Chapter 1,279 I'm Afraid You Will Regret that You Were Merciful and Didn't Kick that Kid to Death.

Three messengers and ten horses were galloping towards the north. Carl Eriksson and his two companions travel through the gaps in the forest.

They spoke few words along the way. They used the small lake by the forest as a reference and headed straight to the lake at the source of the Lovati River.

When there is no snowfall, it is easy for them to reach the lake along the route they have explored. However, the weather is getting colder day by day. Once the snow is covered, can the reinforcements to rescue Vitebsk arrive smoothly?

There were many lakes in this area, and the three of them frequently changed their horses. They followed the east side of the lakes all the way north and correctly found the upper reaches of the Lovaj River.

They have been running all the way for three consecutive days, with only a short rest in the middle. Both the man and the horse have endured great pressure.

Even though they have genuine Turkic steppe horses, they are not Mongolian cavalry at all. They continued to run wildly until now, facing the quietly flowing Lovati River and staring at the clear water, they seemed to have seen their home.

For the time being, they lit a bonfire by the river and cut down some small branches to build a shack. The exhausted three people unloaded the pottery urns and boiled the wheat on the spot, and also fed it to the hard-working horses.

"I don't know what's going on over there at the fortress." The man who had calmed down huddled up, facing the bonfire and couldn't help but worry.

"The gods will bless them. We... still have to bring the news to Great Lucki as soon as possible. We will have a good night's rest here, eat well and make the final sprint tomorrow." Karl cheered for the other two people, and he said so. Listen to yourself.

It was a pity that he did not participate in the battle to defend the city. He estimated that the battle to defend Vitebsk was already heating up. Those brothers were blood-sacrifice to Odin, but he actually... However, this night was not peaceful.

The north wind kept blowing, and the shed of the three of them, which was nestled in the woods, was overturned. In the freezing night, the three of them were so cold that they did not care about maintaining the temporary camp, but tried their best to protect their horses.

They had no choice but to walk deeper into the forest and tie their horses to a big tree. The three of them huddled together, wrapped in blankets, and stayed there until daylight.

"Damn it. Sneeze!" After a loud sneeze, daylight finally arrived. Karl patted his two companions: "It's time to get up, let's keep walking."

"Oops. I wanted to have a good sleep, but tonight is worse than sleeping in the open."

"That's right." Another brother said angrily: "Look at the damn weather, it's going to snow soon. The north wind keeps blowing, and we can't even light a fire in the open space. Do we have to continue to eat dry food?"

"Stop complaining. We'll have a good meal when we get to Big Lucki, and besides... we don't have the right to complain." After saying that, Karl quickly got up and took the blanket with his hands, and bounced vigorously in order to warm up, and then said: " Don't waste time, untie the reins and let's go now?" After all, he had arrived at the main channel of the Lovati River. Carl Erikson simply ignored the camp that was damaged by the wind, and even used the pottery urn for cooking wheat to reduce weight. There are no longer taken away.

They moved forward lightly, because it was only a day's journey from their destination, Big Lucki, and even most of the load could be abandoned. The three of them no longer cared about horsepower, and ten horses began the final sprint.

At the same time, Great Luki City was peaceful... In the cold morning, the north wind was still sweeping across the river bend area.

Compared with the city half a year ago, there are many fewer settlers in this city, especially the hard-working First Flag Team, which has completed its mission of assisting in combat operations. The flag captain

"Bald" Fisk has withdrawn further north to Novgorod to report to King Rurik. It stands to reason that the Duchess Carlotta should also ride back to her city of New Ostara on the southern shore of Lake Ilmen to spend the winter.

She didn't do that. In fact, because the Principality of Ostara is not what it used to be, she has completely annexed Polotsk. In a sense, it is more appropriate to call it the Principality of Ostara-Polotsk.

As a legal vassal state of the Kingdom of Rus, the principality was granted the power of free expansion in the south, but the principality's strength was limited.

Novostar, Veliky Luki, Vitebsk, and Novopolotsk, the four cities of the principality are small outposts in the sense of post stations that have sprung up along the river. Although each settlement is adjacent to the transportation line, they are not connected to each other. The distance was so great that the principality's military strength was greatly diluted.

The key is that the Vitebsk fortress must be strengthened, and the fortress erected in the newly conquered Polotsk also needs to be guarded.

Unfortunately, the number of men and women who can afford weapons in the Principality of Ostara is less than a thousand. The Principality seems to be very powerful, but in fact there are leaks everywhere.

Carlotta is not satisfied with the current situation of the principality. Relying on her husband Rurik as a strong backing, she is willing to gamble on the fate of the country.

Ultimately, he was opening up territory for Rurik and building a more complete inland river communication line in the southern part of the kingdom on his behalf.

At the same time, he also faced the military pressure of the Smolensk community and shared the kingdom's worries. In the Grand Lucki Palace of the Duchess, Carlotta changed into a white bear fur coat and sat cross-legged.

Her long golden hair was deliberately stretched into a ponytail. This was not to show her feminine charm, but to look after King Rurik.

Beside her sat two children, a boy and a girl. Karl Ryukson, and the Polotsk girl Sorkina Kalodote.

For the time being, Sorkina appeared as Carlotta's adopted daughter,

"Carodotte" is exactly what is called

"Carlotta's daughter", she could no longer use her biological father's name as her patronymic to refer to herself. Is it really necessary to worry about this vocabulary?

Carlotta felt it was very necessary. It was precisely because of her title that the relatively quiet-looking Sorkina was qualified to put on a gorgeous outfit, wear a gemstone and gold necklace, and sit here as the top female noble in the kingdom.

"Are the horses in a pen? How about the cattle and sheep?" Carlotta faced the subordinates who were half-kneeling to report their duties.

"Yes. This has been done overnight as per your instructions."

"Very good. The weather has changed. I'm afraid it will snow within three days. We must seize the time to collect some more fodder today."

"Follow your orders. This subordinate will organize the brothers to do what you tell them to do."

"You are loyal. But I will personally lead you to do this. I want to see this city face the cold winter." Carlotta geared up and said a few words to her children.

Only because she is not old enough, Sorkina exists as Karl's sister. This embarrassing situation will end soon, and the two will get married in four years at the latest.

Even then, Carlotta was willing to give up her position as duke to her son, thereby fulfilling her promise to the living and dead Ostara people, as well as their traditional allies, the Gran people.

On this day, she inspected the hay raking operation, supervised the dock to tow the ships to the shore and secure them, inspected the stables, cattle sheds and sheep pens, inspected the city walls, and inspected the city granaries.

At this moment, there are only more than 300 settlers in the city of Velikiy Lucki, including some guests. They are Slavic farmers from the north. Some of them are land reclamation farmers who followed the call of the duchess and brought their families with them to become Velikiy Lucki. , some simply come here for winter hunting.

People perform their duties and wait quietly for this year's full snowfall. As for Carlotta, she will not leave Big Lucki for the time being. If nothing happens, she will return to the northern city of Ostara with some of her people when the river freezes and it is almost bright.

The change happened this afternoon! A small cavalry ran along the river from south to north. Apparently they saw the city wall. They deliberately displayed two flags - the Ross flag with blue stripes on a white background and the Ostara flag with an abstract bull's head coat of arms.

What is even more impressive is that these three people installed purely decorative horns on their iron helmets. The identity of the visitors is obvious, they are the Ostara cavalry.

Companions galloping from the south? ! The young people who were still raking grass outside the city facing the Lovaj River couldn't help but stare at the returnees. The patrolling soldiers hurriedly dispatched, and the leader stopped the galloping horse team, and recognized the leading man at a glance.

"Is it you?! Karl Eriksson? Didn't I arrange you in Vitebsk?!"

"Danger. Very dangerous." Karl shouted at the top of his lungs: "It's a war! The Smolensk people are attacking Vitebsk! I want to see the Duke!"

"Huh?! What did you say? War?"

"Brother! You! Regenford. I want to see the Duke immediately."

"Okay! I'll take you there." After saying that, Regenford, who was on duty, ignored his man for the moment and quickly climbed on a horse and broke into the city of Lucky.

At this moment, Carlotta has just finished her inspection. She is quite satisfied with the current situation of the city. The only shortcoming she feels is that the city's situation has improved a lot due to her determined expansion.

"Am I going to ask for more people from Rurik? Or I can move some people from Polotsk to settle here. Veliky Luki is a very nice place after all." She thought very well and was looking forward to today. A delicious evening comfort meal.

As a duchess, it is not realistic to eat a lot of fish and meat every day. The daily meal is just oatmeal stewed in milk. After adding some honey and dried fruits, it looks more advanced than ordinary people's meals.

To be fair, the food now is much better than her childhood memories. Even now, Ostara has changed into a different person, and basically only has a well-known name left.

She planned to go to bed early tonight and had no intention of disturbing the two children's play. She knew that her little Karl planned to train Sorkina into a female warrior, so that she could be considered a good playmate at this stage and worthy of the status of the future duchess.

The game in the north was full of barbarism. Sorkina had to pick up a wooden sword to compete with her fiancé, and was forced to practice archery.

Today, Carlotta is more like a male noble. Facing the dancing flame of the oil lamp, listening to the violent and cathartic play of the children in the other room, he can't help but stroke his beardless chin and smile softly.

"I am still a woman after all." The world was in a haze, and the absence of the setting sun made the already rapidly shortening daytime even shorter.

The soldiers on duty at the palace hurriedly reported the news, and their words could not hide the panic in their hearts: "Sir, the envoy from Vitebsk has something big to report! Big news to report!"

"What's going on? I didn't ask Vitebsk to send a message now. Who is the messenger?"

"It's Carl Eriksson."

"Him? Why is he here? Is he waiting outside?"

"yes."

"Let him in quickly!" After all, Carl Eriksson is an extremely rare old Ostara man. Even when the survivors fled, he was still a young child who had just remembered.

The remnants of the family and the descendants of the traditional vassal Gran people. Since these people are very few in number, Carlotta can not only remember them all, but also naturally appoint them as the elite of the principality.

Of course, these people who are bathed in warrior culture despise being cowards. As a purely militarized feudal state, the Principality of Ostara is in urgent need of such talents. When they grow up, they are indeed not people who are greedy for life and afraid of death.

Finally arriving at Velikiy Lucki before dark, Carl Eriksson and his two guys had nothing to do with quenching their hunger after not eating for a day.

They took off their self-defense weapons and entered the palace lightly. Duchess Nian fell down directly.

"You..." Carlotta was shocked when she saw them staggering: "Vitebsk? Did something happen?! Karl, face me."

"Yes! Sir. Our fortress... is..."

"Speak slowly." Karl regained his composure for a moment and mentioned another thing: "Sir, do you still remember Pine Needle Manor back then?"

"Pine Needles Manor?! It? Isn't it the current Mstisk?"

"Yes. The escaped Vadim appeared. Although I don't know why, this man is now the leader of Smolensk."

"I have heard a little bit about this matter. What does it have to do with my fortress? No!" Carlotta slapped her thigh and became angry, then she raised her head and stared angrily: "Are you telling me that Vaji Are you going to attack our Vitebsk with a huge army?"

"Your Excellency is wise! And the war has broken out. I know that my words are empty. I still have Yellinger's letter here."

"Is there such a thing? Get the letter quickly." The letter was engraved on the wooden board in traditional rune script, and the content was extremely simple but enlightening.

After throwing down the board, Carlotta couldn't help but slap her mouth: "I was careless. God! I am just a mortal. How could I think that the villain would actually raise an army to conquer in winter? Is that Vadim a madman?" The fierce words and sighs really attracted the two children who came to play.

Carlotta simply pulled her son Carl over and faced the other big Carl together.

"Go on. Tell me the truth you know. I can bear it mentally," she urged.

"Yes." So, Carl Erikson explained everything he had experienced in the first battle of the Vitebsk Fortress, especially the information he got from the prisoners of war.

It was indeed Vadim, the leader of Smolensk, who launched the Winter War. The prisoners would never slander their leader. This Vadim clearly came from the north.

"Prince of Desolation", the purpose of the war is to launch a counterattack with the villagers who were massacred and attacked by the Rus.

The real Russian cavalry, Ostara cavalry, Kiev horsemen, and steppe visitors, because they all attacked Smolensk and often displayed the flag of Russia, were generally labeled by the other party as "Russian cavalry".

"Ross Gangster" fits the bill. Carlotta did not sympathize with the Smolensk people, and did not regret her behavior of condoning the robbery of her subordinates. Instead, she admitted that the other party was qualified for revenge.

After all, if you put yourself in someone else's shoes, you will still find a way to get revenge. However, it is a general trend that the Smolensk mercenaries are not a certain big noble's opinion. The Smolensk community is not an ally but has blocked the communication line and must be attacked.

As for the fact that the Slavs of Lake Ilmen in the north have long been afraid of it, the so-called Krevic residents of Smolensk have decided to establish a country independently and have long openly tried to annex the north. Carlotta has never cared about it, she guessed. Rurik didn't take this matter particularly seriously.

In the past ten years, Ross has been going his own way, planning to attack a certain ethnic group and then finding a legitimate reason to send troops.

It is now the third year that the Kingdom of Rus has maintained a high-pressure attitude towards Smolensk. A major purpose of the principality of Ostara's southern expansion is to create a war buffer zone and then invade Smolensk's forward base.

The enemy's counterattack was naturally expected by Carlotta. But there were two things she didn't expect. One was that the other party had the courage to attack in winter, and the other was that Vadim, the man who must be killed, actually led the attack himself.

Carlotta actually didn't believe the information obtained by the messenger. What does it mean that the enemy has an army of five thousand, including five hundred cavalry?

What nonsense! But when I thought about it, I couldn't imagine the inferior tribal army according to the standards of the Ross Alliance Army.

What is an infantryman? Give a tribal warrior wearing deerskin or boar skin a short spear and he becomes a soldier.

The five thousand army is probably just five thousand armed peasants. It may be true that some prisoners of war are exaggerating, but the most critical information is nothing else. It is Vadim himself who openly appeared and launched a war against the Kingdom of Rus with strong means for the first time.

She deeply felt that everything Rurik said was right - the Vitebsk stronghold you built privately is too far forward, and if there is a war, the battlefield must be there.

Even the name Vitebsk was obtained by Rurik. At first, she was happy that Rurik acknowledged his additional claims for southern expansion. What should she do now?

asked Carl Eriksson. Carlotta responded decisively: "Reinforcements are necessary! However, our army has been dispersed, and the Velikiy Luki garrison is not enough to complete the support on its own. Now the only thing I can do is go to Novgorod in person to ask the king to send troops, and the Russian cavalry will solve it." Problem." Now that she no longer cares about the weather, Carlotta even imagined Danyuririk and the aging but still alive old Otto, and their expressions when they learned that Vadim, who had escaped, was actually attacking with a large army.

Thinking again that once they learned that Vadim was going to the sea to conquer the entire Ilmen Lake area and Novgorod...

"Father...I'm afraid you will regret that you were merciful and didn't kick that kid to death." She thought to herself.