The envoy of the Duke of Zeringen waited for five days to see the Duke of Saxony, and the thin prince of England, surrounded by a group of young attendants, appeared before the Germanic bishop, coped with the lengthy etiquette with the cold arrogance of a teenager, and then sat silent like a statue, and handed the stage entirely to the vassals of the kingdom.

"Lord Bertold is now stationed in Limburg, and is under siege by the Belen army day and night, Lord Duke would like to ask, as an ally, when will you be able to march?"

Robert Mallett glanced at Bishop Odo, and seeing that the other party did not seem to intend to speak, he took the initiative to reply on behalf of the prince: "I beg your pardon, my Royal Highness has just agreed to plan the offensive of the Duke of Bavaria in the direction of Ulm, once the Danube route is opened, our two families will attack from the north and south, and your siege will naturally be solved." ”

Ulm was located on the banks of the Danube, north of the Duke's seat of Swabia, Stauffen Castle and Lorch Abbey, and the Allied forces could connect with Bavaria and quickly support the Donucingen territory of the Zeringen family by water, and the English strategy was immediately approved by the emissaries.

Due to the more drastic changes within the empire, the Duke of Berttall had already started to run the southern Swabian territory earlier than in history, and two years earlier he had built the castle of Zeelingen in Brysgau, claiming to be the Duke of Zehringen. Since there was a way out, the envoy was instructed mainly to probe the intentions of the English to send troops to determine their own defense.

"We understand what Your Excellency means, but the Duchess is also in the siege of Limburg now, and Madame misses His Majesty the King day and night, and I hope His Royal Highness can convey it on her behalf."

The Duchess of Zeelingen was the daughter of the former rival king Rudolf von Rheinfelden, and the "His Majesty the King" referred to by the envoy was naturally the opposing king Bertold von Rheinfelden, who had just landed in Saxony.

This was the current situation in the empire, with the three opposing kings, Egbert, Marquis of Meissen, Bertold, son of Rudolf, and Herman, Earl of Salm, competing to the death with the support of the princes and the English king, respectively, and the church and the princes were torn apart: Henry, Count of Luxembourg, the nephew of Hermann von Salm, remained a staunch supporter of Emperor Henry, but the Archbishop of Trier, who had been loyal to the Sallian dynasty, became a supporter of the Egbert domain. The situation was similar in Italy, where the rebellion of Prince Conrad, the heir to the empire, led to a chain reaction, Turin and Milan were exchanging envoys, the Tuscan family began to re-align, many of the nobles who had once thrown themselves to the Duke of Carinthia began to meet the mistress of Canossa again, and in the south, the imperial army loyal to the emperor remained firmly in the grip of the Eternal City of Rome, and drove Urban II and the bishops of the Cardinal Order like Caesar after the Senate, with nowhere to stay, Clement III, who occupied the apostolic seat of St. Peter, even began to dictate to the Balkans.

After the people of Zeringen left, Prince Edmund finally spoke: "Uncle wrote yesterday, he has sent a new batch of reinforcements and baggage, and ...... Well...... Helmets, neck guards, breastplates, armour, iron gloves, shins, swords, axes, and hammers...... How do you think you can prepare for the second march? ”

Robert, Duke of Normandy, immediately put down the cheese that was about to be put into his mouth: "Of course, the new sword will not know until it is tried, I am afraid that this time our strength is too strong, and Frederick's ass will not be able to bear it." ”

Wild laughter erupted in the hall, and the prince was the only one who looked at everyone with a cold eye.

"I think it's better to wait......" spoke again Robert Mallett, and when he heard this, Bishop Otto wanted to have a seizure, but his nephew held him down, so he could only step aside and shrug his shoulders stupidly.

Robert Mallett stuffed the last piece of pudding in nonchalantly, and then poured all the food into his stomach with a dime of wine, and then said with golden eyes: "We have been in Lisgau for so long, and we still know very little about the terrain around us, so we rush south, and if the enemy finds out, I am afraid that we will not be able to retreat." ”

"Didn't you hear what the messenger had just said? Frederick was dealing with the Zelingens and had no choice to parry the other directions. William de Moretin, cousin of the Duke of Normandy, shouted discontentedly, and behind him, the Montgomeries nodded yes.

"Are we going to bet on Zeringen's credit?" Malit retorted unceremoniously, "The army of Zeringen controls the Neckar and can withdraw to Freiburg or Zelingenburg at any time, and there is only one link between us and Saxony, and we do not leave enough garrisons in Risgau, and as soon as we walk on our front feet, these Black Forest wall grass will welcome the Stauffen bastards into the castle we have just taken, like a woman in the water, and then we must pray that Welf will take Ulm immediately, or we will starve to death!" ”

"Don't worry about Welf, we can go straight to Stauffenburg!" Someone suggested.

"Who's going to show us the way? We are an invading army, and not only the Staufens, but also Welf and Zeringen will not be completely reassured of us, and besides, what will the Danes think if we casually leave our allies behind? Robert Mallett's rhetoric became sharper and sharper, and he almost drew his sword and slapped the case.

"Berryld, perhaps." The Duke of Normandy suddenly proposed, "His father is the Duke of Swabia, and he is not an outsider to the local lords, and if he is under our banner, it may not be impossible to march into Staufen." ”

But the Duke of Normandy is not very confident, although Frederick, Duke of Swabia, is the son-in-law of Emperor Henry, in fact, he is the same age as the emperor, in recent years, he has pacified Swabia, commanded the army to build cities, and has extremely rich experience in warfare, compared to the British army, it seems to be green, either old as Bishop Odo, or a newcomer like the Count of Mortan, the most experienced Count Rodrigo is not here, and since the earl's deputy Robert Mallett does not support it, the others actually lack the energy to make a final decision.

"Then let's continue the confrontation." Prince Edmund made a decision impatiently.

There were too many castles of the Stauffen family, and it was difficult to attack them one by one when there was a shortage of gunpowder, and the capture of Lysgau was a advantage of the surprise attack, since it was impossible to continue to advance, Edmund felt that it was safer to wait for reinforcements to arrive, and then cooperate with the Welf allies from the flank after stabilizing the newly occupied territory.

Edmund and Robert Mallett did not know that their every move fell into the eyes of Duke Frederick, who was attacked from three sides, and Frederick had only one counterattack target from the beginning to the end.