Henry I was good at intrigue and diplomacy, and attracted a large number of domestic and foreign allies, but William was not at all frightened, and ignored the allies that King Henry I had co-opted.

Because William knew that Henry I's allies couldn't think of it, most of them were attracted to join his camp by Henry I's interests, and each prince had their own plans, and it was impossible for them to join forces to fight against the Norman army heading south.

Like Thibaud, Duke of Champagne, he was only attracted by the archdiocese of Reims and the county of Sens promised by Henry I, and joined him in opposing William, but when the risks against William outweighed the benefits, he wanted William to kneel and beg for mercy.

However, William did not intend to let go of the other party so easily, he had already planned, in order to remove the largest princes around Paris and Orleans, in order to protect the safety of Paris, he would deprive the Duke of Champagne of the territory and take it for himself.

Each prince had his own plans, which gave William a chance to break through, as long as Henry I could not gather the armies of the princes and allies within the faction, and the power in Henry I's hands could not compete with the Normans.

At this time, Henry I and William were fighting for Norway and the Danes to join his side, but William knew that Norway and the Danes could not join his side, and they were slow to make up their minds, on the one hand, they were waiting for the price to sell, and on the other hand, they were afraid of the amazing fighting power of the Normans, so they were slow to make up their minds.

Therefore, William sent Russell, the intelligence chief of the kingdoms of Norway and Denmark. Morality. Breville's main task was to spread rumors in both countries, with the aim of provoking the country's ambitious princes against his monarch's rule, so that they would be too busy to take care of themselves and delay the two countries from entering the war.

Preparations for war were nearing completion, so William left Duke Hubert and his First Legion in the Kingdom of England, the Fifth Legion formed by the Norman nobility of England to stay behind, and the domestic affairs to Prime Minister Ladolph, while he prepared to lead Duke Rodrigo's Second Legion and Duke Andrew's Third Legion, Duke Richal's Fourth Legion and the elite Guards Army south to Rouen to assemble.

This time he prepared to send more than 35,000 troops, including more than half of the professional soldiers and 4,000 knights, which was unprecedented, not counting the army provided for him by the vassals under William's command.

It was the strong army and the united Norman aristocracy that gave William the confidence to defeat Henry I.

Despite this, William could not let go of Queen Urakar and Little Richard who remained in Windsor Castle, England, and in order to protect them, William left a Guards Regiment of up to 3,000 in Windsor Castle, England, and placed it under the command of his two younger brothers, Otto and Robert.

You must know that most of the members of the Guards Legion under William's command are professional soldiers and knight nobles, and their combat effectiveness is more than twice that of other standing legions, not to mention other princes' armies, so William is very relieved to have his two trusted younger brothers and three thousand guards to protect Little Richard and the Queen.

The ships had been assembled at the ports of Dover, Hastings, Southampton, Norfolk and Portsmouth, and the regiments had been loaded and sailed for Normandy.

The first to reach the port of Rouen-le-Havre were William's Guards and the Second Army, which, together with the Third Army stationed in Normandy, were the undoubted main forces of the war.

In the past five years, William had to spend most of his time in England in order to compete for the crown of England, strengthen the royal power and weaken the ecclesiastical power, which is very different from William the conqueror in history.

Compared with William the Conqueror's contempt for the Kingdom of England and leaving it to his brother Otto to govern, William from later generations was more interested in the potential of the Kingdom of England and the British Isles, especially the sea power that could erupt when the Age of Discovery began in the future.

By this time, William had already built ships suitable for navigation and opened the Mediterranean route, and if he was willing to withdraw his energy from the European hegemony and concentrate on the development of seafaring, an era of great sailing would come hundreds of years earlier.

Returning to Fort Rouen, the first thing William did was to gather the nobles for a grand banquet.

The Normandy royal family has a habit of liking food, and William's most daily diet is often 2 to 5 dishes, at least 20 plates of food per course, not to mention the consumption of various ceremonies, only last year, William has held two large banquets, and there are countless other banquets.

The banquet in Rouen was attended not only by Norman nobles, but also by William's allies, the nobles of Castile of Spain, and the envoys of the French princes. This is not so much a banquet as a mobilization to connect allies and boost morale.

In order to hold this banquet, Osborne's butler purchased a large number of ingredients, including beef, veal, leg of lamb, smoked meat, sterated chicken, wood chicken, heron meat, small hare, lark tongue, berries and almonds, plus 800 eggs, 90 dishes of butter, 80 chestnut bread, 300 slices of almond fudge, etc.

In order to show the power of the Normans, William specially instructed Osborne's butler to make the show bigger, and asked him to prepare 108 dishes so that the nobles attending the banquet could taste them one by one.

The most precious dishes of this banquet are several dishes made with lamprey, including English stewed lamprey, French Bordeaux lamprey, Spanish lampray risotto, golden buttery Kabayaki lamprey, etc., which cater to the tastes of all the nobles attending the banquet.

In the Middle Ages, the French, who were the most proficient at cooking, regarded lamprey as a delicacy, and this famous dish appeared in the famous book "The Count of Monte Cristo", which was not just for anyone at that time, but only for the high-ranking nobles.

Later, the Normans also adopted the French diet and passed on the preference for lamprey to the Kingdom of England, where King Henry I ate and died of overeating in the autumn of 1135.

Of course, William was the first to taste these delicacies made with lampreys, but he was very restrained, and even if he encountered such a rare delicacy as lamprey, he only tasted them and gave them to other nobles.

William's move undoubtedly won the favor of the nobles, and everyone praised William as a generous man.

After the feast, William and the guards went alone to visit Jeanne in the Abbey of the Holy Trinity near the Cathedral of Rouen. Morality. Duck.