Viking: Master of the Icy Sea

Chapter 216: Oblique Order Tactic

On June nineteenth, Wigg's army arrived in Nottingham.

This land had originally belonged to Theowulf. Later, after Theowulf was reassigned to Oxford, the vacant territory of Nottingham was granted to Niels.

Eventually, during the expedition to Sweden, Niels abused his power for personal gain. He was stripped of his title as the Earl of Nottingham, and the region became a direct territory of the Royal Family from then on.

At this moment, the Royal Thunder Banner and Ivar's Gray Wolf Head Banner fluttered above the wooden palisade. Once the army finished assembling its ranks, Pascal Jr., the Sheriff of Nottingham, and the remaining four Earls rode out of the city to welcome them.

"What are your plans going forward?" Wigg asked the gathered lords.

"To join your army," Pascal Jr. was the first to respond. "We will march south to crusade against Gunnar and Ethelbald."

Having experienced the grueling march through West Francia, Pascal Jr. had been completely won over by Wigg's outstanding command ability. Compared to the other two claiming to proclaim themselves king, he felt Wigg possessed the highest chance of victory.

On the other hand, Pascal Jr. harbored deep resentment toward the Ragnar Royal Family. He firmly believed that the reckless extravagance of the royal family members had caused his father's fatal exhaustion. Wigg, however, excelled at generating wealth through commerce and industry, and had even invented numerous novel agricultural techniques. With him taking the throne as King, the heavy burdens resting on both nobles and peasants would be significantly lightened.

With Pascal Jr. taking the lead in pledging his loyalty, the remaining five bowed deeply, formally acknowledging Wigg's authority.

By now, Ivar's troops had already departed to escort the coffin back to Ireland. Nottingham was left with a mere seventeen hundred infantrymen and two hundred cavalry, all plagued by low morale and lax discipline.Furthermore, since the majority of Nottingham's supplies had previously been transported south to Tamworth and Oxford, the city's storehouses were practically empty.

"There is no need to worry about grain. The Northern Marches and Yorkshire have ample reserves. I have already arranged for ships and wagons to transport it here, more than enough to supply the entire army," Wigg reassured them.

After resting for a day, Wigg led nearly ten thousand soldiers toward Raetia in the southwest.

Following Ivar's death, the morale of the garrison at Raetia had utterly collapsed, and they had easily defected to the Frankish army. However, upon discovering the approach of a massive Viking force, the small Frankish detachment was ordered to withdraw, allowing the town to fall right back into Viking hands.

After taking over the town, Wigg dispatched scouts to gather intelligence. Word had it that there were six thousand Frankish soldiers stationed in Tamworth, and their commander was not Gunnar, but rather a Frankish man who called himself Baron Botini, named Charles.

According to the collected information, there was indeed such a figure serving under Gunnar, but he possessed no notable military achievements worth mentioning.

To prevent his overwhelming numbers from scaring the enemy away, Wigg left behind the motley infantry of Pascal Jr. and Magnus. Requisitioning only two hundred cavalry, he merged them with his direct subordinates and advanced toward Tamworth.

Tamworth.

"How many Vikings have come? Seven thousand?"

Charles Botini listened to his scout's report. When he learned that the enemy only had a little over two thousand sets of iron armor and no more than eight hundred cavalry, he breathed a sigh of relief.

This was a battle they could fight.

After the capture of Londinium, Gunnar's prestige had skyrocketed. The nobles of West Francia had eagerly sent reinforcements of their own accord, allowing their disfavored second sons or bastards to lead militias north into the fray. It was an opportunistic attempt to snatch a Baron or knightly title and secure an extra lifeline for their families.

As time passed, the number of Frankish forces in Britain exceeded eight thousand, and the momentum of their growth showed no signs of stopping. Unable to extricate himself from Londinium, Gunnar could only continuously funnel troops to the north, hoping to force the local nobles into surrender. However, Wigg's rapid march completely ruined this plan, transforming a campaign of intimidation into a decisive battle between two massive armies.

Charles commanded forty-five hundred infantry and two thousand cavalry. The armor rate among his infantry reached fifty percent, while his cavalry were entirely outfitted in iron armor. Holding both a cavalry advantage and a distinct equipment advantage, he believed his chances of winning a field battle exceeded seventy percent.

"Cavalry is utterly unsuited for urban street fighting. Rather than being trapped inside Tamworth, we might as well march out to meet them and crush the enemy with a single decisive victory." Gathering the various commanders, the Baron announced his operational plans and received unanimous support. Frankish knights were accustomed to straightforward charge tactics. In fact, if a commander adopted conservative tactics, they would only look down on him in disdain.

June twenty-first.

Leaving behind five hundred militiamen to guard the city, Charles led his army to a pre-selected battlefield. The surrounding terrain offered wide, sweeping sightlines, completely devoid of complex features like dense woods or mountains, making it perfectly suited for launching massive cavalry charges.

At noon, after confirming they had encountered the Viking main force, Charles ordered his troops into formation. Due to poor organizational discipline, it took them nearly an hour to fully assemble their lines.

Four kilometers ahead, Wigg's speed in shifting formations was slightly superior, completing the process over ten minutes faster than the enemy.

At one o'clock in the afternoon, the Viking soldiers hastily choked down some dry rations and clean water, then began moving slowly southward under the sharp barks of their commanding officers. Due to their lack of cavalry, they adopted a relatively conservative formation.

The front line consisted of three infantry regiments, forming a broad offensive front. The rear line comprised two thousand-man pike phalanxes, tasked with covering the flanks and the rear.

Positioned between the two lines stood Wigg's central command banner, alongside the Mountain Infantry Battalions, the Highland Mercenaries, and seven hundred cavalrymen.

Surrounded by a large contingent of cavalry, Charles observed the enemy formation from a closer vantage point. He noted that the infantry phalanx on the far western flank was equipped with scale armor and chainmail, while the remaining four infantry phalanxes wore nothing but black cloth.

Long before landing in Britain, Gunnar had gathered his commanders and detailed every single battle he had fought alongside the North's Serpent. In his memories, the Battle of Mancunium was the very first time Wigg displayed his extraordinary military talent.

Charles had listened with extreme diligence back then, even making meticulous notes that he frequently studied during his free time. The moment he laid eyes on the Viking formation, he instantly saw through the enemy's intentions.

'Wigg placed his most elite heavy infantry on the western flank. Is he planning to replicate the oblique order tactic from Mancunium over a decade ago?'

After pondering the matter over and over, he spurred his horse back to his own lines and made targeted adjustments to his deployment.

Charles's formation was quite aggressive. He deployed three thousand infantry on the front line and five hundred cavalry on the western flank, leaving the rest of his troops in the rear.

Once the distance between the two armies narrowed to less than five hundred meters, he suddenly led his remaining fifteen hundred cavalry and one thousand heavy infantry in a wide flanking maneuver to the eastern side of the battlefield, waiting for the perfect moment to envelop the enemy's flank.

"Let's see whose flank collapses first!" he declared.

During the brief window while the Frankish forces drastically adjusted their deployment, the front-line Vikings marched in rhythm to the pounding drums and blaring horns. The vast majority of the spearmen could not see the movements of the Frankish cavalry; they simply followed the ranks ahead in a slow, steady advance, looking like a gradually shifting forest. Through countless grueling drills and harsh punishments, this cohesive movement had seemingly become an instinct carved into their very bones.

Four hundred meters.

Three hundred meters.

The gap between the two armies continuously shrank. The Frankish army sent out five hundred archers, who completely ignored the phalanx on the far western flank, knowing full well that firing arrows at heavy infantry clad in armor was a waste of time. At their commander's barked orders, the archers took aim at the black-clad spearmen on the far eastern side.

According to Charles's plan, they would first use arrows to whittle down the enemy. Once the two armies engaged in brutal melee, they would strive to crush the Viking left wing as quickly as possible. Then, when the enemy formation finally scattered into chaos, they would launch a devastating cavalry charge.