That evening, the commanders of the various units were having dinner at the manor house and learned the bad news about the attack on the cavalry.
Someone asked: "Is the other supply route safe?"
- "I have sent scouts, but there is no answer yet."
The commanders looked at each other and casually began to eat the stewed mutton. Before they had had their fill of wine and food, the guards hurried to report:
"Your Majesty, the fishing village on the southern bank of the river was attacked at noon today. We recaptured it in two hours. Most of the fishing boats were burned, and the rest were taken away by Ivar."
At this point, Aethelwulf realized that his "defense and counterattack" strategy had failed, and there was only one way out - a decisive battle.
Defeating Ragnar in the field meant that he had regained the initiative. At that point he could send a small force to retake the fishing village and lead the main force north to pursue Ragnar. On the other hand, if the battle failed…
No, no ifs!
With his supply route cut off, Aethelwulf, casting aside his last doubts, left his camp the next morning for the decisive battle.
On the flat, open wheat fields, thousands of warriors formed a shield wall and slowly advanced towards each other. The lack of cavalry on both sides made the war especially dull. The two shield walls intertwined, the soldiers shouted and stabbed with weapons. When the losses reached a critical point, the Wessex shield wall slowly began to retreat.
"Forward!"
Seeing that the left flank had been repulsed by the enemy, Aethelwulf sent 200 palace guards to help. After the situation had finally stabilized, reinforcements of 700 Vikings, including 200 cavalry, appeared from the forest on the right (northern) flank!
At this point, Aethelwulf had only 100 guards and 300 archers left. He desperately threw his last counter, and 400 warriors formed a shield wall to meet them, but were routed by the Viking infantry. From start to finish, the cavalry stood their ground, radiating an indescribable fearsome spirit, which significantly weakened the morale of the Wessex side.
Half an hour later, the Wessex front was completely routed, and the Viking cavalry still did not attack. Aethelwulf finally realized that this cavalry was not effective in battle and served only as a deterrent.
Forced to flee from countless fallen warriors, he couldn't help but exclaim: "Damn it, we were tricked by that guy with that strange snake flag!"
…
After the bloody battle, Ragnar ordered the light infantry in good condition to pursue and suppress the remaining enemies, and he himself rushed towards these tall horses.
Leaping from the saddle, he stroked the smooth mane and strong muscles of the Frankish warhorse and couldn't help but exclaim: "Yes, this is exactly what a warhorse should look like. Are all the captured horses here?"
Removing his helmet, Vig reported the results of the battle: "Yes, 140 Frankish warhorses and 60 nags to replenish the numbers."
After patting the horses, Ragnar happily fulfilled his promise and awarded the company members a reward of 700 pounds of silver. The white silver coins poured onto the grass like a stream, making everyone dizzy.
After dividing the reward, Ragnar asked the men to take care of the grooms. He planned to establish a royal stud farm to breed Frankish warhorses fit for racing.
To save their lives, the grooms agreed to be loyal and reported wonderful news:
After the Oxford tournament, Aethelwulf paid 2,300 pounds of West Frankish silver to buy a total of 700 warhorses. In addition, there are 500 horses at the military stud farm outside Winchester.
"What did you say?" Ragnar was delighted and decided to try a more radical strategy.
After a night's rest, Ragnar selected two thousand men in relatively good condition, led them on a light march south to Oxford.
Along the way, Ragnar met Ivar, and under his leadership the Vikings arrived in Oxford in just two days.
Without a moment's hesitation, more than two thousand Vikings began a siege from four sides. Holding on to rope hooks, they withstood a barrage of stones and feathered arrows from behind the battlements, and, after losing over a hundred men, captured a small section of the wall on the eastern side.
Soon a steady stream of Viking warriors climbed the ropes and killed the county governor who had arrived to reinforce them. Seeing this, the demoralized militia scattered, and the northern city of Wessex fell.
In the county governor's mansion, Ragnar leaned back wearily in his chair and listened to the report of his subordinates.
"Any news of Aethelwulf?"
"No, but we have captured many priests, scribes and young servants, 130 men in all."
Ragnar sighed with regret that he had not been able to capture the king. "If we keep a close eye on them, they could play an unexpected role."
After a short rest, he discussed the further plan with Ivar. The latter decided to continue south and take Winchester in one fell swoop, while the enemy had not yet gathered their forces.
"The entire route from Oxford to Winchester is over 40 miles, and two days will be enough."
"Not good." After several days of running, the soldiers' physical strength was at its limit. Ragnar did not think they had the strength to take Winchester.
"This city was built by the Romans. Even if your troops arrived, they would not be able to break through the high stone walls with ropes alone. Alas, it seems that my only option is to adopt Vig's method and spend two or three months making siege engines." After thinking
for a few minutes, Ivar insisted: "If the city's defenses are empty, I will take the opportunity to capture the city and end this war in one fell swoop. If I fail to capture the city, I will seize the stud farm as planned."
Having convinced his father, Ivar selected 800 volunteers and moved deeper into Wessex along the Roman road.
After hundreds of years of wind and rain, most of the flagstones were buried, leaving only a compacted roadway that wound between hills and forests. The spring rains had softened the road, and here and there deep tracks left by caravan wagons were visible.
"City walls, roads and overground canals, Odin, why did the Romans have such a great building capacity? Did they use some kind of magic?"
Two days later they arrived at the River Itchen. Fishermen in small boats cast nets to catch fish, and the banks were covered with reeds and flocks of wild ducks. Moving south along the river, the outline of Winchester gradually emerged.
"Hurry, don't worry about the civilians."
Ivar raced towards Winchester, despite his fatigue. From time to time the Viking warriors fell behind, but he did not care. All he could see was the city wall rising on the horizon.
In the distance, the yellow flag of Wessex with its waving dragon fluttered on top of the arrow-shaped tower. A long line of people formed at the city gates, waiting to enter the city for inspection.
The Vikings ran to within three hundred paces, and the defenders closed the city gates, despite the pleas of the townspeople, depriving Ivar of the opportunity to attack the city by surprise.
"My lord, what should we do?"
"Retreat!"
Looking at the many archers behind the battlements, Ivar decided to evacuate. Having learned from the locals where the stud farm was, he led his army to the southwest.