On January 5, 1066, King Edward, the reign of the Anglo-Saxon dynasty of Wessex, died suddenly.

His death was like a starting pistol, sparking a race for the throne of England.

But Harold Gwynson's opponents were at a disadvantage, and they were all on the other side of the ocean, thousands of miles away.

Since 1056, 10 years ago, Harold, who had been crowned in Wessex, had been in charge of all the powers, but despite his geographical advantages, he still had a major problem - Harold still faced a major obstacle on the way to the throne, although he was currently the most powerful man in England, and although he was the brother-in-law of the previous king Edward, he had no direct blood relationship with the royal family.

Edward left behind a blood relative, the fourteen-year-old Prince Edgar, who was Edward's nephew.

And Harold was blessed by the heavens—at least at this time.

England's aristocracy had been gathering in London since last Christmas, and the seriously ill Edward had to elect the next king without a clear successor, and one of Harold's brothers, Goss Gwenson, the Earl of East Anglia, was among the members of the noble council.

With the help of his younger brother, they were able to convince Parliament that England needed a man of power and power, and that Harold, as Edward's vassal, was ambitious and able to fight, and as the de facto controller of power. His father, the Earl of Godwin, succeeded in establishing a great dynasty and amassed a great deal of power for his four sons, Harold's other two brothers, Kent, and Tosti, who owned large tracts of land in Northumbria in the north, and Goss, a member of the noble council, who divided large swaths of land throughout England and Scotland, and helped the family maintain power. It is even believed that the Earl of Goldwin was the creator of the Edwardian system – and although they had recently lost their brother to the north, Harold Gwynson was the perfect candidate for the new king.

And Harold himself is indeed a mature politician, he knows that he must take the initiative to urge the noble council to support him on the throne, so a few minutes after Edward's death, Harold played the trump card in his hand - He declared to the Council of Nobles that Edward had told him to his face that he wanted him to inherit the throne during his death, and that no one else present had rejected him, and even the Council of Nobles itself was pleased with it, that they needed a strong king, not to mention that the strong and mighty king had now given them a perfect word.

So, on January 6, 1066, the people of England had just buried their old King Edward in the morning in Westminster Abbey, which he had not yet built, and in the afternoon of the same day, Harold Gwynson, just a few steps away from the body of Edward, who had just been buried, was anointed with holy oil on his head and crowned as the new king of England under the auspices of the bishop, who had to be crowned a few months after his election.

It was not until a few days later that news of Edward's death and the English earl's swift accession to the throne reached William, who was still training troops in Rouen, the largest city in Normandy at the time, and that Harald the Heartless, the king of Norway, was informed of him by his men who had arrived more days later when he was crushing the countrymen who had rebelled against his rule by fire, and they had learned of it from traders who had travelled to and from the North Sea.

Peace was running out in England, William was setting out to organize his army as an expeditionary force, and Harald was dreaming of a great and immortal victory, but Harold also faced a third enemy, a man closer to him—his brother Goss in the Gwynson family was the most supportive of him, and the one in the north was not so loyal.

Tosti, Earl of Northumbria, was expelled from England by Harold six months before he became king, and was also the brother-in-law of William, Duke of Normandy and brother-in-law of Baldwin V, Count of Flanders.

Tosti was a charismatic man, he was more handsome and strong than Harold, and preferred to fight with his soldiers on the front line when he was in command, but apparently he was far from his brothers when it came to governing the territory, and Northumbria was thrown into disarray, leviing heavy taxes in his domain and suppressing other nobles, in fact, it was clear that at least three Northumbrian nobles had died as a result of assassinations he had planned.

Overwhelmed by the fact that the people began to flee to the south, Harold had two choices, if he supported his brother, there would inevitably be a civil war, but if England had learned only one thing in that century, it was that the Vikings would take advantage of the civil war and conquer them all as they had done before, so it was a dilemma, and Harold had to make the right decision to sacrifice his brother and avoid the Viking invasion - at least for a few months.

And only three weeks after Harold became king, this Tosti began his revenge plan in Normandy with his bastard duke William, and now he hates his brother to the core, he wants to reclaim the territory, he wants revenge.

On the beaches of Normandy, the brothers turned against each other and caused trouble.

"My brother, he's a lying dog!" said Tosti, who was much taller than William, and was now half a step behind the Duke of Normandy.

William, who was walking slowly in front, didn't look back: "You came all the way here to tell Lao Tzu these things that Lao Tzu already knew?"

"He betrayed me, and my family. Tosti did not care about the vulgarity of William's words, who was dyslexia and was actually illiterate, and replied in a quieter voice, noticing that William had stopped and looked back at him, and Tosti continued to persuade in a more sincere tone: "I have come to clean him up." ”

"Then why should Lao Tzu believe you?" William fixed his eyes on the former Earl of Northumbria, "you are related to him. ”

"I can't change that fact, but I can help you, he has stolen my land, and he has stolen your crown. Instead of avoiding William's gaze, Tosti looked at the other with sincerity, "Together, we can defeat him." ”

William continued to stare at him for a moment, then nodded slightly, turned around, and continued to walk forward without speaking.

The former Count of Northumbria's desire for revenge did not stop at William, and he also hoped to gain the support of another great warlord, and after his trip to Normandy, he sailed a thousand miles north to Norway with Harold's brother Tosti to seek the support of the ruthless.

A few weeks later, in the longhouse of the Norwegian Highland Lords.

"Oh, what are the black sheep doing in Norway looking for me?" Harald, who was sitting behind the lord's long table with two henchmen, looked at Tosti Gwynson standing in front of him, "Good looks and physique, you can wrestle with me a few times, but what other use do you have with me?"

For revenge, Tosti twitched the corners of his lips and endured the rudeness he regarded as a barbarian: "Most of the English nobles hate my brother, and they will support me, and as long as you support me, they will support you, and they will support you." ”

"Do I look like an idiot?" the Viking king asked, leaning on his back, a former Anglo-Saxon nobleman.

"Thou art a warrior like never before in Scandinavia, England is at your fingertips, and now when you attack, your famous generals will live on. ”

“In battle storm we seek on lee，With skulking head and bending knee... I will out and carve my name in legend...... I will turn my name into a legend. Harald Hadrada the Ruthless, also known as Harald III, King of Norway, reached out to Tosti Gwynsen, former Earl of Northumbria.

The two men agreed to assemble an invasion force to attack Harold's England from the north in late summer, and William himself was ready a thousand miles to the southwest.

William, who had just finished praying with Matilda, who was also a distant cousin and wife, said in a tender tone completely different from the usual cruelty: "When summer comes, you will be ready." ”

If this is God's will, then His will will be fulfilled. The pious Matilda looked at her husband with some admiration, and she was confident that William would be favored by the Lord to win the war.

In the palace in London, Harold was unaware of the two opposing enemies.

In the royal hall, Harold's closest brother, Goss Gwenson, Earl of East Anglia, walked beside him: "Half happiness comes from patience, King Edward used to say. ”

"Wise sayings. Harold, the new king of England, walked to his throne and sat down, adding to his brother Goss, who was standing beside him, "The other half is a sharp sword." ”

Obviously, Harold, who thought that he was a king, was different from the previous earl, and that he was connected to the Lord because of the divine authority of the king, was still very aware of all the laws of power politics, and he knew that someone would try to snatch his crown from him and his head.