William is also helpless when this happens, thinking that he knows history well and can manipulate it at will, but the development of things is often unexpected.

It stands to reason that the previous Pope, Benedict IX and William, had a good relationship and should support each other, but surprisingly, Benedict IX got into a fight with the Normans in Apulia after his strength swelled with William's support.

At that time, William also sensed that Benedict IX had other intentions, and he could no longer be close to him, so William made two preparations and took the opportunity to support the new pope.

What happened later was also surprising, William only authorized Osborne's steward to take full control of Rome's affairs, and as a result, Osborne's steward took advantage of all the favorable conditions to successfully put William's chosen candidate for the papal presidency on the throne.

This pope is the current Pope Gregory VI, a pope who has made great achievements in reforming the work of the Holy See.

William had a close relationship with Gregory VI, providing the Pope with various military and financial aids, acting as allies of his secular aristocracy, and in exchange for political and suzerainty support from the Pope, who was able to be proclaimed heir to the throne of England by the Council of the Magi.

However, Gregory VI's papacy had not been held for a few years before his two challengers, Pope Benedict IX of the Tostrani family and another abdicated Pope Sylvester III, jumped out and declared themselves legitimate popes and did not recognize Gregory VI.

In the north, King Henry III of Germany, the son of Conrad III, the son of the eagle-serving princes, had his eye on Rome, and he was thinking day and night to recreate the great deeds of his father Conrad III and successive Holy Roman Emperors, march to Rome and be crowned Emperor.

At the same time, Gregory VI, who was ambitious, wanted nothing more than to take back the bishopric from the princes and kings.

As a result, Gregory VI and Henry III inevitably contradicted each other.

The historical confrontation between the three popes took place at the end of 1046, and now this historical time has been mentioned for more than a year.

Although William made many efforts to avoid the historical events of the confrontation between the three popes, it still inevitably happened.

Sure enough, the general trend of history cannot be changed by him alone, perhaps William has changed this historical event a lot, but with the strength and fame in his hands, he can't compare with the HRE Emperor Henry III, and there is still very little he can do.

Two weeks later, William finally waited for the Pope's envoy, Hilbudran, the Pope's secretary and the papal priest, the people with whom His Majesty had worked and whom he trusted most.

Gregory VI sent such a heavyweight that it was impossible for William not to want to get involved, he was ready for it.

In fact, William was not optimistic about the future of Gregory VI, and against Henry III, the most powerful emperor of the Franconian dynasty of the Holy Roman Empire, plus there were two opposing popes who dragged his feet, Gregory VI was already very good if he could save his life, where could he talk about how much help William could have?

Therefore, William had decided to abandon Gregory VI and choose one of the cardinals of the Holy See as a new supporter.

"Honorable all Normans, His Majesty King William I, Priest Hildebrand Reformation Your Majesty the Pope with sincere greetings." Hildebrand, a papal secretary and priest, was very young but in a high position, and was deeply trusted by the pope, but he did not have the slightest arrogance, and he looked respectful and polite to William, which really surprised me.

"Good day, Priest Hildebrand, and I ask you to convey on my behalf my greetings to His Majesty the Pope." William replied with a smile out of courtesy.

After the courtesy exchange, William did not say a word about Adelaide's divorce from the exile Edward, and did not offer to help the Holy See I, it is clear that William wanted to sit on the sidelines and not want to lend a helping hand to his ally Gregory VI.

"His Majesty William I, there is a question about your sister Adelaide, de. His Majesty the Pope has agreed to the divorce of Edward, an exile of the Prince of Normandy and England, and this is a decree issued by His Majesty, that I will declare in public the marriage of Adelaide and Prince Edward. Seeing that William had no intention of rescuing, Hildebrand had no choice but to play his cards out of common sense and decided to make this edict public instead of cooperating with William.

As soon as Hildebrand read the edict in public, the Normandy royal family would be rebuked, and William's prestige would be greatly damaged if he did not agree to send troops.

Sure enough, William chose to compromise, the hero did not suffer immediate losses, he did not want to make a big fuss and make the Normandy family a laughing stock in Europe.

"Priest Hildebrand, I will send ten thousand soldiers to Italy to aid you, and I will also send a fleet to harass Henry III to ease your military pressure."

William didn't say whether the 10,000 troops were regular legions or mercenaries and militiamen, he didn't want the Normans to fight for others, as for agreeing to send a fleet, he didn't say that he was going to land and attack the coastal territories of the Holy Roman Empire, he still wanted to keep peace with Henry III.

"Thank you very much, Your Majesty. I will personally preside over the divorce of Princess Adelaide and Prince Edward. No mistakes are guaranteed. Hildebrand respectfully stroked his chest and bowed, "I don't know when you are going to send troops to support, His Majesty the Pope is now anxiously waiting for your support." ”

"Don't worry, Hildebrandt, as long as you do what you have to do, I will immediately send an army back to Rome with you." William nodded in promise.

A force of 10,000 people is not a small number, and William is unwilling to let the elite Norman elite go to Rome to die, and William can only choose to recruit a mercenary to replace this army.

William's army originally had a large number of mercenaries, all of whom were thousands of mercenaries who had not been disbanded since the last expedition to Rome, and they all signed a lifetime employment contract with William and became William's mercenaries for life.

As long as William selects a mercenary group from among the lifelong mercenaries and uses it as the backbone to form a support army, he can surrender to the other party.

The next day, in Winchester Cathedral, the papal secretary and priest Hildebrand, with the Pope's decree, summoned the city's religious figures, the Norman nobles and the couple of Adelaide and the exile Edward......