Chapter 1,337 Rurik’s Cavalry Action Plan

A group of wooden houses that are strong enough to keep out the cold were built within the walls, and Orsha stands on the banks of the frozen river.

Standing here, a middle-aged man welcomes his new life.

This person is none other than Telalang, the former pirate of Saaremaa.

At that time, the entire population of Saaremaa Island surrendered to Rus. As a settlement for refugees from all walks of life, the small island gathered heroes from all walks of life. They were fierce pirates and the purest form of Vikings.

Their fathers and grandfathers committed crimes in the tribe and were sentenced to expulsion. The helpless people had no choice but to drift around the world.

The island of Saaremaa is one option, but there are many other bases to choose from on the southern coast of the Baltic Sea. It's just that the settlements other than the island are all colonial strongholds of some Danish traveling traders. Those people have not yet had time to elect their own leaders, but they exclude people who do things unreasonably, especially the deported criminals.

Facing the maritime power of the Russians, who are more organized and more combat-effective, the residents of Saaremaa have only one choice - surrender.

The pirates were recruited and became part of the Rus' navy.

Many people carry sins from their ancestors, including criminals who were expelled from the Ross tribe. After taking power, Rurik certainly would not forgive the original sins of these descendants of sinners just because of recruitment. They needed a merit to offset their sins.

These people were especially involved in Rus' war against old Denmark and the invasion of Saxony, and their sins were washed away.

Even so, Rurik didn't think too highly of them. Due to the current situation, he still had to make full use of them. Select a strong person from among them and support him in the new world. This will act as a check on other canonized forces. Based on the fact of being "promoted", I think the person being promoted will be kind and do good work.

The person who was promoted was the pirate Tralan. This man who was born with a stutter and looked like a fool eventually became the lord of a city and a local governor.

Of course, this kindness only comes to him. Whether his son or grandson can continue to serve as the governor of Orsha depends on the consequences. After all, the city of Orsha has a key geographical location. Like Smolensk, it is a place that Rurik hopes to rule directly in the future. However, his current energy and strength are limited, and he can only make expedient measures to entrust governance.

It was here that Trarang was formally appointed governor.

He will lead a small group of Saaremaa people to be stationed here. This is undoubtedly a personnel division of Spyut, the Count of Saaremaa Island, the old Rus, and the great explorer.

After all, Spuyut has placed his mansion in the city of Riga at the mouth of the West Dvina River, and has reached an alliance with the local Danish immigrants and Latvians. His strength has become extremely strong. This is not what Rurik wants to see. .

The biggest purpose of knighting Spuyut back then was to arrange for him to lead a group of pirates to carry out armed law enforcement in the southern Baltic Sea. They are responsible for combating raging piracy activities, acting as law enforcers against ships of other forces, and ensuring the normal navigation of Ross's own merchant ships and merchant ships of Danish allies.

How many real pirates are there left in the Southern Baltic Sea over the years? Besides, does Russia need a big warlord who firmly controls the southern Baltic Sea?

It would be better to take advantage of the opportunity after the Southern War to split the power of the County of Saaremaa.

For example, Stekander from the Danish community in Riga must be rewarded for his meritorious service in the war. How should we reward him? Perhaps it is not necessary to give him a silver coin, but only to give him a title.

Thinking of this, Rurik felt more and more that it was not necessary to delay.

Then inside the city wall of Orsha, Rurik not only struck the shoulders and forehead of Tralan, who was covering his chest and half kneeling before the king, but Stekan, who also had a beard, also went through such a canonization ceremony. Virtue.

The former is the Governor of Orsha, and the latter is the Governor of Latvia!

After all, Stekander and his community have mixed with the local Latvian tribes from nowhere. This guy speaks Norse, and he may have become half Latvian in body and mind. With him as the leader of Latvia, those people must be able to accept it.

As a result, Spuyut, who was strong for a while, returned to his original strength after just one year.

Rurik was watching the old guy's reaction. Spyut, who was already in his forties, was not indignant. Instead, he publicly congratulated Trarang and Stekander. He really accepted this kind of thing with pleasure. Arrangement?

Perhaps, it is really the erosion of time that makes people who are beginning to age think of a peaceful retirement?

Spuyut is the old one, but it is his son Eric Spuyutson. The thin boy has experienced his own bloody battle. The childishness in the boy's eyes has disappeared, replaced by a kind of adult-like look. Perseverance.

This "little Spuyut" performed well in the battle to rescue the Polotsk Fortress. Rurik thought for a while, maybe Spuyut's relief mainly lies in the growth of his son - the young man will soon replace him. His father didn't do any better.

After the brief canonization ceremony, a military meeting heralding the separation was held in the largest wooden house in the city.

In this shabby room, men and women wearing thick leather clothes gathered one after another. They were either the great nobles of Russia, or the officials of Russia's frontiers, or even important allies to Russia.

Pecheneg Getshar twirled his beard. Until now in the war, the benefits shared by his side are enough to satisfy everyone.

"The Ross army is about to return north, and we prairie people will not leave. The supplies and slaves they obtained are all temporarily safe in this city, and will be taken care of by my brother Nurge. In a few days, my people will Go home," he said.

This result was within Rurik's expectation, and he pretended to regret: "In this case, you will miss the expedition against Frank."

"Frank? It's too far away." Quetzal shook his head with a smile and continued to compliment: "The Great Khan has great ambitions, but the far west is too novel for us grassland people. My mission is to maintain the trade between our two countries. , I think I should just keep to myself."

"That's the truth. I can't object. But I like your warriors and your cavalry. In this expedition to Frank, the king will adopt a mode of marching by sea and land. The cavalry army will no longer take boats, but will ride directly to Frank. world."

When Rurik said the last words with determination, this was his absolutely reasonable decision, and it was a shocking proposition in the eyes of everyone. More than one person was digging hard at their earwax, hoping the king would give another explanation.

"Your Majesty, I heard you correctly. You...are planning to have the cavalry go directly to Frank?" The speaker was Medvet, the governor of Novgorod.

"Do you think it's weird?" Rurik rolled his eyes at him.

"Don't dare."

"Maybe." Rurik looked around again, especially at all the people with troubled expressions: "You only know how huge this world is, and you may have overlooked that this world is not very big. Don't you think we continue to fight these days? , both the cavalry and the infantry have traveled too far a distance?”

For a moment everyone looked at each other...

Because no one can tell clearly how far the whole army has traveled these days. It must be very far away, and the whole army just didn't spend much effort to persevere.

Rurik patted his chest and took this opportunity to arrange the next plan for the entire army: "I have decided that the main force of our army will finally arrive in Riga. Since that city surrendered to Rus, I want to see those people there. , let them see my face clearly.

A group of troops, especially cavalry, will be stationed in the city of Riga. The rest of the troops will follow me back along the coastline. We can even take advantage of Dopskov and reach the Gulf of Finland along the frozen Lake Chud, and then arrive at the mouth of the Luga River along the way to visit Uskilu, which was granted by the king. Add Earl, and finally arrived at New Roseburg..."

Even this new return route outlined seems to be an extremely mature route under Rurik's solemn vow.

Stekander was here, and he was surprised by the king's knowledge of Pskov: "Your Majesty, do you really know Pskov?"

Rurik glanced at him and explained confidently: "There was indeed a visitor from Pskov who drifted to the capital by mistake before. I learned that the local leader was also a Dane, named Gore or something else."

"It's Goyle."

"Oh? Do you know this person?"

"I know a little bit about it." Stekander said truthfully: "But, the king actually knows about that big lake? He even knows where the big lake leads to? I don't know."

"Of course. I even know the structure of the world, so that I can lead you to advance and retreat freely in seemingly unfamiliar places. I don't know many details, but where are the structures of bays and coastlines, especially the roads leading to the Frankish world? , I know this. Don’t have any doubts, just do as required.”

What Rurik said is conclusive, and the facts of more than ten years of war also support his statement - the Russian army's march has always been purposeful, even if everyone lacks understanding of the newly conquered area, Rurik knows a lot , so that the army never lost its way.

Presumably in a brand new war, the Ross Army will not get lost if they adopt the "cavalry to measure the earth" advance plan.

This surprised Quetzal. He has been working hard to learn Norse and has achieved initial results. He basically understood Rurik's explanation. He did not dare to joke but was very curious about King Rus's "bragging". "So, your Majesty knows the structure of this world. Could it be that he also knows about Rome, Khazar, and even our close relative Ogus?"

Like a provocation? Maybe just curious?

Rurik raised his chest: "I know a river called the Volga River. We Russians have been looking for it, and we will probably find its main channel soon! Moreover, haven't we already made the Vyadzic people surrender? ? I dare say that in the area controlled by those people, there must be a waterway leading to the Volga River, and eventually..."

"How? Can your longship really float all the way to my camp?"

"This is inevitable. The Volga River and the Don River are waterways that connect the Caspian Sea and the Black Sea. When our ship reaches the Black Sea, we can directly enter the Roman city of Kherson. At that time..." Introducing a number of new terms Rurik's eyes gradually revealed a fierce look: "I used to admire Rome, but we are already very powerful. What will happen when we officially face the Romans at the port of Kherson (now Sevastopol) Attitude? Will those Romans treat us with arrogance? Or... when we first meet, use fire and sword to inform them of our strength, so as to obtain better trade privileges? Or even... we directly occupy the city with arms."

"As long as we win, it will definitely be a good opportunity to make a fortune. It will also make the Khazars vulnerable from both sides." Quetzal immediately added.

"Yes. But this is not what we have to consider now." After saying that, Rurik glanced at Wladyslav, the son of the local leader of Kiev: "Friend, aren't there Khazars in the south of you? Will we really care about that in the future? Take action, and your Krivich tribes in Kiev must also take action."

Although it is a very distant thing, it seems that Rurik is saying something unrealistic. Wladyslav could not deny King Rus' powerful action, put away his doubts, and immediately said: "I can guarantee that as long as the King has needs, our Kiev community will fully cooperate."

The war against Smolensk was a coordinated operation between Russia and its eastern allies. The war really proved that Russia still retained its strong strength despite losing the sea and ships to fight a pure land war.

It was like a preview of the expedition to Frank. After the victory, Rurik felt confident that my army could fight inland with the Frankish regular army.

The most critical thing in inland warfare is the war horse.

However, the current Ross is still in short supply of war horses, or the existing war horses cannot support a large amount of consumption unless it is to maintain a small-scale cavalry force.

So in the city of Orsha, Rurik made a bold idea: to buy the horses of Pecheneg and Kiev people on the spot.

It's impossible to buy them all, so it would be good to expand Ross's horse herd as much as possible.

After some deliberations, the three parties reached a compromise.

It was possible to buy horses, but in exchange Ross had to provide a large number of reindeer, so he exchanged five deer for one horse.

Reindeer are not uncommon in Rus’, and riding horses is also not uncommon in Pecheneg. Reindeer can live in the south, and Turkic horses can live in the north.

It's just that Quetzal can't abandon his martial arts without handing over all his mounts. One hundred war horses, this is the biggest plan he can accept. The remaining steppe cavalry must maintain the lower limit of combat effectiveness before they can escort the spoils and prisoners of war to Kiev. For this round of trade, the steppe people who returned in the spring had to stay in Kiev and sent envoys to rush to the "big camp" on the lower reaches of the Volga River to urge Khan Kagan to send some more brothers to Kiev to pick up all the stranded supplies. With the staff too.

This was the wishful thinking of the prairie people. In order to be as convenient as possible, the main force of the prairie cavalry was stationed in Orsha City. Nurge and his brothers were stationed to avoid the coldest month of January.

At this point, the Russian army parted ways with the steppe people and the Kiev horsemen.

The separation is temporary. Smooth transportation lines have been born in the two cities of Orsha and Vitebsk. Both cities were created from scratch. They both stand on the key north-south transportation line of the Amber Road. Their superior geographical location makes It has become a natural crossroads, and a prosperous future awaits the twin cities.

After losing some allies, they gained a hundred Turkic horses that had been trained and proved to be extremely durable in actual combat. The strength of the Ross cavalry was improved.

The matters concerning the cavalry are not over yet. The Ostara cavalry will continue to act as a vassal army, cooperating with the Ross cavalry. Carlotta herself could manage post-war Polotsk and Vitebsk without participating, but her son Karl Jr. must participate.

Even though little Karl is a child, he is the next generation of Duke of Ostara after all. Rurik did not ask his son to perform meritorious service on a new battlefield. All Karl had to do was to participate in the war. Such a resume of "conquering Franks" would be his future ruling capital.

"Really? Karl is really qualified for the expedition?"

"Of course. And you...if you want, you can lead the expedition yourself."

"I'll forget it. Even though I hope so much, my Ostara needs someone to clean up the post-war situation."

Carlotta's proposition was within Rurik's expectation, and she was worthy of being his wife and nominal sister. "I will try my best to support you with our war horses. Since the cavalry will be stationed in Riga, my war horses will be gathered here in the spring as much as possible, and I will bring out an elite force to help you. You can take it as much as you like, but you can't let it go. Our Carl lacks glory..."

On the way back to Vitebsk, Rurik and Carlotta had already finished discussing the cavalry matter.

Rurik counted the numbers with his fingers. The first was the four cavalry banners of Ross' headquarters, which would be fully equipped to reach 1,200 cavalry. There is also the canonized countess of Demyansk, the princess of the prairie, and one of her wives, Beyashil. She has fifty cavalry, and all the warriors are elite cavalry archers.

Finally, it is Carlotta's Ostara cavalry. Her strength is not strong. It is impossible to bring out a hundred cavalry, but fifty cavalry is possible.

From Riga to Hamburg along the coastline, the cavalry warriors were really one person and one horse. I am afraid that many horses suffered losses due to various reasons along the way. Ross had to increase the margin for error.

Two thousand war horses!

Rurik made a bold idea. In addition to collecting horses everywhere, in order to make up this number, he would not hesitate to destroy the newly rising horse administration of Russia. The lost horses and the destruction of the horse breeding season in the new year can all be made up for by the subsequent grassland trade. After all, the Pecheneg people's most valuable export commodity for a long time has been horses.

Ma Zheng could be rebuilt after suffering heavy losses, but the opportunity to fish in the troubled waters of the Frankish Civil War was difficult to recreate after it was lost.

Rurik decided to take a gamble, and he's already executing on it.

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