The Duke of Apulia was a weak lord.

Along the way, Angus heard this sentence the most, and even the military servants knew that the offspring of the Salerno woman was weak by nature.

Perhaps this was a fact, or perhaps it was just an excuse for rebellion, and Angus had heard Dagobert say countless times that no Norman had seen his neighbor's land and wanted to take it for himself, even if it belonged to his own brother.

The former Duke of Apulia, Robert Gisca, was one such unscrupulous grabber, and his brother Roger found a better prey, fertile land across the Strait of Messina, and he had a better excuse - it was the territory of the infidels. Six centuries earlier, the Frankish Clovis had used this excuse to wage war against the Visigoths of the Arian heresy and to seize the lands of southern Gaul, and Charlemagne had used this pretext to conquer the Saxons.

Twenty-six years had passed since the Norman conquest of Messina, and fifteen years had passed since the conquest of Palermo, the Saracen capital of Sicily, and now Count Roger could finally dream of an independent Sicily, although nominally he was still a vassal of his nephew.

Therefore, both Roger of Sicily and Bohemond of Taranto have good reason to claim that Roger Bosa of Apulia was a weak fiefdom.

Angus had heard Dagobert tell the story of the Norman family, and the family's adventures resonated with him strongly: ambition begets ambition.

"What are you thinking, Pictts?" William de Grande Mesnier asked suddenly.

Angus immediately withdrew his fingers from the red leather scabbard.

"I wondered why I was defeated that day."

In fact, he was wearing a helmet, his vision and hearing were limited, the chaffinch's chirping, the rubber shields colliding, and all the sounds were like rusty saws, although in the center of the array, as if he were alone against the enemy, as if the only thing heaven and earth could rely on was God, himself, and the sword in his hand. In that case, discerning the battle situation is simply a mist to see flowers. The first lesson he summed up was that he should not give up command, let alone join the battle too early.

"The position you've picked is terrible." The Normans didn't mind pointing out their own defeats.

"But it's a dangerous plateau." He murmured.

"It's just a trap for superficial safety." William said disdainfully, "Only the stupidest animals will rush into this kind of cage, neither can control the surrounding environment, nor can it cut off the road, and the dangerous terrain also blocks most of the troops, I see the cold light of your spear tips flickering, I thought that at least dozens of horses would have to be damaged, but as a result, you ended up in a dead end, and you didn't use fifty spears in battle." ”

On that day, William attacked Angus's position with two-thirds of his men, and Angus was only able to put more than twenty people into the front line, and the collapse was almost inevitable.

"Besides, even if you win, your men won't be able to quickly pursue through that narrow gap—it's a stupid option to cut off any possibility of maneuvering." William continued to strike at his self-esteem mercilessly.

Angus's face turned red, and the high ground gave him a sense of security, which proved to be disintegrating in the real battle formation, and even more detrimental to morale than the panic caused by an attack on flat ground.

"Where did you learn the art of warfare?" Angus humbly asked.

"Naturally, it's my lord." The Normans immediately became excited, "He's ...... Forget it, you'd better see for yourself. We're here in a few days. ”

"How many battles have you fought?" Angus noticed the other's arm, the tendons bulging like a woman's chest about to burst her underwear—an arm with a sword.

"This is my third war." William replied nonchalantly, "My father joined the fleet of the Duke of Normandy and died in England. My brother and I took over, and we were beaten by the English at Saint-Lô, and my brother was taken prisoner along with the duke's son. After I had recovered my life, I decided to try my luck in the south, and the wind in the south was good, and I fought well in Thessaly, and then I married the Duke's daughter......"

Angus cautiously asked, "Where did my father die in England?" ”

"St. Albans, you haven't heard of that name, have you?"

He remembered, of course, that the name on his adoptive father's table was almost the same as the name of the mythical place, and that it was one of the most glorious battles of the Morais: the army of the Highlands penetrated deep into the south, where they had never reached, and defeated the invincible Norman horsemen on foreign territory.

Perhaps, his adoptive father, Lord Uisdin, had fought with his father at the time, and it is said that he had killed five Norman lords with his own hands......

"By the way, you said you came from the north?" The Norman suddenly asked, "Have you heard of the king of England?" ”

"It's been a long time since I left the North, I don't know what you mean?"

"Of course it's a war, I heard that Normandy has been defeated by the king of England?"

Angus did know about it, that Lady Matilda was an ally of the Crown, and that the successful messenger had just left her court.

"In the early spring, the English army had defeated the Franks, and the Duke of Normandy had already sworn in submission to King Edgar in Calais." Angus replied briefly.

The Norman fell silent suddenly, took a wine bag from the crossbow on the saddle side, took a large sip, and wiped the wine from the corner of his mouth.

"Our Grande Mesnier family used to breed war horses on the banks of the Uk River, and served the Duke of Normandy for three generations, but I didn't expect it to be ...... My brother is not sure if he is still alive, and it is a shame for the Normans to serve such a duke. ”

Angus understood the other very well, and the king of England was also his enemy, and there was nothing more humiliating than to bow the knee to his enemy.

Over the next few days, the two mingled daily and formed a strange friendship. Angus's men were released, but they couldn't get weapons for the time being, so they went to the camp wives every day to vent their excess energy through body collisions, and Angus couldn't train men and horses during the march, so he accompanied William to play double land every night until late at night, and as the conversation deepened, he even revealed his true identity to the other party......

"So that's what your blue flag is, I'll let them return it to you." William's words made Angus feel embarrassed.

At this time, William changed his expression again, and there was no longer the sad face he had when he played chess:

"It's better to stay, the lord has always treated knights like you well, and this place is rich enough, and there are opportunities to make achievements everywhere, why should you work for a group of old people?"

William's words did impress Angus, and if he joined Bohemond's army, he might soon become a true war lord, or even sit on a castle.

"I'll think about it......," he replied at last.