Vikings: Lords of the Ice Sea

Chapter 390 The Legal System of the Roman Empire

After the battle, Frey returned outside the city to report. Vig was satisfied but refused his second son's request to command the subsequent siege.

At this moment, an artillery colonel came to report that ten more bronze cannons had been scrapped, bringing the total number of artillery pieces lost to 70%.

Vig was shocked. "So fast?"

The Italian region was dotted with fortresses, and the locals were fiercely resisting, resolutely refusing to submit to this foreign-cultured and foreign-religious ruler. Without artillery, it would probably take a month to capture a city of Parma's scale.

Artillery Colonel: "Each bronze cannon has a barrel life of three hundred rounds. The battle is fierce, and the brothers really have no other choice."

Vig took a booklet that detailed the number of times each cannon had been used in various battles. Apart from the cannons that had been scrapped, the remaining twenty-four cannons generally still had more than a hundred rounds left in their barrels.

In no time, Vig made a decision: "Send word to Toulon to bring over their naval guns. Since the navy can't seize control of the sea, keeping these cannons is a waste."

After speaking, Vigé's gaze swept past the ruined Parma and looked towards the Apennine Mountains to the south of Parma.

"Did I underestimate the difficulty of attacking Italy?"

His thoughts raced, from Frederick the Redbeard to Louis XII, and then to Francis I.
In the original timeline, during the reign of Frederick I (nicknamed Redbeard, Barbarossa) in the 12th century, the Holy Roman Empire reached its zenith.

Frederick coveted the wealth of Italy, and from 1154 to 1183, he launched six wars against the region, with some victories and some defeats.

The most humiliating incident occurred when Frederick's wife, Beatrice, was captured by Milan and forced to ride a donkey through the city streets. Later, Frederick also fell out with the Church and was excommunicated by the Papacy.

Overall, medieval Italy was in a state of chaos, with numerous city-states that appeared weak, which attracted repeated invasions from powerful monarchs such as the French and the Holy Roman Empire.

However, the Italian peninsula, with the Alps as a natural barrier, greatly increased the logistical difficulties for attackers. Moreover, the peninsula retained a large number of stone fortifications, and the local population was unruly, making it extremely difficult to occupy and turning it into a quagmire from which attackers could not escape.

"Barring any unforeseen circumstances, there is a high probability that Basil will personally join the war, and small countries in the Balkans may also join the Italian battlefield. This war may last for a long time."

After thinking for nearly half an hour, Vig wrote to his homeland, asking them to issue a second round of war bonds to send more supplies and mercenaries to the front lines.

After capturing Parma, Vig gave the remaining bronze cannons to the Shrike and Utgard, instructing them to continue clearing out towns in the Po Plain.

After two days of rest, Vig led 30,000 men along the mountain road to the west coast of Italy to receive the Royal Navy's cannons.

Two months ago, during the Battle of Nice, the Royal Navy lost two gunboats and recently acquired a new one, bringing its total to three gunboats with sixty bronze cannons.

In this urgent situation, Vig requisitioned forty-two relatively well-maintained naval guns, along with their accompanying gun crews, and launched an offensive along the coast into the Tuscany region.

A thousand years ago, Hannibal attacked Tuscany, a region filled with vast swamps and poor sanitation, which caused him to lose an eye. Due to long-term development, the swamps have shrunk significantly, transforming the area into an important agricultural region, producing wine, olive oil, and marble.

At the end of August, the Viking army captured Pisa, followed by Lucca and Livorno, and then went upstream along the Arno River.

As the lifeblood of the Tuscany region, the Arno River is lined with farmland and orchards. In early autumn, as the vineyards are just before harvest, a few farmers are still busy in the fields and vineyards, unwilling to abandon their crops.

When the Viking army arrived at the western outskirts of Florence, Vigg, ​​as usual, sent prisoners into the city to persuade them to surrender, but unsurprisingly, they were refused.

After a day of bombardment, the Viking soldiers stormed into the city, and the local count adopted a similar strategy to Parma, continuing to resist within the city.

At 3 p.m., Viking soldiers pushed cannons into the city, clearing barricades and houses one by one, suffering thousands of casualties, and captured this important town in west-central Italy.

The journey from Florence to Rome was about two hundred miles, with few large towns along the way, only some small and medium-sized settlements and castles. At the Vikings' pace of advance, they expected to reach Rome in four weeks.

On the night Florence was captured, Vige held a banquet, and perhaps in a drunken impulse, he made a promise to all his soldiers:
The first person to enter Rome, regardless of his status, will be made a duke!
Within days, news that the Serpent of the North was about to attack Rome spread throughout Italy.

At that moment, Basil's army landed at Taranto in the southern part of the peninsula and received a letter from the Papacy requesting assistance. Instead of replying immediately, he pondered past events.

Over the centuries, the relationship between the Papacy and the Eastern Roman Empire gradually became more complex. In particular, in 800 AD, the Pope bestowed the title of "Emperor of the Romans" upon Charlemagne, granting this Frankish ruler the legitimacy and claims of the Western Roman Empire.

Upon learning the news, Constantinople strongly objected, considering it an unprecedented humiliation: what right did a Frankish barbarian have to inherit the legitimacy of the Roman Empire?

Subsequently, friction arose between the Frankish Empire and the Eastern Roman Empire in the Adriatic Sea. After a long period of negotiations, in 812 AD, the two sides signed a peace treaty in Aachen, demarcating the border between the Western and Eastern Empires.

From the Eastern Roman Empire's perspective, this was a humiliating diplomatic compromise. At the time of signing the treaty, the Eastern Roman Empire only recognized Charlemagne as "Emperor of the Franks and Lombards," not "Emperor of the Romans."

Following this event, the Frankish Kingdom rose to become an empire, its status equal to that of the Eastern Roman Empire. Relations between the Eastern Roman Empire and the Papacy plummeted, and the political and religious rift between the Latin West and the Greek East deepened significantly.
In recent years, the situation in Europe has changed dramatically, with the Vikings rising like lightning. After the fall of the Frankish Empire, the Papacy lost its most important supporter and protector, and instead began to repair its relationship with Constantinople.

Basil and several trusted confidants discussed the matter all night and decided to do everything in their power to rescue Rome.

"Tell them to hold on, my army will be here soon."

The ancient Appian Way runs from Taranto to Rome, a distance of over 300 miles, and could be reached in 20 days if marching at a faster pace.

Ideally, Basil would annihilate Vig's forces outside the city, then reclaim the Frankish territories, regain the crown and legitimacy of the Western Roman Empire, and fulfill the centuries-old ambition of the Eastern Roman Empire.

At that time, his nickname will no longer be "Macedonian" or "usurper," but a title with supreme glory and legendary color—"the restorer of the world."

(End of this chapter)