Westminster bears a striking resemblance to the Abbey of Remiège in Normandy, with its semicircular arches and tall domes and towers, all of which make the Normans feel very intimate, except for the long-haired Saxon guards at the royal palace to remind everyone behind Roger that this belongs to a foreign monarch.

Shocked by the sight near the Tower of London, Roger put aside the traditional prejudice of the continental nobility to regard the English as savages, and met the young King of England with great respect.

"Lord Roger!" Robert, who was beside the king, was the first to cry out very affectionately, much to Roger's astonishment, who he thought that the English would imprison Robert instead of being a guest.

As if to see what the Norman lord was thinking, King Edgar said: "I hope that your Excellency is not disappointed in the hospitality of the English, and although we have had the privilege of spending many seasons of war with the Normans, we do not wish to be in this palace as well." ”

"Thank you very much, Your Majesty." Roger de Beaumont bowed slightly, "We are here to honor the treaty of Saint-Lo and to take back Lord Robert. ”

"How is the Duke of Normandy doing?" Edgar asked a little nonchalantly.

"The Duke has just returned from the land of the King of France, and he is still in good health and imposing."

Edgar nodded, and listened to Roger read the ransom and gifts brought by the entire mission, and it sounded like the Normans had basically loaded most of the treasury seized from Brittany on ships, which was only the icing on the cake for the king who could get 20,000 pounds a year from the royal domain alone, and Edgar valued the hard-won peace more. However, before the peace treaty was finally confirmed, he asked: "My queen is quite concerned about the feud between the Duke of Normandy and King Philip, and we wonder if this will cause more bloodshed in the future." ”

"Your Majesty, this is a matter for the kings of Normandy and France, and I'm afraid it has nothing to do with what we are going to talk about today." Roger refused any promise without humility or arrogance, and then suggested that the family of William, the former Earl of Hereford, had been declared exiled by the Duke of Normandy and his property had been confiscated, and that the Duke of Normandy demanded assurances from the King of England that Roger Fitzwilliam would not attempt to return to Normandy or Brittany, and that the Duke gave up pursuing this rebellion.

Prior to this meeting, Edgar had just convened a meeting of wise men and was ready for all the negotiations, Ralph of Brittany had been reunited with his wife Emma Fitzwilliam, and had not followed his brother-in-law to England, and Roger alone was naturally powerless to fight the Duke of Normandy, and Edgar immediately agreed to this request.

In fact, at the time of the signing of the peace treaty, Roger of Bretteuil, the son of Hereford, was building a castle in his new territory in the Welsh Frontier to defend the part of the frontier territory that his father had conquered. Recently, Caradoug of Glamorgan had conveyed to Westminster a piece of information from King Bradeen of Gwynness that a descendant of King Rodri, a prince of the Aberfairau royal family, was recruiting men in Ireland to reclaim his ancestral kingdom. If the son of the red dragon overthrows the Saxon allies in Wales, it is very likely that the situation of King Grufiz ruling Wales and confronting King Edward the Confessor will be repeated.

Although Edgar's position was well established, the turmoil in the west could bring more uncertainty, so he needed to plan ahead to ensure peace with the Normans and strengthen the defenses of the eastern coast, after all, it was not the first time that rumors of an invasion were being heard by King Sven of Denmark.

After sending off the Normans, Edgar summoned the Count of Northumbria, who had not had time to attend the previous Council of the Mages, and the king needed to listen to him and understand the situation in the north before deciding on future defenses. The Earl, who was in his youth and vigor, as a prince of Northumbria, who had inherited Danish blood, heard the king's question and suggested: "The barracks at Bebanburg are too far away, and we need to arrive at the first time when the Danish king appears at the mouth of the Humber to drive the ravens of Sven into the sea, so I think we should combine the barracks and staging grounds of the north, and put them in York." ”

Edgar didn't answer directly, and asked again, "What happened to those Norman knights?" ”

The Count of Northumbria was silent for a moment, and then suddenly replied, "I have released a prisoner." ”

While the king was inexplicable, the Earl explained: "I went to see William de Warren, who had been blinded by Lord Guspatrick, and the Norman did not want to return home, so I sent him to East York, where his people have now built some castles." ”

"The Earl of Surrey? He's not an ordinary man, so let him come to Westminster, and he can't stay on the front line against the Danes. Edgar thought for a moment and made a decision.

After hearing the Earl of Volsioff's idea, Edgar agreed to his suggestion, and informed the lord of the appointment of Hugh Barn, who, given the present geographical conditions, was the junction between Northumbria and the south, the northern key to the east and west of the Peak, and if captured, the southern armies could only march north through the swamps or the sea. On the Earl's advice, Edgar placed the main manpower of the north in Deira, temporarily weakening the defenses between the Tyne and the Great Heath.

Edgar then went on to speak to the Count of Northumbria about the winter wars, and concluded: "Our soldiers are accustomed to fighting against the shield wall, and in this respect they are even more disciplined and stoic than the Danes, but once the strong shield wall breaks down, the army is prone to collapse, as has been the case since before Canute." I think it is necessary for us to train our army in small unit melees, otherwise even in Wales our army will not be as effective as the Normans. ”

Volciov had not seen the bloodshed of winter battles firsthand, but he was not averse to such training, and the Danes were familiar with all kinds of small battles, after all, the Vikings fought mostly in small forces in different terrains, and the English were much weaker in this regard. Since the king wanted to change this, the Count of Northumbria offered to train the southern militia with the Danes of Northumbria.

The king, as if remembering Hughed's wound again, asked Volsiov, "What do you think of our armor?" ”

"Many of the Danish-style iron armor is not suitable for cavalry combat, and some even open left and right, rather than front and back like cavalry armor, and cannot be used in saddle combat at all, and my guards have all purchased new long-sleeved chain mail."

Edgar shook his head: "These are still not enough, I think we should improve the armor of infantry and cavalry, and even the armor of war horses." ”