"Your biggest mistake is to try to use your mantis arm as a car, and use your own insignificant strength to try to block my path." William pointed his sword at the Duke of Provence, whom he had captured. Bonsonid said.

There is no doubt that the attempt of the Duke of Provence to stop the Norman army led by William in the Rhône valley was a complete failure, and under the preparation of William and others, all the preparations of the other side were declared invalid, and finally they had to hide in the city of Valence to make a final resistance.

As a result, it was not surprising that the Norman army, with superior forces and firepower, easily broke through the walls of Valence and captured the Dukes of Provence, Jofroy and Bonsonde, who had not yet had time to escape.

"If you become a king or lose a coward, if you want to kill, you have to listen to your respect!" The Duke of Provence, Jofroy, was still tough, and was pointed at the long sword in William's hand, but he had no intention of bowing his head and admitting defeat.

"Your Majesty, do you want to behead him as an example?" Faller, who was beside William, asked in a whisper.

"It's okay, if I don't let go of even an enemy who has no ability to resist, won't it be a shame?" William waved his hand, smiled and said, "Send someone to send Jofroy, Duke of Provence, to Paris to be taken care of, and there must be no disrespect to him." ”

"Yes." Phale bowed down and took the command.

The defeat of the army of the Duchy of Provence also meant that the Western Mediterranean would become an inland lake under William's control.

Although there were still a large number of territories in the south of the Duchy of Provence that had not been conquered by William, the Count of Kyiv Hyères, near the Alps. Bossonid continued to take advantage of the terrain to resist, but this was not a big problem, and after breaking through Provence, the road to Italy would be completely open to William.

After seeing off the Duke of Provence, William turned to Russell on the side. Morality. Count Bagole asked, "Count Russell, is there any news of Lord Hubert?" Although his route was long, it was seldom overland, and since the rivers were wide and the water transport conditions were convenient, the marching routes were all in the country, and it stands to reason that he should have reached Provence long ago. ”

"Your Majesty, according to the information coming from the front, although the Duke of Hubert arrived in Toulouse a week ago, the Duke of Hubert originally wanted to follow the original plan and attack the Duchy of Provence with you. Bedenville's invasion had to turn south to fight it. Presumably, the latest battle report will come from the front line soon. As William's chief intelligence officer, Earl Russell naturally knows everything about the battlefield, and when William asked, of course he knew everything.

"The Duchy of Barcelona? It was time for the vassal state of Catalonia, located in the northeastern part of the Iberian Peninsula, to be wiped out completely. William dragged his chin with his right hand and muttered to himself, turned his head to Duke Rodrigo and said: "The Duchy of Barcelona is the defense area of the border area of Barcelona to which you belong, and it stands to reason that I should send you to preside over the war in the border area of Barcelona, but the war against Rome here is inseparable from you, tell me how you are going to arrange it?" ”

"Your Majesty, there is a baron under his command named Troll. Morality. Giron, who was brave enough to be entrusted with the task, immediately sent an order to Baron Tello to lead his troops to attack from the western side of the Duchy of Barcelona, and to form a flank attack on the Duke of Barcelona with the army of Duke Hubert. Duke Rodrigo replied with a bow.

"Troll. Morality. Geelong? I also know that although he is young, he is very famous in Castile and is indeed worthy of great responsibility, but Lord Rodrigo, you should also be careful of the Kingdom of Aragon, there is a relationship between Aragorn and Barcelona, maybe they are waiting for us to stab us. William nodded slightly in agreement with Duke Rodrigo's arrangement, but at the same time did not forget to remind him to be careful of the sneak attack of the Kingdom of Aragon.

"Yes, Your Majesty, what you reminded me is that I will send someone to take charge of the arrest at this time, please rest assured." Rodrigo gladly accepted.

The sudden entry into the war on the part of the Duchy of Barcelona disrupted William's deployment, but this did not mean that William would stop his advance, since the main force of the Duchy of Provence had been wiped out by William, he would not let go of this opportunity to take the Duchy of Barcelona completely, and instead distracted himself from dealing with the Duchy of Barcelona.

The ensuing war seemed to be unsuspenseful, and important cities such as Arles, Martigues, Marseille, Aix, and Port Toulon were occupied by William one after another, and at this time, only one of the entire Duchy of Provence was left, the country of Ferquierbe, which was still stubbornly resisting.

Speaking of this Ferkiye country, William also felt a headache, because this territory is located in the Alps, the terrain is precipitous, if William has enough time, relying on superior forces can naturally capture the Ferquier country, but he does not have enough time to deal with the Count of Ferkiye at this time, so he can only divide a force to garrison Arles and Vienna, responsible for monitoring the Count of Ferkiye nearby.

After taking Provence, William did not immediately march overland into Italy through Nice, which was controlled by the Genoese, and he was always wary of the Genoese, and he would not risk his army until he had completely drawn the Genoese into his camp.

Nice, as the traffic artery for France to enter Italy, is obviously high in the north and low in the south, and the coastal area is crescent-shaped, for such a traffic artery, William naturally covets him, but because of the close relationship with the Genoese, William is also a little hesitant, whether to take Nice by force, or to obtain the military access to the place through diplomatic means.

However, William's hesitation did not last long, his desire for Nice far exceeded the need for the Genoese, without the Genoese, William could also find other trading partners, but there was only one transportation artery like Nice, as the saying goes, if God does not take it, he will be blamed, if he can't control Nice, William's back road will be controlled by the Genoese, which he will never allow.

"Pass my orders, the whole army will march to Nice!" William's voice did not hesitate, and his soldiers responded to his order with cheers. It had been two months since William had led the march from Paris, and even the first recruits had left their fears behind, with only the desire for wealth and the conquest of Rome in their hearts, which William expected.

The war against the Genoese began in such an unexpected way, almost at the same time that William's declaration of war was delivered to the Genoese, William's army began to attack the city of Nice, which really caught the other side by surprise.