"The Sixth and Seventh Army Corps are still a little unsatisfactory, especially the Seventh Army Corps, the tactical coordination is extremely poor, although it is better than the ordinary feudal army, but it is also limited in strength.

Such a legion is a complete drag on us. After William had finished his review of the Sixth and Seventh Legions, he summoned the commanders of the two legions to reprimand him.

"What you said is Your Majesty, we must train diligently, familiarize ourselves with tactical cooperation, and strive to improve our combat effectiveness." As the commander of the Sixth Legion, Count Ferdinand said apologetically.

The Duke of Leinster, Duke Mephistopheles, who was named after William. Sauron swore the same oath to William's curse.

William also understood their difficulties, after all, these troops were the private troops of the nobles, and they provided troops to William out of the obligation of vassals, and the temporary formation of a legion with these troops would inevitably encounter some problems, which was a matter of course, and no one could avoid it.

He also knew that he was too strict with them, and said in a gentle tone: "You must form a fighting force as soon as possible, even if this army is only a few hundred or thousands of people, it is more than what you need now." As for the rest of the troops, I'll let them serve as reserves. ”

"Your Majesty, please give us some more time, we promise you that we will make decent results in half a month." The Duke of Mephistopheles assured in a loud voice.

"I'll see." William didn't say anything, he just wanted to see if the final result would satisfy him.

He was busy until about three o'clock in the afternoon, but William's work was not over, and he had to discuss with the commanders of the various legions about the strategy of dealing with the HRE coalition army.

At present, William's forces include the Guards Legion, five standing legions, two provisional legions, and militia units.

Among them, not all of William's five strongest main forces are assembled in the city of Rouen, among which the First Army is currently stationed in the port of Dover in Kent at the order of William, and they will sail south to the port of Calais to join William, or directly support the Rhine battlefield.

In addition, William's Third and Fifth Legions, led by Duke Andrew, pursued an aggressive defensive strategy in Flanders, using foreign wars to keep the war on foreign soil.

At present, the counties of Hainaut, the counties of Brattbon, Brussels, Antwerp and other important towns are under the control of the Normans, and it can be said that most of the vast areas west of the Rhine and north of the Maas River have been owned by the Normans.

This time, Wilhelm chose the Rhine Valley and the plains on both sides as the main battlefield.

Wilhelm's choice of the Rhine as the main battlefield was mainly based on the following considerations.

One is that the Rhine River basin has a wide river network and is suitable for ships, which is a great advantage for the Norman kingdom, which has a large number of warships and ships of all types.

The Norman kingdom's navy not only had Galen-type ships that were specifically responsible for sea operations, but also had a large number of Viking longships and Kirk ships suitable for offshore and inland river operations, and the Norman kingdom could also recruit a large number of fishermen to enrich the river fleet at any time, and it could quickly form a combat force centered on the professional naval fleet.

The second is that the terrain of the Rhine Plain is open, which is suitable for large forces, because once the Normans and the HRE Empire start a decisive battle, it will be a large-scale battle with more than 100,000 troops participating in the battle, and it is impossible to deploy such a large number of troops without a vast space.

The third is that the Rhine Valley is fertile and the towns are rich, and William can easily obtain supplies and supplies from this territory.

Commanding tens of thousands of troops against the even larger HRE army, William's first thought was to ensure the supplies and supplies needed for the battle.

Historically, ancient and modern, Chinese and foreign, how many wars are lost on a supply issue, often many armies still retain strong combat effectiveness after defeat, as long as the operation is done properly, it is not impossible to turn the tables, but once the grain and grass supply is burned, the morale of the army may collapse.

This is also the reason why, on the battlefield in China, ancient and modern Chinese and foreign generals like to raid the enemy's grain routes and baggage.

The Normans on the plains of the Rhine, held the territories of Hainaut, Brattbon, Breda and Lorne, which were technically the possessions of the Duke of Lower Lorraine, and it was better to get supplies from the enemy's territory than to have them all the way from England and Normandy.

Eating on the spot can not only reduce the pressure on supplies and finances, but also weaken the enemy's war potential, so there is a "Sun Tzu's Art of War" that "the wise general will eat the enemy, eat the enemy for one minute, and be my twenty bells; Avoid one stone, when I twenty stones".

William also fought this plan, he never thought of using this war to occupy the vast territory of the Lorraine region of the Rhine Plain in one fell swoop, and eating the entire French kingdom has already made the Normans overwhelmed, if they eat the Rhine region without scruples, I am afraid that the Normans will really have problems due to indigestion.

Anyway, he was still very young, time was on his side, and he had enough time to wait for the death of his great enemy, Emperor Henry III, and perhaps by that time the Normans, who had completed their digestion, would be able to swallow the whole of the Rhine, Upper and Lower Lorraine, Burgundy, Provence, and other places.

Until then, it would not have been a bad thing for William to let the war start in the Rhine Valley, causing the war to devastate the towns and villages here, and weaken the war potential of the HRE Empire.

William chose this place as the last reason for the battlefield was that the Rhine Valley was a necessary place for the HRE Empire to attack the Duchy of Normandy, the core territory of the Normans.

The materials needed for the march of 70,000 or 80,000 soldiers for the war were an extremely large amount of astronomical amounts, and it was unrealistic to transport them by convoys or by relying on the shoulders of the people.

At this time, the main means of transportation were sea and water transportation, such as the three crusades formed by many Western European countries in history, which relied on sea transportation to transport huge soldiers and materials to distant Jerusalem, ensuring the smooth progress of the war.

Therefore, the Rhine Valley, which is close to the North Sea and has convenient water transportation conditions, is a must for both the Normans and the HRE Empire, and whoever can fully control the Rhine will be able to advance into the heartland of the other side - Normandy and Nassau.

At present, the Normans, who controlled the lower left bank of the Rhine, had a great advantage, and William only had to take advantage of the Normans' water superiority and use the fleet to assist in the defense.

Without water superiority, no matter how strong and large the army of the HRE Empire was, could they successfully cross the river by boat under the nose of the Norman fleet.