I had a chance to use some of my curse words when we received news from Wendon. There had been a Viking raid. This time, they landed near Wendon and looted and pillaged their way to the town.
They killed people on three farms before the news spread. The smoke from the farms raised the troops stationed at the Keep. Each of the three farms had ON-47s which took a toll on the raiders, but they were overrun.
The Vikings charged the town walls, thinking they could overwhelm them. Guards on the walls using their rifles killed or wounded ninety-three raiders. Six surrendered. They and the wounded were immediately put to death.
Upon my orders, there would be no mercy for those who thought they could kill our people and take what they wanted.
A flying column on their bicycles, their term, not mine, followed their trail of looting and burning back to where they had left their boats on the shore. There were no women or children with the boats. Those guarding the boats were killed, and the boats burned.
Before burning the boats, they were searched for evidence. They found letters pointing to their home port, Kaupang, in Norway.
Kaupang was a known trading port, according to John Chandler. I had a Frankish merchant deliver several barrels addressed to the local Chieftan. We didn't have a name or even know if the title was correct, but we were confident the powers that be would get the message.
The barrels contained the severed heads of the raiders preserved in wine. With a letter from me stating this was the fate any who came to my lands would suffer.
We weren't complete barbarians. Before burning the boats, we put all the headless bodies on board and sent them to Valhalla. We also made certain all the rifles that were taken from the farms were accounted for.
The Vikings had missed several people on the farms, including some small children. They were all brought into town and placed in care. Our people were jubilant about the ease with which the Viking invaders were destroyed.
I was more determined than ever to have a fleet to stop the Vikings at sea. I didn't hate the Vikings. There were good danes and bad Vikings. We had a good trade going with their settlement in Iceland. Wheat for Cod was a win for both sides.
The most bloodthirsty of all was Archbishop Luke. He was of the opinion those heathens who worshiped Odin needed to be killed. When I objected, saying some were good people, he replied, "Kill them all. The Lord knows his own."
His words, not mine.
Some sayings, it seemed, were a lot older than I thought. I knew Special Forces used the phrase, "Kill them all. Let God sort them out," in Vietnam. In an O-club conversation, I was told it dated back to the Albigensian Crusade. We were bored a lot in Vietnam. Typical of any war, it was hurry up and wait.
Shortly after, Lady Agnes came to me reporting a case of cowpox had turned up. Since we had begun building cattle herds, she had been on the lookout for cowpox. Smallpox was well known, infecting half the people and killing thirty percent of them.
As Doctor Jenner had reported, milkmaids contracted cowpox. Cowpox wasn't a common disease and didn't originate in cows. It likely came from Voles.
It was exciting when we collected the lymph from the milkmaid's blisters. I was paying her five hundred silver for her trouble. She was overjoyed as this would guarantee her a good husband.
I was overjoyed as I thought of how many lives now and in the future would be saved.
The first to be vaccinated were me and my family. I wanted to demonstrate my complete faith in the vaccine, and I wanted protection as soon as possible.
I always wondered about the ethics of Jenner vaccinating his gardener's son then six weeks later injecting him with smallpox to see if the vaccine worked.
I wasn't worried in this case as I knew it was effective. We reproduced the vaccine by injecting heifers with cowpox from our first infected cow, Daisy. She was case zero of the cowpox vaccine. The heifer's offspring all carried cowpox, and using their lymph would provide a safe vaccination against smallpox.
At first human lymph from blisters was used on other people in Jenners time, but they discovered transferring human body fluids had its own problems. My knowledge enabled us to avoid this mistake.
The vaccination was done by using a needle with two prongs. The liquid lymph was between the prongs. The patient was jabbed in their upper arm a half dozen times resulting in bleeding. The lymph was transferred into the bloodstream and the inoculation process would start.
The patient would have to keep the site covered for several weeks until healing was completed. They would have a large scab form which would fall off when healing was finished. Leaving a scar about the size of one of our silver crows.
Patients sometimes had fevers or rashes or headaches But this soon passed, and they were protected from smallpox.
We had also been on the lookout for a case of horsepox, but none showed up.
Lady Agnes and her crew were aggressive in vaccinating our people. Starting in the ports as the most likely places for smallpox to appear. She used census records to reach our permanent population.
I did my part by writing an article for our newspaper. I told them how effective it was and that I had my children vaccinated. The vaccine was free to everyone in Cornwall. They could refuse it, but records would be kept, and their taxes would double the next year. I'm certain my reasoned argument gave us almost one hundred percent compliance.
It didn't take long for a ship to show up with smallpox on board. The sailor died, and our only reported death was an old man who told his neighbors he didn't pay taxes and didn't believe in getting cow stuff put in him.
With this information, we printed thousands of pamphlets for our traders to distribute for free everywhere they went. One of my biggest hopes was we wouldn't carry smallpox to the new world.
For now, I would stick to small, happy news.
The Saltash Krakens won our first World Series. They beat the Tintagel Knights four games to three in an exciting last game. Saltash had knocked my team, the Choughs, out of the playoffs, so it was nice that it took the best team to beat us. At least, that’s what I kept telling myself.
I handed out the gold rings to the team. The on-field player's ring was larger, but everyone on the team's staff got a ring. I footed the bill for the first series rings but informed the league they were on their own in the future.
Cathy, who was on the field with me, announced she would be a professional baseball player when she grew up. She changed her future occupation every week, so I didn't give it much thought. I had also seen her try to hit in our Keep's T-ball league and didn't want to crush her hopes.
During the games, the semaphore system clicked like mad. The box scores were being sent all over Cornwall and into Wessex. People were gathering at the semaphore stations to get the news as quickly as possible. Fast-thinking innkeepers set up food and drink for sale. There were many parties going on around the County.
There were a few bloody noses from fans of either team and many sore heads the next day, but all and all, it was a good event. Next year I would have the semaphore stations prepared better with seating, latrines, and vendor stations laid out fairground style. I would talk to Lady Agnes about what sort of aid station we should have. Also, we would need a drunk tank to help keep things down to a dull roar.
As we hoped, the Welsh were glad of employment, especially at the pay rate of a silver a day. We ended up with four hundred and seventy-seven workers, men and women. All were young, healthy, and hardy.
We had good workers who were spending their money like most young people. Wine, women, and song. Their first task was to clear the way and build the road from Exeter to Dereham.
As the road progressed, casinos, saloons, and whorehouses followed. This was the same as occurred with the building of the transcontinental railway in the US. One of the history books called it "Hell on Wheels." There was more crime in that moveable camp than in the rest of Cornwall.
We had troops enforcing the law and hanging the offenders. I think it was Darwin at work. We hung the ones we caught, leaving a more vicious group to carry on.
The money that wasn't wasted by the workers was sent home to their families. The families, in turn, spent the money on items like pots and pans from one of Tom Smith's companies. I swear I was going to create a special Tom Smith tax. When I told him that, he laughed.
He replied, "I will just raise my prices to pay the tax. Then your workers will want a raise to afford my goods."
"Then I will tax you more."
"Then I will charge more. See where this is going?"
I explained hyperinflation to my economic team and used the extreme example of Germany after World War 1.
I said, "The only difference is I can seize everything you have and throw you in the dungeon."
He laughed. "No, you can't."
"Why not?"
"First of all, you don't have a dungeon, and second I would tell Eleanor about you."
"Dang, you're right on both counts. I think it is your turn to buy the beer."
I was nursing a headache the next morning when an urgent semaphore signal arrived. A small army was approaching Wessex from the north near Dereham.
The best estimate of its size was five hundred troops. I sent a signal back that I was on my way. In the meantime, they were to scout them as much as possible and develop an accurate count of the troops and their units. Plus, how long before they crossed the border.
I hoped it was as first reported. That size of an army would belong to a large Barony. If it was in the thousands, it was from the King.
We could destroy an army of five hundred with the troops on hand. If they were the vanguard of a larger force, we would have to rally more troops. It took a lot of effort to bring the County's forces together. I didn’t want to give the order prematurely, but I couldn't wait too long, either.
It would take a week to put two thousand men in the field with ON-47 rifles. Mercia didn't have enough troops to defeat a force of that size.
How close they were to Dereham was the question. I explained the situation to Eleanor and asked her to put the Keep on a war footing.
No army could get close enough to Owen-nap to seize the Keep, but I remembered the treachery at Bodmin.
From there, my guard and I rode hard for three days to reach Dereham. I collected messages at semaphore stations along the way.
According to the scouts, the five hundred were the entire army, and they were two days away from Dereham. I could reach the town before the Angles arrived.