On June 1, 1044, at the Pevensey Landing Ground in Kent, on the south coast of England, the Norman expeditionary corps had been loaded and unloaded, and William was leading his soldiers to begin camping.

"Your Majesty, what are you going to do next?" The Earl of Richard stepped forward, walked side by side with William, and asked.

"And what is your suggestion, Count Richard? Maybe it will give me some good inspiration. William did not answer immediately, but looked at Count Richard and asked.

"Back to Your Majesty, our army should immediately occupy Port Dover and the surrounding area and build a military castle for defense, only then can we gain a firm foothold in England, otherwise the supplies carried by our army alone will not be able to be loaded and unloaded ashore, which will greatly affect the combat effectiveness of our army." The Count of Richard spoke eloquently about his thoughts.

"The Port of Dover..... It was indeed a good choice, and to ship all the ordnance, grain, and grass of the 18,000 army ashore, a good port was indeed needed. Moreover, if our army wants to continue to fight in the Kingdom of England, it really needs a port that can communicate between England and the Norman Kingdom to ensure that our army will not be short of supplies. William groaned slightly, nodded, but shook his head halfway through and said:

"The Port of Dover does need to be occupied, and in order to prevent those who come after me from landing in the Port of Dover, I will also occupy the Port of Dover and build a castle there, but not now.

The landing sites of our troops, Pevensey and the port of Dover, are at least a day's journey away, and now the situation is changing rapidly, and no time can be wasted. ”

As he spoke, William stretched out his right hand and pointed to Hastings, a few kilometers to the east, and said, "Hastings Harbour, six kilometers away from here, is a good choice. ”

Hastings, also known as the Strait of Dover. The city was built on rolling woodland along the seashore. The east coast has cliffs 122 meters above sea level. Population 74,000 (1981). It covers an area of 30 square kilometers. Since the 19th century, it has developed into a famous tourist city and a summer resort. Hastings gets its name from a battle in Normandy in October 1066, where King Harold and Duke William fought a fierce battle. Since then, the place has become famous for this famous battle. But before this battle, Hastings was already a thriving fishing port.

The port of Hastings was fully capable of accommodating William's convoy of transports to load and unload men and supplies, and the conditions of the port were not much worse than that of the port of Dover, but the advantage was that it was close to the landing site of Pevensy, and William could move to Hastings in a day and still have room to build the fortifications of the castle.

"What do you think, Count Andrew?" William turned to Earl Andrew again, looking at the former commander of the Guards Brigade and the current mercenary and militia commander.

"Your decision is wise, my majesty." Earl Andrew bowed in convincing.

"Very well, since everyone agrees, then follow my orders, and the whole army will set off for Hastings, and then build a fortress and load and unload supplies."

"Yes..." "Yes..."

The two stroked their chests and saluted, in response.

He then moved his army to Hastings, a few miles east of Pevensy. This move also reflected William's military qualities: Hastings was able to provide better anchorage for ships and ensure the shortest route home for the Norman army.

The ruins of a Roman castle near Hastings, which, when fortified, would become a solid bulwark to cover the Norman army.

Hastings itself was the terminus of the southern road, the route through which Harold's army marched south. The Norman army was able to wait for a while.

These three advantages are important reasons why William chose Hastings as the anchorage for his ships.

The Normans began their camp for Hastings at about eight o'clock in the morning, and at about eleven o'clock in the afternoon, our army finally arrived in Hastings.

William observed the situation of the army, and saw that his army was in an orderly formation, and only a little bit of the formation had returned to its previous neat appearance, and he was quite satisfied with the elite of the Normans.

Subsequently, the army was divided into two parts, one led by the Count of Richard, who was responsible for fortifying the ruins of a Roman castle not far away, quickly reinforcing and building a strong fortress on the basis of the Roman castle, and stationing troops in the castle, which would become a solid bulwark to cover the Norman army.

The other force, led by Earl Andrew, included most of the militia units, and his task was to assist in loading and unloading cargo from transport ships, a job that Earl Andrew, with his extensive experience in logistics, was able to do with ease.

With Hastings' geographical advantage, the Norman army was able to sit at ease, but this did not satisfy William. He knew very well that if his troops were away from Normandy for too long, he was afraid that his enemies would have bad intentions for the Norman kingdom, and if they could not fight quickly, the battle would be more favorable to the defender Harold.

What's more, William was worried that if he couldn't win a quick victory, he would wait for the Duke of Mercia and the army of the Northumbria proclamation to rush to London to join Edward the Confessor, even if William defeated Harold's legion or even wiped out the Godwin family, there was no way to bargain for Edward, who had the support of the two principalities of Mercia and Northumbria, let alone how to carry out his plan to blackmail the Son of Heaven to order the princes.

So, William decided to take steps to force Harold to play as soon as possible. To accomplish this, the Norman army destroyed more than two dozen villages near Hastings and oppressed the surrounding population.

Sure enough, the news that the Norman army had landed and plundered near Hastings was extremely disturbing to Harold. When Harold got the news on 1 June, he immediately moved south from London to meet William.

Harold had a better option than a quick one. He could have rested in London, waiting for reinforcements to come and maneuver, and had a fortified approach in the south of England. At that time, Alfred the Great used the fortress system to fight back against the Viking invaders.

However, Harold did not have the conditions and ability to adopt this tactic, and at this time, the fortress defense system in England was completely weakened, the local troops were weakly garrisoned, and Harold, who had little prestige, could not command the local lords to coordinate the battle.

Perhaps Harold's father, Earl. Godwin was in charge of leading the army, and had a certain advantage in commanding the local lords and local garrisons, but that was all, the local Anglo-Saxons hated the Godwins very much, and regarded them as Anglo-Saxon traitors, in their opinion, the Godwins were able to achieve their current glory by selling the interests of England to the Danes.

In addition, William's destruction of the southern part of England will also greatly affect the loyalty of the local population. Therefore, Harold chose a quick fix, as William had expected.

Originally, Harold undoubtedly made a wrong decision, he did not need to fight with the Normans quickly, just patiently wait for his own forces to gradually gather to surpass the other party in terms of troops, not to mention that the Normans are fighting in a different place, both in terms of logistics and geography are greatly restricted, and there may even be disease attrition and water and soil adaptation, the longer it drags on, the better it is for Harold.