Remember [New] in a second! The army has been advancing against the setting sun, and the people on the sleds are not so much protected by the cavalry as they are watched.

Everyone has beautiful dreams about the future, and deep down in their hearts, they also have concerns because they are in awe of the strength of Ross's army.

After all, they were Varyags living in Smolensk, and Hagen and his group had also trained the army for Vadim. It is said that Vadim was defeated and captured, so wouldn't it be embarrassing when the two met?

If the past had been learned by King Ross, would he have condemned himself?

Hagen didn't want to think about it, and he wouldn't take the initiative to mention it.

Everyone has no way out, and now they can only hope for the kindness of King Ross.

Behind the team is the soaring column of smoke, which is even more eye-catching in the setting sun, like a monument standing in the forest, sea and snow.

After watching it for a long time, I got tired of watching it. As the smoke column did not develop further, the Ross army, who hoped to witness a spectacle of a sea of fire, was a little discouraged and separated.

At the very least, it adds some fun to the somewhat boring Ross Coalition camp.

Meanwhile, where the fighting takes place.

After the cavalry destroyed the main settlements of Smolensk, one noble farm after another was sitting on pins and needles. Even the protection of wooden walls may not be absolutely safe. It seems that only noble mansions are safer.

The aristocrats and civilians are passively defending. The women knelt down and prayed to the sky, hoping that the gods would bless them and bring them peace. The men carried all kinds of farm tools as weapons, and they watched the movements for fear of being attacked.

It has been about nine hours since the refugees reported the tragic killings in the early morning. In such a short period of time, the huge Smolensk has essentially collapsed.

Even if there are still a large number of people stranded in this area, most of their stay is due to lack of understanding of wars and attacks. Now there is no strongman who can organize the vast number of young men and women into a large tribal army.

The world became extremely quiet, and people who were afraid of being ambushed by the Ross bandits who were ambushing their vigilance continued to lock their doors. The sky gradually darkened, but the flaming village became a huge torch. While it gave people warmth, it also caused more fear to the ordinary villagers.

The torch can't shine too far, and the temperature drops rapidly as night falls.

The coldest days are yet to come, but every night is already too cold.

The villagers now hiding in the noble manor have to consider a potentially fatal question - how do we spend the night.

Even the mansions of the nobles cannot be crowded with too many people, and most of the local nobles are not willing to let the peasants intrude. Protecting them with walls has shown their kindness to the fullest. As for the possible death of freezing and starvation, the poor must It was fate.

At present, people hiding in various noble farms are still hugging together to keep warm, hoping that everyone can leave the manor and go home after nightfall, and then make plans later.

Just when the atmosphere was very delicate, some furtive figures were squirming quickly under the dim light.

It was as if a wild boar had rushed into the village, and the warriors standing on the battlements trembled in shock. They had become nothing but soldiers.

"Is it an enemy?"

"Does he care? Archery is right."

The warriors on the battlements whispered, their trembling hands gripped their hunting bows tightly, and the arrows swished towards the wriggling shadow.

The lethality of these bone arrow clusters is very average, and it is basically ineffective against wild boars with hard manes. But it wasn't a wild boar, and the arrow missed nothing.

Several dark figures stood up suddenly, startling the battlement warriors to think that they were actually bears that had broken into the village.

A bear stands up like an upright man, and it is full of danger. It takes more than a dozen people with spears and bows to hunt together in order to hunt a bear.

But that's not a bear either.

Soon there was a subtle voice, and the black shadow continued to walk towards the wooden wall. Everyone gradually realized that it was actually a person.

Is it a fleeing villager? Eager to get into the estate?

But I saw many people boldly standing outside the wooden wall of the manor, waving their arms constantly, shouting words such as don't kill me.

"Who are you? Run for your life! This place is full!" A bearded peasant shouted at the top of his voice at the order of the noble.

"We can't go! We're from Gnezdovo! Russ! Those bandits! They want us to bring you something."

"What did you say? I can't hear you!"

"Let us in quickly, I want to see Lord Rome, we are envoys sent by bandits, let us in quickly!"

They affectionately called the local aristocrats "Roman lords", which really fit the nobles' self-proclaimed title.

How can someone who doesn't even have a purple robe call himself a Roman nobleman?

Only in the current situation, no one dares to doubt their nobilityafter all, ordinary people still need their protection.

Although the wind was loud, the noble standing on the high ground still understood the core content of the words.

"Open the gate!" the nobleman raised his arms and shouted.

But the armed guards were out of safety considerations, and the captain of the guards hurriedly persuaded: "My lord, beware of fraud."

The nobleman scolded directly: "Don't talk nonsense, you take your brother down and open the door. Put all the villagers back and let those guys from outside the wall come in. Listen, I can't arrange accommodation for them at night."

"All right"

People who stayed overnight for some reason, as the hardwood door latch was removed, the armed guards withdrew, and people who took refuge after the door was opened poured out like a tide.

This scene confused the messengers outside the door. They stayed where they were. After all, their home was in Gnezdovo, and now their home is indeed gone.

Soon, they were surrounded by tactics rushing out of the wooden wall, and wooden sticks mercilessly beat their calves and knees, forcing everyone to kneel on the ground. The guards of the nobles swarmed up and tied them all up, and then searched them to make sure that they were not carrying assassination weapons.

The guards didn't even find a dagger, but were surprised to find a rather soft cloth.

"My lord, look at this!"

The captain of the guard stood up and unfolded the cloth. Although the light is dim, a piece of white cloth is stitched with blue stripes on the diagonal, so the flag of the typical Ross bandit is displayed in front of everyone.

"It's bandits!" The nobleman didn't think much, he pointed his hand like a frightened bird: "Kill them! Everyone back in. Hurry up! Let's hide!"

What the nobleman said, in addition to the fact that it was already dark, and the surrounding forest was mysterious and unpredictable, maybe there were ambushes hidden. The nervous soldiers looked at the captain's attitude. They didn't kill these prisoners, and dragged them all like dead dogs. He stopped his barking and dragged him back to the fort.

The Ross flag has become a feared presence.

There are only a handful of people who were captured. Some of them participated in the expedition and were defeated and captured, as well as the residents of the Great Altar who were captured yesterday.

The room was lit with oil lamps, and the house was relatively warm. The bound people huddled together, nervously watching the warrior with a sword and axe, and the nobleman in a thick leather coat and fur hat.

The interrogation began immediately, and the spread Ross flag was originally used as evidence of a crime. When the nobles who learned about the situation were greatly shocked, they couldn't help but look at the cloth in their hands, and secretly rejoiced: "It's a good thing we didn't destroy it, otherwise everyone would be killed." It is difficult to negotiate terms with the Ross people."

The messengers reported in detail what they had seen and heard about Vadim's failed expedition, the strength of Rus' army, and the massacres at Gnezdovo.

He also stuttered and explained everything Rurik ordered clearly.

Nobility, but not purely landed nobility.

It didn't really matter whether the powerful families in Smolensk were actually of Roman blood, or if they were, it was just a little Roman merchant blood. They are more willing to be businessmen, earning profits from the locals by buying and selling. They are also landowners, relying on rent collection to further extract taxes from the locals.

However, the huge Smolensk has a large population, and limited production capacity cannot produce too much surplus materials. In recent years, foreign trade has been almost interrupted, and the Smolensk nobles are also eager to break the situation of being blocked and isolated.

Although Vadim is a "fallen prince", he is an outsider, but he is more enterprising than everyone else. In other words, if this person was killed because of the war, the local nobles would not suffer too much loss. If the war he presided over opened up the situation, everyone would naturally be able to happily make money.

But Vadim was defeated!

Four thousand troops were wiped out, and only a few people were spared by the Ross people. It's not that the Ross people are kind, it's just that they need a messenger.

The aristocrat realized that the matter was extremely delicate, so he hurriedly sent his guards to contact various aristocratic farms.

It was late at night, and it was confirmed that the bandits had disappeared without a trace, and those nobles who got the news were willing to boldly walk out of the wooden walls of their manors.

Under the protection of the family guards, the nobles walked towards the public council room. They gathered in the room, and the family members lined up the adult wall outside to observe the disturbance around them vigilantly.

Even though it was late at night, they were highly nervous and didn't feel sleepy at all.

The local aristocrats are highly assembled, each of these 20 or so people represents a side of power, they cannot decide the order of the entire community, but they can decide everything in Smolensk City, including the election of the leader.

Vadim was defeated but captured and would be burned alive by the Rus at the Great Altar as a sacrifice.

King Ross came with anger, and gave all the nobles of Smolensk a chance to live, provided that the nobles had to go to Gnezdovo in person, kneel down in front of King Ross, and express their submission in a dog-like gesture...

The messenger, whose hands were still tied, reluctantly repeated the words of the Rus to the nobles in extreme tension, and also told them the truth about the expedition.

What was said was too powerful, and everyone expressed their doubts and denials almost in unison out of instinct.

A person who seemed to be the oldest coughed twice: "Maybe all of this is the truth, we completely deny it... don't we give ourselves a way out?"

"Father! Are we stupid or are you stupid? Or is it that King Ross is stupid?! If we go to the altar now, wouldn't we be slaughtered?"

"Yes. We supported Vadim's expedition. We didn't expect such a result."

"Whoever believes in Ross people is stupid."

If everyone is very simple, it is impossible to have the current family business. They guessed that if they went to Gnezdovo with no or few guards according to what the messenger said, they could be easily captured and killed by the Ross people.

Although they didn't know about the "Hongmen Banquet", they estimated that there was a huge conspiracy involved.

"Why don't I know." The noble nicknamed Daddy coughed twice again: "Vadim was defeated, the altar was destroyed, and the people over there were either killed or fled. What should we do? Stay here and stand still, the Ross people There is a reason to kill them. If we go to the altar to pay homage in person, you are worried about being killed. Otherwise, let's run away.

Speaking of this, the old man looked at everyone viciously: "You abandoned the land and mansions. All of us left with our families, slaves, livestock, and everything we could carry."

"Escape? Where are you going? To Viadzic?" A middle-aged man asked sadly and angrily.

"Forget it." Laughing wryly because of grief and anger, another person sighed: "Heda took his men back to his Vyazma in the morning, that's all, he also took some of our men with him. What are we going to do in his territory?" ? What do we have left after losing our land? Besides, even if we get there, the Ross people will stop?"

"Then what do you say?!"

"I have no idea!"

"Since you don't know, just shut up!"

The nobles quarreled among themselves, and their livid faces gradually turned red.

The father has lived a long time, and after his own death, his son will be in charge of the housekeeping.

Now watching this group of nobles who are about the same age as his eldest son quarrel, unable to come up with any solution in distress and anxiety, the old man can only close his eyes and wait for them to shut up slowly.

After all, the verbal battle did not turn into a gang fight, and they really quieted down after shouting enough.

"Enough!" The old man, who had closed his eyes for a while, stood up leaning on his stick: "We have only three choices! Fight! Surrender! Escape! Since you are unwilling to submit or flee, then fight. Put All men and women organize, we form a coalition. Never mind Vadim, we fight!"

There was fire in the old man's eyes, but all the nobles looked at him like an old fool.

"Stop talking." One waved his hand with a wry smile: "We can't win."

"You guys don't even want to try?"

"How to try?!" The nobleman who was hit by the arrow was the most pessimistic: "Even if I hid in the wooden wall, my people still suffered a lot of losses from the arrow. Everyone was terrified. I dare say that we will wait until tomorrow." More people will flee."

The old man shook his head: "I don't want to be a dog, I don't want to fight, and I don't want to run away. What are you going to do?"

"So... what are you going to do?" Someone asked maliciously.

After all, Vadim used disgraceful means to rise to power. With his defeat, the largest family in Smolensk under his control has now existed in name only.

The orphans and widows that Vadim left here have been abandoned by the nobles, but these nobles are not strong enough to convince everyone.

Even a noble nicknamed Daddy, everyone is willing to listen to his nonsense because of his age, and no one will convince him if the words can't speak to their hearts.

Dad naturally has his own opinion: "There is nothing wrong with being a dog. Since you don't want to do anything, just stay here and wait for the Ross people to kill you. And me! I will take my family and surrender to the Ross people .I will go and surrender with Vadim's wife and children."

"It's up to you?" Then someone said sarcastic words: "You are going to be a dog and no one will stop you. But why did you take Vadim's wife and children away? His wife is quite young, and you still think about it when you have a bone." Possessing someone else's woman? Are you okay? Just an old man, don't think about **** anymore."

"You!" He almost didn't come up in one breath, and the old man covered his chest and hesitated, and then explained angrily: "I have a lot of female slaves, and I don't need that woman. Vadim's wife and children are gifts, dedicated to Ross The king is good for us. You fools, you don't know that I have to save your life."

"Bah! Old man, you are the boss of lust. You have many slaves, so it's okay to have one more?"

"You can take that woman to join the Ross people. If you want to prove that you are not lustful, kill them to prove yourself."

The words were fierce and vulgar, and the father was furious: "Okay, I will send someone to do it right away. You people are waiting here, and tomorrow I will take their heads to surrender~www.mtlnovel.com~ You all want to Well, those who are willing to take a gamble follow me. It doesn't matter if you scold me, I have made up my mind. I have no time to waste time with you, so I'm leaving.

This old man knew almost nothing about Ross and the king of Ross, but he learned from the Varyag who lived there that the king had unified the north. Those who can unify the northern seas must kill without restraint, but they will also maintain order. Killing is a means, if it becomes the goal, wouldn't the subjects of all walks of life seize the opportunity to rebel?

Dad is a generation older than other nobles, and his life experience determines that he is willing to believe that King Ross will abide by an order.

Moreover, the whole of Smolensk is on a cliff, and Dad has no choice.

He doesn't know whether voluntary surrender is the best choice, but standing still, fleeing, and fighting are all bad choices, and the means of war are the most unusable.

Looking at the behavior of those guys, there is no need to expect a coalition of nobles, at least at this juncture, it is absolutely impossible.

He has no obligation to help those guys either.

I'm afraid it really has changed! If possible, my family will live under the rule of the Ross people. I think the Ross people will not do anything to the subjects, and at most they will pay an extra tribute.