Vikings: Lords of the Ice Sea

Chapter 110 Edinburgh

Upon learning of the plan to open a hospital, the shaman believed it would be beneficial for spreading his faith and readily accepted the offer. While strictly enforcing Vig's demands, he also ordered the other shamans to keep the secret to prevent others from learning his medical knowledge.

After resting for two days, the army continued its northward march.

After this battle, the Pickett forces suffered 800 dead and 1,000 captured. With the wounded and deserters, they were essentially rendered ineffective. On April 29, the Vikings arrived at the outskirts of Edinburgh without any obstacles.

This wooden castle is located on a steep cliff on the south shore of Forth Bay, with many low houses at the foot of the mountain, numbering about four hundred.

The settlement was surrounded by a simple wooden wall, without any moat. The surrounding farmland was planted with barley and oats, and a small portion was left fallow for grazing sheep.

After confirming that there were no ambushes nearby, Vig ordered an attack.

Under the cover of archers, the Viking warriors easily breached the wooden wall, killing the few Pict residents who resisted, and the settlement at the foot of the mountain fell.

"Charge to the top of the mountain, forget about the civilians!"

Yoren stopped the soldiers who were trying to loot the houses and ordered them to follow him up the hillside to attack the wooden fort at the top of the cliff.

One hundred paces from the wooden fortress, the defenders launched arrows, and Yoren and two hundred Vikings formed a shield wall, instantly slowing their pace.

Boom, boom, boom.

Arrows rained down, striking the shield with continuous muffled thuds. Occasionally, a few stray arrows would pierce through the gaps and embed themselves in the flesh of a warrior, eliciting a high-pitched wail.

They forced themselves to walk for two minutes, getting closer and closer to the earthen embankment in front of the wooden fort. Finally, the Pict defenders began to hurl javelins, throwing three volleys in succession. The Viking shield wall was already riddled with holes, eventually breaking into countless small pieces that scattered down the hillside.

Having lost face, Yolen requested to lead his armored soldiers in another charge, but Vig refused.

"The slope is too steep, making it impossible to use shield carts and battering rams. By the time the heavily armored soldiers reach the top of the hill, they will have already exhausted most of their strength. What's worse, there is a four-meter-high earthen dike in front of the wooden fort. After breaking through the dike, they will still have to face the surrounding wall, making the attack too difficult. Forget it, let them stay inside. There's no need to waste the soldiers' lives."

With a sigh, he deliberately loosened the troops' control, allowing some civilians to escape into the wooden fort at the top of the cliff. He then ordered the soldiers to dig trenches and build fortifications at the foot of the mountain, preparing for a long-term siege.

Out of caution, Vig built two walls in succession, shaped like concentric circles. The inner wall defended against the defenders of the wooden fort, while the outer wall defended against enemy reinforcements.

During the construction of the fortifications, Vig sought out the Shrike to discuss a formation suitable for small-scale skirmishes.

“Mountain warfare is not suitable for large-scale operations. In order to deal with the Indigo Raiders who are familiar with the terrain and skilled in close combat, I decided to try new tactics.”

He sat cross-legged on the grass and, based on his memory of the Mandarin Duck Formation, picked up some stones to demonstrate:
(The Mandarin Duck Formation, a battle formation created by Qi Jiguang in the Ming Dynasty, was used to suppress Japanese pirates along the southeastern coast.)
The squad consisted of fourteen men: the captain and two shield-axemen clad in iron armor, followed by four spearmen equipped with three-meter-long spears, two armed with three-meter-long pitchforks (a substitute for wolf-tooth rakes) with forked iron spikes, four experienced longbowmen, and one auxiliary soldier carrying supplies.

"The key to formations lies in coordination; discipline comes first, martial skill second. Try to eliminate those who are overly aggressive and prone to fighting. When engaging the enemy, you can switch between column and line formations, and you can also split into two smaller formations, left and right."

After listening to the lord's ingenious idea, the shrike remained silent for a long time. This formation seemed to make up for the shortcomings of his troops in melee combat. However, the formation change was too complicated, and he was worried that the soldiers would not be able to accept it in a short period of time.

"Sir, I need two months, no, three months!" "Very well."

Before setting off, Vig developed a detailed battle plan, divided into two phases:
First, capture Edinburgh, Stirling, Glasgow, and other settlements. These settlements are located in the central lowlands of Scotland, where the terrain is relatively flat and suitable for large-scale troop deployments.

Second, after occupying the central lowlands, the offensive direction shifted to the southern hilly areas to eliminate resistance in the south, and then attacked the northern highlands. The northern terrain was fragmented, consisting mainly of rugged mountains and deep valleys.

At the current pace, capturing the central lowlands will take at least three months and at most six months, giving the shrikes ample time to train their mandarin duck formation.

In late May, the two ring-shaped fortifications were completed. Vig left 800 men to besiege Edinburgh, with Shrike as commander, using the spare time to train the army.

After giving repeated instructions, Vig led 3,800 men along the riverbank, their destination being the town of Stirling to the northwest.

Stirling is located at the junction of the Central Lowlands and the Northern Plateau, with many easily mined hematite deposits nearby. The iron ingots produced there supplied Northern Europe and Britain, and in Vig's mind, it was even a higher priority than the two main settlements of Edinburgh and Glasgow.

The army marched for a day and a half along the flat, open land when a scout cavalryman suddenly appeared beside Vig.
"My lord, there is a stream in front of us, and five hundred Picts are gathered behind the stream."

"Five hundred people?"

Vig raised his left hand, signaling the army to halt. He then drove his gray horse to a nearby high ground. In the distance, he could see a village with only about thirty households. A winding stream flowed outside the village, and on the opposite bank, five hundred disorganized Picts were scattered across the hills.

"What place is this?" he asked the local guide.

"Sir, this village is called Bannockburn."

Bannockburn, the battlefield where Robert the Bruce defeated King Edward II of England?

Vig suddenly burst into laughter, raised his riding whip and pointed to the swamp and forest on the opposite bank, "Here, here, and here, all are suitable for setting up an ambush. It's obvious that the other side is luring me to attack the five hundred men in the hills, and then launching a major attack on my flank."

I never expected that this group would use such a crude and clumsy tactic against me. Do they think that Vig Tynburg is just a simple-minded brute?

He stretched and instead of advancing, he ordered the troops to cook on the spot.

While cooking, Vig sent a squad of crossbowmen to approach the creek and shoot at the Picts on the other side, while also sending riders to inform the fleet in Forth Bay.

"Remember, let the fleet enter the River Forth, go upstream along the river channel, and eventually reach the north of Stirling, and play a trick on these simple-minded guys."

After lunch, Vig did not cross the river to attack as the enemy had expected. Instead, he set up camp on the spot and sent multiple squads to different locations to create the illusion of building bridges to cross the river.

The Picts, who were hiding in the woods, remained silent. They patiently waited until the third day, when finally some of them could no longer contain themselves and began shooting arrows at the Viking soldiers not far away.

(End of this chapter)