Crusader Kings: Prisoners of War

After arranging the military affairs, Orville basically arranged everything, and the rest just needed to be done step by step.

It was not difficult to collect taxes. With the army in hand, the resistance to collecting taxes was much smaller than imagined. The Romans had already established a complete tax system in Gaul, and it was easier to maintain a system than to start from scratch.

The elders of the Senate were occasionally sent to the provinces of the Senate to serve as governors. Some people were indeed capable of doing something, but more people just spent a year in a daze. Orville at least thought that he was not lower than the average level of the elders, and could collect the money smoothly and then send it to Tia or the treasury.

The taxes in the early Roman Empire were not harsh, and there were not many miscellaneous taxes - 10% direct tax, in simple terms, mainly collecting 10% of grain. 1% consumption tax, 5% inheritance tax, tariff rate of 1-5%, 25% high tariff for oriental luxury goods, and the remaining taxes were not much, provided that the emperor or governor no longer levied taxes.

The province of Lugden Gaul was relatively wealthy, and these taxes could barely support two legions and supporting auxiliary soldiers. Orville's own soldiers had the financial support of Vespa, so it was okay. There was no need to levy taxes, and the status quo was maintained.

After dozens of days of such a dull life, it was the end of May. Then the Viking leader Rollo suddenly found Orville and brought a very interesting and unexpected news.

"My Viking friend in Frank has received news from Northern Europe, which you should know.

Ragnar Lothbrok led his Viking army back to his hometown in the spring. After a brief celebration, he was ready to start the next looting, but this time the fleet encountered an abnormal storm while sailing on the sea, resulting in a shipwreck. Ragnar was separated from his large army and his whereabouts are currently unknown."

"How is he? Is he still alive?"

"Few people can survive a shipwreck. I speak from experience."

Orville frowned unconsciously as he listened to the other party. He had heard this plot before, the most famous version of the story of Ragnar and his children.

It is said that Ragnar encountered a shipwreck while sailing near England, and then drifted to the small kingdom of Northumbria, where he was captured by the local king Ella, who sentenced the plunderer to the snake punishment and let him die from being bitten by a group of snakes.

Before his death, Ragnar left his last words: "When the boar wails, the piglets are coming."

To be honest, Orville felt that he deserved the punishment. He had robbed many places along the coast of England in his life, and his death in England was somewhat God's blessing, but it did not prevent his sons and the Vikings who regarded Ragnar as a hero and leader from being furious. After all, my hero is his enemy, and Ragnar is a legendary figure in their eyes, a hero of Northern Europe.

For this reason, several of Ragnar's sons gathered a Viking army, and more than 300 Viking longships went to England, conquered a large area of ​​​​England, and killed King Ella with the cruel blood eagle punishment. The era of the Vikings' formal invasion of England began.

Ragnar in history is a semi-legendary figure, but several of his sons are confirmed to exist. Different legends and poems record and rank these sons differently. The sons of Ragnar in this time and space are in the complete form, with five brothers.

[Brave] Bjorn, [White Shirt] Halfdan, [Boneless] Ivar, [Snake Eyes] Sigurd, and Ubbe, the five brothers are all Viking leaders, and are quite famous as local lords.

Apart from other things, the Vikings are really good at giving nicknames, each of which is catchy and not ugly. Other representative figures include [Blond] Harald, [White] Olaf, [Ruthless] Harald, [Walker] Rollo, etc., which are like the nicknames of the Liangshan heroes, which are loud and can also show the characteristics of the characters.

In comparison, the nicknames of the monarchs in the early Middle Ages in Europe are somewhat indecent.

"Shorty", "bald", "fat", "bastard", "stutterer", etc., there are so many names, but few of them sound good.

If Orville were them, he would rather not have this nickname.

The Vikings' code of conduct is also different. Generally speaking, it can be divided into three directions, each with its own differences.

Ragnar is a traditional Viking. They believe that since their land is barren, they should find a way to make their land rich. Whether it is introducing technology or plundering wealth and slaves, the ultimate goal is to achieve this effect.

People like Rollo believe that since their land is barren, they should find a way to live in a place with rich land. They don't have to use force to rob. They can live a rich and healthy life. It doesn't matter whether they are a vassal of others. They can also accept changing culture and beliefs. Now Rollo has begun to believe in Roman gods.

Some of Ragnar's sons believe that since their land is barren, they should conquer rich lands by force, and they should also preserve their northern life logic as much as possible and bring their culture and laws to each conquered place.

It's hard to say who is right, but in terms of influence, the second and third types have more far-reaching influences. The first type is represented by Ragnar himself, the second type is represented by his illegitimate son William and the Norman Conquest, and the third type is represented by the North Sea Empire of Canute the Great, who was also a prominent figure of the era.

In a sense, Ragnar's sons are more harmful than Ragnar himself. Ragnar is a Viking pirate who only wants money, food and slaves. At most, he pursues advanced culture and technology privately. Generally speaking, he is a mustard disease for a country. It is troublesome to be entangled but not fatal.

Ragnar's good sons are not all like this. Some of them pursue control, royal power and land, especially Ivar the Boneless. Before Ragnar got into trouble, he had already been plotting a wider world.

After unremitting efforts, he had his own territories in Ireland, Scotland and other places. There may not be a Ragnar in real history, but Ivar the Boneless did exist, and even his remains may have been dug up.

Many thoughts flashed through his mind, and finally Orville asked Rollo: "How long ago was this news?"

"At most a month, I am well-informed. The information should have just reached my hometown, and we learned it very quickly."

"Let me ask you a more serious question. What do you Vikings think about the war between your own people?"

Rollo did not understand what Orville meant. His thoughts were not so jumpy. Now that Ragnar's death had not been confirmed, he could not imagine that the Vikings would take advantage of the situation to invade England, but this did not prevent him from telling the truth.