After the long pursuit and the decisive battle, the Viking army was utterly exhausted. There was no possibility of launching a pursuit that day.
At four in the afternoon, the Third Field Division finally arrived on the battlefield. They had spent the march hauling large numbers of supply wagons abandoned by friendly forces and unfortunately missed the battle entirely.
That night, Vig convened a war council.
"Gunnar's cavalry has suffered devastating losses, but he still commands over twenty thousand infantry. I intend to deal with Gunnar first and wipe out those slow-moving levies."
"Charles the Bald only has six to eight thousand men left. He's no longer a major threat. Once Gunnar's army is destroyed, we can deal with Charles at our leisure."
On July 15, two infantry regiments escorted the wounded, prisoners, and captured loot back to Orléans to await the next wave of reinforcements from the Cabinet.
Meanwhile, Vig personally led thirty thousand men south.
News of the defeat at the front spread rapidly through the Southern Army.
The conscripted militia panicked and gathered together, pleading with their noble lords to retreat before it was too late.
The nobles responded in different ways.
Some tried persuasion.
Some resorted to deception.
Others could not be bothered and simply used whips to discipline the insolent peasants.
Under the combined pressure of fear, anger, and despair, several hundred South Italian militiamen mutinied.
Carrying torches, they surrounded their lord's tent and murdered him, along with his retainers, servants, and two mistresses.
When word of the mutiny spread to neighboring units, Gunnar refused to compromise.
His authority had already been severely weakened. Only the harshest measures remained available.
The following morning, the mutinous battalion was crushed.
Many were killed.
A few escaped into the mountains and forests, where they would undoubtedly become bandits.
At this point, there was no longer any possibility of victory.
Gunnar ordered a retreat along the route by which they had come.
Soon, scattered Viking rangers began shadowing the army's rear.
Following the Battle of the Rick Plain, the Southern Army's cavalry had been crippled and could no longer drive them off.
The rangers operated freely throughout the surrounding countryside.
As their numbers increased, panic spread through the ranks.
That very night, two thousand men deserted.
Realizing that the Viking army was close behind, Gunnar abandoned excess baggage and forced the army to increase its marching speed.
More and more militia were left behind.
On July 18, they arrived at the major southeastern Frankish city of Lyon.
Here, the Saône River met the Rhône before flowing south toward the Mediterranean.
After the collapse of the Roman Empire, centuries of turmoil had reduced the city's population to roughly eight thousand.
Most of the old Roman stone walls had fallen into ruin.
Newer fortifications, churches, and castles stood atop Fourvière Hill on the western bank of the Saône.
The area between the hill and the river was relatively flat and contained most of the civilian housing.
Docks and warehouses lined the riverbank, facilitating trade with Marseille and Montpellier downstream.
At this point, Gunnar commanded only sixteen thousand men.
Morale was at rock bottom.
No one wanted to remain behind to defend the city and delay the Viking advance.
On the very first night after entering Lyon, one noble secretly led his followers to the docks and seized more than twenty vessels, fleeing downstream.
Others quickly followed his example.
Gunnar attempted to restore order, but few were willing to listen.
Within a single night, the remnants of the Southern Army disintegrated.
The nobles fled south on their own initiative.
Gunnar, utterly disheartened, joined them.
Two days later, Shrike's First Field Division reached Lyon.
The northern gate stood wide open.
Discarded banners and abandoned supply wagons littered the roads.
"They ran?"
He dispatched two mountain infantry battalions to occupy the city.
Local residents confirmed the story.
The Southern Army had completely collapsed.
Gunnar and the rest of the senior leadership had fled, along with the local count and numerous lesser nobles.
Shrike raised his head and looked toward the fortress, church, and five massive trebuchets atop Fourvière Hill.
Disbelief filled his eyes.
"The terrain is perfect for defense. Two thousand men could have held us here for months."
"And they simply abandoned it?"
Removing his helmet, he wiped the sweat from his forehead and sent a courier to report the situation to the king.
Meanwhile, Vig's main force was busy gathering prisoners.
More than seven thousand captives had been taken, most of them peasants.
As usual, he arranged for them to be transported to Jersey Island.
When news arrived that Shrike had occupied Lyon, Vig unfolded a map.
"Nantes, Tours, Orléans, the upper Loire, and now Lyon in the southeast."
"The Viking army has cut West Francia in half from west to east."
"Excellent. The strategy has succeeded."
Now that communications between Paris and southern Francia had been severed, Vig could finally focus entirely on Paris, Harfleur, Calais, and the other heavily fortified strongholds.
After several minutes of thought, he summoned Ingvaren, deputy commander of the Third Field Division.
He ordered him to remain in Lyon with one infantry regiment and one garrison regiment.
In late July, the Viking main army returned to Orléans and received a large influx of reinforcements sent by the Cabinet:
2,000 newly conscripted soldiers
6,000 mercenaries
The native conscripts were distributed among the field divisions.
The mercenaries were organized into new garrison regiments.
After resting until early August, Vig launched another offensive with forty thousand men.
His initial targets were settlements along the upper Seine.
After capturing Troyes, he followed the river downstream toward Paris.
On August 12, the army arrived outside the city.
Vig spent more than half a month capturing bridgeheads on both banks of the Seine.
He then stretched massive chain barriers across the river upstream and downstream, completely isolating Île de la Cité in the center of Paris.
Unfortunately, Charles the Bald and many prominent nobles had escaped beforehand.
Reports suggested they had reached East Francia.
They might seek refuge there—or perhaps continue on to Italy.
Vig did not particularly care.
He left the First Field Division behind to construct trebuchets along the riverbanks.
The main army then continued downstream, capturing town after town until it reached the mouth of the Seine.
Back in 848, during the First Viking–West Frankish War, Ragnar had led his fleet up the Seine and struck directly at Paris.
After that conflict ended, Charles the Bald spent enormous sums constructing the Fortress of Harfleur at the river mouth.
The investment proved worthwhile.
In 856, when Ragnar launched his second invasion of West Francia, his fleet was stopped by Harfleur.
The Vikings were forced to continue their campaign overland.
By 867, when Vig invaded Francia, he likewise avoided the fortress entirely and landed in Brittany instead.
Overall, the thousands of pounds of silver Charles spent on Harfleur had been money well spent.
The fortress stood on the northern bank of the Seine.
Its outer walls were roughly seven meters high, three meters thick at the base, and stretched for two kilometers, enclosing an area of approximately 0.25 square kilometers.
At the northwestern corner stood the inner keep, separated from the rest of the fortress by its own moat and protected by even thicker walls.
Outside the fortress ran an artificial moat:
Width: 6 meters
Depth: 3 meters
The river defenses also included floodgates and heavy chain barriers stretched across the waterway.
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