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Ecbert's army had left the city, but their intentions were still a mystery to me, and just in case I had my scout follow them.

I planned to launch the attack on  Winchester in three days, the Wessex army will be far enough away that they will not be able to come to the rescue immediately... and the best time to start the attack would be just before dawn. The city will still be asleep, and the guards on the walls will be tired from the night duty. I don't think there were more than 200 defenders left in Winchester, and with 800 soldiers with me, I could afford to take the risk.

I gathered a few commanders around me and drew an attack plan on the ground.

- This is a city, these are walls, there are gates, there are watchtowers on the walls. 200 people will attack the city from the south, you have to make a lot of noise. Another group of 200 people will attack the walls from the west and you also have to make a lot of noise. The third group, no more than 50 soldiers, will try to discreetly reach the city from the north. The rest under my command will attack the gate with a battering ram. You all understand? (Ulf)

- These are walls, this is a gate... and what is it? (Commander)

- Stone ... (Ulf)

There will always be one, always.

- ... if the group from the north manages to get to the city and we still don't get the gate, try to open it from the inside. If the gate is conquered or close to it, attack the castle. The prince must be alive. (Ulf)

I had a tree cut down that would be used as a battering ram and additionally we made a cart on which to put it ... Winchester was not Paris to need more sophisticated siege machines.

The next two days passed peacefully, one of my scouts returned and informed me that Ecbert's army was heading north all the time, stopping only for the night. I was curious what Ecbert is up to, but I'll think about it later ... now I have something else on my plate.

- Everyone's in their positions? (Ulf)

- Yes, they're just waiting for an order. (Commander)

- It will be dawn in three hours ... let everyone start their attack in an hour. (Ulf)

It wasn't my first battle, but the last minutes before the attack turned into hours ... it seemed like this wait would never end.

Though I didn't see the soldiers attacking from the south, I saw nearly a hundred lit arrows in the still dark sky, it was their commander's idea ... what an idiot to warn the enemy of the attack. If he wanted to shoot the city walls, he could do it with normal arrows that no one would see in the dark. The second thing was that the rush of the wind dimmed the fire on the arrows ...

- Start with a battering ram and cover people with shields. Archers shoot the walls! (Ulf)

The soldiers obeyed my order. They grabbed the ram and wagon and started pushing it towards the gate. I was standing out of reach of the archers on the walls ... I didn't want to end up like Richard the Lionheart, but I could also observe the battle better. At first, the number of defenders on the walls was small and unprepared for our attack, only after a few minutes, when the alarm sounded, more defenders appeared.

A few of my men were shot by the archers on the wall, but it didn't really matter ... we launched the attack from four sides, the defenders were just not enough to defend the city effectively.

Each strike of the battering ram brought us closer to the entrance to the city, I heard the screams of people on the walls who started throwing stones at my warriors ... but again these actions did not change much in the battle landscape... a few of my warriors, who accompanied the ram, drew their axes and started hitting the gate ... a red glow appeared over the city, probably a few lighted arrows hit the roofs of the houses.

- The Lord, on the south and west sides, the defense on the walls has almost ceased. (Soldier)

- They will direct more people to the gate, because this is how we can get in ... but it's a mistake ... Send my order that our people start using the ladders. (Ulf)

In general, the defense of the city was a mistake, the best solution would be to defend the castle ... but I will not suggest solutions to my opponent. Several minutes later the gate gave way, but the entrance to the city was barricaded, barrels were set up, carts were overturned, there were also larger stones and some wooden beams there.

- I feel a bit offended by their behavior, no hospitality ... set fire to the barricade. We'll enter the city whether they like it or not. (Ulf)

- Lord, maybe we'll wait before setting fire to the barricade, our men are already on the walls. (Soldier)

It was not a stupid idea, it will always be time to set it on fire, but this amount of wood will burn for several hours, if my people are already on the walls, they may manage to get the situation under control.

- We'll wait. What are our losses? (Ulf)

- Too early to say, but no more than 70 killed and a similar number of injured. (Soldier)

140 out of 800 was not the worst result in taking the city by storm, of course that number may increase, but not by much.