What happened in Rome was due to the backward means of communication in the Middle Ages, and the transmission of information had to rely on men, horses, carriages and ships, so until the beginning of July, William did not receive any news of the deposition of the three popes by the HRE Emperor Henry III and the establishment of Clement II, and his attention was still focused on the northern princes who were gathering a large army.

Unlike William's centralized rule in the Norman Kingdom and the Duchy of Wessex, the Northern Princes' faction is an alliance of princes formed under William's pressure, so their army mobilization ability and speed cannot be compared with William's, even if they mobilize nearly half a month in advance, there are still a small half of the army that has not been assembled, and the troops of Warwickshire and Leicestershire gathered in the Duchy of Mercia are less than 30,000 people.

At this time, in addition to the subsequent feudal knights, civilian armies and mercenaries, William's Guards Legion, the First Legion and the Second Legion had already been assembled in place.

It was a very good time, William's army was not much different from the other side, and although the Guards and most of the 2nd and 3rd Legions combined were smaller than the combined forces of Warwick and Leicester's Northern Frontier, they were far more elite and equipped than the Northern Princes.

Passive defense was not William's character, and he was ready to take the initiative to strike at the allied forces of the Northern Princes assembled in Warwick and Leicester.

William had been on the defensive because he feared that the large force of cavalry and troops that had been assembled in advance would invade the Duchy of Wessex, so he ordered the construction of fortified lines at Oxford, Weltminshire, and Northamptonshire.

However, what William did not expect was that the other party did not take advantage of the fact that he had not yet gathered his army in place, but then gathered troops in Warwickshire and Leicestershire and confronted William's legions.

In this case, William speculated that they were most likely waiting for King Magnus of Norway and Denmark. Inglin and the army of Harald, Norway's ruling 'ruthless', had to be cautious if a strong Viking joined the war.

Thinking of Harald the 'Heartless', William sent someone to summon Viscount Russell, who had not been seen for several days.

In a few moments, Viscount Russell entered the tent, bandaged on his body, and tremblingly walked up to William, wanting to get down on one knee and salute.

"Let's excuse you first, you are injured, you should cultivate well, I will arrange a seat for you to sit down." William stopped Viscount Russell, ordered the guards, looked at him, and said.

As soon as Viscount Russell was seated, William asked, "What is the situation, you returned with a serious wound three days ago, if it weren't for my military doctor's timely treatment, you might have been summoned by the Lord." ”

"Your Majesty, it's so miserable, only three of the twelve assassins I brought to York City to confidently assassinate Harald the 'Heartless' came back alive, and the others were all killed by Harald's guards." Viscount Russell held back his grief and said in a choked tone.

"What you brought to York City is one of the best in our army, good at hiding and assassinating, and equipped with a series of sophisticated equipment such as light plate armor, scale armor, poison crossbow arrows, blow arrows, etc., to assassinate the unprepared Harald. Ingrin, why did you suffer defeat and what did you encounter there? With all kinds of questions in his heart, William opened his mouth to ask Viscount Russell.

"On that day, we infiltrated York City in disguise, obtained the route of action of Harald the 'Heartless', and laid an ambush on his path, ready to take his dog's life.

Who would have thought that we actually met Harald's guards, the Varangian Guards, and at that time we were unprepared to face the elite Varangian Guards, and our companions were killed one by one, and if it weren't for the cover of the night, the other three and I might not even be able to escape. Viscount Russell recalled, fearful.

The predecessor of the Varangian Guard was the Vikings who migrated eastward, and around the 8th century, the indigenous Vikings living in Scandinavia began to migrate across Europe, raiding and plundering coastal towns in various places. One of them entered Eastern Europe, in what is now Russia, and traveled all the way south to the Black Sea coast.

In the 9th century, a detachment of Vikings defeated the local Slavic lords and established the principality of Kievan Rus'. Although on the territory of Rus', their Nordic ancestry is different from that of the local Slavs, and their culture is very different. Although eventually assimilated by the Slavs, the Varangian Guard retained a distinctly Nordic identity.

The first Byzantine contact with the Rus' was in 838, and the two sides traded through the Black Sea. Later, in 860, the Rus' attacked Constantinople, but to no avail under the high walls, and a peace treaty was signed, one of which stipulated that Byzantium could recruit Rus' as Byzantine soldiers.

In 907, 911, and 945, the Rus' repeatedly fought against Byzantium, and both sides had their own victories and defeats.

In 967, in order to attack Bulgaria, Byzantium used 15,000 pounds of gold to buy off Svyatoslav, the Grand Duke of Kievan Rus', to attack the Bulgarians from behind, and the Rus' won a complete victory and captured eastern Bulgaria.

But in 971, Svyatoslav, Grand Duke of Kievan Rus', attacked the Thracian region of the Byzantine Empire, and the Byzantine Emperor John I led 40,000 troops to defeat the Rus' and destroyed the Bulgarian capital Plislav, captured the Bulgarian king Boris II, and surrounded the Rus' troops in the fortress of Deristra. In July, the Rus' surrendered, signing a contract agreeing to provide military support to the Byzantines if necessary.

During this period, Rus' soldiers began to join the Byzantine army as a temporary force, and even in naval combat. But Byzantium did not have a standing army of Rus' mercenaries at this time.

After the violent illness and death of John I, Byzantium fell into the rebellion of Bardas Scolerus, and although his successor, Basil II, under the command of the newly released Bardas Phocas, defeated Scolerus, in 986 Scolerus returned to Byzantium to continue the rebellion, and the following year, Phocas also established himself emperor.

In early 988, when the rebels led by Bardas Phocas approached Constantinople and prepared to attack it by sea and land, Basil II appealed to the Russian Grand Duke Vladimir for help.

At this time, Vladimir was hoping for a religion that would help him to believe in the complex idea of national unity, and having been to Constantinople, he was so impressed by the majesty of the Orthodox Church that he agreed to Basil II's request.

In the spring of 988, a Rus' army of 6,000 men entered Byzantium. On April 13, 989, the three sides exchanged troops at Abidus, Bardas Phocas was killed, and the rebels were defeated. The Varangian army from Rus' remained in the Byzantine Empire, and Basil II organized them into a permanent army of mercenaries to guard the palace, and the Varangian Guard was established.

The establishment of the Varangian Guard in the late 10th and early 11th centuries was the culmination of the revival of Byzantine military power.

Under Basil II, this extremely fierce hoplite unit fought alongside the Byzantine royal guards heavy cavalry, rather than relying on poorly trained and poorly equipped peasants from the military districts as the main force of infantry.

During this period (988-1025), Byzantium fought a series of foreign wars, invading Bulgaria, attacking the Fatimids, attacking Armenia and Georgia, quelling the rebellion of Nikephoros Phocas, and so on. Many of these battles were in mountainous areas where cavalry could not carry out. However, thanks to the addition of the Varangian Guard, the Byzantines relied on this powerful infantry force to successfully defeat the troops in these areas, such as the Bulgarians who were defending in the mountains.

To this day, the Varangian Guard, along with the Ironclad Paladins, is the two major Praetorian Guards of the Byzantine Empire, and plays an increasingly important role.

William of the Varangian Guard had long heard of the name of this elite Byzantine unit, and it was a surprise that this force would appear next to Harald the 'Heartless'.

But when you think about it, Harald the Ruthless served in the Varangian Guard, served His Majesty the Emperor of the Byzantine Empire, and was the commander of the Varangian Guard, where he fought dozens of battles before leading the Varangian Guard in a rebellion. In this way, it is not uncommon for Harald the 'Heartless' to have the Varangian Guard by his side to protect him, but the most important thing now is to find out the number of this Varangian Guard, he knows very well that if the Varangian are numerous, this force will become the enemy of the Normans.