Vikings: Lords of the Ice Sea

Chapter 27 Broken City
Trapped in dire straits, the surviving guards had not forgotten their oath of loyalty. Time was of the essence; together they pushed down the wall in the northwest corner, carrying the disheartened Ellaud as they broke through the encirclement. Reaching the foot of the wall, only three guards remained behind Ellaud.

In addition, most of the militia were trapped in their camp, futilely huddled into a circle to defend against the arrows hurled by the Viking archers.

After a stalemate of more than half an hour, the slow-moving catapults arrived nearby. Vig ordered his men to throw a stone at the shield formation, completely crushing the militia's will to resist.

“Persuade them to surrender,” he said, looking at a Viking who spoke Anglo-speaking, “tell them that Ragnar guarantees the safety of ordinary peasants.”

With the situation hopeless, more than 2,700 militiamen threw their weapons into the trenches and left the encirclement one after another along the narrow passage, their faces filled with sorrow, like a flock of trembling sheep.

The remaining two hundred or so men held their ground within the encirclement; they were mainly nobles, gentry, and their respective cronies. Vig had no interest in wasting words with them and ordered the catapults and archers to wipe them out.

With this, Northumbria's last field force was completely annihilated, and the dawn of victory was just around the corner.

The sky was clear and the sun was shining brightly. Vig looked up at the leisurely white clouds and was about to recite a few lines of poetry when he suddenly saw Eric's men drawing their swords, intending to kill the unarmed prisoners.

These people must not be killed!

Vig rushed forward, using his Dragonbreath Sword to parry one man's weapon, and stood alone in front of the prisoners. Seeing this, Eric laughed in fury, "Why can't I kill them? And for these Anglo dwarves, you dare draw your sword against me?"

Just then, Ragnar arrived with his men. He smiled and walked up to Eric, saying, "Since you promised to protect them, you should keep your word. If you go back on your word now, what will others think of me? The city is about to fall; do you want to start fighting amongst yourselves at a time like this?"

"Alright, I can spare the prisoners. What do you intend to do with them?"

Ragnar laughed nonchalantly, “Lock them up for now. The camp isn’t short of food anyway. We can deal with them after we take York. Maybe we can get a ransom from their families, or we can just sell them to slave traders.”

Having achieved this epic victory, Vig commanded the catapults to continue bombarding the city walls. Almost every day, residents crossed the River Us to escape westward. Some Vikings planned to cross the river to pursue them, but he stopped them.

"The fewer residents in the city, the better. Once most of them have fled, the subsequent final assault will be much easier."

The strategy Vigé implemented over the next two weeks was to surround York on three sides but leave one side open, allowing the Anglo-Saxons to evacuate as much as possible, rather than forcing them to hold York to the death.

As time went by, the figures on the city walls gradually thinned out. When the number of defenders decreased to a certain critical point, the general offensive began.

At dawn, the catapults began hurling stones as usual. Unlike before, the camp gradually rolled out ten siege towers, each about seven meters high, and slowly advanced towards York.

Ten minutes passed, and the siege towers gradually approached the city wall. Amidst the anxious gazes of the defenders, the barriers in front of the towers crashed down, and then countless Vikings in iron armor surged onto the city wall, crushing the Anglo-Saxon resistance with overwhelming numbers.

Three months later, the fortified city built by the Romans finally fell.

Seeing the red and yellow striped flag on the city wall cut down by the Viking warriors, Vig felt a great weight lifted from his shoulders and sat down alone to rest beside the catapult.

"What are you still standing here for? They've almost looted all the good stuff in the city."

At that moment, Nils's archers, armed with round shields and iron axes, were the last to enter York. Finding Vig leaning against a catapult, basking in the sun, he couldn't help but urge him to move. "Phew, I'm tired. You all go ahead, leave me alone."

During this period, Vig was not only responsible for building siege equipment, but also for the defense of the camp, logistics, and the resettlement of prisoners. He was so exhausted that he frequently experienced shortness of breath and palpitations. If this continued any longer, this eighteen-year-old might die suddenly.

"It wasn't easy, it really wasn't easy at all."

Leading a disorganized army to capture York, Vig felt his command abilities had greatly improved after this ordeal. Although he was not yet capable of commanding large armies, he was sufficient to handle a force of two to three thousand men, which was more than enough for sparsely populated medieval Europe.

After a long afternoon nap in the sun, Vig returned to the camp yawning. There were only a little over a hundred old, weak, sick, and disabled people left, as well as two thousand seven hundred anxious prisoners.

He surveyed the storeroom, ordered a jug of mead and a small bag of salted meat, and ate slowly by himself, gazing at the setting sun, the black ravens circling in the sky, and the surface of the Us River reflecting countless dappled sunlight, occasionally uttering words that no one else had ever heard before.

After a while, one of Nils's archers hurriedly came over, ending this rare moment of rest.

"What happened again?"

"The King of Northumbria led his troops in a breakout attempt, but was overtaken by Ivar and his men. Only the prince and a few attendants managed to escape. After Ivar personally killed the king, he gave the crown to Ragnar, which greatly displeased Eric's men, and they are currently in a standoff."

York has fallen, King Ellaud has been defeated and killed, and the remaining forces in various regions are unable to cause much trouble. The destruction of Northumbria is a foregone conclusion. This enormous legacy lies before them, which Ragnar's forces alone cannot swallow up; there will be much more to come.

More than ten minutes later, Vig arrived at the open space in the center of York City, where almost all the middle and senior management members had gathered. Their expressions were subtle and the atmosphere was solemn, except for Ragnar and Eric.

Where are they? How long did they talk?

Ivar glanced at York Minster on his right. "We've been talking for a while now. The old man looks terrible. I doubt he'll be able to get through this."

Suddenly, the sound of shattering glass echoed from the church. The group rushed through the doors as fast as they could and breathed a sigh of relief when they found that Ragnar and Eric had not made a move.

"Go down."

Ragnar dismissed everyone from the church, leaving only Vig inside. Ragnar frowned and gestured for him to leave immediately, saying, "This is a conversation between the two of us. You can leave now."

Vig shook his head. "You talked for a long time, even smashing things. What exactly caused you to fail to reach an agreement?"

“What else could it be?” Eric’s eyes were full of mockery. “A month ago, Elrod sent men to attack our fleet at the mouth of the Humber River. How did he know the exact location of the fleet? Vig Hackenson, you’re a smart man, can you explain this? Was there a mole deliberately leaking information?”

　Thank you to readers Daowu Huaxia and Guofu Kaigua Wang for their generous donations.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)