The Eagle of Eastern Europe

Henry IV was about to faint. Four hundred years ago, a Duke of Normandy landed, and now another Duke of Normandy landed. When did he become so popular in England?

Not only that, the rebellion in Wales has not yet subsided, and there is another landing. He must focus his energy on the southwest, and the war against France will be postponed.

After resolving the attack of the southwestern nobles, Stefan established a foothold locally. And recruited many people to rebuild Plymouth Port. In order to win the hearts and minds of England, Stephen announced an order in Essex: Confiscate the land and property of the monastery, and at the same time cooperate with small landowners and yeoman farmers. As long as they support him as the king of England, he will will protect their interests. Moreover, the property of those members of the House of Commons has not been violated, and Stefan maintains the greatest sincerity towards these people.

For Wells, Stefan recognized Owen's identity as Prince of Wales, hoping to exchange for the other party's promise to recognize himself as the King of England. Such a move forced Henry IV to send his son Henry Jr. to respond to the enemy. He himself could only stay in London to take charge of the overall situation due to illness, and at the same time ordered the Duke of York to go south to help him.

Stefan began to gain support from local forces, including yeoman farmers, tenant farmers, and small aristocratic landowners. The Black Death and perennial wars made them very tired, because the oppression of large landowners increased and they needed to lighten their burdens. The big landowners all support the Lancastrian dynasty, so they naturally support Stefan.

Soon, towns such as Salisbury fell one after another, and the local people yearned for a happy life. For the sake of the future, they chose to join Stefan's side. London also advanced rapidly. Fourteen days after Stefan's landing, the two armies met in Southampton.

On the English side, the Earl of Northumberland commanded the vanguard, Prince Henry of Wales commanded the center army, and the escaped Earl of Salisbury commanded the rear army. The total number of people exceeds 25,000, equipped with a large number of English longbowmen.

The total strength of Stefan's side is 15,000. In addition to the 13,000 troops brought from France, the other troops are composed of local squires and small and medium-sized nobles.

In front of the English army, the flags of many lords were flying in the sky, as if they were waiting for the other party to come and die. Henry, the leader, is even more confident. The other party must be here to give him prestige.

The English longbowmen took the lead in showing off their power as their characteristic unit. Its power is quite powerful, otherwise it would not have defeated France repeatedly and won such a great victory as the Battle of Crecy.

As the English army attacked, the Romans were forced to take up shields in defence. And gradually there were signs of retreat. Upon seeing this, Henry was more sure that the opponent was a mob, and directly led the army forward.

"attack!"

Stefan ordered the artillery guns to fire, and as the firearms were released, a large area fell in front of them. While the English army was outnumbered and continued to advance, the two sides then turned to hand-to-hand combat.

Broken limbs and weapons were flying in the air along with blood, and the effects of Henry IV's internal affairs in recent years have been revealed. The mercenaries on Stefan's side were able to stabilize the position, but the recruits in the middle of the formation were obviously unable to hold on. But Stefan was not anxious at all.

"It seems that the Duke of Normandy has no use for soldiers. Thanks to my father who plundered everything there before withdrawing from Normandy, otherwise he would have dared to make such a noise in just a few years."

Henry changed the topic and talked about Irving again. "That man actually calls himself the Prince of Wales. I am the ruler here. One day I will catch it myself."

Even so, Stefan's formation was still intact. Still fighting with them at the front. We fought from morning to noon, but the enemy still showed no intention of retreating.

"It's time to send them out." Stefan thought for a while and ordered.

"yes"

While they were fighting fiercely, the troops on the left and right began to gradually close together, and the English army's formation became denser and denser. Henry then felt something was wrong. Why was his army dominant but being squeezed by the opponent?

Stefan knew that the English infantry had the advantage, so he planned to slowly retreat the center army. However, at this time, the English infantry lost their advantage and was overtaken by the Norman army. This was because the infantry on the front line moved forward. At this time, the supportive English Legion began to slowly lose their tacit understanding, and the teams were getting closer and closer. As a result, there was no room to show off one's skills.

On the right wing, more than 1,500 people suddenly came forward to fight, including more than 300 cavalry. Their arrival made England's right wing unable to resist, and Henry could only order the army to switch to a defensive formation. But it's too late, Stefan sees his chance and ends up enveloping them completely.

At this time, Stefan's central army was like a big ocean bowl, starting to force the English troops on both sides to move closer to the center, and the infantry was getting deeper and deeper. At this decisive moment, Stefan ordered the mercenaries on the left and right Encirclement the English army in the center. They no longer have room to develop, and are surrounded by divisions, not even room to escape.

Henry watched his army being harvested like melons and vegetables, and his previous pride had long since disappeared. After everyone's persuasion, he decided to escape. Rush back to London. The remaining troops can only be treated as Stefan's military merits.

Thousands of English soldiers lay prone on the ground, their wounds blown by the cold evening wind, causing them to wake up in pain. But when they woke up, the ground was covered with blood and dead bodies. They failed. Some people found their heads stuck in the soil, some managed to dig out the soil and survived; some people lost all hope and dug graves for themselves and their companions; some people no longer had the strength to struggle and were buried alive by the soil.

In the Battle of Southampton, Stefan killed tens of thousands of the opponent's soldiers at the cost of 1,000 men, many of whom were skilled English longbowmen. Henry IV lost most of his achievements in recent years. After that, the entire southwestern England region surrendered to Stephen, and Owen, who was stationed in Cardiff at the same time, also wrote a letter stating that he was willing to recognize his position as King of England. The two sides reached an alliance.

The impact of the battle was more than that. The morale of the troops in other towns was low. The nobles began to distrust the king. Some nobles in remote areas refused to serve. Henry IV had no choice but to order the troops in Calais and Ireland to be transferred back to preserve their strength. At the same time, if the plan failed, he would flee to Lancaster in the north to continue the resistance.

But even so, the king did not withdraw the northern troops stationed on the Scottish border because they knew that the threat from the north was stronger than France. If you fail in the battle with France, you can retreat to defend the Channel. If you fail in the battle with Scotland, you can go south to plunder.