Rurik finally stood in the village of Polotsk, where he had never met.

He once had some fantasies about this place, but the gap between reality and fantasies is too great.

He dismounted, and the First Cavalry began to rest on the spot.

For many Danish warriors from the Gulf of Riga, they were no strangers to Ross's bald general and his men.

For them, King Ross seems to be just a famous name far away in the sky. No matter how many gorgeous words are used to praise them, it is not as real as seeing is believing.

People need a male ruler who is in his prime to lead everyone's life, and the Ruth is really a noble giant as the legend says.

Indeed, standing in the snow, Rurik was so tall that he was so tall that his horse seemed a little too small.

Even with the velvet cap off, he is still more than half a head taller than Spuyut and Stekander.

Most of the warriors staying in the village happily stepped out of their sleeping huts to admire the heroic figure of King Ross. They feasted their eyes and had to admit that from the aura alone, the young man was indeed a living heroand he was indeed a living hero. Odin's blessing.

With his head held high, Rurik accepted the guidance of Spput with great interest, and visited the bustling largest village of Polotsk under the night.

"Your Majesty, this is the new house built by the people of Ostara. For the time being... it is my command post." Spueut intentionally pointed to a relatively grand wooden building.

Rurik took a look. The tactical guards were holding torches, and he was able to see a lot of architectural details.

"It does have the architectural style of Ostara. It reminds me of the city south of the Great Lake. It's just...you will annoy my Carlotta by doing this. This is her house after all." Rurik reminded intentionally, but It was deliberately not said that Carlotta's own cavalry was in the rear.

"She...wouldn't have pointed at my nose and cursed. Hey, I'm at least an old Ross." Spueut smiled.

"That's not true. You are an earl canonized by the king, so you must live decently."

"Thank you, Your Majesty, for your cooperation. And..."

"How?" Rurik, who stopped and looked at it, turned his head slightly: "Is there something hidden?"

"Yes. In other words, this building, and even the entire village, were brought down by me with reinforcements from the enemy. The Smolensk army!"

"Vadim?!" Rurik asked knowingly, frowning.

Spute's nerves were also taken aback: "The king is wise. It is Vadim! The Smolensk army was led by Vadim, the public enemy of Rus. He was defeated, haha! Unfortunately, our army was careless and did not Take the opportunity to kill him. But why the king..."

Spueut held back a series of questions. He asked why Rurik could figure it out, but he just didn't take the initiative to reveal that he intended to trick him.

"Go ahead and talk about Polotsk. My cavalry needs food, do you have any?"

"Yes. Vadim and the others fled very quickly. Before they could destroy the granary, my army had already rushed to the village. It's a pity...we were still one step too late."

"Oh? It seems that you are worried about letting them go by accident?"

"This..." Seemed to be harsh, Spueut shook his head and denied it: "I didn't mean it. Besides, didn't you say that? The poor should not chase after them. They have thousands of people, and we only have four hundred at most to fight. Besides, I lost a lot of brothers, I really dare not take any more risks. Let Yan Dong kill the group of people who ran for their lives without food. They will freeze to death and be eaten by wolves in the end."

"Are you quite optimistic?"

"..." Spueut didn't want to say anything for a moment, he could feel that the king really didn't mean to be harsh. It was as if the king didn't care about Vadim's life or death.

Rurik continued to ask to lead the way, and they talked as they walked. Stekander and the soldier Bischom, who had been by their side all the time, had their own chances to speak.

People from all sides explained their experiences, and now Rurik finally had a clear understanding of what happened to Polotsk in the past period of time. After understanding the basic overview, he really couldn't laugh.

One, Polotz

The Ke Village Alliance died in name only. As the local population either fled or died of various reasons, only a handful of villagers who were protected by the Ostara garrison due to their marriage survived.

Second, Polotsk has been preserved as a place name, and Stekander has made no secret of his hope that his Danish immigrant brothers in the Gulf of Riga will historically establish a second community in Polotsk. In this way, the huge losses of the Danish armed merchants in the war were compensated. At the same time, the Riga Danes were still the supporters of the King of Ross, defending the inland trade line on behalf of the King of Ross himself.

Third, although the victorious army did not intend to keep any prisoners, Spueut still sent people to find out the dead man from the pile of corpses. After interrogating some information, a group of prisoners of war were executed, but a handful of prisoners of war were still imprisoned. After all, he had to report to King Ross after the war, give an explanation to the Duchess of Ostara, and leave a few living prisoners of war as living evidence. But in the end, the living prisoners of war were maliciously cut off their tongues and chiseled out their teeth, just to prevent the prisoners from talking nonsense later.

Fourth, a group of villagers were indeed coerced by Vadim and ordered to attack the city. In fact, they caused the raging fire of the Novopolotsk fortress. Because of their guilt, they were killed as enemies in the chaotic battle after rushing into the village. Even if they returned to the village one after another, they were executed. Although Rurik felt pitiful for the execution of such villagers, he did not blame Spuut for his decision.

All of this has created the status quo in Polotsk. Except for the army from the expedition and the surviving garrison, there are only a handful of locals in the village.

"Everywhere my Rus army went, it caused a huge carnage. Once again, history repeated itself. Alas, didn't my nickname of human slaughter deepened? Would it be considered brave by some people? It would be interpreted as me The army is blood-sacrificing Odin? Well...things have already happened, just put the blame on Vadim." Rurik suppressed the words in his heart.

He finally stood at what was said to be the village's communal granary.

The so-called granaries seem to be nothing more than a few huge wooden sheds. Presumably, the condition of the granaries is better for those dwellings that are in a "horrible" condition.

Anyway, Polotsk has been crippled, even if all the villages on the banks of the Polota River were burned to ashes by the flames, the new immigrants would be able to rebuild on its basis.

Now Rurik is more willing to call Polotsk a food and grass supply place, and there is nothing wrong with emptying the granary.

He walked into the granary himself, and had a clear overview of the granary by relying on the torches held by the soldiers entering the house.

"Strange, I thought the villagers would use a lot of sacks to pile grain into walls. They just packed the wheat in huge wooden boxes? They are not afraid of being destroyed by rats." Rurik checked the condition of the wheat grains himself, and couldn't help shaking Shaking his head: "There are still a lot of straw debris that haven't been sifted out? I don't feel wet."

"Your Majesty, this food is enough to feed my army until next spring." Spueut added.

"Of course, enough of your people to last until next fall, in my opinion. You... do have four hundred now?"

"yes."

Rurik thought about it for a while, and then looked at the overall situation of the granary, and couldn't help but feel some hidden worries about the way ahead.

As the so-called medieval army, due to the huge limitations of the logistics and transportation capabilities of that era, in many cases, the larger the number of troops, the more bloated. It is unnecessary for a big fat man to try to walk like flying. In a battle, the combat effectiveness of the army is not necessarily proportional to the number of troops.

food! Rurik is very worried about this now.

He let out a long sigh and stared at Spuyut with piercing eyes: "Including you, I now have six thousand soldiers, more than two thousand horses, and seven thousand reindeer. I don't have to worry about the reindeer's food." , this kind of ice beast is very good at digging through the snow to find grass roots to eat. But what soldiers and war horses need most now is wheat.

"Ah?! Did I hear you right? Your Majesty is saying that you have dispatched an army of 6,000? Also, you..." Spueut made up his mind: "My Majesty, it's time! Just tell my brothers how you came here of."

"Want to hear? I thought you smart people already knew it. It's okay...but not now. You organize people to carry food and start cooking on the spot, even though it's late now. This king must treat the hard-working cavalry well."

"All right

! All right"

"Also, I'll show you soon that this king caught a noble prey along the way."

Vadim woke up a long time ago, and as he found himself in a building, there was this flaming existence not far away. He realized that he didn't die, but that the next situation would make life worse than death.

He was dragged off the horse, twisted and wriggled crazily in his desire to die, and murmured with his trapped mouth.

The Ross soldier who was guarding the man couldn't hear clearly, but he could feel the man's anger.

"be honest!"

A soldier then kicked Vadim's weakness with his foot, and he screamed in pain, and gradually calmed down. Specifically, Vadim is too weak...

Vadim was very familiar with this environment, and returned to the place of defeatthe village of Polotsk in a daze.

It's just that this place is occupied by the Varyags, and their ears are filled with the half-understood and half-bad Norse language.

Gradually, the air is filled with a strong smell of boiled wheat, and the gluttonous insects are aroused, and the stomach growls. But I can only see those Varyag people holding a container like a wooden bowl and eating hot boiled wheat. He even saw that the Varyags were so extravagant that they carried wooden barrels full of wheat and used them as mangers to feed war horses.

But Vadim could only watch, and simply closed his eyes. He wished he could starve to death, lest he be tortured by corporal punishment in the future.

Because he really knew the methods of the Rus people and learned many legends about the cruel punishment of the Varyag people.

For example, Blood Eagle.

Suddenly, intense pain forced him to open his eyes.

Vadim barely raised his head, and suddenly saw a tall existence.

The man's leather boots suddenly stepped on his face again, and he pressed his head and rubbed hard in the snow before giving up.

"Vadim." It was Rurik who spoke: "Fleeing coward, Vadim! Look at me now. I am Rurik Ottosson, I am the king of Rus, and you are only me* Prisoner of ****."

Vadim raised his head again, his mouth was tied with a rope, although he could only continue whining, his sharp eyes clearly had a murder warning.

[The app that has been running stably for many years is comparable to the old version of the book chasing artifact, which is used by old bookworms

The symbolic significance is far greater than the punishment itself.

Soon, Vadim still lost to instinct, crawling like a dog with a broken spine, and eating food like a dog, the instinct of survival surpassed everything.

At this moment, Vadim's soul basically collapsed, and he seemed to be a living person, but a special human sacrifice without thinking.

But it was said that Rurik led the first cavalry to the village of Polotsk with exhaustion, and the follow-up cavalry moved much slower.

The follow-up cavalry had to set up a temporary camp in the forest. The cold-resistant Turkic horses gathered together to rest, and the soldiers relied on their mounts to take a warm nap.

What they didn't know was that in the nearby forest area where the cavalry army was sleeping soundly, a large number of corpses frozen into lumps of ice fell to death in the snow nest. That was the defeated Smolensk army sleeping in the snow pit, but most of the defeated army never woke up after falling asleep.

The next day, the mighty cavalry greeted their rescuers on the glacier.

It was a soldier of the First Cavalry, standing on the ice, holding a wooden pole with a Ross flag. The flag fluttered with the wind, and the huge dyed wild goose feathers stuck on the soldier's white bear fur hat also vibrated violently with the wind.

The wind is cold to the bone, and the hearts of the soldiers are extremely hot.

All the follow-up cavalry arrived in Polotsk, but seeing the messy village here, people felt complicated.

"Damn it! How did my village become like this? Vadim... You must die!" Carlotta was strongly stimulated mentally.

Novopolotsk Fortress is gone, replaced by ruins still burning.

The villagers who were supposed to line the road to welcome them disappeared, and there were only friendly troops cruising around.

The only thing that made her feel relieved was the fluttering Ross flag, and even the bull's head flag of her principalityproving that even though the fortress was burning, the defenders were not completely wiped out.

And this is also the last ray of comfort for Carlota.

But all his plans for the summer fell apart due to the onslaught from Smolensk.

Soon, the army entered the village. Distraught, Carlota quickly found Rurik. She didn't care about condolences to the defenders who came up to meet her, but immediately found Vadim who was **** to seek revenge.

Carlotta drew out the steel sword, and Vadim closed his eyes. No matter who he was, he hoped that someone would poke him with an arrow to end the pain, even if it was a woman.

However, a strong and powerful hand tightly grabbed her wrist.

"Wait a minute, it would be too cheap to kill him now," Rurik snapped.

"I'm so angry, I'm going to kill him."

"You will. Carlota, calm down. Remember, the war is still going on, the next step..." Rurik gently leaned into Carlotta's ear: "Polotsk exists in name only, and in the future we can only migrate new immigrants Filling. I don't plan to stay here for a long time, and I will leave after resting for two days at most."

Carlota gradually relaxed her wrist, and Rurik immediately let go.

Putting the steel sword back into its scabbard, Carlota looked up at Rurik's face and reprimanded him angrily: "I managed to force the Polotsk people to surrender, and the damned Vadim killed them all. I'm so angry." The people of Smolensk will pay the same price! Promise me, homosexual revenge!"

"Of course." Rurik answered without thinking.

After all, a revenge plan was already brewing in King Ross's heart. After witnessing the tragedy of Polotsk after the war, he became more determined to take revenge, even if the actions would be cruel. The expansion of the Eastern European world was extremely important.

Because the huge Eastern Europe does not allow another power to exist. When the opponent has already shown his fangs and started to bite, he should decisively smash his back.

A strategic opportunity is right in front of our eyes, and we marched into Smolensk in one go. Now all the conditions are in place, especially the food. Relying on the evacuation of the remaining food in Old Polotsk, the Russian coalition forces with more than 6,000 people are fully supported. Can afford about a month of high-intensity combat!

There is probably no tug-of-war, at least the Ross coalition forces have enough supplies to rush to the core area of the Smolensk people.

Support Viteb from Lake Inlmen and the Gulf of Riga

The reinforcements from the Skorg Fortress finally joined forces in Polotsk.

The war has rapidly expanded into a campaign to annex the Krivich community in Smolensk.

Ross Army!

It officially began to move against the West Dvina River, along the proven road, and head towards Smolensk on the upper reaches of the Dnieper River.