Vikings: Lords of the Ice Sea

Chapter 217 Stabbing
As the distance between the two armies continued to shrink, many light infantry appeared in front of the Viking lines, forming squads of fourteen men. Some were equipped with shields and axes, some with two-handed spears, and others with Welsh longbows.

Taking advantage of their greater range, the longbowmen hurled arrows at the French archers on the eastern side of the battlefield. Fearing they wouldn't have enough time, they generally employed rapid-fire tactics, sacrificing accuracy to harass the enemy at a rate of more than ten arrows per minute.

Because the French archers were in a relatively dense formation, the Welsh longbowmen had a decent hit rate, and French soldiers were frequently seen falling to the ground with cries of pain.

After waiting for a little over a minute, the Viking army came into range. The French archers quickly drew their bows and fired the first volley of arrows. Surprisingly, only a few enemy soldiers fell.

What happened?
Some archers inspected their wooden bows and arrows, suspecting a quality problem. Urged by their superiors, they unleashed a second volley of arrows, but the results were still unsatisfactory.

"Damn Flanders merchants, they actually sold us counterfeit goods!"

Instantly, the archers' curses filled the air, as if they wished they could hang those unscrupulous merchants who sold inferior products.

Despite enduring ten volleys of arrows, the Viking infantrymen in black continued their steady march. With only fifty paces remaining, the light infantry at the front retreated one by one through the gaps between the square formations.

Thirty paces apart, the drums and bugles suddenly stopped, and the Viking pikemen halted. The first two ranks of soldiers leveled their pikes at the command of their officers.

Di~
The next moment, sharp copper whistles rang out one after another, and countless Vikings shouted slogans such as "Vahalla" and "Odin" as they launched bayonet charges at the enemy.

Seeing this, the French archers hastily fired a volley of arrows and fled in terror to the rear of their allies. They jostled and pushed each other, disrupting the infantry formation.

Soon, the Viking spearmen rushed closer and stabbed each other with the French infantry, who were also equipped with spears. The soldiers in the front row used all their strength to thrust their heavy spears forward, retract them, and thrust them out again.

The soldiers in the second rank would extend their spears from between the soldiers in the first rank to participate in thrusting. The soldiers further back were always ready to fill the gaps immediately if anyone in the front rank fell.

As time passed, the center of the battlefield transformed into a massive, slowly swirling vortex of death. Countless spear shafts collided, tangled, and snapped. Some Vikings abandoned their spears, crawling forward to engage in close combat with short axes, while the French retaliated with daggers.

Unbeknownst to them, Gunnar's direct troops were still holding on, but the mercenaries and the rest of the nobles' reinforcements could not hold out any longer.

They had never witnessed such a brutal scene. Overwhelmed by the Viking spears, they were forced into retreat. When morale reached a critical point, more than half of the French army collapsed. The Vikings seized the opportunity to surge through the breach, attacking Gunnar's direct forces from the front and flanks, utterly crushing them.

Witnessing the rout of his own infantry, Charles, located on the east side of the battlefield, was stunned. He hadn't expected the mercenaries and ragtag troops to be so easily defeated, unable to even last ten minutes.

"Sir, what should I do?"

The French knights, unable to contain their fighting spirit, impatiently urged their commander to launch an attack.

To cover their retreat, the Charles was forced to deploy most of their cavalry. Reminded by the sounds of drums and flags, the Viking pikemen on the front lines abandoned their pursuit and hastily formed small bayonet squares of dozens or even hundreds of men.

Gazing at the cold, sharp, dense bayonets, the Frankish cavalrymen circled around, searching for the scattered soldiers who hadn't had time to form ranks, like a rushing river encountering large and small reefs, forcibly broken into countless streams.

After a while, seeing the Frankish cavalry's formation loosen and their speed gradually decrease, Vig turned to look at his own cavalry.
Including reinforcements provided by nobles such as Pascal the Younger, he had a total of seven hundred cavalry, including five hundred heavy cavalrymen equipped with lances and two hundred light cavalrymen equipped with light cavalry sabers.

That's enough. He called out Torga's name and ordered him to lead all his cavalry to charge at the thousand Frankish cavalry directly in front of him, making sure to entangle the enemy.

"As ordered!"

Torga's troops departed in a grand procession, and Vig immediately dispatched over six hundred highland mercenaries. These men were not skilled in fighting in formation, so they were used to deal with the slowed Frankish cavalry in the melee, and they were barely of any use.

At this time, Vig was accompanied by two infantry regiments and a mountain infantry battalion, as well as more than 600 support staff (cooks, grooms, clerks, and shamans) – they formed a square with supply wagons, which was more than enough for defense than offense.

On the eastern side of the battlefield, Charles Portini had five hundred cavalry and a thousand heavy infantry remaining. He heard from his subordinates that the enemy's "black armor" was actually iron armor, with iron plates fixed between two layers of thick linen cloth; all the black armor was like this.

"What a cunning tactic."

If he knew that the enemy was fully armored, he would never be foolish enough to go out of the city to meet them in battle.

Charles shook his head violently, staring at the enemy's central position. What he saw completely shattered his will to fight—even the servants hiding inside the wagon formation were wearing black armor!

"Damn it, where did the Serpent of the North get so much money?"

Left with no other option, the Charles sent out messenger riders to notify all units to retreat to Ratworth Castle in the southeast. With this defeat, it was estimated that Tamworth could not be held.

Wittling the French army's gradual retreat, Vig sighed. The enemy still had five hundred cavalrymen who had not yet engaged in battle, which served as a deterrent, preventing the frontline commanders from pursuing them recklessly.

At 4 p.m., the two armies disengaged. Except for the mercenaries who had fled to the high ground, the rest of the troops returned one after another and reported their casualties to Vig.

In the evening, an elated Douglas led his clan warriors to Vig, claiming that he had captured nine noble prisoners.

"Understood. I'll have the clerk register their information; the ransom will belong to you. Now your task is to count the number of people."

Including these mercenaries, the total number of casualties in this battle was eight hundred.

The French suffered slightly more losses, with a total of 1,800 corpses and prisoners left on the battlefield. There were also many deserters—some chose to rejoin their unit, some became bandits, and others fled south to find ships to cross the sea back home.

Vigé had no way of knowing the exact number, but he estimated that Charles Portini had roughly three or four thousand more.

With the battle over, Vig sent the wounded back to Repton for treatment, and the more than seven hundred prisoners captured were also imprisoned in Repton.

Currently, the main treatment methods used by field medical companies are suturing wounds, boiling herbal medicine, providing clean food and water, and regularly changing linen bandages and undergarments.

In the absence of antibiotics and anesthetics, the ambulance company achieved an overall cure rate of approximately 60%, a remarkable success far exceeding that of its counterparts who were obsessed with bloodletting therapy.

(End of this chapter)