Vikings: Lords of the Ice Sea

Chapter 18 Northumbria

After resting for a night and purchasing enough fresh water and food, Ivar bid farewell to the Nordic immigrant family and steered his boat south.

Two days later, the longship docked and discovered that the inland area was covered with swamps. One of the crew members scooped up a handful of dark brown soil from the bottom of the swamp, examined it for a moment, and then told the others.

"This soil can be used as fuel, and it is widely distributed in the surrounding area. If I'm not mistaken, this should be the Great Swamp north of Yorktown."

They found a stream to replenish their freshwater supply and set off again along the coastline, arriving at the rendezvous point—the mouth of the Humber River—on the morning of the third day.

The target of this raid is York in Northumbria. According to the pre-departure plan, the fleet will sail upstream on the Humber River, using its numerical advantage to conquer the capital.

Surprisingly, more than sixty longboats were moored at the river mouth, only half the number that had set out. Some of the boats were in poor condition and had been towed ashore for repairs.

"What happened?"

After reaching the shore, Vig asked a Viking who was fishing. The man replied lazily, "We encountered a storm on the way, and the whole fleet was scattered. Ragnar ordered us to stop here. Phew, we've been waiting for you for five whole days. We're practically moldy."

Just then, a heated argument came from not far away. Vig recognized the voices as those of Ulf and Leonard. He approached the tent and found five nobles arguing around a simple map on a table about which settlement to attack.

Wolf: "According to the prisoners' confessions, York is a Roman remnant with a stone wall taller than two men, making it difficult to conquer. I suggest attacking Leeds to the west, and then continuing westward to attack Mancunium (later Manchester)."

Leonard, young and impetuous, immediately rejected his old neighbor's suggestion: "Let's attack Yorktown! If you're worried about danger, why not stay home and farm? Why brave the storms to come to Britain?"

Ulf: "How can we attack York when the troops are not yet fully assembled? Northumbria is not a minor power like Kent or East Anglia; they can easily muster two or three thousand soldiers to fight us. It would be better to attack the easier towns first, such as Leeds, which only have wooden fortifications, to weaken their strength, and then try to besiege York."

As the initiator of this raid, Ragnar was in no hurry to make a statement. After the two had argued for a while, he decided to adopt Ulf's plan.

"The fleet only has one-third of its food left, and the atmosphere in the camp is becoming increasingly restless. Let's find a weakly defended settlement to scavenge for food first, so that some raiders won't be able to restrain themselves and launch an attack."

Upon learning of the high command's decision to send troops, the 1,600 idle Vikings erupted in thunderous cheers. The following morning, led by Ragnar, the raiders rowed their boats into the depths of the river.

Viking longships, when fully loaded, have a draft of only a little over one meter, which allows the Vikings to be tactically flexible and adaptable, enabling them to move quickly along inland rivers. Sometimes, before the lord can even react, they have already made their escape with the looted supplies.

Amidst the shocked and panicked gazes of the villagers along the coast, the fleet sailed westward and arrived near Leeds the following afternoon.

Since Northumbria lacked a beacon system, a small number of residents were still working in the fields outside the town, and a few riders were hunting on the southwest side, all enjoying a leisurely and contented life, until a large number of longships were moored on the south bank.

"Great! They're completely unprepared! Quick, charge!"

Ivar, unwilling to waste time, led a small group of Vikings in a charge towards Leeds, a few hundred meters away, intending to capture the town in one fell swoop. At this time, British productivity was low; apart from a few cities remnants of the Roman era, most towns consisted only of wooden fortified walls. Leeds was no exception; its walls were a sandwich structure, with two layers of wooden stakes inside and out, filled with rubble and earth in between, reaching a height of about three meters, and coated with a layer of mud to protect against enemy fire attacks.

Crossing the shallow moat, more than twenty Vikings arrived at the foot of the stockade wall. Ivar helped the tallest man, Om, to stand firmly against the wall, then stepped on his shoulders and leaped up, gripping the edge of the crenellations tightly with both hands, easily scaling the wall like a nimble gibbon.

Looking around, the whole town was in chaos, with pedestrians rushing to escape everywhere, and the monastery bells ringing in all directions, giving it a feeling of the end times.

"Follow me to seize the city gate!"

Ivar, unwilling to wait any longer, led Bjorn, Gunnar, and a few others to rush toward the city gate.

This is the most crucial part of the entire raid; the city gates must be captured before the enemy can react, allowing the Viking main force to pour into the city. Conversely, if the enemy holds the gates and withstands the first wave of attacks, they will have ample time to mobilize the town's residents, and what follows will devolve into a fierce siege.

Soon after, Vig climbed the stockade wall and found Ivar and ten Viking warriors fighting desperately behind the city gate. Just as he was about to rush over to their aid, a group of archers suddenly surged up the stockade wall, ready to shoot at the Vikings below.

"Such a fast reaction time. It seems they've been attacked quite a bit."

Vig charged forward with his round shield raised, knocking some people cleanly off the stockade wall, while others tried to resist but were usually defeated after only two moves.

After charging for dozens of meters, only a clumsy, inexperienced man remained ahead. He held a huge crossbow and stared at the outside of the city, his legs trembling as he struggled to choose his target. Hearing his companion's scream, the man instinctively turned his head and his eyes met those of a Viking barbarian about ten meters away.

After a two-second pause, the man roared and raised his heavy crossbow, “You heretical barbarian!”

Damn, where did Britain get heavy crossbows?

Seeing the massive iron arrowhead at the tip of the crossbow, Vig knew something was wrong. The instant the enemy pulled the trigger, he instinctively jumped off the city wall. Just before he hit the ground, he heard a scream from his side and behind.

Then, a corpse with its eyes wide open fell beside Vig, a thick crossbow bolt lodged in its chest, the sharp arrowhead protruding from its back, still dripping blood.

The deceased was the Viking warrior who had been following him. He was wearing a set of iron-trimmed leather armor, which provided far better protection than that of ordinary soldiers, but he still couldn't withstand the close-range barrage of heavy crossbow bolts.

"What a dangerous weapon. Fortunately, its reload speed is slow enough and it's not widely used, otherwise this war would be impossible to fight."

Vig picked up the round shield, preparing to rejoin Ivar, but before he could take a step, a piercing pain shot through his left ankle, almost causing him to fall to the ground.

He rolled up his trouser leg and saw a large lump on his ankle. Vig was speechless. He had imagined the injuries he would suffer in battle, but he never expected it to be a sprained ankle!
For the next few minutes, he could only watch helplessly as Ivar cut down the soldiers blocking his way, opened the city gates amidst cheers, and the raid on Leeds came to an end.

(End of this chapter)