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Anno Domini 830, February-28
Sending many scouts and watching the area with great skill, all reports came back with similar numbers; some scouts reported 15000, while others 20000.
And there were already dozens of scouts I had sent, but for some reason I could not understand why there were so few Frankish troops; the Carolingians should have had double or triple the population of the empire, even with raids in the north by Varangians and their front with the Umayyads, they should have had many more troops available to respond to this invasion.
Either this was a trap too well made that even I could not see it, or the Franks were distracting me trying to attack another point; it could be that they were attacking the imperial possessions in Italy, that would be the only reasonable explanation that came to my mind, or a surprise offensive through Nitra, but if that were the case my scouts would have warned me of such an attack.
So we simply accelerated the siege of the last strongholds of the Frankish barons to take their armor and weapons, to distribute them among my Slavic riders and be able to face the Franks in a better way.
"Yes my strategos I confirm my previous information 17300 men I was counting carefully but I can assure you their formations are organized which allowed us to count them with great ease" the scout reported.
"Good then keep an eye out check the rear make sure a second army does not arrive trying to lure us" I said sending more scouts again to survey the terrain.
"Why do you keep insisting on sending scouts their numbers are already confirmed they are almost half of ours a lot of infantry almost no cavalry let them reach the plains and if there is no mud we will slaughter them with great ease" Sigurd said crossing his arms.
"As I told you the Carolingians should be outnumbering us something does not feel right something must be happening so that not all their forces are concentrating against us" I said looking into the distance.
"But that is not positive we should take advantage instead of waiting for them to concentrate on us" Sigurd said.
"Yes of course this is very good but I wanted to draw the Franks into fighting in the Carpathian plains fight there draw them in or strike their supplies deny them battle and surround them constantly until they are exhausted and defeat their army almost without fighting since I was expecting an army of 60000 to 90000 men but here we barely have 20 percent of the expected number"
The sound of the trebuchet mechanism caught my attention and when I turned I saw how the rock that had been launched struck the wall hard which was beginning to show cracks in the masonry so we were close to the end of the siege.
"Double the trebuchet shifts and bring more equipment assemble them I want this siege finished by next week" I said pointing at the fortress that was still resisting after a week and a half of a long siege and a garrison that did not want to surrender.
Quickly the Varangians began to move and bring more materials to build more siege engines while I prepared the supplies and equipment that would be necessary for the battle against the Frankish forces gathering a large number of arrows and preparing many horses for the battle that was approaching and keeping them well rested for when they would be needed.
So I stayed supervising the siege of this Frankish fortress and at dusk I received information that another siege had recently ended and after putting the garrison to the sword for resisting and capturing the rest of the people who had sought safety behind their walls and taking them to the settlements in the Carpathians an imperial messenger had arrived which I found quite strange.
"Greetings messenger of the Basileus Rhomaion how may this humble servant of the Basileus Rhomaion assist you" I said looking at the messenger who was carrying the imperial insignias he remained watching searching for something among his clothes.
"Strategos the Basileus Rhomaion requests that when it is feasible in your campaign you go south to support the campaign of the Serbs against the Croats and the Carolingians not long ago a Frankish army arrived which has greatly changed the balance of power of the campaign that was taking place in the area the Serbs who had recently joined us had managed to take several strongholds from the Croats but recently nearly 30000 Franks arrived supporting the Croats which has forced the leader of the Serbs to withdraw for the moment to their mountain fortresses to avoid being overwhelmed by numbers" the messenger said quickly.
"Ah" I said remaining thoughtful "here are the other Franks I was thinking about but even so they are still too few" I said.
"That is correct the Basileus Rhomaion had a campaign alongside his new subjects but now it is stalled and there is the possibility that the Franks may attack imperial territory in the Balkans so if possible you should go to provide support as soon as you can" the messenger said walking at my side.
"Yes a Frankish army has arrived here then we must crush it as soon as possible and march south" I said looking at the clouds and then at the snow covered ground noticing how little remained before spring melted the snow and turned everything into mud that would not allow us to maneuver properly.
I had the messenger return with the information that Panes together with the thema of Pannonia would go to support the Serbs.
So my plans had changed and that fortress had to fall by assault to secure the territory and allow us to march without concern in our rear ensuring that no one would try to attack our supply patrols or in case of a retreat cut off our path back.
So in a short time I gathered all my available Varangians ordering them to begin marching toward the fortress to force a battle as soon as possible.
Several thousand Varangians accompanied by Slavs began to ascend the earthen hill the Franks had built to make the assault on the fortress more difficult.
Carrying several mobile mantlets and pavises it did not take long for the defenders to begin firing arrows at my men although most simply stuck into the defenses.
It did not take long for an exchange of projectiles to begin between the defenders and my men shooting arrows and bolts back and forth while the trebuchets concentrated their fire on the sections of the walls where the defenders were shooting forcing them to fall back.
At one point in the fighting a massive stone that had been launched struck one of the crenellations tearing it from the structure and sending several Franks falling into the fortress below.
Men were being carried back to the camp many of them with arrows lodged in some part of their armor or in other cases without armor completely pierced being taken to the medics and surgeons we had with the army.
A long attrition began on both sides although everything indicated we were winning since the Franks could barely expose themselves without risking their lives as much of the protection of the battlements had already been destroyed by the trebuchets leaving most of their defenses disabled.
Taking advantage of the fact that the defenders were offering less resistance in their fortress we began to move the battering ram I had ordered built days earlier originally intended only as a demonstration to force their surrender without fighting.
So it did not take long to bring the ram to the top of the hill and soon the sound of the reinforced wooden gates being struck by a steel tipped ram pushed by dozens of Varangians could be heard.
Several more hours of the siege passed with the defenders desperately trying to hold my forces at the gates and harass us as best they could but eventually ladders were set and a large group of Varangians and Slavs climbed up and took control of a section of the walls. At the same time the trebuchets were redirected to other areas while the gate had given way although the defenders had piled everything they could find to block the path forcing us to clear it while they continued using bows arrows and spears to slow the advance as they withdrew toward the keep of the fortress.
With the capture of the walls and the Frankish retreat I soon reached the walls of the fortress watching as the ram was pushed along the paths toward the gate of the keep.
While this was happening many Slavs had already begun looting the dead trying to recover as much Frankish equipment as possible taking everything useful and bringing back the Frankish mail armor so our smiths could repair it along with the weapons the Franks carried.
Since something the Franks had in great abundance were their francisca axes which were throwing axes although they also served as melee weapons and were quite common so the Slavs were adopting them as a standard weapon or as an additional throwing weapon.
After watching my men fight over the possessions of the dead I reached the point where the fighting was still intense where the gates were being struck without pause and the exchange of projectiles continued although it was clear they did not have large reserves of arrows since with every passing hour their ability to respond to our advance diminished.
When the gate of the keep walls finally gave way a bloody and brutal close combat broke out among the Frankish defenders.
Although I could not see anything clearly since I could only watch the Varangians pushing inward I could hear the screams the metal bending the bones breaking and the cries of pain above all the smell of blood that metallic scent that had begun to fill the place completely as we advanced.
The courtyard of the keep was cleared filled with the corpses of the defenders and some Varangian attackers who had fallen either from a blow that had passed through a weak point in their armor or from a direct strike to the head. The heavy ram was replaced with a hand ram where the strongest men began to use it and it did not take long before they struck the entrance gate of the keep where the last Frankish resistance remained.
Without giving them respite I ordered this to end today we could not have unoccupied fortresses in Pannonia in this way we denied the Franks any chance of harassing us.
The gate of the keep after repeated blows finally broke the wood giving way until the structure was torn from its frame leaving the Franks in their last stand.
The blows and screams were heard immediately as a furious tide of Varangians entered the fight bones breaking skulls shattering and blood spilling everywhere.
Once the entrance was cleared there was blood all along the tunnel fragments of bone and pieces of skull scattered everywhere the sounds of fighting could still be heard above.
Until reaching the top floor of the fortress where the last defenders threw down their weapons and surrendered.
"These Franks fought well one of them gave me a good axe strike to the jaw" Sigurd said touching the area with some discomfort.
"They are troops of feudal lords so they are professionals like a tagmata although not as well equipped it is clear they are not armed with the best their empire can produce good kill them all it does not matter if they surrender they cannot be chained for being Christians and the message must be sent that those who resist will only be massacred" I said watching the Franks who had thrown down their weapons and no longer resisted.
"Understood" Sigurd said tightening his grip on his polehammer and walked straight toward one of the Franks crushing his head with a blow and sending him backward. The Varangians began fighting again while the Franks tried to recover their weapons but their ribcages were shattered by the blows or their heads burst outright teeth and eyes flying along with fragments of bone and flesh from the force of the impacts.
Until only silence remained the blood spreading everywhere and the constant dripping falling from the ceiling.
"We are done here leave someone you trust with 200 men repair the damage this will be our base of operations to launch attacks into the Carolingian Empire" I said walking among the pools of blood avoiding the bodies.
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