William's surprise attack on the city of Nice terrified the Genoese and the Lombards of Milan.

Previously, due to the Tuscan changes, Ezzo II could not decide whether to lead his troops to prevent Tuscany rebellion, or to send troops to block the Norman march first.

After all, Matilda, the Duchess of Tuscany, was William's future daughter-in-law, and the state government of the Duchy of Tuscany was also supported by the Normans.

However, what Ezzo II did not expect was that the seemingly powerful Duchy of Provence would be so vulnerable that it would not last more than a month under the command of the Normans before it was completely occupied by William's army.

What made him even more unable to sit still was that the Normans had no intention of stopping, and continued to attack the city of Nice without stopping, regardless of the treaty with the Genoese and the threat of the Duchy of Barcelona.

Previously, Ezzo II had high expectations for Barcelona, because this vassal state was instigated by him to take the opportunity to attack Toulouse, France, but what he didn't know was that the Duchy of Barcelona, which originally intended to flank William's flank, actually ran headlong into the First Army led by the Duchy of Hubert and the powerful Anjou knights.

After being beaten by the Duke of Hubert's troops, the Duke of Barcelona retreated with his troops, trying to take advantage of the geographical advantage of the Pyrenees to defend against the Normans, and make them retreat.

But even with the geographical advantage, the situation of the Duchy of Barcelona is not optimistic, and it can only be supported by the Duke of Hubert's army.

The Duchy of Barcelona was completely defeated, the city of Nice was in an emergency, and Ezzo II could not sit still, so he immediately gave up his plan to confront the Tuscans, and led more than 25,000 Lombard troops, together with the armies of Monferrato and Saluzzo, and galloped to the aid of the city of Nice.

Ezzo II seized the lands of the Duchy of Verona and Tyrol in the Italian War of Independence, nearly doubling the size of his territory, and his military power also skyrocketed to 30,000 men.

Needless to say, the city of Nice, located on the southwestern edge of the Alps and bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the south, was the only way for the Kingdom of France to pass through Italy, and if the city of Nice was lost, it would mean that the Normans would be in a strategic position to attack and defend in this war.

In order to get it, William did not hesitate to break the contract with the Genoese and did not declare war, and Ezzo II also did his best to protect the city of Nice, not only took out most of the mobile forces in his hands, contacted the surrounding Monferrato and Saluzzo, but also sent people to persuade the Duke of Savoy to threaten William's flank and material supply lines from the flank.

The condition that Ezzo II made to the Duke of Savoy was to support him in taking the city of Nice after the battle, which was the only condition that could impress the Duke of Savoy.

The Duke of Savoy had already had ambitions for Nice, which was not only a strategic location, but also one of the busiest trading posts on the Mediterranean coast of Liguria, and the customs and commercial taxes collected from the city alone far exceeded the benefits that the Duke of Savoy received from his estates.

Historically, the city of Nice has been one of the focal points of contention between France and the Holy Roman Empire, and in the 13th and 14th centuries, Nice became the domain of the Dukes of Provence several times, and in 1388, the Dukes of Savoy.

In 1543, Nice was attacked by French and Turkish allies, and France took possession of Nice.

In 1600, Nice fell into the hands of the Duke of Guise, and in 1696 it was again in the possession of the Duke of Savoy, and in 1705 it was recaptured by France.

For the next two hundred years, Nice changed owners, and until 1860, Nice was still the western border of the Kingdom of Sardinia, and Garibaldi, one of the three founding heroes of Italy, was born in Nice.

In 1861, in order to win the support of the French Emperor Napoleon III in the war against the Austrian Empire, the Sardinian Prime Minister Count Cavour sacrificed his national interests and assigned the two territories of Savoy and Nice to France, and Nice became a French territory until today.

The fact that it was repeatedly contested by France and the Holy Roman Empire for hundreds of years shows that William and Ezzo II could not have taken Nice too seriously.

The attack of the Duchy of Savoy threatened William's supply lines along the Rhône, so he had to send his Ninth and Tenth Legions to Baldwin. Morality. Brionne

and Richard. Morality. The two led by Afros sniping Savoy's army.

After dividing the army of more than 20,000 men in two legions, William's forces at this time were only the First Guards Legion under his direct control, Rodrigo's Second Legion, the Duke of Richard's Fourth Legion, and Roger Lyric. Morality. Montgomery's Fifth Army, as well as the 50,000-strong Nordic Guard, were nearly half the 100,000-strong army he had led when he set out from Paris.

Although William's forces still had an advantage against the Lombards, the advantage was no longer overwhelming, after all, after the opposite Ezzo II had gathered many allies, his army had quickly skyrocketed to more than 38,000 people, among which the elite of the Lombard knights, Genoese crossbowmen and other troops were not inferior to the brave Norman knights.

To be honest, William really admired Ezzo II's skill, he was able to use diplomatic means to the extreme, by instigating the surrounding princes to oppose him, holding back nearly half of the troops in his hands, and then completely reversing his absolute disadvantage, such a skill had to make William admire.

However, this is the end of Ezzo II's performance, William will not allow such a tyrant to survive in this world, in order to deal with him, William deliberately slowed down the attack on the city of Nice, but gathered his army and was ready to attack the Lombard coalition army that rushed to help.

The strategy of besieging the city and sending reinforcements is not new, both in the east and in the west, there are abundant war benefits, but why can such a strategy be so successful? The key is that the side that implements the siege strategy is in a strategic position, William's attack on the city of Nice is the enemy's rescue, even if Ezzo II perceives the trap set by William, in order not to fall into the hands of the enemy, he has to lead troops to the rescue.