Now, Rurik faces a big problem!

And this problem is easily overlooked by many generals. It was not until the whole army had to face it that they realized that this once neglected matter was extremely important to the victory or defeat of the war.

The Russian Army, which gathers people from all walks of life, is finally going to attack Smolensk this winter.

The biggest problem at present is none other than "how can we reach Smolensk smoothly".

Rurik, who had just returned, had no time to rest. When the whole army was agitated by the news of the immediate departure tomorrow, Rurik himself called all the elites for a small meeting in the large wooden longhouse in the inner city of Vitebsk. .

Those people who had been sharpening their knives for a long time didn't want to wait long ago. They rushed into the venue with great enthusiasm, and when they learned that Rurik not only defeated Vadim, but also captured him alive. When we were happy, everyone yelled loudly.

They yelled at one voicekill Vadim right now, poke his head on a spear as a decoration, and march with the army to Smolensk.

This belligerent ardor is like the summer sun, whose heat melts ice.

Of course, this is just Rurik's good hope. No matter how enthusiastic and bloodthirsty they are, they can't change the general trend of getting colder and colder.

The coldest days of the year have not yet arrived, and if the Russian army does not force the Smolensk capitulation before the arrival of the extremely cold January, the situation will become a bit troublesome.

Rurik allowed them to yell and yell, and when they all saw the noble past, he kept silent with a straight face, and slowly closed his mouth.

The oil lamp hanging from the ceiling was flickering slightly, and the whole large room was surrounded by a disturbingly dim light.

Rurik finally cleared his throat: "The quarrel is over? Now it's time for me to say! Yes!" He stood openly in front of everyone and clapped his hands: "The whole army will be deployed at noon tomorrow, and a small number of personnel will continue to stay in Viteb Sk, the vast majority of fighters are going out. This is an established fact, and this king will not complain to you about the time being too tight. Our army must set off at noon tomorrow, and any difficulties will be overcome as soon as the meeting is over."

Obviously, the king showed a decisive attitude, which the captains of the banners liked.

I admit that there are also some hidden worries in people's hearts, and any worries are suppressed by the fanatical enthusiasm for war.

"But!" Rurik whispered again. "The biggest problem is how we can get to Smolensk, which is a big problem."

When he was speaking, his eyes were already on the brothers who were sitting. He deliberately slowed down his speech, and deliberately babbled some nonsense, just to imply that some brothers who had objections stood up and questioned.

No, cousin Arik stood up unsurprisingly.

"Rurik." The younger brother, who is the king, still smiled and called him by his first name: "Is that the problem? How did their army come, we just walk over the same way."

[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

In the end, more than half of the Smolensk army did not die under the multi-faceted attack and strangulation of the Ross coalition forces, but died of running out of supplies and freezing in the cold.

Is the Ross coalition really blessed by the gods?

Maybe. But once you take off your thick leather jacket and stand outdoors in the early morning, your whole body will freeze into an ice lump in the evening.

It is not the enemy soldier who threatens every soldier today, the threat is everywhere.

Rurik only roughly knew the location of the Smolensk people. As for how those guys took a shortcut to Vitebsk in the forest and snowy field, in theory, as long as the prisoner of war Vadim was interrogated, he could get the answer.

"No. That man is not trustworthy. I humiliate this man as a bereaved dog. He pretends to be my grandson, and he must be holding back evil in his heart. If I believe this man's words, once this guy leads my army to the big forest, good luck The whole army was able to get out of the forest labyrinth, and the bad luck is that a large number of people in the whole army froze to death in the forest for no reason..."

Rurik was not interested in passively advancing against the line of advance of the Smolensk army.

Although the straight line between the two points is the closest, the enemy knows that path, but the Ross army does not know it.

At least the Ross Army has an absolutely safe path to choose from.

In this day and age, rivers are natural highways, and they are even better highways when frozen.

At this moment, Rurik clearly announced to everyone: "Tomorrow, our army will no longer go east! We will go south along the Amber Road, and continue along it after arriving at the frozen Orshaza River .We finally reached the frozen Dnieper River, and the whole army was marching up the river."

At this point, he didn't care about everyone's surprise, and specifically named a few people's names.

"Quetzal, Nurg, Vladyslav, and you, my dear Beyahir. You and your friends have raided Smolensk villages along this route, but have not gone further. Your caravans have traveled this route year after year, and they know the Amber Road better than my army. This time I need your help to lead my brothers into their territory."

Rurik deliberately gave Quetzal, the younger brother of Pecheneg's new Khan Kagan, a wink.

The other party stood up with a smile, slammed his thick chest, and responded in a thick voice as a little fat man with a round face: "Khan Ross, don't worry, I swear on my honor, as long as you go this way, your huge army will be fine. Arrive at the enemy's lair."

"So, did the king ignore our existence?" Stekander didn't want all the credit to be taken by those mysterious and strange-looking prairie people.

"You? Strkander?" Rurik looked at the man.

"Even, the name of the Orshatsa River that you know was given by your Latvian servant a long time ago. Any Varyag merchant who knows the southern waterway knows its existence...instead, it is the Rus people. In fact..." Sto Kande didn't bother to think about it too much, after all, the battle has been so unexpected that the Danish businessmen in the Gulf of Riga, who could have been spectators, suffered a major blow: "Actually, we know this route best, even if we may not be as active as your horses." The merchant fleet is huge.

"That's great. Since you all know this path, even if it's a bit of a detour, at least we don't have to worry about getting lost." Rurik couldn't hide his smile: "I thought you would complain about the detour, since no one has any objections , we will do that tomorrow.

Is there really no objection? Of course there are.

For an old explorer like Spueut, he was not worried that finding shortcuts might bring the whole army into a passive position. If he has encountered a dilemma in his life, he may be conservative in marching and expedition.

Rurik himself didn't encounter the situation where he couldn't go in or retreat, and he was dizzy in an area.

There may be a limit to taking risks. Historically holding an army of more than 6,000 people, including the elite of King Ross, he really did not dare to act rashly. It is really a wise move for the monarch to take the safest approach.

The next day, everything went as agreed, and the entire Russian army stationed in Vitebsk set off.

In the end, only Weisu, the guard who seemed to be inhaling a large amount of toxic smoke, was left

Ender and other battle wounded soldiers, soldiers who accidentally suffered frostbite and were unable to move quickly (there are very few such people), the last Polotsk villagers who were forced to emigrate, and a few Slavic soldiers left to strengthen the defense of the fortress .

The Russian coalition forces were streamlined, and those wounded and sick soldiers who might be dragged down in the battle stayed in the warm Vitebsk fortress.

Even so, the army still has 6,000 branches.

The majority of soldiers were puzzled at first, why did the king go south along the Amber Road instead of continuing to march east?

The news quickly spread in the army, and the officers at all levels who had the meeting informed the soldiers of the king's determination, and the whole army would arrive at the destination on the safest path.

It is safe, which means that the king has already calculated the marching route. Marching in the world of ice and snow, they are not unfamiliar with Ross and other Nordic-born fighters, and they feel that they can resist.

For a large number of Slavic warriors, this was a difficult challenge. They were extremely averse to taking risks, because they were afraid that the king would take a large army on a path that he didn't know very well. Instead, they would feel at ease by taking the traditional trade route.

Even though these honest peasants were born warriors, they have only heard the name of the "Amber Road" where Varyag merchants and grassland merchants come and go freely. This is the first time they have set foot on it, and it is also the first time in their lives that they marched into the Dnieper River.

The small river Lhosa near the Vitebsk fortress, which in warm times is no more than a small tributary for barely navigable longships. Thanks to the freezing weather, this little tributary of the West Dvina was once a mass of ice, and only the very shallowest part, near the silt bed, still had running water.

The army of cavalry and reindeer sleighs is advancing!

In Rurik's view, his army was basically a "division-level combat unit", and it was a mixed formation of mule-style infantry divisions and cavalry regiments. In this way, Master Wang can really be called Master Wang.

The concept of "division" in the West comes from "organization". The so-called many arms are organized together in peacetime, and they are equipped with generals and school command organs to train as a whole in peacetime.

Ross can't do this, and there's no need to maintain a large formation of the army.

Ross has his own "organization". Based on the current state of war, the flag team, a de facto battalion-level combat unit, was vigorously developed by Rurik.

The infantry and cavalry banners of the standing army are ready to go to the battlefield.

The flag team composed of citizen soldiers will take some time to mobilize. They are also a reserve army for the kingdom, and their requirements for production and life should not be too high.

Rurik was convinced that Ross was superior in military system, coupled with better weapons, this was the foundation of Ross's ability to sweep the Baltic Sea and open up Eastern Europe.

On the other hand, the Smolensk people.

Could it be that they can gather thousands of people to fight in a short period of time? It's almost impossible. When the final appeal of Vadim was defeated, and the factual social death, Smolensk without a leader, even if there were a group of brave men in every village, those people might only be able to defend the country, and there was no strong man to replace Vadim immediately. As the leader, he organized the warriors of the villages to resist.

Rurik was always thinking along the way, and no one dared to disturb the king who was thinking deeply. Even though his two wives were in the army, simply Carlotta and Bejacier were no longer in the king's chalet sleigh, but with their own army.

They are the wives of the king, and they are also generals who each lead a cavalry army. Together with other generals, each leads their own team and continues southward along the frozen Amber Road.

Walking on the winding and frozen river, the Ross Army broke through the watershed between the Daugava River and the Dnieper River at noon the next day.

People began to feel that they were obviously declining. Experienced Riga Bay visitors and grassland horsemen exchanged their knowledge of this area, which led the entire army to find the channel of the Orshaza River that afternoon.

It was a relatively wide ice-covered river, and obviously it became wider the further downstream it went.

Just as its name comes from the description of "soothing water" in the Baltic language, all walks on the Amber Road

People here know the river and don't hesitate to use the natural access.

But the river is so important that it is only used as a highway by businessmen, and even a "rest stop" has never been built.

In other words, any rest stop is considered to be built.

Today, a number of settlements have appeared on both sides of the Lovati River, and there is even a large city such as Great Luki. The northern line of the Amber Road has become more and more prosperous due to the expansion of the Ross Kingdom, and the middle line should be next.

Now, everything in front of him is extremely strange to Rurik, but he has heard about this area for a long time.

Even Mohu cognition from another era.

The 6,000 Ross coalition army has nearly 10,000 reindeer and horses, and they are also transporting a large amount of food and camping tools.

They went all the way south along the Orshaza River, and it was now the third day after noon when they set off from Vitebsk. The Ross United military took 48 hours to pass the junction of the West Dvina River and the Dnieper River.

Rurik had already stepped out of the sleigh, and what he saw in front of him was the wide Dnieper River. Obviously, this big river was also frozen solid.

The daylight hours were already very short. In order to avoid trouble in the night march, Rurik tried his best to hurry, and finally stood on the bank of the Dnieper River on the third evening after his departureit was also the first time he saw the Dnieper River in his life.

The Dnieper River is the mother river of the East Slavic tribes, and most of the Krivich tribes, large and small, live in the river basin.

On the contrary, for the Inlmen Lake Slavs under the Rus Kingdom, the Great Lake is the mother.

As Slavs, the North and the South gradually began to further divide due to differences in production and lifestyle.

There are a large number of Ilmen Slav soldiers in the Russian army. They don't have much empathy with the Smolensk people. Now that everyone is standing on the Dnieper River, the next step is to attack Gnezdovo, which is said to be where the enemy's altar is located. , Everyone can get rich by plundering the wealth there.

Because King Ross is fair, except for the precious spoils that will go to the treasury (in fact, it is also Rurik's own cash box), the rest is for all fighters to get first-hand based on their merits. Slavic warriors have the same rights as Varyags of all walks. If someone grabs more spoils than the old Rus blood warriors, it is his own ability, and others are not allowed to fight back.

Standing by the river, they seemed to have seen the endless wealth stored in the Smolensk settlement not far away, and their physical fatigue was temporarily shielded by the group's mental excitement.

Laughing and laughing, many people jumped up and down. After seeing the Dnieper River, the excitement gradually disappeared, and a strong sense of exhaustion hit.

The whole army accepted Rurik's order and built a camp at the confluence of the Orshaza River and the Dnieper River.

It will not even be a temporary camp, but will serve as a strategic base camp for the use of troops against Smolensk.

Rurik had to think a little more, he had to be able to fight in, and also be able to calmly push out after encountering troubles. He can't expect that the opponent will become exhausted because of the lack of a leader. If for unknown reasons, tens of thousands of local militiamen fight a defensive counterattack, the Ross Allied Forces must arrange a retreat for themselves in advance.

Retreat in a critical moment is not a disgrace, it can be transformed into a trick to lure the enemy deep.

Rurik made double preparations.

The ice surface of the frozen Dnieper River is brilliantly illuminated by the orange-red sunset, and the surrounding snow-capped world is also shrouded in faint orange.

Vladislav from Kiev, he vowed to point out that this location is not far from Kiev. "Maybe the king can spare time in the future to take the army to visit Kiev. You know, the people of Kiev are very happy to be friends with Rus."

It was indeed an act of flattery and sincere invitation that Vladyslav said to Rurik, who was standing by the river enjoying the scenery.

Only those who have been stationed in Ross for a long time can realize the strength of Ross. Vladislav's father, Sakyin, was elected as the leader by the folks in Kiev, but he is actually a talker in a loose organization. Sakyin led the Krivich people near Kiev, and quickly accumulated wealth through years of trade. They have become closer to the Kingdom of Rus and the Pecheneg Khanate because of their economic ties

And the Kiev community does not have a strong army to protect itself~www.mtlnovel.com~ The militia is afraid that they can only bully small tribes like the Mickeys of La.

Vladyslav, this young man has seen and heard a lot in Ross, so he has his own ambitions - not satisfied with being a resident envoy, but getting the canonization of the King of Ross, and even the territory of the entire Naroros Kingdom in his hometown of Kiev. The wealth of his own family has also provided security for the folks in Kiev, even if he must pay a "protection fee" to King Ross for this.

What was bought with money was the protection of the Russian army. After the prosperity of commerce and agriculture, these taxes can be offset. It is really profitable for the Kiev community to completely belong to the Kingdom of Rus.

Rurik was in a good mood and felt something, "I'm afraid that the trend of history will be slightly shifted in my hands? It would be great if the local people in Kiev were ruled by me voluntarily. Perhaps the confrontation of swords in history has never been It never existed in the first place.

The current camp, Rurik, was planned as a permanent settlement, and its name was none other than Orsha.

The name of the settlement is simple, the same as the name of the nearby river. Settlements can be added to the suffix of the riverside city "Sk". Rurik himself didn't bother to emphasize it, and everyone who learned about the situation began to call the current giant military camp Orsha.