At this time, in the face of approaching mercenaries, a Norman archery with less than four hundred men played a crucial role.

In their hands they held a longbow of purple shirt with an arm of 1.69 meters, the string of which was made of linen, and the arrow they held in their hands had an arrow 3 inches long and 2 inches wide, with barbs, and an ash shaft, about 45 inches, or 1.125 meters long, and 1 inch in diameter.

From these descriptions, we can fully see that the world-famous English longbowmen of medieval England have begun to take shape, and their ancestors, Norman longbowmen, have fully met all the requirements of medieval English longbowmen, except for the shorter arm of the longbow.

In William's army, they were second only to heavy cavalry, equal to light cavalry and heavy infantry, and superior to spearmen and light infantry composed of tenant farmers.

Most of these Norman longbowmen wore lightweight, brightly colored cotton robes, and among them were about 80 elite Norman longbowmen wearing short-sleeved chain armor and Norman peaked helmets, and even some of these elite Norman longbowmen were equipped with horses, shields, and lances, and could be used as dragoons at any time to fight and pursue the remnants of the enemy.

"Norman longbowmen, shoot, give preference to chainmail-clad mercenaries as targets." Andrew standing on the tower. Dalton, loudly commanding nearly four hundred Norman longbowmen on several towers, ordered.

With Andrew's order, nearly four hundred long arrows were thrown out of several towers, like meteors falling to the ground, and in an instant, bewitching blood-colored lotus flowers splashed among the group of mercenaries under the city.

Nearly 300 mercenaries lost their lives forever in this volley, and their cotton armor robes, or even short-sleeved chain armor, could not withstand the attack of long arrows from the volley.

Many of the three hundred dead and wounded mercenaries were mercenary officers and warriors wearing chain mail, most of whom were shot by the elite Norman longbowmen on the tower.

The mercenaries under the city were blinded by the powerful longbow firepower, and they were at a loss for a while, and without the organization of the mercenary officers, many mercenaries stayed in place in despair.

The leaders of the various mercenaries ordered the mercenaries: "Mercenaries, raise your shields, steady, steady... Don't be afraid, keep going. ”

Before the mercenaries could react, another wave of arrows poured down like a torrential rain, and when the mercenaries were unprepared, they shot into the mercenaries' bodies without hindrance, and the arrows mercilessly penetrated their chests by 6 inches.

As if erased by the hand of God, two or three hundred people disappeared from the world completely.

The mercenaries, who had learned two lessons, gathered under the organization of the leaders, staring at the big shield in their hands, and slowly moving forward next to each other.

In just six or seven seconds, the third wave of arrows came as scheduled, and they skillfully aimed at the mercenaries who did not raise their shields to form a formation, and unsurprisingly achieved the results of nearly two hundred people again.

So the fourth, fifth, sixth... As if endless, the Norman longbowmen fired nine salvos in a row, and although the effect of these salvos became weaker and weaker under the defense of the oak shield, with the addition of the previous three volleys, these nine shots killed more than a thousand mercenaries in total.

Seeing that the longbow shooting after him had little effect, Andrew waved his hand to the Norman longbowman and ordered: "Norman longbowman, stop shooting and rest in place." ”

Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, and shot nine times in a row with their longbows, and even their trained longbowmen found it a little difficult.

At that moment, there was a sound of footsteps on the stairs of the tower, and several Evre levies came to the longbowmen with barrels of salt water, fluffy white bread, and wine, and filled them with salt water and food so that they could recover as quickly as possible.

Without the fire of the Norman longbowmen, more than 3,700 mercenaries, at the cost of 200 lives, successfully filled the trench and reached a distance of 60 meters beyond the walls of the highland wooden fort.

At this time, without the threat of the Norman longbowmen, after talking about the trenches, the formation of the mercenaries had already loosened, and the oak round shield that had been held high in their hands was also relaxed.

Sir Hubert and Andrew observing the battle from the walls and towers of the wooden castle. Dalton captured the fighter almost at the same time, and gave the order to fire loudly.

In an instant, a black cloud composed of a thousand light javelins, wooden throwing spears and nearly 400 long arrows shrouded the heads of the mercenaries in this way, and shot at the fragile bodies of the mercenaries one after another.

Bang bang... Bang bang...

Syllable... Syllable...

Poof... Poof... Poof...

The sound of javelins and arrows striking the oak shield, the cracking of shields, and the sound of arrows throwing into the flesh were heard endlessly.

Hundreds of mercenaries immediately fell silent, and another hundred mercenaries were shot by arrows and did not die on the spot, letting out a terrifying scream.

At this moment, no matter how much the mercenary leaders shouted and coerced and lured, they could not make the frightened mercenaries regain the courage to continue attacking.

According to a rough count, at this time, there were nearly 5,000 mercenaries, but now there are less than 3,000 generals left, and they have lost nearly 1,800 people, and the casualty rate is about to reach 40 percent.

Behind the mercenaries, Sir Jonathan and Knight Tim were surprised by the sharpness of the Norman longbowmen in William's army, but they were unmoved, and instead directed the town militia to continue to press the mercenaries to attack the highwood fort.

The mercenaries, who had no choice, were forced to apologize behind them, and under the threat of dark clouds of arrows in front of them, they had to hold their oak shields with both hands and form a circle, trying to protect the small number of ladders and other siege equipment, and slowly moved towards the walls of the wooden castle.

Nearly six waves of fire, under the blows of throwing guns and long arrows, three or four hundred mercenaries had already fallen one after another on the way to attack the walls of the wooden fort.

Bang... Bang bang...

With a loud sound, more than a dozen ladders were lifted by the mercenaries against the wall of the wooden fort, and in the cheers of the mercenaries, the mercenaries raised their shields one after another and climbed up the ladders one by one.

At this time, the thousand or so soldiers on the city wall were in full swing, and instead of using long-range throwing guns, they carried stones weighing several pounds or even dozens of pounds, and smashed them down mercilessly.

The mercenaries who climbed the ladder halfway were unable to resist the sudden rockfall attack, and one by one they were smashed by stones like dumplings, and their heads were broken and bleeding, and they fell to the ground and died.

The Norman longbowmen on the tower rested for a moment, but they did not stop in their hands, each holding their longbow and aiming at the unsuspecting target.

Due to its condescending short-range direct shot, the long arrow with great energy can shatter the oak round shield with a single blow.