Rise of Rurik

The army gathered in Vitebsk, holding a cavalry group of 700 people. For a moment, Carlotta felt that he could take this army to take the initiative to make a sneak attack in the Smolensk-controlled area.婘

The pea seeds are planted and then left to ferment.

Perhaps it could be successfully trialed in Vitebsk and start feeding the kingdom's southeasternmost settlement the following year.

However, it was not Carlotta's original intention to make his subordinates self-reliant. The settlement must be fortified, and the supplies needed at this stage needed to be transported from the outside.

The old man Jeringer was surprised that the duchess brought so many cavalry, which was unimaginable in the past.

Corridors were built on the wooden walls, small holes were deliberately dug for shooting crossbows and wooden bows, and there were also stacked walls to cover the movement of people, all for defense needs.

Carlotta took her son Karl to walk on the wooden corridor of the Vitebsk city wall to inspect, followed closely by the old man Jellinger.

They stood at a high place, and the warm summer wind felt quite comfortable on their faces. Looking around, due east is a reedy marshland, which is soaked by the overflowing West Dvina River. In the south there are endless clusters of forests and natural roads in the gaps between the forests.婘

The forest here does not serve as a natural barrier. On the contrary, there are sufficient intervals between each tree. Even the cavalry can move in the forest. The humus in the soft pine needle soil can breed many mushrooms, and picking them in autumn can provide some special food for the Vitebsk defenders.

The fluffy soil of pine needles can conceal the footsteps of conspirators. If an enemy attempts to attack Vitebsk, it is theoretically feasible to use the cover of the forest to launch a sneak attack.

How can we enhance defense in the future?

Carlotta already had an idea.

She stopped and pointed to the wetland due east: "Vitebsk's defense is still too weak. Old man, I need you to start digging ditches from there."

"ah?"

She turned her head: "Don't you understand?"

"I don't understand."

"It's just a simple trench digging. Listen! I want you to send people around the entire fort to dig a trench large enough for ships. It will protect our fort. We will only keep a pontoon road leading to the land to ensure that in case of an enemy A sneak attack can only be launched from the only pontoon..."

The bottom line is that Carlotta learned about the city defense situation of Hamburg two years ago. The trenches dug by the Saxons made a large area including the city look like an island in the river compared to the flowing Elbe River.

The only iron chain pontoon bridge connected the other side of the river, so the Eastern Kingdom's army at that time had no choice but to attack the pontoon bridge if they wanted to forcibly attack the city.

As a result, the final battle was delayed until the Elbe River froze in the harsh winter.

She tried her best to explain that just digging a circular trench was too novel for most people.

The old man Yellinger still didn't understand, but fortunately he was willing to execute it.婘

He asked an additional question: "Do you still want us to be wary of the Baltic people? With all due respect, if they dare to rebel, your army can easily destroy them."

"Of course it's not Polotsk, at least the main thing is not to be wary of them. We have to be wary of the Smolensk people." Carlotta added.

"So it's them? Sir, you have this army after all. If you take the initiative to attack, you can also severely damage them. Maybe... our action of digging trenches is not particularly necessary. You can solve the problem with simpler means."

"You think I don't understand." Carlotta rolled her eyes at the old man, and then sighed slightly: "The mission given to me by the king is limited. I am his woman. Besides, this operation is mainly for my son, who is also the king's son. . This matter... it’s better not to cross the line.”

As a result, the digging of trenches around the Vitebsk Fortress began quickly while manpower and material resources were now abundant.

The Rus-Ostara coalition could actually force Polotsk farmers to dig ditches with their farm tools, and make them prove their loyalty through forced labor or corvee service.

】

Even if there is a lot of evidence that those guys really surrendered, considering that he used conspiracy to kill Lambard, the new leader of Polotsk, even though that guy died suddenly after drinking strong alcohol, he died after all. Sooner or later, the Polotsk people in the Rus city of Veliky Luki will find out what happened. Will they become angry and rebel because of this?婘

We need to think about how to deal with the most troublesome situation, and the old man Yellinger's question needs to be pondered deeply.

The work of digging trenches was mainly done by dismounted cavalry, and their digging techniques were exactly the same as Ross's techniques for building the Luga River Yin Ermen Lake Canal. The soldiers dug deeper and deeper with shovels. At first, there were deep pits that saw water quickly, which were deep enough to submerge an adult man. Then these small pits were connected to each other to form huge circular tunnels.

The connection between the trench and the river was blocked by an earthen dam made of mud, reeds and wood. Ross's dry dock digging technology was used in this regard.

Their city defense construction uses the advanced technology of this era in Eastern Europe, but civil servants of any era will get dirty when doing work.

It was summer, and the young soldiers simply wore unlined clothes or even standard military shorts. After tightening their hemp rope belts, they jumped in the muddy water and kept shoveling the mud into the rattan baskets. Manpower-operated wooden pole cranes Transported to the ground...

Centered on the large wooden house in the center of the Vitebsk Fortress, the operation of digging trenches on the edge of an area with a radius of one hundred steps continued.

One hundred steps is almost 150 meters. The fortress is on the left bank (south bank) of the river. It is already close to the river, and the trenches now dug clearly define the edge of the city of Vitebsk.婘

Is it enough to dig trenches? The enemy just carries some extremely long pine poles. When several poles are put together, they can create a bridge and launch an attack directly across the trench. Expanding the width of the trench was not particularly necessary. Carlotta's idea was more practical and feasible - cutting down wood to piece together a larger wooden wall.

The years Carlotta lived with Rurik not only enjoyed a long-lost family life, she also learned some advanced mathematical knowledge directly from Rurik's side.

Now she is applying what she learned about pi calculations to the defense of Vitebsk.

How long should the outermost wooden wall of the city be built? If the central wooden house is used as the center of the circle, it would take approximately 630 steps to build a wall on flat land.

Due to the distance of the city from the main river, the length of the city wall is smaller than that. It takes about 500 steps of wooden wall to build (rounded to about 800 meters).

More than 700 people went into battle, and with the support of nearly a thousand horses, they dug trenches and built such a long wooden wall in a short time. Both Carlotta and Fisk felt that this was not a big problem.

The Russians have been constantly improving their skills in practice. The young soldiers in the army must help each other build their own houses sooner or later, and they must also contribute to building and maintaining old city walls for the city in their hometown.婘

Many people have already helped their parents repair their houses in their hometowns. Now they just use newly cut pine wood to assemble wooden fences, which is much simpler than building houses in their hometowns.

The Danish merchants who had not yet left were dumbfounded. They did not understand why the Ross-Ostara cavalry, with its astonishing strength, were now digging holes and felling trees while taking off their obstructive clothes. They are obviously free men on horseback! Why over-fortify a settlement?

Even the act of building a comprehensive defensive wall seemed strange to these people from the Danish community in Riga, and it was even more strange to dig trenches to enhance protection.

Strangely enough, they were about to go to the Roman city of Kherson, where the local city was even more bizarre - a huge wall of stone was built to protect the entire city.

With such defensive behavior, the Russians seemed to be imitating Rome.

The Danish traders did not linger any longer, and it is fair to say that they realized that the act of digging trenches would facilitate future shipping, allowing longships to float directly over their water-filled trenches, thus bypassing the pontoon bridges.

According to the Duchess, the city of Vitebsk will build a more advanced thing like a rope suspension bridge. In short, the bridge across the trench can be retracted and opened as desired. The description of the suspension bridge alone also surprised these businessmen.婘

They rowed their long boats all the way south along the river, heading towards the Roman world where they thought they could make a fortune...

Although Vitebsk has become a large construction site, some problems have become apparent - the risk of food shortages.

Digging holes and building walls is heavy physical labor, which increases food consumption, but the food carried by the army is limited.

Carlotta and Fisk's plan was to dig out grain from the Polotsk farmers' warehouses. It would be very refreshing to raid the area with a large army and take complete control of it immediately. Doing so would definitely frighten them.

According to Fisk, of course the problem would be solved instantly by sending out soldiers.

After all, Carlotta is a female noble. No matter how brave she is, she will always have the sensitivity and tenderness of a woman in her heart. Maybe that's the kindness of a woman, but in her opinion, gentle means are needed to achieve quite peaceful control at this stage.

So a cavalry team of thirty people was given the task of peace envoys. They were ordered to "not shoot the first arrow" at any time to ensure that there would be no misunderstandings due to their own actions.婘

Under the leadership of the old man Harold, whose pseudonym was Olaf, they held high the two flags of Rus and Ostara and rushed towards the Polota River and Sidvi where the Polotsk people are highly concentrated. The estuary area of ​​the Na River.

So for the people of Polotsk, life has to go on no matter what happens.

They have long forgotten that their ancestors migrated on foot from the Vistula River to the current geographical location, and naturally they have also forgotten that their ancestors are somewhat related to the ancestors of the extremely large number of Yin Ermen Lake Slavs under the rule of the Rus. , the languages ​​of both parties are so similar that there is basically no communication barrier, which is proof of this.

On the other hand, the Polotsk people and the Derevlians and Derigovich people they knew from the south could definitely understand them even though they spoke and gestured, but it was quite difficult.

They did not realize this, they only knew that the entire village alliance tried its best but was easily defeated by the rising Rus.

The Rus were all northern foreigners who spoke Norse. There were a large number of Slavs under their rule, so much so that there were Slavic warriors serving in their army. Polotsk people, like those who spoke a similar language, became the ruled.

Maybe the situation isn't so sad after all.婘

We have not collectively turned into slaves. If we can continue to live by just paying tribute, we can survive through gritting our teeth.

Besides, didn’t Lambart, who appointed himself the leader, take some of his brothers to the north to swear allegiance to the leader of Rus?

Those Russians wouldn't do anything to their servants.

What is the future? have no idea.

The farmers only know that if there is no spring plowing this spring, the entire village alliance will not have to worry about being retaliated by the Ross cavalry for failing to pay tribute on time, and everyone will self-destruct under the blow of the great famine.

Now, the Ross army appears in a very high-profile manner!

The farmers who were working on the fields and weeding fled back to the village in ashes. The terrible news spread instantly to all the villages along the Bolota River.婘

Any resistance would be met with death, but the Russians did not seem to be hostile.

Farmers hid in their homes, and the bustling community seemed to fall into dead silence.

Those who are usually prominent must step forward. Behind them are their families and friends from the same hometown.

Since Lambart, a little kid, was a defeated man but became the leader with the support of the conquerors, the attitudes of the families towards this matter were extremely complicated. Even if he is the leader, can he really get such a careerist? However, the conqueror of Rus trusted such a character.

It is precisely because of this situation that when Lambart himself left his hometown, these wealthy local families in Polotsk did not convene a meeting of the leading figures to choose a new leader.

Perhaps Proclaw, the leader of the old era, could return to his old ways, but the peasant army he commanded was defeated and he was captured and abandoned by the conquerors.

He was not executed afterwards, but would the exiled family still have the nerve to continue living?婘

The former great leader lost all his prestige, but his family was still the most powerful in Polotsk, and even the pretentious Lambart was from this family.

Afraid of being accused, Proclaw stayed away from the door, but the torture in his heart could not subside for a long time.

On a calm winter night, he ended his life with a piece of hemp rope.

On a calm snowy night, the family members worked hard to dig a pit according to tradition and buried it in a very low-key manner in a place unknown to anyone. This was just to prevent those who lost family members in the war from finding the grave to vent their anger.

After his death and the departure of Lambart, the ten Polotsk villages, large and small, no longer had a top talker.

To a large extent, the village alliance collapsed, and because of last year's defeat, their overall strength was greatly weakened, and this year's spring plowing operations were far worse than in previous years.

The men allowed the Ross cavalry to enter the village. They stood on the winding dirt roads with their bare hands, staring at the soldiers who suddenly arrived with mixed emotions.婘

One soldier shouted in the local dialect: "You men who can speak! Come forward."

The men looked at each other, and no one dared to step out of the crowd of onlookers.

"Are you all deaf? Still can't understand me?!"

This arrogant warrior is the eldest son of a boyar, a local manor owner from Yin'ermen Lake. There are many such brave young men in the First Cavalry. They never feel that they are the conquered party, but rather they are the rulers and part of the Russian people.

The soldiers kept shouting and what they said became more and more unpleasant.

The men who were watching were all mentally dull, or their spines had been broken last year.

Finally, a bearded man squirmed out of the crowd as if he had been inspired by something, and cautiously asked on behalf of the villagers present: "Glorious...Russian people. What can we...do for you?"

"Finally, someone is willing to talk. Old man, are you the leader here?"

The old man had no choice but to continue explaining: "I'm just an ordinary person."

"Ridiculous! You don't deserve to talk to me."

"But." The old man continued to reply cautiously: "If I can't do it, others can't do it. There is no leader here, and you...are the masters of Polotsk."

At this moment, the young warriors all felt that the men in front of them were extremely despicable. Are you really willing to lie on the ground and be a dog? After being humiliated, you dare not make the final resistance?

But... this is fine.

The soldiers could not see the atmosphere of conspiracy in their eyes. There were frightened people everywhere, and their faces were extremely fearful and cautious.婘

The warrior suddenly drew his sword, and the buzzing wind from the sword made the men retreat one after another with whining sounds.

"Don't be afraid! As long as you obey sincerely, you will not be harmed. You all listen! The Ross army is about to arrive. Notify your wives and children who are hiding, and all gather in the open space to swear surrender to your master!"

Forget it, the warrior shouted again: "Praise the mercy of King Ross! All of you will enjoy the peace under the rule of the Principality of Ostara! King Ross's wife, the Duchess of Ostara, is your real leader .”