Running back to camp, Vig asked around and found Ragnar playing chess with someone.
"Thank goodness this guy isn't drunk. Things can change."
Seeing his subordinate approaching, Ragnar raised his hand to stop him, intending to finish this game first before talking business.
This form of chess is called Hnefatafl, which originated in Northern Europe and is the most popular chess game in Viking society.
The rules of Hnefatafl are easy to understand. The defending side has a king and twelve pawns. The condition for winning is to escort the king to the corner of the chessboard. In contrast, the attacking side has twenty-four pawns, and the goal is to surround the king.
"Well, a moment of carelessness has led to a disastrous defeat. It seems I have no chance."
Ragnar was hesitant. After a long struggle, he gave in and tossed two silver coins to his opponent. He turned to look at Vig: "You are not coming to have fun, but to bother me. Do you not have enough money?"
"No," Vig said solemnly, refusing the silver coins handed over by the other side, "I have a plan to defeat the enemy. I need you to gather the nobles." "
You want to make a night attack? Don't dream of it. Six years ago, I defeated Elaud with this trick and took his crown from him in chaos. Ha ha, it is a shame that he will never wash away in his life. Unfortunately, Elaud is no fool. This time, he deliberately placed many hounds outside the camp. They are very vigilant and can smell the breath of strangers from dozens of meters away."
Recalling the past, Ragnar laughed happily. But when he thought about it, he had actually lost to the idiot former king, and a strong feeling of disappointment was growing in his heart. He waved his hand to shoo Vig away, but he resolutely disobeyed his order and began to plot out tomorrow's battle with chess pieces.
Vig placed fifteen chess pieces on the left side of the chessboard, representing 1,500 warriors of Elaud, and ten chess pieces on the right side, representing a thousand Vikings.
"Both armies will use shield walls. We are at a disadvantage. If we hold on, we will suffer sooner or later. Therefore, I propose that we concentrate the elite on the southern side, quickly defeat the enemy in front of us, and then occupy the slope of the hill on the southern side of the road so that the archers can shoot at Elaud's position from a high position."
After listening, Ragnar's eyes gradually cleared, and he looked around for people to hold meetings with, but these guys seemed to be busy with their own affairs.
Leonard was fighting two shield maidens and had no time to pay attention to Vig.
Ulf was holding a small pot of honey, leaning against a tree trunk and falling asleep. Vig came up and nudged him for a long time, wondering if he was drunk and had died of alcohol poisoning.
Drunk Ivar was arguing with Bjorn, arguing about the fighting power of Jormungandr and Thor, the thunder god.
In the
camp filled with the atmosphere of a doomsday carnival, Ragnar and Vig were looking for people to talk to and were busy until late at night before they had barely finished their tactical adjustments.
It was early morning on May 5, 843 AD.
According to the pre-war deployment, all the Viking warriors equipped with iron armor were positioned on the left wing. Having formed a shield wall, everyone spontaneously used their weapons to rhythmically tap on the shield surface and slowly advanced west.
Dong, dong, dong.
As time went on, more than a thousand square enemy shields gradually appeared in the morning fog. In order to boost morale, the enemy also began to pound the shield surface, and the two parallel wooden walls gradually drew closer.
A hundred paces away, a group of feather arrows flew out from behind the enemy shield wall, hitting the Vikings' heads like thick raindrops, causing a few shrill screams from time to time.
Since all the Vikings in the front row of the left wing were equipped with iron armor, they suffered the least damage, and their speed of movement was not too limited. On the contrary, the pace of the middle and right wings was clearly slowed down, which eventually led to the Vikings' left wing clearly advancing forward, and the shield wall changed from the original straight line to a diagonal line.
In order to save their physical strength, the 100+ archers led by Nils did not resist during the entire process, which puzzled the Anglo-Saxons on the opposite side and wondered if the Vikings had used up their stock of arrows.
After two minutes, the two sides were less than 30 meters apart. The closer the distance, the slower the two armies moved and the heavier their breathing. Vig stared at the soldier on the opposite side, and the other side stared back at him, uttering a series of curses, intending to disturb the mind of the barbarian Viking.
Unfortunately, he could not understand the English language of that time.
Another half minute passed, and the two walls of shields began to collide. Vig took the opportunity to strike with his sword, and the sharp blade left a deep gash on the cheek of his opponent.
The enemy's body bent under intense pain, and Vig added another sword, this time accurately piercing the enemy's throat. Before he could rejoice, a shadow suddenly attacked from the right. He instinctively lowered his head to dodge, and only heard the muffled sound of an iron helmet.
It was a close call.
Vig looked up again and found that the other side had replaced a more robust soldier. This Anglo-Saxon seemed to have endless strength. He swung an iron axe and continuously hit his shield, shaking his hand so hard it hurt.
Realizing that the enemy was a newcomer who had just entered the battle, Vig was too lazy to engage him. While the enemy was chopping at his round shield, he easily pierced the man's calf with the Dragon Breath Sword and killed another man.
"Valhalla!" At this moment, a roar suddenly came from the left. Several strong men dressed in bearskins used huge axes to dig a hole in the enemy shield wall and squeezed through without hesitation. The nearby Vikings spontaneously followed them. Under the continuous, furious attack on the left flank, the English shield wall was forced to retreat step by step, and finally the entire southern region was surrendered.
...
"Hey, now it's our turn."
Behind, Nils, who had been scratching himself for a long time, roared and led a hundred archers to rush up the southern slope of the hill, concentrating on shooting at the horseman in the center of the enemy line.
After three rounds of rapid shooting, the crowned horseman fell to the ground along with his horse. Nils had no time to rejoice, and ordered the archers to continue firing arrows in that direction.
Resisting the pain in his arms, Nils fired all thirty arrows he was carrying, and exerted too much force, so that the bowstring turned red from the blood oozing from his fingers.
Ha ha.
Amidst heavy breathing, Nils, who was seriously exhausted, collapsed to the ground. Looking into the distance after being shot with 3,000 arrows, the English-speaking soldiers in the area had suffered heavy losses, especially the white horse lying dead on the ground, its body thickly pierced with arrows, like a huge porcupine covered in spines.
"After so many arrows, he should not survive."
Nils took out a piece of cloth to stop the bleeding on his right hand, and saw with his own eyes how the enemy brought a warhorse, helped a man hit by several arrows onto the horse's back, and then surrounded him and evacuated.
The king's life and death were uncertain, the morale of his soldiers was gone, and the shield wall collapsed in an instant.
To facilitate their escape, the palace guards threw away the shields and iron swords that were in their way, and did not forget to throw away their iron helmets and take off their heavy armor as they ran, just to avoid the Vikings' pursuit. Even the red and yellow striped flag representing the royal family was taken away by Ivar. Looking
at the muddy battlefield, Nils muttered to himself: "Veg has contributed greatly this time. I wonder what Ragnar will reward him with?"