Vikings: Lords of the Ice Sea

Chapter 353 Orleans

Bovard picked up a twig and sketched the general terrain of Orleans on the riverbank.

"Orleans' walls are high and sturdy, and the city is guarded by three thousand soldiers. Now that they've heard the news, their numbers will likely increase."

To highlight his own value, Bovard exaggerated the difficulty of attacking Orleans, then pointed the branch towards the northeast corner of the "city".

"Two years ago, the Orleans region experienced prolonged autumn rains, which softened the foundations and caused the tower in the northeast corner and the nearby city walls to collapse. Earl William recruited stonemasons to repair the city walls. I know a stonemason who is greedy by nature, and his only redeeming quality is his eloquence; he is very good at deceiving his employers."

Therefore, this section of the city wall is definitely of poor quality. If you bombard it with torsion ballistae or catapults for several days, you're guaranteed to be able to collapse it.

After listening to Bovar's suggestion, Vig countered, "Building a large catapult would take a month or even longer, so why not dig tunnels? That would be much easier."

Bovar continued gesturing with a twig, “Someone has come up with a way to counter the tunnel warfare tactics. Dig deep trenches outside the city to block the tunnels’ advance, then send men into the tunnels to kill the engineers, or simply flood them. The Orleans garrison has enough manpower to carry out these operations.”

So fast?
Vig had thought this tactic would work for a while longer, but it was cracked in less than a year. He paced back and forth on the riverbank, pondering for a long time, before agreeing to take in this mediocre Frankish nobleman whose loyalty was questionable.

On May 4, the Viking army arrived on the outskirts of Orleans.

The rangers scouted around and found that the nearby villagers had evacuated, taking their grain and livestock with them. The situation in the woods east of Orléans and the large woodlands south of the Loire River was unclear; perhaps a large enemy force was hiding there, or perhaps only a few scattered scouts.

"No, you've been fooled. The main French force isn't in the woods. Bald Charlie doesn't dare to fight me in the open."

Having previously captured Angers and Tours, Vig had gathered a great deal of information. Charles's field army numbered only over 20,000, reinforcements from various regions were still gathering, and the Italian reinforcements were moving slowly, presumably not yet having crossed the Alps.

On May 5th, the siege of Orleans began.

Vig had ample troops and was simultaneously digging tunnels and building large catapults in the east, north, and west. From a distance, the defenders were digging deep trenches outside the city. Bovar wasn't lying; perhaps tunnel warfare tactics were indeed outdated.

On the other hand, he dispatched mountain infantry into the woods on the eastern outskirts to clear out scattered French troops. In small-scale skirmishes, the Mandarin Duck Formation squads often overwhelmed equal numbers of French soldiers, demonstrating extremely high combat efficiency.

It took two days for the mountain infantry to clear the forest on the north bank, but they did not find the expected ambush.

On May 20th, the French army discovered a tunnel in the west of the city. The two sides fought fiercely in the narrow and cramped tunnel, and the tunnel was abandoned due to the lack of resources.

Soon, several other tunnels were discovered. To evade French reconnaissance, the Viking engineers were forced to increase the depth of the tunnels while reducing noise during excavation, which significantly slowed down their efficiency.

By June, trebuchets were being completed one after another. The engineers pushed them slowly closer and launched stone projectiles to bombard the city walls.

"Release!" A command tore through the morning mist. Engineers pounded the mechanism with wooden mallets, and the massive, long arms broke free of their restraints, whistling as they violently hurled stones into the sky. The stones, accompanied by a muffled whistling sound, hurtled towards the city wall. In just a few seconds, the stones struck the battlements, sending debris flying like rain, and the rising dust resembled a gray cloud.

In response, the French army launched a counterattack, and stones were launched from inside the city, tracing an arc over the city walls and crashing into the Viking positions outside the city.

boom!
The stone projectile landed near a catapult, embedding itself deeply in the mud, splashing mud everywhere and splattering several soldiers nearby. They wiped their faces in disarray, cursing, but dared not stop, pushing the heavy winch again in preparation for the next attack.

Due to the high trajectory of the catapults, the hit rate was low for both sides. The soldiers mechanically loaded, pulled the ropes, and fired. As time passed, more and more catapults were completed, and more than twenty catapults were aimed at the tower mentioned by Bovar.

Every day, from dawn to dusk, stone projectiles rained down without ceasing, and the towering building gradually showed signs of decay. Each heavy impact caused the tower to tremble slightly, and dust fell in clumps.

On a dull afternoon, a stone bullet struck its already battered side again, finally reaching a critical point. The tower suddenly collapsed inward, and the upper part of the tower lost its support, crashing down into the city.

The section of the city wall adjacent to the tower was also severely damaged and could not hold on any longer. The earth seemed to tremble, and the huge sound drowned out all the noise on the battlefield. Grayish-brown dust spread out.

Di~
The next moment, the piercing whistle of the charge rang out outside the city. Douglas's axe-wielding guards and a mountain infantry battalion were the first to charge, with soldiers carrying four-meter-long ladders and setting them up on the moat outside the city.

Upon approaching, they found that the trench was mostly filled with rubble and bricks, rendering the long ladders useless. Following the gentle slope, the axe-wielding guards and mountain infantry stormed into the city, their target the Earl's mansion.

Behind them were two eager Eastern European infantry regiments, poorly organized and whose only purpose was to wear down the defenders.

At four o'clock in the afternoon, the Vikings captured the Earl's mansion. The morale of the defenders collapsed, and some people escaped upstream by boat from the dock, while others fled to the south bank along the pontoon bridge.

Watching those fleeing figures, the inland river fleet felt powerless, as a steel cable blocked their way across the river, preventing them from advancing any further.

As dusk approached, the Vikings took control of the southern wall. They turned large winches, causing the iron chains blocking the river to sink into the water, allowing the fleet to proceed to the dock.

The fall of Orléans was faster than the French had anticipated. The supplies stored in the city were either not taken away or burned. The captured grain was enough to feed the Viking army for two months, along with large quantities of wine and textiles.

Since the textile industry in Flanders was devastated and textile workers moved to the Frankish interior, Orléans has benefited greatly, with 40% of the city's workforce engaged in related industries.

Vig inspected the seized fabrics, finding their quality to be similar to that of the Flemish goods of the past. The British textile industry had progressed rapidly, surpassing its former competitors in both output and quality; it was a pity it wasn't qualified for the continental European market, otherwise it would have long since crushed the Frankish textile industry.

He inspected the remaining workshops, and found that the other industries were equally unable to compete with Britain.

The increase in literacy rates, the enactment of the Patent Act, and royal patronage all contributed to technological progress, which in turn fostered commercial prosperity. Britain, with a population of only 2.7 million, generated more tax revenue than West Francia, a country with a population of 5 million.

(End of this chapter)