Vikings: Lords of the Ice Sea

Chapter 63 Nottingham

On October 25th, amidst the relieved gazes of the local residents, the Viking army set off south.

Following the royal flag at the forefront, 5,300 soldiers left the camp one after another, followed by thousands of unrelated people.

During this period of warfare, looting was commonplace. Soldiers acquired spoils such as gold, silver, textiles, and weapons, which were then purchased on-site by merchants who converted them into cash, food, and wine, creating a distorted and prosperous battlefield economy.

In Ragnar's view, the disadvantages of accompanying merchants were that they slowed down the march and posed a risk of leaking intelligence, but they were crucial to maintaining morale. These men provided various services, indirectly helping to manage the soldiers' emotions and preventing them from venting their frustrations on their commanders.

Therefore, he tacitly allowed these money-grubbing merchants to follow him all the way, even though it slowed down the army's journey, and it took them two full days to reach Nottingham.

Just moments before the Viking army besieged the town, a militia of five hundred men poured through the south gate into the walls, thwarting Ragnar's attempt to take advantage of the situation.

Treading on the thin layer of snow, hundreds of Vikings launched a probing attack. Behind them, thousands of archers hurled arrows at the town, the dense rain of arrows striking the walls and causing many militiamen to cower behind the battlements, trembling with fear.

Like most settlements, Nottingham has a wooden wall about four meters high, with a moat dug two meters deep on the outside, for a total height difference of nearly six meters.

Due to the time constraints, the Vikings did not have time to build long ladders. They could only throw grappling hooks from the bottom of the wall and climb up by pulling on the ropes, which greatly reduced their efficiency. Even if someone was lucky enough to climb to the top of the wall, they would soon be surrounded and attacked by nearby militia and die a brutal death under a hail of blades.

"Make them withdraw."

Ragnar, his face grim, gestured to the trumpeter beside him to blow the bull horn, signaling the end of the first round of attacks.

That night, the Viking army camped around a village in the northern suburbs, with their command post set up in the village chief's farmhouse.

After dinner, Ragnar wiped the grease from the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand. "Based on the information provided by the villagers, Nottingham has 1,500 residents, roughly enough to gather 400 adult males. Add to that the 500-strong militia, and the garrison strength is close to 1,000. What are your thoughts?"

The next moment, everyone's eyes were focused on Vig. Having experienced the sieges of York and Dufylin, his siege exploits were known throughout Northern Europe. In addition to being called the Chosen One and the Serpent of the North, he also had the nickname "Sand Hammer".

Vig proposed three solutions:

First, building siege towers and catapults will take at least a month and a half.

Second, build small catapults to drop burning oil canisters. The whole process will take two weeks, but at the cost of completely destroying the town, making it unusable as a subsequent supply base.

Third, we can simply bypass it, leaving a thousand soldiers to camp here, while the rest of the troops head straight for Tamworth, the capital of Mercia, to avoid wasting time here.

Ragnar didn't rush to comment, trying to gather more information. "How long does it take to get from here to Tamworth?"

Vig: "It's a two-day drive to the southwest. There's a town called Repton along the way, where the royal tombs are located. If all goes as planned, we'll probably have to go around there."

"Bypassing Nottingham and Repton consecutively?"

Not only Ragnar, but the other nobles also felt that this plan was too risky. With the army far away, they needed to be supplied with food and weapons from the rear. If the garrisons in Nottingham and Repton attacked the supply routes, it would seriously disrupt the fighting on the front lines.

Ragnar stared at the map, continuing to bypass Repton, which meant he would need to send another thousand men to guard outside the city. This left him with only three thousand troops to besiege Tamworth. "This is a real headache." However, time was crucial in winter warfare. If the Mercian royal family had enough time to assemble their forces, things would become even more complicated.

"We'll depart tomorrow morning; whether to bypass Repton depends on the situation."

Adhering to the principle of a swift victory, Ragnar left behind the 1,000 troops in the worst condition, instructing the commanders not to stay idle in the camp, but to seize the time to build siege equipment or sweep through the surrounding villages to supply the front lines as much as possible.

"Yes, Your Majesty."

The following morning, from the perspective of the garrison, more than 5,000 Vikings (4,000 warriors and 1,000 civilians) left the village one after another, like a long, winding snake crawling on the snow.

A quick-thinking businessman realized, "Oh no! The enemy's main force is planning to attack Tamworth!"

These words sparked a great deal of discussion. A very small number of people suggested going out of the city to fight, but the mainstream opinion was to hold the walls.

Sensing the almost pleading looks in the eyes of the commoners, Lord Theowuff accepted their advice—to defend the city and watch the Vikings disappear into the southwestern heartland.

"Praise be to Lord Theowuff!"

"Thank you for your kindness and wisdom!"

To hell with Tamworth!

There was no need to leave the city to die; cheers echoed continuously from the city walls. Ultimately, defending a city and fighting in the open are two completely different concepts. To protect their families and property, the residents were willing to fight to the death on the city walls, but that did not mean they had the courage to launch an offensive against the Vikings in the wild.

After bypassing Nottingham, the Viking army, weary and cold, moved through the wilderness. Villages along the way fled at the first sign of trouble, leaving behind only empty houses and scattered grains.

Heavy iron plow?

Surprisingly, Vig discovered several Saxon wheel plows equipped with iron plow blades in the village—in this timeline, they are called Tyneburg wheel plows.

"It seems this plow is more popular than I expected."

His remarks drew Pascal's agreement: "Indeed, the heavy iron plow you invented is far more efficient than the light wooden plow. It only requires one tilling and the soil is plowed deep and evenly. As far as I know, the priests of Mercia claim that the farm tools of the pagan barbarians are full of evil, but the villagers in various places don't care about such things. Self-sufficient farmers often pool their money and would rather borrow money to have a blacksmith forge a new heavy plow."

Pascal's territory of Tiss, located south of Tyneburg, gave him a far greater understanding of the new heavy plow and the three-field system than other lords.

He inquired with the local gentry and learned that after adopting the heavy plowing and three-field system, the annual crop yield, when converted into silver coins, was equivalent to 1.4 times the output of the original two-field system, which was an unprecedented breakthrough.

With his income soaring, Pascal smiled sincerely. "Thanks to you, Tiss is also gradually promoting the three-field system. In a couple of years when I have more money, I might even have the resources to build a stone castle."

"Increasing crop yields will benefit the entire kingdom and even the whole of Europe. We're all on the same side, there's no need to thank me." Vig never considered blocking agricultural technology; it was an impossible thing to do. It was better to let things take their course and earn a good reputation.

(End of this chapter)