~Date: ~October 09~

After sufficient rest and waiting for the reinforcements sent by the local government, as well as the large number of materials that were enough to use for several months, General Far had 30,000 troops, which could be said to be strong. On December 27, the day after Christmas, the soldiers entered Aquitaine.

Such resolute actions of the Norman Empire frightened Louis XIV, the Duke of Aquitaine. After integrating the entire Duke of Aquitaine with enough skills and insidious tricks, this guy whose self-confidence suddenly rose was planning to implement a greater goal.

He wanted the whole of France. The temporary withdrawal of the Norman Empire also added a fire to his ambitions. Internally, he implemented strict epidemic prevention measures, just like the Norman Empire. Outside, he secretly sent envoys to promote the people of Flanders in the north. Inspiring them to rule by themselves. When he sent envoys to Burgundy, he could marry Queen Mary of Burgundy and seize the Burgundy region without bloodshed.

In his opinion, the Norman Empire was weakened a lot due to the plague. It would never enter the French region again. He married Burgundy, and the two countries merged, and their territory and strength increased a lot. In addition, in the north, several city-states that he incited were several people. Even if the Man Empire was angry, he could only admit the status quo.

Afterwards, on the outside, he still chose to surrender to Norman, but in secret, he gathered people's hearts and accumulated strength. When the time was right, he would annex the northern city-states and unify the entire France! In this way, he would have enough capital to compete with the Normans!

However, the ideal is full and the reality is very skinny. The young monarch never expected that the other party's reaction was so great. It was not enough to directly dispatch tens of thousands of troops to quell the rebellion of North Falanders. He actually directly promoted all the small actions he made. Then the army was approaching and wanted to destroy him.

"This...this is simply..." Louis XIV was extremely surprised and could not describe his current feelings. He soon realized that he had made a big mistake. He underestimated Emperor Norman and his empire. Egil was not a weak person to bully. Therefore, the more difficult he was in such a difficult time, the more he would grit his teeth and face all suffering. It was a big mistake to think that he would stop marching because of the plague.

Louis XIV even felt that Emperor Norman was waiting for such an opportunity to jump out of the first one, and beat the silent and chaotic guy to death. He executed in the most violent way to suppress the increasingly chaotic hearts of people during this period. Otherwise, if he did nothing and let himself do whatever he wanted, then in the future, Germany and Italy, the areas of Germany and Italy would probably follow suit. When the rebellion was launched, after the plague was quelled, the Man Empire would not even be able to find a vassal state.

"It's true. It's true... It seems that I'm still too impatient..." After understanding this, Louis XIV gritted his teeth and prepared. He firmly cleared the fields and gathered all the few remaining soldiers. He snatched all the last bit of food from the Aquitaine. At the same time, he also sent a letter to General Norman who was marching to the south, yelling injustice. He said that he had no knowledge of the rebellion that had occurred in Flanders.

He claimed that he was extremely loyal to Emperor Norman, admired and was willing to serve the monarch for life. He absolutely did not dare to do anything to betray him, let alone betray him at such a difficult moment. Any rumors in this regard were all slander and slander for him.

At the same time, Louis XIV also promised that if the emperor was willing to let him go, then he would hand over three quarters of the annual fiscal revenue to the Empire for processing. When he was also willing to pay the northern part of Aquitaine to one-third of the territory of Aquitaine to His Majesty the Emperor. And with this letter, there were also the private gifts from Louis XIV to General Farr, which were worth more than 5,000 Norman Kings.

To be honest, Louis XIV did not expect. With this letter alone, he could send tens of thousands of troops of the Norman Empire - of course, if that was really possible, it would be better.

The monarch felt that even if the other party did not trust, even the Norman Emperor would not believe the content of the letter. The general had to send the letter to the Norman Empire, so that his emperor would have more time to prepare after a while. It was a delaying strategy.

——Of course, it was still unsuccessful. After reading the content of the letter, General Far snorted coldly, pulled the messenger out and dug out his eyes, cut off his ears and noses. He also asked him to give his monarch a sentence: "Since you think you are not guilty, why should you take out so many things to bribe my monarch and me? My monarch has given me all this war to judge. So don't imagine some unrealistic things, prepare the army and fight. Wash your neck and wait for me to chop it."

After listening to the messenger who had blinded his eyes and lost his nose and ears, Louis XIV sighed secretly: It's over... and then he made his final preparations.

He mobilized the civilians and soldiers to desperately strengthen the city defense of Bordeaux. He also placed a large amount of firewood in his palace to prepare the army, and quietly waited for the last moment.

On January 4, 1011 AD, after a few days of march, the Norman army stepped into the land of the Duke of Aquitaine. Unlike General Farr's initial imagination, the mob was rampant and the smoke was everywhere. There were no residents at all. On the way forward, they passed by several villages and found that there were nothing else except the dead bodies. In the following, the villages were like this. It was like they stepped into an area ruled by ghosts.

"Yes, the vast majority of refugees ran north and were basically dead. Those who could not die were forced to death by the Duke of Aquitaine's policy of strengthening the walls and clearing the fields. At this point, there were no roosters crowing thousands of miles in southwestern France..."

Although he was a cruel and full-time guy, the General Norman was still a little moved at this moment: "If this was an area controlled by the Lord, things would never have developed to this point. Sure enough, His Majesty is the most suitable person to rule this world!"

So, General, you are too loyal...

Excluding war and man-made factors, the current situation in southwestern France is basically a microcosm of Europa. It’s just that the degree is slightly different.

Except for the Norman Empire, which was relatively stable due to its effective policies and some drugs, the situation was basically the case in other areas. The survivors either fled north as refugees or hid in deep mountains and forests and became savages. Except for a very small number of cities, they barely exist and perform some functions. Other areas can also be called uninhabited ghost domains.

In urban areas, the originally prosperous scene no longer exists. The material implements a strict rationing system. Many people die due to malnutrition, especially the elderly and children.

A large number of houses in the city were demolished and replaced with farmland, where people had to work at high intensity to get a portion of meager food. The food provided was only enough to make a living.

Because of the plague problem, the trust between people has dropped sharply. When the moral level has also dropped to a very terrible level. He dared to kill people just for a piece of bread the size of a fingernail. Betrayal and betrayal are commonplace. In some places, they even started to eat human flesh. Eating children and other things is no longer just empty talk.

Constantinople, which originally gathered hundreds of thousands of people and was known as the greatest city in the Western world, a place of wealth and power, has now become a small city-state with a population of less than 100,000. The twilight everywhere. Empress Liliannu sadly discovered. Although she had won the throne of the empire, in this situation, she could not control the other empire territory except one Constantinople.

Especially in the Balkans, the land that had been conquered with great efforts, and the rebellion and the mood of rebellion rose with the plague disaster, finally went out again. Her father, Basil II, regarded as an imperial general, Hungaryati, led his Vadatari cavalry unit to become the main force of rebellion. Now, the entire Romanian region is occupied by them. The rebel shamelessly ascended the throne and claimed to be the king.

Such rebellion seriously weakened the power of the empire. Other areas were only slightly better. Although the generals and governors of various military regions did not actually declare **, they also added the titles of duke and count to themselves. The empire was almost disintegrated.

In other countries, many ambitious people took advantage of the situation. The situation of dividing land was the most popular in the Near East generation. Or a knight with a few entourages could occupy a town and proclaim himself the earl. Or a tribe with dozens of warriors dared to claim himself the emir's chaos. The situation began when the Black Death spread, and probably had to wait until the Black Death ended.

General Far sighed for a moment, but he didn't think much about it. He continued to march forward. In terms of things, he carried enough supplies, so there was no problem. In terms of water sources, although the other party blocked a large number of wells, but very close to Bordeaux, there were rivers such as the Dordogne River and the Garon River, so there was no problem with the water source. In fact, the other party had to first use scorched earth tactics in such a narrow territory, strengthen the walls and clear the fields. It was not realistic... (To be continued...

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