At the cost of fifteen casualties, Santan routed the group of Frankish Army scouts, killing twenty of them and driving away another seven.
"Pack your things, do not waste any ti!"
Having suffered severe personnel losses, Santan was forced to abandon his mission. He headed toward an oak forest five miles to the west, where a mountain infantry company was stationed.
An hour later, nine wounded n received temporary dical treatnt in the oak forest. Friendly forces also provided two carts, making it easier for Santan to transport the injured back to the main camp.
'It has not even been a month since my promotion to platoon leader, yet I run into this kind of ss. I wonder how the higher-ups will view ?'
At dusk, Santan led his troops back to the camp. He ordered his n to send the wounded to the dical station, while he went alone to the company headquarters to report, bringing along a cart full of captured armor.
"It seems luck was not on your side," the company commander remarked as he counted the stack of helts, realizing his subordinate had failed to complete the reconnaissance mission.
"The enemy scouts were equipped with crossbows..."
Santan recounted his experience. Since he was illiterate, the company clerk drafted the combat report on his behalf. Half an hour later, the report was dispatched to the battalion headquarters. The battalion commander, sensing the severity of the situation, imdiately forwarded the docunt to the division headquarters.
In this manner, the report traveled up the chain of command, layer by layer, until it finally alard Wigg.
"Crossbow cavalry again. How many tis does this make?"
A staff officer replied, "This is our third engagent with crossbow cavalry. Judging from the casualty exchange ratio, the combat effectiveness of the Frankish Army scouts has improved."
Going by current trends, the Frankish Army scouts were rapidly adopting the crossbow. Although crossbows were slow to reload, they perfectly compensated for their lack of ranged attack capabilities. Training horse archers was far too difficult, making crossbow cavalry much more suitable for the Frankish Army's current predicant.
This was a very dangerous phenonon. The enemy had not been crushed by their previous defeats; instead, they were actively employing new tactics. Wigg stared intently at the map on his desk and decided to push more chips onto the table.
He ordered Leif to send a ciphered ssage to the Royal Palace, instructing them to use the shares of various companies held by the Royal Family as collateral to secure private loans. These funds would be used to recruit Eastern Europe infantry or steppe cavalry.
"Including the shares for the paper mills, the brewery, and the football clubs?" Leif asked in disbelief.
Wigg nodded. "Aside from the newspaper agency, the ironworks, the military equipnt arsenals, and the shipyards, all other shares fall within the scope of collateral. While they are at it, they should sell off all the vacant land in the eastern part of Londinium. The Crown Prince lacks experience, so put Heregyth in charge of this specifically. She needs to raise at least fifty thousand pounds."
The feud between the two sides had now escalated into a battle to the death. If he still could not bring Francia to its knees, Wigg would go all in with every chip he had—by initiating a total, kingdom-wide mobilization.
On March 22nd, the expeditionary force arrived at the banks of the Loire River. On the southern bank sat the city of Tours, where the garrison was frantically destroying the pontoon bridge spanning the water.
The river was relatively narrow in this section, only about 150 to 200 ters wide. Wigg ordered his soldiers to fell trees and construct a large number of trebuchets, preparing to bombard the city walls from across the river.
At the sa ti, Wigg dispatched his Rangers to scour the vicinity for boats. Eventually, they found twenty small vessels in a fishing village thirty miles upstream.
Taking advantage of the garrison's lax defenses, the Vikings infantry crossed the river on the boats. By the ti the defenders realized what was happening, an entire infantry regint had already secured a foothold on the southern bank.
The Frankish Army's primary defensive zones were concentrated around Paris, Harfleur, Calais, and other similar regions. The garrison at Tours consisted of a re two thousand five hundred n, the vast majority of whom were hastily conscripted militia.
"Quickly, drive them back into the river!" The Count of Tours brought forth one thousand five hundred n, throwing all his forces into the fray at once, but unfortunately, it yielded little result. The fifty-odd cavalryn who led the initial charge were t with a concentrated volley of arrows and bolts. Most of their warhorses were shot down on the spot. Only a dozen or so warhorses managed to carry their riders to the enemy lines, where they were promptly skewered to death by a dense thicket of spear thrusts.
The pursuing Frankish Army infantry was then subjected to a fierce ranged bombardnt, instantly stalling their charging montum. This was especially true for the militia, who lacked proper armor. Raising their shields, they huddled closely together with their comrades in a desperate attempt to evade the omnipresent rain of arrows.
In the end, only three hundred or so heavy infantry actually engaged the Vikings in close combat. Before long, the Frankish infantry completely collapsed and routed. However, since the Vikings lacked cavalry, they failed to achieve any significant results during the ensuing pursuit.
On March 27th, two infantry regints marched to the eastern side of Tours, chopped down trees to construct a fortified camp, and then began digging trench tunnels.
Having perford these operations multiple tis, the Viking sappers had grown highly proficient. Their trench-digging efficiency steadily increased, and it took them rely twenty days to tunnel right beneath the city walls. Upon reaching their mark, Wigg ordered a full-scale assault.
After breaching the city, he ordered his n to round up the local fishern and interrogate them separately. He needed to gather detailed hydrological information about the Loire River: seasonal water level fluctuations, the locations of hidden reefs, which sections had rapid currents, and which areas were prone to running ships aground...
Two days later, he received a report from Utgard: they had successfully captured Angers.
"Nantes, Angers, Tours... I now control the major towns along the lower reaches of the Loire. The riverine fleet can transport troops and provisions directly up the waterway, imnsely alleviating our logistical pressure. The objective for the first phase has been flawlessly achieved."
After so more ti passed, the Eastern Europe infantry that the cabinet had hired last year finally arrived at the frontlines. Totaling four thousand n, their addition boosted the expeditionary force's overall numbers to fifty-seven thousand.
Wigg organized them into four garrison regints, inserting a small handful of military officers and translators into their ranks. He planned to use them to carry out various low-value tasks.
Further upstream lay Orléans, a crucial stronghold in central Francia. It had been settled as early as the Gallic period and was later rebuilt by the Roman Emperor Aurelian. According to the intelligence gathered, the city boasted nearly ten thousand residents, making its scale second only to Paris.
On May 1st, Wigg departed from Tours. His forty-five thousand soldiers advanced simultaneously by land and water along the river course, marching toward Orléans, over a hundred kiloters away.
The following afternoon, as the army was setting up camp, an unexpected visitor requested an audience with Wigg.
A sentry bluntly demanded, "Who are you?"
The middle-aged man lowered his cloak. "Jean de Poitiers. I heard that the King is recruiting n of talent, and I wish to pledge my loyalty to him."
"Oh, I know you. You are that lost general." The sentry and his companions burst into uncontrollable laughter before sending soone to notify their superiors.
It did not take long before a squad of the Royal Guard approached. They searched him, briefly verified his identity with a few questions, and then escorted him to the riverbank, where the King was currently fishing.
The setting sun was slowly sinking into the west, its residual heat lingering in the air. Wigg sat on a folding camp stool, resting his chin on one hand as he gazed blankly at the scenery before him.
The river flowed at a gentle pace, with vast patches of reeds growing along its banks. A white egret took flight silently from the reeds, its wings skimming the surface of the water as it snatched up a river fish and glided toward a sandbar in the middle of the channel.
The southern bank was a vast expanse of flat, open grassland. Several cows were scattered across it, leisurely grazing on the green grass. Their shadows, stretched long and thin by the slanting rays of the setting sun, shifted silently across the ground.
"Sir Count, what is it that you desire?" Wigg's gaze remained fixed on the surface of the river, while information regarding his visitor surfaced in his mind.
Last year, Charles the Bald had led his army in a retreat back to Paris. He shifted all the bla onto Poitiers, stripping him of all his titles and throwing him into prison. Afterward, Poitiers managed to bribe the jailers and miraculously escaped from Paris.
Poitiers replied in Latin, "Your Majesty, I have a thod to help you swiftly conquer Orléans. Please accept my allegiance."
Reviews
All reviews (0)