Chapter 1340: Kindness and Tenderness

,!

Like his own tribe, the kneeling leader Ilbert did not know what was going to happen next. He raised his head slightly and saw the face of the legendary King Rus, and then hurriedly lowered his head in fear.

He paid attention to the Ross cavalry. They all stood in stirrups. There were all kinds of weapons hanging on the saddles. Even their horses had shiny horseshoes.

Horses are not rare in Latvia, but there are not many. Even the Seron people themselves have domesticated a few ponies.

Even though the Russian army rode Turkic horses, their shoulder height was much higher than that of the local horses.

As a result, there were only a few horses available for riding in the local area, and they were used to pull carts and sleds. Being able to be used on a large scale and organize a huge cavalry was an eye-opener for Ilbert today.

The Russian army has a large cavalry and a larger reindeer sleigh unit.

They are clearly wearing the same clothes, which is very visually stunning. Even putting aside these color consistency, the Russian soldiers wore high-quality clothes, and it was really embarrassing to look at the clothes of their own people made of messy coarse cloth and leather.

Finally, Rurik reined in the reins and stood in front of the surrendered people.

"Are you Theron people?" he asked majestically in Norse.

Ilbert, who had just received a strong shock, moved his seemingly extremely bloated body. He did not dare to stand up hastily, so he knelt on the ice and moved around. He still raised his head and introduced himself: "I...I am the villager." Chief, we are all Theron. Part of... Theron."

"I see, I know you to a certain extent. Why do you think that the Seron people are more than a few hundred of you.

So, do you know who we are? "

"Yes. You are Russians."

Rurik nodded with satisfaction: "Do you know anything about us?"

Ilbert did not dare to say that he understood that the secluded life of the Seron people did not mean ignorance. As a leader in the village, he hurriedly complimented: "You are Rus, powerful beings, and conquerors of the world. Everything. It’s all fate! It’s God’s arrangement! We are waiting here to wait for the arrival of King Ross. We kneel here and surrender to the great king.”

Having said that, Ilbert immediately performed a show of admiration.

From Rurik's perspective, the villagers in front of him were surrendering in an undignified way, as if they were defeated.

To be honest, this kind of excessive humility makes me very dissatisfied.

But from another perspective, if they continue to maintain such a respectful attitude, it will be a good thing for Ross.

Just look at the geographical environment here and you will know that if Ross wants to send troops to conquer them, he will have to organize his team into the hilly area with endless woods and waterholes. The cost of combat is really not low.

Looking at the current situation of the surrenderers, they are all dressed in various colors, exuding the atmosphere of shabby poverty from head to toe.

As a king, he must consider the economics of war. To conquer the Seron people by force, in addition to gaining the reputation of a "conqueror", spending a large amount of national money will not be worth the gain.

If, like this, a village voluntarily surrenders and quickly develops into a collective affiliation of the entire Seron ethnic group, an opportunity lies here, and I should not give up this "copy" of expanding the territory.

"You can stand up! Raise your head and look at me." Liu

Rick said, holding up the riding crop.

"yes."

Ilbert was ordered to stand up and take off his hat, revealing an old face full of beard and dark brown hair.

There is a significant difference in hair color between the Rus' people and the people of the Baltic tribes. Even though the army led by Rurik is widely mixed, the fathers of the soldiers are almost all old Rus's or other Swedish immigrants, and their hair color is no longer as good as that of their fathers. As golden as it is, but much more yellow than the local Baltic people.

"Are you the leader of the village? Your name."

"It's the leader. I am Ilbert, your...loyal servant."

"Ha! It seems that you are my old servant. Very good, I like your humility very much." Rurik raised his horse whip and swept it: "Are these your villagers?"

"yes."

"Is there only this small number of people in a Seron village? How many villages do you have? What is the status of your village among all the villages? What is your personal status? Who is your supreme leader?"

The questions came one after another, and Ilbert had to answer them.

This short and skinny old guy looked bloated only when he was wearing a thick leather coat. He humbly explained: "We... have never elected the greatest leader. If we are forced to choose, only King Rus is worthy of it." Our leader."

"Are you kidding me? Without the supreme leader, how can I accept the surrender of your entire clan? Do I have to trouble myself to bring the army to each village to visit in person? It is your compliment that makes me very happy."

"Don't dare! We don't dare." Ilbert trembled and continued to explain: "On the contrary, we imitated the Danes and made Alting. I think when the villages know

When King Rus comes, they will gather in Althing. At that time, we can surrender to you together. "

He spoke of a word that Rurik was all too familiar with - Althing.

This is the parliamentary chamber. In essence, the "Russ Duma" set up by Rurik in Rus was just to cater to the Slavs, the most populous people in the kingdom, and it was called the parliamentary chamber in Slavic language.

Even so, Rurik was ignorant of the Thron people, and had no great interest in truly understanding them themselves. I don't even know if I can squeeze out any benefits from these people after accepting their surrender.

Seeing their shabby appearance, Rurik even thought about helping the poor.

"In this case, you don't have a supreme leader who surrenders like me, then I will arrange for someone. It is you." Rurik pointed his riding whip directly at Ilbert's nose: "You will be the supreme leader of the Seron people."

"Huh? Me? I don't dare."

"Why don't you dare?!"

Of course, Ilbert refused in his heart, but now he did not dare to veto the arrangement of King Ross, so he could only express his difficulties: "My village is not the strongest among the tribes, and no one will listen to me as the leader. Besides, maybe it’s not necessary.”

"Does anyone dare to question my arrangement? It's settled! I'm going to enter your village and see clearly your living environment. Then I'll go to your so-called Alting to meet with other village leaders. Listen, those who surrender will get Peace and a better future, and those who disobey will be destroyed. I like you very much, and if any village dares to refuse to recognize you as the leader, they should be killed."

Ilbert didn't want to be the first president at all.

Leader, he never had the ambition to give orders to other villages. They were all from the village, and they were all living a peaceful life. He had no intention of trying to dominate the villagers. Besides, there were only more than a hundred men in his village who could fight and he really couldn't maintain his power.

But King Ross is here, looking at the posture, if he refuses, I am afraid they will be cruel...

Because the soldiers in these large armies had a fierce look in their eyes - they must have killed people before, and I'm afraid they wouldn't mind killing some more.

"Okay! I'll take you into the village." Ilbert had no choice but to do this due to the situation.

This was Rurik's impromptu idea. The army has been marching for several days and will still march for several days in the future. But according to Stekander, at the current slow speed it would take at most another five days to reach Riga.

You can arrive in Riga later, and even if you get there, after leaving a garrison, Rurik considers that he will try to borrow a road from the Pskov people's territory. He knows the geographical structure of this land and knows it very well. The current geographical location is in the so-called "eastern part of Latvia", which means that it is closer to the destination of Lake Pskov.

Perhaps these Seron people active in this area know the road to Pskov.

At first, he only had one thought in his mind. As the army turned into the hilly area, he felt more and more that his speculation had strategic significance.

And this is probably the huge hidden role of the seemingly useless Seron people.

Because the target village was by the river, the army quickly entered the shabby village.

"They are like soil living in caves.

Mouse..." Rurik, who frowned, couldn't help complaining.

The same warriors also expressed similar emotions. The brothers thought that the Seron village was probably similar to the Polotsk or Smolensk people and should have many decent buildings. It turned out that they were a large group of "cavemen" .

Because there are almost no stones in the residential areas of Seron villages, they use lake mud to make black pottery, but have no intention of firing bricks. They live in a semi-underground house, and then use wood to build a roof, then pile thatch, and then pile a layer of soil.

Ilbert, who walked all the way, just wanted the Russians to see how poor he was, because poverty is often a way to avoid disaster. There is no need to pretend, the poverty of the Seron people is a fact.

The shacks in the semi-crypt are arranged in a haphazard manner, but they are actually larger in scale. The farmland abandoned in winter outside the village is now the camping ground of the Ross army.

The order has been issued, and with the sound of camp horns and drums, the soldiers unloaded the tent materials placed on the sleds and stretched the fabric in the open space at their feet. Some soldiers put up the wooden tent frames, one after another with conical tents. The field tent with a strong Finnish tribal style was quickly built, and the speed of its construction really opened Ilbert's eyes.

After the Ross Army's camp was quickly built, the soldiers didn't care about the farmland under their feet. They just dug big pits and buried pots for cooking.

The self-prepared charcoal, tinder, and fire-supporting earth saltpeter are used to quickly ignite the fire under the action of all bows and drills. The soldiers boiled water from snow on the spot. The water was very particular and had to be poured into a brand new iron pot, and then the wheat was put in for cooking.

Soldiers don't like the dregs of boiled snow

. The young soldiers learned through the cultural knowledge they learned that every snowflake has a grain of dust as a condensation nucleus, which is invisible to the naked eye. However, the strange-tasting dregs at the bottom of the pot after boiling snow into water is them.

Pour the wheat into the cauldron, and soon the oats will burst naturally in the boiling water, flying up and down as it boils, and a strong fragrance will begin to fill the air.

That is a fragrance that stimulates the soul!

The villagers did not dare to approach the Rus' camp out of fear, and the parents of hungry children subconsciously rushed towards the bubbling cauldrons.

In the midst of intense mental tension, the children's parents kept watch on the remaining children out of fear. As for those children who naturally ran away, they could no longer catch them. They could only pray that the Ross soldiers would not be cruel.

But... it's a different story entirely.

The young warrior easily spotted the child who came closer smelling the scent.

A flag captain made a temporary order: "Don't stop the Seron children. Give these hungry cubs something to eat, don't be stingy, it shows that we have more food."

Similar orders quickly spread, and the soldiers were willing to implement them.

After all, the army carried so much food that half of the reindeer sleds did not have soldiers on them. Only the charioteers drove the reindeer to pull the food with their backs on the mounds of food.

Furthermore, young warriors have young brothers and sisters in every household. Before they joined the army, they were basically the eldest sons in the family. It is almost natural for the eldest brother to take care of the younger brothers and sisters on behalf of their parents. When faced with this small group of Seron children, the young people also Have good intentions.

The cooked oats are wrapped in cloth, which cools quickly in the extreme cold.

Got a bag of salted wheat

, the child immediately picked it up and started eating it. They didn't know what danger was, and subconsciously felt that the elder brothers who fed them were good people, so they stood dumbly around the iron pot with the Russian soldiers and immersed themselves in cooking.

This scene was unimaginable to the Seron people.

At the same time, Rurik, who had dismounted, had already visited the village under the leadership of the leader Ilbert. It didn’t matter if he didn’t visit. Now he had close contact with them, and even personally held their dark, dark, and central soil. The house with a stove for heating suddenly triggered some memories in him - Ross went on an expedition to Finland more than ten years ago and encountered all such houses in the territory of the Kovin people.

Times have changed, and now the civil war among the various tribes of Kewen has completely ended. The gray squirrel tribe, which once resisted the most ferocious and most effective fighting force, has now become the northern miners of the Kingdom of Ross. It is an extremely important part of the metallurgical complex of Ross. It was once poor. They suddenly became part of the richest people in Russia.

What can these Therons do? have no idea. Now Rurik can't think of any ideas to make a fortune from the area where they settled.

Perhaps the most valuable thing about the Seron people is just their population.

The noble Russians entering their dark huts cannot be said to be grounded, but they are really grounded. The noble king might as well stay in the open air, sit on a leather blanket and point fingers at the village leader Ilbert.

Now Ilbert is still well-behaved. He knows that he has "led the wolf into the house" and showed his entire family wealth to King Rus. It is unlikely that they will have any thoughts of looting the broken wood and pottery urns.

Rurik sat very

Casually, he put his right arm on his right knee and fiddled with his horsewhip casually as he talked: "I'm not surprised that you are really poor. I never thought that you would risk fishing in the river because of lack of food. Ha! Stay in the river. To wait for me to arrive and surrender is a lie."

Ilbert was sitting on pins and needles: "I don't dare. Everything is fate."

"It doesn't matter, I already know the situation in your village. I am very satisfied with your surrender. However... you still have to pay me some tribute."

"Yes! But, as poor people...what else can we pay tribute to?"

"You have no food, no leather, and live in a house like a rabbit hole. You only have one most valuable thing!"

"This...if the king is satisfied, we are willing to take it out."

Ilbert had already had a premonition, and Rurik said bluntly: "It's just a human being."

"Slave? You want me to hand over all the villagers and become slaves to the king? If this can satisfy the king, I..." He gritted his teeth: "I am willing."

"No. Not a slave." Rurik smiled and shook his finger: "Do you have a young son? A young daughter is fine too."

"Ah? Are you asking them to serve the king? My daughter has already married into a neighboring village, and my granddaughter is still too young and not qualified to serve the king."

"You, you think too much. Do you think I am a cruel person?"

"No. He is an honorable person." Ilbert replied hurriedly.

Rurik felt that he was asking a question that was against his will. In the eyes of some ethnic groups, King Rus was a murderer with no bottom line, but in the eyes of some people, he was a holy king. Overall, Rurik does not deny that he is a "killer", but he is definitely not today.

"Your young grandson

Woolen cloth? Hand them all over and I plan to take them away. Don't worry, your child will learn a lot, wear nice clothes, and eat good food every day. Your children will live with my children. When they grow up, they will be sent back to you and continue to be the leader of your village. "

What kind of arrangement is this? Rurik's arrangement indeed went beyond Ilbert's understanding. He didn't understand what it meant, but he just vaguely felt that it was a good thing.

Just to avoid being confused, Rurik had to explain what a proton was.

It is a good thing to live like a Russian, and the safety of the children is also in the hands of the Russians. As Ilbert further understood the long-term benefits of this move, he no longer had any doubts and trusted King Rus' arrangement.

Besides, considering the current situation, it is condescending for King Rus to sit calmly in the village.

As a surrender, you have no right to object to the king's arrangement.

This was Rurik's impromptu tolerant policy. He started from the village below and sent Ilbert's grandchildren to school in New Roseburg. After the children with a blank sheet of paper saw the prosperity of the big city, How do you treat your hometown?

Centripetal force is cultivated in this way, and the children of the leaders of each village are trained as agents. In this way, in the future, the entire Seron tribe will be a good servant force for Ross due to their popular psychology and pursuit of real material life.

"Let's go! Look at your children." After saying that, Rurik stood up and patted his thigh again.

The guardsmen led the horses and accompanied the king to the outside of the village. Ilbert kept his head down at all times with heavy steps. he had to

He thought a lot. After all, what he just discussed with King Ross was completely beyond the imagination of the Seron people. He actually didn't think King Ross's arrangement was a pure favor. There is no love for no reason in this world. On the contrary, everyone seemed to be played by them and applauded. Little animal, the current kindness is just because King Ross is in a good mood.

As a result, the group saw a grand event at the entrance of the village.

"What's going on? There are no children in my team. Those children surrounding my cauldron, aren't they..." Rurik glanced at Ilbert, who was beside him with his jaw dropped: "Those are from your village. Child."

"Yes. They seem to be... eating your food?"

"That's right." Rurik immediately understood the situation and almost patted his thigh to praise his subordinates for a job well done. So he took advantage of the situation: "I said, I am very satisfied with your surrender. As you can see, your army not only does not harm your children, but also gives them food."

"Your Majesty is merciful, truly the army of God."

"I have already thought about it. I will give you some food in recognition of your surrender."

"Is this... really appropriate?" Ilbert hurriedly bowed and asked.

"Of course, I have made up my mind to unload the food now."