Anno Domini 830, September-12
''This damn siege… if it weren't for the fact that I was young, I would already have grey hair'' I said, watching the progress of the siege from my camp, standing atop a mound of earth we had built using soil taken from the mines we had been digging.
The fortress of Nona was a headache. Supposedly, last year it had been nothing more than a stone castle with a decent wall, but due to the raids of Vlastimir, who did nothing but steal goats, this small fortress, owned by the most powerful Frankish baron in Croatia, had been heavily fortified, as according to the spies, the son of the Carolingian emperor had invested heavily to stop us here and prevent the war from reaching his lands.
He had tried to do the same in Pannonia, but that failed, as it was a rushed effort that went poorly. Here, he had time, and some fool allowed Nona to be strengthened like never before, letting nearly thirty thousand men, and who knows how many peasants, work day and night to turn what should have been a minor obstacle into a fortress that has kept me trapped for months in a siege that barely moves forward.
The fortress, although not designed properly to resist a siege or inflict heavy losses, was filled with Carolingian soldiers. I did not know exactly how many remained.
To make matters worse, the fortress had Frankish naval support to supply it and bring in men, so we often watched ships loaded with wounded leave, only for others to return carrying fresh troops and supplies.
It took me nearly a month for the Byzantine navy to intervene, as I had not expected the Franks to have a fleet… or rather, a merchant fleet that prevented me from finishing this quickly.
The terrain was the worst part, as the fortress was surrounded by hills of unstable and fragile ground, making it unsuitable for trebuchets. It had already happened several times that when we placed artillery, it sank under the weight of the counterweight or from the force released when launching a stone, leaving the trebuchet useless as it became unbalanced, sending projectiles everywhere except toward the target.
So the siege had become a living hell, forcing me to rely on every technique found in siege manuals, using mines to undermine the walls.
That worked, but the way they built the fortress simply blocked the streets and created a new inner wall.
So this had turned into a brutal war of attrition, with constant fighting, bolts, arrows, catapults, and scorpions bombarding each other without pause.
And it finally seemed that the siege was working, as the Frankish plan to keep us pinned here only worked as long as they had naval support, but the moment a strategos from a naval thema arrived with nearly a hundred ships, the siege finally shifted.
There were no civilians left inside the fortress, as they had been evacuated, leaving only the soldiers still fighting, and according to my estimates, they numbered between four thousand and eight thousand, although that was when the port was sealed after months of brutal attrition… for Vlastimir's forces, perhaps half remained.
Now that I had that rat firmly under control, I was using his most loyal men as expendable troops, as I did not know if he had plans to cause trouble for us, but if he did, good luck executing them with his forces reduced after months of siege.
As I continued watching rocks fly and groups of crossbowmen and archers fight as always, I noticed cavalry returning, entering through one of the outer walls of the camp.
''The scouts were right. There were Frankish forces trying to besiege Siscia. They were stopped completely after a few days. They realized it is no longer a worthless fortress'' Sigurd said, returning with his armor stained with blood.
''What about the blood'' I asked, noticing a group of Serbs moving to replace another unit that had run out of projectiles, rotating to maintain maximum pressure.
''Many of those Croats thought that throwing spears and arrows from their forested hills would keep them safe. We chased them for a couple of days until we found their camp and wiped them out… the Serbs are good for this kind of fighting'' Sigurd said, taking water from one of my attendants and beginning to clean the dried blood from his armor. ''Any news''
''Nothing… the siege continues as usual, the Franks holding out, the Carolingian army attempting to show presence but doing nothing more than watching us for days or hours before withdrawing. According to the scouts, they have not been seen in days, and there is no castle or city in the region large enough to house twenty thousand men, so I doubt they are nearby'' I said, scratching my neck as I signaled to a trumpeter.
A loud trumpet sounded, and two Serbian units that had been waiting moved forward, pressing against a section of the wall with fewer defenders, making it appear as if we were launching an assault, as they carried ladders.
Alarm spread among the Carolingians as we watched them redirect forces from other parts of the wall, gathering large numbers of soldiers to defend the supposed attack.
With a second signal of my fingers, another trumpeter sounded the call, and I watched as the siege camp prepared to unleash a heavy barrage.
Dozens of trebuchets and catapults near the walls thundered as a rain of stones crashed into the defenses, and I saw dozens or hundreds of defenders struck, some falling from the battlements.
''Good… damn…'' I said, seeing that the trap had worked. ''Oh, good… how are the Serbs performing? Do they do their job well, or are they just serving as cannon fodder like the Slavs once did?'' I asked, sitting in my chair, continuing to observe the siege as if it were a game of chess.
''They are agile. On several occasions I saw men dodging arrows by hiding among rocks, running forward, then taking cover again between rocks and trees, closing in on the Franks and Croats, and once close enough, slitting their throats with knives…'' Sigurd said with a slight smile.
''The armor, right?'' I said, returning the smile.
''Exactly. They do all that just to try to cut someone open with their knives, and then they run into mail armor with basic iron blades, some even use bronze or copper knives. The quality of their weapons is poor…'' Sigurd said.
''Well, it is not like we can be picky. We recruited from the most savage Serbian tribes. Have you spoken with your brothers about whether they can send us a shipment, or rather, if they have managed to get the blast furnace working? I sent the same architects who built it, but there could be problems if I am not there'' I said, interested.
''Yes, I managed to speak with some messengers from the region, and the forges are already working. Many Varangian smiths from Crete are now teaching in Theophilopolis, and as you said, in absolute secrecy, with oaths to the All-Father so that no one speaks of it'' Sigurd replied, nodding.
''Good… let us hope they can make the delivery. There are safe routes, although resistance in the hills and mountains is still strong… so let us hope the shipment arrives soon, because I want to equip the Serbs better so they stop being cannon fodder, their skills could be very useful in future campaigns'' I said, stretching my neck and moving it from side to side to relax.
While I was stretching, I noticed the fortress beginning to catch fire, more precisely the port of the city.
I immediately saw a massive column of black smoke rising and consuming the harbor.
''I need information on whether the strategos of Smyrna launched an attack'' I said to one of the Varangians beside me, who immediately took a nearby horse and rode toward the naval camp.
I watched carefully as the fire began to spread across several buildings in that part of the city.
''Prepare the men, have the officers ready their units. We are going to launch a full assault'' I said, rising as the fire continued to grow, spreading from house to house.
As orders spread through the camp, the Varangian returned quickly.
''Yes, the strategos of Smyrna saw that the port defenses were weak, to the point that he managed to break the harbor chain and get close enough to release siphons into the port. It is Greek fire'' the Varangian replied.
''Puff… a Greek fire blaze is not something to take lightly… let us try to secure the walls if the defenders abandon their positions to fight the fire'' I said, putting on my full armor, as the Varangians did the same, preparing to end the siege.
As the black smoke thickened, we saw that most defenders had abandoned their posts, leaving the walls nearly empty as they tried to control the flames.
Taking advantage of the situation, I ordered ladder assaults to seize the walls.
Thousands of archers and crossbowmen formed behind our mobile shields and began harassing the few defenders left, who desperately tried to push us back, but they were doing little more than delaying the inevitable.
While we waited for them to give way, a group of Vlastimir's Serbs began entering through a breach in the walls to test whether it was possible to scale the makeshift defenses the Carolingians had built and enter the city outright.
The fool had sent his men into a far more dangerous area, as that section was surrounded by old wooden and stone houses, and the breach had been partially sealed with timber, and with a fire still raging, it was a reckless move… or perhaps someone eager to end the slaughter before all his loyal men were buried by the end of the conflict.
Our slower assault along the walls succeeded, and we finally took the battlements while the fire continued its work.
As this unfolded, I climbed the walls to get a better view inside. The fire was still out of control, and I began to notice the Carolingians withdrawing into their inner fortress, leaving few to fight the blaze in the city.
The winds blowing from the sea pushed the flames further, spreading them faster than they could be extinguished, as the fire that began in the port with Greek fire was now consuming the entire area.
''Abandon the walls, the heat is too much. Let it all burn, we will return, they will lock themselves in their fortress'' I said, descending the ladder and waiting for the others to follow so we could withdraw and observe the fire run its course.
It seemed that some fools had been trapped inside after trying to loot immediately upon entering the city, as several units had left men behind, and no one knew their fate.
So we waited for hours as the fire consumed everything that could burn in the city, and only then did we begin operations to enter.
It was complete chaos. We found many charred bodies, as the fire had spread to where their wounded were kept, and they had not managed to evacuate them, so those injured in earlier fighting had been burned alive.
The work then became clearing rubble and ash, cleaning the area to bring in siege equipment and begin preparations to mine and undermine the fortress defenses, as the walls still appeared solid.
As all this unfolded, we saw a white flag raised over the fortress.
I immediately sent the diplomat who was with us to negotiate with the Carolingians and learn their terms.
They wanted to surrender with honors, to leave the fortress armed, which was not going to happen.
In the end, we agreed on an honorable surrender, where negotiations would be opened for them to be ransomed at a low price, as the siege was nearly over and I could not offer them more than that, had this ended on the first day.
I went to inspect the port and saw that at least twenty three ships of the Byzantine fleet were grounded or sunk, meaning the strategos had used nearly a quarter of his fleet to end this, and the Greek losses had been heavy, even with all my efforts to let the Serbs absorb most of the attrition.
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