: Annual Meeting

For a period of time afterward, Vig participated in various banquets, taking advantage of the opportunity to gather news, but unfortunately, most of it was gossip that was difficult to discern as true or false.

In late October, with the autumn wind blowing fiercely, Vig bid farewell to a group of nobles and carried goods back to his own territory.

Entering the castle, two small boys wrapped in thick clothes clung to Vig, clamoring for gifts.

The older boy was his nephew, Leif, ten years old this year. The other boy was his eldest son, Frode, only three years old. In addition, there was his younger son, Frey, who was less than one year old; he had not yet learned to walk independently and was currently curled up in Herigifu’s arms asleep.

“The candies are here; remember to rinse your mouth after you finish them,” Vig took two bags of sugar cubes made from sugarcane from the wagon, sending the noisy little fellows away.

In the 7th century AD, with the expansion of the Arabian Empire, sugarcane was introduced from India to Persia and the Mediterranean coast.

This plant needs sufficient sunlight and water and is unsuitable for growth in Western Europe and Northern Europe. Rare things are valuable; sugarcane thus became a luxury enjoyed exclusively by the upper class in Europe.

While the servants were unloading the goods, Lucal, the artisan steward, walked up to Vig. “Sir, we have found a suitable briquette recipe. Are you free now?”

“Lead the way.”

A group of people went to the dock. A lot of coal was piled up in the open space. Shirtless strong men poured the coal into stone troughs. Driven by the current, the ore crusher crushed the coal into crumbs. The crushed coal rustled down into wooden sieves; coal dust as fine as barley grains leaked from the sieve holes.

Then, the artisans mixed them according to a ratio of three parts clay and seven parts coal dust, adding water and stirring. To increase the burning speed, a small amount of sawdust and charcoal powder was also added.

After stirring, the artisans scooped up the wet mud and filled the molds. Then they stacked the shaped wet coal balls in the open space to dry. After drying for a period of time, they were sold to commoners.

Noticing the lord’s satisfied expression, Lucal quietly asked, “Master, after small-scale use, the people’s evaluation of this new fuel is very high. What do you think the price should be?”

Surveying the slovenly commoners near the dock, Vig suppressed the idea of profiting and planned to supply them at a lower price to Tyne County and the Four Northern Counties, hoping these people would drink more hot water and bathe frequently to reduce the probability of illness.

For years, he had been concerned about the cleanliness and hygiene of his territory, even asking the Raven Speaker to add “drink more hot water, bathe regularly, and abstain from eating raw meat” to the doctrine.

If the common people have stable and inexpensive fuel, perhaps they will be more willing to accept the hygiene measures promulgated by Tyne.

Besides drinking more hot water and bathing regularly, another way to improve cleanliness is to use soap.

Currently, the Nordic region mainly uses animal fat and wood ash to make soap. Some artisans also add petals to make luxury goods such as “rose soap.”

Unfortunately, the current level of agricultural production is low, and the price of animal fat is high, limiting the widespread promotion of soap.

“Besides animal fat, the Southern European region uses olive oil to make soap, but the poor cannot afford it either.”

Vig had been troubled by this problem for a long time and helplessly gave up, diverting his energy to other aspects.

December 31st, Tyne held its annual meeting.

To date, Tyne County has a permanent resident population of 32,000, with 17,000 Vikings.

The Four Northern Counties have a cumulative 5,000 Northern European immigrants（ including Finns and Sami people）, mainly distributed in the towns of the four counties, as well as seven baronies and over one hundred knightly fiefs.

Vig’s ruling core—Tyne Town—has 3,500 residents, second only to Londinium, Winchester, Tamworth, and York.

There are two reasons for the rapid development of Tyne Town:

First, the territory is located at the northern end of Britain, making it easy to absorb Nordic immigrants from the Bergen-Shetland-Britain route.

Second, the lord’s own vision and knowledge. The vast majority of Viking nobles are only interested in war and banquets, and Anglo-Saxon nobles are about the same. Nobles willing to sit down and read are rare animals. Even if they do read, they mainly read religious books, which is far inferior to Vig of Tyne, who possesses the wisdom of posterity.

The population topic ended, and next was the financial revenue and expenditure.

This year, due to the rapid development of the shipbuilding industry, blacksmith shops, and paper mills, Tyne County’s income increased to five hundred and fifty pounds, and the proportion of agricultural tax decreased to fifty percent.

The yield from Stirling County’s iron mine was four hundred pounds; including the tin mine profit, the total was four hundred and fifty pounds.

The commercial tax from the Four Northern Counties totaled one hundred pounds, and the agricultural tax was about two hundred pounds.

After listening to the numbers reported by the Earls, Vig restrained his smile and paced back and forth in the hall, clutching the ledger.

“The Four Northern Counties have a total of 160,000 residents, and the agricultural tax they provide is only two hundred pounds. It’s outrageous! I hope you spend more time on your work and don’t play cards and chess all day. Regardless, next year the agricultural tax from the Four Counties must surpass that of Tyne County!”

Finally, there was one more special income—a surprise attack on Bergen, yielding one hundred pounds of silver.

Fourteen hundred pounds, this was the total annual income of 850 AD.

Expenditure:

The number of standing army personnel was expanded to two thousand（Tyne Town newly organized a town defense infantry company of two hundred men）. Due to repeated mountain bandit suppression operations, military expenditure exceeded the expected three hundred and sixty pounds, soaring to four hundred and fifty pounds.

Secondly, the administrative system, schools, temples, and hospitals; with the increase in the number of civil servants and shamans, the total expenditure was three hundred and twenty pounds.

Tyne’s expenditure remained unchanged at one hundred and fifty pounds.

Engineering construction, warhorse purchases, and the payment of tribute—these miscellaneous expenditures increased slightly to three hundred and thirty pounds.

Total expenditure: twelve hundred and fifty pounds.

Overall, this year there was a fiscal surplus of one hundred and fifty pounds, and Vig planned to use part of it to repay debts.

Last year, he borrowed a total of four hundred pounds from Ragnar and others. Repaying the money is only right. But he did not intend to repay the one hundred and fifty pounds at once, but rather gradually in small batches, concealing his strength and making the outside world mistakenly believe that Tyne’s financial resources were poor.

“Fourteen hundred pounds of silver, at the same level as the Duke of Wessex. In the next few years, if the central lowlands of Scotland are successfully digested, my income may reach Gunnar’s level.”

The annual meeting ended, and Vig held a large feast, inviting vassals, officials, shield-bearers, and prominent merchants of Tyne Town, totaling three hundred people. Due to the limited space in the ground floor hall, the guest rooms on the second floor had to be used as private rooms to entertain guests.

“Thanks to God’s protection, this year has gone fairly smoothly. I hope you all enjoy eating and drinking and enjoy this feast.”

Involving his personal reputation, Vig did not use inferior food and drink to get by, but instead brought out expensively purchased wine and honey wine to entertain guests. Various dishes added precious spices and truffles.

After eating for two full hours, the guests gradually dispersed.

That night, heavy snow fell, the bonfires in the fireplaces on both sides of the hall crackled, and Vig held a small family dinner.

His eldest son sat to his left, Herigifu sat to his right holding his younger son, followed by his sister Brita and nephew Leif, as well as his mother-in-law Ilis and her son Horsa.

Raising his goblet, Vig gave a short speech: “To family, to all of you present. In this chaotic and disorderly world, the lower classes toil for their livelihoods, and the nobles vie for interests. When the storm comes, besides family sharing the same bloodline, who else can we rely on?”

“To our family.” Everyone raised their goblets in repetition, accompanied by the whistling of the cold wind outside, quietly enjoying the banquet.