As Switzerland was fighting against the Habsburg invasion, Louis XII did not currently have a Swiss army at his disposal. Therefore, in the 20,000 army, except for 8,000 French knights and artillerymen, the rest of the infantry are also native infantry.

Of course, these infantrymen are not as good as the Swiss mercenaries, but they are not bad. After all, they were all singled out in the great France. At least, Louis XII believed that the combat effectiveness of these infantry would not be worse than that of the English infantry.

Infantry landing does not need to bring war horses, which is very convenient. As long as they landed and formed a long spear formation, they could fully resist the frantic counterattack of the English army.

As long as a foothold is obtained, and by the time the French heavy cavalry and artillery have landed, then the occupation is doomed. Moreover, according to the intelligence, Edward seems to have issued a document denouncing Henry VII, which made Henry VII angry enough, and the longbowmen who were the most troublesome to France by the British should have been transferred to the north to encircle and suppress Edward...... Louis XII thought so...... It's just that what he doesn't know is that many of the 7,000 longbowmen belonging to the English royal family are waiting near London......

As the French began to cross the sea, ships large and small, poured into the English Channel from the river like dumplings. Then, forming a dense formation, they headed diagonally in the direction of Hastings - according to the previous investigation of the French reconnaissance ship, there seemed to be no more boats at the Hastings Pier, only a few fishing boats......

The movements of the French naturally attracted the attention of the British. In fact, most of the British fishing boats that were roaming the English Channel at this time were reconnaissance ships. Moreover, all are fast reconnaissance ships......

Seeing that the French began to cross the sea, the fishing boats turned around and returned home......

The French didn't care, because it was a normal reaction - shouldn't the British fishing boats be frightened and flee for their lives when they saw the French fleet crossing the sea?

Moreover, even if these fishing boats go back to ventilate the news, the French will not care. Why? Because at this time, even if the British get the news, it should be too late to deal with it. By the time the other side reacted, the French army had already gained a foothold on the coast of England...... In addition, the fishing boats were fast enough and far away that the French could not stop them if they wanted to......

Those who remained on the British reconnaissance ships to reconnoiter in the English Channel were experienced scouts. Based on the direction of the French fleet, they immediately judged that the French were going to land in the port of Hastings. Because, in that direction, there are no other ports in the UK. Later, the more famous ports such as Brighton did not appear at this time. Only an old port like Hastings, which belongs to the Five Ports Alliance, is more suitable for landing.

So, as soon as the small fishing boat docked, the scouts reported to the messenger waiting on the shore - the French, the target of the port of Hastings...... There were even more powerful scouts, inferred from the size of the fleet—probably the vanguard, not including heavy cavalry and artillery......

At such an important juncture, the messengers did not care to spare the horses, and with a wave of their whips, the horses galloped to London without stopping. And, halfway through, there are replacement horses that have been prepared long ago......

After several horse changes, the information finally reached Henry VII of London......

"Landing in Hastings...... Not...... Looks like a good choice......"

"So, Your Majesty, are we going to start attacking now?" Lord of the Navy, Charlie. Johnson asked.

"Hmm...... No hurry...... Didn't you see the intelligence that the enemy's heavy cavalry and artillery probably didn't come? ”

"What does Your Majesty mean?"

"We are striking at the French this time, of course, against their core. Only by inflicting heavy losses on their heavy cavalry and artillery can the goal be achieved. Well, anyway, this wave of landing, it will take the French two days. We'll let them land in one wave, and when the second wave begins, our navy will attack......"

After all, the English Channel is one or two hundred kilometers wide, and at the speed of today's sailing ships, it would indeed take a day or two to cross the entire fully loaded fleet. Unlike the reconnaissance clippers, which were originally close to the England side, it was faster. So, the English had plenty of time to react.

"Also, Richard (Richard. Bol, henry VII's henchman), you lead a large army and march towards Hastings. When the battle at sea begins, you'll have to attack as well. However, your army must not get too close to Hastings, lest it scare the French away! ”

Hastings was seventy or eighty kilometers away from London, and the army march would take two days. Taking advantage of this time, Henry VII decided to drive his army to the vicinity of Hastings, ready to attack at any moment.

"Also, let the defenders of Hastings retreat. However, before retreating, the gates and walls must be destroyed so that we can counterattack! Henry VII thought for a moment and added. Hastings's army must have ceded Hastings and lured the French vanguard to land, so as to give confidence to the cavalry and artillery behind to cross the sea. However, it would be a mistake to leave the whole city of Hastings to the French. After all, as a member of the "Five Ports Alliance", Hastings was relatively wealthy, and the walls were built tall and strong. If it really fell completely into the hands of the French vanguard, it might be able to hold on for several months, inflicting huge casualties on the British counterattack. Therefore, Henry VII ordered that the defenders of Hastings must destroy the gates and walls before withdrawing in order to facilitate Richard. The counteroffensive of Boer's army......

……

Henry VII did not expect it badly, and it did take the French a long time to cross. Moreover, not two days, but three days......

The reason why it took three days was because the French vanguard crossed the sea very carefully. Although Louis XII drove away Marin's messenger, he also had some drumming in his heart. Therefore, he ordered the vanguard of the sea crossing to be careful and careful. If something is wrong, return immediately...... Therefore, the sea crossing that could be completed in two days was carried out for three days. Because, in the process of crossing the sea, the French army has been guarding against the interception of the British fleet......

It's just that nothing happened when the vanguard crossed the sea, only many English fishing boats rushed back to report the news. However, it also makes sense.

When the French fleet arrived at Hastings Harbour, the English fishing boats in the harbor were so frightened that they ran away from the harbor and fled eastward, apparently in the direction of London.

The French did not care, but sent troops to wade through the water to land (there were British troops blocking the harbor). Then the French launched an attack on the city of Hastings......

The Hastings defenders had long been instructed by Henry VII, so the resistance was perfunctory. The huge city of Hastings was easily climbed to the top of the city by the French army's death squads......

Then, the 800 British troops in the city saw that the situation was not good, and abandoned the city and fled in a "hurry". However, to the surprise of the French army, these British troops burned the four gates of Hastings before leaving. In any case, the French did not know how the British troops, who seemed to be in a hurry to flee for their lives, managed to take the time to burn down the city gates in the limited time they had to escape. It seems that a lot of mutton fat was used to burn the city gates......

In this way, the French army successfully occupied Hastings, an important port city in England. Moreover, he also successfully took Hastings City. Originally, the reason why the French sent 5,000 infantry as the vanguard was to besiege the city of Hastings first. After all, the French were not sure to take the tall and sturdy city of Hastings quickly. Therefore, they planned to divide their forces to surround the city of Hastings, as long as the defenders of the city did not interfere with their construction of the Long Bridge Pier. Unexpectedly, the defenders of Hastings City were so vulnerable that they actually abandoned the city and fled......

Louis XII felt that something was wrong, but the messenger sent back told Louis XII that the people in Hastings had not been evacuated and that the warehouses were full of goods. Therefore, the British army abandoned the city and fled, it was certainly not premeditated. If it is strategically abandoned, the supplies in the city will definitely not be left for the enemy......

Henry VII also made a bloody investment in order to get the French into the trap. In order to attract the French, he deliberately cheapened the French when he made the defenders of Hastings retreat, bringing nothing with him. Otherwise, if the city of Hastings were emptied and left with an empty city for the French, the French might have doubted it and would not dare to continue crossing the sea......

In the end, Henry VII's plan succeeded. Louis XII was also very happy that he had received a large amount of goods from Hastings' warehouse. As a result, the crossing of the second wave of the main force officially began......

At the same time, Henry VII began to order all the warships gathered on the southeast coast of England, including the 54 ships that were ambushed in the Bay of Southampton, to be ready for attack. The timing of the attack was naturally halfway across the sea for the French......