, The Rise of Rurik

The so-called Ostara cavalry is very diverse, it consists of the remnants of the old Ostara, the Viking immigrants who joined later, and a large number of Slavs.

To be fair, compared to buying and bred Turkic or Mongolian horses, it is always awkward for a tall and strong Nordic warrior to ride on it, and it is quite suitable for a shorter Slavic to ride it.

Duchess Carlotta was not picky. She selected a group of cavalry, and together with Prince Pecheneg and his subordinates, they targeted the villages of Smolensk.

They attacked villages, killed those who dared to resist, and tried their best to bring prisoners of war north.

Throughout 840, this mixed cavalry united to abduct nearly a thousand people, both men and women, who could not escape the fate of slaves after being abducted.

The Ilmenslavs often call themselves Slavines, while the Smolensk and the Kyiv natives both belong to the huge Krivich ethnic group in principle. Even if they speak the same language, they do not consider each other to be friends at present.

The United Iron Cavalry is elusive, accurate in archery and good at using cables. They all wore armor, perfectly resisting Smolensk's arrows and counterattacks.

After all, Smolensk did not immediately coalesce into a whole, and the tribes quarreled endlessly. There are many leaders who think this is a conspiracy of the northern guys, but the priority is to deal with cavalry more terrible than the forest bear.

Villages close to large settlements were regularly attacked, and some villages that were unbearable or feared were simply abandoned. Large numbers of people are concentrating on the city of Smolensk, a settlement along the Dnieper that is rapidly expanding its population.

So a strongman from the north saw his opportunity.

Vadim, the son of the head of Pine Needle Manor who escaped by chance, is destined to spend his life revenge. He is a nobleman in the north, the son-in-law of Smolensk, and he has also become the largest war-fighting faction in the region.

He has been planning to recruit an army of thousands or even tens of thousands of people. After the army rushed to the Valdez Land, it went all the way north, and defeated the Rus at Lake Yinermen to regain its power. He promised the nobles of Smolensk that, after the event was completed, a large number of ethnic groups would be merged into the same Slavic emirate.

Obviously, if this son-in-law wins the war, who would dare to ignore his military exploits? Who is the chief of an emirate? Not this Vadim.

In the non-stop discussion, Smolensk ushered in the spring ploughing of 840 years. However, when the people were busy cultivating the land, a group of cavalrymen came over with unprecedented destructive force.

There is no need to discuss conscription for the Northern Expedition. First, all tribes are facing major crises.

Vadim's plans will be abandoned at least this year, but he sees himself standing in the city of Smolensk, an increasingly populated settlement. After the refugees recovered their spirits, their eyes were burning, and they were eager for revenge!

This is an opportunity!

At a meeting in the summer, Vadim faced a group of leaders with erratic eyes, and simply scolded them: "Are you all cowards? Organize an army to fight those cavalry! In my opinion, you handed over power, now Just elect me as the leader, only I have the ability to defeat those bandits and then go north."

Such a long carnival speech aroused the rage of the leaders, followed by endless abuse.

They called Vadim a vanquished, a scumbag, a shameless tyrant.

Was Vadim a tyrant? He is, not at all.

The lord of the capital of Smolensk, the largest noble in the region, admires this "prince" in distress, and pays more attention to the promise of this kid.

After recruiting a son-in-law, Smolensk can go on a grand northern expedition and annex the entire Yinermen Lake.

The dream is like this, but the old leader is old after all, and he probably fell ill after eating poisonous mushrooms. In fact, Du Mogu seriously injured his kidneys and liver. Seeing that this old guy was about to die, Vadim kept doing it, and forced him to give up his power with a private army composed of local people.

At the same time, the grown-up sons of the old leader all died for nothing, claiming that they were killed by the northern horse bandits and the sneak attack by the bandits from Kyiv. These statements are more convincing. Ordinary people don't care about this. They are anxious and expect a ruthless person to lead them back to peace.

The old chief's youngest son is still alive, and his wife knows that everything is actually her husband's conspiracy. But the boat is done, the woman gave birth to a son, and this crying boy can naturally inherit the position of the lord of Smolensk. It is impossible for her to have no selfishness, and it would be a good thing if her own son inherits the position of leader.

What about the terminally ill old leader? He felt that recruiting Vadim as his son-in-law was a foolish move, but now, at least his grandson could inherit the position. Although Vadim is a sinister man, considering the bad things that the entire Smolensk faces, this kind of cruel man is also beneficial to the entire ethnic group.

Because there are not many leaders of the main battle faction with a very firm attitude.

The terminally ill old leader whimpered and stood on the platform for Vadim at the meeting. After solemnly announcing his death, Vadim was the lord of Smolensk, and whimpered that it would be fine if other leaders did not support him. Vadim will definitely organize the Northern Expedition to end the current turmoil.

The implication of this is also obvious. If Vadim really has an army, which leader would dare to object?

The quarrel did not help solve the problem except wasting words. Vadim claimed to lead a force to find and kill the horse bandits. The local leaders don't like this guy, but they are more afraid that the horse bandits will ravage this year's autumn harvest. They simply hope that Vadim can agree to one or two defensive counterattacks to solve the current problem.

As he promised, Vadim did take hundreds of Jianyong to fight back. In the face of the elusive horse bandits, they were determined to wait and see, but the cunning Pecheneg-Ostara's combined cavalry encountered a strong defense. Strong villages will be avoided. The brothers are here to loot and capture prisoners, and they simply don't have time to confront a prepared enemy head-on.

This "prairie fox warfare" of the Pecheneg people is to bully the soft and fear the hard, which is contrary to the warrior creed of the Vikings, but it is effective in the issue of making a fortune.

For a whole year, from the sowing season to the harvest season, Vadim and his cronies have not fought a single battle, and their resistance has become more and more like acting. Then another local aristocrat made a big fuss about this fact and criticized Vadim for being a rhetoric.

But he also has troubles! He retorted loudly: "You have organized all the men to gather! We expedition to Novgorod to defeat them in a battle, and any horse bandit problems have been solved."

No one said a word now...

Whether Vadim is really going to fight, or is a simple exercise, his attitude towards confrontation is seen by the refugees. At least this kid is more enterprising than other nobles, and there is at least some hope in following him.

Even without a battle, Vadim's prestige in Smolensk continued to grow.

This is the political change that took place in Smolensk and most of the upper Dnieper region in 840. The so-called defensive offensive and looting of the Rus gained a lot of benefits, disrupted the opponent's plan, and greatly accelerated the opponent's centralization of power. process.

Regarding the affairs of the local nobles in Smolensk, as well as the Varyag people who passed through another waterway, the looting cavalry sent by Carlota did not know.

In the past three years, Prince Kagan of the Pecheneg Khanate first formed an alliance with Rus in the far north, and then built a key salt and iron trade route. Prairie people are good at land transportation, so he, the prince, personally organizes a horse team every year to transport leather goods, dairy products, and horses from the grassland to Ross in exchange for important salt, iron, cloth and other various commodities. The export of horses to Russia to buy necessities such as salt, iron, etc., has been negotiating for the Khanate in the long run. Such trade is extremely unfair to Pecheneg, and they lack suitable goods to sell to Rus.

Finally they found the best commodity, which is population.

Kagan himself turned into the leader of the horse bandit. In the past two years, he has focused on looting people and selling them to Ross, so that he arranged for his subordinates to supervise the affairs of the trading horse team.

A large number of strategic materials were transported to the khanate camp in the Volga estuary area through large horse teams.

Kagan is smart. Since Ross has the ability to mass-produce iron arrow clusters, he should import more of this good thing that is not expensive in Ross.

The cast iron arrow cluster is casted at one time, and a single clay mold can be cast up to 30 pieces. After the frying steel carburizing operation, it is polished on a manual grinding wheel, and it is finished by heating and quenching for a second time for surface hardening. Arrow tufts for allies don't have to be elaborate and require little man-hours.

Kagan was rewarded, and tens of thousands of arrow clusters arrived in Pecheneg, and the locals immediately began to replace the bone clusters with steel clusters. Those who are not good at cavalry and the best at cavalry and archery have thus greatly increased their combat effectiveness. It is really Kagan's credit that they have become stronger with the naked eye.

Even if the prince has been staying in the far north this year, he will not come.

Only now there is a special situation!

The standing cavalry of Ross at the end of the expedition became the guests of the new city of Ostara. This city already has the second camp of the standing cavalry. The unique environment of the small area, which resembles the grassland, is very suitable for cavalry training.

There is a reserve force of standing cavalry in the local area. They are all very young cubs. It is because they are too young that they miss the expedition. The reserve troops did not participate in the looting either, so they were guarding here in case of any unexpected events. Now this group of brats can't wait to listen to the descriptions of the guys returning from the expedition.

In the fortress of the inner city, Duchess Carlota hosted a banquet and invited her old comrade-in-arms, cavalry captain Fisk, and she also explained the information she had learned from Smolensk.

The former children have grown up and become the master of one party, and the two exchanged their war experiences and talked happily.

While they were chasing each other, Kagan, Prince of Pecheneg, arrived at the castle happily, and arrived at the drinking scene in high spirits.

He exclaimed excitedly in broken Norse: "Let me see who's here! Yo! It's Khan's general Fisk!"

"It's the noble Kagan." The slightly drunk Fisk turned his head and waved his hand very casually, "The wine must be shared with the brothers, let's enjoy it together."

To this day Kagan is still willing to call Rurik a khan, as well as Carlota a khan. He still didn't know the difference between the names of kings and princes, so he called the supreme ruler Khan according to the habit of the grasslands.

He has a very good personal relationship with Carlotta. Kagan and Rurik are blood brothers and in-laws. Carlotta is Rurik's wife and is legally a sister and brother. The relationship between them is intricate and complicated. Why does Kagan call Carlota her sister in a grand manner, but what really determines the personal relationship between the two is the close economic exchange.

Any materials from the south must first be inspected by the Principality of Ostara, the southern gate of Ross. In particular, a large number of prisoners of war must be transported here first, and the sale of slaves is also handled by the Principality of Ostara. As an ally, Kagan can station an army in the territory of Ostara, they help Carlota train new cavalry, and also serve as a base for training, waiting to set out to plunder the villages of Smolensk in rotation.

In the castle, the three parties happily explained what they had seen and heard. It was really a victory after a victory. But on the whole, the victory of the Ross Expeditionary Force was greater, which really made Kagan ashamed.

"Oh! It's because I can't get away. If you give me another chance, I also want to go to the west with the Rurik brothers. Fisk, we organize a cavalry expedition, and the results will be even greater. Let me My sister is honored, and she finally gave birth to a child." The drunk Kagan was able to speak, but his spirit began to drift.

The sister gave birth to a son, and he became an uncle himself. In this way, the plan of the father Khan was a great success, and the nephew was a nail that the Khanate embedded in Rus, and the relationship between the two countries would be further closer.

"What's the child's name?" he asked.

Fisk thought for a while: "It seems to be called Hasal."

"Is that so? It's very interesting." Kagan muttered slightly, and the smile on his face showed his satisfaction.

"What does the child's name mean?" Fisk couldn't help asking.

"There is no restraint, just like a horseman galloping in the vast grassland."

They ate and drank, Fisk did not forget her mission, and while Kagan was still very clear, she finally mentioned the business: "I came here on the order of the king, to invite the Duke of Ostara and you... Honorable Kagan The two of you must leave for Novgorod as soon as possible, because the Great King's fleet is about to arrive."

"So my sister and my nephew are coming back too? It's great. My brother Rurik, I have something to tell him myself!"

Kagan doesn't seem to be polite this time, and his so-called "big event" should be true.

The drunk Fisker didn't think much, then asked, "Dare to ask, what's the big deal."

"Of course it's my successor to Khan! Haha."

If Fisk is clear-headed, he will be surprised. He is calm now. Anyway, this guy is Pecheneg Khan sooner or later. It's just the difference between today and tomorrow.

"Then congratulations to the honorable Kagan to become the king of Pecheneg," he said.

"No. It's the khan. Well, it means the same thing." Finally, the prince succeeded the khan throne. handover. After all, Kagan has been in a faraway place for the past two years, which made Jianyong, who coveted the position of the Khan within the Khanate, eager to move.

This is a secret message passed on by cronies. Although it is a bit abnormal, it is relieved to look at the situation of the Rus people.

Kagan is qualified to call old Otto "Father Khan". In principle, Otto is the old Khan of Ross, and Rurik is the new Khan. Rurik's succession of power cannot wait for his old father to die. This early handover of power is reflected in a peaceful handover, and Ross's internal affairs seem to be quite stable.

The news that Kagan is going to go back is known to the entire nobles of Novgorod. He was already ready to go home and succeed the throne, but now the plan is slightly delayed.

Delaying is also a good thing. You can have a good chat with the triumphant Rurik brothers, and tell the people in your hometown a lot of first-hand news from the north. It is estimated that you can get a batch of cheap loot from the west.

I took the opportunity to have a good chat with my sister Bejahir, take a good look at my eldest nephew Hasal, and confirm that the child really exists and is healthy, so as to tell the tribal leaders in my hometown this fact.

In this way, Kagan and Carlotta will no longer be dawdling in the new Ostara, and a large team of mixed cavalry will go north along the lakeside road with a very gorgeous guard of honor, and will show Pecheneg and Austria in a high-profile manner. The flag of Stara, the audience to Novgorod where the palace of Rus the Great is located...