Building a Viking Empire with Modern Industry-Chapter 71: Great Inventory

With the corporate restructuring signed into law, Ragnar began the arduous process of onboarding the independent Jarls and their housecarls into the Jernheim hierarchy.

The men were made to sign a contract under penalty of asset forfeiture and "liquidation" that they would protect the Company from all foreign and domestic competitors while swearing their allegiance to the Directorate and its CEO, which at this point was Ragnar.

Afterward, roughly 2,000 veteran warriors were transferred into the ranks of the "Heavy Assets" Division. By doing this, Ragnar ensured that the new and possibly disgruntled independent contractors were mixed alongside the "Iron-Sides" who were already completely addicted to the regular salary and dental benefits, so that they had no chances of organizing a hostile union against him.

As far as the fifty minor chieftains under his command were concerned, they were rebranded as "Middle Management" within the 1st Imperial Battalion, which was growing in numbers by the day.

The expense in equipping these men with the new, standardized plate armor and the terrifying Lucerne Hammers was far more than that of traditional chainmail or axes, yet it would be worth the amount as far as Ragnar was concerned; thus, he had no qualms about authorizing such an expense report.

Though it would take a few weeks for the new troops to go through the "Corporate Culture" orientation, he was confident by the time the Frankish Crusade landed at Scarborough that he would have a large, disciplined, and chemically-enhanced army that was far greater than any Viking horde in history.

Every day the Foundry District worked to produce the necessary "Can-Openers" for Ragnar’s army to properly field; as such, he quickly was left with a vast stockpile of the obsolete weapons and armor that kept growing by the day.

Eventually, Ragnar decided he would liquidate the inventory to King Burgred of Mercia at a premium; considering it was used equipment, and some of it smelled strongly of mead and old sweat, he would never think of gaining full price for it. Nevertheless, it was fully functional iron and better in quality than basically anything the Saxons could forge in their mud huts.

Thinking of this idea, he personally sent a "Business Proposal" via the Raven Flight to King Burgred, who was more than interested in the offer and absolutely curious why Ragnar would be selling such a large amount of Viking mail and Danish axes.

Thus the greedy King made his way to the border trading post of Nottingham as quickly as possible, where he was currently meeting with Ragnar in a newly built warehouse which housed the surplus assets, where the two rulers discussed the exact details of the transaction.

King Burgred was not shy with his suspicion; he could not think of a reason why the "Director" would give up such battle-tested gear unless it were cursed.

"So why are you selling such a vast quantity of mail and axes? Do you not need it for your war against the Franks?"

Ragnar began to laugh; he had already planned a corporate spin for selling his army’s obsolete equipment.

"I am currently investing in a massive real estate development called ’Project Titan’, and I need more liquid capital than I am making on the velvet trade. I figured my new conscript battalions did not need such heavy, expensive equipment. Thus I decided to liquidate it and equip them with a much lighter, cheaper design of padded armor."

Burgred did not even think twice about this answer; it was entirely reasonable, especially since Ragnar was known for his strange obsession with building cities.

The Saxon smiths that Burgred had brought with him began inspecting every piece of equipment to determine if it would hold up against a sword.

The equipment had seen many raids, but Viking steel was durable; as such, it was in fantastic condition compared to the brittle iron of the south.

While his men were inspecting the inventory, Burgred began discussing terms on the sale of such a vast amount of Viking military hardware. Everything except for the new plate armor and the repeating crossbows was for sale.

"If my smiths confirm the quality of the iron, then I would be more than happy to purchase the goods off of your hands; however, because it is used, and much of it has dents from previous owners, I can not offer you full market value for the lot." 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

Considering the equipment was almost entirely riveted chainmail, with spectacle helmets, and a large number of bearded axes and round shields which were thrown into the mix, the value was quite substantial as the gathering of such a mass amount of war-gear was unheard of at this time; as such King Burgred threw out an enticing offer.

"I will pay 5,000 silver pennies for the entire stock."

The silver penny was the standard currency, and when considering the price of a full mail hauberk by itself was worth a small fortune, as well as the fact that this was mostly veteran gear, it was a lowball offer.

However, Ragnar would milk King Burgred for every ounce of silver he had and immediately countered his offer with a higher figure.

"8,000."

King Burgred frowned at this number and countered offered with a new figure.

"6,000!"

Ragnar shook his head and negotiated with his final offer while wearing a smug, customer-service smile on his face.

"7,000, and I’ll throw in free delivery to Tamworth. If you don’t accept, I’m sure Princess Judith of Wessex would be happy to have such fine equipment for her stepson’s armies..."

Ragnar had struck a nerve with King Burgred; after all, the man was well aware that Wessex was his main rival for dominance over the south and someone he considered to be a future enemy.

If Ragnar sold his equipment to that fashion-obsessed Princess, then it would surely make things difficult for him. After all, with this equipment, it would greatly diminish his need to mine his own poor-quality ore.

After careful deliberation, King Burgred had no choice but to accept and cursed at the Viking.

"Dammit! Alright, I accept your terms!"

However, although they shook hands and smiled at one another, Burgred was secretly thinking within his mind.

’What a fool. He is stripping his army of its protection to build a city in a swamp. He has no idea the danger that is approaching from the Franks. Once he is weakened, I will use his own axes to take back the North.’

Burgred had no way of knowing that this armor he was being sold, which he thought was the pinnacle of protection in England right now, was already considered obsolete in Ragnar’s mind.

The Director knew that against the armor-piercing spike of the Lucerne Hammer or the kinetic force of a Torsion Bolt, chainmail was essentially just a heavy metal t-shirt.

Ragnar smiled with an arrogant expression as he was all too aware of what Burgred was thinking and could not wait to see the look on his face when his forces were crushed by the physics of the Industrial Corps!

With this first step, Ragnar had entered the international arms trade and made a massive profit of a whopping 7,000 silver pennies!

He would use this profit to buy the limestone and volcanic ash needed for the concrete of City Titan, securing the future of his empire with the money of his enemies. Only for the factions who bought his equipment to come to the horrific realization that against the might of the industrial machine, the equipment they had been sold was completely and utterly inefficient.