Viking: Master of the Icy Sea

Chapter 360: Fulfilling the Promise

The weather was bitterly cold. Wig and the main force remained in Paris to pass the winter, while the newly arrived Eastern Europe mercenaries were dispatched to Flandre to capture the scattered local towns.

Having suffered continuous suppression for over a decade, the handicraft industry in Flandre had completely collapsed. Consequently, the size of its towns had drastically shrunk. The populations of Bruges, Ghent, and Antwerp had dwindled to fewer than a thousand residents each. Their resistance was feeble, and they surrendered easily.

Meanwhile, sensing the highly favorable situation in Britain, a handful of nobles from Breizh emerged from hiding and volunteered to join the army. Sorely lacking manpower, Wig accepted their fealty and planned to form three Breizh Garrison Regiments to carry out auxiliary tasks.

As the swearing-in ceremony concluded, Wig sat upon his throne, watching the retreating figures of the nobles. He sighed inwardly:

'It is too late. If someone had rallied a force of a thousand men to assist us at the very beginning of the war, I would have considered granting them the title of Earl. Now that the Frankish Army's field units have been wiped out, even if you deploy three thousand or even five thousand men, do not even dream of earning an earldom. You will receive a few Baron titles at best.

The greater the risk, the greater the reward. Since you were unwilling to take a chance and chose to wait until the situation became clear, you are destined to receive nothing but scraps.'

Winter faded into spring, and time advanced to March of 869 AD.

With a string of major victories on the front lines, the Cabinet took the opportunity to issue the third and fourth batches of War Bonds. Raising fifty thousand pounds, they continued to recruit mercenaries from Eastern Europe, expanding the Expeditionary Force to a total of sixty-three thousand men.

Excluding the troops stationed in various regions, Wig's disposable forces remained at roughly forty thousand. This time, he intended to launch an eastward offensive to dismantle the three kingdoms of East Francia in a single stroke.

Half a month later, Wig led his army to Münster. East Francia's national strength was far inferior to that of West Francia, and they lacked stone fortifications. The Vikings advanced at a blistering pace, quickly reaching the core territory of Louis the Younger.From this point onward, the Franks intensified their resistance. Carloman and his peers rode out to battle on several occasions, attempting to ambush isolated units, but their efforts yielded meager results.

Over a year and a half of relentless warfare, the Viking army had been forged into a highly efficient war machine. The former Cadets had rapidly matured, seamlessly blending their theoretical knowledge with practical combat experience. The overall organization and tactical proficiency of the entire army improved by the day.

In stark contrast, the majority of the Frankish grassroots Military Officers were illiterate. They marched and fought based entirely on the oral traditions passed down by their fathers, constantly making amateur mistakes that forced their front lines into continuous retreat.

In early May, Carloman and his two brothers made a desperate final stand. Mustering an army of ten thousand, they silently laid an ambush in the forests south of Bremen, launching a surprise attack on four Infantry Regiments of the Second Field Division.

The two sides engaged in a fierce battle lasting several hours, but the Frankish Army was completely unable to annihilate these four thousand men. Instead, multiple units of their own forces began to rout. By three in the afternoon, a large contingent of Viking cavalry arrived on the battlefield and nearly wiped out the East Frankish field troops. Carloman barely escaped with his life, while his two brothers were slain by the Vikings.

By now, the West Frankish forces had been utterly decimated. The three kingdoms of Middle Francia had sent aid to West Francia, exhausting nearly all of their own field units in the process. Following the defeat of Carloman and his brothers, the entire Frankish world could no longer assemble a sizable field army.

On May 19th, the Viking grand army captured Hamburg. In accordance with their prearranged strategy, the First, Second, and Third Field Divisions marched south to assault their respective targets. Each division was accompanied by three additional Garrison Regiments, functioning much like the auxiliary cohorts of the Roman Legions.

Wig and his Royal Division remained in Hamburg. He dispatched numerous Envoys to summon the Northern Europe nobles and the Shamans of Uppsala for a grand assembly.

By mid-June, apart from a few nobles nursing their wounds, all the summoned members had gathered. Disinclined to waste time on pleasantries, Wig turned directly to Wind-chaser.

"In the beginning, you begged me to deploy my troops to rescue the Viking World, promising that once this war concluded, I would be crowned High King. To date, I have defeated over a hundred thousand Frankish soldiers and imprisoned thirty-five thousand captives on Jersey alone. The threat to Northern Europe has been eliminated. Does this promise still hold?"

Two years ago, Wind-chaser's promise had merely represented Uppsala, and the title of High King was purely honorary. But Wig was not satisfied with that. He deliberately blurred the lines, expanding the scope of the promise from the Uppsala order to encompass the entirety of Northern Europe.

Sensing Wig's true intentions, Wind-chaser turned his head and swept his gaze over the remaining nobles. His eyes lingered on Erik Jr. for a few seconds before he slowly nodded. "Your Majesty, Uppsala pledges its fealty to you from this day forth." The nobles dared not voice any objections either. If they were to rebel over this matter, Wig could easily flatten their domains in less than half a year. Even if he refrained from deploying his land forces, Britain held absolute naval supremacy; he could simply sever all Trade routes and starve his opposition into submission.

"I pledge my loyalty!"

Rekker of Kalmar was the first to speak out, prompting the vast majority of the nobles to follow suit. The crowd dropped to one knee, leaving only King Erik Jr., King Halfdan Whiteshirt, and a handful of their trusted confidants standing.

Yielding to the invisible pressure, the two kings finally bowed and swore fealty to Wig, who remained seated upon his chair with an expression of absolute composure.

Once the assembly concluded, Wig ordered the formation of the Fourth Field Division. He appointed Douglas as the division commander and directed him to recruit soldiers from across Northern Europe.

Having accumulated immense prestige over the years, Wig's image in the hearts of ordinary Vikings had far surpassed that of any Lord, even eclipsing his former monarch, Ragnar. Thanks to this overwhelming popularity, Douglas successfully recruited twelve thousand men, four thousand more than their initial quota.

Afterward, Wig recruited several thousand Western Slavs, swelling the total strength of the Expeditionary Force to an imposing eighty thousand.

The Fourth Field Division was stationed in Hamburg. Wig drafted a batch of officers and non-commissioned officers from his other units, pairing them with a hundred newly arrived Cadets from the homeland to establish the framework of this new force. He planned to complete their preliminary training within two months.

In mid-July, Wig traveled by ship to Magdeburg along the middle reaches of the Elbe River. The town had been conquered by Utgard twenty days prior and was now lying in utter ruins.

After resting for the night, Wig was escorted by the Royal Guard and two Mountain Infantry Battalions to inspect the Harz Mountains to the southwest.

According to his memory, this mountain range was rich in silver veins. At its peak, the Silver extracted here accounted for forty percent of all the silver mined in the Germanic region.

It was the height of summer. The air was thick and sweltering, carrying the heavy scent of pine resin and decaying leaves. The dull thuds of logging and the sharp whistles of the mountain infantry occasionally echoed through the woods. After bypassing the final ridge, the Rammelsberg mining area appeared vividly before their eyes.

It was a scarred wasteland blackened by smoke and fire. Three earthen kilns belched gray fumes at the foot of the mountain, their perimeters piled high with pale, ashen slag. Bare-chested workers used long iron rods to stir the molten magma within the kilns, while a glowing mixture of lead and silver slowly trickled from the spouts into ceramic molds.

Not far away, a group of miners swung their pickaxes, smashing large chunks of ore into smaller fragments. Beads of sweat rolled down their dust-coated backs, carving tiny ravines across their skin.

Wig turned to the foreman and asked, "I recall there being a small stream nearby. Why aren't you using a hydraulic ore crusher?"

"What is an ore crusher?"

Hearing the translator's relay, Wig helplessly massaged his forehead. He instructed the staff officer behind him, "Write a letter back to the homeland. Have the Cabinet dispatch technical personnel from our own mining districts."