At the end of the ceremony, William announced the official establishment of the "Knights of the Iron Crown", which will be composed of the most elite Norman knights, Lombard knights, Tuscan knights and Italian knights, these outstanding knights are divided into three ranks, the number is 20, 30 and 50 respectively, these knights of the Iron Crown Knights will exist as a guard of William, but also a means of appeasement to the Italian nobility.

By establishing the Iron Crown Knights, William sent a signal to everyone that he would treat the noble knights of Italy as the same, and would not be suspicious and wary of them, but it is unclear whether the Order will truly be trusted by William to take on the role of guard.

After three days of great coronations, processions and banquets, the princely ministers and envoys dispersed, and Milan returned to its former peace.

However, after the coronation, William did not stop his progress, this time pointing his sword directly at Rome.

Just before he left, Pope Nicholas sent him a letter in which he said that if William did not repent and continued to work with the excommunicated courtiers, he would cut himself off from the world.

In this letter, Pope Nicholas also gave a stern reprimand to William for his unauthorized attack on the Italian states, the occupation of northern Italy, and the unauthorized coronation of the king of Italy, and the conferring of bishops in Milan, Monferrato, Ravenna, etc., without consultation with him, and the pope also claimed that the king must obey his decree given that he was a descendant of St. Peter.

How can this be endured for Pope Nicholas to reprimand him in a condescending tone? He considered himself an angel of God, the noblest and most powerful man in Europe, so why should he be subordinated to a descendant of St. Peter?

So William summoned the bishops of Italy to convene the Synod of Milan and demanded in public that Pope Nicholas should step down.

In his reply, William wrote: "You, all our bishops and all of us have condemned you, get off! Get out of the apostolic seat you don't deserve!

The throne of St. Peter should be given to another person who does not need to resort to the cloak of the Holy Canon, does not cover up his evil deeds, but teaches with the true teachings of St. Peter.

William, the King by God's grace, and all of our bishops say to you, get down, get down! ”。

These two strongly-worded letters from William and Pope Nicholas also represent a complete tear on both sides.

William and Rome did not actually fight directly before, but since William defeated the Northern Italian coalition led by Duke Ezzo II of Lombardy in Monaco, and then occupied the entire Lombardy and other places, and was crowned King of Italy without authorization, William's actions have violated the final bottom line of Pope Nicholas and the Holy See, and the war between the two sides will only stop completely when one of them falls.

Two days later, Pope Nicholas issued an edict announcing that the nobles and clergy who had been effectively loyal to William would be excommunicated to all those who helped him, and that he could only be pardoned if he took up arms and fought against him.

Pope Nicholas was so resolute that William would not give up, and he immediately installed his close confidant Hamelin, Archbishop of Normandy, as the new pope, called John X, and then he led his army of 60,000 to march to Rome with the new Pope John X.

"O Rome, and the heirs of St. Peter, you will not have many days of peace, for I am about to conquer you all!

Come, get ready, for the welcome of your new Emperor, your King! ”

At this time, William had no less than 70,000 men in his hands, including the First Guards Legion, the Standing Second Legion, the Fourth and Fifth Legions, the Nordic Guard, etc., as well as the Genoese Legion, which had recently joined his command, with more than 13,000 men and 9,000 Italian Legions, which were composed of troops provided by the Italian states.

Naturally, William could not take all these troops away, after all, he still had to leave troops to garrison the city of Milan, but fortunately, the city of Milan was thick and the city defense was strong, so there was no need to leave many troops to garrison, so William only left Phale. Osborne led the 1st Infantry Brigade of the Guards and the Norse Guards to defend the city.

Considering the role of arquebuses and artillery in defending the city, William pondered and chose to leave his most elite 1st Guards Infantry Brigade behind.

Yes, arquebuses may be inconvenient in field battles, and they must cooperate with other arms such as spear phalanxes, but in the defense of the city, they can use the cover of the city walls to calmly reload the arquebuses in their hands and shoot under the command.

In the Battle of Vienna in 1529, the defenders of Vienna relied on 72 arquebuses and a mere 16,000 men to successfully thwart the attack of 200,000 troops, 50,000 sailors, and more than 400 warships led by the Turkish Sultan Suleiman I.

Enraged by the Viennese defenders, the Ottomans immediately attacked from all sides, erected ladders and began to storm the city frantically, and the Viennese defenders quickly organized an effective counterattack, organizing a volley of 72 arquebuses to resist.

In the confrontation, the range of the Ottoman army's bows and arrows was not as good as the defenders' arquebuses, the range of the bows and arrows could not reach the range of the defenders of Vienna, and the knives, spears and other melee weapons in their hands were even more useless, making it difficult for the Ottoman army to give full play to its superiority in strength despite its large numbers. As a result, the Ottoman army's many siege attempts not only ended in failure, but also paid a considerable price.

During the siege of Vienna for more than two months, the Ottoman army was unable to find an effective way to deal with the new weapon of rifles.

As casualties mounted, food supplies ran out, and Suleiman I was forced to order a retreat due to the imminent arrival of enemy reinforcements, the Viennese were able to achieve a brilliant victory that they had not yet imagined.

Judging from the whole process of the defense of Vienna, it was precisely because these 72 arquebuses played a vital role in the battle that the defenders of Vienna of more than 10,000 people turned the unfavorable situation in the confrontation with the 250,000-strong Ottoman army and achieved the final victory!

William was convinced that the 1st Guards Brigade, with 1,600 arquebuses, and the brave Norse warriors, would have a strength of 10,000 men, combined with local mercenaries and levies, to withstand a siege of tens of thousands, or even 100,000 men.

"For your King William, march to Rome!" William drew his sword and pointed forward, and said loudly.

"March to Rome! March to Rome! ”

"March to Rome! March to Rome! ”

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