Chapter 1324 Rurik at the Great Altar of Gniezdovo

By now, for large numbers of refugees, fleeing to the East had become a complete mistake. King Rus has no intention of killing ordinary villagers anymore. If everyone stays in Smolensk, they can basically get peace after the war.

However, ten days ago, who could be sure that the Ross army was really just killing the nobles? The refugees staying in Yartevo had to evacuate the settlement under the escort of the Russian cavalry, and reorganized a huge team to return to Smolensk and return to their homes... However, Smolensk has changed. sky.

The settlement of Arans, now renamed Yartevo by Rurik. He did not appoint anyone to rule here, did not establish a governor's palace, and still let the locals manage themselves as before.

But Yartevo, which had just experienced a war, left a mess in the river delta that was supposed to be the richest. The Russian army would not deal with the large number of corpses after the war. The post-war trauma still had to be digested by the locals. .

Rurik plundered another batch of food from Yartevo, which was not very prosperous, to satisfy the heavy consumption of the cavalry regiment in winter operations, and to ensure that more of the refugees could return to Smolensk.

Hedoda, who had been defeated and surrendered, mingled with the Russian army. More than half of the fifty confidants who set out were lost, and all the wealth gained while fishing in troubled waters was lost.

The only good thing was that King Rus did not confiscate his property. He and his last cronies still guarded the property and continued to advance with the cavalry on the sleigh.

Only this time the destination has been corrected to the Great Altar of Gniezdovo.

"Vadim, are you not dead yet? You should see the good things you have done. You provoked people you shouldn't provoke! But... it may not be so bad for us Vyadich people." Hedoda had already quickly Adjust your mentality.

He was too lazy to sit on the sleigh wearing a thick leather coat. When he opened his eyes, he could see the Ross cavalry advancing slowly and in order.

After all, he is a tribal leader, and he is qualified to sit next to Rurik and participate in the chats of many Rus nobles during the evening rest.

The cavalry captains were all Ross nobles. What surprised the old boy was that they were actually discussing the western expedition.

Expedition to Frank? Insight is a very subtle thing. Heda knew something about Frank. After all, the sword he got was a Frank sword.

Frank was the conqueror of the Western world, and he would never have anything to do with the Vyadich people in the eastern forests.

In this case, the Russians, who claim to be the overlords of the north, are related to those guys? Co-author Ross launched Operation Winter and swept through Smolensk simply by following the trend.

The Ross army will also conquer the Western world, and victory seems to be within reach. Rurik did not object to his subordinates revealing the news of the expedition to Frank to a new surrender.

"I know something about Frank" was a surprise, but I can understand it after thinking about it. There are some things that need not be said on the table. Heda, who must be aware of current affairs, can understand how Ross will be hit if he angers him, because Ross is indeed capable of rapid long-distance attacks. Long distances in space are never a problem, and rivers and mountains are also Not a safety barrier.

Compared with the furious advance during the attack, the Ross cavalry on their return trip moved much slower due to the necessary conservation of horsepower.

Of course, there were war horses injured for various reasons throughout the operation. Once a horse's leg was broken, it meant it was useless. The greatest kindness to the war horse was to deal with it immediately.

Ross's loss of horses was minimal, but even this was a wake-up call for Rurik. In this way, all the horses that the Vyadich people had on hand had essentially been commandeered by Rurik, and he also wiped out all the horses of the Yartevo locals, even if they were small in number and completely unsuitable for riding.

Hedoda no longer owns them, which is not a big loss for him. Rurik wants to exchange reindeer for them, which also allows Hedoda and his group to continue riding the reindeer sleigh home after participating in the big sacrifice.

From knowing nothing about Ross at the beginning, to now becoming their vassal. Hedado had a little more hatred for the defeated Vadim!

I was almost brutally retaliated for supporting Vadim. Fortunately, I was forced to express my support for the war verbally due to practical factors.

Now it seems that Ross is not just a barbarian as was rumored in the past. After all, when it comes to the definition of barbarism, which tribe is not barbaric in its wars?

It really makes people anxious. The Vyadzic tribe's armed forces also go into battle together with men, women, old and young. In their rage, they can cut the enemy's men, women, old and young into pieces indiscriminately... Hedoda believes that seeing is believing. He noticed those Ross The cavalry actually cruised to the end of the team to gather up the stragglers, and distributed the plundered food to those returning on foot, even if it took a lot of time.

Those who can survive a long journey and a war must at least have strong physical fitness. With a relatively sufficient supply of materials, it is possible for these people to move twenty kilometers a day.

But that's all I can do for a day. As the winter solstice approaches, daylight hours in Yartevo rapidly shorten to less than seven hours.

Sunlight became extremely luxurious, and marching at night with a large number of civilians was extremely dangerous. Rurik had to adapt to nature. It took him five days to return to Smolensk, and it was already very close to the winter solstice.

A group of civilians still froze to death silently on the way back, but there were still three thousand people who returned, and they were both men and women, all of whom became serfs.

This is not a problem for many people. Many people were born serfs or higher-level tenant farmers.

In the past, they either paid tribute to the priests of the high altar, or paid tribute to the Smolensk nobles. Since they all paid tribute, it was not a problem to give food to the Russian conquerors.

Rurik returned to his loyal home of Smolensk, bringing back Heda, which surprised Governor Arik.

Arik brought the veterans of the First Flag Team to greet the mighty army. He stood next to the king's younger brother's mount, raised his head and asked, "I almost thought you had summoned another army. Now Hedo Did Da really catch it?”

"Of course." Rurik pointed casually, and there was a middle-aged man sitting on a sled and wearing a bearskin blanket with an unhappy look on his face;

"He is Heda."

"That's it? I thought he was such a great person." Arik shook his head disdainfully.

"I can't say it's great, but it's very smart. Listen, this guy has surrendered, and the Vyadzic tribe will not be enemies in the future. Unless... he rebels."

"Did you really conquer him?" Arik was a little surprised.

"certainly."

"Okay, my brother is always kind, but... forget it." Arik stretched out his right hand, and Rurik took his cousin's hand and steadily dismounted.

If a person shows signs of rebellion, there will definitely be clues on his face. Arik took a good look at Heda and then announced his identity and special status in the Kingdom of Rus in a high-profile manner.

Arik doesn't like people who grovel, it only makes him feel that this person is despicable. Hedoda showed no signs of flattery, nor did he show any arrogance in front of the new Smolensk governor.

He existed like a warrior. Arik did not look down upon him, nor did he look down upon him. Since I have a friendly attitude toward this person, I have no reason to boss him around.

Arik had a hunch that Heda and his tribe in a friendly state would definitely strengthen contact with Smolensk, which he was responsible for managing, in the future, and trade would develop rapidly. Smolensk under Ross's rule was at the crossroads of trade lines.

"Mega-settlements" really need some outside help to create prosperity again. The Heda people might be able to be helpers, and the Vyadich tribe who settled further east must have done a large-scale exploration of the surrounding environment, so that the Russian explorers could go further after taking the baton.

The reason is simple and straightforward. Since Heda has surrendered, the entire Vyadzic tribe should be undefended against Ross.

As long as they are not criminals, Russian explorers are eligible to move freely in the territory of the Vyadich people.

Of course, only the Governor of Smolensk has the power to deal with the criminal Russian explorers. After the war, the vast farmland of the large settlement in the Smolensk riverfront area became de jure property of the kingdom, and the property rights were vested in the Governor's Palace.

To manage this area, it is not too difficult for today's Rus' conquerors to rule. Since the large number of refugees who came in became serfs, they had to cultivate these fields.

Of course, Ross can follow the rules of the past aristocracy and target serfs and tenant farmers to harvest wool. Arik and his garrison did not rely on these serfs to support them, at least not for a long time.

Rus will implement a tithe on grain in Smolensk. At present, this is the only tax, which is really a light tax.

In Arik's mind, he has not yet realized

The huge power of the "industrial and agricultural scissors gap" and indirect taxes are hidden in the ironware, salt and other materials that are continuously shipped here from the north of Russia. Ironware, in particular, is in urgent need of farmers.

The scythe of harvest was no longer just aimed at all the Klivich settlements in the entire Smolensk, but also at the Vyadich people who declared their surrender.

After all, the Vyadich people who live too remote must not be able to withstand the temptation of a large supply of metal products, so they should exchange a large amount of food.

The main income of the Smolensk Governor's Palace in the future will be from the premium price of northern commodities. Rurik estimates that the locals not only put out a large amount of food to pay, but they are also happy.

After all, the conqueror of Rus will do light corvee and low endowment on the surface. Heda's surrender was not complete yet. He had to participate in the Winter Solstice Festival, witness Vadim's death, and even stab the man with a knife in person to cut off the future.

After all, for who knows how many years in the past, the eldest members of the Vyadzic tribe would claim that Vyadzic wanted to be worshiped by the powerful men of Smolensk.

"Big brother". Hedoda really didn't want to do anything to Vadim himself. He hated Vadim for almost dragging the Vyadzic tribe into the quagmire of war. His hatred was not strong enough to eat his flesh. He just wanted to be a Just a bystander.

As for how the Russians will deal with the defeated Vadim. Blood Eagle! He had heard about this concept of punishment from Varyag merchants in the past. It was said that only those who had committed the most heinous crimes were eligible.

"Enjoy" this torture. Heda had never seen it before, but he was looking forward to the actual action of King Rurik of Rus.

I also want to see what Vadim is like now. Before that, Heda had truly seen the brutal results of the Russians killing heads in Smolensk.

There are a lot of heads here, even the heads of Vadim’s entire family! All the nobles were really dead, and it was said that all the heads that were put into sacks and frozen into gray lumps of ice came from local nobles.

The old nobles will be uprooted, and hundreds of heads will be burned as sacrifices. The last bones will be smashed and buried in the ground, and their ashes will return to dust.

What will be Vadim's final fate? The earth also turns into dust and mud, but this person will definitely experience some torture.

Rurik did not stay long in Smolensk. After a few days of rest, the cavalry was resupplied again, and then the Russian forces seemed to disappear from the main city of Smolensk!

In fact, this is not the case. A large number of village leaders and elected talkers in the area gathered on the banks of the frozen river in pony sleighs and reindeer sleighs. The huge team headed towards Gnez, which is only ten kilometers away in the lower reaches of the Dnieper River. The Great Altar of Dowo.

Of course, the people of the Smolensk region kept many horses, but only a handful of them could be used as riding horses.

Now the entire region's riding horses have been exhausted by Vadim in his war operations! Strictly speaking, any horse can be ridden. The difference lies in whether it is ridden by a strong warrior wearing an armored stomach, or whether a child of up to ten years old can lie on the horse's back.

The sleighs were pulled by ponies, as tall as a docile female reindeer. Rurik can completely understand this situation. After all, one of his wives, Carlotta, had already acquired a group of local ponies in Polotsk before the war was ravaged.

Obviously, pony resources are quite common in this area. The only drawback is that the local Slavic tribes have no motivation to breed them on a large scale.

In fact, the Turkic horses ridden by the Russian cavalry are also ponies that are relatively similar to Frankish horses. Short doesn't mean weak.

Such war horses are not the first choice for shock cavalry. The large number of horse archers is a choice based on local conditions.

The winter expedition reached as far as Yartevo, and the damage to the war horses came from combat operations. Facts have once again proved that the steppe Turkic horses purchased and bred by Ross are indeed the ancestors of the Mongolian horses, with strong cold resistance and high endurance. It is true.

But even so, Ross, who does not have many Turkic horses on hand, is really able to send the cavalry along the southern coast of the Baltic Sea all the way to Hamburg in the Principality of Saxony?

Rurik knew that Batu Khan's expedition to Kievan Rus could be described as one man and five horses. No matter how strong the endurance of the steppe Turkic horse is, it cannot be forced to march for a long time.

The endurance of the Turkic horse is probably not as good as that of the reindeer, and the ability of the reindeer to carry supplies is probably not as powerful as the funny ponies in the hands of the Slavs.

Now all the ponies pulling the sleigh have been requisitioned by the Rus. The village leaders will hand over their horses at the big altar, and when they return, they will be replaced by reindeer given by the Rus to pull the sleigh home.

Even though Rurik was kind to these surrenderers, they remained quite vigilant. In a nightmarish month and a disastrous half-year, the people of Smolensk experienced defeats one after another. Those who claimed to be excluded from the war could not escape the war in the end.

The leaders and speakers of each village saw the scene of people being killed and were full of fear of the Russian army, fearing that the young King of Rus would suddenly change his face and become angry.

Even if you are afraid, you must follow. If you leave the team truthfully, you will lose your excuse, and the village will definitely be retaliated against in the future.

Therefore, many leaders adhere to the

With the mentality of "if I die, the whole village will survive", I bravely arrived at Gniezdovo, where the situation turned into who knows what.

It was also here that they were shocked to see that the former high altar was full of tents and wooden sheds, and a large number of wooden poles were erected with white and blue flags flying high.

Rurik returned in triumph with a mighty cavalry, and the extremely large surrender envoy formed a spectacular sleigh team.

Because of the fermentation of time, the news traveled far enough. In order to avoid disasters, some remote villages in Smolensk also sent people.

There were even delegations from villages living in the upper reaches of the Hermost River that arrived in Smolensk, swearing allegiance, and arrived at the big altar just before the winter solstice.

Most of the villages living on the tributaries learned about the orders of the Russian conquerors through the communication between the villagers. They did not dare not to come, so as many as 150 village leaders gathered in Gniezdovo.

Such a grand occasion has never happened in the past era, and many leaders even came to the big altar for the first time in their lives.

Even so, there are still a large number of villages and even more remote Krivi communities, such as Lezuvka in the northeast, further than the settlement of Vyazma. The leader of the local people has led a group of people to another road. The deer fled, and the Russian cavalry was too busy attacking Yartevo to pursue them.

Those guys can't escape forever. Especially Lezovka. Rurik heard the term exactly from the surrendered Heda, and also learned a more detailed overview of the local area.

I'm afraid it's not appropriate to call it Rzovka, so let's just call it its future name Rzhev! What exactly does it mean?

If the settlement really coincides with Rzhev in space, as long as it is captured, Rus will no longer have to doubt that the river adjacent to it is indeed the Volga.

Now, countless warriors greet their king. The banks of the Svenets River ushered in a different kind of prosperity. People wearing similar clothes were everywhere. Most of them had blond hair and fairer skin. They must have a lot of blue-toned decorations on their bodies.

They are all Russians. In order to make life easier, they set up winter camps on the frozen rivers. Many of them have dug ice to fish on the frozen Dnieper and Svenets rivers, and even froze the extra catch until it was solid. The perch are hung high in a row on twine.

What they did in their hometown in the north, the Ross army did this here. If there were a large number of longships here, it would give Rurik an illusion.

Now Rurik rode his horse and finally arrived at the huge open space artificially created in the middle of the forest. A rammed earth platform was in the center, and the Gniezdovo Altar was here, and a grand sacrifice was about to take place.

It was a pity that there was no serious priest from the Kingdom of Rus. For Rurik, he also regretted that he had to skip many visits to his father and skip the routine participation in the winter solstice sacrifice in the capital.

Without a high priest, Rurik decided to step forward and serve as the priest himself. There is no doubt that this decision is warmly welcomed by the majority of soldiers.