Building a Viking Empire with Modern Industry-Chapter 138: Steel Mercenaries & Silver Tongues

Ethelred was, of course, pleased with this result. As for the next comment from the Ealdorman, it surprised nobody.

"Thane Leofric, you are tasked with leading the Vanguard! Take the ’Iron Gear’ Lease Unit and break their center."

Leofric pounded his chest as he saluted his liege while responding to his orders.

"You honor me, my lord! The Iron Director’s steel will not fail us!"

With those two positions taken care of, Ethelred moved on to his overall strategy.

"While Leofric advances with the Vanguard, I will lead the cavalry which we will split into two units and circle around the enemy’s lines where we shall attack them from the rear of their flanks.

Once the flanks are crushed, the West Saxons will have to fall back and reinforce their lines; as they do so, the Vanguard will rush in and cut them down before they manage to do so."

It was a simple enough strategy and had worked numerous times before; as such, none of the Lords who were present had any complaints about the tactics they would use to defeat Wessex. The last remark the Ealdorman made was about his crossbowmen.

"The Crossbowmen will be placed atop both of these hills on both sides of the battlefield, where they will rain bolts down upon our foes."

After these words were stated, all of the Lords who witnessed this conversation nodded in agreement.

Shortly thereafter, they were all set to the task, and the battle had begun. The Crossbowmen took their positions on the hilltop and began to rain their armor-piercing bolts down upon the enemy forces, just as planned.

However, unfortunately, it appeared as if the West Saxons were just as well equipped as the Mercians; as such, the bolts were largely deflected off of the heavily armored infantry of the enemy.

The fact that the West Saxons were so well equipped was shocking to the Mercians, seeing as how the Mercian Lords had spent a fortune on Ragnar’s arms and armor preparing for this war.

Despite this fact, the West Saxons seemed to be equally well equipped which began to fill the Lords of Mercia with doubt over Ragnar’s Non-Compete Clause.

Nevertheless, now was not the time to worry about such concerns, and though the bolts could not pierce the heavy plate of the King’s guard, they easily slid into the gaps in the enemy armor when fired in a volley numbering in the thousands.

There were still many wounds inflicted on the West Saxon troops before they arrived in combat with the Mercian infantry.

Still, it was strange that there was no sign of West Saxon Archers or Slingers deployed to the battlefield, which filled Thane Odda with angst as he commanded the rear guard, watching the battle from afar.

The moment the two feudal armies made contact with one another, blood and death began to spray about the fertile grassland that was the battlefield.

Corpses littered the field as the steel-clad armies clashed with one another like an enormous metallic tidal wave.

As the battle continued to rage, Ealdorman Ethelred finally found an opening for his cavalry, and as such, he began his charge; just like in the battle plan, the heavily armored knights mounted on horseback broke into two units and went around the vanguard of the enemy army where they proceeded to attack their flanks from the rear.

As such, the heavily armored Knights of Mercia led by Ethelred crashed into the enemy flanks, driving their lances through their chests and ending their lives.

Quickly the West Saxon flanks began to crumble, and the plan seemed to be working perfectly. However, unlike Ethelred had estimated, the moment the enemy flanks crumbled, the men began to route and fled into the distance.

Seeing this as an opportunity for victory, Ethelred charged ahead of his infantry and into the routing forces.

However, this turned out to be a grave mistake, as the enemy forces were pulling a classic feigned retreat.

By the time the Knights of Mercia arrived in front of their enemies, they were encircled by thousands of longbowmen who unleashed a massive volley from 360 degrees around the Mercian Knights.

Though the arrows could not penetrate the toughness of the Directorate plate armor, they could find the eye-slits and the joints, causing injuries to the Knights and Noblemen who were encapsulated, as well as their trusty steeds.

Before long, the entire contingent of Knights who had broken the West Saxon flanks found themselves dismounted as the continuous volley fire had gravely injured their horses; many of them were wounded or had even perished in the attack by the longbowmen.

After all, the plate armor of the time was not as advanced as what Ragnar equipped his own "Iron Gear" cavalry with. Many Knights wore mail aventails for throat protection, rather than the articulated gorgets Ragnar reserved for his premium subscribers.

Thus the bodkin points of the heavy war bows were capable of piercing through the mail aventail and into their throats.

Ethelred and his surviving Knights quickly recovered from the attack.

However, they soon found themselves surrounded by the enemy infantry, and they were a long way off from their own army. As such, a vicious struggle appeared as the Knights of Mercia battled to the death with the men-at-arms of Wessex.

Ethelred stood side by side with his Knights and Vassals, who had followed him into death as he parried an oncoming spear thrust and lunged towards the soldier’s face with his longsword, piercing through the man’s skull and ending his life.

However, he shortly thereafter received a heavy mace blow to the crook of his elbow, which crushed the joint beneath his plate armor.

With a shattered elbow, he no longer had the ability to wield his longsword with his dominant arm and thus resorted to using the weapon one-handed with his off-hand.

Thane Odda gazed in horror at the sight of the Mercian Knights being rapidly cut down by the enemy forces, yet there was nothing he could do.

He was tasked with protecting the rear guard, and he was far too distant from his Liege’s position to provide any aid.

All he could do was watch as the ranks of the Mercian Knights slowly dwindled in a desperate struggle to wait for the Mercian Infantry to arrive at their aid.

However, right when the Mercian infantry was about to intervene, the West Saxon Cavalry rushed upon their loose and disorganized ranks, which was the result of panic, and began to halt their advance.

King Aethelwulf was at the head of the ranks of his Cavalry as they lanced through the Mercian Vanguard as if they were cutting through wet parchment.

The last thing Ealdorman Ethelred saw before he was viciously struck upon the back of his helm with a mighty Danish Axe was the devastation wrought upon his forces by the West Saxon Army.

He quickly collapsed to his knees from the impact, where he was once more struck by the Axe, ending his life.

As for the fate of Thane Leofric, he had either perished in the conflict or been captured alive; to Thane Odda, such a thing did not matter at the moment.

Despite being his liege, Odda had no plans to stay behind and rescue the corpse.

As such, he quickly ordered his troops to withdraw from the battlefield, for the Mercian army had already lost.

With this one battle, the fate of the Midlands had seemingly been sealed; the Ealdorman was dead, and his armies were routed.

Those few who survived and remained free from bondage were the members of the rear guard who watched their armies cut to pieces. When all appeared to be lost, they fled the battle scene and headed back to their homes in Mercia.

After all, someone had to defend the homeland from the massive West Saxon hostile takeover that would soon follow.

...

Meanwhile, in City Titan

Ragnar sat in his office, reading the telegraph strip that had just arrived from his observer in Reading. Gyda stood by the window, rocking Magnus to sleep.

"Ethelred is dead," Ragnar announced, his voice devoid of surprise. "Wessex used the feigned retreat."

Gyda looked up. "And the equipment?"

"Both sides were using Directorate steel," Ragnar confirmed, taking a sip from his skull mug. "It seems the black market is leaking product."

"Is that a problem?" Gyda asked.

"No," Ragnar smiled, tapping his silver cane on the floor. "It’s a Market Opportunity. With Ethelred dead, Mercia is in chaos."

Ragnar stood up.

"Send a message to Princess Elfwynn. We’re going to Mercia."