Five days later, Tyneburg.
"According to Ivar's description, Sven has a fleet of over fifty warships, equipped with many light crossbows, and he has an absolute advantage in shooting. In retrospect, I haven't even been in a sea battle, which is troublesome now."
Naval warfare is a completely unfamiliar field, and the chances of winning are slim if you get involved in it. To deal with the enemy's advantage in bows and crossbows, the first thing that came to Vig's mind was to load a trebuchet.
It took the carpenters of Tyneburg over a month to build a huge warship of an astonishing thirty meters in length, with a light trebuchet placed at the bow and stern.
After testing, two light trebuchets are enough to hurl a ten-kilogram clay jar two hundred meters. The range is sufficient, but the accuracy cannot be guaranteed, and the hit rate is even less than 5%.
Looking at the driftwood targets floating on the river in the distance, Vig felt a little sorry. The trebuchet warship is suitable for hitting large enemy ships, but cannot cope with small ships with flexible steering and the speed of light.
"To create enough time for the catapult to come out, there must be some warships ahead to block the enemy. However, Sven's sailors are equipped with many light crossbows. In close combat, our archers may not be able to shoot in the opposite direction."
Hearing her husband's complaints, Heligifu suddenly said, "Put up many shields on the sides of the ship to block arrows coming from the opposite side."
"Shields?"
Woke up by this unintentional remark, Vig remembered a special ship that appeared in history - a turtle ship.
During the Korean Wanli War, in order to counter the matchlock guns and bows of the Japanese navy, the Korean navy built a ship about 30 meters long with a wooden shell on top that looked like a turtle shell, so it was called a "turtle ship".
Coincidentally, the "turtle ship" unit appeared in a strategy game he was playing at the time, so he quickly drew a sketch and ordered his subordinates to start work immediately.
In this regard, the craftsmen unanimously agreed that this design had poor resistance to wind and waves and was not suitable for fighting on the high seas. Because of the lord's authority, they could only grit their teeth and build a strange-looking turtle ship.
The ship has an anchor on the bow to increase the damage of the blow. The hull has two decks, and the upper deck has a wide field of view, which favors archers who shoot at enemy sailors from a great height.
In addition, Vig also added two pumps to pump seawater to the top of the "turtle shell" to prevent the enemy from using missiles to burn the hull.
"Firepower and protection are comprehensive, the only drawback is that it is not suitable for sea travel."
After much deliberation, Vig asked the craftsmen to design the turtle shell as a collapsible structure that could be disassembled while at sea, thereby lowering the center of gravity of the ship, improving navigational stability and reassembling it upon arrival on shore.
Having satisfied himself that all was well, Vig led the technical party on their way, heading west along the ruins of Hadrian's Wall, arriving at the mouth of the River Derwent on the afternoon of the third day.
Compared to his own territory, there was little sign of agriculture in the area. Many of the farmhouses were crushed under thick snow. On the high ground on the southern bank stood a lone stone fort, looking particularly abandoned.
Having revealed his identity, Vig, led by guards, walked out into the open on the western side of the stone fort. Ivar was teaching Halfdan his fighting skills.
"Too slow, too slow. You spend all day drinking and playing with women in York, and you don't take up swordsmanship seriously."
Taking advantage of the obvious disadvantage to knock down the third brother, Ivar threw his blunt sword at the shield bearer standing next to him and approached Vig: "Why don't you spend the winter in Tyneburg and come to me?"
"Shipbuilding. Tyneburg is on the east coast. If you build ships there, you'll have to go a long way around to the north. Better to build ships nearby, in Derwent, to avoid delays." "There's no need for that. I've prepared enough ships to carry two thousand men." Ivar led Vig to the north side of the stone fortress and pointed to a nearby river inlet where fifty warships were quietly moored, and a clutter of wooden houses for over five hundred Viking raiders were built haphazardly along the shore.
"I'm not talking about those ordinary longships. To deal with Sven's fleet, I've designed two new types of ships specifically." Vig pulled two models from the carriage and presented the specifications of a catapult warship and a turtle ship, respectively.
"The trebuchet is for long-range attacks, and the turtle ship is for medium and short-range attacks. If these are used correctly, all of Sven's ships will be put to sea to be fish food."
After studying the details of the two models over and over again, Ivar accepted the proposal: "Very well, since I have nothing better to do, I will let a group of raiders help build the ships. Each of them will build a ship to test the effect. Once we are satisfied that it is feasible,
we will begin large-scale construction." Under Ivar's orders, the Derwent Estuary quickly became a bustling shipbuilding site. To gather enough shade-dried timber, he had someone buy it from Lancaster and Manchuria. Satisfied that all work was going according to plan, Viger returned to Tyneburg for the winter and recruited 400 men for training, half of whom were Vikings and half English.
During his training, he found the physical fitness and combat readiness of the Anglo farmers to be generally worrying, and he had no choice but to classify them all as rowers.
"Since you fear swords and weapons, let these men row in the bottom of a turtle ship and hardly use them."
Four hundred levied militia and twenty shield-bearers in iron armor. These were all the troops that Vig took with him on this expedition.
In mid-March 845, as he was preparing to set out, he said to a worried Geligiv: "Sometimes Viking ships come. If you plan to farm, give them the land as agreed. If you encounter raiders, do not fight them, no matter how much they provoke you. Even if you burn down three workshops on the river bank, it won't hurt."
...
Arriving at Ivar's Stone Castle again, I saw large and small tents all over the surrounding pasture, and the noise was endless. In addition to Ivar's wolf flag, there was also the sword and axe flag of Lord Lancaster and the black goat flag of Lord Manchong.
Vig couldn't help but frown as he walked through the chaotic and dirty camp. The soldiers had been in such a poor sanitary environment for a long time, greatly increasing the likelihood of illness.
The only thing to be thankful for was that the Vikings did not reject bathing.
Led by the guards, he came to the hall of the lord of the stone castle. After the request, Ivar borrowed a total of 600 warriors from Lancaster and Manchuria. Counting Ivar's 500 Viking warriors and his own 400 men, the total was 1,500.
Pouring Vig a glass of mead, Ivar showed the results of his work over the past six months: "From your plans, I have built five catapult warships and ten turtle ships, and I have also prepared enough food, feather arrows, and kerosene in advance. This time, I swear to cut off Sven's head and use his skull as a wine cup!"
Before the campaign, Ivar ordered the men to slaughter livestock to reward the troops, and even forcibly requisitioned cattle, pigs, and sheep from the men. He seemed unmoved by Whig's entreaties: "I have no business to please these farmers; what is a little offence?"
After two days of revelry, the fleet took advantage of a rare east wind to put to sea, and arrived at the Isle of Man that same day.