Before Caesar could turn to leave, Emma leaned over and said with a smile on her face: "His Royal Highness William, with the Pope's crown in hand, this is a strange commodity!" ”

"Emma, don't be rude!" Caesar turned to Emma and yelled.

Before Caesar could continue to preach, William came out and said, "Emma, you must have come here to talk about something, don't go around in circles with me!" ”

"Well, His Highness William. "Emma winked with a grin, looked at William and said, "Your Highness William, can you give me the characters of the Norman mercenary group that contacted my brother Drogo and Humphrey?" Caesar's brother goes to Rome to contact his brother William and organize soldiers to open the gates for you.

In this way, Caesar's brother and I will split up and not delay too long, lest the rebels in Rome find out and have enough time to mobilize their soldiers. ”

"Hmm." William dragged his chin with his right hand, pondered for a moment, looked at Emma with a hesitant expression and said, "Emma, I'm afraid that you will encounter danger if you act alone, maybe there will be a rebel knight of Cardinal Sipilen wandering here!" ”

"Thank you for your concern, His Highness William." Emma said confidently, "Don't underestimate me! Your Highness William, don't look at me as a woman, but I can defeat several Norman mercenaries by myself.

Not to mention, I am most familiar with the environment of Rome and southern Italy, and it would have been easy to get rid of the wandering knights of the Church! ”

"Emma, you just give me to stay by His Royal Highness William's side honestly, and I am not allowed to go anywhere!" Caesar couldn't see it and yelled at Emma.

Acting indifferent to Emma, Caesar only felt that his heart was so tired.

"Alright, Caesar, don't reprimand Emma again, since she has the heart to do this task well, you might as well give her a chance!" William raised his hand to stop Caesar.

"This—" Caesar hesitated at William's persuasion.

"Emma, since you took the initiative to ask for help, I will hand over to you the characters who contacted the Norman mercenary group! All the financial and material resources are yours, but you must bring more than a thousand Norman mercenaries outside of Rome to join our army within three days! William looked at Emma and said solemnly.

"Understood, Your Highness William, I will bring at least two thousand Norman mercenaries outside Rome within three days. Otherwise, I'm at your disposal! Emma smiled and looked at William's solemn promise.

William did not respond to Emma's last ambiguous words, but nodded slightly and said, "Caesar, Emma, each of you will set off with a ten-man cavalry squad. ”

"Yes, His Highness William!" Caesar and Emma replied in unison.

Seeing Caesar and Emma leave, William instructed Andrew to accompany him. Dalton was in charge of directing the army onward, turning the horse's head back into the middle of the ranks.

"Your Majesty!" William found His Majesty Benedict IX and immediately went forward to greet him.

"It turned out to be His Excellency Duke William." Benedict IX looked up at William and replied, holding a pair of dove breastplates as smooth as a mirror in his hand, and kept touching them, with a look of great interest, and said:

"This armor of yours is really good, I have tried to attack this plate armor called the dove breastplate with swords and arrows, but it has not left any traces."

"This dove breastplate is the armor of my realm's craftsmen, and only my own guards have it. If you like it, I'll give you this full-body plate armor set! William said generously.

"No, Lord William, I can't accept your gift plainly." Benedict IX shook his head and said, "I hope to order five hundred sets of full-body plate armor from you to arm my papal guard, the price is all to say!" ”

Driven out of Rome by Cardinal Sipelian and hunted down by rebellious church knights, Benedict IX felt the importance of having a loyal army at his disposal.

Therefore, seeing that William had such a good quality plate armor in his hand, he couldn't help but ask William to order plate armor.

"Of course there is no problem, Your Majesty, it just so happens that I still have two hundred sets of full-body plate armor in stock in my baggage convoy, which can be taken immediately by paying only one thousand pounds of silver, and in addition, the territory can also provide three hundred sets of such armor every month, which is also sold at the price of twenty pounds of silver." William immediately nodded in agreement.

"Very good, Your Excellency William, I have all three hundred sets of full-body plate armor per month, and I will deliver it at this price, and money is not a problem." Benedict IX said boldly.

William, of course, did not doubt the financial strength of the Holy See, after all, no one on the continent was exempt from the need to pay tithes to the Church.

Although most of these taxes were withheld by the local church, the tithes paid were still enormous.

"Your Majesty, are you going to recruit troops? I might be able to help. William, seeing Benedict IX's intentions, proposed, "There is an active mercenary regiment of Normans in Apulia, southern Italy, numbering about three thousand, and two noble knights under my command are among them.

This time, we have invited 1,000 to 2,000 Norman mercenaries to join us in our attack on the city of Rome and destroy the rebels, and our operation will be smoother with their participation. ”

"The Norman mercenary group of Apulia? I've heard of their names for a long time, and on the battlefields of southern Italy, this Norman mercenary group was hired by the Holy Roman Empire to defeat Byzantine legions repeatedly.

If they are willing to pledge their allegiance to me, I can give them the Dukedom of Apulia! When Benedict IX heard that the Norman mercenaries were willing to help him, he hurriedly and generously promised.

In fact, Benedict IX's canonization is just a name, in fact, the Apulian region was in the hands of Byzantium before, and now it is actually controlled by this Norman mercenary group, just in the name of a duke, it is indeed a good thing to let the powerful Norman mercenary group serve him.

"I thank you for your generosity for the Norman mercenary group in Apulia." William bowed to Pope Benedict IX.

"Your Excellency William, I have only thought about it, and with your 1,800 troops and 1,200 mercenaries alone, I am afraid that we will not be able to break through the city of Rome.

Although there were not many knights and troops of the Church stationed in the city of Rome, only about 2,000 people, if Sipi connected to the news, it would be easy to mobilize tens of thousands of troops, and we alone would not be able to defeat them! Benedict IX said in a worried tone, and then he proposed: "Why not go north and ask for the help of His Majesty Conrad II of the Holy Roman Empire?" ”

"Please rest assured, Your Majesty." William was relieved: "We will win the war and help you return to Rome!" ”