Gold Rush
In 1562, one year after the alliance with Castille, Kasper Eriksson’s daughter marries the third son of the Spanish King. With the success against the Aztecs not fully exploited, a friendly neighbour can be valuable.
Castille had been gaining territory along the coast, and was eying Tairona. Eriksson decided to send in the army to collect taxes before it was too late.
By 1564, half of Tairona was Vinlandic, leaving no border with Castille, ànd in a second conflict, an incredible amount of gold was collected.
In 1566 the Aztecs were attacked again. Eriksson was well prepared, as he had 35000 troops stationed at Aztec borders. Nonetheless, some 10000 lost their lives.
After two years, the peace of Texcoco demanded another territory grab by Vinland.
After that, troops were sent south in small divisions, leaving some to quell the revolts of new patriotic dissidents.
In the last decade, Vinlandic coastal traders had established a few trading posts south of the border, and by 1570, most of them were upgraded to fully grown colonies. The system of deporting a few thousand citizens of newly acquired territories surely helped in that aspect.
Unfortunately, The Inca Empire has kept its markets closed for Viking traders, and approximately 39000 men, of which 12000 Vinlandic horsemen, crossed the border, taking whatever they could.
After a few months, the battle of Tumbes set the tone for the rest of the war. Vinland won, but at a great cost. Thousands of people died and had to be replaced.
Luckily, with the new, densely populated territories of Mixaca, that was not really a problem.
Two years after the start of the war, the Inca leading class converted to Christianity. The somehow acknowledged that their gods had forsaken them, and that the new god of the men of the North was truly a god that guaranteed success.
With that, the Vinland opponents were no longer mere infidels but Christians, that had the right to peace negotiations. Prince Kasper Eriksson died in 1575 and Folkvarthur Sverresson was elected unanimously at the althing. At the Althing, Sverresson had gained full support with his plan for a diplomatic approach towards Europeans.
Six years into the was, in May 1577, the entire empire was under enemy control and Túpac Hualpa IV accepted a peace that would strip him of more than half of the territories he had at the time of the conversion.
Since the 1550’s several veins of gold were discovered in the Mixaca region, but also in the new Inca region. This attracted a true gold rush, including people from Europe, eluding their grim fates and taking boat trips via Iceland and Grænland towards Vinland and Mixaca.
In the 1580’s technological advance, and espionage had lead to the introduction of Maurician infantry. This concept was imported from the Iberians, and proved to be a lot more effective that the Vikings armed with axes.
In December 1583, an elective Althing was organised to appoint Prince, since Sverresson had died of an infection caused in a fight with rebels.
Baldr Rikardson gained the trust of the Althing, especially the hawks, by wanting to continue the expansion. He received 30 of the 47 votes.
One of the problems was that both Aztecs and Incas had converted to Christianity, which made an attack less supportable. The next was that Aztecs had allied with Castille and Túpac Hualpa IV of the Inca. Luckily Túpac Hualpa IV only had the Aztecs and war was continued in July 1584.
They were both overrun in les that one year, and Castille did not meddle.