Naturally, the Archbishop of Normandy, Hamelin, was in charge of religious affairs.

William instructed the Bishop of Hamelin to send priests to Constantinople and to the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople of the Greek orthodox sect in the East, Maghel. Serularius contacted and conveyed William's support for him.

Once the two sides had agreed to form an alliance, William would support the Ecumenical Patriarch of Constantinople in breaking with the Eastern Greek orthodoxy and the Latin Roman Church.

However, William did not pin all his hopes on Marger, the ecumenical patriarch of Constantinople, and he sent his most trusted spy Lanurf to Rome to corrupt the cardinals and bishops, and spread rumors that the Holy See was hostile to the Greek Orthodoxy in the East.

In terms of cost, the vicious rumors that play with people's hearts are undoubtedly the least costly and the most effective.

Naturally, William didn't just want Rome to send spies to spread rumors, and the Patriarchate of Constantinople was another of his targets.

As long as he succeeded in provoking the conflict between the Holy See and the Greek orthodoxy in the East in Constantinople, the pressure on William would be much lessened, and Pope Leo IX, who sat on the throne of St. Peter, would be much more peaceful.

By the time William had made all the arrangements, before he knew it, he had led his army south to the city of Dijon in the Duchy of Burgundy.

Outside the city of Dijon, Duke Rodrigo had already greeted William outside the city with noble officers of all sizes.

Because of the general poor military discipline in the army at this time, in order to prevent his soldiers from harming the city of Dijon, William followed the advice of Duke Rodrigo and stationed with him in the military camp outside the city.

"Rodrigo, how is the situation on the battlefield in Burgundy, tell me the latest situation." William asked, turning his head sideways and looking at Duke Rodrigo, who was one step behind beside him.

"Your Majesty, thanks to you, the entire territory of the Duchy of Burgundy has been basically pacified. Morality. The army of the Duchy of Burgundy, led by Samuel, fought a decisive battle at Charlotte Sabale.

Our army successfully broke through the enemy army with superior forces, broke through the castle of Charrolle, and captured including the Duke of Burgundy, Robert Brown. Capet, Count of Charlotte Hugo. Morality. More than a dozen nobles, including Samuel.

In the month that followed, our army swept through the three counties of Charolais, Chalon, and Mâcon, but it was Joffroy, Count of Mâcon. Morality. Ivrea took advantage of the chaos to flee to the county of Burgundy. ”

Duke Rodrigo gave William a detailed account of the battles over the past few months, and when he talked about Count Macon's escape, there was some regret on his face.

"Is it the Ivrea family again, I'll have to settle accounts with them sooner or later." William said hatefully.

William was not a magnanimous man, especially when dealing with enemies, he was extremely vindictive.

Now, more than ten years later, he still remembers the time Kayi. Morality. What Ivrrea did to William, the insults he had insulted him, the rebellion he had launched against him, he still remembered it vividly.

However, now is not the time for distraction, although William has a deep hatred with the Kay and the Ivrea family, the ordeal experienced in the past ten years has already taught William how to restrain hatred and not let hatred overwhelm his brain.

For William, the conquest of the Kingdom of France and the coronation of the French King are the most important matters, and the matter of revenge against the House of Ivrea and Cay should be at the last of the list.

"Rod, Hugo, Count Charlotte, is he willing to be loyal to me?"

William's first concern was not with Hugo, Duke of Burgundy. Morality. Samuel, but the Count Hugo, whom he had captured, is enough to see how eager his love for talent is.

"Your Majesty, Count Charolais was originally reluctant to swear allegiance to you, but in recent days his attitude has softened, just two days ago, he offered to play a game of chess with you, and if you win, he will be loyal to you." Duke Rodrigo shook his head slightly and said.

Charlotte Count Hugo's approach, William is understandable, generally speaking, talented people are a little conceited, and people who are arrogant are not nothing, he was defeated by Duke Rodrigo under William with superior forces, and he was definitely not convinced, and wanted to win back a game in the chess game.

Chess, also known as Eurochess or Chess, is a two-player strategic board game, and of all board games, chess is an ideal game that combines strategy and tactics with pure technique.

In the 11th century, chess had spread all over Europe, reaching out to kings and nobles, and people at that time listed chess as one of the seven arts of knightly education, and it was a skill that noble knights had to master.

William was also one of the enthusiasts of chess, after all, there were not many entertainment activities in the Middle Ages, and the only one that could kill time and exercise his strategic sense and command skills in entertainment was chess.

To support the development of chess in England and the Norman Kingdom, William hosts an annual chess tournament in Winchester, where players from all over Europe are welcome to participate.

William spends more than £1,000 a year on holding chess tournaments, and nearly 500 pounds of silver for tournament winners, which was an extremely large expense at the time, which shows William's love and importance for chess.

William gladly agreed to the request of Hugo, Count of Charlotte, but he still did not forget to tell Count Rodrigo:

"Rod, you have to be especially careful not to let Count Hugo enter with a sharp weapon, and at the same time take care of my security."

"Your Majesty, are you too worried, I have been in contact with Hugo, the Earl of Charlotte, and his personality should not be unfavorable to you." Duke Rodrigo frowned slightly.

"It's just a matter of being prepared, after all, he didn't make up his mind and didn't swear allegiance to me, and I couldn't trust my life to someone who was once hostile to me." William shook his head, still insisting, "Go down and prepare, Rod." ”

"Yes, Your Majesty." Duke Rodrigo thought about it, and finally followed William's orders.

For Duke Rodrigo's doubts, William did not take it to heart, it is not for nothing that the assassins who have tried to assassinate him in the chess tournament he held in the past few years, fortunately, God willing, these assassins with bad intentions have been detected early, so there is no chance to hurt him.

Outside the city of Dijon the next day, William's match with Hugo, Earl of Charlotte took place as scheduled, and this time he was going to blow the opponent's confidence with the most powerful attack, so that he knew that his defeat was not to blame bad luck, but his own inability.

In this chess duel, William's noble vassals gathered on the field early and watched the duel around William, and it was obvious that they were also chess lovers.

As the saying goes, "if you are good, you will follow suit", William's love for chess has already started a trend of chess across the country, and even in neighboring Spain and France, there are not a few nobles who love chess.