"Your Majesty, according to the report from the front scouts, the advance of the army of the HRE Empire has reached between Breda and Lorne in the Rhine estuary area, and near Antwerp, the army of the HRE Empire is not far from Zeeland." After landing in the Count of Zeeland landing, the Duke of Richard walked anxiously to William's side and said.

"It seems that our actions have been exposed, and Henry III was aware of our presence when we landed, and he was coming with an army to prevent us from joining the Duke of Hubert in Brussels." When William heard the news, he secretly gritted his teeth, clenched his right fist and shook his head.

"Your Majesty, how is this good, if we can't join Duke Hubert and their army of 50,000, we will be isolated and surrounded by the forces of the HRE Alliance." Duke Richard asked with a little urgency.

The vanguard of the HRE Empire's coalition was only a few tens of kilometers away from the Earl of Zeelam, and if they wanted to go south to Bratt to join Duke Hubert, they would have to travel at least nearly a hundred kilometers.

Regardless of the path they take to the south, an encounter with the vanguard of the HRE alliance is inevitable.

"Your Majesty, it is better to write to Duke Hubert of Brussels, asking him to send reinforcements to meet us." Seeing that William was silent in thought, the Duke of Richard proposed.

"No, Lord Richard." When William heard Duke Richard's proposal, he immediately shook his head and said, "At present, what we have detected is only the vanguard of the HRE Empire coalition army, less than about 18,000 people, but we still don't know what actions the HRE Empire coalition army will take.

If Duke Hubert had drawn troops from Brussels to meet him, Henry III would not have missed this opportunity to take Brussels, and he would have attacked while Brussels was empty, which I did not want to see. ”

"What should I do, Your Majesty!" Duke Richard asked again.

"I have a plan to confuse my opponents, or I can do this and that." William thought about it and smiled and told Duke Richard what he thought.

"Your Majesty, will the opponent really be fooled? The man who came was Gerhard, Duke of Upper Lorraine. Sha Warmang, a famous general in the world, I am afraid that he will not be easily fooled. Richard was skeptical.

"It's okay, Lord Richard, you go down and prepare, even if the plan fails, it's a big deal for us to fight, will my Normans still lose to the mere Duke of Lorraine?" William said confidently.

"Yes, Your Majesty." The Duke of Richard had no other countermeasures at this time, but could only choose to believe in William's plan.

William's plan was simple, he was going to send cavalry to harass the vanguard of the HRE coalition army, making a gesture of desperately blocking their continued advance.

In the camp at the mouth of the Rhine in Zeelland, William prepared to spread the flag in the camp, leaving a small number of militia and levies to disguise themselves to confuse their opponents.

As for the main force he led, he made a detour west to the kingdom of Gentebor in the Norman kingdom, and from there all the way south to the city of Brussels.

The sheer strength of the empty camp at the mouth of the Gend and the illusion of desperate delay of the cavalry must have led the Duke of Hauts-Lorraine to mistakenly believe that William intended to hold on to his place and wait for reinforcements from Brussels to come to his rescue.

At that time, as long as the Duke of Haute-Lorraine "accidentally" intercepted William's request for help from Brussels when sending a messenger, the other side would slow down the momentum of the march and prepare to intercept this illusory reinforcement.

This strategy, William named it the empty camp plan, which is similar to the empty camp plan performed by Zhao Yun in "Three Kingdoms: The Biography of Zhao Yun", but it is different.

Zhao Yun's empty camp strategy was originally very empty and still showed emptiness, so that the enemy mistakenly thought that our side was secretly prepared, while William's strategy was originally very empty but pretended that the army had already assembled in the camp and stood by.

The key to this strategy is to use illusions to confuse and deceive the opponent, so the two generals who remain in charge of camouflage and interception of the enemy army are particularly important, and whether they can confuse the opponent depends on whether the two are effective.

The use of fiction is real, and reality is virtual, is a kind of calculation, a kind of wisdom, and a kind of courage.

Think about it, when facing a strong enemy, the strength of the army is empty and still shows a very full appearance, and the commander will never dare to take this risk if he does not have a little courage and courage.

Therefore, it is only possible to achieve success if you have both a wise mind and courage.

In a complex and fierce war, the commander's vision is obscured by the flames of war, and generals like the Duke of Upper Lorraine, who only have ordinary courage, mostly pursue decisions with a large insurance coefficient and taboo risk decisions.

It is precisely because of this, although the Duke of Upper Lorraine Gerhard was praised by everyone as a famous general, he did not create any brilliant records, and compared with the generals under William, it was very mediocre.

It was precisely by taking advantage of the cautious character of the Duke of Upper Lorraine that William's empty plan could succeed.

The man in charge of leading the cavalry to intercept the Duke of Upper Lorraine was Roger. Morality. Outwell, his ability is definitely one of the best among the generals under William, especially in commanding cavalry, few people can match it.

The other person in charge of the camp camouflage was William's confidant Walter Jr. Sir Giffard, who had previously been an infantry commander under William, was a skilled and trusted commander of William, and it was fitting for him to command the militia and levies remaining in the camp.

As night fell, everything was ready to stop, and William versus Roger. Morality. After the Barons of Ottville and Gifard had finished their tasks, they led their troops out of the camp under the cover of night with the Duke of Richard.

Because the Normans lived a prosperous life and often ate their catch, they were not deficient in vitamin A, and they did not suffer from the night blindness common in the Middle Ages, so they could be like a fish in water in the starry night.

During the night, William and his Norman soldiers, although unaffected, could not carry much baggage, and the supplies in the camp could only be ordered to Walter Jr. Sir Giffard and Fleet Commander Randolph. Morality. Viscount Gale also loaded the unloaded materials again onto the ship.

......

As the commander of the First Route Army, the vanguard of the HRE Alliance, the Duke of Upper Lorraine seems to be somewhat lacking in confidence.

Although the HRE Empire was able to muster more than 80,000 troops, it was a little timid in the face of the Normans, who had only 60,000 or 70,000 troops.

Judging by the Normans' historical record, they were particularly adept at winning more with less, and they were able to win against more than twice as many enemies.

What's more, the gap between the forces of the two sides is not irreparable, and with the strong combat effectiveness of the Normans, he is very worried that his vanguard will not be able to complete the characters assigned by His Majesty Henry III.

There are only more than 18,000 people in his hands, but the heavy responsibility falls on his head, and he can only try his best to complete the task assigned by His Majesty the Emperor.