Vikings: Lords of the Ice Sea

Chapter 93 The Banks of the Seine (Part 3)

Upon receiving orders, Ivar rallied his troops, reorganized his formation, and turned north to attack the main French force commanded by Charles the Bald.

As the core offensive force in this battle, the Ivar tribe had a thousand armored soldiers. He himself wore a leather vest covered with armor plates, with a set of chainmail underneath. Including the iron helmet, the total weight reached an astonishing fifty pounds.

Following the gray wolf banner, the armored soldiers approached the Frankish infantry's shield wall with heavy steps. After a brief exchange, the Frankish lines spontaneously retreated north.

Driven by some instinct, Ivar did not rush to break through the enemy lines, but instead proceeded steadily, gradually driving the enemy toward the banks of the Seine.

The central high platform on the west side.

Seeing that Ivar's forces were making good progress, Vig felt that he had won 80% of the battle. He waved his flag and signaled his direct troops to flank the Franks to the east and cut off their retreat route back to the bridgehead as soon as possible.

At this moment, "Bald" Charlie realized that a crisis was coming. He now understood that the Viking "main force" in the west was just a facade, which was impressive in appearance but had not achieved much.

Conversely, the real killing blow lies in the thousand heavy infantrymen to the south, and the two Viking phalanxes that are about to encircle them from the east.

Unfortunately, even though he saw through Vig's tactics, he couldn't stop the enemy's encirclement.

After losing troops on the southern front, Franks had more than 6,000 men left. Although this number seemed large, they were actually low-spirited and disorganized conscripted militia. Now, under pressure from both the west and the south, these 6,000 men unconsciously crowded towards the banks of the Seine to the north, like a flock of chaotic sheep.

As time passed, Vig continued to issue new orders, gradually extinguishing the enemy's chances of survival.

“The formation in the southwest corner has weakened. Let ‘White Hair’ Oleg move up and take over from Ulf’s unit.”

"Niels' archers prepare to attack, following behind Leonard and Theowuff's troops. Once within range, they will hurle arrows toward the enemy's center. The goal is not to inflict heavy casualties in a short time, but to maintain a prolonged firing range and try to disrupt their regrouping."

"Om is charging too fast, his formation has broken away from Leonard's! Damn it, get him to slow down!"

"Bjørn's troops finished their rest and headed to the southern battlefield to cover Ivar's rear and prevent stray Frankish riders from interfering with his offensive."

At one o'clock in the afternoon, accompanied by five hundred light infantry, two bayonet phalanxes successfully maneuvered to the east side of the battlefield, blocking the Franks' retreat route back to the bridgehead.

Through a series of maneuvers, Vigé successfully implemented the pre-war plan, trapping the main French forces on the banks of the Seine.

With the situation settled, he sat cross-legged on the high platform and had a guard hand him a bag of water. He drank about half of it and used the rest to wash his sweat-soaked face.

A gentle breeze brushed his cheek, ruffling a stray hair by his ear. Vig looked up at the endless white clouds, the warm sunlight enveloping his entire body, as if he were soaking in a warm bath.

"There are no fixed formations in warfare, just as water has no fixed shape. In this battle, I have managed to 'win by adapting to the enemy's changes.' If Gunnar, Ivar, or others were in command, I doubt they would have achieved such a result."

After this battle, he had an epiphany: his command ability had greatly improved, and from then on, he would have no more obstacles in commanding troops of less than 10,000 men.

2 p.m.

Braving a hail of arrows from three directions, the Franks launched five breakout attempts, all of which were repelled. As the battlefield shrank, six thousand soldiers huddled together on the banks of the Seine, unconsciously surging towards the shallows. Realizing their king was in danger, the garrison on the Île de la Cité quickly dispatched over thirty ships as reinforcements. Seeing this, the Viking longships met them. The two sides became entangled, and the Franks' usual fire-ship siege tactics proved ineffective.

Half an hour later, a speedboat rushed to the shore, carrying "Bald" Charles and more than ten nobles, and swayed away from the riverbank.

“I am the nephew of the Count of Orléans’ cousin.”

"Take me with you, and I'm willing to give up two wineries in Bordeaux."

"Your Majesty, are you going to abandon me, a devout clergyman?"

Ignoring the numerous shouts, the speedboat paddled desperately toward Île de la Cité, with a few unwilling to give up clinging to the gunwale. As the ship was about to capsize, with the king's tacit approval, the captain of the guard drew his sword and slashed at the side of the ship, severing fingers one by one, which rolled haphazardly onto the deck—a chilling sight.

Finally, under the desperate cover of French ships, "Bald" Charles returned to the Île de la Cité, where he met the pale-faced Queen and a group of noblewomen.

"Don't panic, everyone. The island of Cid is strategically located; the barbarians can't get up here."

Before the king could finish speaking, a noblewoman rushed to his side, grabbed his sleeve, and demanded, "Your Majesty, why didn't my son come back with you?"

Led by her, the noblewomen broke through the guards' obstruction and inquired about the whereabouts of their sons, husbands, fathers, and brothers.
3pm.

With the king gone, the remaining Franks, utterly demoralized, readily surrendered their weapons, thus ending the Battle of the Seine.

In this battle, the Vikings suffered 1,300 casualties, the vast majority of whom came from the southern battlefield—Bjørn, Ulf, Gunnar, and two bayonet phalanxes paid a heavy price to deal with 1,000 French cavalrymen.

On the Frankish side, 1,500 were killed, nearly 6,000 were taken prisoner, and hundreds fled the battlefield as routed soldiers.

After tallying the results, the nobles held a brief war council. The victory was truly brilliant; with only a thousand casualties, the main French force was annihilated. The command unanimously decided to capture Paris, seize the spoils, and then return to Britain.

Then, before sunset, the Vikings built their siege camp outside the bridgehead on the south bank. Fortunately, the presence of many houses and a market nearby greatly accelerated the camp's construction.

Based on past battles, Vig was chosen as the siege commander, responsible for building the camp and carrying out the siege. The nobles departed one after another; Ivar and Bjorn led several hundred skilled warriors to the north bank to find their father, while the rest went off to find their own pleasures.

When it came to how to attack a city, Vig's first thought was to besiege it.

A few days earlier, when the army passed through Rouen, the Franks had laid an iron chain across the river. The Vikings captured the fortress on the south bank, cut one end of the chain, and caused it to sink to the bottom of the river under gravity.

Now, Vig plans to capture Rouen on the north bank. The other end of the iron chain is still fixed on the north bank. At that time, the iron chain will be dragged out of the water and transported upstream by boat to block the Seine River east of Paris.

"Now that the main force of the French army has been wiped out, only a few palace guards and one or two thousand incompetent militiamen remain on Île de la Cité. I can build siege camps outside the bridgeheads on the north and south banks respectively, and set up iron chains to block the river upstream, completely besieging this city located in the middle of the river."

(End of this chapter)