Vikings: Lords of the Ice Sea

Chapter 303 Yi Beihe

On the way back to base, Invalon asked Leif for information, "Which unit is chasing us?"

“Charles Portini, a baron under Gunnar, had not received the supplies for a long time, so he sent cavalry to search the rear, and they caught us.”

What should have been a victory turned into a rout. Leif hated Baron Charles the most. Had Charles acted any faster, the Marine battalion would have suffered even greater losses.

With the supply convoy attacked, Gunnar led his troops to withdraw from southern Denmark. The life or death of "Young Louis" was no longer important; his primary objective now was to keep an eye on Vig and prevent him from causing even greater trouble.

Referring to the map, Gunnar dispatched riders to the settlements in the middle and upper reaches of the Elbe River, instructing them to prepare in advance to prevent the Viking fleet from advancing further.

In fact, Vig had no such idea for the time being. He currently only had three thousand marines, which was too few. Even if he captured the towns in the middle and upper reaches of the river, he would not be able to spare enough troops to garrison them.

On May 18, follow-up troops were transported from Esbjerg to Hamburg. Wieg worried that Gunnar might be lurking in some area, waiting for the moment to launch a fatal attack.

Unwilling to repeat the tragedy of Niels in Magdeburg, he remained in Hamburg, allowing troops to repair fortifications and observe Gunnar's further actions.

Coincidentally, Gunnar also had no intention of starting a war. He sent his infantry to various towns to assist local lords in building fortifications and attempting to block the upper and middle reaches of the river.

Until the end of May, no battles took place between the two sides, who were both waiting for the enemy to make a mistake, and the war entered the most boring and tedious stalemate.

At the northernmost point was Louis the Young Man's army, in central Denmark were the Nordic Allied forces, in Hamburg in the south were Wieg's troops, and at the far south were Gunnar's reinforcements.

Upon closer examination, each of them had their own difficulties. Gunnar had two thousand cavalrymen and an equal number of mounted infantry, as well as more than three thousand infantrymen, making him the strongest in field battles. However, the horses consumed a great deal of grain, so it was necessary to keep the supply lines open at all times.

If Gunnar had gone to Denmark and allowed Vigé to seize the strongholds along the Elbe River, cutting off the French supply lines, even if Gunnar had occupied Denmark, he would not have been able to obtain supplies and would ultimately have succumbed to starvation.

Vigue's weakness lay in his lack of cavalry. Once far from the river and coastline, his supply convoys were easily attacked by French cavalry, forcing him to adopt relatively conservative tactics.

Fortunately, the country has ample food reserves, enough to sustain him through this protracted standoff until the end.

June 1st.

Late at night, a dozen or so rowboats sailed downstream and quietly approached the pontoon bridge that spanned the river.

"Hurry up, or the Vikings will find us."

As the officers shouted, the ships approached the pontoon bridge. Frankish soldiers repeatedly sawed at the bridge surface with hacksaws, remaining vigilant throughout, lest they alert the Hamburg garrison not far away.

After tireless efforts, they achieved their goal: a section of the pontoon bridge in the middle of the river lost its connection with the bridge decks on both sides and drifted downstream with the current, creating a gap about 20 meters wide in the pontoon bridge.

"Send a signal quickly!"

The officer patted a soldier on the shoulder, who mimicked a bird's call to summon the fire-bombing ships moored upstream.

In the midst of anxious waiting, hundreds of small boats laden with firewood finally arrived, passing through the gap in the middle of the pontoon bridge one by one, and sailing toward the Viking fleet anchored on the banks of the Hamburg River.

Two hundred meters. One hundred meters.

Fifty meters.

Suddenly, the foremost fire-bombing ship came to a screeching halt. The Franks walked to the bow and saw a chain blocking the river ahead. Due to its own weight, the slightly drooping chain was submerged in the river, which is why those damned scouts hadn't noticed it!
Immediately afterwards, more and more fire-attack boats were blocked by iron chains, futilely lying across the river. Some people tried to chop the iron chains with iron axes, but no damage was caused.

"who?"

The guards on both banks noticed the movement in the middle of the river and immediately sounded the alarm. Some tried to shoot the enemy with longbows, but due to the great distance, the grease-soaked rockets drew an arc in the darkness and fell helplessly into the river.

On the shore, bells rang in succession in the various camps, and many Viking soldiers emerged from their barracks, silently assembling under the supervision of junior officers. Those who made noise without permission would be severely whipped.

On the riverbank, the sailors sleeping in the cabins were awakened. Although the visibility was poor, they were already familiar with the cabin structure. They quickly rolled up their hammocks and went to their posts to wait for orders.

Looking into the distance, the sailors saw glittering silver lights on the river surface, the reflections of weapons.

"Night attack?"

The captain issued instructions, directing everyone to lower the anchor, hoist the sails, and maneuver the boat away from the shore to avoid gathering together and being burned by the fire attack on the small boats.

For a long time, the entire fleet was scattered across the wide surface of the Elbe River, and these fire ships still failed to cut the iron chains blocking the river.

The operation failed, and the crew pushed the pile of firewood into the river and rowed upstream. In the darkness, the Viking fleet could not aim accurately and only managed to sink two unfortunate small boats, ending the surprise attack in a hasty manner.

At daybreak, the French ships returned to their point of origin and reported the results of their voyage to Carloman, who remained silent. Gunnar, standing beside him, seized the opportunity to offer some words of advice:

“I warned you before, Vig is cunning and unpredictable by nature, and such tricks will not work on him. How about this, let me continue to monitor Hamburg to prevent Vig from attacking the upstream settlements, while you two brothers go to Denmark to pick up ‘Young Man’ Louis and come back quickly. The Jutland Peninsula is now deserted, and there is no point in forcibly occupying it.”

"Go to Denmark again?" Fat Charlie was still shaken, unable to shake off the shadow of his previous failure.

But then he thought that if Gunnar went to northern Denmark, it would mean that he would have to stay behind to deal with Vig's army. Comparing the two options, he listened to Gunnar's suggestion and went to Denmark again with his brother Carloman.

Before leaving, Fat Charlie said anxiously, "What if Vig abandons Hamburg and sails to Denmark to ambush us?"

“It takes time for the military to board and unload the ships; it’s not as easy as you think. If he returns to Denmark, I can simply go with him.”

Despite Gunnar's promise, the two brothers remained uneasy, even harboring a dark thought of hiding in northern Germany and watching their second brother, "the young Louis," perish.

However, the nature of this war was special. Louis, upholding the cause of eliminating pagan pirates, gained unanimous support from the church, the nobility, and the common people. Even Bavaria and Swabia were filled with voices supporting Louis.

If Carloman and Fat Charlie do anything excessive, it will give Uncle "Bald" Charlie a perfect reason to declare war and deal with these two disobedient nephews.

(End of this chapter)