Although the weather had begun to get colder, Zeeland was still very lively, and armed soldiers could be seen everywhere, and in the midst of this group, an English veteran was almost completely mixed in, imperceptible, and through a group of former comrades, Herry Ward soon met his old master.

"Lord Harold, long time no see!" "Frisian" Robert looked amiable.

"My lord, nothing has changed here." The magistrate of England saluted.

"You've become more disciplined, could it be that the little king of England who taught you to finally understand a little bit of etiquette?" Robert commented on the other party's demeanor with some mockery.

"My lord, a fool can see that the situation in Flanders is tense today, should we continue to discuss the matter of etiquette? So many soldiers outside were there to deal with the Bishop of Utrecht or the Duke of Lower Lorraine? ”

"Haha, your temper hasn't changed, to be honest, this time my enemy is the King of France." Robert said nonchalantly.

Hereward was not surprised, but continued to listen to the other man: "You have come to me this time, are you tired of the air of England, and have decided to find some bloody work to do?" Ha! Remember the big battle we had at Kennemo? You were a beast then, and I remember hooking a battle axe to the wooden wall, climbing the wall, and slashing ten soldiers by yourself, and I told my knights that I would trade the whole island of Zeeland for a Harold. ”

"I'm just serving my king, and he's asking me to find out when the war in Flanders will begin, so I'll come and ask you directly."

"I envy that boy, it's not easy to get the loyalty of a warrior like you." Robert suddenly showed a hint of sentimentality, "It's a pity that you are an Englishman, otherwise I would be more than willing to give you a port or something." ”

"My lord, you are about to go to war with the King of France, don't you have any preparations?" Hereward was still a little confused.

"Do you think that my opponents are Lihilde and my nephew, and who will come to my aid? Germanic? Normans? Or your king? My nephew had my sister and Philip sheltering, and William of Normandy wouldn't support me either, and I guess he thought the same thing as Philip, why help an adult veteran and not support a weak boy? And who of my cousins in Boulogne would not want to take advantage of this opportunity to get their hands on Flanders and Hainaut? ”

"But, my lord, with the group of soldiers outside, are you sure of defeating Capeut's army?"

"They look like a rabble, but there are many veterans who have fought with me for many years, and don't underestimate the strength of these bastards in defending their homeland." Robert always had a confident smile on his face, which the Lincolnshire Lord had to admire.

"My Lord Harold, don't you want to know when the war will begin? Let me tell you, war will break out when the King of France puts his army on our borders, and this is my land, and they don't want to break through the gates! My nephew will go to Mons to be his Earl of Hainaut, and I will not do anything to him, but I cannot promise anything to Philip or the Normans. ”

Hereward spends Christmas on Zeeland Island, and then, before the spring shoots can sprout, war begins. The Englishman returned to Dover by sea, at the behest of King Edgar, and south of Flanders, the army of the King of France began to assemble, joined by the Flemish who supported the Count of Arnulf, the ten Norman knights of William Fitzosborne, Earl of Hereford, and Eustace, Count of Boulogne, and his two sons, Eustace and Godfrey, who were especially excited about the coming war. Many of the knights who saw them muttered to themselves that Count Eustace must be crazy, and that he had allowed such a young child to go into battle, probably just to see the battle formation, so that he could brag about it later, many thought.

Gerbo, who had returned to the mainland with William, Earl of Hereford, appeared in Robert's army at this time, and in the face of a powerful enemy, the Flemish nobleman suggested to Robert: "We should raid them while they have just assembled, the enemy will never expect us to dare to cross the border and take the initiative to attack with such a small number of troops, as long as we capture Arnulf, this battle can be over in an instant!" ”

Robert was dressed unusually simply, looking like Gerbo's squire, and he was very satisfied with the plan: "Yes, my lord, this is the style of the Flemish people, and the Emperor Henry of the Germanic people in the past wanted to conquer us, didn't I give his minions a head-on blow?" I decided to risk my life and capture that Capetian king, and by the way, teach the nosy Boulogne, and let everyone know that Robert of Frisia is not a coward hiding behind the walls! ”

At this time in the French camp in Kassel, Hereford saw a group of disorganized and demoralized soldiers, and the Norman nobleman could not help but compare the French with the Norman army, and finally concluded that if Duke Wilhelm was here, only twenty detachments of knights would be enough to break an entire French battalion. However, he was not overly worried, after all, this was not the enemy's territory, and the army of the Count of Boulogne maintained a fairly good discipline. Eustace's sons, though young, were all very impressive, which reminded Earl William of his own sons, whose eldest son was a monk who devoted himself to theology, and his second son, Roger, was more of a childish boy than Godfrey, who had gone into battle at the age of eleven. Thinking of his current relationship with Duke William, Hereford couldn't help but sigh, this war will determine his future, whether he becomes the regent of Flanders, the count of Hainaut, or returns to Normandy in disgrace, it depends on the next war.

"When are we leaving?" Godfrey asked about his brother.

"Why wait for the king to come, I heard that the royal family is still mobilizing more troops, maybe it will be another ten days before the official army is dispatched." Young Eustace told the younger brother what he had heard from his father.

"King Philip is too cowardly to have to increase his troops to deal with such an enemy, and if my father had commanded him, we would have reached Bruges by now." Godfrey was ashamed to belittle the king, who was eight years older than himself.