novelraw Chapter 110: Edinburgh
Chapter 110: Edinburgh
Ch 110: Edinburgh
Learning of the plan to establish a hospital, the Raven Speaker believed this move would benefit the spread of their faith and readily accepted. While strictly following Vig’s instructions, they also ordered the other shamans to maintain secrecy, so as not to allow others to learn medical knowledge.
After two days of rest, the army continued to go North.
After this battle, the Pictish Alliance suffered eight hundred casualties, one thousand were captured, and considering the wounded and those who fled, they essentially lost their combat power. On April 29th, the Vikings arrived at the city outskirts of Edinburgh without hindrance.
This wooden castle is located on a steep cliff on the South Bank of the Firth of Forth. At the mountain foot lie many low houses, about four hundred and more households.
Outside the settlement is a simple wooden wall, without a moat. The surrounding farmland grows barley and oats; a small part lies fallow, used for sheep pastoralism.
Confirming the absence of an ambush, Vig ordered an attack.
Under the cover of the crossbowmen, the Viking warriors easily broke through the wooden wall. A few Picts who persisted in resistance were killed, and the settlement at the mountain foot fell.
“Charge to the mountaintop; don’t bother with those commoners!”
Joren stopped the soldiers who were trying to pillage the houses, ordering them to follow him up the hillside to attack the wooden fort at the cliff top. One hundred paces from the wooden fort, the garrison launched a volley of bow and arrows. Joren and two hundred Vikings formed a shield wall, their speed instantly slowing.
Dong, dong, dong.
An arrow shower whistled down, striking the shields with a continuous dull thud. Occasionally, stray arrows pierced the crevices, cruelly piercing a warrior’s flesh, provoking a high-pitched wail.
After struggling for two minutes, they got closer to the earthworks in front of the wooden fort. Finally, the Pictish garrison began throwing javelins. After three consecutive volleys, the Viking shield wall was riddled with holes, eventually disintegrating into countless small pieces and scattering down the hillside.
Having lost face, Joren requested to lead the soldiers in another charge, but Vig refused.
“The slope is too steep; we cannot use shield carts and rams. By the time the heavy-armored soldiers climb to the mountaintop, their stamina will be mostly depleted. Worse, there is a four-meter earthwork in front of the wooden fort. After breaking through the earthwork, we still have to face the wall. The difficulty of the attack is too great. Forget it, let them stay inside. There’s no need to waste soldiers’ lives.”
Sighing, he deliberately relaxed control of the troops, allowing some commoners to escape into the wooden fort at the cliff top. Then he ordered the soldiers to dig a moat at the mountain foot and build fortifications, preparing for a long siege.
Out of caution, Vig built two consecutive walls, shaped like concentric circles. The inner wall defended against the wooden fort’s garrison, and the outer wall defended against enemy reinforcements.
During the construction of the fortifications, Vig found the Shrike and discussed a formation suitable for small-scale conflicts.
“Mountain warfare is unsuitable for large-scale troop deployment. To deal with the Indigo Raiders, who are familiar with the terrain and adept at melee combat, I’ve decided to try a new tactic.”
He sat cross-legged on the grassland, picking up some stones to demonstrate, based on his memory of the Mandarin Duck Formation:
（Mandarin Duck Formation, a formation created by Qi Jiguang during the Ming Dynasty, used to purge Wokou along the Southeast coast.）
The squad has fourteen men: the captain and two shield axe men wear iron armor, followed by four spearmen equipped with three-meter spears, two equipped with three-meter pitchforks with branched iron points—（a substitute for the lang-xian—） four experienced longbowmen, and a support troop carrying supplies.
“The key to the formation is coordination; discipline comes first, martial skill second. Try to discard those who are reckless and brave. When engaging the enemy, you can switch between longitudinal and transverse formations, and it can also be split into two smaller formations.”
After hearing the lord’s ingenious idea, the Shrike remained silent for a long time. This formation seemed to be able to make up for the shortcomings of his troops in melee combat; however, the formation changes were too complex, and he worried that the soldiers would find it difficult to accept in a short time.
“Sir, I need two months, no, three months!”
“Alright.”
Before departure, Vig formulated a detailed war plan in two phases:
One, to capture Edinburgh, Stirling, and Glasgow. These settlements are located in the Central Lowlands of Scotland, with relatively flat terrain suitable for large-scale army deployment.
Two, after occupying the Central Lowlands, shift the direction of attack to the Southern hills, clearing resistance in the Southern Region, and then attacking the Northern Highlands. The Northern terrain is fragmented, mainly consisting of rugged mountains and deep valleys.
According to the current progress, occupying the Central Lowlands will take at least three months and up to six months, giving ample time for the Shrike to train the Mandarin Duck Formation.
In late May, the two circular fortifications were completed. Vig left eight hundred men to besiege Edinburgh, with the Shrike serving as commander, taking advantage of the free time to train the army.
After repeated instructions, Vig led three thousand eight hundred men along the riverbank, heading towards Stirling Town in the Northwest direction.
Stirling is located at the junction of the Central Lowlands and the Northern Highlands. There are many easily mined hematite mines nearby. The iron ingots produced supply Northern Europe and Britain, and in Vig’s mind, its priority even surpasses the two main settlements of Edinburgh and Glasgow.
Along the flat, open land, the army advanced for a day and a half when the scout cavalry suddenly ran to Vig’s side,
“Sir, a stream stretches ahead, and five hundred Picts are gathered behind it.”
“Five hundred men?”
Vig raised his left hand, signaling the army to halt. He rode his grey horse to a nearby highland. Looking from afar, a village with only more than thirty residents lay ahead, with a winding stream flowing outside the village. Five hundred messy Picts were scattered on the opposite hillside.
“What place is this?” he asked the local guide.
“Sir, this village is called Bannockburn.”
Bannockburn, the battlefield where Robert the Bruce defeated King Edward II of England?
Vig suddenly burst into laughter, raising his riding whip and pointing to the swamp and forest on the opposite bank. “Here, here, and here, all are suitable for setting up ambushes. The opposite side is clearly luring me to attack the five hundred men on the hills, then launching a major attack on my flank.”
Unexpectedly, this group of people used such a crude and clumsy strategy against him. Did they think Vig of Tyne was simply a simple-minded brute?
Stretching, he did not continue to advance but instead ordered the troops to cook meals on the spot.
During the meal preparation, Vig dispatched a squad of crossbowmen to approach the stream, shooting at the Picts on the other side. He also dispatched riders to inform the fleet at the Firth of Forth.
“Remember, let the fleet enter the River Forth, go upstream along the river channel, and eventually reach the North of Stirling. Let’s play with these simple-minded fellows.”
After lunch, Vig did not attack across the river as the enemy anticipated but instead set up camp and dispatched multiple small squads to different locations to create the illusion of building bridges to cross the river.
The Picts hidden in the forest remained motionless. They patiently waited until the third day when some could no longer suppress themselves and began shooting arrows at the nearby Viking soldiers.