Finally, after evaluating the defensive power of Innsbruck and the two fortresses in Salzburg, Egil decisively chose to send troops from the pass of the Eastern Alps instead of gnawing these two hard bones.

These two fortresses built at the Alps seem to be stronger than Egil imagined. They are built on an excellent terrain. The garrison troops have more than 4,000. They are all elite troops. The guards are said to be very comparable. In such rugged terrain, the army cannot be deployed. Large counterweight trenchers cannot be deployed. The siege will be extremely difficult. If you don't do it well, you will have to be besieged for three years and five years, and you will be unable to enter.

So let's take a detour.

As Burgundy, who was upgraded at the same time, had good relationships, and also had the common enemy of France. Egil felt that he could obtain military access from Charles. After that, he entered the Holy Roman Empire from the Swiss mountain. In this way, he could go back to the other side's two heavily guarded fortresses.

Attacking from the opponent's unprepared flank. Yes, yes, yes. What a great idea.

In fact, within the twenty days of preparing the army, Egil had already informed his envoys to Dijon through the Feidog to negotiate with Charles in Burgundy on the matter of military access.

The final result was that Charles was indeed willing to sign this treaty with the Normans. He agreed to the Burgundians who falsely dictate Switzerland to attack the Holy Roman Empire. At the same time, he did not require money, food, or other materials at the cost. Of course, it is not correct to say that it is free of charge, Burgundy hopes to sign a unilateral, covenant against France with Norman. This is an incomplete alliance treaty. It is aimed at France alone. It stipulates that when France attacks Burgundy and any country in Norman, another country must unconditionally declare war on France, and assist allies, or send troops to attack France.

"Tsk, it's really an interesting treaty." Egil made such comments about Charlie's hostility that even idiots could see. He agreed to Charlie's conditions without hesitation. Just kidding, Philip II is not an idiot in this situation. What ability does he have? Why, how dare he attack Burgundy, who has just won the title of king, and has gained a higher prestige and morale?

If Burgundy married France, it would be almost the same. Hey, wait a little if...

"So that's it." Egil thought he had seen Charlie's intention clearly. Always, who declared war first, or did not declare war, or created trouble at the border, are very easy to operate. As long as Charlie wants, he can even send someone to disguise himself as a French army to attack himself, so as to gain an excuse to attack France. At that time, there is such a covenant here, then...

Well, maybe Charlie's plan to do what he wants is very loud. But what does it matter? A tragic country like France only has a huge territory, but the fortunes of the princes are not prosperous. If you fight, you fight, it doesn't matter.

So in the end, Egil signed this treaty and led his army to move out of the foothills on the eastern side of the Alps. He stayed in France's territory for a while. After being protested by the French, he turned to the mountains of Switzerland.

In the mountains of Switzerland, Egil finally saw that the land was barren here and the poverty of the people here seemed to be worse than that of the serfs in France. At least the French had barely land to cultivate as long as they worked hard and God gave them face. Then they could live half-hungry and half-full, but the Swiss mountain people couldn't do it. Their land was too barren. Or in other words, even if these guys worked hard and the weather was very humble at that time, they still couldn't eat enough. Except for the fact that they could produce a little food in front of the capital Bern, the Swiss in other places either went to be mercenaries or died. There was really no second choice.

"It's really, an unfortunate nation. I chose the wrong place of birth... but then again. If there were no such difficult environmental conditions, there would be no Swiss mercenaries who were striking the medieval times and the best Swiss bank in the world." Egil sighed like this, while recruiting a total of 1,000 Swiss mercenaries at a relatively low price, that is, a team of 1,000 people did not rely on this mercenary to conquer the world, but wanted to see if the tactics of this group of mercenaries could be successfully copied. Now, he also has a lot of German and Germanic races under his command. The specialty of these races is that they are specializing in two-handed swords and are proficient in long spears.

In recent times, Egil observed that there seem to be many people with higher understanding among the Normans who may be proficient in mastering the powerful weapon "halberd". Therefore, it is a relatively urgent task to properly introduce a group of Swiss mercenaries as a blueprint and instructors to train their own country to obtain qualified spear troops and halberd troops to get rid of their country's super long spear array without anyone available and can only rely on mercenaries. This is an urgent task.

Egil's army took nearly three months to detour from Rome, then walked out of the Alps and entered France, and then entered the Swiss mountains from France.

In the middle, people had a slightly shabby New Year in Bern and Switzerland.

There was also a small episode...

Although the various foods of military supplies that Egil took out had already made the Swiss mountain nobles of the local buns feel very incredible. However, Egil still felt that it was not very satisfied. He was almost troublesome and asked his chef to give him an Italian-style banquet at the current level while drunk. If he couldn't do it, he would cut all the court chefs.

1 Although it was very difficult during the battles in the north and north, the maids who dressed up themselves were not allowed, but to satisfy their taste, Egil would still keep these chefs by his side. This is also one of Egil's few hobbies. Whenever he arrived at a new place, Egil would send someone to ask about the famous delicious food nearby. It would be fine if it sounded unreliable, such as snail mustard or braised toadillo. But as long as there was a suitable one, he would ask the guards to buy two portions and one portion to eat by themselves, and the other portion was given to the imperial chefs for them to learn.

Therefore, these imperial chefs of the court were treated very high, comparable to ordinary royal knights. However, they were not very clever in their status. It seemed that kings like Egil attached great importance to everything that could endanger his life. When the imperial chefs cook, they would be surrounded by Norman dead soldiers from the spy system to supervise them. After they were prepared, specialists would also be asked to test the drugs to ensure safety.

Therefore, the status of the imperial chefs can be imagined, which is not much different from ordinary serfs. They are all extremely humble and low-level. Therefore, the imperial chefs all think that "all cut down" is definitely not a joke.

The trembling chefs were very scared. Although they were skilled in knife skills and first-class in cooking, they could not turn into Italian dishes without raw materials. Just when the chefs were worried.

Intelligence Director Nemulis came to the kitchen and asked why they weren't working quickly.

So the chefs told the issue to the powerful intelligence director.

Nemulis chuckled and said that this kind of thing is very easy to solve: His Majesty is not really Italian food but "Italian food" that can make him lose face in front of the Swiss. You don't need to make the taste delicious, as long as it is very gorgeous and looks like that.

In this way, the imperial chefs suddenly realized that they used ordinary mushrooms instead of pine lu, inferior wine instead of this year's new brew, goat meat instead of lamb, etc. The taste of the dishes they made in the end can be imagined. But just like Nemulis said. Egil's prestige and the extremely gorgeous dishes made by the imperial chefs, which shocked people and thus successfully shocked these local bullies, leaving a deep impression on the Swiss people of the local buns. This was the effect that Egil wanted. As for the taste, the alcohol had already anesthetized his tongue, so it was fine to eat anything...

In this way, after the New Year, the Norman army continued to march.

Most of the time along the way, it was very difficult to pass, especially in unpleasant places like the Swiss mountains. It was the best way to destroy the morale of the army. Although officers at all levels and even Egil kept cheering for the soldiers along the way, the morale was low but it still seemed that the rabbit could not be seen.

However, all of this always ended. When the local guide finally said: "The border line is ahead. Cross some forests and arrive in Swabian." After that, Egil announced the news loudly to his soldiers. Immediately afterwards, the Norman army, which was originally a little weak, burst into a shocking cheer!

On January 18, 1004, after nearly three months of march, Norman's 80,000 troops bypassed the Alpine defense line arranged by Frederick and marched from the Swiss Highlands. The 80,000 troops went straight to the capital of the Holy Roman Empire, and the almost unguarded city of Swaben! At the same time, the army of the Holy Roman Empire was still trapped under the city of Hamburg and endured the seemingly endless disturbance of the garrison troops stationed in Bo Melania.

The offensive and defensive momentum is different!
Chapter completed!