"Report! Lord Duke, the Norman army has appeared in the banner of King William! The knight fell to his knees and reported aloud to Ezzo II.

Ezzo II looked ahead when he heard this, and sure enough, the heraldic banner of the Norman king William appeared on the Norman front outside the castle of Monaco, and when this unheard-of complex heraldic banner appeared, it meant that William had been on the battlefield.

At the same time, Ezzo II discovered the presence of a large number of well-armed Guards in the Norman ranks, and these Guards were different from the ordinary Norman Knights, who were equipped with the same standard of full-body plate armor. The plate armor on the Guards Knights not only focuses on defense, the shiny and smooth armor is tightly sealed, leaving almost no gaps, and it is difficult for ordinary swords to hurt the body under the protection of the plate armor, in addition, the plate armor of the Guards Knights pays more attention to beauty, because this unit is not only William's personal guard, but also his honor guard.

The Knights of the Guards were none other than one of the best in the Norman kingdom, and although the conditions of the Monaco battlefield were not suitable for charging on horseback, forcing them to abandon their beloved horses and companions in battle with swords and iris shields, this did not affect their combat prowess in the slightest.

As soon as they appeared, they immediately detonated the morale of all the Norman soldiers present, and with the Knights of the Guards leading the charge, the Normans quickly broke through the first line of the Lombards, and plunged into the Lombard army like an awl.

On the other side, a Guards phalanx infantry appeared on the left flank of the Normans was even more surprising to Ezzo II, accompanied by a thunderous dense roar, they appeared in a tight formation on the left flank battlefield, every time this force emitted a dense thunder, countless dazzling sparks and gray-white smoke appeared, and his soldiers fell in response to the moment the thunder appeared, almost without contact.

"It's a small hand-held artillery, and it's these weapons that kill my brave soldiers!" Although Ezzo II did not know the exact appearance of this weapon, he knew only by observation how the musket killed the distance of his soldiers.

"There is even a dense phalanx of spears as cover! The guy who came up with this phalanx tactic is really evil-hearted. "Ezzo II watched as his few columns broke through the network of musketeers and approached the enemy line, but they were blocked by the pikemen, the dense stabbing of the spearmen, and the close fire of the musketeers, which in an instant eliminated the Lombard soldiers who were approaching the large phalanx of the guards.

"We can't go on like this, without the cover of long-range firepower, the soldiers under my command will not be able to break through the Norman firepower network at all, and let my soldiers rush forward can only be sent to death in vain." Ezzo II clenched the hilt of his sword in his hand and gritted his teeth.

At this time, most of his troops were sent out, leaving only his own knights, and the only Genoese allies who had not yet been used, the most elite archers, Genoese crossbowmen.

The Genoese crossbowmen were the only ranged troops other than the English longbowmen who were not made up of peasants, and were trained by Italian mercenaries and had more training, discipline, and equipment than the average peasant archer.

Although the Genoese crossbowmen did not leave a famous name in history like the English longbowmen, in fact, the fighting power of the Genoese crossbowmen was not weaker than the English longbowmen, and the fundamental reason why the Genoese crossbowmen were unfortunately defeated by the English longbowmen in the famous Battle of Cressy was that there was a pig teammate - the French heavy armor knight who charged and trampled on his comrades.

During the long wars of the Middle Ages, Genoese crossbowmen were often present in all corners of the battlefield, as no single unit could exist, even if they were the famous Varangian Guard, the Knights Templar, the Knights Hospitaller, and the Teutonic Knights.

Of course, Genoese crossbowmen are not without shortcomings, they have played, and the crossbowmen have played all battles and know that it is not easy to cooperate tactically, so the role of Genoese crossbowmen is mainly to harass in the early stage, or to defend against the enemy's long-range troops.

In the face of the Normans' menacing musket phalanx, the Genoese crossbowmen were able to play their part.

"Your Excellency Governor Manfrido, please order your Genoese crossbowmen to attack, there are a large number of shooters armed with small artillery on the left flank of the Normans, and Genoese crossbowmen need to go and suppress them." Ezzo II arrived at the garrison of the Republic of Genoa and met with Governor Manfrido.

"It is incumbent upon us, Your Excellency, the Normans are our mortal enemies, and if the need arises, we will go to the soup and fight the fire." Governor Manfrido did not hesitate for a moment, and immediately nodded in response, knowing very well that now was not the time to make calculations and preserve his strength, and that if the Normans could not be defeated at Monaco and forced to abandon their coveting of Nice and Italy, the venerable Republic of Genoa would also suffer a catastrophe.

"Thank you very much, I look forward to your performance!" Ezzo II smiled approvingly.

At the urging of Governor Manfrido, the Genoese crossbowmen marched forward with crossbows and shields, accompanied by Italian light infantry, Italian spearmen, heavily armed chivalrous knights, and feudal warriors.

The Genoese legion, which numbered as many as 8,000 men, had only joined the Lombard coalition at a later date, and had not been damaged in the slightest, so its morale was extremely high.

The Genoese legions soon entered the battlefield and immediately took the place of the Lombards on the right flank, beginning with a standoff between the newly emerged Norman Guards phalanx.

In the beginning, the Genoese crossbowmen did have a lot of advantages, first of all, they erected the infantry shields behind their backs on the ground in the line, which could not only defend against arrow attacks, but also provide support for the crossbowmen when firing crossbow arrows, improving accuracy.

Although the large shields erected on the ground by the Genoese crossbowmen did not protect against the more powerful muskets, they were a very effective defense against the longbow and crossbow, which the Genoese crossbowmen used to defend against stray arrows from the front, allowing them to concentrate on winding and aiming the crossbow in their hands.

The Genoese crossbowmen did have a long range, good accuracy and power, and had good lethality against leather, chain mail, and early plate armor, but against Norman musketeers wearing curved breastplate armor and wide-brimmed iron helmets, the Genoese crossbowmen were somewhat less lethal.

On the battlefield, when a crossbow bolt hits a Norman musketeer, the curved surface of his plate armor slides away from the arrow, while the musketeers shoot lead bullets that kill them in one hit.