Vikings: Lords of the Ice Sea

Chapter 296 Frequent Accidents
While waiting, Vigé ordered his troops to repair Esbjerg's defenses, dig trenches, build barracks, and also dispatched a marine battalion to operate in the surrounding area, waiting for an opportunity to intercept and kill Louis the Young Man's messengers.

Last year, the Marine Corps battalion was ordered to recruit immigrants in Denmark. They were quite familiar with the terrain and dispersed into several small groups, hiding in the woods where they could easily conceal themselves.

The air still carried the chill of winter, the sky was overcast, and a few rays of light peeked through the gaps in the clouds, barely illuminating the snow-covered woodland. Leif lay on the roadside bushes, gazing at the quiet and desolate forest path.

Around noon, he ate half a hard flatbread, took out a tin kettle from his pocket, and sipped the warm water.

The tin kettles issued by the Army were of very good quality; even water left overnight did not spoil, unlike the old leather water bladders, which always had a slightly strange taste that repeated washing could not fix.

After finishing his meal, Leif felt a bit sleepy. He grabbed a handful of snow to wipe his face, then kicked the dozing soldier next to him and continued the long, tedious wait.

In the afternoon, the sound of horses' hooves approached from afar, dull and rhythmic. Leif glanced around, signaling the troops to remain silent.

Soon, five blurry figures emerged from the other end of the woods, their outlines gradually becoming clearer in the sparse light. They were wrapped in thick fur coats, their backs hunched against the cold wind, and the white breath exhaled by their horses was like mist, indicating their exhaustion.

The sound of hooves grew closer and closer. The two soldiers who were lying in ambush by the roadside suddenly exerted their strength and pulled backward sharply. A tripwire was lifted from the snow, and the lead horse crashed to the ground. The rider rolled around ten times due to inertia and soon became still.

The remaining four riders, still shaken, frantically drew their longswords, trying to control their frightened, spinning mounts. Unfortunately, it was too late.

An arrow pierced a rider's eye socket; he fell backward before he could even utter a sound. Another rider, struck from the side, had an arrow pierce the gap in his chainmail under his left armpit; his body shuddered violently, and he slumped limply against his horse's neck, convulsing. Yet another turned his horse, attempting to turn and retreat, but was met with a barrage of arrows, and both man and horse died instantly.

The last survivor stopped struggling, raised his hands, and spoke rapidly in Frankish. Leif ordered his men to pull him off his horse and commanded the troops to clean up the traces. The soldiers dragged the body into a pit that had been dug by the roadside, covered it with mud and dead leaves, and took away the arrows left at the scene.

Before leaving, someone did a final check of the road, carefully sweeping away the footprints left by everyone with tree branches, and then kicking some loose snow to cover them.

The place returned to silence, as if nothing had happened. Several black ravens landed on the tops of the fir trees, looking around in confusion, and then let out noisy cries, wondering if they had come to the wrong place.

As the sun set, Leif led his team back to an abandoned village, their temporary rendezvous point. The longhouse in the center of the village emitted thick, pungent coal smoke that made it difficult to open one's eyes.

"Have the people from the Army made a mistake? Are they trying to fool us with this inferior coal?"

After grumbling for a moment, he opened the five letters he had found and struggled to read the obscure Latin.

not good!

After reading one letter, he quickly flipped through the remaining letters, then gathered them up and put them in his pocket. He ran to the stables in the courtyard and said, "Notify the deputy battalion commander to take over military affairs. I have urgent business to attend to in Esbjerg!"

Late at night, Leif found the command post, pushed open the door, and saw Frode and several servants organizing maps. "I intercepted a group of messengers. There's urgent military intelligence!"

Two minutes later, Vig walked out of the bedroom, put on his coat, quickly glanced through the five letters, and found that the war had become even more complicated.

After the disappearance of Louis the German, his three sons (Carloman, Louis the Younger, and Charles the Fat) followed Frankish tradition and divided the family property, receiving Bavaria, Saxony, and Swabia respectively, leading to numerous conflicts among them. However, on this matter, the three brothers unusually reached a consensus, believing that this was the best opportunity to eliminate the Viking threat. Carloman and Charles the Fat did not seize the opportunity to launch a surprise attack on Saxony, but instead gathered troops to help him, aiming to conquer Sweden in one fell swoop.

"Luckily I arrived quickly."

Vig passed the letter to his servants, walked to the table, took out six blue model soldiers representing the Franks, and placed them in the southern area.

After studying the map for a few minutes, he instructed Leif, "Have your men withdraw; do not alert the enemy."

"Yes!"

On March 15, a new fleet arrived at Esbjerg. In addition to the pre-arranged troops, Count Douglas led two hundred Highlanders to volunteer for the battle, because he was too bored and did not want to miss this opportunity to fight.

"as you wish."

Vig was too busy to deal with them, so he sent Douglas to accompany the Imperial Guard.

He currently has 5,800 soldiers, and with the more than 600 Danish militia recently recruited, his total strength has expanded to 6,200.

Based on the estimated time, Carloman and Fat Charlie had already set off. Vigé no longer hesitated and led his troops south quickly. After a three-day march, they blocked the Frankish reinforcements in southern Denmark.

To mislead the enemy, Vigé's vanguard used the sword and axe banner of the Kingdom of Norway, and mixed in 600 hastily recruited infantrymen. As a result, when the two sides engaged in battle, the French vanguard reported to the central army that the progress was going well and that the enemy was about to be defeated.

Five minutes later, the message from the French messenger changed to: the battle was fierce, the enemy was determined, and they appeared to be the Royal Guard of the Kingdom of Norway.

A few minutes later, a rider with an arrow in his back ran to the center of the army and reported to Carloman, "The situation has changed. The enemy is the army of the Serpent of the North. Your Majesty, we cannot hold out any longer."

After saying this, the rider fell off his horse. Carloman grabbed his collar and asked him a series of urgent questions, but unfortunately the rider fainted and lost consciousness completely.

He climbed onto the horse's back, gazing at the small oak forest stretching to the north, and the fleeing soldiers emerging from it one after another. His thoughts were in turmoil, and one question kept swirling in his mind:
"When did Vig Tynburg arrive?"

On the north side of the battlefield, upon learning that the First Infantry Regiment had repelled the enemy's vanguard, Vig felt a sense of foreboding. He had originally planned to have his troops feign weakness, but the Shrike had inadvertently failed to stop, prematurely revealing its combat strength and its own identity.

The next moment, a battle report came from the front: the enemy's central army was hastily changing its formation. They withdrew their cavalry that were about to charge and instead had their supply wagons lined up end to end to form a defensive line in front.

"A last-minute change of tactics? I didn't expect Carloman to have the guts to do such a difficult operation. In that case, I'll have to change my tactics as well."

(End of this chapter)