The year 1066 was the year that changed the history of Britain forever, ending the long history of the Viking terror and turning the Anglo-Saxon world upside down – the largest division in the history of Britain, in which aliens truly ruled their land.

The events of the year created a new Britain, whose language, laws, and customs continue to this day.

Some people say that kingship is divine, but sometimes military power is in the right place at the right time.

On January 4, 1066, Edward, who would be canonized as a penitent by the supreme patriarch of the universal church nearly a hundred years later, was not the more common immediate king of this era, but a very zealous ruler of the Anglo-Saxon dynasty of Wessex, who was very enthusiastic about the administration of the state and centered on the interests of the people, so he won the hearts of the people, and he appropriated all the surplus of the tax revenue of the treasury for good deeds, was very generous to the poor and foreigners, assisted in the development and construction of churches, and attended Mass on time every morning— The attitude of the religiously fanatical king towards witchcraft and the suspicion of male witches and witches or suspected male witches and witches can be imagined.

But Edward's reign was coming to an end, and no matter how much good he did to the commoners, no matter how much he burned the sorcerers at the stake, no matter how devout he was to religion, Edward was only a sixty-five-year-old man in his dying state, in a semi-comatose state, lying in his bed dying, surrounded by the local priest and his wife's brother, Harold Gwynson— He was close to Edward, and proved himself to be an excellent commander in battles with Wales, and Harold, who owned large tracts of England with his three brothers, was essentially the "deputy" king of the Wessex dynasty.

The extremely pious King Edward was faithful to his marriage all his life, he had no heirs, and there was no successor to the throne of Wessex.

"Thou art just a little feverish, and God is with thee—thou hast always been a good king, and thou hast defended this country under the watchful eye of the Lord Almighty, Amen. Harold Gwynson let his voice be as gentle as possible to comfort the brother-in-law in front of him, who was twenty years older than him, and whose teeth had almost all been lost, and who could only open his mouth and tremble to breathe, but he did not know if he could hear it, "Thou hast created here a kingdom of God, a kingdom where there are no more wicked sorcerers, and I will help thee take care of it, and thou art my king and my friend, and thanks to thee, England now has a reliable man to take over." ”

But to everyone's surprise, the old king, like the only surviving manuscript of Alan's time, King Edward, suddenly regained consciousness after a long time of silence and semi-coma, and described his previous dreams to the people gathered around his bedside.

"In the dream, two monks appeared before me, the fat one was a sorcerer whom I had executed! His cure for pox was to poke the farmer with a stick, and he was always in the habit of conjuring rabbits out of the cup of communion! But he had now made a prophecy to me......" Edward, who was still in good spirits for the first half of the sentence, took Harold Gwynson's hand, and then his expression became horrified, and his breathing had apparently begun to be abnormal again, "within a year and a day of my death...... Ho ho ...... Ho...... The Lord will give all my country to ...... Ho...... In the hands of the enemy...... And with that came the devastation of war...... Ho ho ...... will sweep my kingdom with fire and smirk......" (Author's note: The prophecy is the true content of the "King Edward" except for the 7 ho words I used to count the words of water, and it just happens to be combined with the plot.) ）

Two hundred miles south of London, an iron-fisted duke was ruled by a thirty-eight-year-old bastard, the only son of the late Duke Robert I of Normandy and a cobbler's daughter.

From the age of seven, William, Duke of Normandy, evaded and resisted assassinations and threats from relatives who believed he had more legitimate inheritance rights than him, and fought his way to the pinnacle of power, eventually succeeding in inheriting the title.

Now, not satisfied with the dukedom and wanting to be a divine king, he has set himself the goal of becoming the next king of England.

King Edward, when William visited England fifteen years earlier, had promised William to succeed him, although he had actually made the same promise to others for the sake of his own throne. Harold Gwynson, who was at Edward's side, had also recognized William's right to the throne of England when he was trapped in the Duchy of Normandy.

William was leading some of the most well-equipped elite knights in combat training - repeatedly practicing charging at dummies made of sticks and burlap bags, the heads of which were made of a cabbage tree, and the knights were trying to cut off as many vegetable heads as they could along the established route.

William, Duke of Normandy, wore a blue cloak with knee-length hems and sleeves that extended to his wrists, and was a heavily armed knight much longer than most chain mail of his time, with a fleur of iris hanging from the back of his saddle that provided more effective protection than the traditional round shield.

"Let's be serious! Look at Lao Tzu's performance!" Seeing that one of his red-haired subordinates missed a cabbage, the extraordinarily strong duke simply gave up his command training, picked up his spear and charged at the dummies, and after stabbing off a few "heads" cleanly, he pulled out the Norman sword tied to his waist, and with a much faster high-speed charge than others, he cleanly cut off the heads of the remaining dummies on the route.

This made all the knights and the servants who were constantly putting new cabbage on the dummies' heads cheering.

"It's not difficult at all!" William took the horse rope to slow down the speed, turned around and yelled at the red-haired knight who had just made a mistake, until the other party finished training again, his expression softened a little, "Don't catch Lao Tzu again!

The Vikings and their descendants, who were designated by the Normans to live in the Kingdom of West Francia, are now Christian, learn French, marry the locals, and have children.

They were proponents of the use of heavy cavalry on a large scale in early Europe, and the Norman knights' attacks were extremely formidable and tactically advanced in most areas where the shield wall tactics of the Roman period were still in use. This was due to a series of innovations and improvements in military technology: the Norman saddle was made of wood and raised the front axle, which was less comfortable than the previous leather, but made the knight sit more securely, under the saddle there were two wide belly straps, one tied to the front of the mount and the other tied to the belly, and two leather stirrups fell under the saddle, which were the first to be used by the Norman cavalry in Europe. They can stand up straight on their horses, clamp their spears between their arms and torsos, and use the speed and weight of their horses to charge their enemies. Although the cavalry before that also used spears, most of them swung on the shoulders, and the strength was naturally not the same.

And to the northeast, about a thousand miles away, Scandinavia.

Born in 1015 and descendant of the blonde king Haralda, the son of the eastern Norwegian chieftain Sigül So, King Harald the Ruthless of Norway is sitting in a chair watching his men beat a commoner who cannot pay his taxes.

Harald Hadrada was in his fifties, but he was tall, with a golden beard, and he was still handsome and tall for his age. As a young man, he traveled to many places, and with his excellent appearance and martial arts, as well as his commanding ability, he was favored by the Grand Duke of Kiev, Yaroslav I Vladimirovich, and married the daughter of the Grand Duke of Kiev, Elizabeth.

The king, who was fanning himself with a Viking axe, recalled his old life as a war, and as long as he was willing to pay money, he could lead his men to fight for anyone, give him a place name, and he would lead his army to fight it.

Poland?YEP!

Estonia?YEP!

Pirates of the Mediterranean?YEP!

Holy Land?YEP!

Sicily?YEP!

Bulgaria?YEP!

For a time he even served as the leader of the Varangian Guard, the royal guard hoplite unit of the Byzantine Empire.

Harald was desperately greedy for power and wealth, but in the depths of his Viking soul something deeper was at work, he tried to conquer Denmark but failed, he was like an old boxer, he was once a strong and brave fighter, and that time was over, and he knew it all.

In addition to treasure and slashing people, he wanted to make a name for himself in the history of his poems on the battlefield, leaving a record of his victories and triumphs for future generations, and like all great Vikings, Harald understood that the most important thing a person could leave behind after death was his fame.

The previous king of Norway made an agreement with the Viking king, who owned most of England at the time, that "when I die, the king of Norway will succeed me." ”

So even the mere news of Edward's serious illness had already led him to the idea that it was time for the Vikings to reconquer England and claim the throne - from a Viking's point of view, their rule over England was the same as that of the Anglo-Saxons.

The invasion of England, as the Vikings should have been, was deeply ingrained in their genes.

Harald, who has realized his old age, longs for one last conquest and a monumental Viking saga, a legend of immortality.

The king's thoughts were soon interrupted by the voice of the man who was kneeling on the ground and wailing, and he rose to his feet with his axe in his hand and walked over to the poor fellow who had fallen to the ground, and his men immediately scattered and hid to the side so as not to be swept away by the king's wrath.

As Harald approached, the poor commoner didn't even dare to say a word of begging for mercy, "You should really know, I mean, how can you repay me? I have ensured the safety of you and your parents, and you don't take your responsibility seriously, you have to pay on time, and I can't do anything about it......"

There was a muffled sound, and the king directly used the handle of the axe to knock him away and fell to the ground, and the poor worm, who could not help but cry out of pain because of pain, and tried to suppress it because of fear, kept making strange noises in his mouth, and lay on the ground blindly covering his head with his hands, trying to avoid the next attack.

"It's not that I don't like your pig-killing call, but that's enough. The Viking king put himself on his axe and looked down at the commoner, "Now, crawl home for me, and tell your neighbors what happens if you don't pay taxes......

"Compliance...... Life...... Master. "The commoners who could not pay their taxes struggled to get up as if they had been amnestied, but their legs were broken by the king, who was still relying on his axe.

"I told you to crawl home!come, throw him out!" the king spat on the ground, beckoning his men to throw the twitching commoner out of the longhouse, and instead of returning to his throne, he took a large glass of ale from the maid - the king did not like to drink the mead that other Viking nobles liked, and thought it was a bit of a sissy.

Harald drank a glass of wine, then threw the cup on the ground, then looked up and pondered for a moment and began to write a poem.

"Since the oak tree came out of the acorn, I have destroyed the thirteen enemies ......"