In the early morning of the second day, William left some of the soldiers of the Second and Third Legions and some of the civilian army to defend the three castles of Reading, Buckingham and Oxford in Oxfordshire, arranged the back route, and immediately led more than 25,000 troops to attack Warwickshire.

Warwick, the capital of Mercia, was less than 100 kilometers away from William's garrison in Readingburg, and if done correctly, William could reach Warwick Castle at night.

Relying on the advantage that William's troops did not have night blindness, he could try to launch a sneak attack under the cover of night.

Along the way, the towns and villages through which William's army passed were deserted, and the inhabitants were relocated by William before the war began, and supplies were hidden by William's soldiers.

Such a thorough clearing of the wilderness may have caused a lot of trouble for the allied forces of the northern princes to the south, but for the Normans, who knew the location of the supplies and the sources of water, obtaining supplies on the march was only a familiar road.

In the afternoon, William and his party finally arrived at the border between Oxfordshire and Warwickshire, and as an important symbol of this border, the River Avon lay in front of William.

The River Avon is an English river that runs through Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, Warwickshire, Worcestershire, and Gloucestershire. Also known as Upper Effen, Warwickshire Effen and Shakespeare Effen, it is named after the great writer William Shakespeare who was born in Stratford-upon-Avon, and is 154 kilometres long.

Fortunately, this is the upper reaches of the Avon River, the river is not turbulent, you can wade through it with some caution, and there are some bridges nearby that span both banks, but these bridges are garrisoned by Mercian soldiers, and if you want to cross these bridges, you will have to fight, which will undoubtedly startle the snake and delay the speed of our army's march.

"Faller, you lead the light cavalry to wade across the river first, and reconnoiter the enemy in front." William bowed to Phalle, who was standing beside him. Osborne commanded.

"Yes, Your Majesty." Faller. Osborne did not drag the slightest bit of mud and water, and immediately took the order, and saw that he had the demeanor of a general.

Faller. Osborne, William's treasurer, the son of Osborne's butler, and the former court governor, was demoted by William to serve under the Duke of Rodrigo in the Second Legion because of his big mistakes, serving as a cavalry camper.

Truth be told, despite his modest command talent, Phaller was an experienced general, who had been by William's side for nearly a decade, had been in many battles and led several troops to achieve many successes, and with his resume, he was more than enough to serve as the commander of a legion.

As the Duke of Rodrigo of the Second Legion, he also knew Faller's talent, and knew that appointing him as the commander of the cavalry battalion was indeed a condescending talent, but this was also what William meant, and he was helpless, only after William's anger was gone, Faller had a chance to recover.

"It seems that Faller. Osborne has not lost the trust of His Majesty William, and as long as he performs well in this war, there is a good chance that he will be reused by His Majesty, and even achieve higher achievements and positions. Duke Rodrigo, who had followed William beside him, watched the scene and thought.

"Rod, Andrew, go down and get ready for battle, then our army will enter the territory of Warwickshire, and may encounter the armies of the northern princes at any time." William looked at Rodrigo and Andrew and commanded cordially.

"Yes, Your Majesty." The two of them bowed down and took the order.

William's squad this time is comparable to when he landed in England and played with Harold. Godwinson was much stronger at the time of the Battle of Hastings, not only the steady veteran Duke Richard, but also Lord Rodrigo of Munster, one of the two strongest generals in the Norman Kingdom, and the Duke of Belgium Andrew. Dalton was also the most outstanding young generation of generals in the Norman Kingdom, and with these three noble generals to assist William, there was no doubt about winning this war.

Sure enough, after William crossed the Avon with his army, Faller, who led the light cavalry forward to reconnoitre, discovered the traces of the northern cavalry.

Phale had fought a great battle with these cavalry, winning and annihilating hundreds of cavalry, but the number of flying cavalry in front of them increased, and they followed William's surroundings not far away, no matter how much William's knights drove them away.

"It seems that the Mercians at Fort Warwick have spotted us, and they are trying to delay the march of our troops in such a way." William after listening to Faller. Osborne's debriefing led to this conclusion.

"Your Majesty, do you need us to send all the cavalry to annihilate it?" Andrew listened to William's summary and suggested out loud.

"No, Andrew, there are certainly not many of these northern cavalry, otherwise they wouldn't just be hanging from afar, their purpose is to delay our army's march and distract our army.

I'm not as good as they want, we just need to send some cavalry to disperse them, and the most important thing now is to get to Warwick as soon as possible, and everything else can be left alone. William shook his head lightly and vetoed Andrew's proposal, explaining.

"You are talking about it, Your Majesty." Andrew stepped back with a smug face.

"Your Majesty, Warwick is not only the capital of the Duchy of Mercia, but also the presence of the Duke of Mercia, and the other party will not give up Warwick easily no matter what.

If we want to fight the enemy, we can simply go straight to Warwick, ignore other unimportant enemies, and when we have dealt with the main forces of the Northern Coalition in Warwick and Leicester, it will not be too late to deal with them. Rodrigo had already read William's intentions, and his background echoed.

"Rodrigo, we are leading our army north this time in order to destroy as much as possible the living forces of the northern princes before the Vikings of Norway and Denmark land in England, so the towns and forts where Warwick, Leicester, Derby, and York are our main targets.

In order to kill and wound as many enemy troops as possible in a short period of time, we can abandon any city or castle, just find the location of the enemy's main force and fight, even if our army occupies Warwick, I will not send a single soldier to garrison it. A smile tugged at the corner of William's lips as he explained his strategic intentions to the two of them in detail.

"Your Majesty, you can always formulate a strategy without mistakes and omissions, and execute it according to your strategy, I think we will win this war." He laughed and exclaimed.

"It's Lord Richard, you have won the prize, you are all famous generals in the world, if it were not for your assistance, how could I defeat my enemies?" William smiled modestly and flattered each other.