stared at the map for a long time, pondering it. Ragnar summoned Theowulf and appointed him as Wyg's second-in-command. As Duke of Mercia,
his lands bordered Wales, making him a good candidate for supporting duties.
Outside the tent, Theowulf suggested recruiting more men, and Wyg nodded. "Since the royal family is fully covering the military expenses, I plan to increase the force to 4,000 and crush the enemy with sheer force."
After more than two months of fighting, his direct troops were down to 1,400. After dividing the spoils, only 1,000 remained willing to continue fighting.
Including the militia Theowulf had mobilized from his territory, Wyg planned to recruit another 2,000 men.
They then sailed down the Thames to Oxford, where Halfdan and his 400-plus defeated warriors were resting.
The house next door to the lord's residence was filled with the rich scent of herbs. Halfdan lay in bed, his eyes closed, resting,
his left arm was wrapped in a thick bandage. Two maids stood nearby.
"What happened?" Wig dismissed the maids and asked for details of the battle.
When Halfdan saw the two men, he realized that they had come to take over his work. He replied indifferently, "Nothing special. Aethelwulf and I led 2,500 men into the mountains to suppress the brigands. The enemy did not engage in open battle, but instead terrorized us with bows and arrows. One day, they suddenly launched a large raid at night. I took advantage of the chaos to break through, and was wounded in the left arm." "
A night raid? How many men were there? Did Aethelwulf deliberately leak information and conspire with the Welsh raiders?"
Faced with Wig's string of questions, Halfdan froze. "It was dark at night, and I couldn't see exactly how many men were on the other side. Aethelwulf is a very loyal man. If he hadn't come to my aid, I'm afraid I would have been shot by the Welsh."
This guy is really interesting. He was tricked, but he still stood up for others.
Wig suppressed the urge to laugh, advised him to rest and recover, and then went to the privates' barracks to learn about the enemy's tactics.
The mention of bandits filled the soldiers with an indelible fear. One officer summed it up: "Bows and arrows are everywhere, flying everywhere. A single careless man can be shot."
Sensing the distrust in the eyes of Whig and Theowulf, the officer ordered ten captured purple bows, each about 1.5 to 1.8 meters long.
"My lords, their archers are incredibly strong, capable of shooting six arrows a minute. Without aiming, they shoot twelve arrows a minute. Their range, power, and accuracy are completely superior to ours."
Whig took the purple bow and attempted to draw it. The unusually heavy string would have prevented an ordinary man from drawing it. Given the information provided by the officer, he assumed that this purple bow was the prototype of the later "English longbow."
A distinctive feature of medieval England, the archer could shoot both direct fire and projectiles from behind the lines, which gave
incredible destructive power and significant advantages, but also significant disadvantages.
Wig called thirty Welsh captives and at first glance recognized five archers among the crowd: twisted spines, noticeably enlarged left hands and thick knuckles on the right.
"How long does it take to train an archer?" -
the senior archer raised his head proudly, hearing the Viking's question from the translator. "Five years to master the basics of archery and physical training. High-class archers require more than ten years of training. Judging by your incompetence, you probably won't be able to learn in twenty."
After listening to the interpreter's explanation, Wig nodded slightly. The man was right: training archers was incredibly time-consuming. In 1363, King Edward I of England passed the Archery Act, requiring all men to practice archery on Sundays and banning other sports. Violators were subject to severe punishments.
This strict law allowed England to raise a well-trained army of archers, which was effective, but not up to the situation.
After a long pause, he sighed deeply. "Bows and heavy arrows are powerful enough, but ten years is too long."
Back at his camp, Wig selected a small force and ordered them to escort the treasure and horses back to Tyneburg, taking with them all the crossbows they had. "Tell Cader that for the next period the entire capacity of the forge will be occupied with the production of crossbows until the Welsh War is over."
He then wrote a long letter to Ragnar, requesting no less than six hundred suits of iron armour.
"Why do you need so much armour?"
In response to Siowulf's confusion, Vig explained his strategy: to pit heavily armed crossbowmen against Welsh archers.
This strategy was inspired by the Genoese crossbowmen, the most popular mercenary unit in the Middle Ages. Armed with iron armour, crossbows and a massive shield, they used two fighting styles:
one, turning away from the enemy, reloading their guns, then turning and firing.
Another was to use a stout wooden pole to prop a massive shield on the ground while the crossbowmen hid behind it, reloading and firing.
"Use the crossbowmen against the archers?"
Siowulf disagreed and made no objection, concentrating on gathering supplies. By July, the troops and their
provisions were gradually arriving, and Wyg organized crossbow training. Within three weeks, he had 800 capable crossbowmen.
In addition, the army had over 500 archers. Wyg had outfitted some with iron armor and built dozens of wagons with large shields on the front to provide cover for the crossbowmen's advance.
During his training, he spent time gathering information from small traders and learned that the two largest powers in Wales were the kingdoms of Powys and Gwynedd.
The former was in eastern Wales, bordering Mercia, and the latter was in northwest Wales. Wygh planned to defeat Powys first, then attack Gwynedd, using that force to force the surrender of the remaining nobles.
At a council of war, he gave his commanders two instructions: to build strong fortifications and fight a trench war, and to attack the city first, not the enemy's heartland.
"From my experience in battle, I can say that the loyalty of the lower classes to their lords is limited. As long as outsiders do not encroach on their property, most poor people do not think about changing masters."
In order to reduce the looting in the army, Vig sent a letter to Londinium asking Ragnar to allocate funds for the salaries of all soldiers.
"Use both suppression and pacification, use heavy crossbowmen against archers and pay all soldiers," -
Ragnar was worried about the bizarre ideas of his subordinates.
At present, Ivar has returned to Dürfelin to continue the day-to-day struggle with unrest in Ireland, with no end in sight. Gunnar is in charge of negotiations with the Franks and will be tied down for the time being.
With the exception of these two and Vig, the rest of the nobles are not up to the task. Of course, in a pinch, Ragnar could personally conquer Wales, but this approach has significant drawbacks and can easily lead to internal political instability.
After much sighing, he finally accepted Vig's plan.