Vikings: Lords of the Ice Sea

Chapter 313 Knights and Light Cavalry
In early February 865 AD, taking advantage of the Moors' inattention, Gunnar led 2 men across the Cantabrian Mountains and quickly captured Leon on the southern slope of the mountains.

Ahead lies the flat Meseta Plateau, where the Douro River and its numerous tributaries carve deep into the plateau, forming many valleys.

The valleys were fertile and home to the main settlements. Throughout the winter, the Moorish army was scattered throughout the valleys. Gunnar persuaded Crown Prince Alfonso to gather their forces and launch a preemptive strike before the enemy could fully assemble.

After the surprise attack on León, Gunnar and Alfonso led more than 10,000 men south along the Ezra River. The enemy forces they encountered along the way were generally no more than 2,000 men, and they were easily defeated by the Frankish knights.

Gunnar breathed a sigh of relief as he watched the tribal light cavalry scatter and flee. The light cavalry's loose formation occupied a wider area of ​​the battlefield, and just a thousand men could create an overwhelming momentum that looked quite intimidating. However, as long as the allied forces withstood the first wave of attacks, the light cavalry would be helpless.

Once the Moorish light cavalry's horses were exhausted, Gunnar sent out the Frankish knights, who easily caught up with the light cavalry and unhorsed the enemies one by one.

At each settlement captured, Alfonso sent his chaplains to go door-to-door, using land as a bargaining chip to recruit local Visigothic poor. As the campaign progressed, the allied forces not only didn't decrease but actually increased in size, growing to 16,000 men.

In mid-February, Gunnar arrived at the confluence of the Ezra and Douro rivers and headed east along the Douro. A week later, they encountered the main force of the Moors, which had been hastily assembled.

In this battle, the Western Army had 3,000 cavalry, the vast majority of whom were Frankish knights and mercenaries. The remaining 13,000 infantrymen were poorly trained and difficult to use.

Left with no other choice, Gunnar ordered thirteen infantry units of a thousand men each to form a conservative "4-6-3" formation: four thousand men in the front, six thousand in the middle, and three thousand in the back. The more experienced troops were placed in the front and on the flanks, while hastily recruited militia were positioned in the center to fill the gaps.

On the other side, the Eastern Army was in no better shape, totaling 18,000 men, including 12,000 demoralized conscripted militia, 3,000 tribal light cavalry, 2,000 Sakkariba heavy infantry, and 1,000 heavily armored cavalry.

Looking out at the vast crowd in the distance, Alfonso, who was taking the field for the first time, felt parched and his heart was pounding. He forced himself to calm down and entrusted the command to Gunnar.

"Your Majesty, be prepared. This war may last until sunset. No matter what happens, your royal banner must not waver."

"I see."

At nine o'clock in the morning, the Moors launched their attack, using their usual harassment tactics with light cavalry. A massive cavalry force came from both flanks, raising clouds of dust.

Once within range, the light cavalrymen removed the bows and arrows hanging from their saddles. The horse bows were composite bows, made from animal horn, tendons, and fish glue used for bonding. The relatively dry climate of Iberia prevented the composite bows from coming unglued.

Fifty meters apart, the light cavalry hurled arrows at the Visigothic infantry. Observing that the infantry's formation had loosened slightly, some light cavalrymen closed in to within thirty or even twenty meters, greatly increasing their accuracy. The arrows cunningly slipped into the gaps in the shields, killing the militia behind them.

The Western archers retaliated, but they were too few in number and poorly trained to control the proper angle of their shots. Some of their arrows flew into open ground, failing to drive away the troublesome light cavalry.

Under the Western Army's banner, Alfonso, witnessing the decline of both flanks, anxiously looked at Gunnar, who gently shook his head. Soon, the outermost thousand-man square on the left flank collapsed, but Gunnar still did not send out cavalry, instead having the thousand-man unit on the inner flank fill the gap.

The harassment lasted for over an hour before the Moors launched a full-scale attack. Gunnar seized the opportunity, sending a thousand French cavalry to flank the Moorish heavy cavalry. The Moorish heavy cavalry were mainly equipped with scimitars and round shields, and their charge was less powerful than that of the French knights charging with lances. The two sides clashed, and the Moorish cavalry's armor was easily pierced by their lances. They collapsed in no time.

"That's it?"

Gunnar was in high spirits and divided the remaining cavalry into three groups, with himself, Baron Charles Portini, and Champion Knight Maurice de Montpellier each leading eight hundred cavalry to take turns attacking the enemy on the south side of the battlefield.

During the charge, Gunnar ignored the arrow harassment from the Moorish light cavalry and focused solely on assaulting the Moorish infantry. After fighting for a while, realizing his horses were exhausted, he led his troops back to their own formation to rest, allowing Charles's troops to attack. Soon after, Charles's troops finished their charge, and Morris's troops took over the offensive, giving the Moorish infantry on the south flank no chance to regroup.

Witnessing the French army's fierce charge, the Moorish light cavalry lacked the courage to engage in melee combat. Instead of risking a charge to fight, they remained at the edge of their firing range, hurling arrows, thus buying time for their infantry to change formation.

Ultimately, they were just temporarily conscripted tribal nomads, and their ability to harass the enemy with bows and arrows was already enough to justify the reward they received.

With repeated charges, the French army routed the Moorish infantry, driving them northward and disrupting the formation of the Sakkariba heavy infantry. Then, the same tactic was employed: Gunnar, Charles, and Maurice took turns attacking, like waves crashing on a beach, until the Sakkariba formation collapsed.

At their closest point, the Sakkariba heavy infantry were only a hundred meters from Alfonso's royal banner. Victory was like a mirage, seemingly within reach, yet forever out of reach.

Sakkariba suffered a crushing defeat. Seeing the dire situation, the light cavalry scattered around the battlefield abandoned their allies and fled in all directions. The Moors' defeat was inevitable.

"we won?"

Alfonso was pale and his lips were cracked. He had successfully completed Gunnar's mission and remained steadfastly under the royal banner. During this time, he was hit in the left arm by a stray arrow. Fortunately, his armor protected him, but it still terrified him.

By now, the Crown Prince had only four thousand-man squads remaining, along with over three thousand hastily reorganized routs; the rest of the soldiers were either dead or had deserted. Most reprehensibly, his cousin, Floreira, had led a thousand men from the rear guard away without a word at the most critical moment, nearly causing the entire army to collapse.

"That damned traitor, I will never forgive him."

Alfonso's hatred for his cousins ​​even surpassed that for the Moors before him. Accompanied by his muttered curses, the last organized Moorish infantry unit was defeated by the French army, and the war ended.

The next day, Alfonso appointed a nobleman to stay behind to gather the defeated soldiers and treat the wounded, while he and Gunnar led six thousand men in good condition to continue eastward along the Douro River.

As time passed, news of the Moorish main force's defeat spread throughout northern Iberia, and rebellious sentiments spread like wildfire. Wherever the allied forces went, the people welcomed them enthusiastically, providing food and soldiers, and even acting as inside agents to help the allied forces conquer towns.

In May, the allied forces arrived at Zaragoza, a major city in northern Iberia. During the Roman era, it was called Caesar Augusta; over the long years, its name changed repeatedly, being called Saraxta by the Moors before evolving into Zaragoza.

(End of this chapter)