The sound of sirens, horns, the crash of weapons and armor, the neighing of war horses, and the roars of noble officers resounded throughout the HRE Empire military camp.

At the end of dawn, they found an army of forty or fifty thousand Normans on the banks of the Maas River on their right, and their numbers were still increasing.

"It's too late, we've found out too late, and even if we're ready, we can't defeat the Normans." Henry III stood on the lookout tower in the camp, looked at the Norman position in front of him, shook his head and said.

"No, Your Majesty, we still have a chance, please allow me to lead an army to raid the Norman camp and defeat them while they are still on the ground." Duke Bernhard II of Saxony next to Henry III. Billunger pleaded.

"Lord Duke of Saxony, look at the wooden forts and trenches that the Normans have built on the banks of the Maas, they must be ready for a surprise attack, and if our army rushes into it, it will only be struck by their fortifications." Henry III shook his head and said.

"Your Majesty, that's what you said." The Duke of Saxony nodded in agreement: "Your Majesty, should the Duke of Meissen's army be recovered, one more force has a better chance of victory." ”

Obviously, even the mighty Duke of Saxony could not help but worry about the prospects of this battle, after all, he was deeply affected by the invincibility of the Normans.

"No, it's too late, the Duke of Meissen has been gone for three days, and the Normans on the other side are afraid that a decisive battle will be launched in the morning, and they will send a letter of war when you look at it." Emperor Henry III shook his head helplessly.

Sure enough, the Norman messenger priest Bohemond sent William a letter of war.

Looking at the departing back of the Norman envoy Priest Bohemond, the Duke of Saxony asked: "Your Majesty, it must be a Norman trick to fight a decisive battle with our army at noon, and our army is undoubtedly at a disadvantage because of the haste in its preparations. ”

"Our army is in a hurry, are the Normans not in a hurry, they still have to receive troops and supplies from the other side of the river one after another, and the enemy and us are at least equal in this regard.

Grant their request for war, and at least get the Normans out of that damned camp and fight us in a dignified manner.

I was worried that the Normans were cowering in the camp to confront our army, and they had done my thing in a decisive battle with our army. Emperor Henry III explained.

Indeed, if the Normans made up their minds to fight them when the supply of the rear route was cut off, it would definitely be themselves, not the Normans, who would suffer.

......

At eight o'clock in the morning, William and his Guards arrived at the camp on the south bank of the Maas River, as the last troops to cross the river.

Counting the previous arrivals, the Normans had gathered more than 60,000 troops on the south bank of the Maas River, and only about 5,000 remained near the north bank of the Maas River to guard the ships and some supplies.

"Your Majesty, have you really decided to fight to the death against the army of the HRE Empire at noon today?" Duke Richard stepped forward and asked.

Duke Richard was extremely reluctant to fight the army of the HRE Empire in such a hurry, and in his opinion, the real fighter plane was far from coming, and it was the best strategy to fight steadily.

"Lord Richard, the morale of our army is high, and it is just right to defeat the opponent in one go." William smiled and said: "What's more, the alliance army of the HRE Empire is not as strong as you think, only a small number of German knights, professional soldiers, and mercenaries of their 70,000 army have the combat strength to rival my Normans, while the remaining soldiers are vulnerable conscripts and militias."

And most of the more than 60,000 men in our army are well-trained, well-equipped, and valiant standing soldiers, and the number of knights is equal, I can't think of anything that can fail. ”

Duke Richard thought about it, and also felt that William's words were reasonable, maybe he was too conservative.

After convincing the Duke of Richard, William once again devoted himself to the intense preparation for the battle, and there were only three or four hours left before the agreed decisive battle.

The time he chose for the decisive battle was at noon, which was so old and very vicious that if the soldiers on both sides looked at the sky, they would not be able to open their eyes at all.

The noon period was very advantageous for the Normans, first of all, there were nearly 10,000 Norman longbowmen in the Norman army who were good at long-range projectiles, and if the soldiers of the HRE Empire could not observe the timing of the longbow projectile due to the direct sunlight, then it would be difficult for the HRE army to defend against the arrow rain of Norman longbowmen.

And always holding a shield and worrying about the rain of arrows falling from time to time in the sky, and facing the Norman infantry army attacking from the front and flank, this will undoubtedly consume a lot of physical strength and energy of the enemy, and they will be weaker than the Normans without fighting.

On the other hand, the Norman armor was a mirror plate armor that reflected a dazzling light under the direct midday sun, which would undoubtedly affect the sight of the soldiers of the HRE Empire, which would have a great impact on the battle.

However, the Normans were not affected at all, because most of the soldiers on the side of the HRE Empire were still wearing leather armor and chain mail, and they were wearing burqas on the outside, so the light reflected in this would not affect the Normans' vision at all.

This plus and minus was enough to offset the strength advantage of the HRE Empire's army, allowing William to have the upper hand in the decisive battle.

......

Near noon, the Normans and the army of the HRE Empire, who had had lunch in advance, officially stepped into the agreed decisive battle.

The decisive battle took place on the south bank of the Maas River, and William's side faced off against the oncoming HRE coalition forces from the south against the Maas River.

Although the ground on the south bank of the Maas River was relatively soft and unsuitable for cavalry excitation, because of the cover of the Maas River and what kind of warships, the Normans did not need to worry about being detoured by the Shinra Empire, and only had to concentrate on frontal combat.

At the front were the most powerful Norman hoplites in the army with swords and shields, and behind them and on either side were Norman pikemen in half-body cuirasses, who relied on each other to form a formation, and could exert a combat power that was far greater than two.

In the gaps between formations, crossbowmen with crossbows are placed, who are responsible for close-range fire cover and kill and wound enemy soldiers when they are unprepared in a melee.

After that, there are militiamen, mercenaries, levies, and noble vassals in leather armor, old-fashioned chain mail, and cotton armor, who mainly act as a supplement to the main force in the front, and if something happens in front of them, they need to quickly fill the gaps in the formation.

The proud longbowmen of the Normans were ready, and they were placed in front of the whole army, raining arrows on the approaching HRE army under the cover of horses and trench stakes.