Vikings: Lords of the Ice Sea

Chapter 262 A Precious Opportunity

The argument lasted for five days, and the three princes parted on bad terms, gathering their respective supporters to prepare for war.

In order to counter the most powerful Carloman, the second son Louis III and the youngest son Charles III formed an alliance.

Upon learning of the internal strife in East Frankish times, Charles the Bald was overjoyed. He openly assembled an army and, in the name of his uncle and the emperor, declared his intention to mediate the conflict between his nephews. However, halfway through his march, his army suddenly attacked the three small kingdoms that had splintered from East Frankish territory.
Londinewum.

Upon learning of the chaotic situation in Europe, Vig was greatly shocked. "Since the Merovingian dynasty, the equal division of inheritance law has been used for hundreds of years. Almost every time it is divided equally, civil war is inevitable. Haven't the Franks thought of changing it?"

He summoned Gwen, the head of intelligence, and ordered him to send more agents to prioritize intelligence gathering within West Frankish territory.

In mid-May, after confirming that the Frankish kings were engaged in fierce fighting, Vigé breathed a sigh of relief, finally able to free up his hands to deal with the chaotic situation in Ireland.

The following day, three thousand regular troops left their garrison, with Shrike as commander, and went to Ireland to take control of the situation. The troops were designated as the First and Second Infantry Regiments, the Mountain Infantry Battalion, and two Ranger Companies.

Ireland, Dufyline.

At this time, Duke Aemon was in a very bad situation.

Over the past few years, he has been unable to control the situation, allowing his three earls and barons to run rampant, which has led to the rapid growth of the rebel army.

The rebellion has now swept across most of Ireland; one of the three earls is dead and another is wounded. Aemon has repeatedly appealed to Landineum and the other great nobles for help, but to little avail.

The royal army was engaged in defending against the Franks on the southern shore of the strait and was unable to spare any attention. The nobles were even more indifferent; they had not yet paid off Ivar's debts from years past and only wanted to avoid this bottomless vortex.

"It's all the fault of those idiots below who only care about exploiting the common people, causing me, a duke who has just come of age, to suffer along with them."

Amon cursed under his breath and pulled out a piece of parchment to write a letter asking for help—this had become almost a daily habit for him.

“Wise Lord Ulf, excuse my intrusion,” a servant rushed into the study to remind him, just as he finished writing the first sentence, “My lord, the royal army has arrived!”

Imon galloped up to the watchtower on the city wall and saw a huge fleet slowly sailing into the mouth of the River Liffey, consisting of ten bimasted sailing ships and fifty coks. The coks were of mixed types, mostly civilian ships that had been temporarily requisitioned.

Soon, the largest two-masted sailing ship docked on the south bank of the River Liffey. A shrike, wearing a white cloak over a chainmail, stepped off the pier and walked straight toward the young duke who was surrounded by a crowd.

At first glance, Imon's appearance is about 70% similar to Ivar's. He is tall and strong, with light yellow hair, a thin and long face, and high cheekbones, like a winter wolf ready to devour its prey.

The difference is that Eamon lacks some of his ferocity and composure, appearing uneasy in the face of the shrike and this fully armored standing army.

"Welcome, sir."

“I am the Shrike, Earl of Bournemouth, Commander of the Standing Army.”

After introducing himself, the shrike led his entourage to the castle. He didn't bother with pleasantries with the young duke, reached out for a map, and then had his advisors take out the maps they carried to compare with each other.

At the same time, he also demanded detailed information, including the population, the number of troops assembled, and the various reserves in the warehouses.

After getting a preliminary understanding of the situation, the Shrike asked Imon to provide all his cavalry. He had arrived in haste and only had a little over two hundred scouts who were not good at charging.

Aemon: "Very well, Dufylin has assembled two hundred and thirty cavalrymen, all under your command. What are your follow-up plans?" The shrike pointed to a small dot in central Ireland, "I'm leading troops to Athlone. How much food is there there?"

Aemon replied: "The Earl of Athlone suffered a defeat in his first battle and did not have time to use up his food reserves. I think his reserves are sufficient."

"What do you think?" The shrike took a step forward, startling the inexperienced duke into retreating. "No matter what happens in Atlon, you must ensure the food supply. Tens of thousands of troops are expected to arrive later. If anything goes wrong, the brothers won't be as easy to talk to as I am."

"clear."

Needing a favor from someone, Immanuel ignored the other party's offense and invited the guests to the dinner party.

During the banquet, he noticed that the officers of the standing army were restrained and did not drink much, far better than his drunken subordinates.

That night, Imon staggered into bed, thinking, "If even half of my men were any better, things wouldn't have come to this."

The next morning, Imon rubbed his eyes and went to the castle balcony, asking the beautiful maid beside him, "What are those shrikes doing?"

"Sir, they got up at dawn and set off at six in the morning, and it took them about four hours. Do you need to see them?"

"No."

With his hands gripping the railing, Aemon stared blankly at the massive fleet of ships moored on the banks of the River Liffey. Then he turned his gaze westward, looking at the endless fields in the distance, a mixture of joy and indescribable disappointment in his eyes.

If it were me and the nobles under my command, we would definitely get completely drunk, sleep soundly in bed the next day, and then continue to attend banquets that night, at least until the third day before setting off.

"In that case, I'd better give up on the idea of ​​the British throne."

Leaving Duflin, the shrike entered the rolling lowlands and hills. Ireland lacked gravel roads; all the paths were narrow, muddy, rutted, and covered with animal droppings, severely slowing the march.

"It's expected to be a day later."

The shrike, mounted on horseback, casually gazed at the vast oak and hazel forests in the distance. Occasionally, it would spot large pastures divided by hedgerows, where herds of cattle and sheep grazed. Scattered peat bogs dotted the low-lying areas, exuding a unique dampness. Some locals were shoveling peat with tools, piling it up in the open to dry, so it could be used as fuel.

After three days of marching, the Viking villages became increasingly scarce. The shrike ordered the troops to increase their vigilance, with the rangers responsible for scouting the surrounding plains and the mountain infantry searching the woods and hills on both sides of the road.

On the morning of the fourth day, they were attacked by a small group of rebels.

Upon hearing the sharp whistle from the oak grove to the south, the shrike ordered a change of formation, with the soldiers organized into hundred-man square formations in company form.

Once the formation was initially stable, the Shrike sent the remaining hundreds of mountain infantrymen into the oak forest, using their numerical advantage to defeat the rebels who were attempting to ambush them.

At noon, the regular army arrived at a small river running north-south. The wooden bridge across the river had been burned down, and the Shrike sent engineers to rebuild it.

During this time, hundreds of rebels launched arrows from the opposite bank, only to be met with a volley of fire from longbowmen, resulting in dozens of deaths and injuries before they abandoned their harassment.

(End of this chapter)