Rise of Rurik

Even though the price of squirrel skins was very low, the old Russians living in Mstisk still made a lot of money.

Even if the mistress of each household and the concubine of the male protagonist are from other ethnic groups, life has been Russianized in ten years. Are they really Russians? No one bothered with this issue, because their children belonged to True Rose.

Based on the Russian tradition, every winter every household must do their best to stock up on winter supplies. Winter hunting has been a career for the brave since ancient times. A large number of Rus people are unwilling to take risks to hunt rare animals. Although high risks may bring high returns, women still hope that their families will be safe.

Today's life is hundreds of times better than in the past, and people who have become rich are able to hoard more abundant supplies. They are no longer satisfied with using limited food to survive in the winter, but now they want to eat well and drink well.

Although Novoostara has been selling cheese, they have to satisfy their winter needs first, so in the autumn Novgorod market, cheese often disappears unless the steppe people bring new goods.

Since I can tolerate the smell of pickled shark, the smell of cheese is nothing.

They focus more on the rich taste of cheese and the power it gives diners.

Any food that is high in calories is extremely popular, and this is true for all types of fat.

Every household must reserve the fat of reindeer and seals, and even the fat of hunted bears. Pickle it with coarse salt and turn it into lumps of salty oil that are frozen soft and glutinous, and are eaten with the bread. Or cut a piece and throw it into a pottery jar to stew it with various reserved foods. This is a new kind of dining that is different from Ross's hometown.

The Russians completed the interception of the cavalry, and Carlotta and others were also invited by Arik to his city for a gathering.

This place was still not Novgorod until, inside the wooden walls, Quetzal saw what was going on.

Let's see! The neatly arranged buildings have similar looks and some obvious features. A residential house has a main house, a courtyard in front of the door, and a side room. Finally, a fence surrounds the building.

Real Ross men are astonishingly tall and have hair like gold.

There are a lot of children running around here. They look grown up but actually have childlike faces. The children seemed not to be afraid of the cold. They dressed up like adults in thick clothes and fought with each other with wooden shields and swords, as if they were trying to figure out who was the best fighter.

Prairie people pay attention to riding horses and shooting arrows in groups, hunting prairie wolves and attacking them. The same goes for Ross's children, but the difference is that they always work in two groups, build a wall with bucklers that can cover most of their bodies, and step on the snow to hedge in neat steps. Barbaric games often turn into big fights. Although they are wooden "weapons", they seem to be really deadly, and there are often some adults watching who cheer at the top of their lungs and occasionally curse.

Taking advantage of the opportunity of being a guest in Mstisk, Quetzal, a Pecheneg nobleman, was able to see the winter life of the real Russians.

A large number of young children grew up fighting each other. According to the city lord Arik, the children still have endless adventures in the East. Young people want to fight real powerful enemies and become real men, so they use their companions as imaginary enemies to hone their slashing skills. . It's not impossible to fight with real swords and axes, but some boys must have killed themselves in a hurry. If a real weapon can kill a comrade, he will beat him with a wooden stick, which will result in bruises at most.

This was what Arik had instructed. He was eager for new battles and determined that there would be a new journey soon.

In the war of 840, the old Russians suffered heavy losses.

Some of his old associates died in battles to open up territory for Ross. Their children inherited the swords of their fathers and also inherited the legacy of their fathers who died in battle.

The First and Second Banner Corps were dominated by old Russians, and the composition of the standing army was also similar.

Times have quietly changed, and Mstisk boys are turning twelve in large numbers. They have a large population and all have experienced physical education and cultural education, and have participated in productive labor since they were ten years old. The combination of high-intensity work, food far better than that of his father's generation, and his Nordic ancestry, made him 1.7 stikas tall, equivalent to 168cm, even though he was only twelve years old.

With such a height, he is already slightly taller than the main Frankish soldiers.

Because he had fought against powerful enemies in the west, Arik knew the enemy's situation very well.

When the children heard the call from the city lord, they spontaneously started a "winter martial arts performance". Forming teams to fight each other and frequently changing teams is one thing. Carrying an ax and sawing two people to the nearby forest to cut down the tree trunks and dragging the tree trunks back is a way to exercise physical fitness and strength.

It was entirely due to physiological factors that the boys had grown tall enough, but their muscles were not strong enough. It seemed that each boy was quite thin and not strong enough to fight the enemy on the front line.

This requires a lot of heart-to-heart connections and a lot of oil and bread.

Objectively speaking, this is also the reason why Mstisk bought all the oil, honey, and cheese transported by the steppe people and the Kiev people.

There are many spacious open spaces in the city. When Quetzal inquired, he learned that they were pre-designed threshing floors, and they were covered with a layer of strange lime cement, as if they were covered with flat stones. Currently, such venues are the best venues for martial arts performances, and fighting has become the most popular entertainment for boys.

Quetzal associated many things with the organized training of tribal children.

Pecheneg nobles also trained their children, and women were no exception. This principle is similar to that of the Russians, but the difference is that young people in Russia are practicing martial arts, and the mobilization intensity is much stronger than that of Pecheneg.

"No! You are clearly sharpening your knives! Which fat sheep are you targeting?!"

Quetzal was too cautious to ask, and thought he didn't need to ask. Everyone is an ally to each other. If it shows, he and his entourage will join the Ross cavalry to fight side by side, and easily get the war dividends.

The martial arts performance of the Mstisk boys was an omen. The children trained as if they were facing a formidable enemy, and Fisk and Carlotta couldn't help but feel their hearts beating.

"When I go back, I will also train soldiers."

Fisk's identity is still the captain of the 1st Cavalry of the Standing Army, which has been expanded and the main force is stationed in the Novgorod camp. How are those cubs training? Are they capable of fighting in battle? Why don't you show off your martial arts skills?

As for Carlotta, her principality is the vanguard of Ross's march south. Not to mention that all men are warriors by default, and all young girls must go to the battlefield when necessary. It is also necessary for the Principality of Ostara to carry out winter military exercises, with special emphasis on the training of cavalry.

At the beginning of the period, the number of Slavic women marrying old Russians was limited, but since then the number has increased year by year. Fourteen years have passed since the initial marriage. As expected, the woman who married Ross gave birth to a child the following year. Women are giving birth continuously, often starting to conceive the second child as soon as the first child is weaned. Coupled with Rus' war captives, thousands of Finnish tribal women became concubines and continued to have children.

After life improved, the Russians let nature take its course and abandoned the barbaric tradition of abandoning babies. They had enough food to raise all kinds of boys and girls, and the population explosion began in 829.

Now, it will be Hanukkah in 842.

If according to the old tradition, the age of twelve is used as the standard for adulthood (including false years), there will be nearly a thousand boys and girls coming of age after Hanukkah.

Thousands of other children have grown up and some are married.

An old Russian man has more than one wife. In the past ten years, every household has at least five children. Some families attach great importance to childbirth. The eldest son has grown up and the youngest is still in his infancy. There are actually ten cubs in a family.

It would be an exaggeration to describe the exponential growth of the population of the Old Rus tribe. It grew from the initial 4,000 people to 40,000 people, and it was inevitable to wait until 850 AD.

Rus can really support such a large population. After all, there are still hundreds of thousands of Slavic people in the capital and Novgorod area. After everyone's life improves, they are also trying their best to have children.

This was the case in the agricultural era. As a true farming settler, the best wealth for a family is its population, and childbirth is the expansion of wealth.

The Slavic farms are the pioneers in logging and expanding their land. The three-year tax exemption reward and the tax holiday for land reclamation are superimposed. They have the motivation to open up land crazily.

The vast Yin'ermen Lake has a large area of ​​swampland and coastal flat land, but it would be a waste of resources as a pasture for grazing cattle and sheep. In the past, pioneering was a labor-intensive and low-return task based on the clumsiness of tools. But now, this is not the case. Even if a curved shaft plow is dragged by humans, the plowshare can't stop it once it passes. They are all smart. What they "beg" from the forest are new fields with poor fertility. Of course, they can be improved with human and animal excrement, but it is better to transform the unowned lakeside. Lake mud is also an excellent fertilizer.

They are the Slavs of Yin Ermen, and anyone who dares to take away their fields will face a desperate counterattack.

Under the leadership of the boyar nobles, village regiments were set up in each village in 840 to guard against the attack of the Smolensk people. Of course, if the king intends to send troops to attack the south, the nobles are also willing to organize group training to gain war dividends.

In the final analysis, they are farmers who are accustomed to farming. Unlike the Russians, farming is necessary but not the only thing. They are hunters and fishermen. Their past habits cannot be changed in ten years. Fishing is the basis of life for the old Russian people, and it will take a long time for farming to gradually change from supplementary income to the main means of livelihood.

That's why Mstisk is training.

When spring plowing is completed in 842, young people can go on expeditions with genuine weapons.

In their understanding, the rise of Ross largely depends on war and plunder, and no one knows this better than the double sword Arik. Because in the first battle of Ross's large-scale expansion, he led a sneak attack on Gotland with 450 tribal warriors, and returned happily with wealth.

As a king, Rurik could have diversified ways to rise. For Arik, war and plunder were once the mindset.

Carlotta, the Duchess of Ostara, suffered from leg problems due to the war. It happened that this female noblewoman spent a year frantically expanding southward.

Bald Fisk's dead father was originally a poor man, but now he has reached the legendary Gulf of Riga, forcing the locals to surrender peacefully.

How could Arik not feel itchy?

The real channel of the Volga River has not yet been found. At least the Russian forces have almost reached Smolensk. Once the formal contact is made, it will no longer be a horse team fighting, but a real battle to destroy the country. The young New Rus warriors were waiting for such an opportunity. No, the opportunity had come.

He assured Carlotta: "It's okay for you to kill the Polotsk nobleman Lambard. It's good for you to control it personally next year. If you are worried about their resistance, I can send some boys to obey your command. Even my eldest son Askard can also participate. The Vitebsk fortress you risked to build is very risky. If it is attacked by the Smolensk people, I will also send boys to help you. I will explain this to Rurik, He will definitely agree.”

Carlotta was promised military aid, and she affectionately called Arik her eldest brother, which he was.

The daylight hours are now very short, and the daytime in the Yin'ermen Lake area has rapidly shrunk to only a quarter of the day. The limited daytime was used intensively, and at night, most families lit oil lamps and did some handicrafts.

Arik chatted a lot with the nobles, especially exploring their families and relatives. Since everyone is an alliance, it is necessary to talk about each other's relatives and try to build a relationship with each other to facilitate future cooperation.

Arik, nicknamed "Two Swords", was so brave that he did not need a buckler. He dared to rush into the enemy formation with his bare back and kill indiscriminately like a berserker.

Such a powerful general couldn't help but shed tears even when talking about family matters.

Both parents have passed away, and the only immediate elders living are uncles and aunts. His uncle is none other than the Supreme King Otto, who has retired to seclusion. Unfortunately, his uncle is also very old.

A true warrior should die in the last battle, sacrificing himself in a sword fight.

Can the uncle still lift the sword? Maybe barely.

To be fair, the rise of Ross was due to the great achievements of his younger brother Rurik, and the leader of the expansion was the old king Otto. He was a hero and a great figure who made Rus change his attitude towards the Slavs and make large-scale marriage alliances.

Now that the mixed-race New Rus's, born of his determination, were beginning to grow up, it was time for the old king to see his handiwork.

The mighty cavalry still had a large amount of goods to transport to Novgorod, and Arik also summoned a group of young people in the city to join the cavalry army as infantry.

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Marching is also a part of military exercises, especially marching in neat queues with a full set of infantry weapons, which can better verify whether the army has basic discipline.

Arik summoned nearly five hundred people and asked them to carry their father's shield, the sword of their father who died in the battle or their own sword, and then grab a spear, strappy backpack, and basic basics. Rations and stomach bags and water bottles have become a fairly regular "infantry flag force", and even the number of personnel is similar.

He gave the young boys an idea: let’s go to see the old king, salute him, and then walk around Novgorod to tell everyone that you are the new Russian warriors. Although you are young, you are no less impressive. to your father.

Indeed, their fathers were all old Russians, and there were even brothers and twins with similar age differences in the team. What they had in common was that they were all twelve years old or about to be twelve years younger, and they were all high-spirited.

They lined up neatly, with the leader still carrying the Ross flag. Everyone wore newly sewn decorative small-style Ross tabards, and they all wore ferret hats. Just like other Ross flag teams, white is the main color and blue is the necessary embellishment. They are dressed thickly, and at first glance they look like the brave first flag team, but in fact they are all newcomers eager to make meritorious deeds.

This kind of good thing is naturally indispensable for Arik's eldest son Askard. This boy who turned thirteen after Hanukkah participated in the war of 840. Even if he did not explicitly kill an enemy, he had the experience of witnessing a cruel war. , has grown significantly.

Askard fantasizes about being the flag captain of this group of peers, and also fantasizes about making great contributions in future wars.

He longed for the approval of his uncle the king, and now he even wanted the praise of his great grandfather Otto.

He dressed up as an elite warrior at the request of his father Arik and needed the encouragement of a real hero.

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