Rebirth of the Viking King

At the same time, 500 kilometers away, the docks of Storm's End.

The snow is falling heavily and the north wind is biting. All the ships on the dock were frozen on the ice. However, Lord Bernard of Storm's End was still sitting in the captain's cabin of the huge ship, gently stroking the cold Simon.

Ever since he got the boat, no matter how cold it was, Duke Bernard would get on the boat and sit for a while every day. Winter has arrived, and the low temperature prevents him from wanting to sail a boat to sea. He can only live a happy life every day.

In this month, he has touched every part of the ship with his hands.

He had seen the Tang people in the Conqueror's fortress and the Tang people's shops. But the proud Tang people did not let these "Viking white ghosts" approach their ships at all. At this moment, taking a closer look, he could see the architectural skills contained in this ship.

The hull has three floors, with the captain's cabin on the upper floor offering a bird's eye view of everything. The middle floor is equipped with beds for 50 people, as well as a kitchen, fireplace, weapons and equipment room, etc. The lower level can carry 100 tons of cargo.

Not only that, but after playing with this exquisite toy in the captain's cabin for more than a month, he finally discovered its secret.

No matter how he turned the big iron spoon. This section of the spoon handle will always point north!

With this on board, who needs navigators looking for routes?

The cold wind blew in through the porthole. Duke Bernard took out the iron pot he carried and took a sip of the milk tea in it. Following the ship to Storm's End were the Tang Dynasty products left on the ship. The tea bricks carried therein were loved by everyone in the Duke's palace.

This black powder is boiled and mixed with honey and milk. Taking a sip not only warms the body, but the silky texture is like a cloud of smoke passing through the mouth.

It's getting late. Bernard sent away all his subordinates and allowed darkness to surround him. As he grew older, he felt that his body was getting older, and even his thinking became dull and slow.

In recent years, only sitting alone in the dark could help him regain the sharp thoughts of his youth. He once went to the Conqueror's Fortress and spent a lot of money to see a doctor from the Tang Dynasty. They said it was caused by too many battles when they were young, their blood was irritated and they drank alcohol every day.

"Old age is a disease that cannot be cured." This was the conclusion the medical officer came to.

Bernard was frightened by these words. As a Viking, once they show any signs of fatigue, their lackeys will immediately turn into ferocious wolves.

His position as Duke was obtained by taking advantage of the fact that the previous generation Duke of the River Valley, "Suluke Cold Pine", launched a mutiny when he was old and frail. He didn't want to follow the old Duke's path again.

So every day he forced himself to think.

It was this ship that had caused him great trouble in the past month. That day in Hanshui Village, the noisy crowd around him and the great joy brought by the discovery of the building boat diluted his vigilance.

He sailed back to Storm's End in a state of chaotic excitement, without thinking about the huge sense of dissonance.

First of all, this boat is so new!

According to Loki, this ship drifted from the North Sea. Empty ships floating on the sea without people in them do happen. But those empty ships floated in the ocean for months and were corroded by the sea wind every day. They never had a very good condition.

But this ship is different.

The wood is dry and smooth; the iron nails have no rust; the Sinan tungsten tiles in the captain's cabin are bright, and there is also no trace of sea breeze rust.

Not only that, the cargo carried in the hold showed no signs of decay. Rice, flour fresh and dry. Even the papyrus wrapping the tea bricks was not broken!

Compared with these, the biggest flaw is the quality of the tea bricks in the cabin.

Loki claimed that the ship drifted into the cold water village on the North Sea. Although lords generally spread the rumor that "there is no land in the West" to the people, Bernard, as a provincial lord, is as familiar with the Western Continent as the palm of his hand!

There is one destination for Chinatown ships traveling on the North Sea, and that is to the Conqueror's Fortress.

So the question arises: Why are the tea bricks in this ship a first-class product that has never been sold in the Conqueror’s Fortress?

Many years ago, Bernard drank black tea of ​​this quality in the palace of the Viking king. The stingy princess wanted to use a bottle cap to pour a little for each of their lords!

Even the royal family would not bear to drink something that the Tang people would not ship in bulk to the Conqueror's Fortress. Because they knew that the poor Viking people simply couldn't afford it.

There were more than 400 bricks of first-class black tea in this ship, weighing nearly 20 kilograms! The tea bricks alone were worth thousands of Slavic silver coins.

Not to mention the equally excellent quality spices, silks and Tang Sancai porcelain bottles in the cabin!

If this cargo was said to be destined for Paris, the luxury capital of the Western Continent, Bernard would believe it. But if we say drifting in the North Sea

——Bernard, who woke up at this time, didn’t believe it at all!

His intuition told him that the most likely thing to happen was that Loki and his team secretly built a ship behind his back. Because there was no blacksmith in Coldwater Village, they contacted Gor Malash in Storm's End and bought one from Malash.

Then they set out to sea and somehow drifted to England across the North Sea. These 11 people were so lucky! They were spared no effort when landing and captured a Tang Dynasty ship.

The 11 people simply could not sail the two ships back home. That's why they returned in Tang Ren's boat and eventually bumped into themselves on the dock.

Duke Bernard initially thought this was what happened. However, in recent days, when the clerk brought him the accounts of the market, he discovered something very unusual.

Blood Pigeon Town, which is adjacent to Hanshui Village, actually purchased nearly a hundred tons of wood, more than twenty tons of meat, and a large amount of spices and wheat flour from itself within a month. The shopping nearly emptied Storm's End of its winter reserves.

The currency they used for settlement was not the "saber-tooth silver coins" with O'Sullivan's hair style, or the Slavic silver coins commonly used by the Vikings, but a kind of "silver bars" that were roughly melted and then smashed casually. Taking one out of his arms, Duke Bernard held it in front of his eyes and studied it through the moonlight reflected by the white snow.

This is an extremely rough silver bar. Such rough craftsmanship is considered sacrilege for a precious metal like silver. Such rough craftsmanship can only mean one thing, and that is that the blacksmith shop needs to forge a lot of this kind of thing

They didn't even have time to use delicate molds to mold the silver directly into silver plates, and then used guillotines to cut it into strips like frozen beef!

Why would Bernard work know this?

Because when he was still a little nobleman, he had done this behind the old Duke's back! The old Duke was old and frail, and his brain was not working well, so he had no idea about this.

He doesn't want to follow the old path of Duke Luk!

Is it possible that these rough guys in Hanshui Village have reaped greater benefits? They threw the silver coins into the sea when they were near the coast. Recently, they worked with Blood Pigeon Town to fish out the silver coins, and then used Blood Pigeon Town to buy supplies? !

Once this thought appeared in Bernard's mind, it immediately pierced his nerves like a rusty nail, causing his brain to suffer unbearable pain every day.

The more he thought about it, the more he felt that this was the true face of this matter!

If things were really like this, then he had completely wronged the guard who tipped him off! The loyal guard was hacked to death by himself with an axe, and the instigator was still at large at this time!

This incident immediately made Bernard feel sour in his stomach. With a sound, he spit out all the milk tea he just drank. At the same time, his hands were clenched into fists and shaking violently.

This trembling comes from anger.

It's okay to say that the blood pigeons are suppressed, after all, no one will be tempted by the current interests.

But this Hanshui Village!

This poor village with less than 170 people actually wants to rebel against me? !

"Come here!" he shouted, "go back to the city!"

"At the same time, a raven was sent to summon Commander Swain Gonk of Mistduck Town overnight, telling him to arrive at Storm's End within seven days!"

"If I don't behave properly, this Hanshui Village won't be able to celebrate the New Year!"