The war horn sounded, its deep notes echoing across the wilderness.
The soldiers quickly formed up for battle. Every man, whether infantryman or archer, wore armor.
After counting the tents, Alfred estimated that the tribe numbered around 1,500 people.
He raised his banner, ordering the shield wall to advance steadily.
Most of the nomads' arrows bounced harmlessly off the shields. The few that slipped through the gaps did little more than leave shallow scratches on the brigandine armor.
Realizing that ranged attacks were ineffective, the mounted nomads swept around both flanks and launched a charge.
They ran headlong into disciplined volleys from the Frankish bowmen and crossbowmen.
Before they even reached the spear line, over fifty surviving riders had already broken and fled.
The Frankish shield wall continued its advance.
After enduring fifteen volleys of arrows, they reached the edge of the encampment and hurled two waves of short spears.
Nomad infantrymen were nailed to the ground together with their shields.
Then the shield wall dissolved into small assault squads that stormed into the camp.
Superior equipment and iron discipline crushed individual courage.
Every pocket of resistance was swept away with cold efficiency.
Back in AD 868, Vig had defeated both Charles the Bald's northern army and Gunnar's southern army on the Plains of Reik.
Afterward, Charles had retreated from East Francia into Italy, surviving campaign after campaign.
Those same veterans had later followed him into exile in Wallachia.
They were true battle-hardened elites.
Their fighting ability surpassed that of ordinary Viking soldiers and was comparable to the Viking Imperial Guard.
Against poorly equipped nomads, the outcome was never in doubt.
The Franks suffered only twenty casualties, most of them lightly wounded.
Alfred then dispatched the 150 light cavalrymen guarding the wagon fort.
Their target wasn't the fleeing horsemen.
It was the vast herds of livestock scattered across the surrounding grasslands.
After two hours of work, the Franks took stock of their spoils.
They had captured:
400 prisoners
300 cattle
9,000 sheep
numerous tents and wagons
The only disappointment was that most of the horses had escaped with the fleeing nomads.
Five days later, the expedition returned to Charlesburg driving an endless sea of livestock before them.
The townspeople erupted into jubilant celebration.
At the victory feast, Charles the Bald and his nobles listened to Alfred recount the campaign.
Soon, everyone was itching for another fight.
Someone suggested,
"We've identified more than one winter camp lately."
"Why don't we strike again?"
Count William, chewing on a roasted lamb chop, let out a satisfied belch.
"Exactly."
"This time it's my turn."
"Just wait for the good news."
The following day, William marched out with another 2,000 soldiers.
After several days of travel, they located another winter encampment on the southern slopes of a wooded mountain.
Once again, the battle was completely one-sided.
The Franks seized more than 10,000 head of livestock, along with 200 steppe horses.
After two consecutive victories, Charlesburg was swept up in feverish excitement.
Charles immediately expanded the army to 6,000 men, dividing it into three forces:
two field armies to continue raiding, one force to defend the capital.
Interrogations of prisoners yielded even more intelligence.
With the nomads unable to migrate during the winter, the Franks struck relentlessly, venting all the humiliation they had suffered in Italy.
As the months passed, they became increasingly adept at steppe warfare.
Eventually they crossed three rivers and pushed deep into the northern grasslands, attacking a massive tribe numbering over 10,000 people.
This time the Franks fielded 4,000 soldiers.
The opposing tribe had 2,500 adult males.
Every warrior possessed a steppe horse, but only 400 sets of armor.
Facing waves of light cavalry charging across the hills, Alfred left 1,000 men behind to guard the wagon fort.
The remaining 3,000 advanced in three hollow-square formations—a near-perfect imitation of the Viking squares.
"Fire at will!"
At the officers' command, the armored crossbowmen lowered their arbalests.
They braced the iron stirrups beneath their feet, hauled the strings back with both hands, loaded their bolts, and aimed through the gaps between the first two ranks of spearmen.
The bolts struck the circling horsemen.
Against unarmored targets, the crossbows remained lethal out to 150 meters.
They were simple weapons to master.
Their only weakness was a slower rate of fire.
The exchange of missiles lasted five minutes.
Gradually, the nomads' horses began to tire.
The riders themselves drew their bows more and more slowly.
Seeing the opportunity, the Frankish cavalry charged.
Three hundred riders in mail armor, armed with lances, swords, and light shields, thundered forward atop powerful Frankish warhorses.
In an instant, more than a hundred nomad riders were skewered.
The survivors scattered, attempting to lure the Franks into pursuit with their classic feigned retreat.
The Frankish cavalry refused to take the bait.
Protected by their infantry, they quickly returned to the wagon fort, allowing their horses to recover before preparing another devastating charge.
After thirty minutes, the nomads had lost over thirty percent of their cavalry and finally abandoned the field.
Alfred resumed his advance.
That same afternoon he discovered the enemy's main camp and seized it after a short but fierce infantry assault.
By the end of the winter, the Franks had destroyed fifteen tribes, capturing:
3,000 horses
160,000 head of cattle and sheep
Among all the commanders, Alfred distinguished himself the most.
He earned a new nickname—
The Destroyer of Nomads.
After the campaign, Charles the Bald and his nobles reached a unanimous conclusion.
Wallachia's open plains made it too vulnerable to steppe invasions.
Every village—every knight's holding—would need its own castle.
Only a dense network of fortifications could permanently secure the land.
Living in exile, the Franks abandoned any lingering notions of mercy.
They forced 8,000 prisoners to cut timber, quarry stone, and construct fortifications throughout the kingdom.
March, AD 874.
The Eastern Roman fleet arrived at the Danube with the emperor's annual supplies.
When they reached the docks, they found the place almost unrecognizable.
Only six months earlier there had been nothing but three crude wooden piers without even a palisade.
Now enormous piles of timber and stone lined the waterfront.
Hundreds of prisoners labored on stone walls and permanent buildings.
According to the Franks, this settlement had been named New Orleans, the domain of Count William.
While sailors unloaded cargo, an imperial eunuch traveled under the escort of a Frankish cavalry detachment toward Charlesburg.
Cold winds swept across the plains.
Everyone pulled their cloaks tighter.
The ground remained soft beneath their horses' hooves, soaked by melting snow and spring rains.
That afternoon they finally caught sight of Charlesburg.
The banner of the golden fleur-de-lis fluttered proudly above its walls.
Outside the town, enormous flocks of sheep drifted across the prairie like moving white carpets, grazing on the fresh spring grass.
The pungent smell of livestock filled the air.
The eunuch's horse snorted uneasily and pawed at the damp earth.
After entering the city, the eunuch read the emperor's decree and handed Charles the inventory of supplies.
Looking around, he couldn't help saying,
"So many sheep."
"It seems you're doing rather well."
Constantinople had heard reports of Wallachia's recent campaigns.
Even so, the court had never imagined their success would be this spectacular.
The eunuch eagerly asked for the details.
Charles replied,
"We've cleared out every nomadic tribe nearby."
"The remaining Slavic villages have all sworn allegiance to me."
"Roughly twenty thousand people."
After reporting his achievements, Charles made another request.
"I'd like the fleet to transport our surplus livestock to Constantinople for sale."
"Of course."
"Constantinople has half a million inhabitants."
"Our demand for grain and meat is enormous."
"What do you want in return?"
Charles answered without hesitation.
"Weapons."
"Volcanic ash for building castles."
"And hire Venetian shipping to continue bringing Frankish settlers into Wallachia."
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