Due to the fighting on the other side of the Channel, the newlywed King Edgar ordered the conscription of the militia after the celebration of the Three Kings, and with the help of the Bishop of Durham, some supplies began to be transferred to the Isle of Wight barracks, although there was not much storage after the winter, and it was not a problem to support it until Easter.

When the Earl of Northumbria arrived in Westminster, William Mallett was presenting his plans for the expansion of the Tower of London to the King. This Norman nobleman was released by the King of England at the intercession of his nephew, the Earl of Moka, and even acquired some possessions in East Anglia.

"Lord Vorsiov, come and see this new type of fortification." Edgar was in a good mood, and at his suggestion, the new castle would be made of stone materials and adopt the concentric circle structure of later generations. The main body of the tower will be transformed from a wooden castle of a round mound to a tall square stone tower, and as the future king's court will be located here, the interior will be much larger, with a separate kitchen and a lavish hall, which will be more suitable for the royal family than Westminster.

"My lord, many of these stone forts will be built all over England in the future, and the Tower of London will be the best template, and your castle of York should also be built as such a fortress to help us control the vast territory of the north."

The Count of Northumbria carefully observed the shape of the castle on the map, listened to William Mallett explain the defensive structure of the trenches and ramparts, the configuration of the water sources and internal drainage pipes, the layout of the barns and stables, and the role of the slaughter holes, and finally thought that these designs were indeed very ingenious.

"My lord, the most important thing is this concentric circle structure, the height advantage of the inner walls combined with the stone throwers mounted on it, this design will make the siege a nightmare for the enemy. At the moment we are still using the Frankish Greek pole-drawn trebuchets, which are more powerful than the torsion cannons of the past, but in the future castles will use a new type of counterweight trebuchet, a large machine that uses a sling to throw sixty pounds of stone, and theoretically we can even make enough trebuchets to throw three hundred pounds of stoneballs three hundred yards away. ”

Edgar did calculate this reasonableness, and finally found that such a large counterweight trebuchet would have an arm length of 50 feet and a counterweight of 1 ton, which was not really suitable for castle defense, but could be used to attack large walls, such as Jerusalem......

The Earl of Northumbria had never heard of such an offensive and defensive machine, and could not even imagine what such a monster would look like, but with the experience of the city of York, he would not casually doubt the king's ideas. If a better catapult could be made, the double-ring structure would indeed play an extremely powerful role, but he was still a little uneasy about Mallet, a Norman, after all, the other party was once an enemy against him.

Edgar did not notice what the count was thinking, and he continued: "Your Excellency has been invited here to discuss the defense of the north, and our current enemies include not only the Normans, but also the King of Denmark. After I go south, the defense of the north will be the full responsibility of the adults, in any case, York must be defended, south of the Humber River there is Helivard, but the land north to the Tywin River is guarded by the adults. ”

The young and vigorous Vorsiov replied proudly: "If the king of Sven dares to come to York, he will teach the Danes not to pay back!" ”

The king nodded: "I will give you a squadron of cavalry, and twenty Norman knights have already sworn allegiance to us, and this time they will also go north with you, and their territories will be distributed from the inheritance of the Thirbrand family that has been collected by the royal family." ”

The Count of Northumbria had no problem with this, he had already gained a lot of territory in Therabrand, and this time the royal family did not harm his own interests by dividing the Norman knights to the north. Although this method of fiefdom was closer to the Norman and Frankish customs, and was not in keeping with English tradition, most of these territories were located in eastern Yorkshire, which happened to be the first line of defense against the Danes, and such a partition was also beneficial to the kingdom's defense. If these Normans were able to establish a defensive system on the northern coast of the Humber River, relying on the castle to fortify it, they could form a barrier on York's flank in the future, preventing the Danes from invading the north.

After arranging the defense of the north, Edgar set out for Sussex, and the militias of the counties along the way had been assembled, and these Thanes were gathered by their respective county governors, joined their respective earls, bishops, and abbots, and marched in the direction of the Isle of Wight. The king formed an independent Norman detachment in addition to the original four Northumbrian cavalry squadrons, and prepared to gradually expand to a full squadron by absorbing the southern counties of Thane. Due to the heavy losses suffered by the southern counties four years ago, and many of the Sain were new to the estate, these recruits with little experience in warfare would be the focus of training after this assembly, and Edgar planned to gradually cultivate the seeds of future cavalry by selecting the best of them, and until then, the Norman knights who were familiar with horseback warfare would serve as the backbone of the newly formed squadron.

After a squadron of Northumbrian cavalry followed Volsiov north, the knights of the remaining four squadrons of the northern Sein and the Count's Guard officially joined the King's Bodyguard, and the newly formed squadron was sworn in to join the King's Guard after the completion of their training. The knights of these five squadrons formed a regiment of the Guards Cavalry, which was based north of Westminster, where the Horse Guards parade would later be, and a squadron was drawn from the seasons to defend the Tower of London, where the King lived.

In the future, Edgar plans to establish royal garrisons in Winchester and York, so that the royal guards can be stationed when the king is on patrol, and the lords will gradually absorb the feudal system of the mainland, and the lord's guards will fight in the form of knights, except for the king's guards, all the nobles' guards will become feudal knights who own fiefs to provide military service, and this system will be combined with the ordinary Sain in the militia to jointly provide selected troops to the royal family and be responsible for the defense of their respective territories.

Seeing the gathering of large armies, Edgar's defense of the southern coast was temporarily relieved, and the Duke of Normandy had limited options for attack, especially after losing Boulogne's support. And if the English successfully defended during the French king's battle in Flanders, Edgar's power would gradually increase, and he could even cooperate with the French king to completely suppress the power of the Duke of Normandy, provided that King Philip was not defeated and damaged in Flanders.