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A few days later my fleet landed on the English shores, unfortunately not all ships could enter directly into the port of Jorvik.

The ten ships headed south, if all will go with you, we will reach the coast of the Frankish Kingdom in a few days.

- Do you already know what settlements we will attack? (One-eyed)

- No, we're attacking everything within our reach. Normal tactic focused on the greatest possible damage. Women and small children are captured as always. Men and older children ... (Ulf)

- Crucify everyone. (One-eyed)

- Yes, you know what to do. (Ulf)

(Leif / Ragan POV)

- Ulf has you told to inform King Offa that Ecbert is planning an attack on the Kingdom of Mercia. (Ragnar)

- Clever, Ulf wants Mercia to prepare for the attack. Instead of conquering each city or settlement separately, we will gather everyone in one place. I will do this through merchants visiting Jorvik, this will be the fastest. (Leif)

- You say it's smart, I warned Ulf that it's rather risky. In one place maybe 8 or 9 thousand ango saxons, and only 5 thousand of us. If they join forces against us, we are doomed. (Ragnar)

- Ebcert wants everything for himself, he doesn't like us and sees us as a threat, but he thinks he is controlling Ulf because he has his son hostage... and even if they unite against us, we will see each other my friend in the Hall of Gods, we will feast and drink from the curved horns. (Leif)

- Maybe ... Better tell me how do you live here? (Ragnar)

(End POV)

A few days later we came to the shores of the Kingdom of the Franks, I had over 600 warriors with me, I divided them into three smaller divisions ... Each group moved in a different direction. I went south, the army led by Rollo went east, and the last under Torstein's orders west. We were supposed to meet in seven days at the landing site.

(King Ecbert / Ealdorman Eadric POV)

- Lord, spies report a large fleet that has arrived in Jorvik. (Ealdorman Eadric)

- King Ulf took his time ... how big of a fleet are we talking about? (King Ecbert)

- Perhaps even a hundred ships, several thousand people. They have set up camp near the city and are waiting in readiness. (Ealdorman Eadric)

- You will go back to Jorvik as my messenger and tell them my strategy. (King Ecbert)

- Yes, sir ... (Ealdorman Eadric)

- Also inform our people so that they better monitor the young prince. If they have the opportunity to kill that old heathen ... his guardian. The young prince must be under our total control. (King Ecbert)

- Lord! It's very risky ... if King Ulf finds out ... (Ealdorman Eadric)

- He won't do anything. People are dying, and even if he finds out that we killed this guard, the young prince will still be in our hands. (King Ecbert)

(End POV)

It was an ordinary fishing village, just a few houses ... and it was the third one that stood in my way. This settlement suffered the same fate as the previous two, complete destruction. All the men were crucified, but I was not satisfied with the result ... the scale of this act was too small. In order for my act to cause even greater agitation and anger at the court of Charlemagne, I also had animals nailed to the crosses. I also hoped that the other two armies would find better targets to attack. Although my deed was godless in the eyes of Christians, killing a dozen fishermen would not have such an effect as killing one priest.

- Lord, we disguised the bodies of two men in the clothes you ordered. (Hirdmen)

I nodded and went to see how my people had done their job.

Both men did not seem to be of Arab origin, but I doubt whether anyone will notice it ... after a few days the insects will do their job, but just in case, I grabbed the hatchet and massacred their faces.

- We go back to the boat, but on our return we will go a little further south ... and gag these women, their crying irritates me. (Ulf)

A few days later we were at the place where we had left our ships. On the way back, we were also not lucky, we destroyed two more settlements, they were a bit larger than fishing villages, but there were no churches, priests or anything else important, only low-born peasants, a few merchants and craftsmen.

The loot was also not large, and the number of women we took did not exceed fifty... there were a few more, but I had to improve the morale of my people. And although my soldiers welcomed it with great enthusiasm, the women did not ... on the scale of my plans a few women did not change much. As they say, "It is not time to regret the roses when the forests are burning."

The next day, the other two armies arrived at the assembly site. Judging by the number of prisoners, they did better, though not much better... Rollo and One-Eye sat by the fire.

- How are your conquests? Because mine is not good. (Ulf)

- Four small settlements, but one of them had a church and quite a large cemetery. The church is burnt, the graves have been dug up. (One-eyed)

- Two settlements and one women's monastery ... it was fun with them. There were also quite a lot of valuables there. (Rollo)

My people were more lucky than I was, it is important that the plan was implemented, I will only have to wait for the effects.

- We rest one day and head back to Jorvik. (Ulf)