Vikings: Lords of the Ice Sea

Chapter 214
With their escape route threatened, Leonard and the others were terrified and shouted for an immediate retreat. Annoyed by their commotion, Ivar finally snapped, "Shut up!"

Immediately afterwards, a sharp pain shot through his abdomen, interrupting his next words.

Leonard was still nagging, "Your Majesty, don't waste time, hurry and reinforce Tamworth, most of our food is stored there."

Unable to resist the collective persuasion of the crowd, Ivar agreed to lead the main force to rescue Tamworth, which meant abandoning Theowough, but he couldn't care less about that now.

On the morning of May 30, Ivar led 6,500 men out of Oxfordshire (excluding Theowough's troops) and retreated northward along the road.

After a day's march, scattered French scouts appeared along the roadside, which Ivar drove away with his cavalry. Another day passed, and the number of French cavalry increased, leading to several small-scale cavalry battles that ended in a draw.

On June 2nd, the French cavalry completely overwhelmed the Vikings, and the number of cavalry under Ivar's command rapidly decreased, with their reconnaissance range being repeatedly compressed.

When they arrived at Tamworth, Ivar's cavalry numbered only one-third, with only 310 men available for battle.

Looking around, Gunnar's brown bear flag flew above the walls of Tamworth, and three thousand French troops were stationed outside the city, half of them cavalry and half of them mounted infantry.

At this moment, a group of Imperial Guard soldiers who had defected to Gunnar shouted, "Ivar, your retreat is cut off. You might as well surrender now. His Majesty promises not to kill you, but to transfer you to another place as a count."

Ivar ignored the insults; now that Tamworth had fallen into enemy hands, he had no choice but to continue his retreat north.

After marching about twenty kilometers, the demoralized Viking army entered Repton. That night, the Mayor of Yorkshire led the militia away without notice, which quickly triggered a chain reaction, with more and more soldiers deserting, and the situation in the army deteriorating further.

the next day.

"What do we do now?" Leonard looked at his colleagues and saw only equally bewildered faces.

At this moment, everyone present was caught in a dilemma. They had no chance of winning the war, and even if they announced their surrender, Gunnar probably wouldn't accept it. Now that the outcome was decided, he didn't need to keep these Viking compatriots whose loyalty was questionable. He might as well divide the territory among his confidants.

After waiting for more than ten minutes, Leonard asked the guard at the door, "His Majesty hasn't gotten up yet?"

"No, no."

Faced with the panicked guards, Leonard also panicked and rushed into Ivar's bedroom, only to find him lying on the bed in a deep coma, with a strong smell of blood emanating from his abdominal wound.

He asked the elderly shaman who was tending to him at his bedside, "How is the situation?"

The shaman replied, "My old injury has recurred. I have no choice but to hope for the protection of the gods."

As night deepened, Ivar suddenly awoke and ordered his guards to summon Leonard and other nobles.

"Your Majesty, Leonard has escaped!"

At this moment, Ivar didn't even have the strength to curse. After Pascal and the remaining four noblemen entered the room, he endured the pain and said:

"Ultimately, it's my incompetence as the commander that led to the defeat against Gunnar and Esselbad. I'll write to Vig and ask him to clean up this mess. Well, whether he becomes prime minister or king in the future is none of my business."

After the clerk finished writing the letter, Ivar laboriously stamped his wolf head seal at the end, and then had the other nobles follow suit. "So be it," he said. "Perhaps he is the most suitable candidate to be king." Tyneburg.

Upon hearing the news of Ivar's death, Vig's mind went blank. For over a decade, Ivar had been his best friend. It was a pity that having chosen this path, he was destined to be alone.

Did he have any last words?

The messenger, his eyes red with tears, replied, "His Majesty ordered us to retreat to Nottingham in the north before his death. There are probably only about four thousand people left. You'd better get there as soon as possible, otherwise the number will dwindle."

After dismissing the messenger, Vig sat alone in the hall until late at night, and had his guards summon commanders such as Yoren, Shrike, Torga, Viper, and Breken.

"Order the entire army to follow me south tomorrow and end all of this."

Yoren nodded. “Yes, sir.” He paused for a moment, then changed his words to, “Yes, Your Majesty.”

Since the blacksmith crafted the first set of cloth armor, seven years have passed, and approximately five thousand sets of armor have been secretly stored in warehouses across the country. On the surface, Vig also possesses two thousand sets of various styles of scale armor, lamellar armor, and chainmail (mainly captured), totaling seven thousand sets of armor.

Compared to other types of armor, cloth armor does not stand out in terms of defense; its biggest advantage is its low price.

As Stirling's pig iron production increased year by year, and armorers became more skilled, the cost of each set of cloth armor dropped to 0.65 pounds of silver (227.4 grams), which, according to the Ming Dynasty's system of weights and measures, was approximately equivalent to six taels of silver. (The cost of cloth armor produced in the Ming Dynasty was approximately four taels of silver.)

In contrast, the price of scale armor, lamellar armor, and chainmail was at least two pounds, and Vigé did not have the financial resources to make these three types of armor standard equipment.

"There's no need to pursue perfect weapons in war; as long as they work, they're fine."

Today is June 13th. After four and a half months of intensive training, he has acquired a capable unit.

Initially, there were 8,000 soldiers. The 1,000 who performed the worst were dismissed and assigned to work with the garrisons in various counties to protect the north and to supply the troops.

The remaining 7,000 soldiers were divided into five infantry regiments, one mountain infantry battalion, one heavy cavalry battalion (300 men), two ranger companies, a supply battalion and a field medical company directly under the legion, and more than 600 mercenaries.

After several adjustments, the total number of infantry regiments was about a thousand: six hundred spearmen, two hundred crossbowmen, and a light infantry company responsible for street fighting and reconnaissance. It consisted of nine mandarin duck formation squads. Although they were light infantry, they were still equipped with cloth armor.

In addition, each infantry regiment had ten mounted messengers, ten medics (responsible for temporary wound treatment and subsequent transfer of the wounded to the field medical company), thirty drummers and buglers, more than sixty support staff (grooms, cooks, and clerks), and forty supply wagons.

Heavy cavalry were mainly barons and knights from various regions, responsible for frontal assaults on enemy formations. Their warhorses were tall and strong, with great load-bearing capacity and explosive power.

The characteristics of the cavalry were soft bows and long arrows, fast horses and light swords, similar to the border cavalry of the Ming Dynasty.

Their lightweight cloth armor had fewer plates, weighing only twelve pounds. The horses were a crossbreed of Frankish and local breeds, lacking explosive power and load-bearing capacity, but possessing excellent endurance, making them suitable for long journeys.

The more than 600 mercenaries all came from the Highland clans. The warriors of each clan argued for a long time and elected the most capable warrior to be the commander. This man was named Douglas. He was tall and strong, but did not look very smart.

The highland mercenaries' equipment was a motley crew, including but not limited to light shields, short swords, iron axes, and light javelins, with a few shepherds skilled in slingshots. Vig provided an additional fifty sets of iron armor for their commanders.

(End of this chapter)