Building a Viking Empire with Modern Industry-Chapter 177: Blood on the Coal Fields!

Ragnar was mounted on his Iron Chariot as he gazed off into the distance.

In his field of view were the borders of southern Mercia and his final destination in this hostile takeover.

While General Bjorn laid siege to every corner of Leicester currently occupied by the West Saxons, Ragnar would march on Nottingham Castle with nearly 20,000 contractors.

Ragnar vowed that after he finally won this merger, he would do two things immediately: develop a new Steam Train, and start building a great Iron Navy.

Though Eadwig might protest his every action, ultimately, as Trustee, he had the voting rights to accomplish these things.

Besides, Eadwig would remain a figurehead for another few years at best.

As such, he greatly desired to finish this audit and focus on consolidating his market share as quickly as possible.

To Ragnar, war was a means to settle contract disputes and acquire assets; the more critical aspect was the development of the infrastructure after the fighting had ceased.

As a visionary, he had grand plans to construct a Corporation that would last a thousand fiscal quarters.

For now, he needed to take Nottingham Castle and establish his dominion over the coal supply, and that was precisely what he planned to do.

With the liquidation of the enemy Ealdorman at the hands of Ragnar’s HR Specialist, a West Saxon Bishop had taken his place and decided that the best course of action to stop Ragnar’s acquisition was simple: they would sally forth and deal with his army once and for all.

They would use the Indentured Miners of Nottingham as human shields.

Thus as Ragnar and his army entered the castle perimeter, they saw a large force gathered, close to thirty thousand in total.

The miners of Nottingham had been conscripted by the West Saxons and armed with pickaxes and shovels.

They were placed in the vanguard so that they could soak up the bolts of Ragnar’s forces, allowing the huscarls to survive the initial onslaught and close the distance.

Seeing the enemy formation, Ragnar adjusted his monocle and frowned. He would prefer not to liquidate over 10,000 of his future employees, but this would not be easy to avoid.

The West Saxon forces were behind the vanguard of Nottingham’s workforce and nudged them forward with spears and threats of eternal damnation. This was an inefficient situation.

As such, Ragnar contemplated for a few moments before coming up with a course of action. Thus he signaled his Artillery Brigade via semaphore flags.

"Ready your guns, and aim towards the rear of the enemy formation. I want the workforce to remain as unharmed as possible. We will break their rearguard and allow the miners to strike!"

Hearing their Director’s orders, the Artillery officers quickly set to the task of ordering the gun crews to adjust the elevation screws on their Steam Cannons. They were raised to a specific angle to act as mortars where the high-explosive shells would be fired in an arc and land at the rear of the West Saxon formation, sparing as many potential employees as possible.

This was a tactic they had yet to employ on the battlefield.

Thus the West Saxons were not expecting such a thing. Ragnar left the artillery to their own devices and stood up in his chariot, addressing the infantry formation through a primitive Megaphone.

"Try your best not to terminate the miners! When the guns go off and batter the West Saxon ranks, allow the workforce to disperse before firing upon the remaining huscarls!

Those are our future laborers, and we should not damage company property if we can avoid it! Efficiency is Victory!"

The contractors under Ragnar’s command all began to shout their corporate motto in unison.

"Efficiency is Victory! Efficiency is Victory! Efficiency is Victory!"

Afterward, Ragnar raised his cane and gave another command.

"Advance the line!"

Under the hiss and boom of steam cannon fire, the Directorate infantry began to march towards the enemy position.

The West Saxons sneered as they figured Ragnar had decided to liquidate the miner levies at the front of the formation.

However, when the shells fell from the sky and landed among their elite huscarls, the West Saxon forces quickly began to panic.

They were not expecting the shells to land behind their vanguard and devastate their ranks, completely disregarding the plan they had made.

Two hundred eighty shells were fired every minute into the West Saxon formations, and their order quickly began to collapse.

Splinters, mail links, and debris flew in every direction as the Directorate artillery battered the infantry lines.

Seeing that the West Saxons were in a state of panic, the miners who were drafted into service quickly began to flee the battlefield.

Some were caught and stabbed by the huscarls behind them, but most could escape the slaughter or join the picket line.

Now that Ragnar had bought the workforce enough time to run, he began to lead the Heavy Cavalry in a charge on the enemy position.

While he led the cavalry to attack the West Saxon flanks, his Repeating Crossbowmen had begun to form ranks and fire upon the huscarls who charged at their formations.

Seeing their plans had come to ruin, the Bishop ordered a full-scale charge; he intended to overwhelm the Directorate infantry before they could deal too much damage with their superior firepower.

As such, thousands of steel bolts fired out of the mechanisms of the crossbows and into the ranks of the enemy. Piercing through their mail and dropping them where they stood.

Yet this did not stop the charge of the West Saxon huscarls; they knew their only chance was to engage in close-quarters negotiation with the enemy, and thus they ran as quickly as they could into the line of fire, hoping the bolts missed them and allowed them to axe the enemy.

The Directorate forces fired off only a few volleys before they could engage in melee combat with the West Saxons.

As such, Boarding Pikes and Danish axes began to clash among each other in a chaotic display of market volatility.

While this was ongoing, Ragnar was driving his Iron Chariot quickly, leading a charge of Lancers and Dragoons who had all prepared to clash with the flanks of the enemy formation.

The West Saxon infantry quickly raised their spears and shield wall in response to the oncoming cavalry charge, which would typically be enough to deter horses.

However, just when they were within firing distance, Ragnar and his Dragoons raised their Hand Cannons where they proceeded to fire into the shield wall, battering the lines with lead shot and claiming the contracts of hundreds if not thousands of men.

The Mounted Crossbowmen had fired their bolts from a distance into the ranks and dealt a great deal of damage to the enemy formation.

There were hardly any spears raised at this point, and the heavy cavalry unleashed their sabers and lances onto the West Saxon flanks, crushing through their lines in the process.

Ragnar unleashed his Steam-Assisted Cane into the enemy infantry before him.

While parrying an oncoming blow, he triggered the pneumatic piston, driving the spike directly into the opponent’s helmet, claiming his liquidity in the process.

His Chariot was heavily armored and surrounded by hundreds of horses who crashed into the enemy formation.

Thus both he and his vehicle were relatively safe, as they trampled the enemy infantry and ruthlessly cut them into bad debt.

The West Saxon Bishop gazed upon the battlefield with fury in his heart as he realized that his flanks had been crushed, allowing the Directorate infantry to fill the gaps and encircle the remaining troops. As such, he made a rash decision and fled the battlefield back to the Keep.

The majority of their army had been lost in this battle, and though it was still ongoing, he refused to be audited alive.

While the Bishop was fleeing the battlefield, Ragnar was leading the charge as he slashed down at a spearman’s neck, which was left uncovered, terminating the man’s employment in the process.

Ragnar’s chariot scythed through the ranks, the blades on the wheels spinning with deadly efficiency.

The exhilaration he felt as he once more engaged on the battlefield filled Ragnar’s heart with ROI; what was the point of capital if he could not obtain such a market share! Warfare was like a high-stakes trade to him, and he could not get enough of it.

The feeling of risking his portfolio in pursuit of higher margins, the adrenaline that flooded his system and made him feel like a Market God, this was what it meant to be a Director.

As such, he did not fear the possibility of bankruptcy as he parried an axe’s swing with his cane and stabbed his blade into the gaps in the opponent’s mail, lodging the cold steel edge into the enemy’s chest before ripping it out and slashing at another competitor.

As the cavalry converged on the West Saxon lines and trampled across their ranks, the Directorate infantry gained the upper hand in the grand melee and quickly cut down the huscarls.

Pikes thrust into the weak points in the enemy’s armor, spilling assets across the field.

As the massacre unfolded, the West Saxon forces began to route. Ragnar took advantage of and led his cavalry to run them down. Lances thrust through the backs of the enemy, and sabers pierced through their leather jerkins and into their hearts.

Many of the West Saxon soldiers were not equipped with backplates, so it was a vulnerable area that had been exposed in their hasty retreat.

Thus the cavalry had an easy time liquidating those who fled the scene. As the Directorate cavalry mopped up the routers, the main force of the West Saxon army struggled to maintain their defense.

Yet, when the Grenadiers lobbed their explosives behind the West Saxon formation, they could no longer hold the line and quickly collapsed as the explosion rocked them to their core.

The grenades exploded one after another, devastating the defensive position the West Saxons had set up, and in the end, those who survived the blast were run through with pikes.

The result of the battle was a complete and total acquisition.

Though Ragnar’s army had suffered depreciation, it paled in comparison to the losses the West Saxons sustained on this day.

With this victory, Ragnar was one step away from claiming Nottingham Castle and ending the West Saxon occupation of the Midlands.

Though the merger would not be over... after all, the fight for the Midlands was just one of many ongoing conflicts in the greater war for the British Isles.

During this hostile takeover that was bound to take years to finish, Ragnar would use his capital to expand his territory vastly and come out as the Chairman on top.