Accounts differ as to the number that started with him, some French
historians put it as high as 17,000, but it is certain that it could not
have exceeded nine thousand men, of whom two thousand were men-at-arms and
the rest archers. Now, while the siege of Harfleur had been going on, the
arrangements for the embarkation of the troops and stores carried out, and
the town put in a state of defence, troops had been marching from all
points of France at the command of the French king to join him at Rouen,
so that here and in Picardy two great armies were already assembled, the
latter under the command of the constable.
The English force marched by the sea-shore until it arrived at the river
Somme. No great resistance was encountered, but large bodies of the
enemy's horse hovered near and cut off all stragglers, and rendered it
difficult to obtain food, so that sickness again broke out among the
troops. On reaching the Somme Henry followed its left bank up, intending
to cross at the ford of La Blanche-Tache, across which Edward the Third
had carried his army before fighting at Crecy.
The French, as on the previous occasion, held the ford; but they this time
had erected defences on each of the banks, and had strong posts driven
into the bed of the river. Still ascending along the river bank the
English found every bridge broken and every ford fortified, while a great
body of troops marched parallel with them on the right bank of the river.
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