Looking at the farce caused by Faller, William covered his face with his right hand as if he didn't know him, everyone present also laughed, and the tension in the meeting gradually dissipated.

Thanks to Faller's innate talent for enlivening the atmosphere at the expense of his own embarrassment, even Sir Hubert and Nelson Knights, who had been stiff before, looked at each other and smiled, giving up their previous suspicions, for which William had to sigh at the incomparably important role of Faller for this team.

"Uh-huh... Uh-huh..."William looked around at everyone, saw that the laughter stopped, coughed slightly, and said, "I think everyone knows very well that this plan to lure the enemy out of the city is not foolproof, and we should be prepared to forcibly attack the city." ”

As soon as William's words fell, the smiles of everyone on the field stopped

The atmosphere gradually became solemn, and it was obvious that the generals present were not ready to forcibly attack the city, especially when they learned that there were now more than 8,000 rebels in the city of Arangsun and hundreds of cavalry supported by Baron Agenton and Count Cay.

To tell the truth, William himself knew very well that if the more than 2,600 soldiers, 1,700 levies, and 300 slave servants he led forcibly attacked the city of Alençon, which was defended by 8,900 enemy troops with 8,900 equipment and combat effectiveness, there was a good chance that he would be defeated.

"Steward Osborne, how many siege engines does our army have, is it enough to break the walls of Alençon?" William turned his head to look at Steward Osborne, nodded his hair slightly, and asked.

"I'm sorry, Your Highness William, our army currently only carries two medium-sized torsion catapults, these two ballistas have not been repaired for many years, and they cannot fire stone projectiles many times in a row, and I am afraid they cannot break the walls of Alençon." Steward Osborne said apologetically.

"Steward Osborne, there should be dozens of carpenters in our army, how many can you build a man-powered trebuchet by cutting down trees before the war?" William was a little unwilling to do this, and looked at Steward Osborne and said.

"His Royal Highness William, although there are nearly forty carpenters in our army, except for the ten carpenters who command the levies to operate two torsion trebuchets, there are only more than twenty carpenters available, and at most three or four days can build three human trebuchets." Steward Osborne shook his head slightly and said in an apologetic tone.

The manpower trebuchet mentioned here is to use manpower to pull the tips attached to the crossbar (cannon tip, erected on a wooden frame, one end is tied to the holster containing the stone projectile with a rope, and the other end is tied with many ropes to facilitate human pulling) to throw the stone projectile, with a range of more than 150 meters, just like the manpower catapult used by Cao Cao in the Battle of Guandu in the Romance of the Three Kingdoms TV series.

At this time, there was no counterweight trebuchet in Europe in the 11th century of the Middle Ages, and the siege equipment used by the general noble lords to attack the city was mainly siege vehicles, ladders and human trebuchets, and the more advanced ones were torsion ballistae from the ancient Roman era.

It can be said that the siege mode at this time is mainly to climb the wall and climb the city or besiege the city, and the siege equipment such as trebuchets is not as terrifying as everyone thinks.

Hearing this frustrating answer, William was also helpless, frowning and tapping his right index finger on the table in thought.

William pondered for a moment and found nothing, but looked up at the crowd, and saw Sir Hubert's relaxed and seemingly rewarding face, so he opened his mouth and asked Sir Hubert, "Sir Hubert, you seem to have some solution, tell me and listen to it."

At this time, Sir Hubert stood up and said with a serious expression: "Your Highness William, there are two small towns near us that are only more than twenty miles away from Alençon City, which are these two towns with a size of several thousand people, and they have previously taken refuge in the rebels of Alençon City, as long as we send troops to requisition some craftsmen, Ding Zhuang and materials, we can immediately solve our problem of lack of craftsmen and soldiers." ”

Although Sir Hubert was more subtle, William and the generals knew that Sir Hubert had advised them to divide their forces and sack the small towns of Legler and Mortagneopes.

William's face was slightly ugly, although he was born in medieval Europe, and it stands to reason that he would not resist things like the ransacking of towns and civilians, but in the soul of William's body is a kind-hearted 21st century Chinese good young man, he can be merciless to the enemy's army, but he is sympathetic to the innocent common people.

William looked around and saw that the generals were all ready to move, and it was clear that they were very interested in sacking unsuspecting towns, especially since these two towns belonged to the rebel camp, and no one could blame them for what they did.

"Knights and generals, our tight time does not allow us to divide our forces to the towns of Legle and Mortagneopes, and there is only one way in front of us, and that is to attack, attack, attack." William made an excuse to reject the proposal, and said in a somewhat agitated tone.

When everyone heard this, they saw that William's attitude was so resolute, so they had to press down a little impatient and promise: "Obey your orders, His Highness William." ”

Seeing that the generals were so reasonable, William smiled and nodded, looked at the two cavalry commanders, Faller and Rodrigo, and said: "Faller and Rodrigo, you two each lead fifty light cavalry to the two towns of Legler and Mortagneopes, recruit carpenters, stonemasons, blacksmiths, soldiers and supplies, collect iron, sulfur, saltpeter and other materials, you can give them some compensation to a limited extent, remember not to mess around." ”

"Mylord, His Highness William (Young Master William), your command is my mission." Faller and Rodrigo stood up and bowed.

"You two bring more horses and gather strength, and return as soon as you have collected supplies and craftsmen, and do not delay." William nodded slightly to the two of them and said, "There is one more point, the sulfur and saltpeter nearby should be collected and brought back." ”

Both of them looked confused, and looked at each other, not knowing what His Highness William wanted for this sulfur and saltpeter.

"Faller, Rodrigo, you don't want to go!" Seeing that they looked ignorant, William immediately shouted loudly.

"Yes, yes, His Highness William (Young Master William)." The two were awakened by William's shout, and immediately ran out of the tent, summoning their respective light cavalry to prepare for Legler and Mortagneopes.

Osborne's butler, who was familiar with William, noticed that William's arrangement was unusual, so he asked, "Your Highness William, is there any way you can break the city?" ”

"Hahaha, Steward Osborne, please rest assured, I have already thought of a strategy to break the city, and you will know when the time comes." William said with a laugh.

Everyone was curious when they heard this, and they wanted to ask out loud but were blocked by William.