The Situation

In 1420, after suffering one defeat after another, King Charles VI of France was forced to sign the Treaty of Troyes, marry his daughter to King Henry V of England, and make Henry V heir to the French throne.

As an interested party, the Dauphin flatly refused to recognize the treaty. He claimed that his father was insane and that the Treaty of Troyes he had signed had no legal force. When Charles VI died of his illness, the Dauphin led the remnants of his forces in continued resistance in southern France, struggling to hold on until now.

As Vitus entered the inner hall, the first thing he saw was the Dauphin's exceptionally stern, almost gloomy face. He was thinner than Vitus, with a longer face and pale skin, as though he had gone without sunlight for a long time. In keeping with the fashion among French nobles of the day, his hair was trimmed into an ear-length "bowl" cut.

In public, the Dauphin wore a fitted jacket sewn from deep purplish-red velvet, a color that symbolized royal power. But the style was outdated, and the edges showed signs of wear.

Bourges must be in dire financial straits. Lord Di Maggio won't be getting his loan back anytime soon.

Vitus walked over, bowed, and presented Di Maggio's handwritten letter. The Dauphin skimmed it, then asked in Latin, "Anthony Doukas, I've heard your name. They say you're skilled at using cannons to besiege cities. Is that true?"

Vitus replied, "Your Highness, the prerequisite for a siege is that the French army gain the upper hand in the field. If we can't win in open battle, we won't have the chance to lay siege to anything."

The Dauphin had no answer to that. He rose from his seat and paced back and forth across the carpet in soft leather pointed shoes. After an unknown length of time, his eyes fell on a small area in the lower-left corner of the map, and a daring idea took shape.

At present, France had three major factions:

England, which occupied northern France, including Paris.

The Burgundian Faction, led by Philip "the Good," Duke of Burgundy. It leaned toward England and held most of eastern France.

The Bourges Faction, led by the Dauphin Charles VII. Its forces were concentrated in south-central France.

Besides these three, nobles large and small across the country were still waiting to see how things would unfold.

The Dauphin's idea was simple: the English army was concentrated in northern France, so they could avoid its main force and attack Bordeaux in the southwest. This occupied territory was isolated from the rest, making it the ideal target for a surprise attack.

"Yes, that's it. Take Bordeaux, and use the fief to buy..."

The Dauphin muttered to himself in excitement. Leaving the Mercenary Regiment captain waiting, he summoned several trusted aides instead. They discussed matters urgently in French for over ten minutes before finally reaching a decision.

"Ahem." He cleared his throat and appointed Arthur de Richemont commander, ordering him to seize Bordeaux before the English could react.

The audience over, Piero left the palace, seething with complaints. "That's it? He didn't even pay us. All he did was make an empty promise that we could split the spoils from Bordeaux. If we fail to take the city, won't this whole trip have been for nothing?"

Thinking of that, Piero regretted choosing the wrong employer, but it was too late. He had no choice but to return to the estate outside Sète and muster his troops.

By now, the Rotten Herring Mercenary Group had recovered to a strength of eight hundred, while Vitus's Tuna Mercenary Group still had four hundred. The two forces joined up and advanced slowly along country roads.

Along the way, when they crossed lands loyal to the Dauphin, they could rest in villages and obtain food, clean well water, and shelter. But in the lands of nobles from the other two factions, they could get no supplies. They also had to skirt some heavily guarded estates, greatly slowing their advance.

On April 20, Vitus reached Bordeaux's southern outskirts and rode up a gentle slope to survey the terrain.

In the distance, the Garonne River flowed from south to north. Bordeaux stood on its western bank, its walls flying the banner of England's House of Plantagenet: a red field bearing three golden lions arranged one above the other. A vast encampment of French troops spread across the city's southern outskirts, with an estimated six or seven thousand soldiers.

Vitus rode a chestnut mare, holding aloft in his right hand the blue banner of France's House of Valois, emblazoned with golden fleurs-de-lis. He approached the besieging camp at a slow pace. It was afternoon, and warm sunlight streamed across the Garonne's muddy surface, glinting in tiny golden flecks. The air was tinged with the earthy tang of mud and a faint whiff of horse manure.

After they had confirmed his identity, he and Piero entered the main command tent and met their commander, Arthur de Richemont, along with a crowd of unfamiliar faces.

"You've finally arrived." Arthur had recently defected from the English camp to the Dauphin's side and was eager to distinguish himself. He ordered the Tuna Mercenary Group to bombard the walls as quickly as possible.

"Understood."

Vitus had long since settled into his role as an "artillery commander." He took charge of the French army's four existing cannons, then set up an artillery position alongside the eight heavy siege guns he had brought with him.

English longbowmen on the walls fired volleys of light arrows to harass the enemy two hundred meters outside the city. With no other choice, Vitus ordered all the gunners to put on armor. Arrows shot from that distance couldn't pierce it. The gunners spent two hours preparing, then began bombarding Bordeaux's southern wall.

The city's defenses were excellent, with a moat, walls, and towers. A tall castle had also been built in the southeast corner to serve as the governor's residence and barracks.

The bombardment continued until dusk. The walls were still largely intact, so Vitus ordered his men to move the cannons back to camp. Suddenly, the cheers from inside the city grew louder and louder. Vitus jogged to the high ground by the Garonne and saw twenty merchant ships flying English flags on the river.

Soon, the ships docked at Bordeaux's wharf. Soldiers filed along the gangplanks, carrying food and weapons from the holds into the city, then loading barrel after barrel of wine onto the ships.

Vitus found the French commander, Arthur. "The English reinforcements arrived so quickly. Why?"

Seeing Arthur's awkward expression, Vitus suddenly understood.

Bourges was packed with nobles and commoners fleeing the fighting. There had to be English spies among them. By the same token, England had occupied northern France and appointed French nobles to maintain order there. The Dauphin must have had spies among them, too.

"Both sides have spies in each other's camps. You have me among yours, and I have you among mine. That means any military action could leak. This is a real problem."

Vitus left the tent with a grim expression. The Garonne was wide enough for seagoing ships to dock right at Bordeaux's wharf, delivering soldiers and food without end. This so-called siege was a joke.

Piero caught up with him. "Could we set up cannons on the Garonne's east bank and bombard the enemy ships?"

"The river is over four hundred paces wide—six hundred meters—beyond the maximum range of both the Three-Pounder and the siege guns. It's not feasible."