It is the harvest season again. For any ethnic group in any region that survives by farming, it attaches great importance to this critical period related to the survival of the ethnic group.

Because of the harvest season, the two Frankish armies facing each other in the Rhine Valley abruptly suspended the war.

Because soon after harvesting food, there will be a long winter, and it is almost impossible to fight in winter. In the Swedish region, in the Northeastern European region, the kingdom of Rus is actively harvesting.

The tax exemption policy continues, and the farmers are full of energy. In Polotsk, which was firmly controlled by the Principality of Ostara, the Duchess was indeed happy to get a batch of critical new wheat.

She temporarily changed her strategy based on the amount of tribute in the treaty. The food needed by the garrison was provided by local farmers because of the large-scale marriage relationship.

And in the Smolensk community, people here are also doing their own autumn harvest as in previous years. It's just that people are full of vigilance about the future. Even if they are working in the farmland with a long-handled scythe on their backs, people have to listen to the six roads in preparation for evacuation.

Everything is a threat from the horse bandits! The identity of the horse bandits has long been confirmed-the Varyags in the north, and the Yin Ermen who are with them.

No one remembers why those Yinlmen left Smolensk for the north, presumably it stemmed from some conflict of interests.

The conflict between the two sides has been going on since ancient times. If there is no contact with each other, the struggle will not be possible. From this rosin city on the upper reaches of the Dnieper River to Novgorod in the far north, the straight-line distance between the two places reaches 300 kilometers, and it is possible for travelers to walk for a month.

Of course, things are not so extreme, because the Smolensk community does not have only one large settlement, or the entire community revolves around the city called Gnezdovo not far from the west of Smolensk city. The altar exists.

The city of Smolensk is the largest settlement in the region. In the north there are Tropchin and Lezovka. The locals and the residents of Smolensk belong to the same family, and they are both part of the huge Krivich tribe members.

The Crivitches are really a huge ethnic group, and this group of people with a common ancestor has already differentiated into several complementary and subordinate tribes in the current era.

The Kiev community and the Smolensk community were originally a family, and they controlled the Kiev High Altar, which is where the Krivichs got their name.

The Smolensk people who immigrated and established Pine City built their own

"Altar of Blood Alliance" Gnezdovo. They went through a rough road to reclaim land on a large scale. Because they controlled the upper reaches of the Dnieper River, the people here had business dealings with the real purple-robed Romans in the early years of the river, so that some Eastern Roman businessmen simply lived in the city of Smolensk. , the descendants of these Romans have been integrated into it after several generations.

The leaders of the villages actively married Roman merchants, and they were proud of their Roman blood. However, until now, the Romans still stayed in the port city of Kherson on the Crimean Peninsula, and the local nobles in Smolensk had quietly changed. .

At least a lot of them were of Roman blood, and they were proud of it. The Smolensk community has always been divided. The two settlements rising in the north have no centrifugal tendency, but the journey of each other is already a little far away, and the various places have begun to develop on their own. Only the entire community is facing some major problems. The leaders of the settlements gathered in Smolensk for a meeting.

Most of the community's population lives in the riverside area where Smolensk is located. The fertile land with rich water and grass supports hundreds of thousands of children of the big river.

In recent years the situation has become complex and dangerous. Most of the villages in the west have been abandoned, and the people dragged their families to build new homes in the east of the city.

Everything is a passive defense against the attacks of horse bandits, but such a toss will undoubtedly greatly weaken the stamina of the entire community.

What is even more criticized by the people is that the people can take the goods and drive the livestock to rebuild the village in another place. Can the big altar also be removed?

Of course, the altar can be built in another place. As for the sanctity of the new altar, how many people will admit it?

People in Smolensk must be cautious when cutting wheat, and the people in the two major settlements in the distance are also highly vigilant.

And this fear really spread to the Vyadzic tribe in the east. Although the local people are not with the Smolensk people, they have maintained a peaceful relationship with each other for many years. As the saying goes, if the horse bandits continue to attack along the river , the Viadzitches will suffer as well.

In the year before last, there were many robberies by horse bandits. Some small villages were brutally slaughtered and their houses turned into ashes.

Last year's attacks were no more brutal, but the burned village was too close to the center of the sacrifice.

The people arrived in Smolensk with their families through the dark Katyn Forest. Facing difficulties, only living together can have the most precious sense of security.

Pairs of eyes fixed on their leader, Vadim the so-called outcast from the northern Pine Needle estate, the usurper of power.

Is Vadim a great hero? This person has not yet led the Smolensk army to a victory against the northern horse bandits.

he! The chieftain died a bit embarrassingly, and after he married the chieftain's daughter and solved all opponents and doubters by violent means, Vadim finally became the boss of Smolensk.

He completely controlled the power in 841. For this result, if this kid can lead everyone to defeat the **** horse bandits, and then lead the army to the north to occupy the Yin Ermen Lake area, then it is not wrong to recognize this person as the big leader.

Unfortunately, throughout 841, Vadim's actions disappointed the people.

"Fight those damned Ross people? And bandits on horseback? Of course we must! The premise is that my rear must be absolutely safe, and my power must be absolute. If I lead troops to fight in the front, there will be local nobles in the rear. My power is not good." Vadim had such an attitude, and his child with the leader's daughter was born in 842, and the local nobles were relieved that the child was a boy.

Even so, Vadim has completely secured the position of leader? He did kill several high-ranking opponents, which really consolidated his power and invisibly dug a hole for himself.

It is helpless for the nobles to support such a character. It is not impossible to veto his rule. It is just that Smolensk needs Vadim at this stage. As long as this person exists, everyone in the future will be eligible to enter Yinlmen The lake grabs new benefits.

In short, the ultimate goal of the Smolensk community is to control the north-south trade routes, so defeating and annexing Novgorod is extremely important.

The nobles all know what is important, but what was Vadim doing in the past warm season?

Becoming a father for the first time, could it be that for this reason alone he forgot about revenge, and forgot to lead the Smolensk people to the north to make a fortune and defeat the horse bandits?

He acted a little lazy, and as the days approached the autumn harvest, his doubts intensified. Now that the autumn harvest has come to an end without any surprises, the situation will not relax just because of the grain income from the warehouse, and the time has come for the active period of the horse bandits.

In the middle of the night, it is difficult for the villagers to sleep. Everyone discusses the terrible news too much, and after nightfall, there are lingering auditory hallucinations.

The wind outside became terrifying, and the doors of each house were closed, as if there were gangsters cruising in the dark outdoors.

Long-term mental tension can drive people crazy, and emotional people go to the important people in the city to complain about their grievances.

Why wouldn't the local nobles be so nervous? Because of the natural annexation of the land, the wealth of this kind of land nobles is almost bound to the crop fields. They have their own granaries, and they are extremely reassuring that the horse bandits launch some precise looting.

Ordinary people and nobles have the same resentment, and this resentment is increasing day by day. The autumn harvest ended safely in a tense and even chilling atmosphere. It was a great fortune that the horse bandits did not make trouble at this juncture.

But don't be too happy too early, maybe the bags of sacks moved to the warehouse are the targets of the horse bandits.

Food, the Smolensk community has no shortage of food, and there is still some surplus every year. Gradually increasing food has kept the population of the community expanding. Due to limited productivity, when an area is too densely populated, a meeting needs to be held to arrange for some villages to take the initiative to build new settlements in the area that everyone has negotiated.

At the end of the autumn harvest, the chiefs of villages from all over the country arrived at the sacrificial center Gnezdovo on horseback.

It also includes the alliance settlements in the distance. The local leaders of Tropchin, Lezovka, and Yala came on fast horses.

The wizard slaughtered cattle, slaughtered sheep and burned wheat in his own blood altar, so as to sacrifice to the harvest **** of his family. This year's sacrificial activities are obviously more dynamic, and those with keen eyes and quick minds can realize the subtle changes in the situation this autumn.

Because the chiefs from all over the world gathered at the altar, it is extremely rare to participate in the grand event with the great chief Vadim. After all, even if this Vadim has lived in Smolensk for twelve years, according to tradition, it is equivalent to living for a generation. In the eyes of some people, this defeated and exiled

"Prince", it is acceptable for a son-in-law to become the leader of the community. But it was a little difficult to get the leaders of the settlements farther away to recognize him.

This year's situation is really strange, and even the chief of the Viadzic people accepted the invitation and came on horseback from the further east.

People from all over the country are busy drying the new wheat at the end of summer, and then stuffing the wheat into burlap sacks and transporting them back to the granaries of the villages.

They had to be fast, because the autumn rainy season could come at any time. And everything has been fate for thousands of years. When the time came to mid-September, when the sky was overcast and cloudy, the first autumn rain fell quietly, followed by rain with no end in sight for the time being.

The entire Eastern European region suffered from this autumn rain, and the dry land became muddy again, and most areas became completely impassable.

Land transportation is almost cut off, and the only option is to walk along the meadow next to the river, or go boating directly.

The chiefs of various places accepted Vadim's invitation, and these people already knew the purpose of the gathering. As soon as the nobles came, they stared at Vadim with their eyes.

The rainy weather continues outdoors, and the dense Katyn forest is actively absorbing the cold rain. The rain was also accompanied by strong winds, and pine branches were blown off and fell from time to time.

The cold and humid air made everyone very uncomfortable, even if it was the wooden house that looked like a parliamentary court where they gathered, the change here was still not very good.

The leaders all wore fox fur hats and mink fur coats. For a Venerable like Vadim, he sat cross-legged in a brown bear fur coat, and it was very bluffing to say nothing for the time being.

"All the people who should come have come, even the guests from afar, our close friends of the Smolensk people." When Vadim said this, he already classified himself as a Smolensk person in his heart.

His last words were aimed at the leader of the Viadzic tribe, Heda of Coldno City. Heda is not modest, and this person can be regarded as Vadim's uncle in terms of age.

"Young man!" said he,

"What you want to do, your people know very well, even outsiders like me. Actually, you should have done it long ago, and you shouldn't delay until now!" Vadim smiled slightly, and this smile was somewhat embarrassing.

"What? Am I wrong?"

"You're right." Vadim pulled himself together and cleared his throat again: "Those horse bandits must be wiped out, but they are Varyags in essence. Specifically, they are the Rus people among the Varyags." Well, based on what I know about them, now that the Russ are growing bigger and stronger in the north, those guys in my hometown are completely following their lead. Among the horse bandits who attacked me in Smolensk, there must be Ilmen nobles who betrayed me. So I have no psychological burden to eliminate these people! All of you can rest assured about this. Indeed, everyone is afraid that when the army launches a battle, because it will definitely fight against the Yinlmen Slavs in the north, the Va who was born there Jim would have compassion.

Is it just that he can win everyone's trust by saying this? Apart from the leaders of several nearby settlements, the most numerous people sitting here are the powerful people in Smolensk city. The opinions of these people determine whether Vadim can continue to be the leader of the community.

In the final analysis, Vadim's foundation here is still unstable. After inheriting his father-in-law's property, he just turned him into a big landlord in Smolensk. After all, his strength is still far from being able to complete his hegemony.

"Now," he said,

"The one thousand elite fighters I have trained have achieved great success. I have been dormant for two years! I will prove to all of you that although I am from outside the region, my soul and body are now standing with you. I will take the initiative to lead troops to launch Fight, and you...should take out some servants and serfs to form fighters and give them to me according to the tradition." After listening, everyone looked at each other, and Vadim just repeated the previous combat structure. If anyone refuses or questions, all questions will be answered Should have been resolved months ago.

Therefore, the leader of Tropkin said in a high-profile manner: "The problem of where you lead troops to fight is not a problem. Like me, I can hand over the guards I brought to you as my support for your troops. But you have to know, I Your territory is a little far from Smolensk, besides, the horse bandit you mentioned... there is a big event, maybe you don't know it."

"What's the matter?" Vadim was alert.

"Just to the west of my territory, just over there on the Lovat River, a fortress that must have been from the Rus rose up. No one is a fool. We were bullied by horse bandits for several years, and my territory was lucky to survive I attacked, but those Ross people literally built a fortress in front of me. The next step, they are going to attack me!" Before the words fell, the words of the leader caused an uproar among the people present.

"There is such a thing?!" Vadim frowned: "You didn't tell me about it before."

"It's not my negligence. It's also the hunters of my department who accidentally ran to the Lovat River and saw the strangeness there." Immediately, someone asked: "Old friend, your people can't be blind, right?!"

"Impossible. White background with blue stripes, who can see the flag of the Magoros people?" It seemed that the leader of Tropchin was hinting at something, Vadim thought for a while, and stretched out his hand to stop everyone's discussion: "So. Do you want our army to attack and clear the Ross fortress you encountered?"

"If you want, of course you can." The leader replied with a smile.

"It's possible, but the time is not right now." After that, Vadim looked at everyone again: "In fact, we all know that the best way to retaliate against horse bandits is to cut off their trade routes. Year after year In 2009, the riders from that side would go to the north with a large amount of goods. The Russians and Kiev in the south clearly made an alliance, and we were caught in it by them in turn. It's time to end all this!" Vadim said He got angry: "They have cavalry! But our number of horsemen is too small. But a group of arrogant guys just happened to build a city on the West Dvina River, which must be their trading post, and there There must be a lot of goods that have not been transshipped. Especially since our Smolensk is not far from there. I decided to lead the soldiers to destroy that city, **** all the supplies to make up for our losses over the years, and then burn it. Let the Russians also taste our wrath." With a clear goal in the battle, Vadim set his sights on the newly emerging city of Vitebsk since the summer of 841.

He also couldn't help but pay attention to Vitebsk. In the past few years, there have been bandits on horseback attacking from the direction of the West Dvina River, constantly attacking Smolensk villages, causing panic and anger at the same time.

Besides, they are no strangers to the rivers and trade routes in the west, which the Smolensk people were happy to block in the past.

The "Road to Khiva" trade line asks for tolls from even the passing Varyags. That is, in the last five or six years, the new activity area that was supposed to be the expansion of the Smolensk community to the west has changed!

They have already practiced with the Drigovich and Polotsk people in the West. If there is no strong outsider to disrupt the situation, the expanded Smolensk community of Krivich can gradually control the West, and the people there Including one's own alliance does not seem to be a problem.

It seems that now, although the Viadzic tribe is an outsider, it has actually become an alliance with Smolensk.

But the Rus came, and they joined forces with the Kiev community of Krivich in the south, and even with the steppe people from another world.

So much so that the Lamichi tribe in the southwest also has stories of horse bandit attacks. UU Reading www.uukanshu.com These horrible news spread to the ears of Smolensk people, making it seem that everything is not good for them these years enemy.

Many people are wondering: "What did we do wrong? Why are there attackers everywhere?" It is precisely because of the pain of genocide that Vadim is now the chief of Smolensk, and he really knows the Russians. Think about it.

Is the Smolensk community at fault? If so, it's in their way. Is this also wrong?

Then counterattack with military means! It has been the third year since the idea of a military counter-offensive was launched. A strong infantry regiment has been established, and with the support of the suffering local nobles and civilians, an army of about 3,000 people was organized to launch a campaign. A highly targeted expedition will definitely dampen the arrogance of Ross and his despicable servants!

Even now, Vadim does not know that the target he has chosen is called Vitebsk. It does not matter.

he scornfully called

The "City of Bandits" is determined to launch an attack when the ground hardens again in early winter as soon as the autumn rainy season is over!