The Spanish kingdoms have always had a tradition of seizing the throne with the power of his wife's succession, not to mention the recent William's father-in-law, Ferdinand I of Spain, who used his wife Leon Ali of Sancha, the eldest princess of the Kingdom of Turrias and the sister of King Bermudo III, to declare war on his monarch, King Bermudo III of León, and finally won the battle and seized the throne.

Not only Spain, but also other Western European countries have historically used their wives to claim the throne.

According to this line of thinking, it is indeed very likely that William will use his wife's claim to the throne to declare war on Castile, León and Garcia after the death of Ferdinand I the Great to seize the three crowns.

With William's current strength, it is more than enough to deal with his three unfinished brothers-in-law, Sancho, Alfonso and Garcia.

However, William did not intend to do it in the near future, on the one hand, he was not confident that he would be able to defeat the famous Ferdinand I in history, he did not want to fight an unprepared battle, and on the other hand, William did not want to lose the powerful ally of the Castilians, who would probably be disgusted by the Castils if he forced his way.

Now William is not in a hurry, he still has enough time to make arrangements, use interests to win over the Castile nobles, and wait for the opportunity to strike a blow.

The county of Zamora in the Kingdom of Castile was the domain of William's wife, Queen Ulraca, and the dowry of Ferdinand I to his daughter, as her husband, William had already sent his own team of nobles and bureaucrats to take over the castle and domain of Zamora, taking it under complete control.

The county of Zamora was William's frontier base in the Kingdom of Castile in Spain, and its importance was self-evident, so he not only invested a lot of money in building castles and trading stations here, but also used it as a base to send spies to win over and divide the Castile nobility.

The spies sent by William also had another important mission, that is, to find the savior and hero of Spain, the famous "Cid" of later generations, Rodrigo. Morality. Vival is Cid's name, a man who bears the same name as Duke Rodrigo under William.

Norman spies searched hard but found nothing, and they found Cid's father, Diego. Morality. Vival, but not Cid himself.

According to the information sent by the spy, Diego. Morality. Vivar had a son named Gonzalo. Morality. Vival, a very gifted child, William suspects Gonzalo is Cid.

With the idea that he would rather believe what he has than what he doesn't, William ordered the Norman nobles of Zamora to woo Diego. Morality. Vivar, and try to get them to come to England to play for him.

Diego. Morality. Vival was only a baron with a small territory in the county of Burgos, and he was not taken seriously in the court of Burgos, so it was not difficult to win over Diego's father.

William had received the news that Diego and his son were interested in coming to England to play for him, but they were hesitant to worry about his monarch, Ferdinand I.

William just smiled at this, this matter may be a little difficult for others, but for William, who is the son-in-law of Ferdinand I, it could not be easier.

He immediately sent a letter to Ferdinand I, asking him to serve him with some Castile nobles and help him train cavalry, including Diego and his sons.

William did need the help of the Castile to train his cavalry, especially the light cavalry, because the Norman cavalry was mostly heavy cavalry charging in the frontal battle, while the Norman light cavalry was not strong, and their cavalry was still trained in imitation of the Spanish light cavalry, and there were few of them.

The Spanish light cavalry was the strongest light cavalry in Western Europe, and in years of melee with the Moors, a large number of professional officers were trained. They are the clutch soldiers who can gather and disperse, do not move without seeing benefits, do not fight without seeing benefits, can be divided and combined, thousands of horses can be divided into hundreds of miles, march quickly, and secretly combine the way of the noble god speed.

When the territory is small, in the absence of enough space for light cavalry, heavy cavalry can indeed play an important role, but now William is the monarch of England and the Norman Kingdom, including England, Wales, Ireland and Normandy, the vast territory makes William's need for light cavalry more and more urgent.

......

"My Majesty, your courtier Ferdinand. Grylls came to meet him. Ferdinand, Earl of Lancaster, knelt down on one knee in front of William and said respectfully.

"Lord Earl, you have worked hard, what good news has you brought me lately?" William asked with a smile as he looked at Ferdinand, Earl of Lancaster.

The Earl of Ferdinand, who was assigned by William to help Prince Malcolm, son of the former King Duncan of Scotland, regain the throne, and he is currently leading a mercenary army of more than 6,000 men to fight the Scots.

"Your Majesty, since we landed in the Earldom of Galloway in Scotland at the beginning of May and gained a foothold, we have flanked MacPerth's army with the legions of Duke Hubert and Duke Rodrigo.

In this battle, our troops defeated MacPers and drove him to the Albani Highlands of Scotland.

Subsequently, our army took advantage of the situation to seize Lothian, Dunbar, Cumberland and other counties, forming a north-south confrontation with Macpeth. The Earl of Ferdinand stated to William:

"Your Majesty, please instruct us on what our army should do next."

William saw Count Ferdinand bow respectfully to him, and a smile appeared on his lips, and his favorite was a noble vassal like Ferdinand, Earl of Lancaster, who obeyed his duties and knew his position.

"Well done, Count Ferdinand, and I will reward you well when the war is over." William first complimented Ferdinand, and then instructed: "But then you need to maintain a confrontation with King Macpeth of Scotland, and you must not attack without permission." ”

"Your Majesty, why is this, please make it clear." Count Ferdinand asked again.

"Our purpose is not to help Prince Malcolm seize the throne, the Kingdom of Scotland will be in our pocket sooner or later, whether it is McSet or Malcolm is our opponent, so it is impossible for us to help Malcolm.

The confrontation between the north and the south is the best situation now, and neither side has the advantage that we want. William shook his head and explained.

Splitting the Scottish Kingdom is only the first step for William to conquer the Scottish Kingdom, and then he will continue to provoke the conflict between MacPace and Prince Malcolm, and make sure that the Scottish Kingdom will continue to fight and consume Scotland's strength.

During this time, William's army would take turns in battle, training the newly formed Fourth and Fifth Army Corps in a combat training manner.