Chapter 1320: Diverting Trouble to the East

Because these messengers clearly explained one word - Vyadzic.

In the Slavic world, "Via" is a common name for men. Just because the leader of the tribe long ago was named Via, the tribe changed its name to Viadzic due to the leader's personal wishes.

The river was nameless, but when this tribe continued to move upstream along the left bank of the Dnieper River, they finally stopped migrating after entering a wide tributary. The nameless river has a name, it is the Vyazma River.

Rurik's knowledge of Vyazma only came from the war that broke out in 1941.

To attack Moscow, we must capture the important city of Smolensk.

It is very normal to build roads along rivers. The Smolensk Avenue was built adjacent to the Dnieper River, then continued along the Vyazma River, and finally led directly to the city of Moscow.

It is almost the only road leading to Moscow. Whether it is 1812 or 1941, the army expedition to Moscow must take this road. It seems that it is the agreed path. Even the Lithuanian army in 1372 set out from the surrendered Principality of Smolensk and took this path to directly attack the Principality of Moscow, but was forced to retreat because of the obstruction of Moscow's city wall.

In the autumn of 1941, the Soviet army built a defensive line from Rzhev to Vyazma, but when the German army broke through, the western gate of Moscow was wide open. Afterwards, the Soviet army counterattacked, and millions of Soviet troops stood on the front line of Vyazma. The meat grinder-like tug-of-war lasted until the great counterattack in 1944.

Even in the autumn of 1812, the famous Borodino battlefield was located in the area where the city of Vyazma was located.

However, the city of Vyazma was built very late. When Napoleon's 600,000-strong army invaded Russia, the city of Vyazma was still a forested plain. As a result, the village of Borodino suffered a massacre of 70,000 people in one day. Famous for bloody battles.

In this era, in the late winter of 842 AD, everything was different, but everything was showing signs of development.

Today, the concept of Moscow does not exist, not even the name of the Moskva River.

But that doesn't mean that area is no man's land.

The Vyadzic tribe has been immigrating, and villages of various sizes have sprung up in the Vyazma River Basin. Some immigrant teams that continue to move eastward have already touched the upper reaches of the Volga River without knowing it.

They have "liquid elements" and search for the source of rivers to find areas suitable for establishing villages. They called the river they saw farthest away Mosai, a word used in the Slavic dialect of the Vyadzic people to describe "shallow swamps." This river is the Moskva River, and the cities of Moscow and Mozhayinsk also come from Mosai.

The Mosai River eventually flows into the upper reaches of the Volga River, a fact that the Vyadzic tribe has no idea about and does not need to know. The settlements they built along this river are few and sparse, and the tribe's population is not large. Its overall strength is slowly expanding.

All the village leaders who met with Rurik tried their best to prove their surrender in order to ask the Rus king not to destroy their villages.

If these Russians really want to destroy and plunder wealth, no matter what, they must not rob themselves.

As someone mentioned Vyazma, others raised their heads and explained what they knew.

They are trying to divert trouble to the east. Perhaps this is the only way to ensure the absolute safety of their village.

Rurik, who was furious, calmed down and sat down again. He asked several eloquent guys to explain what they knew.

Aran settlement, it must be Yartevo. Cevo is the suffix of a place name, so the pronunciation of Aran and Yal seems to differ only in the strength of the tongue.

Once a settlement is established, it will be rebuilt in the original area even if it is destroyed. The name of the settlement often does not change drastically, but only slightly adjusts the pronunciation of individual syllables. After all, there were only eight hundred years between AD 842 and 1942. The famous city names that Rurik learned through World War II are somewhat vague in today's era.

These village leaders said a lot, and what they revealed was very clear.

"So, you suggest that I attack the Vyadich people? They seem to be your neighbors? Even so, you also want Ross to attack them

You...you are so insidious! Does this prove your loyalty? "

All the leaders were speechless for a moment due to Ross's power.

"Attack! Of course I want to attack, but not now. Since the Vyadich people's territory is too far away, I don't want to waste any more time this year. All your suggestions will stop here! Unless, you can have better suggestions. "

After a moment of hesitation, an old man slowly knelt down and said, "I have one more thing."

"when?"

"The leader of the Vyadich people is named Hedado, and he has been staying in Smolensk. I heard that he supports Vadim and your Rus' enemies, but he has not sent troops yet."

"Is it just unexpected support other than help?" Rurik pinched his beard and thought for a moment, "It seems that I have a reason to kill this chief named Hedoda."

"Maybe the king has a chance!"

"oh?"

"It takes seven days to get here from the Vyazma River by boat, and it's even slower if you walk. Heda and his people escaped, and it snowed just after he escaped, so..."

Rurik raised his head abruptly and squinted slightly to realize that the matter was not simple: "Could it be that this Hedoda can still escape the wind and snow in your so-called Aran stronghold?"

"It's very possible. If the king moves fast enough, we might be able to capture him alive."

"Is there such a good thing?!" Rurik jumped up again, a fire igniting in his heart.

Rurik's intention was not to expand the war any further. General Winter's threat was no joke. Even the Russians, who were accustomed to a life of extreme cold, now had to consider whether their Turkic horses could withstand the extreme cold.

However, by killing or capturing Hedadu through beheading, it is not necessary to force Vyadzic to surrender now, even if force is used against it in the future. After losing the chief, it will be much easier for Ross to conquer them.

The opportunity to capture the chief alive is here, which is indeed enough reason to induce Rurik to risk his life. It's really tempting.

The old guy was still calm and composed, his attitude was very determined and he was not lying no matter what. The old man continued: "Even if Heda did escape to his tribe, the king would not be at a loss. There are still some villages in Aram. No one knows whether they surrendered to Rus. Most of them are unwilling to surrender. Those stupid people It takes the King's beating to truly surrender to the King."

Look at this old guy, he has become a counselor standing in Ross's shoes. From the perspective of the Smolensk people, this kind of person can be called a traitor, but from the perspective of Ross, such an old man is a wise man who abandons the dark side and turns to the bright side.

Rose naturally needs such smart people.

Rurik now knows basically nothing about the Vyadich people, and only has some strange understanding of their names that transcend time and space. The huge Eastern Europe still had a large number of non-subordinate Slavic tribes to conquer, and in the end it was forced to recognize the hegemony of Rus and make them pay tribute regularly.

The village chiefs ended their meetings one after another, and Rurik fully accepted the hundreds of slaves they paid as tribute.

slave? These children fell into Rurik's hands, and they were slaves in name only. Don't look at the fact that these people now are just children. They will be young men and women who can fight in seven or eight years at most.

The so-called forced immigration of some young men and women from Yin'ermen Lake in the north will definitely cause resistance to them. Moreover, they have to travel far away from their hometowns, and they are also afraid of the unknown.

If the forced immigrants were slaves, the situation would be completely different. Slaves have no choice. They can only live dependent on their masters, and the masters here are and only the top nobles of Ross.

Some children were directly assigned to his cousin Arik. The so-called guards were trained from an early age. In the future, they would be loyal to the Governor of Smolensk and maintain law and order.

Some of the children were given to Carlotta to fill the population of the Polotsk region that she had lost. Children will immediately join the two fortresses of Vitebsk and Novopolotsk and become part of the garrison.

Since Rurik plundered all the old Smolensk nobility, all the stored grain was in the hands of Rus, and its scale supported his squandering.

A shipment of grain was carried as a gift on a sled, without being towed by the village chiefs

The sleigh went home empty, but it carried some ironware and a large amount of grain.

For the first time, the ruler of Smolensk gave food back to the Free Farm. This was an extremely positive signal, clearly indicating that King Rus needed everyone to survive. After all, for some villages with a small population, one sled of food is enough for everyone to not worry about next year's spring famine.

Because only by holding a large amount of food can one have the capital to squander it, Rurik confirmed that the huge amount of food seized was enough to keep the army lying down for a whole year.

In peacetime, every village must pay tribute to the ruler. The best tribute a village can get is food. The nobles living in Smolensk also hoard large quantities of it, make wine and kvass, and then resell it to the Russian people. A good businessman exchanges money. Food is the most effective thing that rulers can extract from the hands of the vast number of farmers.

However, this area suffered serious damage. The war resulted in the death of 4,000 male youths. Forced by the strong attack of the Russian army, the population of Gniezdovo and Smolensk Riverside fled in large numbers. The population of the two regions is as high as 60,000, but now only one-tenth remains.

Although there are still excluded distant villages that have surrendered, they may not be able to support the rapid revival of the main city of Smolensk.

The nobility was eradicated, and there were no escaped serfs or tenant farmers, but the loyal masters changed from guys who claimed to be descendants of Rome to the Smolensk Governor's Palace of Russia.

They still have to farm next spring, but after the massive loss of population, the people who stayed behind will have to sow larger-scale farmland, which will be extremely hard work.

They are extremely happy and look forward to next year's spring plowing and autumn harvest.

In the old days, when the nobles were still alive, they often demanded as much as half of the harvest from their tenant farmers. Half of the new wheat is used as tribute, and if you don’t grow grain, the tenant farmers often get only 30% of the harvest, and they still have to pray for good weather.

As for those serfs, in theory all their harvests were turned over to their masters, and their family only had scraps to eat, and their life might not be as good as that of animals.

Rurik has not thought about exploiting these people crazily, at least it is completely unnecessary now.

Rus will still implement the tithe tax in the newly conquered Smolensk, and serfs and tenant farmers will still be bound to the farmland, but they only need to pay 10% of the grain as tribute, and the rest can be freely used.

This was a great thing that they did not dare to think about. Since the Russian conquerors vowed to do this, they believed it, and it was not up to them whether they believed it or not.

Rurik has better means of exploitation. The trick of relying on industrial and agricultural scissors is really a dull knife to cut flesh. With high-quality industrial products placed here, farmers must have a strong desire to buy them. Ross will not force them to buy, but the appearance of a high-quality steel axe, a hard dagger made of chromium steel, a mass-produced cast iron spearhead, or even a bent-shaft plow and a columbine, which are farming artifacts, will immediately attract attention. With an agricultural revolution, farmers will save a lot of food and buy these high-quality agricultural tools.

The price is set here, whether they want to buy it or not, as long as they buy it, the food they pay will probably use up a year's surplus food.

The promise was for everyone, and the village chiefs who swore their surrender brought back great news.

The amount of their tribute is also 10% of the harvest, but it has not been measured and no one has actually supervised it. In the end, it is they who have the final say on how much the harvest is and how much tribute they plan to pay. Even if they deceived the governor's office, the governor will have the final say in the future. There is no way to accurately investigate and punish in time.

At least, these guys who live in the forest must communicate with the outside world. There are better agricultural tools produced by Rus for sale in the city of Smolensk on the riverside. Obtaining them will immediately cause changes in agricultural life, at the cost of a lot of grain.

Now the Ross Cavalry assembles again!

The sound of horns resounded throughout the land, and the war horses that had been dormant for a long time were pulled out from the warm houses. The soldiers walked out of their comfort zones to stretch their muscles in the cold outdoors. They just put saddles and bridles on the horses, brought their own weapons, and were ordered to assemble.

The village leaders completed their meeting yesterday, and they just left this morning.

By noon Rurik had completed the cavalry assembly.

The soldiers had received the message yesterday that the war horses were assaulted

Feed a lot of oats, and most of the soldiers also had a good meal last night.

The four cavalry teams have assembled. They wear polar bear skin velvet hats and bear skin coats, covering the plate armor underneath. The hats are decorated with blue goose feathers, and the chest clothes are sewn with decorative blue cloth strips. . Arranged in a rather neat matrix with the battle flag as the center.

Rurik was dressed in the most gorgeous clothes. He inspected the soldiers on horseback and suddenly drew his sword, pointing directly to the east.

"Let's take action now! The first team, take the lead!"

As the order was issued, Fisk, the captain of the 1st Cavalry, flicked the reins and said, "Brothers, go to war!"

Then came the second team, the third team and the fourth team. The cavalry turned their horses one after another and entered the frozen Dnieper River. Under the guidance of the locals, they began to march towards the upper reaches of the Dnieper River. The goal was very clear - bump into each other. Luck captures the legendary Hedadu, or if not, completes the conquest of the Aram stronghold.

Arik is already the governor of Smolensk, and he and the veterans of the First Banner are temporarily stationed in this large coastal settlement. He was not worried at all about the risks of having fewer troops on hand. His troops were all brave veterans, and this place was actually very close to the military camp in Gniezdovo.

Standing under the horse, looking up at the king's younger brother who was about to go on an expedition, Arik squinted and sighed: "It's just like in the past. Once a battle breaks out, we will always expand the war. This time, don't you think... Did your tone of voice conquer the Vyadich people as well?”

"If the opportunity is ripe, why not do it?" Rurik smiled, then suddenly grimaced: "Brother! Stay here well, I will be back soon."

"You'd better be careful. Winter wars are very risky, and this is an unknown area for us. If it's just an uninhabited forest, we don't have to worry. There are still people here who are hostile to us, so you must be careful."

Rurik was really surprised. Why did his always brave cousin suddenly become timid? Maybe it's just because he's older?

"Don't worry, the gods protect me. This is our once-in-a-lifetime opportunity! If I capture that Hedoda alive, maybe the whole Vyadzic will surrender. I'm leaving!"

Seeing how decisive his brother was, Alik hammered his chest: "May Odin grant you divine power!"

"Of course Odin is with me! Yeah!" Rurik flicked the reins, and the horse quickly caught up with the advancing cavalry column.