However, a week or so, less than three days after William had occupied the county of the Counts of Boulogne, the Duke of Flanders sent an envoy to sue for peace.

"Your Excellency, my master, Duke Baldwin V of Flanders, sincerely apologizes to you, and begs you to withdraw from the Duchy of Flanders with your troops." The emissary with round hat hair and a thin face respectfully pleaded with William.

"As a token of his apologies to you, the Duke of Flanders is willing to give you three of his favorite horses, a duke's chariot and a golden tiara made for you." As he spoke, he took out a gift slip, held it up respectfully above his head, and walked slowly with his steps, intending to present it to William.

William, who was seated on the throne, waved his hand expressionlessly, ordered the guards in the hall to block him, and laughed: "This is Duke Baldwin's sincerity?" These flashy objects are of no use to me. ”

William waved his hand disdainfully, stared at the messenger with wide eyes, and shouted, "Is this the sincerity of Duke Baldwin?" Could it be that he took advantage of the fire to plunder, to invade the territory of the Duchy of Normandy, and to attack our army without declaring war, and that could be lightly uncovered by this little flashy gift and a little apology? No, never! ”

William slammed the back of his chair with his right hand, looked around at everyone, and said to the noble generals present: "The dignity of the Normans must not be insulted, the territory of the Normans must not be trampled on, and the blood of the Normans must not be shed in vain.

Warriors, it's time to march on Bruges and take revenge.

Now that the main army of the Duchy of Flanders has been wiped out, this rich principality has no power left to protect itself, it is like a weak maiden with open clothes, ready to be ravaged by us.

March into Flanders, march into Bruges, and we will capture Duke Baldwin and bring him back to Normandy, and take all the wealth and territory of the Duchy of Flanders, which I will share with you. ”

"Oh! ... Oh! ... Oh! ...”

"Oh! ... Oh! ...”

The noble generals present raised their swords in their hands and let out a continuous cheer, and the naked desire that flashed in their eyes made the Flemish messenger feel palpitations.

Poof...

The messenger of Flanders sat down on the ground with a puff, his face showing a look of fear, and he pointed with his right hand at William and the nobles present, and muttered, "You... You... You..."

"Go back and tell Baldwin not to waste any effort here, and to show true sincerity if you want our understanding.

If he is sincere enough before our army arrives in Bruges, let him wait for the wrath of the Normans to come! William waved his hand and reprimanded, and then ordered the guards in the palace to drag the messenger out.

"No, you can't do that, the Flanders will not accept anyone's aggression, anyone who tries to invade Flanders will suffer defeat, please think twice....." Seeing that the Norman guards on both sides were about to drag him away, the emissary of the Duchy of Flanders wriggled and shouted to William.

"Noise! Drag it out. William was particularly annoying at this man who could not recognize reality, and ordered loudly with a wave of his right hand.

"Woo... Woooooo

The Flemish messenger was covered by the Norman guards, and he couldn't say any foul language, so he struggled helplessly and was dragged out of the main hall.

Finally, when the hall was cleared, William stood up, raised his right hand and pointed forward, and ordered: "Target Bruges, march!" ”

"Oh!"

"Long live the Duchy of Normandy! Long live Lord William! ”

"Long live the great Normans, the riches of the Duchy of Flanders are ours!"

"Whoa... Whoa..."

The cheers and howls were incessant, and they were all excited, this was the wealth of a principality, which could not be measured in any quantity, let alone the Principality of Flanders, which was known for its wealth, and the wealth they could grab was even more astronomical.

Although they had to share more than half of their wealth, the small amount of loot they received was enough for them and their families to spend a few lifetimes.

Raiding was a Norman specialty, it was in their nature, and they were descendants of the Vikings.

In the time of the Vikings, the Normans, led by William's ancestor Rollo, crossed the North Sea, plundering vast areas including England, France, and the Lowland Netherlands, and finally Charles the King of France at that time gave Rollo a vast area of the Seine Valley as a place for the Normans to live.

This is the origin of the Normans and the Duchy of Normandy, hence the adventurous and tyrannical nature that is inherent in the Normans.

Now this violent gene was stimulated by William, and William's army changed William's previous practice of not committing any offense against France, and carried out indiscriminate raiding of cities, estates, and villages along the way.

They took all the gold and silver treasures, all the grain and livestock, and anything of value, but they did not kill a single person indiscriminately under William's control.

After taking everything that could be taken, William ordered his soldiers to drive all the Flemish people out of the cities, estates, and villages, and set fire to the cities, estates, and villages where they lived, and then drove the inhabitants and serfs in the direction of Bruges.

In just a few days, the war had swept across the entire Duchy of Flanders, except for the counties of Bruges and the remote counties of Zeeland, which were deliberately spared by William, the rest of the counties such as Artois, Genie, Yplon and Gende were sacked by William's Norman army.

Thirty thousand Normans were entrenched on the border of the county of Bruges, and tens of millions of Flemish were driven by William to Bruges, leaving Alexander of Baldwin, Duke of Baldwin, trapped in the castle of Sreis.

With less than 7,000 direct troops in his hands, let alone dealing with William's Normandy army, he was not sure that he could hold them steady even the more than 100,000 refugees gathered outside the castle, not to mention the hundreds of thousands of refugees who were swarming behind them.

Desperate, yes, Duke Baldwin was desperate, for he found that there was already a wave of refugees organizing the refugees to attack the castle, and this group of people gathered more and more, and in three days there were tens of thousands.

While Duke Baldwin was struggling to hold on, a terrifying plague broke out in his castle, and for the past two days people have been harvesting humble lives from the scythe of death.

Duke Baldwin didn't think about it for long, and he made a difficult decision to surrender unconditionally to William, promising him all his conditions.