Rise of Rurik

The cavalry launched a frontal breakthrough and charged forward with their swords raised. But they saw the attackers gathered into a thin human wall, as if to block the cavalry from breaking out.

Without saying a word to the others, Ureko lined up on the wall and bumped into them.

It was at this critical moment that the people who organized the human wall finally felt fear. Many people failed to dodge and were knocked over and trampled, and the cavalry easily broke through its lines.

In this way, the cavalry turned back one after another, only to see those with spears actually launching a pursuit. They were shooting arrows too, and the cavalrymen could feel the impact of the arrows on their bucklers on their backs.

"They are provoking! What should I do? I want to kill a few more."

"They were weak, so we turned back and attacked."

This was a breakout situation, and the entire cavalry team led by two people immediately turned around.

The cautious Ureko's blood burst out, "Then do it! Avenge your dead brothers! Try to kill them with arrows!"

The war horses stood still, and the cavalry fired arrows with recurve bows. Seeing that the cavalry was no longer running away, the attacker warriors screamed and rushed forward, but were caught off guard by accurate arrows.

The cavalry first shot the opponent's bow wielder, and then shot again when the opponent began to drag away the wounded soldiers. They deliberately shot each other in the legs to inflict more injuries and weaken their morale.

"It's time! They are too weak. Let's charge again!" This time it was Ureko who took the lead.

Once they lose the momentum of a sneak attack, this group of larger but weaker people will face the indiscriminate killing of cavalry, even if the number of cavalry is small. Armed militias face professional soldiers, who are mounting a one-sided counterattack.

However, the attackers suffered heavy casualties and did not disperse. They shouted "kill them" in Slavic and fled into the woods without escaping.

The chaotic fighting lasted for a while, and the Ross cavalry was in a state of anger and love for fighting. At least even Ureko felt that they could wipe out the attackers.

Suddenly, the sound of horns and the roar of leather drums were heard in the distance, and more shaggy-headed savages came out of the forest.

I wanted to complete the annihilation of the Seven Cavalry and was stunned on the spot.

Ureko Hengjian immediately glared, "Brothers, stop rushing! This is a trap!"

"Perhaps we can kill fifty more if we rush forward." The man with red eyes could not conceal his bloodlust.

"Stupid! Look how many people they have come out? It's time to retreat."

The brothers looked at each other, and when they saw those guys attacking all the way, and arrows kept falling in front of the cavalry, they all agreed with Ureko's idea.

It's time to make a real breakthrough. If you don't run, you will be surrounded by about 200 people, and you won't be able to escape even if you want to.

The cavalry galloped away, and the seven men and ten horses lost almost all their loot and fled eastward along the flat ground between the gaps in the forest.

As they retreated, they turned around. The group of savages in the middle were chasing after them like crazy wolves. Naturally, human feet could not outrun the horses in a short time.

The horses were already a little tired after a chaotic battle. The cavalry had to crack their whips constantly, consuming their horsepower to escape from the troubled place.

They had probably determined the identity of the attacker and why he was so crazy. But no one feels guilty. In this wild land, the winner is always king. Brothers have suffered a loss today, but they will have to make up for it in the future.

Seeing the cavalry gradually disappearing into the cover of the forest, the pursuers slowed down their pace, but the pursuit did not really end.

No force had ever carried out comprehensive killing and burning of Polotsk villages. The military arrangement of the big leader seemed to be successful. The traces of the horse bandits were completely exposed. Even if the attack would cost many people, they still had to fight hard.

The Polotsk people actually saw the light of fire at night, and those with keen ears heard the low and neighing sounds of horses and realized that they could only be the enemy.

They immediately laid an ambush and deliberately launched a sneak attack when the morning fog rose. A team of fifty people was the first to discover the cavalry, and they sent people overnight to notify other teams to gather at the target as soon as possible. In fact, as many as three hundred people launched the attack, but they did not act at the same time. Although the team that launched the sneak attack first had the upper hand, it was ultimately defeated due to the unequal absolute strength.

At least the brothers killed three enemies and rescued four women.

"Are you our people? Polotsk?" Upon hearing the savior's native dialect, the four women burst into tears.

"Is it a woman from Duka Village? You are safe." People untied the women of the same race and tried their best to comfort their broken hearts.

The bodies of the three horse bandits were seized. Faced with the corpses whose bodies were riddled with holes and even their heads missing, the Polotsk people rushed to destroy them like hungry wolves in retaliation. Finally, those who understood the overall situation rushed forward, kicking and pulling to drive them away, and kept shouting: "Stop it! Take the corpses back and parade them through the streets! Show them to the big leader. Go treat the injured quickly and clean up the battlefield."

The commotion was very loud, and many teams involved in the battle sent messengers back to the village to report the good news. The news gradually became distorted during the transmission, but when it reached the ears of the great leader Proclaw, it became a huge victory.

This middle-aged man is full of energy, and he can gloriously tell the people that the revenge operation has been successful. Hearing that the attacker's body had been seized, his beard trembled with excitement.

"Quick! Bring back the enemy's corpse. Parade it! Exhibit it in public!"

He gave this order, completely ignoring that his own losses in this counterattack were not small.

The pony pulled the wooden cart and rushed to the battlefield not far away. A large group of people followed the horse team happily, hearing that the captured villagers were rescued, and the refugees from Duka Village also marched forward.

The big leader had to go there in person. He put on his best clothes and hung a Viking broadsword that he had acquired a long time ago on his waist. There is a chainmail hidden under the colorful striped gown, and a Viking-style leather helmet imported from Riga is worn on the head. It is made of European leopard skin and has two wild goose feathers dyed with cinnabar inserted into it. The body is also covered in leopard skin.

Only a few warriors possessed chain mail, such as Proclaw and his bodyguard of less than ten men.

The big leader's gorgeous clothes could not hide the poor clothing of the armed militiamen. What showed their timidity was that many of them were barefoot. Because the soles of their feet had already accumulated thick calluses, they were passively accustomed to it.

Finally, after the guards dispersed the excited people, the chief saw the three "rotten bodies" that had just been dragged onto the carriage.

"Is this the horse bandit?" In this situation, he had to be a little suspicious.

Most of the warriors swore that these tall dead men were indeed horse bandits.

"You said these three people were horse bandits, and the horses you captured? That's really strange. Didn't you say that there were at least twenty horse bandits, and you just killed three?"

This fact is hard to say. The warriors are embarrassed to say that they have not won a complete victory. The big leader has also understood this.

"So how much did we lose?"

Finally, someone cautiously replied: "Twenty people died, and more than ten people were injured. They...were all seriously injured."

Hearing this explanation was like being hit on the head by a stone, and the great leader's overflowing joy of victory suddenly disappeared. His face was extremely gloomy. He didn't expect that the battle would turn into such a rotten situation even though he had already had the opportunity for a sneak attack. The enemy fled on horseback, leaving only three corpses behind. The corpse had obviously been destroyed, and it was simply a cowardly act for his own tribe to vent their anger by destroying the corpse because they were unable to complete the pursuit.

However, what the general public received was the news of a complete victory. As the leader, Proclaw knew well not to damage everyone's morale.

He clapped his hands vigorously and put other matters aside.

"Listen up! Load the enemy's corpses and loot into the car, and follow me to the village for a parade."

Later, three warriors of the Rus' cavalry were beheaded. Their bodies had been scorned by the Polotsk people when they were paraded through the streets, and now their heads were standing on their altars with wooden sticks stuck in them, and the bodies of the dead had become sacrifices. The sacrifice is only for the innocent people who were killed by horse bandits.

It seems that the disaster has ended here. After all, there are many doubts about the matter. Fear of horse bandit attacks in the future has frightened all the settlements near the east. The militias armed based on the current situation had to devote a lot of energy to setting up defense lines and strengthening patrols. There are various signs that the situation is still fermenting silently.

As the big leader, Proclaw must change this deadlock. The most important thing is to determine the identity of the attacker. It must not be simply summarized by the term "horse bandit".

The four rescued female villagers finally gave a decisive explanation after their spirits stabilized.

The attackers were the Rus from the north. The Rus are a kind of Varangians! At the same time, it is very likely that the Varangians, the guys from Rus and the guys from Riga don’t even know who they are.

Are you really not from the same group? Due to the common characteristics of the enemy's corpses, they all have golden and white hair, which is very different from the hair color of the Slavs and Riga Latvians. But the hair color is the same as that of the Varyag people in Riga.

Even if the elites believe that there is a difference between the Rus and the Varangians of Riga, it is really difficult for ordinary people to distinguish between them.

Some of the rescued people said such intriguing words: "Those Russians basically understand our language. The pronunciation is a bit strange but we can understand it. They claim that they want to transport us to the north to be slaves and give them many children."

It's really weird. The Russians only captured slaves to have children? If it was just for this purpose, they could have obtained a woman through a normal marriage, so why did they have to resort to violence?

The real elite has a strong enough determination on this issue. The big leader Proclaw feels that things are a hundred times more complicated than they appear on the surface.

Sadly, no one knows where the Russian horsemen came from. The opponent's stronghold should be in the north. No one knows how far it is from Polotsk.

There is one thing that proves that Polotsk really encountered the same troubles as the Smolensk people in the southeast. There is a high probability that this matter really has nothing to do with those guys in Riga.

Polotsk belongs to the eastern branch of the Polish ethnic group, while Smolensk is a true East Slavic Krivic ethnic group, and it is relatively strong. The two sides have differences due to language and beliefs. Fortunately, the two sides can basically communicate with each other, ensuring communication, and they have not been hostile to each other for a long time.

"I plan to organize a mission to Smolensk, bringing some leather as a gift, and then discuss with the local chiefs about the Rusma bandits. If possible, we will try to unite with them. This will be very good for our future. important……"

Proclaw, the sober-minded leader, realized that his tribe was facing a crisis, even though the people were still immersed in the joy of successful revenge.

Really successful revenge? ! No. Just a self-paralyzing joy. Polotsk, which is not very powerful, needs to unite some allies to fight future threats. It is not only Smolensk that needs to be contacted to promote the alliance, but also the people who live on the edge of the huge swamp (Pripet Swamp) in the south. Drevlians.

Planning for a new mission began immediately, but it took time. They believed that there was plenty of time left for the Polotsk people.

The entire Polotsk community was put on unprecedented armed alert, and for the first time in history they blocked the West Dvina River waterway. A thick cable stretched out from the relatively wide river, and the canoes were connected end to end, blocking the river in a chain manner and cutting off traffic.

Sure enough, not long after the horse banditry incident subsided, a brown-haired Latvian came from Riga and passed here. The small flat-bottomed cargo ship was intercepted and the sailors were disarmed.

These Danish mercenaries hired by the Latvians almost fought with the interceptors, but finally surrendered under the pressure of their absolute superiority in strength.

They did not understand that in the past, this group of Polotsk people would not block the river and demand tribute.

The big leader Proclaw would not completely plunder the merchants' goods. He was willing to use sheepskin and cowhide to buy the salt trafficked by the merchants, and the price was naturally not high.

Although the Latvian businessman stomped his feet in anger, he heard this statement: "It is very dangerous for you to sell salt in Smolensk. The local horse bandits are rampant, and there are even a large number of horse bandits in the upper reaches of the river. We set up the water barrier out of kindness to protect you. Otherwise you will be intercepted by them if you continue sailing, and everyone will die."

Horse bandits? Unbelievable. Although the theory of horse bandits has been circulated in Riga, after all, no merchants were intercepted and killed in the past. It was the merchant ships passing through the section of the river controlled by the Polotsk people that would be stopped by the locals and demanded tribute.

Unfortunately, the river was completely blocked by the locals, and the people and materials were detained.

The leading businessman could not believe what the chief of Polotsk said, and shouted angrily: "Are you blocking the trade route to create a war? We will make money by selling salt, and we will not be the only ones who will be dissatisfied!"

Indeed, once dissatisfaction is caused, it will attract dissatisfaction from the tribes of Latvia, Semigalia, Courland, and Livonia.

It should be impossible for those guys to unite and form a coalition to attack Polotsk, unless their financial resources are completely cut off. In the final analysis, they want to transit their own territory to use several small rivers leading to the south in the upper reaches of the West Dvina River, especially the Ural River, to contact Smolensk in a low-cost way.

The road was not completely interrupted, and many merchants in the Riga area could stop in Polotsk and trade with the Drevlians by land.

Is this an insurmountable land trade route? On the contrary, the road to the south is not far away. Merchants move through the gaps in the forest. The fleet turns into a commercial horse fleet and directly reaches the villages of the Drevlian community. Then rent or buy a canoe from the locals, follow the small river into the big river (referring to the Pripet River), and finally do business directly with the Kiev community.

"It's all about business anyway, and who isn't? We are willing to buy your salt and support your southward trade, but we cannot continue to enter the upstream."

Even if they cannot have a bird's-eye view of the entire Eastern European world, and even if commercial contacts have been very limited over the past hundred years, the Polotsk people have basically figured out the large groups living in all directions, the controlled areas, and the reasonable routes to get there. People of various Baltic ethnic groups living near the Gulf of Riga also knew about it. For Latvians in Riga, traveling to Drevlian in the south is not a good idea. The locals live in swampy areas, are plagued by mosquitoes in the summer, and are relatively poor.

Doing business should be done with rich guys. In the view of Latvian businessmen and Danish Varyag mercenaries (and businessmen), the distance to do business with Smolensk people is not extreme, and the locals can also give more in kind. Commodities, especially linen, honey and grain.

The attitude of the big leader Proclaw was extremely resolute. He saw local men armed on a large scale. The businessmen even noticed that this group of guys who used to be good at collecting "tolls" had actually set up defenses in the eastern region, and the rotten hair was on public display. The horse bandit's head was exposed, and the situation had to be compromised.

All this was an overreaction after the attack in Polotsk.

The time is getting closer to the autumn harvest, the weather is gradually getting colder, and the rainfall is increasing. After the autumn harvest comes the rainy season, and it is still summer. A thunderstorm and heavy rain will suddenly come and stop abruptly.

A large-scale rainfall process is going on in July.

When Polotsk completed the blockade of the river, the evacuated Ureko group of Russian cavalry were heading north with all their strength. They returned north with strong hatred and major exploration discoveries. They dreamed of first informing the nearest Duchess of Ostara about the situation, bringing in reinforcements to launch cavalry revenge, and then presenting the information to King Rurik. Finally, It was the Ross army that sent troops to conquer.

The only thing that made them happy was that their precious horses were not damaged. The seven men and ten horses braved the heavy rain to return, enduring the mud and sudden cold. Although the road was tortuous, at least the armed expedition of the cavalry team fully understood that the source of the Lovati River came from two large lakes. The lake water led to two small rivers that joined together to form the real Lovati River. They took shelter from the rain in the forest, and both the men and the horses were patient. A thunderstorm broke out for a while, and the brothers regarded it as the wrath of the thunder god. When they thought about their situation, they felt a sense of frustration, which in turn led to even greater anger. They shivered in the rain and encouraged each other: "We must take revenge."

When the rain subsided, the team continued northward along the river...

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