Harold's decision was also linked to his analysis of the current situation. According to simple intelligence, the Norman army was not as large as the northern princes, the Duke of Mercia and Northumbria, and the Godwin army heading south could also be supported by Harold's two brothers, the Earls of Gus and Leofwyn, which also helped to reduce the disadvantage. What's more, the Goldwin's army had already defeated Edward the Confessor's army at the Battle of Reading in Oxford and besieged the city of London, so Harold also had confidence in Godwin's army's fighting power.

On 2 June, Harold led an army of about 12,000 men with 6,000 troops from the East Anglia Regiment and some of the Dexters and Oxford Regiments, totaling about 12,000 men, at a rate of 40 miles a day. They rendezvoused at Lambeth in Sully on 6 June with more than 4,000 reinforcements from Leofwin, Earl of Kent, and Surrey, and Earl Giles of Sussex.

In this way, Harold, who had more than 17,000 troops, was able to fight for more than 17,000 troops. Godwinson was already on par with William who landed, and with the fact that he was fighting on home, he had a geographical advantage, so in general, Harold considered himself the dominant side.

On 12 June, Harold led his army to Hastings, determined to fight William to the death.

The Saxons, who faced a strong enemy, have always had a good habit of sneak attacks.

On June 13, Harold led the LinkedIn Army to camp at Mount Senlack, a few miles north of Hastings. Harold hoped to raid the Norman camp on horseback early the next morning in order to get ahead of the crowd.

However, William's reconnaissance team discovered Harold's attempt on the night of the 13th. After hearing the news, William also immediately took countermeasures. He led his army to quietly leave the original camp at night and set up a camp on a hill south of the British camp. In this way, the Normans could take advantage of the terrain to launch a charge and break the British line in one fell swoop.

At dawn on the 14th, Harold realized that his tactics had been seen through and he had lost the initiative. As a result, they were forced to engage in a defensive battle against their will. Since the British horses were kept hundreds of meters behind the position, there was no time to ride at this time. He then ordered the whole army to enter the battlefield and form a narrow defensive line with a shield wall.

After the formation was completed, Harold took command of the Chinese army and strictly ordered the whole army not to act rashly. For him, the primary strategic goal was to prevent the frontal breakthrough of his own front. At the same time, it was necessary to protect both flanks from the roundabout attacks of the Norman cavalry, and drag William into the quagmire of a protracted battle as much as possible.

William effortlessly assembled an army of about 18,000 men, who gathered under William's banner, which gave William's army the upper hand in numbers.

On the other hand, the army of the Godwin family is slightly inferior in terms of the number of troops, and there is a clear gap in the quality of the army.

In addition to the superiority in numbers, William's synthetic army was qualitatively superior to Harold's army of pure infantry, with large cavalry and archers, as well as a large number of heavy infantry, pikemen, and light infantry, all of whom were professional soldiers from Brittany, Anjou, Flanders, and Normandy. Even the militia units with the weakest combat effectiveness have strong combat ability and discipline because of regular training throughout the year.

Despite Harold's heavily armed Guard, the Viking mercenaries wielding two-handed battle axes are extremely combative. But they numbered only about 1,500 people, and had just survived a series of wars with King Edward.

The large number of civilian troops that made up the bulk of the English army, although brave in battle, lacked discipline and training, and did not have the weapons and necessary armor to resist cavalry. The refusal of the northern princes to join the war also left Harold's entire army without cavalry, and even archers were very few.

In contrast, William's army consisted of heavily armed professional troops, mercenaries, and standing militia. The infantry, cavalry, and long-range divisions of this army were evenly distributed, with heavy infantry and heavy cavalry wearing platemail, chain mail, or scale armor, and iron helmets, with the exception of helmet-only crossbowmen.

Unlike most of the English infantry, which used round shields, the Norman infantry and cavalry used iris shields with a much larger protective area. The melee weapons of the Norman soldiers were not much different from those of the English, except that they did not use bulky Viking battle axes. It can be said that in terms of the size and composition of the army, Harold was already at a disadvantage before the war began.

On the morning of 14 June, William spread out his army in front of the English army, which numbered as many Norman troops as the British army, including William's own Norman legion, knightly legions, standing militia, mercenaries, professional soldiers and adventurers from France, Spain, and even Norman pirates from Italy.

William, full of self-confidence, also began his deployment: on the left flank was the Norman Knights led by the Count of Richard and some of the standing militia of 5,000 men, in the center was the Norman Guards Regiment led by William himself of 8,000 men, and on the right flank was another Norman Knights led by Andreb, mercenaries and militia units of 5,000 men.

The troops on each flank were divided into three lines according to typical Roman tactics: the first line was for crossbowmen, the second line was for heavily armed heavy infantry, and the heavy cavalry was placed on the third line.

William's plan was to first use the crossbowmen's volleys to disrupt the opponent's formation, and then use the advantage of cavalry to quickly break through the defensive line and take Harold's central army directly, ending the battle in a short time.

William is extremely confident in his own longbowmen, and the Norman longbowmen have played an irreplaceable role in several major battles, and they are definitely the main force on the battlefield, and the rain of arrows is definitely a nightmare for the enemy.

He was even more confident that the Norman knights were the most powerful cavalry in Europe, whether it was a feudal knight or a gendarmerie directly under the legion, they all possessed the best equipment and discipline in Europe, and there was no shortage of courage and combat effectiveness.

If the longbowmen and cavalry were the swords in William's hands, then the Norman heavy infantry, pikemen, and light infantry were the strongest shields in his hands, and they were the best choice for the battle line.

Each of the three legions on the left, center, and right consisted of infantry, cavalry, and archers, as well as crossbowmen. At the beginning of the battle, archers and crossbowmen were at the forefront of the battle formation.

At nine o'clock on June 14, 1044, the battle officially began. William first commanded the crossbowmen to fire arrows at the British positions, and then led the melee troops forward.

"Andrew, you have a lot of experience in leading archers and crossbowmen, and I order you to lead the front row of longbowmen and crossbowmen to fire arrows at the British positions. To ensure that the enemy formation is disrupted and the British shield wall is broken, it will be the greatest obstacle to our attack. William summoned Earl Andrew and ordered.