Rodrigo was determined to win, and his warriors who were fighting the Moors for the first time were also in high spirits, especially Alchambo. Morality. Bourbon and Jourdan. Morality. Lucioni and the others did not take their opponents seriously at all.

"Lord Duke, please allow us to lead the vanguard to occupy the high ground ahead!" Alchambo and Jourdain pleaded with Rodrigo.

Rodrigo looked in the direction they knew, a high ground overlooking the city of Toledo, where siege engines such as trebuchets and siege artillery could be erected.

"Yes, the two of you will quickly march forward with 5,000 men from your respective headquarters, and be sure to seize this high ground before the Moors in Toledo City find out." Rodrigo thought about it, but didn't think there was anything wrong with the proposal, and since the other party was kind to the battle, he agreed.

"Thank you, Lord Duke." The two bowed down, and then led 5,000 men and horses to the hills and heights not far away.

However, Toledo's defender, Abad Murdamid, the Emir's successor, was not incompetent, and he expected the other side to occupy the high ground overlooking the city in order to attack the city, so he arranged a light cavalry to lurk in the forest on the mountain.

When the vanguard of the armies of Archambo and Jourdan appeared on the hill, Abad al-Murtaimid sent his general, Abdul al-Hakam, to lead his troops out of the city.

The French knights under the command of Archampaught were so light on the enemy that they rushed down the hill to engage the enemy when they saw the enemy appear.

As soon as the two sides fought, the Moorish army began to retreat, luring the French knights from their positions, and then the Moorish ambush attacked decisively, sweeping away the enemy's unfinished camp and besieging the artillery and baggage that had been left behind.

Only then did the forward cavalry realize that they had fallen into a trap and hurriedly returned to help, while Abdul-Hakam also turned and killed, and fought back and forth with the ambush until reinforcements led by Duke Rodrigo arrived, and the Moors withdrew from the battle.

Abdul Hakam's blow brought a lot of losses to Rodrigo's forwards, and it also shook the confidence of many noble knights from all over the country who came to participate in the battle.

However, for the sake of safety, he decided to abandon the unfinished hilltop position and withdraw to a safe place to wait for more troops to come and join him.

When the Moors saw Duke Rodrigo leading his troops to retreat, they quickly occupied the abandoned hill and raised their banners, and the follow-up troops who arrived did not know the news of Duke Rodrigo's voluntary retreat, thinking that Duke Rodrigo had been defeated and the enemy had captured the hill.

The battle-hardened Abdul Hakam certainly did not miss such an opportunity, and he quickly pursued the army, and Rodrigo saw that the situation was not good, and he led his guards and the cavalry of the legion to occupy the high ground on the side of the road to resist the Moorish pursuers, and Jeffrey, Earl of Chester, and Richard, Earl of Derby, also led a part of their heavy cavalry to attack the enemy's flanks, and after some hard fighting, the Moors were repulsed, and the situation finally turned around.

The defeat at the city of Toledo taught Rodrigo and the others a good lesson, the Moors in front of them did not fall behind them in terms of tactical command and equipment training, and the rest of the noble army under his command, except for the two standing legions, were mostly fledgling soldiers, who were hot-headed and in need of cold water.

Fortunately, the Normans did not suffer many losses in this battle, only a dozen or so killed and wounded, but the noble private soldiers suffered thousands of casualties, and the battlefield fell silent for a while, and the two sides only carried out some small raids in the border area and near the city of Toledo.

Rodrigo garrisoned under the city of Toledo, and while reorganizing his army, he asked William in the rear for help, and he asked for more light cavalry to help, because the Moors opposite had a large number of highly mobile crossbow light cavalry and mounted archers, while he himself was mostly heavy cavalry, and was not suitable for such an enemy.

Compared with the temporary setback on Rodrigo's side, the rest of the Duke Andrew on the east road and Count Roger on the west road are progressing much more smoothly, the Duke of Andrew on the east road has occupied Castellón and marched smoothly to Valencia City, while the other Count Roger has also occupied Eravu and Lisbon successively after Eravu defeated Seville's counterattack.

William, who was in charge of Leon, saw that the battle in the middle was not going well, so he immediately sent his Second Guards Regiment south to support Duke Rodrigo.

On 12 August 1066, Duke Rodrigo joined forces with the Guards led by Duke Odo, and then attacked again with several other noble counts.

This time they planned to attack Talavera, using the towns of Madrid and Talavera as strongholds, and besieging the city of Toledo from two directions.

However, Hugo, Count of Lucion, and the young knights, who coveted the achievement, completely disagreed with this plan, and after Duke Rodrigo fell out, they immediately marched straight south with the knights who were eager to make a career and the civilians who had made a fortune on the battlefield.

This force, which consisted of the headquarters of the Count of Lucion and the noble knights from central France, consisted mainly of cavalry, with no artillery or archers, and only a small number of infantry and baggage troops.

In addition, the troops were accompanied by a large number of accompanying personnel, including a large number of civilians and adventurers who were trying to make a salvage.

In order to avoid the main Moorish forces, they moved westward mainly at night, and their march was slow, but their whereabouts did not hide from the Moors of Seville, and the black smoke from the raids of the French knights along the way was soon unobservable by the Moorish troops in Toledo and the surrounding area.

The veteran Abdul Hakam once again led his cavalry, with a large number of Sevillian Moorish cavalry units at his disposal, as well as first-class crossbowmen from Grenada.

Upon learning of the Count's movements, Abdul Hakam sent an elite cavalry to lure the enemy, while the main force lay in ambush on the high ground around the road, just in time for the enemy to pass through and flank the Count's headquarters.

At this time, the army of the Count of Lucien, his nephew Jourdan, and Archampaut had long lost their vigilance because they were obsessed with plundering the towns on the road, and the rest of the army was already scattered except for the French knights.

After a sudden attack by the Moors from both sides of the valley, the advance was immediately routed, and the Count of Lucion reluctantly led the French knights, who were the backbone, to resist as best they could, but the fragmented terrain was extremely unfavorable to the heavy cavalry, and they were quickly defeated.

In desperation, the Count of Lucion had no choice but to send his nephew Jourdan north to ask Duke Rodrigo for help, while he himself led his troops back and tried to retreat to a more open area to counterattack.