Tens of thousands of Norman armies rolled forward like a surging flood with unparalleled momentum and strength, shattering all obstacles in their way.

The force was so great that several attempts by the Lombard coalition to organize counterattacks were to no avail, and when the Lombards were in complete despair, the terrible collapse began.

"The Normans are devils! Run! Run! ”

"If you don't leave, you'll die!"

"Don't get in my way, kill!"

The Lombard army resounded with the shouts of countless people, they had long lost the courage to confront the Normans, at this time they only had two words in their minds "escape", and even in order to escape from the Normans as soon as possible, they did not hesitate to fight against their companions and swords.

William looked at the Lombard soldiers fleeing in confusion in front of him, and his heart was indescribably happy: "At the foot of the southern Alps, there are mountains and mountains, and the mountains are high and the roads are dangerous, I have heard that you are very good at running, let you run now, see how fast you can run, how far you can run!" ”

At this time, William also received a message from his two falcons that Count Roger, who was ambushed in the hills outside Menton Castle, had occupied Menton Castle and completely cut off the Lombards' back route, so that the Italian coalition of more than 43,000 people would be completely defeated.

Anyone with a little military common sense, walking into the lofty mountains at the foot of the southern Alps, will think about whether the other side will arrange an ambush, but the Lombard dukes and the Italian princes did not think that on the one hand, for hundreds of years, and even in later generations, most of the wars in the Middle Ages were decided by a general battle, and the situation of the war was straightforward, where there would be an ambush on the back road of others' retreat.

On the other hand, it was also Ezzo II's carelessness, since he led the Italian princes to defeat the powerful Holy Roman Empire army and led the Italian states to independence, he was inevitably arrogant as the lord of Northern Italy, he thought that William was just a bastard, but just a vain name, where can he compare with his inferior forces to defeat the encirclement and suppression of the HRE army.

In the eyes of Ezzo II, this battle was a sure one, and under his arrogance, he naturally would not leave an army to garrison the castle of Mangton on his back road.

At this moment, in front of Menton Castle, Ezzo II was in a state of extreme regret, because the flag of the Norman kingdom was raised in front of Menton Castle, and countless well-equipped Norman soldiers were stationed on it.

"Is the old man going to die here today?" Ezzo II couldn't help but remorse.

There are more than 8,000 Normans stationed in Menton Castle, and it will take at least tens of thousands of troops to conquer this castle, and it will take several months, but now where are the troops in his hands, and at this moment, only the nobles and Lombard knights under his command, as well as the knights of the Italian princes, are still following him from the battlefield, but there are only more than a thousand people, and there is nothing to be done about this Menton Castle.

The despair in everyone's hearts was beyond words, and no one could get out of the tiger's mouth of the Normans at this moment.

The atmosphere among the people was oppressive and hopeless, but fortunately, the sky was endless, and finally the words of the governor of Genoa gave everyone new hope: "Your Excellency, Lord Duke, my lords, do not panic, my merchant ships of the Republic of Genoa are about to arrive here, and they will carry us away from the Norman encirclement, please rest assured." ”

"Your Excellency the Governor, you have been a great help, and we will always remember your kindness!" Ezzo II warmly shook the hands of Manfrido, the governor of Genoa, and said excitedly.

"That's what I should do, Lord Duke." The governor of Genoa spoke modestly, but a proud expression appeared on his face: "But your Excellency, my lords, if you want to survive the siege of the Normans, you must hold the port not far away, otherwise even if our fleet arrives, it will be useless. ”

"Understood, Your Excellency the Governor." Ezzo II put aside his pride, nodded and followed the advice of Manfrido, the governor of Genoa, and said to the people: "Ladies and gentlemen, you have all heard what the Doge said, if you want to survive the death, you must defend the port!" Ladies and gentlemen, follow me to the port ahead! ”

"Yes!"

The people who had gained hope instantly regained their morale, and they marched under the leadership of Ezzo II to the port of Robcrune, not far to the south.

However, what the people who had just gained hope was endless despair, and when they arrived at the port, they saw a scene that everyone would never forget.

Not far off the coast of Liguria, dozens of Genoese warships that were about to arrive in port were now besieged by hundreds of Norman warships, among which in addition to the traditional galleys, there were several huge Galen gunboats, these gunboats were as tall as castles, and dozens of guns were placed on these Galen gunboats, constantly spitting flames and cannonballs, sinking all the Genoese warships in their passes.

Having lost their last retreat, they were in complete despair, and seeing their last hope dashed, even the most determined Duke of Lombardy, Ezzo II, had the idea of surrendering.

"Your Excellency, there is no way out for us now, and the only way to do this is to surrender like the Norman King William, and only in this way can we save our lives." Manfrido, the governor of Genoa, saw Ezzo II's hesitation, and perhaps the reason why the other party did not offer to surrender to William was because of pride and love of face.

Sure enough, in the face of the proposal of Manfrido, the governor of Genoa, Ezzo II immediately refused: "How can I, as the Duke of Lombardy and the vassal of Milan, submit to a lowly illegitimate son!" And how can we guarantee that after surrendering to the Norman King William, he will not harm us? ”

The view of the Duke of Lombardy can be said to be the general opinion of the European aristocracy at that time about William, how could such a person abide by the rule of not harming the nobles when he took England by chance, betrayed his monarch, and fought against the French king?

"Your Excellency the Duke, the king of one country does not kill the king of another country, presumably the other party also understands this truth, William will not dare to do us any harm!" Manfrido, the governor of Genoa, saw that Ezzo II was dead and did not let go, so he had to continue to persuade him.

As the king of a country, you will definitely understand that if you kill the king of another country, it will be absolutely detrimental to yourself, which is also irrational behavior, why?

This is because, if the king of another country is killed, a new king will come to power in another country, and this king will definitely be more capable than the previous king, otherwise how could he have overcome all the obstacles and stepped on the corpses of countless people to reach this admirable position?

Instead of killing a monarch who is worse than you, face a stronger monarch; Why don't you keep this monarch who is worse than you?

Keep the life of the king of another country, he will also be grateful to you, you can take it for your own use, let him become a puppet, and you will not have to face a new opponent, and you will have to spend time to find his weakness, during this period, I don't know how much energy, manpower, and how many troops and manpower and material resources will be lost to you. Who would do such a thankless task?