It was the middle of the night, when everyone was supposed to rest, but Henry I was still awake, and he looked at the map spread out in front of him, marked with red and blue marked blocks, and his mood was extremely excited.

He swiped his finger across the map, and on the old parchment was a map of the kingdom of France, and on the red side was William's Norman kingdom, which included all of the Duchy of Normandy, all of the Duchy of Brittany, most of the Duchy of Anjou, most of the Duchy of Flanders, and the county of Amiens-Wiissan.

The vast new kingdom was a daze, like a gathering over the head of France, with the Duchy of Flanders as its tail, Amiens-Wissan as its powerful hind limbs and claws, Evreux as its ventral chest, the Duchy of Normandy as its torso, Anjou as its front paws, and the Duchy of Brittany as its neck and head.

It was a bad feeling that Paris was sandwiched between the four claws of Paris, the capital of the Kingdom of France, where a large number of Norman armies were stationed in Amiens-Vissant and Anjou-Vendée, and that Paris was like a plaything in the hands of a dragon, with life and death in its hands.

Henry I's eyes narrowed slightly, looking at the blue-painted location on the map, and his eyes bloomed with a little confidence.

On the map, Paris, Orleans, Sens, Bourges, the Duchy of Champagne, the Duchy of Flanders, the Duchy of Burgundy, and the County of Tours encompass most of France, and are the center of the Kingdom of France.

Judging from the map, the factional forces he entangled this time are already equal to the strength of the Norman Kingdom, and in terms of heritage and potential, they have even surpassed, after all, these areas he refers to are the core of the Kingdom of France, and the areas occupied by the Norman Kingdom are not only strong in the Duchy of Normandy, but also the Duchy of Brittany is a remote place, and the Duchy of Flanders and the Duchy of Anjou have been at war for a long time, and these areas cannot provide soldiers and money to the Norman Kingdom, and even involve the energy of the Normans.

More territory meant that the Normans had to put more effort into it, recruit more officials to manage it, and send troops to maintain law and order.

Just look at the actions of the Normans in the past two years, and no matter how much the Norman kingdom's financial revenue has increased, as long as you look at how much the Norman army has not expanded in these years, it can be seen from Henry I that the Normans have not digested these newly occupied territories.

At this time, the Normans were very weak, and outsiders saw the Normans as very powerful, invincible, and occupied a large territory in northern France, but these territories did not provide much help to the Normans, but dragged them down.

'Strong on the outside, strong on the inside' is the best adjective that Henry I gave to the Normans.

However, even if his strength was restored and he united many nobles and princes, he still did not dare to act rashly, and the main forces of the three major legions in William's hands and the knights of Normandy were the objects he had always feared.

As long as William remained stationary and still stationed the main force of the legion in Normandy, Henry I could not help the other party.

Now it is good that this 'rat-eyed' William has rashly sent out the Second and Third Legions in order to conquer the barren lands of Ireland and Wales, and only the strongest First Legion and the Normandy knights remain in the Norman Kingdom.

What was even more surprising was that the news of the defeat of the Normans came from the battlefield in Ireland, the Irish expeditionary army was besieged in Dublin by the Irish and the Norse-Gaelics, and the Normans on the Welsh side were also in a stalemate and could not break through.

To this, Henry I just wanted to point at William's nose and laugh, 'Stupid, stupid! He wanted to laugh at William to vent the resentment he had accumulated over the years.

Thinking in his heart about the available troops of the anti-Norman faction this time, he, the king who occupied the three rich countdoms of Paris, Orleans and Sens, could send more than 12,000 troops, his direct subordinate Count of Bourges and Count of Tours could send more than 6,000 troops, the Duke of Champagne sent 8,000 troops, the Duke of Burgundy sent 7,000 troops, and the Duke of Flanders sent 5,000 troops, adding up to more than 38,000 people.

Compared with the previous war in which the glorious '100,000 army' attacked the Duchy of Normandy from all sides, the number of troops expected to be sent this time was more than half, but Henry I was more confident than ever, and he was able to defeat the Norman main force of the First Army with twice the strength of the army.

As for whether he could completely occupy the Norman kingdom and completely wipe out William and the Normans, Henry I did not dare to hope that he could completely destroy the other party with more than 38,000 troops in his hands, and his goal in this battle was not too high, as long as he eliminated the first legion of the main force of the Normans, it was enough to take back the county of Amiens-Wiesan and Anjou, Flanders and other places, and even only needed to recapture Amiens-Wiesan Henry I would stop.

This was not that Henry I was cowardly, but he was afraid of the Normans, and he never thought that the First Legion, which could annihilate as many as 18,000 troops with his own army, would be a good result to inflict heavy losses on this elite.

If William sent soldiers from other battlefields back to China, I am afraid that the situation on the battlefield would be reversed immediately, and with the Normans who needed all the troops to borrow troops, it was undoubtedly the next strategy to fight a protracted war with the other side.

After two years of preparation, the food and grass were ready, the soldiers were waiting for the day, the vassals and allies were also wiping their blades and ready to join the war, Henry I could be sure that the strength in his hands had almost recovered, and with the news that the Normans were trapped on the battlefield in Ireland, now was undoubtedly the best time for him to send troops to Normandy.

However, it was not all good news in his heart, his half-brother Robert, Duke of Burgundy, the prestigious Archbishop of Reims, and Ode of the Carolingian family, Count of Vimanduva.

First, Archbishop Reims received an edict from Pope Gregory VI ordering him not to join any of the forces and factions against the Normans, and not to participate in the war against the Normans.

The Archbishop of Reims and the Archdiocese of Reims had a significant influence in France, not only on the religious circles of the entire Kingdom of France, but also on the French nobility and princes.

On Christmas Day 498, Bishop Saint-Rémy presided over the baptism of the first king of the Franks, Crovy, in Reims, and since then it has become a sacred place for the coronation of successive French kings and the legal power of the French royal family, with 25 kings crowned here, all presided over by the Archbishop of Reims himself. The only exception was the coronation of the self-proclaimed emperor Napoleon at Notre-Dame. In honor of the baptism of Clovis by Bishop Saint-Rémy.

Reims Cathedral plays an important role in the history of France, no less important than Notre-Dame Cathedral. It was once the place where Clovis, the first king of France, was baptized, and from 1027 until the French Revolution, it was the place where almost every French king held their coronation. One of the most famous was the coronation of Charles VII by Joan of Arc in 1429.

In addition, the number of people who have served as Archbishops of Reims is not unusual, most of the time the Archbishop of Reims has been held by members of the Carolingian family, and even in 999, Archbishop Sylvester I of Reims was elected as the honorable pope.