Rise of Rurik

Since the spring of April 842, the Principality of Ostara, under the leadership of the Duchess Carlotta, has been using the name of the Kingdom of Rus to completely turn the Polotsk people who are nominal servants into a part of the kingdom.

Since those tribes dominated by farmers have suffered heavy losses due to the sneak attack of the Ross cavalry, and the leader of the main battle has died, do they really need to support a local noble as an agent?

The determination of the Principality of Ostara to expand southward was approved by Rurik himself. For this purpose, most of the soldiers of the most elite 1st Cavalry were involved. The Rus-Ostara cavalry launched a mighty campaign towards Polotsk. military offensive!

Of course, if the locals accept the new order under Ross with great obedience, they will enjoy peace. In exchange, they will also have to pay tribute to Ross, perform military service, and be allowed to share their share of the spoils after the battle. .

If they refuse, the kingdom's butcher's knife is no joke.

Duchess Carlotta is de jure the adopted daughter of the old King Otto, and she is Rurik’s de jure sister who is not related by blood.

And she is indeed one of Rurik's wives. There are too many things to do when going south to Carlotta. No matter whether the Polotsk problem is solved well or not, she will be responsible for all the results.

Since there is a direct stake, of course things must be done well.

During this operation, the young Karl also followed her duke mother and went south with the army.

Although the boy did not inherit Rurik's name, his blood flowed through his veins.

The troops were fully armed and marched along the waterway. They held high the flag of Rus and the bull-headed flag of the Ostara people, deliberately showing their proud identity. The morale of the soldiers was extremely high.

The straight-line distance from the city of Novoostara to the fortress-like town of Velikiy Luki is as long as 200 kilometers. Since the army had to move south along the Lovati River, the marching distance was quickly extended to more than 300 kilometers. kilometer.

The vastness and emptiness of Eastern Europe is a powerful test for all adventurers. Every time she travels on such a route, she has to think about whether my principality is too empty.

Although Carlotta has set up many supply stations along the route, these stations have a small number of garrisons, and they are expected to become permanent villages. At present, they are just micro outposts with at most twenty people or at least a few people.

Outposts are different from each other. Because the northern outposts are close to Yin Ermen Lake, they are more numerous and more densely distributed. They are arranged like a chain in the lower reaches of the Lovaj River.

The southern outposts are a real minority. Although they are indispensable for transportation lines, they face greater challenges due to their remote location.

The existence of these small outposts gives ships sailing on the Lovati River an extra sense of security.

Because the garrison at the outpost not only had to strengthen their houses to withstand severe cold, rain and snow, but also build wooden fences to avoid wild beast attacks, and build small docks to provide certain accommodation needs for passing ships.

Those who can be left behind are often brave and fierce people. Carlotta misses these brothers a little, fearing that they died tragically in the snow in the past winter...

"Mom, how long will we go?" The clever Karl was also tortured by the long and seemingly meaningless march.

The mother and son were riding a horse together, and the little boy was right in front of his mother, stuck in his position by his mother's arms holding the reins.

"Just bear with it a little longer."

"But...it's so boring."

"Boring? When you grow up and become a duke, you have to get used to this kind of boredom. Well, to be honest, it is indeed quite boring..."

Carlotta looked at the surrounding environment. The relatively wide Lovaj River was completely wrapped in the boundless forest, and the river course meandered like a giant snake.

In addition to dense forests, the only variables in the environment and geography here are lakes and silt swamps. What is quite bad is that it is the snowmelt period in spring. The ground is so wet that most places are covered with mud. On the other hand, the reeds and grass in the riverside area are growing wildly. The existence of these meadows made the muddy ground firm enough for the horses to move forward.

But the grass stepped on by the horseshoes would become muddy again, leaving a very obvious dirt path behind the cavalry.

The soldiers joked to each other: "At least, if we get lost, we can follow the traces home."

Since the son had this question, the soldiers must have felt bored after days of marching.

She sent a positive signal to the entire army advancing along the waterway. It seemed that as long as they persisted a little longer, an outpost where they could rest was just around the corner.

Everything was just as she said. After another dew-covered camping experience in the riverside area, a small riverside outpost miraculously appeared near noon on the new day.

The depressed people were cheered up for a while, and a long boat was ordered to leave the main team immediately. The people rowed hard and headed straight for the wall. They were blowing horns and beating drums, and the Ross flag was flying high on the mast.

The garrison at the outpost had discovered the traces of the fleet and the cavalry earlier, and slowly raised the treasured flag, just to tell the returning brothers the simple but extremely important answer of "I am still alive." Eucalyptus.

So, the long boat approached the wet pier, and several men covered in bearskin walked out of the wooden wall like bears. If their golden hair were not so eye-catching, they would have looked like brown bears. Got semen.

The people who had been left behind, who had been waiting all winter, had tears in their eyes when they took the cable that was thrown at them.

"Brothers! We have been looking forward to it for a long time, and you are finally here! The supplies...the supplies have finally arrived?"

"We're here!" The Ostara warriors who had just disembarked resolutely grasped the calloused hands of the retainer: "Spring has arrived, and you will have to work harder in the future."

A thousand words are less important than the salt delivered directly.

Since the residents are all aggressive hunters, there is no shortage of food in their house, but the most lacking thing is fat and salt. Carlotta gave these hard-working brothers two major rewards: bricks of butter and blocks of salt.

The specific name of this outpost is Myrsholm, which means "muddy watery lowland". Even so, now that there are people moving around the area, the area that has been transformed by the assault is not very muddy. The excess trees were cut down to create an artificial flat land, making its environment incompatible with its surroundings. To be fair, such an environment may not be suitable for growing wheat, but some vegetables are fine.

Pea and bean seeds, which became popular in Lake Yin'ermen, were also brought to the south by Carlotta.

She gave Milshum Outpost bean seeds and carrot seeds in the hope that the residents would eat extra vegetarian food.

She did not give this here, she gave butter and salt to these brothers, in exchange for the leather they paid tribute, and even the investigation information about the surrounding environment.

One piece of information is extremely important. It is said that not far to the west of Milshum, there is no forest there, but endless swamps instead. Even though wild ducks and geese can be hunted in the swamp, the damn mosquitoes can be active until late autumn. Explorers who break into it will be besieged by these little blood-sucking monsters. The entire area seems to be cursed by an evil god. It is really a bad area that there is no need to visit. .

The opposite was to explore the east, for the outpost of Milshum was deliberately placed at the confluence of rivers, where an unnamed creek empties into the Lovati River. As long as there is a river, it is equivalent to a wide "Roman Avenue" for the adventurous Russians. Even if the river bed is very shallow, Nordic longships are still able to ripple in it.

The brown bear is full of treasures. The ferocious bear head and the wide and thick bear skin are the hard currency of trade in the entire Rus Kingdom and the Nordic world. Even if the current price inflation is very severe, the price of the bear skin is still rising like crazy.

The residents of Milshum stepped on their homemade spikes in the winter, dragged their homemade sleds, carried food, tent pitching tools, and a full set of weapons (there was a torsion slingshot for bear hunting) upstream along the frozen river. Shuoyuan.

Brown bears like to hibernate but white bears do not. They used facts to prove that there are still white bears active in the south.

The white bear skin presented as tribute to Carlotta opened her eyes. As for the source of the tributary river, the residents did not give an answer this year, but driven by the interests of hunting, they will definitely get an answer.

The nameless river has a name, the Milshum River, which is named after the outpost.

In fact, the source of this small river is just south of the watershed of the Valdai Highlands, but the river does not flow into the Volga River system like other rivers. It is part of the independent Lovady River system and is directly connected to the larger Baltic Sea river. In the water system.

So in terms of geographical distance alone, Milshum Outpost is only a hundred kilometers away from the source lake of the Volga River. However, the endless forests and swamps have become indestructible barriers. Explorers must trek through the mud, and it is extremely easy to lose their way in the primeval forest.

Besides, the main purpose of people going south is not to find the source of the Volga River.

The task given by Rurik to the Principality of Ostara is to seize the main channel of the West Dvina River, control the southwestern area of ​​​​the Valdai Highlands, and protect the "Road of Horses" and "Amber Road" with the Kiev community and the Pecheneg people. "road" traffic lines with absolute security and against possible attacks by the Smolensk people.

For them, exploration is not even a secondary task. The core purpose of the existence of the outpost is to ensure smooth transportation lines.

The forest fog makes people feel that the world is vast, but in fact the world is not that big.

At this point in time, Carlotta, with the main force of the Principality of Ostara, has been moving towards Great Luki in the south, and most importantly, arrived at the West Dvina River to launch military operations.

At the same time, Arik took more than a thousand brothers straight to Lake Valdai along the Musta River after spring plowing.

Rurik himself had just returned to Novgorod from the capital along the traditional Volkhov and transportation lines with the Second Cavalry, which had gone through an entire winter of training. His Eastern adventure was still early.

One side went all out to the south and the other to the east. In 842, they completely missed the lakes at the source of the Volga River, but they actually touched part of the water source.

The discovery of the Volga River is already close, but within a period of time, even if the Volga River is actually discovered, it will not be easy to reap benefits from this long waterway.

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Just like Carlotta and her Duchy of Ostara, she has more practical needs.

The army only stayed in Milshum for one day and continued its march the next day.

To everyone's disappointment, because the water vapor in the vast world was too thick, they woke up in the wet again early in the morning. People had to add new firewood to the smoldering bonfire, take off their wet clothes and bake it until the white mist steamed, and that's all. Wear it and enjoy comfort.

There are also benefits to doing this. The so-called parasites on the clothes will be baked to death, and you will feel comfortable.

The next outpost is named after the hand ax commonly used in Northern Europe, Kaldheim.

Just because the Lovaj River made a short sharp turn here, the river channel instantly became a right angle and extended due west. The shape of the river channel is reminiscent of a hook and axe. The river carves out a bay area in the endless forest. This area is very suitable for establishing a village.

After experiencing the same treatment method as at Milshum Post, Carlotta's army continued to advance along the river to the next post.

Sandholm outpost is also located at the big bend of the Lovaj River. Different from the environment in Kaldheim downstream, there is a large amount of yellow river sand here, which makes it not muddy at all during the snowmelt period in spring. However, it is probably difficult to get some vegetables in such an environment.

The outpost is also located at the confluence of rivers, where a small river from the west flows into the main channel of the Lovati River. The local residents also provided Carlotta with information about the West that she had discovered during the past winter.

The intelligence is meager, only God knows what is in the endless western forest, the dangerous winter daytime is too short, and now there are too many tribes of people, various reasons have prevented the residents from exploring further along the river. It makes sense that there would be no major discoveries. The dense forests of Northeast Europe are intertwined with trivial lakes and rivers, and the area that can be settled and developed is very limited.

Carlota has limited enthusiasm for the extensive development of the area along the Lovati River. Logging to open up flat living space cannot be completed in just a few years. It is better to vigorously develop Velikiy Luki and Vitebsk, which have natural resources. Large flat area.

According to this principle, complete control of the already developed Polotsk becomes the highest priority option.

After Sandholm, the road continues south.

We are already in the upper reaches of the Lovati River, where the water flow becomes very gentle and the river channel becomes narrow accordingly.

The last important post heading south appeared before the army.

The outpost is clearly marked by snakes and is called snakur. Although the river here runs north-south as a whole, its special geography causes the river to become extremely twisted, like a moving snake, hence the name.

Milshum, Milshum, Sandholm, Kalderheim and Snakul are southern outposts that must pass through on all transportation routes, and will definitely become village-level settlements in the foreseeable future.

Finally, Daluji, the stage destination of the southward journey, appeared in front of Zhouma Lawton's army.

"We're finally here!"

Carlota woke up Carl who was lost in the lake. The little boy rubbed his eyes. Even seeing a larger wooden fence could not arouse little Carl's excitement.

"He's just too tired." Fisk, still bald, rode closer to Carlotta.

"Tired? This kid has no right to say he is tired."

"But he is only six years old. You are asking too much of him..."

"I don't like hearing what you say." Carlotta pouted and shook her head: "I heard that Rurik was full of ideas when he was six years old. As his son, Karl seemed lazy. This is not good. , he had to grow up as a man quickly."

"There is only one great Rurik. It would be best if Karl also gets Odin's blessing. If not, then don't force it." Fisk sighed softly, then asked: "How...are you going to make Karl a man? "

"You?" Carlotta, who tightened her grip on the reins, turned her face slightly and said with a malicious smile: "You bald brother... you really mean what you say."

"It seems I guessed it right. Maybe you shouldn't think highly of those Polotsk farmers and shouldn't give them major rewards. Anyway, you are the Duke and you can do whatever you want." Fisk had no intention of asking more: "You are his Mother. Karl is too young, and you still need to solve many things for him."

"Of course. I will control Polotsk, it's very simple. That's why I must take Karl south. The brat is not just seeing the world."