Cast In Time by Nelson Ed

Author:Nelson, Ed
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Eastern Shore Publishing
Published: 2023-10-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 16

Several days later, I sat down with my advisors. It had become a variable group.

The needs of each project dictated who would be on the team. The only permanent members were Eleanor, Archbishop Luke, and John Chandler.

Eleanor because she is my wife. The Archbishop because the Church is still a major player and he has a lot of common sense. John Chandler, because of his business knowledge, ultimately, it all came down to money.

Oh, and Thad. He was a permanent fixture at my side. I don't know what I would do without him. He is still a teenager, but I will promote him to a major position in the future. He was a better aide than I ever had in the army.

They all gathered around and looked at me.

"The purpose of this meeting is to start the implementation of a plan to bring the southern Saxon lands under our control."

This wasn't a surprise to any of those present. We had informal discussions about where to take our new country. Before, we had been a vassal of Cornwall, now we were Cornwall, but a different and larger Cornwall.

There were the empty Saxon lands adjoining us. While they hadn't heard of or understood the term, nature does abhor a vacuum, they did know about the value of empty land.

It would fill up in a few years with others if we didn't do something soon. We all agreed a line running from Dereham in the west to London in the east would make a good northern border. It was about one hundred miles from one city to the other.

Making the decision was the easy part. Now, we had to plan how to do it.

Archbishop Luke brought up the first obstacle to overcome.

"There are the Welsh that have settled in northern Wessex. We need to have a firm treaty with them, or they will be raiding our supplies that will be passing through."

We kicked ideas around on how to go about a treaty with the Welsh. They were never the easiest people to deal with.

Eleanor spoke up, "Why don't we just hire them?"

Tom Smith asked, "What do you mean?"

"It is their young men without a means of making a living who go out raiding. We should hire them to work on our crews. Then they would not need to go out on raids."

I replied, "That is brilliant. We need the labor. They need jobs. It will also start the process of absorbing them into our culture."

We all knew this would happen eventually. There were many different tribes on this island. None of them were completely pure. There would be a mixing of cultures on every border.

The weaker culture would ultimately blend in with the dominant. There was no doubt we were the dominant. This would speed up the process.

I said, "Okay, that takes care of two problems, peace with the Welsh and additional labor. What next?"

One of the two Senior Sergeants present asked, "How are we going to secure this one hundred-mile border you are proposing? Do you want a wall?"

"I think that would be a waste.

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