Chapter 450: A difficult decision for the Irish coalition
Chapter 450: A difficult decision for the Irish coalition
The kings and priests, seeing the deplorable state of the army, decided to withdraw, knowing that they had lost.
With the sound of some horns, the coalition army, which was in chaos, ran away from that castle, leaving its weapons and its wounded.
All of them all they wanted was to be able to free themselves from that place because they were afraid of the strange magic that the Norse were using.
They may all have been excellent warriors, yet they already had an irrational fear of the Norse army in their minds.
For them, the Nordics apart from being a group of pagans had true magic which had left them marked for life.
In the evacuation, many warriors and peasants died because of the stamps of people who passed over them, not to mention that the wounded also ended up being killed by their own companions.
Ansgar who was watching everything from the walls only sighed and ordered his soldiers to be ready and on alert in case they returned.
He also left indications that you had to be very careful with the wind, because although the gas masks could save their lives.
Chlorine gas in high concentrations could burn your arms or any part of your body.
The leaders of the coalition army began their retreat towards the small lake of Birr, a lake that was bordered by the kingdom of Ui Maine and the kingdom of Athlone.
The way to the lake was not easy at all because the army was completely unmotivated and the lower-ranking leaders were mostly dead.
Despite that, because of the efforts of the priests, the army could advance smoothly for 3 days without rest until it reached Birr Lake.
Once they arrived, they established a camp and counted the number of warriors and levies that had survived.
Those in charge of such work were the priests, who in a full day counted the survivors.
In one of the tents, a group of kings and bishops were gathered, all of them were waiting for the priests.
Although no one said it, they knew very well that at least half the army had died, although they could not be sure.
While all of them were looking at each other in silence, two monks entered the tent with scrolls in hand.
The two monks were completely nervous, as the losses had been more than they had expected.
One of them stepped forward. “After counting the troops we have a total of 17,628 surviving soldiers.”
At that time, the kings and bishops felt a significant amount of fear because the entire army that they had been forming in the last months had been almost annihilated.
One king knocked on the table. “Those numbers have to be wrong. They should make a more exhaustive count. It is not possible that we have lost almost three-quarters of the army.
I refuse to believe that in that battle we lost everything. That is what we are going to do to be able to defend our lands.
Most of our peasants have already escaped to the kingdom of Ireland. Those who remained have no food and should have already died.
We only have the populations of the cities and I doubt very much that a woman or a child can help us in this war.
We must find a solution to this because I absolutely refuse to believe that we have lost this war. “
Another of the kings looked at King Gormalaith seriously. “The war is almost lost. We lost our ability to attack, so now we must decide.
We can stay in this place and mourn, or we could take all we can from our kingdoms and go to the Straits of Ulster.
I believe that in this war it no longer matters if we have to use women or children; we have to do everything we can to be able to defend our lands.
That is why I propose that we all take the population to our kingdoms and train them in the kingdom of Ulster for one last defense.
In order to save time, we must make a sacrifice of some troops placed in the cities and castles.
In this way, we take time away from the damned Norsemen. They will not be able to attack us directly because they will have to go through every castle and city that is on the way.
It will be a suicide mission, but that is why I propose to leave the bravest and most loyal subjects in charge of that task.
If all goes well, we could delay the advance of the Nordic army for at least half a year. In the worst case, we would only gain a few months.
However, I believe that it is enough time for a woman and a child to use arms; I believe that if we all combine our forces, we could form an army of more than 200,000 soldiers.
But all that depends on our efforts and what we want. I don’t know what you guys think, but if they are going to kill us, at least they do it with us fighting.
In that way, at least we will have given everything we have before we die. If the city of Pariisi could do it against the Nordics, we can too.
I believe that it would be the most glorious way we would have to determine our lives. That way, we will never be forgotten among the hearts of Christians.
Who will see our bravery as an example for the resistance against the Nordic advance, because I am completely sure that they will not stop in their conquest.
First it is us, then it will be the island of Brittany, and when they finish, they will enter the Frank empire.
Now I asked you not as a king but as a companion, what do you want to do, do you plan to stay in this place and lament your losses or will you do your best to fight?
If you do not want to do it, no one will force you, however your sacrifice will be completely in vain because the only thing that will make us win will be some time, however the valuable population will be completely lost.
But the moment to decide has come, what do you want to do? “
All the kings and bishops were completely silent for a few moments because of that loud speech that King Congalach had given.
He had been so powerful and direct that he made them all wonder what they wanted to do.
After a few minutes, King Gormalaith raised his hand. “I agree to fight the Norse using everything we have.”
At that moment, everyone raised their hands and the Irish coalition unanimously decided to prepare a whole grand army in the kingdom of Ulster.
Like the last trump card they could have against the Nordic advance.