The frozen Daugava River became a grand parade ground, and now the Ross army is displayed here again.

It was different from the previous days. This time, all the people staying in the city of Riga gathered by the frozen river. They once again got a glimpse of Ross's military glory and enjoyed the rare and lively moments in winter.

The three cavalry that planned to stay in Riga lined up in full costumes. General Fisk had already had enough conversations with King Rurik, and there was nothing more to say. The remaining soldiers faced the army that was about to leave in full costumes.

Spueut took his "pirate legion" and Stekander with all the Danish community to watch the grand occasion. These people gathered together and sent off the army with a very rhythmic Viking battle cry.

Riga has never seen anything like this!

King Ross is leaving, and what remains is the hope of getting rich.

The army of sledges lined up in two columns, and Rurik led the second cavalry, Bejahir's prairie cavalry in front.

A group of people with musical instruments gathered on the two sleds, and they provided the BGM for the leaving army.

In this regard, Rurik has some evil tastes. The tune of "Farewell to the Slavic Women" has an inexplicable sense of pathos. After all, its original song is "Send the Son to the Battlefield". In this scene, it is played with wooden flutes, horns and leather drums. It certainly corresponds to an atmosphere.

The soldiers wore extremely thick clothes. Instead of helmets, they wrapped their heads tightly with hats to keep out the cold. People put on wooden framed sunglasses one after another, and many people even used linen cloth bought locally as scarves to completely cover their heads. Hold the face. With blue feathers in the hat, it becomes a huddle on a sled

Another group of Ross warriors is a beautiful landscape.

For a while, the blue and white banners were hunting in the cold, and the fed horses and reindeer were breathing thick fog, and they seemed restless.

Here, only Rurik himself is not wearing a hat. His golden hair is extremely dazzling in the gray-white world, and what is even more dazzling is the golden laurel crown on his head.

Finally, Rurik himself rode his horse for another ride in front of the crowd of onlookers.

So people saw a tall warrior passing in front of them on a black horse with an extremely thick mane that didn't look majestic. Russian horses are not afraid of the cold.

After all, the winter temperature in Latvia is often warmer than that of the southern Russian grassland. These Turkic horses, which can endure the extreme cold in the Central Asian grasslands in winter, are the only ones that can create some winter combat miracles for the Kingdom of Ross. They have now fully adapted to the winter in Latvia.

Rurik returned to his lined up army, and suddenly he shouted: "All! Salute to Riga! Supreme courtesy!"

He took the lead first, and then the second cavalry team followed suit immediately. In a moment, all the soldiers on the sled turned sideways to face the city of Riga and the soldiers and civilians who were watching.

Everyone hit their chests with their right fists, and then pointed their fists straight ahead.

This set of military salute imitating the ancient Roman legion was created by Rurik for Ross. It is not very commonly used, but once it is used, it is a very high courtesy.

More than 2,000 people made the same movements almost at the same time, which is very shocking to the senses.

This is the so-called "Greetings to Riga

Respectfully".

Those Selon children sitting together quietly watched the performance of the Ross people, and they were treated like children. The ten Pskov merchants sitting on the sleigh, the leader "Night Walker" Olafin, thought that they were already very happy. Knowing Ross, now that King Ross can order more than 2,000 people to do something at the same time with a single sentence, this is hard for him to understand, but it really happened before his eyes.

Olafin was wrapped in a buckskin blanket rented by the Ross people, and his feet in leather boots could not help but seep a layer of cold sweat.

The BGM stopped abruptly, replaced by all the trumpeters playing the same low and melodious tune, just like a long boat revealing its real body through the fog.

Rurik now looked directly at the upper reaches of the Daugava, and with one more gesture the whole army went into action.

It started with himself, and the whole army left Riga without looking back.

And those soldiers who stayed there watched silently as the main force of the Ross army and the king disappeared into the forest river.

The rest is just to hurry on the road peacefully.

In order to protect the precious war horses, the soldiers of the Second Cavalry also sat on the sleds one after another, connecting the horses to the sleds with only ropes. In the end, it was the huge number of working reindeer who suffered.

Now Rurik's shed-style sleigh is his exclusive warm nest with Bejacier, and he temporarily entrusts Brody with the task of supervising the march of the whole army, so that he can show off himself in front of the people of Riga. Want to curl up and catch up on the return sleep.

The young general suddenly shouldered a heavy responsibility, and Brody didn't feel any pressure. He sat on the sled at the head, just like the dragon's head on the bow of a long ship. The blue feathers on the hat became extremely conspicuous.

as a guide

Olafin is sitting in the sled directly behind, how to get to the land of the Selons, and if he finds the right river next to their land, these things will not trouble him with his rich experience.

What Olafin did not expect was that the young general actually served as the commander-in-chief of the march, and King Ross was so relieved.

Thinking about it again, King Ross himself is also a young man, so it makes sense to value another young man.

Only then did he learn that the young general named Brody had made great contributions in Ross's first expedition to Frank. He was of pure Ross tribe origin and had some blood relationship with Rurik himself.

Perhaps it was because of the blood relationship that King Ross was relieved.

Olafin is still observing quietly, he wants to know all about Rose as much as possible, and is making better plans for the future.

The whole army maintained a constant speed, and the army stayed at the edge of the forest at night.

It is not easy to start a fire in the forest and snowfield. Olafin noticed that the Ross people just have a way to make a fire quickly. He noticed that these people were using some strange off-white powder. "This is a kind of soil salt? Huh? Why do they have so many such precious things?"

Because the Danes have the habit of building collective toilets, someone found some flammable clots near the dung pile in the toilet, and soon the boring people threw it into the bonfire and found out that it was unusual after all the hard work, and then It is rare to find it used in drilling wood to make fire, but it is very useful, but no one here in Denmark has thought about why all this since ancient times.

Fermenting dung and urine to extract soil nitrate has become an official skill in Ross. So far, the Russian army's bow drilling fire technique has been indispensable for its assistance

Having it is to get twice the result with half the effort.

Also at the temporary camp, Olafin, as an important guide, was able to have dinner with King Ross himself.

He didn't expect to eat any good food during the camp, but the Ross army ignored the cold, and they just used magical iron pots to cook wheat in the camp.

It is not uncommon to drink alcohol, but it is a bit unusual to be able to drink during the camping period, especially the "flammable water" contained in the "crystal vase".

For the first time, Olafin drank the clear spirit obtained from the continuous concentration of ale, and it was even handed to him in a burning state.

"This fire is actually wine? Did King Ross really get Odin's divine power? It seems true, after all, his wine is as clear as water but has fire. If I really drink it, wouldn't I also get Odin's power?" Ding's blessing. Wait a minute, this fire will burn my stomach to ashes?" Olafin hesitated for a while, closed his eyes and drank it down with a mentality as if he was going to die, and clutched his beard.

It really felt like a fire was burning in my stomach, and all the cold dissipated, but soon my mind also fell into an extremely comfortable ecstasy.

Aura powder curled up in a deerskin and fell asleep, but was kicked awake the next day.

"Don't sleep, old man, come and eat quickly."

It was a young soldier. The boy's actions were quite rough, but the air was filled with the smell of wheat. Olafin suddenly lost all sleepiness, sniffed the smell and rushed to the nearest cauldron.

The Ross people are extremely particular about even marching, and they have completely subverted Olafin's perception of camping.

Where is this hard camp? Obviously a comfortable game.

The iron pot replaces the pottery urn, it is extremely strong,

Much lighter than a pottery urn, it can be thrown roughly on a sled, and it is easy and washable cookware, even if it will rust, as long as you wipe it frequently.

Olafin moved with the Ross army. It was the first time in his life that he saw an iron pot, and he was shocked by the large amount of equipment in the Ross army. As an old traveler for many years, he knows too well the hardships of making meals when traveling. If he takes an iron pot with him, the hardships will be gone?

He was eager to get it, and also learned that the Ross people had actually been selling this treasure. He knew that King Ross was in a good mood now, so he licked his old face and begged the king to give him a pot.

It's not inappropriate to give a mere iron pot to someone who is about to make a contribution, and even this pot can deeply stimulate Olaf to work hard! So did Rurik.

Inadvertently, the Ross army has been showing their logistical advantages. Large and small objects seem to be useless in combat, but they keep the soldiers in a good state of mind during the long march, and their morale is also extremely high.

After eating Olafin again, he felt very comfortable. He didn't waste food, and he stretched out his tongue to lick the wooden bowl clean.

Just at this moment, a big hand tapped on his shoulder.

Olafin turned back sharply: "My lord? Is there an order?"

"It's nothing, so far the king doesn't need you to work. Today we will reach the border of the Selons, and after that...it's up to you."

Olafin stood up abruptly: "It's on me."

Rurik came here just to remind the old guy, he saw that the soldiers basically had a sumptuous dinner, and he moved the reindeer that had been plowing the snow and gnawing grass roots back to the sleigh.

Soon the horns and drums sounded loudly, and the well-trained soldiers quickly packed up

Back to the sled.

Soon the army disappeared under the cover of the forest like a storm, leaving only the dark traces of the campfire at the riverside camp.

The continuous good weather is fascinating, but the temperature has not risen significantly.

The Russian army returned safely to Ilpils where they had started, and Count Ilbert fulfilled his task, and indeed he found people from the villages who knew how to get to Pskov.

Some short and stocky men were gathered together. There were only five of them in a group, and they were said to be the way-knowers, but the fly in the ointment was that these men did not understand Norse or Slavic. They are full of local languages, so that the use value is greatly reduced.

The weather changed quietly. After reducing its strength, the Ross Army made its final rest in Ilpils, but it snowed at night.

Is it stressful?

For the Russians, as long as the snow is not a blizzard, the army can ignore it. This is derived from the experience of many adventurous marches in the past, and it is also due to the arrogance of the soldiers in the army, especially the young soldiers. They hope to do better than their parents, so they can only face the wind and snow and hide all their timidity and worries. bottom of my heart.

It was still the same wooden house where the meeting was held. Rurik, Ilbert, Olafin, and other important people gathered together for another meeting, which was also the last meeting before the Ross army went north.

As far as Ilbert was concerned, he was very excited when he saw that the children who had gone to Riga to see the world came back safely, and he was completely relieved of King Ross.

It was windy outside, with snow in the wind.

Ilbert and Olafin are unwilling to say it clearly, but they have doubts about the future of the Ross Army.

Don't worry. Their worries are manifested in their furrowed brows and trembling eyes. No words are worth a thousand words.

The bronze oil lamps placed in the room, the flames fluttered uncomfortably with the breath of people, making the atmosphere in the room even more treacherous.

Rurik paused for breath: "It's snowing, maybe it's not a good sign. But I'm not afraid, everything is going according to the plan, I'll take a good rest tonight, and our army will set off tomorrow morning. Ilbert!" He said Especially looking at the face of this old Theron guy: "What do you think?"

"Your Majesty's courage is stronger than the wind and snow. I... can only support."

"Hehe, I know you are worried. Indeed, no one wants to march in the snow, especially thousands of warriors marching in the snow at the same time. The five guides you gave me don't understand Norse, maybe They're not very good at the job. Luckily I have Latvian reindeer herders in my team who can act as interpreters."

(Rurik recruited a group of Latvians who were interested in working in Riga as royal husbands, promising them to do some work after arriving in New Roseburg, and to return to Riga by boat after sailing in the spring.)

"Oh, that's great." Ilbert knew his current situation. If King Ross had any orders, he could follow them unconditionally, and he could support any claims unconditionally.

"So, next..." Rurik officially pushed Olafin to the front desk, and solemnly said with an arrogant smile: "Ilbert, you are an earl. This visitor from Pskov is named Ola Fern, he's also a count. It's all God's arrangement, so I met the real one in Riga

Pskov hero. "

Rurik gave Olafin many wonderful words, which immediately caused Ilbert to feel that the elderly Varyag sitting in front of him was also an old nobleman in Pskov.

This is where the chatter began. After all, it was the first time for the Selons to formally meet the travelers from Pskov. All the information they got from afar and heard was distorted. What kind of existence is Mrs. Scorch.

In the first contact, Ilbert no longer felt that those Mrs. Psko needed to be on high alert. They walked in the creek, in the mud, and in the forest, sneaking like a pack of wolves.

Will Madame Psko catch slaves? In the past, some villages claimed that people who went hunting disappeared, and children who were grazing disappeared with their sheep at the same time. The people don't quite believe that the missing person was killed by a wild beast, and those elusive Pskov businessmen somehow bear the name of "murderer".

Mo Min's wonderful contradiction and misunderstanding were easily resolved.

For Olafin, this group of Selong mountain people who they don't want to deal with actively, they didn't expect to have such an unreasonable misunderstanding of themselves, and couldn't help but feel angry.

Fortunately, the misunderstandings in the past never led to direct conflicts. There is King Ross as the mediator and arbitrator here, and Ilbeth, on behalf of the entire Cerlon, believes that Olafin and his guys are good people, and also believes that there will be more people in the future. The settlement established by the old guy and his fellows at the lake just north of the Theron tribe is of no harm to the entire tribe.

As for Pskov, will the locals also be friendly to Theron? Ilbert probing the bearded

Head, I hope Olafin can give you an accurate word.

But how can Olafin speak for Boss Gore, and what is little Theron?

He didn't have Rurik's good temper on this issue, so he said bluntly: "Few people in Pskov know that there are people like you, and no one cares about you, Seron, and even Semigali Ya doesn't care either. UU Reading www.uukanshu.com All we want is salt and other goods! If it weren't for King Ross's strong request this time, I wouldn't want to enter your territory either.

The words are really arrogant, and it also expresses Pskov's disdain for Theron in an honest manner.

Ilbert is a smart man, he knows that because of his humble origin, the Danes and Latvians in Riga cannot think highly of him.

King Ross's hero who conquered the world, and only the great Rurik would regard Theron as one of his forces. In the end, Ross gave some favors like a god, and besides that, he didn't take the initiative to ask for tribute. Now King Ross's attitude still makes Theron let himself go.

"If I'm poor enough and live in a remote enough place, no one will think of me. Now that I vote for Ross and become a nobleman, and hold the Ross flag, I won't be coveted by others when I become rich."

Ilbert thought so, and took advantage of the opportunity to hastily establish a peaceful and friendly alliance with Olafin.

So under the witness of Rurik, the two small earl states signed an alliance, and the most important clause in the agreement was: the two sides should not conquer each other at any time.