As the weather began to get colder, the Danes became less and less eager to go to war, and as the war season drew to a close, the warriors wanted to return with their booty for the winter. Moreover, despite Prince Harald's repeated explanations of his ill intentions, the quarrel over Lincoln's relics became a thorn in the heart of the nobles on both sides, and the conflict between Osbjorn and Earl Guspatrick came close to a major fight, and finally some of the English bishops among the Danes offered to return some of the loot looted from the church, which only slightly quelled the trouble. Edgar was helpless to find that a cooperative attack had gone from not necessarily advantageous to impossible. King William still seemed to have no intention of withdrawing, and the Normans and Englishmen spent All Saints' Day and All Souls' Day together in their respective camps, and it seems that they would also spend Christmas together outside York.

Deserters began to appear in the Norman camps, and the king announced that all Norman deserters would be fined and the lords would be cut off their fiefs, but the troops from Brittany and Anjou were still clamoring to return, so Hugue of Pontiio was urgently given the task of monitoring these armies to prevent them from revolting. William was unaware of the ongoing dispute in the opposite camp and waited patiently.

It wasn't until the first snow began to fall and everything seemed to be the same that King William finally got the long-awaited news. After the cold of the snowy night, the nearby Wusi River is like a black stream, and the snowflakes melt into the river as soon as they fall. To the east, a vague black shadow appeared in the swamp, and as it approached the north shore, a small boat appeared.

In Ošbjörn's camp, the Danes were warming themselves by fire, and when the dark shadow appeared, the sentry outside the camp whose fingers were frozen did not even notice it, and did not scream loudly until the other man swaggered before him. The noise immediately caught the attention of Ošbjorn, who, when he unbuckled his hat to reveal the shaved appearance of the back of his head, was shocked and immediately led him into his tent.

After removing his snow-stained coat, the man revealed his identity: "My lord, I am Guy of St. Lizier, and the King of England has asked me to bring you a gift. As he spoke, he took out a ring from himself and placed it in front of Osbjorn. The younger brother of the Danish king recognized at a glance the ring engraved with Runivan, which belonged to the treasure of the "strong bow" Eric, and Eric was the commander of the Danish army who was responsible for guarding the spoils of war on the island of Axholm, and then he heard Guy on the other side say leisurely: "Since you know this gift, you must understand the meaning of the king of England." ”

"Tell me your terms." Osbjorn didn't look flustered, just quickly considered the consequences of his options.

"The king was willing to pay the Danes thirty-six thousand pounds in tribute, plus all the booty that had been captured in Axholm, and only demanded that the Danes withdraw their troops from York and return to Denmark." The Norman envoy replied calmly, as if the victory was in his hands.

The next day, when the Danish camp was as usual, Prince Cnut in York returned to the camp with his guards on the orders of Oobjörn, and as soon as he entered the tent, he heard a quarrel inside, which seemed to be the voices of his brother Harald and his uncle.

Prince Harald's face was extremely excited, he did not expect that almost everyone was on the side of his uncle, and these shameful cowards wanted to return obediently with a little bribe from the bastard, which was completely contrary to his father's previous explanation. Osbjorn continued to persuade: "Harald, the Danes cannot return empty-handed, this condition is not something that the king can refuse, we must retreat immediately, if we refuse the Normans, not only will we not be able to share the spoils, but we may even be trapped in England!" ”

Harald seemed to be shaken by this alarmism, and Ošbjorn continued: "Our main supplies are concentrated on the island of Axholm, and if we don't make a quick decision and return before the snow falls, our supplies will not survive the winter here." ”

This decisive blow completely discouraged Harald, and his hopes for glory and victory were shattered in the blink of an eye. After a long time, he asked with difficulty, "So, when will you leave?" ”

"Let's go today!" Osbjorn said categorically.

Edgar was feeding the horses himself at this time, while still explaining some matters to prevent the cold, but he heard the Danish camp in the distance suddenly thunder, and hurried out to look into the distance, but the Danes didn't even say hello, and left the camp, Edgar didn't even have time to react, and saw the black column leaving the Danish camp, which was rushing straight to the southeast of the moor.

This astonishing scene shook all the English people, and the Danes fled without warning! One by one, the lords of the north rushed to Edgar, all trying to find out what had happened. When the prince saw the approaching English nobles, he could only spread his hands and say, "I don't know what's going on, Osbjorn and Harald didn't inform us at all, and ran away." ”

The Count of Benicia hurriedly stepped forward and asked, "My lord, what should we do?" ”

The prince showed an expression of indignation, and suddenly threw the horsewhip in his hand to the ground: "We still have to continue to defend our positions, but we must be wary of the Normans attacking at night, please order all soldiers to put on armor and rest tonight, and if there is any change, go into battle immediately." ”

After hearing this order, although the lords were a little apprehensive, they still returned to the camp one by one to prepare.

Soon the Earl of Benicia reported that the Danes had gone in such a hurry that they had not even had time to take all the food and material in the camp, and threw them directly in the camp, so Edgar ordered all the supplies to be sent to York City for storage. This accident seemed to be the only good news that made Edgar's heart change slightly, but he was still extremely uneasy when he thought of the nearly 10,000 enemy troops on the opposite side, if the Danes left and King William, would the other party continue to make moves? At this time, the morale of his army was shaken, and Edgar was determined to inspect the armies at once and calm the people's hearts, otherwise in case of chaos, I was afraid that as long as the enemy raised fire out of the camp, the English might collapse.

The English, though not understanding why the Danes had left, were on guard, and Prince Edgar came to the front, and the Norman camp on the opposite side lay in wait like a beast, as if to choose a man to devour. A palpitation involuntarily appeared, and Edgar tried his best to hide it, not wanting the guards around him to see that he was looking different.

That night, the temperature plummeted, and the river froze and was soon covered in snow. Edgar couldn't sleep at all, and kept watch until the second half of the night, and was about to go out of the camp to inspect again, when suddenly the tent was opened, and Count Moka stumbled in: "My lord, the army of the Serbrande family has all run away, and the camps are empty!" ”