Viking: Master of the Icy Sea

Chapter 394: The Strategies of Both Sides

Central Italy.

While Wig executed a long-distance raid across the Po Valley, the Great Viking Army on the southern front was not idle. They conquered Siena and Piano Fort, eventually reaching Lake Bolsena, a mere fifty miles from Rome.

After a series of probing attacks, Basil realized the enemy possessed very few cavalrymen. He promptly dispatched more scouts to harass their supply lines.

The Eastern Roman cavalry approached for closer reconnaissance, gathering highly detailed intelligence: the Great Viking Army numbered around fifty thousand and wielded thirty bronze cannons.

"Is that all?"

Basil's anxieties were largely dispelled. Rome boasted over ninety thousand garrison troops. Relying on the formidable Aurelian Walls, their odds of victory were exceptionally high. The only thorny issue was those bronze cannons.

As time passed, the Franks and the Greeks obtained more information regarding the cannons:

Their maximum range was seven hundred meters, the reload time exceeded a full minute, and their firing capacity was limited—estimated at no more than four hundred shots before barrel failure.

Frontline units reported that the long-distance lethality of these weapons was actually quite low. Their true impact lay in the devastating blow to morale; poorly trained militia were highly susceptible to routing after enduring an artillery barrage.

Basil planned to hold the line using the city walls, exhausting the enemy's cannons and morale. Once depleted, he would launch a massive counter-offensive, utilizing their numerical superiority to completely overwhelm this barbarian army.Two days later, an urgent dispatch arrived from the front: the Great Viking Army had halted at the shores of Lake Bolsena and appeared to be preparing for a northward retreat.

'What is going on?'

'Did our overwhelming cavalry numbers scare them off?'

On October 13th, the Great Viking Army initiated a full-scale retreat, retracing their steps back toward the Tuscany region.

Upon hearing the news, the city of Rome erupted in jubilation. Basil, however, could not fathom the enemy's true intentions. He had no choice but to send troops to recapture Siena and other territories, intending to use these outposts to weaken the Vikings during their next assault.

Following a night of celebration, another piece of news reached Rome: the thirty-thousand-strong Balkan Allied Forces had been ambushed in the Po Valley. Only four thousand men managed to flee to Venice; the rest of the army was entirely wiped out.

"I finally understand his intentions."

Basil was struck by a sudden realization. Wig was clearly borrowing Hannibal's tactics: avoiding heavily fortified Rome, roaming through weakly defended regions, and annihilating the Italian armies in open field battles.

"He imitates Hannibal, so must I imitate Fabius? What kind of nonsense is this, a reenactment of the Second Punic War a thousand years later? Who is Scipio Africanus? Who is Varro? And who is Hasdrubal?"

The direction of the war had completely surpassed Basil's expectations. He admitted that he had vastly underestimated the cunning of the Serpent of the North. The man was nothing like a hot-headed, impulsive Norse barbarian; rather, he was exactly like a venomous snake lurking in the jungle.

"The Serpent of the North... so that is it. There are no mistaken nicknames in this world. It seems I must change my strategy."

During the Second Punic War, Hannibal had thoroughly plundered the Italian countryside. Now, with over ninety thousand troops massed within the city of Rome, the defenses of the surrounding regions were hollowed out. Fearing that Wig would march straight down the eastern coast to plunder, Basil dispatched a portion of his army to reinforce the eastern seaboard.

However, Wig did not simply copy Hannibal's marching route.

Hannibal had attacked southern Italy with the intent of inciting the local Greek city-states to rebel against the Roman Republic. Times had changed. If the Great Viking Army marched into southern Italy today, they would find absolutely zero potential allies, and would instead expose their own supply lines to the enemy.

On October 15th, Wig convened a war council, shifting the focus of the next phase entirely to the northern battlefield.

"With the disastrous defeat of the Balkan Allied Forces at the Battle of Padua, their domestic defenses are entirely hollow. I intend to send three field divisions north, entering Slavonia from the northeastern edge of the Po Valley. After that, you will continue north, coordinating with the Fourth Division and the Bohemian forces to conquer Moravia, thereby crippling the combat capabilities of nations like Croatia and Slavonia."

Butcherbird asked, "What about the southern front?"

"I will remain in Italy with the Royal Division, the Cavalry Division, and several garrison regiments, totaling forty thousand soldiers," Wig replied. "The Eastern Romans lack cannons. Besieging our fortresses will take them at least a month per stronghold. I estimate we can drag this out until next summer."

The council lasted throughout the night. By cross-referencing information provided by their intelligence network, the commanders drafted a meticulous operational plan.

On October 16th, the three field divisions set off toward the north, marching across the Po Valley along a familiar route.

Passing through Padua, the Great Viking Army steered clear of the recent battlefield. Looking into the distance, massive flocks of ravens circled the horizon, while packs of wild dogs roamed nearby, their eyes bloodshot, foul-smelling drool dripping from their jaws.

By late October, the Great Viking Army reached Italy's northeastern border and crossed into the Slavonia region.

The local inhabitants were primarily Slavs, having migrated there in the seventh century to establish the Duchy of Carantania. Seeking self-preservation, they had chosen to submit to the Franks, fully adopting the Frankish feudal system.

Overall, this region's productivity was quite underdeveloped, suffering from a severe lack of stone defensive works. Furthermore, having lost a massive chunk of their army at Padua, they were completely incapable of halting the Viking invasion.

In early November, the Great Viking Army captured the local capital, and the command echelon gathered to discuss the next phase of their strategy.

"The enemy collapses at the slightest touch," Butcherbird noted. "Our true enemies are logistics and the weather. We must reach this town before the snows fall in December."

He pointed to Vindobona, later known as Vienna, in the north of the map, situated roughly two hundred miles away from their current position.

Vindobona was founded five hundred years earlier. Originally a Celtic territory, it was subsequently occupied by Romans, Germanic peoples, and Avars. Its current ruler was a Frankish Earl.

The town itself was not particularly large, but it sat strategically on the south bank of the Danube River. Once the Great Viking Army occupied it, the fleet of the Duchy of Bavaria could sail downstream along the Danube River, directly delivering grain and various supplies.

For the next step, armed with ample provisions and ships, the Great Viking Army would continue eastward along the Danube River to conquer Devin Castle.

After that, the Great Viking Army would turn north into a tributary, sailing upstream. Following a voyage of roughly sixty miles, they would finally arrive at the core area of Moravia—Brno.

This route was the culmination of the Emperor's careful deliberation. The command echelon voiced no objections and proceeded strictly according to the plan.

Over the next twenty days, the Great Viking Army trekked through hills and dense forests, encountering almost zero resistance. Their only real trouble came from the twenty bronze cannons, which severely dragged down their marching speed.

Finally, beating the first snowfall of 872 AD, the Great Viking Army arrived at Vindobona. After half an hour of relentless artillery bombardment and an hour of brutal urban warfare, the Vikings successfully captured the town.

On December 8th, the upstream city of Regensburg dispatched over a hundred rowed longships in a single massive convoy. Escorted personally by Douglas's younger son, the fleet also brought detailed intelligence regarding the situation in Moravia.

Throughout the latter half of the year, Moravia had remained locked in a stalemate. Bored out of their minds, the eastern Allied Forces spent their time constructing more castles within the territory, seemingly having abandoned any thoughts of launching an offensive.