Vikings: Lords of the Ice Sea

Chapter 297 The Axe-Wielding Guard
Vieg made a last-minute adjustment, sending the First Infantry Regiment and Danish militia into the oak forest to create the illusion of a major offensive. At the same time, he led the main force around the front, outflanking the French from the west and heading towards their rear.

On the way, he encountered several hundred light infantrymen of the French army positioned on the left flank (in the woods on the west side of the battlefield). They were equipped with iron axes, iron swords, and oval shields. A few of them did not have iron helmets and had a strange hairstyle: shaved back of their heads, leaving only hair on their foreheads.

"Hey, where did Carloman find this country bumpkin?"

Vig didn't want to get entangled with this group, so he ordered the nearest Marine battalion to drive them away.

Leif deployed his troops and ordered them to fire freely as they slowly approached the group of strangely-haired enemies.

After being hit by multiple volleys of arrows, the enemy light infantry were forced to huddle together. When they were only thirty paces apart, they suddenly roared and launched a charge, throwing their battle axes.

At the same time, some members of the Mandarin Duck Formation also threw spears, resulting in casualties on both sides.

"What the hell?"

Leif was startled by the sudden "rain of axe-throwings," and then blew the bronze whistle to signal an attack.

As the melee began, these light infantrymen were initially full of fighting spirit, but once that initial burst of courage subsided, they were no match for the well-coordinated Mandarin Duck Formation, which was equipped with cloth armor. They gradually retreated.

"Blow the horn, tell them to stop chasing!"

Leif's orders were to "drive them away" rather than "annihilate them." Having achieved his objective, he did not intend to entangle with these barbarians. He gathered his troops and continued south to catch up with the main force that was gradually receding into the distance.

Bypassing the woods on the west side of the battlefield, Vigé's main force arrived on the southwest side, appearing in the rear of the French army's line of sight. "Fat" Charles gazed at the Viking ranks and instinctively exclaimed:
"Fast, incredibly fast."

In a short while, the Second Infantry Regiment deployed from four columns into an attacking line without any hesitation, heading straight for the Frankish infantry shield wall.

At this moment, Fat Charlie's cavalry completed their formation and launched an attack from the southernmost end of the battlefield, but were blocked by the bayonet formation of the 3rd Infantry Regiment and did not have much effect.

Upon first encountering Vig's army, the East Frankish knights found the enemy incredibly formidable. The infantry were all clad in iron armor, and even when their ranks broke and they descended into chaotic melee combat, they still possessed the strength to fight. Their combat prowess and resilience far surpassed those of the weak militia.

Unbeknownst to them, the knights' morale waned. When they disengaged from the battle and regrouped on the low hills to the south, they found that their infantry shield wall had collapsed.

"Okay, good job."

Witnessing the outstanding performance of the 2nd Infantry Regiment, Vig shouted his approval and ordered his squire to give a flag signal:
"The Second Infantry Regiment shall rest in place. The First Imperial Guard Battalion and the Mountain Infantry Battalion shall follow the fleeing troops and attack the enemy's central area from south to north. Do not stop until you break through their lines!"

At this moment, Kaloman adjusted his formation, placing most of the supply wagons to the north to form two lines of defense, blocking the "main Viking force" from the northern oak forest. The remaining wagons were positioned on the east and west sides to prevent enemy cavalry from attacking the flanks.

After a series of changes, Kaloman finally exposed the weakest southern flank to the Viking main force. Realizing his folly, he nearly fell off his horse.

"Send the palace guards south and hold them off for a while, waiting for the cavalry to launch a flanking attack!" Upon receiving the king's order, the guards struggled through the crowded throng and the haphazardly piled supplies on the ground, hastily setting up a crooked shield wall.

Soon, the routed soldiers under "Fat Man" Charlie arrived. In their panic, they rushed toward the guards who were already in formation, only to be met with a barrage of crossbow fire, and dozens of them were killed on the spot.

Realizing the ruthlessness of their allies, the fleeing soldiers cried out and bypassed the front, pouring into the ranks from the edge, spreading their panic to more people.

Before long, a barrage of arrows rained down, striking the shield wall with continuous muffled thuds. Through the gaps between the shields, the French soldiers could see the Vikings rapidly approaching.

With high morale and superior armor, the French army withstood the enemy's charge, occasionally stabbing them through the gaps in the shields with spears and iron swords.

After a prolonged stalemate, the Viking soldiers, exhausted, retreated some distance to the south. The front and rear ranks exchanged positions and launched another attack. The battle cries were deafening, and arrows flew like locusts. The two sides fought fiercely for a long time, but the battle line remained unbroken.

"These Frankish barbarians are surprisingly resilient?"

Behind him, Vig climbed onto a makeshift three-meter-high watchtower to observe the fierce battle between the Imperial Guard and the French knights gathering on the western side of the battlefield, growing increasingly impatient.

Suddenly, he caught sight of Douglas, who was idly standing there. "Count, I need you to tear down that shield wall. Can you do it?"

"Highland warriors never disappoint."

After making those threats, Douglas led his troops in an attack. Their tactics were similar to those of the Varangian Guard, wielding highly lethal two-handed weapons and wearing two layers of armor: a standard cloth armor on the outside and chainmail on the inside.

Ordinary sword cuts and spear thrusts landed on them with a sickening scraping sound, unable to penetrate their armor. This heavy armor gave them terrifying defense, almost immunity to ordinary attacks, which fueled their fearless charge.

Click!

The double-handed axes, imbued with immense force, cleaved down with tremendous force, shattering the wooden shields instantly, sending wood chips and broken metal trim flying everywhere. Douglas and his men, too lazy to parry the enemy's counterattacks, repeated their hacking motions, using their heavy bodies to push and trample through the crowd, clearing a path for the following troops.

The French army was stunned by this terrifying and ferocious onslaught. A gaping hole, seemingly impossible to heal, was torn in their shield wall, and panic spread like wildfire on both sides of the breach. More Viking warriors surged into the ranks, widening the gap rapidly. The Frankish defenses could no longer hold, and panic turned into utter defeat.

Meanwhile, Carloman and Fat Charles's cavalry formed ranks and launched their attacks, flanking Vig's royal banner from the north and south, but were blocked by the Second and Third Infantry Regiments. The pikemen formed dense lines of bayonets, and the crossbowmen repeatedly hurled arrows, seemingly obscuring the entire sky with a rain of arrows.

Frankish knights wore armor, but lacked the habit of equipping their horses with armor. As volleys of arrows fell into their ranks, their mounts suffered heavy losses, and many were reduced to foot knights, wielding longswords and chain hammers, engaging in a chaotic battle with the Vikings.

After a long and fierce battle, as the French cavalry retreated, Vieg finally dispatched four hundred cavalrymen from his Ranger Battalion. While their charging and melee combat abilities were relatively weak, they were more than capable of holding the enemy off balance. The French cavalry lost speed, and two infantry regiments swarmed in, utterly crushing them.

(End of this chapter)