In the same sleigh, Olafin and the village chief happily returned to the temporary camp of the Ross army.

In a short period of time, the Ross Army had set up their camp, and they also cut down some pine trees on the spot to use them as tent supports and fuel. As usual, the soldiers dug holes in the frozen river, trying to get some fresh fish from the river for grilling. They quickly happily carried perch and six-tailed catfish from one ice hole after another. Grilled on branches.

The melted snow water in the cauldron is already cooking the wheat, and it will take a while before it is cooked.

The flag teams still set up their own camps along the river. They were busy with the construction, thinking that when the tents were built one after another, the brothers would be able to eat with bowls.

The width of the river channel and the riverside meadow area on both sides is about one kilometer. It is wide enough, and the reindeer who take off the saddle and bridle immediately graze the dry grass under the snow freely, and the Ross army is more particular about the horses. The existing horses eat the same oats as the soldiers. They are so important, even Special care is required for overnight accommodation.

So some felled trees were quickly put together into a simple fence, which is a barrier for the horses to prevent wind and cold. The horses would sleep on all fours, kneeling and lying on their stomachs. In order to avoid damaging their stomachs, the soldiers even carried a shovel to clear a large area of snow.

Just as the Ross military camp was busy, Olafin brought the defectors happily in the evening.

A middle-aged man with a brown beard sits curled up on a sled. He is the leader of Pokrutishe Village.

According to Olafin, King Ross is a Varyag nobleman who is a hundred times nobler than Boss Gore.

Dress as decently as possible to be eligible to see the noble King Ross.

The leader of the village is not noble, it is just that everyone elects a man in the prime of life who is admitted to have some strategies and has seen the world to be the speaker. Of course, the so-called "seeing the world" here is just that the leader has met and talked with Gore in Pskov himself.

This man was wearing a robe made of patterned fabrics. He looked extraordinarily bloated but had a thin face with visible cheekbones. It was so weird because under the robe were various kinds of leather-sewn warm clothes.

He has a very polished appearance, and even wears a necklace made of amber and shells.

There is a Frankish-style wide-edged sword hanging on his belt, and this sword is also the only rarity in the village-it has almost become the treasure of the whole village, and only the elected leader is eligible to use it, but it cannot be hereditary.

The man was dressed as a warrior as he could, because Olafin claimed that warriors were what the Ruths looked up to most.

But he is not a warrior, just a villager. The most telling thing in this life is that he once led a team of more than ten villagers to kill many bears. The bear meat was classified by the villagers. Bear paws, leather and bones were all sold to Pskov for better things.

It was completely blocked by the forest and the noise of logging was covered by the north wind. When the village leader saw the huge camp of the Ross army, he couldn't help but feel the boulder pressing on his chest, and he was so shocked that he suffocated for a while.

The blue and white flag of Rose was planted on the sleigh, and the bells hanging from the reindeer's necks rang all the way. As usual, the soldiers guarding the periphery have always felt that the king has more arrangements

Yu, but setting up guard posts when camping is a military regulation formulated ten years ago, and the brothers followed suit.

These soldiers were directly arranged by Rurik: when they saw Olafin come back, they took this man back to the central army camp.

Isn't that man back now?

The lazy soldier patted his body and stood up. Shi Chang (team leader) took a closer look and immediately ordered: "Everyone cheer up! There are others."

other people? Isn't it the targeted villagers?

The whole army knew that Ross could take that village lightly, and everything depended on the king's benevolent brothers not to kill them.

The Chief Shi gave his subordinates a look to signal, and he led two buddies to stop Olafin's sleigh.

"Everything is done? You... brought the villagers?"

"That's right. Pokrutise Village intends to surrender to the king. You see, this man is the leader. This is a once-in-lifetime opportunity. Lead us to meet the king."

Of course this elder couldn't follow suit, he looked at the strange man who seemed to have been frightened, and suddenly noticed that this man had a sword twirling around his waist? Is it still a Frankish sword?

It's really weird. Is there still such a weird person hiding in a poor village?

Naturally, the king wanted to see him, and as for the alleged leader, he had to disarm all of them as usual.

Olafin communicated with the sentinel in Norse, but the leader and his three followers knew nothing.

To the surprise of all four villagers, the Ross soldiers could speak Slavic, which they understood. There was no barrier to communication between the two sides. Since King Ross only allowed "bare-handed audience", everyone followed suit.

Naturally, those who accompanied the four were also those who paid tribute to them.

A welcome gift - a bundle of flax rope.

A few foreigners appeared in the camp. Among the blue-and-white Ross Army soldiers, a few people wearing calico robes suddenly appeared, which seemed too eye-catching.

"It's just ahead." Olafin accompanied the village leader and continued to order: "Keep your humility. Don't worry, King Ross can speak your language, and report any questions truthfully. Don't have any wrongdoing with King Ross. thoughts, because it determines whether your whole village can see the sun of tomorrow."

Of course Olafin was kind, but it was this statement that made the entire group tremble.

Of course they are afraid, because they are surrounded by people with iron weapons. Those irons glow orange in the setting sun. There are irons everywhere here. Facing such powerful weapons, a small village is like a fish on a chopping board.

The noise outside has attracted the attention of Rurik who is waiting for the meal.

The so-called large tent of the Chinese army is his wing-style sled, and some tents and curtains are built around this sled, and it becomes the shogunate of the Russian army during the war.

Accompanied by Bejacier's well-behaved, Rurik, who was dressed more casually, appeared with a smile.

This made Olafin a little uncomfortable, and saw that this person approached the king very smoothly, bent over and knelt down on one knee to salute the warrior.

"My lord, I have succeeded, and the whole village has decided to pledge allegiance."

"Oh?" Rurik ordered Olafin to get up quickly, he noticed a few strange faces out of the corner of his eyes, and basically understood everything. "So those people behind you..."

After all, Olafin hurriedly gestured to the villagers.

I saw the somewhat dull four hurriedly imitating Olafin's appearance, so poorly imitating the Varyag's

Rites knelt on one knee and swore an oath in Slavic: "The village is loyal to the King of Rus."

It is inevitable that things will go smoothly. Rurik believes that his method of giving some gifts without committing crimes can quickly win people's hearts, but he did not expect it to go too smoothly.

"Get up, all of you!" Rurik ordered in Cyrillic. "I am the ruler of Rus, the noblest and most powerful man you who live in the forest will ever meet. You good men The village of the rope will come under my rule."

In the first contact, Rurik intentionally knelt here and the village leader was Boyar, which was his pride. And when he made this plan, he didn't even bother to know the name of the village leader. In his opinion, no matter how domineering the name was, it was far less noble than his own. This was where his arrogance lay.

Now Rurik changed the form of the interview again.

The noble King Rus wore a golden crown, and he sat on a sled, with his feet on the snow under the ruts.

He gave four villagers leather cushions to sit cross-legged.

The most well-dressed man must have been the village chief, who had a fine calico robe not markedly different in its weaving from the Ilmen Lake Slavs.

"It seems that it really proves that they are all part of the Krivich people." Rurik thought for a while.

In the official meeting, the village leader finally had the opportunity to report his name.

The name of this middle-aged man is Mancheko, which means very simplya boy.

Mancheko is the eldest son in the family. His mother later gave birth to several younger sisters for him. As the only boy, parents who are not good at naming their children simply call him

The eldest son is called "boy".

After all, the names of all the people in the whole village are so plain and boring.

"Okay! Mancheko, since you are the village leader, submit to me on behalf of the whole village. I can immediately make you a nobleman and make you a boyar. From now on, your village will be loyal to Ross, and you will attack him every year. Give me some tribute, so that I will always acknowledge your submission."

When mentioning the tribute, Mancheko's eyes visibly trembled.

Rurik noticed this keenly: "Oh? Do you have something to hide?"

"Yes! There is indeed one." Facing Rurik, the King of Ross, who was much younger than himself, the leader Mancheko did not have any arrogance in age. Skoff's Gore is more powerful.

"what is that?"

"I... I'm very scared. You gave us a lot of iron, and I don't know how much tribute I should give back for your kindness. Your Majesty thinks highly of us people who live in remote areas, but we have already asked the high-ranking officials in Pskov Boss Er surrendered..."

"Shut up!" Rurik snapped, "Are you negotiating terms with me?"

"I can not."

"Forgive your innocence, continue."

"Yes." Suppressing the fear in his heart, Mancheko carefully explained his concerns: "We have already surrendered to the Rus, so we can only surrender to Rus. To do so is to betray the boss of Pskov. If you The army of Pskov is gone, and Gore of Pskov will make trouble for us. In order to survive, we will submit to Pskov again, and this will become a betrayal of you."

Rurik couldn't help pinching his beard, thinking that this old man actually knows that one minister does not serve two masters. It may be that this person is upright and puts everything on the table. I am afraid that such an honest person will have no city, so the more such people treat him, the better. This is exactly the case, and this kind of person should not be disadvantaged.

Rurik is very clear about his long-term plan, which is to directly rule the Pskov region.

There are many ways to govern, for example, after signing a contract with the existing local rulers, Pskov will be merged into Rus in the form of an ally.

Or use military force to oppress the local ruler to surrender to Ross, and then give the legendary Gore a noble status.

These two methods have a major disadvantage, that is, Ross did not directly rule over it at the first time, but in fact reached a ruling alliance with the local nobles, which means that Ross transferred a lot of power, so that the time will be delayed. The complete rule of Pskov is not easy to implement.

Of course, there is a third method, which happens to be the most direct and straightforward methodGauer's beheading operation.

Directly slaughter the local powerful nobles, and Ross supports another puppet. A weak puppet must rely on the strength of King Ross to **** him, so that Ross will not worry about Pskov's rebellion for a long time.

It's just that this method is too aggressive. Ross has used similar methods in several large-scale expansion wars, and the price of killing people after it is really implemented.

Directly getting rid of Gore and destroying Pskov's high-ranking officials, Rurik has murderous intentions but will never tell anyone, at least for now.

All this comes precisely from this Mancheco reminder!

Gore of Pskov took his men of Danish immigrant descent, their armed group numbered about two hundred, relying on absolute and organized armed forces, they went to various Slavic villages every autumn to collect tribute.

The essence of what these descendants of Danish immigrants did was Sorgon. According to Mancheko's introduction, Rurik had a strong sense of dj vu.

Rurik deliberately smiled and asked: "So, you give Gore a batch of ropes every year. What did he do for you? Did he help you eliminate some wild beasts that broke into the village, or helped you resist the enemy? Or help you arbitrate the unfairness between the villages?"

"None." Mancheko shook his head and said bluntly: "We don't want to give him tribute, but we can't help it. Ah!" Suddenly realizing that what he said was inappropriate, he hurriedly lowered his head to make amends for himself: "I never did anything wrong. King Ross is disrespectful. To Ross's tribute, I... willingly."

"Not necessarily." Rurik smiled maliciously: "Actually, I know that you don't want to suffer losses, and you don't want something lying on your body to **** blood all the time. Ross is different. Do you have a lot of ropes in your village?"

"some."

"Give me all the tribute! Now! Immediately!" Rurik strengthened his tone, and immediately changed into a soothing tone: "Of course, you don't pay tribute for nothing. This king will reward you with some food and some iron tools."

"Ah?! Your Majesty is kind, and these rewards..."

Rurik waved his hand: "The ones I gave you earlier are just to see your attitude, this is my gift

, that's all. Just like this, you will pay tribute every year in the future, and Ross will reward you every year. How about we maintain this relationship? "

If this is the case, what kind of tribute is it? Hasn't it become a business transaction between you and me? Or is it that King Ross, who holds a heavy army, is just trying to figure out a good name?

Mancheko, who was full of doubts for a while, realized that what King Ross said was definitely not just for fame, but... a hidden murderous intention.

Because Rurik has already understood the hidden meaning behind Mancheko's expression of "one minister does not serve two masters", and because the local Danish community in Pskov is a ruling group, the leader they elected for this term, Gore, he In terms of grasping power, he has gone too far than previous leaders.

Rurik felt that a "prince" was rising, and that Gore would be the prince of Pskov!

Little Pskov is spatially surrounded by the Kingdom of Rus! Ross does not allow a state within a state. Anyone who dares to do so should be killed.

Gore began to emphasize power. This man no longer likes the Nordic-style democratic system in northern Europe. Some people who don't like him have moved out of the community one after another, and set up small communities in some places. It's just for the safety of everyone. No longer elect a leader to compete with Gower.

Among the Danes who moved away from the Great Community was Olafin the Nightcrawler. It was only at this juncture that Rurik learned of the subtle secrets. Cooperating with Olafin and some of his buddies in Pskov, they were also considered losers. .

It was only then that Rurik realized that there was a reason why this guy was so happy when he named him an earl and ordered him to build a city in a bad land that was prone to floods. think about

Look, a frustrated person has become a nobleman in the country. A noble status is the most important thing. As for whether the residence is poor, just choose a good place to build settlements in the territory in the future.

So, I thought it would be easy to accept the attachment of "Nian Zhuang", give the leader Boyar the title, and buy all their ropes.

Unexpectedly, this incident is directly related to the current situation of the huge community in Pskov.

It seems that all the Krivich Slavic villages and frustrated Danes in the area are "suffering for a long time", as if they all hope that Gower will lose his power.

Now, a problem is really in front of Rurik.

"Noble me, is it really necessary to form an alliance with that Gore? At first I thought this guy was the absolute ruler of Pskov, but now it seems that he is just a chief who has gathered some thugs in the nest .If I attack him, will those villages of the Crivitches help him? Absolutely impossible. Frustrated Danes, I am afraid that they will run to my camp in large numbers if they learn of the knighthood I have given to Olafin Right. So Gore is qualified to form an alliance with me. Why should I look up to him? Even if I get rid of him, Mrs. Pusko still lives as before..."

Rurik already had the answer in his heart, he didn't say it on the surface, but the sensitive person saw the killing intent in the king's eyes.

He immediately accepted the tribute brought by the village leader Mancheco, that is, some bundled flax ropes.

Rurik inspected and confirmed that these ropes could meet the needs of Ross's army, and he was overjoyed.

He promised to take the rope reserve of the whole village tomorrow, euphemistically calling it a "tribute"

, and what is the further reward? When Rurik spoke, it was still iron ax and iron spear.

This is actually a reward with low-quality loot. Originally, these ironware were intended to be transported to the capital for refurbishment, but now they are used to win people's hearts.

Maybe it's too strange to reward a village with so many iron objects, do they deserve it?

Rurik felt that his generosity was indeed too much, but the villagers did not give it for nothing. The people of "Nianzhuang" are genuine Pskov Krivich people. They are not from the same way as Olafin. Regarding the situation in Pskov, the local people's heart-to-heart statement may be more true.

Now, the four villagers, including Mancheco, all enjoy a sumptuous meal of boiled wheat. At least in the eyes of these four, King Ross is extremely generous-they are the first time they have eaten a meal rewarded by a powerful ruler. A delicious meal that is enough to fill your belly.

As night falls, the image of King Ross is like a **** in the eyes of Mancheko and others until now!

And Olafin, who accompanied the four to eat, also responded to this speculation with a smile: "King Ross is not a god, but he has been blessed by the gods of the north. He is a half-god. So as long as you obey him, you can live your dreams." You can still have a good life. You eat slowly, and stay at the Ross camp tonight. You wait a little longer, and King Ross will ask you to discuss some things later."

"What's the matter?" Mancheko asked alertly.

"Who knows? Maybe it's a big event! A... big event that I don't even dare to think about. UU Reading www.uukanshu.com" As he spoke, he looked at Olafin who was swaying by the bonfire with his job bowl in his hand, his eyes became confused.

Meanwhile Rurik was indeed not idle.

he is cute

I had an idea, kept muttering in my heart, and finally convinced myself that the power of Gore in Pskov is extremely limited, and he has no right to be equal to Ross at all.

He summoned the captains of all banners, centurions, and thirty commanders. Except for the most basic officers, officers of various levels gathered in front of Rurik, and the request he issued was only concise and concise: "Comfortable and stable The march has come to an end, and everyone is ready to fight."

Who are you going to hit? Everyone was at a loss.

Rurik ordered everyone to go back and continue to eat and drink, but the captains of each banner stayed on standby!

Just because the Ross army is about to hold a pre-war military meeting under the night sky.