Vikings: Lords of the Ice Sea

Chapter 401 The Magyars
The bugle sounded, its deep echo reverberating across the wilderness. The soldiers quickly deployed into battle formation, all of them, whether infantry or archers, clad in armor.

Judging from the number of tents, Alfred estimated that the tribe had about 1,500 inhabitants. He waved his flag and ordered the shield wall to slowly advance. Most of the nomads' arrows were blocked by the shields, and the few feathered arrows that occasionally pierced through the gaps only left shallow marks on the lamellar armor.

Ranged attacks were ineffective, so the nomadic riders circled around to the flanks and launched a charge, only to be met with a volley of arrows from the crossbowmen. Before they could even reach the spear lines on the flanks, the fifty-odd surviving riders fled in disarray.

The Frankish shield wall continued its advance, and after being hit by fifteen volleys of arrows, they approached the edge of the camp, charged up and hurled two volleys of short spears, pinning the nomadic infantrymen in front of them to the ground, shields and all.

The shield wall then disbanded and stormed the camp in squads. Their equipment and discipline overwhelmed individual bravery, efficiently and ruthlessly sweeping away any resistance.

In 868 AD, Viggoth defeated Charles the Bald's northern army and Gunnar's southern army at the Battle of Reich. Afterwards, Charles the Bald led his remaining troops in a retreat from East Frankish to Italy. After many battles, these soldiers followed Charles the Bald to Wallachia. They were truly battle-hardened elites, with combat skills exceeding those of ordinary Viking troops and reaching the level of the Viking Janissaries.

Using these armored warriors against poorly equipped nomads, the outcome of the battle was a foregone conclusion. The French suffered only twenty casualties, the vast majority of which were minor injuries.

At this point, Alfred dispatched 150 light cavalrymen from his wagon entourage, not targeting the nomads who were fleeing on horseback, but rather the large herds of cattle and sheep scattered nearby.

After two hours of work, the Franks tallied their spoils, finding a total of 400 prisoners, 300 cattle, 9,000 sheep, and miscellaneous items such as tents and wagons.

Unfortunately, most of the horses were taken away by the fleeing nomads.

Five days later, the expeditionary force returned to Charlesburg with a vast number of livestock, eliciting enthusiastic cheers from the people. At the banquet, Charles the Bald and the nobles listened to the account of the battle, and a strong desire for war arose within them.

Someone suggested, "We've discovered more than one wintering camp recently, why don't we fight another battle?"

William, clutching the half-eaten roasted lamb chop, let out a satisfied burp. "Yes, it's my turn to fight this time. Brothers, wait for my good news."

The following day, William also led two thousand soldiers into battle. After several days of travel, they successfully found a winter camp on the southern slope of the mountains.

It was another overwhelming battle, with the French army capturing tens of thousands of cattle and sheep, plus two hundred steppe horses.

Two consecutive victories sent Charles Castle into a frenzy. Bald Charles temporarily expanded his army to six thousand men, dividing it into three parts: two to go out on campaigns and one to stay behind and defend the stronghold.

Based on the prisoners' confessions, the Franks learned more clues. Taking advantage of the fact that the nomads were unable to migrate in winter, they launched a fierce attack and vented their humiliation on the Italian battlefield.

As time went by, the French army became more and more successful. They even crossed three rivers, penetrated deep into the northern steppes, and attacked a large tribe of tens of thousands of people.

This time, the French army deployed 4,000 men, while the opposing tribe had 2,500 adult males, all of whom had steppe horse mounts, but only 400 sets of armor.

Faced with the overwhelming charge of light cavalry across the hills, Alfred left a thousand men to guard the wagon formation, while the remaining three thousand men volunteered to fight, forming three hollow square formations, a replica of the Viking phalanx.

"Free Fire!"

Upon receiving the officer's instructions, the armored crossbowman pointed his crossbow at the ground, stepped on the iron footrest at the front of the crossbow with his left foot, pulled the string upwards with both hands, and then took out the bolt and put it into the bolt slot.

Next, the crossbowmen, peering through the gaps between the first two rows of spearmen, aimed at the nomadic riders running in circles and fired. These crossbow bolts had a kill range of 150 meters against unarmored units, were simple to operate and learn, their only drawback being a slightly slow rate of fire.

After five minutes of shooting, the nomads' mounts gradually grew tired, and the riders began to slow down their bow-drawing speed.

Seeing this, three hundred French cavalrymen set out, equipped with chainmail, lances, longswords, and light shields. With the help of the high explosive power of the Frankish warhorses, they crashed into the enemy ranks.

In an instant, hundreds of nomadic riders were pierced through the body, and the remaining companions scattered and retreated, trying to lure the Franks into pursuit and deal with them using the classic "fight and retreat" tactic.

The French cavalry were not fooled. With the support of their own infantry, they quickly returned to their wagon formation, waiting for their horses to recover their strength before launching another devastating charge.

The battle lasted half an hour, during which the nomadic cavalry suffered losses exceeding 30% and subsequently withdrew from the battlefield. Alfred continued his journey and that afternoon located the enemy's stronghold, which he captured in a short and fierce infantry battle.

Throughout the winter, the Franks wiped out fifteen tribes, captured three thousand horses and sixteen thousand cattle and sheep. Alfred's military exploits were the most outstanding, earning him a new nickname—the Nomad Destroyer.

After the war, Charles the Bald and the nobles agreed that Wallachia's flat terrain made it vulnerable to nomadic raids, and that every village (knightly territory) should have a castle, using fortresses of all sizes to completely control the land.

Exiled to foreign lands, the Franks abandoned their so-called morality and began forcing eight thousand prisoners of war to cut timber, quarry stone, and build fortifications in various places.

In March 874 AD, the Eastern Roman fleet transported the supplies bestowed by the emperor to the Danube River. Upon arriving at the dock, they discovered that the area had changed significantly.

Six months ago, there were only three simple wooden piers on the riverbank, and no stockade walls around them.

Today, large quantities of stones and timber are piled up around the docks, and numerous prisoners of war are constructing stone walls and internal facilities. According to the Franks, this place was named New Orleans and was the fiefdom of Earl William.

The fleet soldiers were busy loading and unloading supplies, while the imperial eunuch, escorted by a small squad of French cavalry, headed to Charlesburg.

A cold wind howled across the steppe, and the group pulled their cloaks tighter. The ground beneath their horses' hooves was still damp and soft, a result of the combined effects of melting snow and spring rain. In the afternoon, they could see the towering silhouette of Charles Fort in the distance, its top adorned with vibrant fluttering flags.

Large flocks of sheep, like moving white carpets, graze slowly across the fields on the outskirts of town, grazing on tender, juicy grass. The strong smell of mutton fills the air, and the eunuch's mount snorts restlessly, its hooves pawing at the soft, damp grass.

After entering the city, the eunuch read out the emperor's edict, handed the list of supplies to Bald Charlie, and couldn't help but sigh:

"So many sheep, it seems you're doing well."

Recently, Constantinople had heard of the commotion on the Wallach plain, but they hadn't expected such a great victory. The eunuch inquired about the details of the battle and received the following reply:

"The nearby nomadic tribes have been wiped out, and the remaining Slavic villages have sworn allegiance to me, numbering about 20,000," Bald Charles reported, while also requesting the fleet's assistance in transporting the surplus cattle and sheep to Constantinople for sale.

"Of course. Constantinople has a population of 500,000 and a great need for grain and meat. What do you need?"

Charles the Bald: "Armaments, volcanic ash for castle construction, hiring Venetian fleets, and continuing to send Frankish immigrants to Wallachia." The Eastern Roman Empire's plan was to establish a vassal state of 100,000 to 300,000 people north of the Danube to block the nomadic and Slavic tribes of the Eastern European steppes. Currently, the empire's attitude towards the Franks is primarily supportive; the eunuchs have agreed to the above demands and promised to send at least 40,000 immigrants this year.

Assuming Wallachia continues its rapid growth, the scale of immigration will gradually decrease next year to prevent Charles the Bald from becoming too powerful and threatening the Eastern Roman Empire itself.

September.

After six months of hard work, Wallachia's work is on track, with three towns—Charlesburg, New Orleans, and Buzeu—and seven smaller to medium-sized settlements, all of which are walled.

Alfred distinguished himself in battle and became the lord of Buzeu, governing five thousand Frankish immigrants and two thousand Slavic natives.

Buzeu has a large flock of sheep, and its residents have shifted to a semi-agricultural, semi-pastoral lifestyle.

Some people cultivated farmland in areas near towns and villages, using the three-field system and new heavy plows to grow wheat, oats, and beans.

Some people drive their livestock to graze on more distant grasslands, living a nomadic life in search of water and pasture. When the temperature drops, the herders harvest hay in advance and transport it back to the city's warehouses for storage as winter provisions for their cattle and sheep.

The only regret is that the Franks' reputation for brutality spread quickly, and there are no large-scale nomadic tribes near Wallachia, so it's estimated that they won't be able to plunder much good stuff this winter.

Alfred sent men to the northern grasslands to gather information, and they inadvertently learned of a rumor: a large tribe was about to migrate, with its destination being the Wallach Plain.

"How many people?" Alfred pressed the young rider in front of him.

"According to the Slavs and nomads, they are Magyars. The Magyars consist of seven tribes, with a population ranging from 30,000 to 60,000."

Sixty thousand!

The nomads were all soldiers, and with a population of 60,000, the opposing side had at least 15,000 nomadic light cavalry.

Alfred's mood plummeted as he went from hunter to prey, and he wrote to Charlesburg and New Orleans in the south to inform them.

Alfred then summoned his knights to take stock of their supplies.

"The rye and oats are almost ready for harvest, and there is still a lot of wheat stored in the warehouse, which should last until next summer. However, the hay in the warehouse is not enough, so we need to hurry up and harvest and dry it."

The next moment, he suddenly realized that the city's timber reserves were insufficient. If the enemy besieged the city, there would be a lack of fuel in winter, and Buzewu would not be able to hold out either!

Alfred assigned tasks, ordering some knights to recall the scattered farmers and shepherds, while the remaining knights organized a logging team to go into the western Carpathian Mountains to cut firewood and store fuel for the winter.

In mid-September, news of the Magyars' migration intensified, and Bald Charles hastily delivered five hundred crossbows and one hundred thousand bolts, demanding that Alfred hold the town.

"What is this? Basil made Bald Charlie hold out on the north bank of the Danube, forbidding him to retreat. Bald Charlie then threw me to the north. Neither of them are good people!"

Alfred was in a bad mood and had nowhere to go, so he could only urge the people to dig trenches and build torsion ballistae.

During the long wait, the grasslands lost their summer verdant green, transforming into an endless expanse of withered yellow that stretched to the horizon. The residents of Buzeu gradually became numb, until late September, when two riders screamed as they charged into the city:

"The Magyars are coming!"

The bells rang urgently, and farmers, carrying their tools, and herdsmen drove their livestock back into the city. The heavy city gates slowly closed.

At first, it was just a black dot appearing on the eastern horizon, then two, ten, a hundred, eventually converging into a moving black tide. The sound of horses' hooves rolled across the earth like muffled thunder, causing the city walls to tremble slightly.

Countless nomadic riders stopped a short distance from the city wall, wearing fur coats, with scimitars at their waists, and recurve bows and quivers hanging beside their saddles, standing silently in the increasingly chilly autumn wind.

The next moment, a rider galloped out from the nomadic army. His horse was tall and strong, and the rider's face was deeply wrinkled with a scar across his left eye. He reined in his horse at the foot of the city wall, looked up at the yellow dragon banner fluttering atop the wall, and shouted in heavily accented but clearly legible Slavic:

"The people of the grasslands need food for the winter and warm shelter. Open the city gates, offer half of your stored grain, and we swear not to harm a single person."

Alfred instructed the translator to reply: "We are willing to pay two thousand sacks of grain and five hundred sheep. Please leave as soon as possible. This is Eastern Roman territory, and the Emperor's army is on its way!"

The rider refused to haggle and rode back to the crowd, triggering a collective scream from the nomadic riders. The rolling sound washed over the city walls, and the defenders instinctively gripped their spears, while some of the militiamen began to tremble.

The next day, a vast number of wagons and livestock appeared in the distance, confirming the rumors that the tribe was indeed migrating over a long distance.

The river flows down from the Carpathian Mountains, from west to east, passing the northern wall of Buzeu, meandering downstream. The Magyars set up camp on both sides of the river and led their horses to the stream to drink.

Instead of rushing to attack the city, they went to the western Carpathian Mountains to cut down trees. Tall pine and oak trees fell one after another, their branches were quickly pruned, and they were dragged back to the camp by steppe horses.

Outside the city, craftsmen used precious iron tools to process wood, young craftsmen made long ladders, and older craftsmen were responsible for more technically demanding tasks—human-powered catapults.

In just a few days, thirty simple human-powered catapults took shape. The base was made of sturdy oak wood, and a long lever arm was being installed in the middle. The craftsmen were testing the strength of the ropes and making adjustments from time to time.

When they were about to finish, Alfred gave the order, and the garrison uncovered the tarpaulins covering the crossbows and aimed at the catapults more than 200 meters away.

click!
The soldiers smashed the mechanisms, and the six crossbows on the city wall fired in succession. In less than two hours, all the human-powered catapults outside the city were destroyed.

Alfred instructed the translators to shout in unison, "Stop attacking! Your human-powered catapults are not powerful enough to destroy our walls. Get out of here!"

(End of this chapter)