With winter setting in, Vig and the main army remained in Paris for the season.
The newly arrived Eastern European mercenaries were dispatched to Flanders, where they captured scattered towns throughout the region.
After more than a decade of continuous suppression, Flemish industry had collapsed.
The decline in manufacturing had dragged down the towns as well.
Places such as Bruges, Ghent, and Antwerp now had populations of fewer than a thousand residents.
Their defenses were weak, and most surrendered with little resistance.
At the same time, seeing Britannia's fortunes rising, a number of Breton nobles emerged from hiding and voluntarily offered their allegiance.
Vig was desperately short on manpower and accepted their service.
He planned to organize three Breton Garrison Regiments to perform auxiliary duties.
After the oath-taking ceremony concluded, Vig sat upon his throne and watched the nobles depart.
A thought crossed his mind:
Too late.
If, at the beginning of the war, someone had raised a force of a thousand men and joined my campaign, I would have considered making him a count.
Now the Frankish field armies have been swept away.
Even if you bring me three thousand or five thousand men, you won't become counts.
At best, you'll receive a few baronies.
The greater the risk, the greater the reward.
Since you chose to wait and see until the outcome was obvious, all you'll receive are scraps from the table.
Winter passed and spring arrived.
By March 869, the front had achieved one victory after another.
Taking advantage of public enthusiasm, the Cabinet issued the third and fourth rounds of war bonds, raising another £50,000.
The funds were used to recruit more mercenaries from Eastern Europe.
The expeditionary army expanded to 63,000 men.
After accounting for garrisons stationed throughout occupied territory, Vig could still field around 40,000 troops for offensive operations.
This time, he intended to march east and settle matters with the three kingdoms of East Francia once and for all.
Half a month later, the army arrived at Münster.
East Francia was far weaker than West Francia and lacked extensive stone fortifications.
The Vikings advanced rapidly, soon reaching the core territories ruled by Louis the Younger.
From this point onward, Frankish resistance intensified.
Karlmann and his brothers launched repeated attacks against isolated detachments, hoping to score a victory.
Their efforts achieved little.
After a year and a half of warfare, the Viking army had been forged into a highly efficient war machine.
The former military cadets had matured rapidly.
Theory and battlefield experience combined, steadily improving the army's organization and tactical proficiency.
The Franks, by contrast, suffered from a chronic shortage of educated junior officers.
Most relied on oral traditions passed down from their fathers.
Basic mistakes occurred repeatedly, forcing their front line to retreat again and again.
In early May, the three Karlmann brothers made one final attempt.
Gathering more than ten thousand men, they secretly hid in the forests south of Bremen, waiting to ambush four infantry regiments of the Second Field Division.
The battle raged for hours.
The Franks failed to destroy the four thousand Vikings.
Instead, several of their own formations collapsed.
At three in the afternoon, a large Viking cavalry force arrived on the battlefield.
The East Frankish field army was almost completely annihilated.
Karlmann escaped with his life.
His two younger brothers were killed by the Vikings.
By this point:
West Francia's armies had been destroyed.
The three kingdoms of Middle Francia had exhausted themselves supporting West Francia.
East Francia's last field army had been shattered.
The Frankish world could no longer assemble a significant field force.
On May 19, the Viking army captured Hamburg.
According to the campaign plan, the First, Second, and Third Field Divisions each advanced south toward separate objectives.
Each division received three additional garrison regiments, functioning much like the auxiliary cohorts of a Roman legion.
Vig remained in Hamburg with the Royal Division.
He dispatched messengers across the North, summoning Nordic nobles and the shamans of Uppsala to a grand council.
By mid-June, nearly everyone had arrived.
Only a few injured nobles were absent.
Vig had no patience for ceremony and addressed Swiftwind directly.
"You once asked me to send troops to save the Viking world."
"In return, you promised that when the war ended, I would be recognized as High King."
"Now I have defeated more than one hundred thousand Frankish soldiers."
"There are thirty-five thousand prisoners on Jersey Island alone."
"The threat to the North has been eliminated."
"Does your promise still stand?"
Two years earlier, Swiftwind's pledge had represented only the authority of Uppsala.
Furthermore, the title High King had originally been intended as a purely honorary distinction.
Vig was not satisfied with that interpretation.
He deliberately broadened the meaning, transforming a promise from the Uppsala priesthood into a commitment from all of Scandinavia.
Realizing what Vig was doing, Swiftwind turned and surveyed the assembled nobles.
His gaze lingered on Eric the Younger for several seconds.
Finally, he nodded.
"Your Majesty, Uppsala shall henceforth be loyal to you."
None of the nobles dared oppose him.
If they chose this moment to rebel, Vig could crush their territories within half a year.
Even without deploying the army, Britannia's control of the seas allowed him to cut off their trade and force compliance.
"I agree!"
Count Leksa of Kalmar spoke first.
Most of the other nobles quickly followed.
One after another, they knelt on one knee.
Eventually only two men remained standing:
King Eric
King Halfdan
Along with a handful of their closest followers.
Under overwhelming pressure, they too pledged loyalty.
Vig sat calmly in his seat, his expression unchanged.
After the council ended, he ordered the creation of the Fourth Field Division.
Douglas was appointed commander.
Its manpower would be recruited from across Scandinavia.
Years of accumulated prestige had elevated Vig's reputation beyond that of any Nordic ruler—including his former king, Ragnar.
Thanks to that reputation, Douglas recruited 12,000 volunteers, exceeding his target by four thousand.
Vig then recruited several thousand West Slavs, increasing the expeditionary army's strength to 80,000 men.
The Fourth Field Division remained stationed in Hamburg.
Experienced officers and NCOs were drawn from other units.
An additional hundred military cadets arrived from Britannia.
Together they formed the core framework of the new division.
Vig expected to complete basic training within two months.
In mid-July, Vig traveled by ship to Magdeburg on the middle Elbe.
The city had fallen to Utgard twenty days earlier and was heavily damaged.
After spending one night there, Vig departed with his Royal Guards and two mountain infantry battalions to inspect the Harz Mountains to the southwest.
According to his memories, the region contained enormous silver deposits.
At its peak, the mines had once produced nearly forty percent of all silver mined in Germany.
It was high summer.
The air was hot and humid, carrying the scents of pine resin and decaying leaves.
The dull sounds of logging echoed through the forest.
Occasionally, whistles from mountain infantry patrols drifted through the trees.
After crossing the final ridge, the Rammelsberg mining district came into view.
The landscape resembled a scar upon the earth.
Three primitive smelting furnaces belched smoke at the foot of the mountain.
Piles of pale slag surrounded them.
Bare-chested workers stirred molten metal with long iron rods.
Mixtures of lead and silver flowed from channels into clay molds.
Nearby, miners swung iron picks, breaking large stones into smaller pieces.
Sweat rolled through the dust coating their backs, carving tiny channels in the grime.
Vig turned to the foreman.
"I remember there's a stream nearby."
"Why aren't you using a water-powered ore crusher?"
The foreman looked confused.
"What's an ore crusher?"
After hearing the translated reply, Vig pressed a hand to his forehead in exasperation.
Then he turned to one of his staff officers.
"Write back to the homeland."
"Tell the Cabinet to send technical specialists from the mining districts."
—------------------------------
Pat reon Advance Chapters: patreon.com/YonkoSlayer