Building a Viking Empire with Modern Industry-Chapter 172: Hold your fire!

After establishing an alliance with Wulfstan, Ragnar pursued the remnants of the West Saxon forces that remained within the industrial districts of Nottingham.

It took him a span of two weeks to thoroughly restructure the West Saxon remnants before he was complete with his acquisition of the region.

During this time, General Bjorn had engaged in various small-scale mergers against the West Saxon forces, who until now had occupied the County of Leicester.

Much like in Nottingham, the West Saxons were quickly liquidated; however, since Nottingham was cut off, they had nowhere to retreat.

The West Saxons’ only option was to hide behind the stone walls of the central castle in the region, which was Leicester Castle.

Thus Bjorn had pursued them and was now in the position of setting up a siege camp outside of the city.

Much like Ragnar had done during the Battle of Sandwich, a trench line that was supported with barbed wire and sandbags surrounded the encampment.

The 70 steam cannons were placed within them and continued to batter several critical sections of the large stone walls.

Seventy high-explosive shells pounded the stone walls of Leicester Castle every minute, rapidly deteriorating their structural integrity.

At the current rate of fire, it would be less than 24 hours before the walls crumbled, leaving the defending West Saxons open to the repeating crossbow fire of the Directorate forces.

Thus Bjorn was watching from afar as the stone walls were chipped at one shell at a time.

The Directorate contractors stayed in the trenches, providing them with superior protection as they waited for the enemy walls to crumble down.

...

Minute after minute, hour after hour, the repeated shelling of the castle echoed in the distance, and the soldiers observed the sight of stones splitting apart from the walls in and outside of the city.

Bjorn was enjoying a cup of coffee in his command bunker when he finally heard the loud crumbling of the walls; as such, he quickly finished his serving before placing his helmet on his head and entering the fray.

Outside of the city, with the walls having crumbled in six major sections on all sides of the town, the Directorate and their allies had marched over the trench line and into the battle as they began to chant their corporate motto which echoed through the air.

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

The Directorate army shouted the phrase repeatedly as if they were in a shareholder meeting; even Thane Leofric’s militia began to join in after a while.

The sight of roughly 25,000 men outside the city walls, chanting the motto in unison frightened the West Saxon defenders to the core.

However, they knew now that there was no severance package; they either defended the castle or were terminated in the process; those were their only two options.

As such, the battle had begun, and the Directorate unleashed crossbow fire on the defending lines that stood at the gaps in between the city walls.

After a few volleys, the Directorate fixed their Boarding Pikes and allowed Leofric’s forces to charge into the fray.

For now, the Directorate would have to focus on the defenders atop the ramparts.

The siege quickly became chaotic as the Directorate army forced their way into the gaps of the city walls and over the mail-clad corpses of the men who had fallen victim to the crossbow fire.

Medieval forces clashed among each other as the Directorate contractors valiantly fought to reclaim the city of Leicester from the West Saxon occupiers.

Bjorn gazed from afar with his spyglass as he saw Leofric’s heavy infantry act as the vanguard; the courageous men pushed their way into the fray and began to use their axes and swords to slash and hack at their foes in a gruesome display of violence.

Thane Leofric personally led the charge wielding a Danish axe in his hand, which he used to smash against the shield of a nearby opponent; the deadly blow splintered the wood beneath it and fractured the opponent’s arm leaving him incapacitated on the spot.

On the other side of the city was Captain Hrolf, who wielded a saber.

The two commanders valiantly led their forces into battle from opposite directions as they cut away at the West Saxon points dwelled within the city.

Hrolf parried an oncoming spear thrust before adeptly counter-attacking with a slash through the opponent’s gambeson, piercing the man’s chest and ending his contract.

The chaotic scene of the ongoing siege was caught by Bjorn’s spyglass, who grinned at the sight. Soon enough, the quarterly report would look excellent.

As for the Directorate forces, they managed to stay back from the front lines and repeatedly fired their shots towards the enemies in the ramparts above whenever an opportunity presented itself.

Any West Saxon who was foolish enough to poke his head over the crenellations was quickly pinned down.

Eventually, the West Saxons were overwhelmed by the onslaught and pushed further and further into the city.

The Directorate had now secured the gates of the city, as well as the walls beside them.

With that in mind, Bjorn ordered the Directorate Heavy Infantry to barge into the city.

Now was the time for the Pike Squares and Grenadiers to shine.

As such, the Directorate infantry rushed into the city, forming defensive squares, and firing upon the fleeing West Saxons who desperately dashed to the keep in hope of some kind of reinforcement.

The volleys rapidly shot down the West Saxon soldiers, and their bodies were cast aside in the street, bleeding out onto the cobblestones.

Bjorn had personally entered the fray, marching into the city like a conquering Regional Manager; the veteran General had an aura of authority around him that was second only to Ragnar’s.

Yet the Director was not present at this battle, and thus it was Bjorn’s efficiency that carried the Directorate forces to victory.

As the West Saxons fled closer and closer to the keep, they were finally surrounded by the Directorate on all sides; if the Directorate desired, they could unleash a volley from 360 degrees and liquidate the enemy.

However, Bjorn smelled a chance for asset recovery and quickly ordered his troops as he entered the scene.

"Hold your fire! Hold your fire!"

Seeing that the Directorate had held their position but could slaughter them at any moment, the West Saxon Commander called out to the man who had given the orders.

"Are you the leader of this... company?"

Bjorn merely nodded at the Commander as he held his pneumatic hammer within his hand.

"I advise you to accept the merger; it would be inefficient to lose any more of your men in this vain struggle of yours!"

The enemy commander merely opened up the visor of his helmet and spat on the ground.

"You are nothing more than a minion of Ragnar the Ruthless! That makes you a servant of greed!"

Hearing these words, Bjorn frowned; it would appear that the enemy commander was a traditionalist who took his orders from the King.

King Aethelwulf had declared that anyone who surrenders to a Viking Corporation shall be deemed a traitor to the crown.

To a true loyalist like the enemy commander, he would rather die than risk his honor by surrendering to those he perceived to be soulless capitalists.

Seeing that the man was not going to sign the paperwork, Bjorn merely sighed before giving a dreadful order to his soldiers who had gathered around the West Saxons with their crossbows pointed in the direction.

"Liquidation!"

With that, a volley was fired from all angles, shredding apart the remaining West Saxon troops.

Not a single member of the defending army had survived the siege.

Seeing such pointless waste of human resources, Bjorn could not prevent himself from complaining.

"Inefficient fool!

I hope you enjoy unemployment in the afterlife for leading your men to such a poor investment!"

As for Leofric, who witnessed the ruthless execution of the surviving West Saxons, he felt no pity.

These men had invaded his lands and disrupted the local economy; liquidation was well deserved in his eyes. Leofric approached Bjorn and clasped the man on the shoulder.

"You gave them an offer; that is all that matters. They got off lightly for what they have done to these markets..."

Bjorn merely shrugged the comforting hand aside as he looked into the sky and off into the direction of Tamworth.

He knew that after Leicester had been reclaimed, Tamworth would be Ragnar’s next target; soon enough, the audit would be brought against the capital of Mercia.

As for how it was handled, Bjorn could only guess what Ragnar would do to King Aethelwulf after he bought him out.

The siege of Leicester was over, and the southern rail lines, for the most part, were secured; several weeks had passed since the beginning of their campaign, and many contracts were terminated, precisely that of the West Saxons.

Now Bjorn would leave behind a security detail to control these lands and march into Derby, where he would march through the safety of its grounds and into the heart of Mercia.

As for Ragnar, he and his massive army would march on Nottingham Castle and route out King Aethelwulf and end his mismanagement of the Midlands once and for all.