Vikings: Lords of the Ice Sea

Chapter 360 Fulfilling the Promise
With the weather bitterly cold, Vigé and the main force stayed in Paris for the winter, while the newly arrived Eastern European mercenaries were sent to Flanders to capture the scattered towns there.

After more than a decade of continuous suppression, Flanders' handicraft industry declined sharply, and the size of the towns also decreased sharply. The population of Bruges, Ghent, Antwerp and other places was less than a thousand people. With weak resistance, they surrendered easily.

Meanwhile, sensing the favorable situation in Britain, a small number of Brittany nobles left their hiding places and volunteered to join the army. Vigé, desperately needing manpower, accepted their allegiance and planned to form three Brittany garrison regiments to perform auxiliary tasks.

After the allegiance ceremony concluded, Vig sat on his throne, watching the nobles depart, and sighed inwardly:
"It's too late. If someone had gathered a force of over a thousand men to assist in the battle at the beginning of the war, I would have considered bestowing upon him the title of count. Now that the French field forces have been wiped out, even if you send three or five thousand men, don't expect to get a count's title; at most, you'll get a few baronial titles."

The greater the risk, the greater the reward. Since you're unwilling to take risks and choose to wait and see before the situation becomes clear, you're destined to only get scraps.

Winter passed and spring arrived, and it was March of 869 AD.

With successive victories on the front lines, the cabinet took the opportunity to issue the third and fourth batches of war bonds, raising £50,000 to continue recruiting mercenaries in Eastern Europe, bringing the expeditionary force to 63,000 men.

Apart from the troops stationed in various places, Vig has a force of 40,000 at his disposal. This time, he plans to launch an attack to the east and eliminate the three kingdoms of East Frankish in one fell swoop.

Half a month later, Vigg led his army to Münster. East Francia was far weaker than West Francia and lacked stone fortifications. The Vikings advanced quickly and soon reached the core area of ​​"Young Louis".

From this moment on, the Franks increased their resistance, and Carloman and others went into battle many times, attempting to attack isolated troops, but unfortunately with little success.

After a year and a half of war, the Viking army was forged into a highly efficient war machine. The former military academy students grew up rapidly, combining theoretical knowledge with combat experience, and the organization and tactical level of the entire army improved day by day.

In contrast, most of the Frankish junior officers were illiterate and relied on their fathers' oral experience to lead troops into battle, often making various basic mistakes that caused the front lines to retreat repeatedly.

In early May, the three Kaloman brothers made a desperate move, gathering tens of thousands of troops and secretly lying in ambush in the forests south of Bremen to attack four infantry regiments of the 2nd Field Division.

After several hours of fierce fighting, the French army was unable to annihilate the four thousand men. Instead, several of their own units suffered defeats. At 3 p.m., a large cavalry force arrived on the battlefield and nearly wiped out the East Frankish field army. Carloman barely escaped with his life, while his two brothers were killed by the Vikings.

Now, the West Frankish army has been almost completely decimated, and the three kingdoms of Middle Frankish aiding West Frankish have also nearly exhausted their field forces. With the defeat of the three Carloman brothers, the entire Frankish world can no longer muster a sizable field army.

On May 19, the Viking army captured Hamburg. As planned, the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Field Divisions marched south to attack their respective targets, each division carrying an additional three garrison regiments, similar to the auxiliary troops of the Roman legions.

Vig and his direct subordinates stayed in Hamburg, and he dispatched numerous messengers to convene a meeting of Nordic nobles and shamans from Uppsala.

In mid-June, except for a few nobles who were injured, all the other members had arrived. Vig didn't bother with any more words and went straight to asking the Windseeker.

"Back then, you begged me to send troops to rescue the Viking world, promising that after this war, you would honor me as the High King. Now, I have defeated more than 100,000 Frankish troops, and imprisoned 35,000 prisoners of war on Jersey alone. The threat to Northern Europe has been eliminated. Does that promise still stand?"

Two years ago, the promise of the Windseekers only applied to Uppsala, and the title of "High King" was merely an honorary one. But Vig was not satisfied with this; he deliberately blurred the lines, expanding the scope of the promisers from the Uppsala order to the whole of Northern Europe.

Sensing Vig's intention, the Windseeker turned and surveyed the remaining nobles, his gaze lingering on young Eric for a few seconds before he slowly nodded. "Your Majesty, Uppsala hereby pledges allegiance to you." The nobles dared not object; if they were to turn against him on this matter, Vig could sweep through all the territories within six months. Even without deploying his army, Britain, with its control of the seas, could easily cut off the trade of those who opposed him and force them into submission.

"I am willing!"

Lexal of Kalmar spoke first, prompting most of the nobles to follow suit. Everyone knelt on one knee until only King Eric the Younger and King Hafdan remained, along with a few of their confidants.

Under invisible pressure, the two kings pledged allegiance to Vig, who sat calmly in his seat.

After the meeting, Vigé ordered the formation of the Fourth Field Division, appointing Douglas as its commander, and recruiting soldiers from Northern Europe.

Having built up his prestige over the years, Vig's image among ordinary Vikings surpassed that of any other lord, including his former king, Ragnar. Thanks to this, Douglas successfully recruited 12,000 men, 4,000 more than expected.

Afterwards, Vig recruited several thousand more West Slavs, expanding the expeditionary force to a total of 80,000.

The 4th Field Division was stationed in Hamburg. Wieger drew a group of officers and non-commissioned officers from various units, along with one hundred military cadets sent from the country, to form the framework of this new unit. The initial training was planned to be completed in two months.

In mid-July, Vig traveled by boat to Magdeburg in the middle reaches of the Elbe River, a town that had been captured by Utgard twenty days earlier and was in ruins.

After a night's rest, Vig, escorted by the Imperial Guard and two mountain infantry battalions, inspected the Hartz Mountains to the southwest.

In his memory, this mountain range was rich in silver mines, and at its peak, it produced 40% of the silver mined in the German region.

It was the height of summer, the air thick and humid, carrying the scent of pine resin and decaying leaves. The occasional dull thud of logging and the whistles of mountain infantry could be heard from the forest. After rounding the last ridge, the Lamersberg mining area suddenly came into view.

This is a scarred land blackened by smoke and fire. Three earthen kilns are emitting blue smoke at the foot of the mountain. The kiln sides are piled with gray-white slag. Bare-chested workers use long iron rods to stir the molten lava inside the kiln. A mixture of lead and silver slowly flows from the trough into the ceramic mold.

Not far away, a group of miners wielded pickaxes, crushing large chunks of ore into smaller pieces. Sweat rolled over the dust on their backs, carving fine furrows into their skin.

Vig asked the foreman, "I remember there's a stream nearby, why don't we use a hydraulic ore crusher?"

What is an ore crusher?

Upon hearing the translator's account, Vig sighed and rubbed his forehead, instructing his staff behind him, "Write back to the mainland and have the cabinet transfer technical personnel from the mining area."

(End of this chapter)