Ch 26: Siege Engine

Having witnessed the power of the siege engines, Pascal, enduring his fear, explained his intentions to the pirate leader,

“Both sides have had their victories and defeats. Further fighting is meaningless. It’s better to go to Mercia in the south.”

Regarding the Earl’s suggestion, Ivar, Bjorn, and several others’ eyes flickered, claiming that the man was deliberately teasing them. They beat him up and drove him back to York.

“Tell your master that if he wants us to leave, he’d better prepare at least five thousand pounds of silver!”

The next day, Vig commanded the pirates to push four siege engines into place, two hundred meters from the city walls.

“Load!”

Following his orders, the strong men turned the capstan, raising the counterweight to a firing position ten meters high. The screeching of the wooden axles was particularly jarring on the battlefield.

On the other side, a loader pushed a stone weighing about fifty kilograms into the leather sling. The stone’s surface was covered with cracks to ensure that it would produce as many fragments as possible on impact.

“Number one loaded!”

“Number four loaded!”

Seeing this, Vig ordered a bombardment of the city walls. The moment the hammer fell, the two-ton counterweight crashed down, the long arm on the other end rapidly rising. The projectile, freed from its restraints by centrifugal force, tore through the air with a terrifying shriek.

In an instant, three plumes of grey smoke erupted from York’s east wall. One stone hit a battlement directly, killing the archers hiding behind it before they could scream. The remaining two struck the walls, and one sailed over the walls, landing far inside the city, causing a scream from a woman.

“Continue.”

The bombardment lasted from morning until afternoon. As nightfall approached, the four siege engines were slowly pushed back to camp. After a quiet night, they returned to their original positions to repeat the monotonous task of throwing stones.

During this time, a carpenter suggested a fire attack. After receiving permission, he tried making a ball of resin, pitch, and kindling. After lighting it, he quickly threw it. The fireball streaked across the sky, leaving a fiery red trail, like the hellish fire rain summoned by a demon.

After half a minute, a black column of smoke rose from the city. Everyone agreed that the effect was good, and two siege engines were selected for fire attacks.

In less than half a day, York City was filled with swirling black smoke. Due to the narrow streets in the city, the fire spread rapidly, forcing Eilaud to dispatch half of his soldiers to fight the fire.

“The Vikings learned evil magic from their pagan gods.”

While fighting the fire, Eilaud discovered that the people were terrified by this new weapon. He had to invite a bishop to conduct an exorcism. Amidst the chants of the clergymen, he managed to stabilize the morale of the city.

In the evening, the bombardment ended. Eilaud, dragging his tired body back to the Royal Palace, dined with the nobles. Most suggested a battle outside the city.

“Four thousand militiamen are gathered in the city. Their number far exceeds that of the Vikings outside. The advantage is ours.”

“Yes, kill these pirates as soon as possible. There’s a pile of farm work waiting for us at home. If this drags on, it might delay the planting of winter wheat in September, and there might be a famine next year.”

“Even if we can’t win, we should at least destroy their siege engines. Twenty percent of the houses were burned today. If this continues for a few more days, the whole of York will turn to ruins.”

Disturbed by his subordinates, Eilaud agreed to send troops the next day.

Upon reflection, the nobles’ worries were indeed justified. Most of the troops were concentrated in York, leaving other regions with weak defenses. They were occasionally raided by small groups of pirates. This war could not be dragged on any longer.

The next morning, Eilaud led three thousand five hundred soldiers out of the city to meet the enemy. As soon as they formed their lines, they were bombarded by siege engines. The morale of the militiamen was low, and they ignored their officers’ orders, crowding back into the city, trampling over two hundred casualties.

Reorganizing his troops, Eilaud led the soldiers out of the city through the North Gate, intending to bypass the barbarians’ siege engines and attack their camp from the north side.

This tactic worked. Because the siege engines were heavy and slow, by the time the Northumbria army had formed a shield wall, the four siege engines were still moving slowly, like an old and senile boar.

“Attack.” Eilaud pointed his sword forward.

According to the information gathered by Pascal, the north side of the camp had weak defenses. The enemy had built many storehouses and kept thousands of livestock, making it the ideal breakthrough point.

The shield wall advanced. The arrows fired by the Vikings did not cause many casualties. Reaching the base of the fortifications, some militiamen threw grappling hooks, the other ends tied to pack horses. They used the horses to pull open several breaches.

Watching the soldiers flood into the camp, Eilaud was both delighted and slightly bewildered. Was the Vikings’ defense really so crude?

Soon, nearly three thousand troops stormed into the camp. Eilaud followed with the remaining sixty soldiers, finding that the north area was indeed as Pascal had said, full of storehouses, plus a pen where many sheep were kept.

Not far away, the Vikings, armed with round shields and iron axes, were driven back by the militiamen. They were forced to abandon the storehouses and fled south, each carrying a small bag of wealth.

“So many silver coins!”

As they ran, silver coins tumbled out, attracting the attention of most of the militiamen. They looked at each other, then tacitly charged towards the storehouses, desperately seizing the stored supplies.

As peasants, fighting for the king was their innate sacred obligation. Since it was an obligation, the militiamen received no wages and had to provide their own weapons in response to conscription. Most were only equipped with a rusty iron axe and a square wooden plank. Their poverty made their desire for spoils of war overwhelm all other thoughts. Only one thought remained: Grab. Grab as much as possible.

“No, get them back!”

The army fell into chaos. Eilaud dispatched guards to inform the nobles and gentlemen to restrain their militiamen and withdraw from the camp in an orderly manner through the breach.

Under the guards’ urging, a small group of militiamen grumbled and walked outwards, only to be shot down by an oncoming arrow shower. Two surviving guards peered from behind their shields and saw a large number of Vikings, over a thousand, gathered outside the camp.

“Your Majesty, we’ve been ambushed. There’s a Viking shield wall outside.”

Hearing the bad news from the guards, Eilaud almost fell from his horse. The scene was just like the ambush he had carefully planned in Mancunium.

“Damn it, the barbarians actually learned my strategy.”

A large number of ambush troops were deployed outside the camp. Eilaud ordered the entire army to continue southward, breaking out in one go.

After charging about a hundred meters, the troops at the front suddenly screamed and fell into the ground. The militiamen behind stopped in their tracks in fright, looking down. A spiked ditch about four meters wide and two meters deep had been dug in front of them, with only a few narrow passages leading to the east, west, and south.

Looking at the large number of Viking archers on the other side of the ditch, Eilaud had a revelation: From this day forward, the entire fate of Northumbria was over.