Rise of Rurik

Opportunities were available to all farmsteads, and even the sons and nephews of those who had been forcibly removed from the forests were allowed to join Rus' citizen soldiers for the first time.

Who can become a warrior? Everything is based on strength.

However, some farms have more people and better living standards. The Slavic boys living in these farms often have the best physical fitness.

The number of farms built by forced immigrants has expanded to more than thirty. The names of the farms are numbered, and the population of each farm is not large. Among them, the children lived in a harsh environment in the forest in their early years. They were each shorter and weaker. Even if they moved to the lakeside area and lived a better life, the disadvantages in all aspects would not be eliminated in a few years.

Rurik could predict that if he recruited another two thousand people in the Novgorod area, almost all of the Slavic boys who could join them would come from the original twelve farms, and White Tree Manor was the largest among them.

Selecting soldiers through competitive competitions can be fair, but it is actually unfair to weak farms.

But the army is different from ordinary organizations. It gives certain targets to all farms. If they really take out the strong young people in their own villages, they can still show the difference in strength. This is a fatal injury to the army organization and may make it worse. The combat effectiveness of the army is compromised by the weak in the army.

In this era, even if a certain army has high-tech weapons, there is no particular gap between it and the armies of other forces.

So what if he wears a whole forged breastplate? The enemy holding a stone ax can crush the armored warrior to pieces.

What determines the combat effectiveness of an army? Weapons and equipment, personnel quality, soldiers

Qi, officer wisdom, etc. The quality of soldiers can basically ensure that the entire army has a considerable upper limit.

However, Rurik decided to increase the number of troops immediately, and it was not to conduct an audition for the entire Novgorod region. As the harsh winter approaches, he has no time to linger over the first snow. Secondly, among all the young men of all kinds who have received two years of school education but have not yet been incorporated into the army, who else has a recruiting advantage over these people?

The messengers on horseback were rushing into various farms. The people stared at the flags on the saddles and listened to the royal orders spread by the messengers.

"Young people who have finished their studies! Join the flag corps. You have priority. Go to the city quickly to take the test!"

Messengers continued to deliver these royal orders, and it seemed that joining the army was entirely voluntary.

Rurik planned that the boyars who returned after the meeting would retell the contents of the meeting to the people of the village.

The king has clearly stated the plan for the expedition to the Franks. The entire country must have started large-scale mobilization as it did three years ago. The current expansion of the four flag corps may only expand such troops in the Novgorod area.

Only a few know how many more troops will be added to the kingdom as a whole.

The people who got the news did learn the embellished news from the local nobles. In fact, there was no causal relationship between the increase in troops and the expedition to Frank. As the kingdom's stalls expand, the population increases, and economic activities become more prosperous, more troops are needed to defend it.

Joining the new flag force is equivalent to participating in next year's expedition to Frank. This is how Boyar understands it and how it is promoted.

….

Who would resist war? Each farm will have its own defeatist rhetoric

The guy who talked about it was defined as a coward and a coward, and he was stabbed in the spine and said, "You are not worthy of being a member of my village."

The young people were gearing up, and they watched eagerly as Master Boyar's son made huge sums of money from the war since he became a cavalryman, and he also kidnapped a Varyag woman to be his wife. Can he achieve this feat just because he is the master’s son?

No! It was clear that the king gave the master a chance too early.

The villagers will not forget that when the king first organized the cavalry, he gave each village a quota. The leader of each farm must surrender one of his sons to join the army.

Those boys were crying and the master was also frowning.

What about now? The boy who once cried has become a young man who has made meritorious deeds. Hengdao is eager for a new war. Because as an elite warrior who directly obeys the king's orders, his future is immeasurable. They are better than themselves.

Boyar's father was even more arrogant.

They can do it, why can't I? The king gave everyone a chance this year. Everyone went to the king's school for two years. Are they really weaker than the master's son?

The boys couldn't help but think about a lot.

"Maybe I can't be a standing army, but it's good to be a Citizen Standard Soldier. In this way, I can participate in the war. Since it is an expedition to Frank, I will have the opportunity to get huge trophies, plunder silver coins and daily necessities, and I can immediately improve my family's livelihood. If I have made great achievements on the battlefield, and I should be able to be recruited into the standing army, so that I can have a generous salary to support my family. Even if I unfortunately die in battle, my brother will have priority to take over my position in the army."

Ordinary small Slavic families are not stupid. They do have rich experience in digging for food in the soil. This does not mean that this is the case.

It is precisely because poverty forces people to calculate gains and losses, and there are many people with long-term vision and those who gamble on luck.

A man of insight finds a way to send his son to a school that mainly educates descendants of the Ross bloodline. For this reason, he has to pay a tuition fee and pay for his own meals to a large extent, just for the chance to change his destiny.

This kind of family lacks understanding of "knowledge changes destiny", but they know very well that Rurik, the king of Rus, selects talents. No matter how talented and capable their children are, they may be buried without being discovered. If you can show your face early to the king, you will be more likely to be taken seriously by him.

One after another, small families regard recruitment as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to change the fate of the whole family.

A few days after the conference, aspiring young people literally started gearing up.

It is often the eldest son or eldest son who is expected by the whole family to join the army, and even a half-grown boy is a rare source of strong labor. If the sons join the citizen soldiers and participate in the expedition, doesn't it mean that next spring plowing will be more difficult?

Maybe this is the only chance for the whole family to turn around!

"Family meetings" were held in one family after another, and the head of the family, the father of the children, who had the highest say, vigorously demanded that the children must join the army. The words are directed at all his sons, even the boys who are still babbling. After losing a boy, you can still have another child, and the boy who becomes a citizen soldier has the opportunity to be promoted to the standing army, eat the salary gifted by the king, take the weapons given by the king, conquer a large territory for the king, and in exchange for the soldiers receive blood rewards.

….

As long as one boy gets the blood reward, the whole family will turn over immediately. It would not be a pity even if the boy died in the battle, there are more children at home

Being born means there are more opportunities.

It seems that the eldest son in the family has become a tool? Yes and no.

The eldest son can inherit most of the family property, and in exchange has the obligation to help his younger siblings, and even has a reason to help his brother-in-law.

A traditional farm is by no means a village with one surname. Complex marriages have caused Slavs with mixed bloodlines to form large settlements one after another. Now these farms are beginning to join the Varyag bloodline one after another. It seems that because of this, each village has become better and better. war.

Those who are interested are already actively preparing, and now even the king's messenger personally delivers the news, making everything extremely real and wonderful.

"Child. Take our family's ancestral ax and carry it with you! Let it drink the blood of your enemies. Your grandpa, grandpa, and all your ancestors will give you courage."

This is how the father encouraged his eldest son, while the boy's mother sewed the amulet token out of colorful cloth and stuffed it into her son's hand.

They worship the god of fire, the endless heat of the sun, and even their ancestors.

Slavic farms believe that the heroic spirits of their ancestors will give strength to their children, especially when the children have to challenge powerful enemies, they will have stronger strength due to the blessings of their ancestors.

As a result, boys from each village took the utensils and money given by their parents, carried their luggage, and arrived in Novgorod one after another by boat, on foot, or even in a squeaky ox cart. The boyar of the farm almost always went to Novgorod himself, escorted the boys from the village all the way, and arranged accommodation for the children at the destination.

After all, the more children in the village are selected as citizen soldiers, the better it is for them.

Boys from the same village went together to discuss who would be chosen and who would be chosen.

will be brushed off.

In fact, Ross has gone through multiple rounds of screening and arrangements for these children!

Some boys have been selected into the standing army because they are too good and have become cavalry loyal to Rurik himself. After all, such people are rare.

Some boys were judged to be good at writing and arithmetic in the school final examination. Even if such children were weak, they were absorbed into the scribes and trained as stipend-earners. This fact very subverted the cognition of ordinary Slavs, and these The boys did serve the kingdom, they were the beginning of the civil service.

There are also boys who were forcibly moved to the Principality of Ostara. Although they are still subjects of the Kingdom of Rus, first of all, their status has become the subjects of the Principality of Ostara. Are these boys lucky or unlucky?

Duchess Carlotta has a dream of revival and is actively implementing it. The young man who falls into her hands has no second choice. Any man is a soldier, even if he is weak. These forced immigrant boys became cavalry in large numbers and learned to row like the Varangians. Even though they were young, they were forced to participate in combat operations early. As for the truly weak, they have been eliminated by the cruelty of nature and cease to exist.

There is no shortage of children around Lake Ilmen. On the contrary, forced immigration has alleviated the pressure on the land to a certain extent, but within a short period of time, men and women have given birth to a number of children to fill the vacancy.

Every year, boys reach the traditional adult age of twelve. It is not necessarily necessary to get married immediately, but it is certain to fulfill adult obligations.

….

The youngest is only fifteen years old, and the oldest is twenty years old. In the original design, Rurik set the age very rigidly, but there are more

Children don't want to give up the opportunity. A boy who is just twelve years old thinks that he is taller than other peers, so he wants to join the army through competition.

Of course Rurik wanted men around the age of eighteen to join the new army, but the facts did not allow him to have such extravagant wishes.

All because Russia's war activities are so frequent and their scale is getting larger and larger.

The core population of the Rus Kingdom has just passed through the dangerous period of shortage of personnel, but the new generation of Rus warriors has just begun to grow up.

"The minimum age limit is fifteen. I hope I can recruit all the troops. If not, I will lower the minimum limit. Four flag corps will have 2,000 people. No matter what, I have to recruit enough."

Rurik thought this way and arranged for the Governor of Novgorod to quickly build the "Arena".

Soon, more and more young people gathered in Novgorod. They set up temporary tents in the wasteland outside the city and asked when the competitive selection would start.

Boys from each village gather together and surround themselves with their educated brothers. They were friends from the same hometown who grew up together. Because their parents had different ambitions, in the end only a few relatively wealthy civilian families in each village were able to send their sons to Novgorod schools.

"I will definitely be selected, otherwise it will be a blasphemy of two years of study. Don't worry, if I am selected, I will find a way to bring you in. As for how to do competitive selection, I will teach you..."

A boy with such bold words has suddenly become a big brother in the eyes of his fellow villagers. This kind of boy does have reasons to be confident.

How to do competitive selection, just copy the school's final physical fitness test.

Kicking forward, lining up, walking neatly...all these are more than just disciplines for training new recruits.

Law, because it is the experience learned from war at the cost of blood throughout the ages.

It's only the ninth century now. Almost all the elements of the phalanx combat of the Roman era were lost in the early Middle Ages. The rising barbarian countries had to start from scratch. Various Viking tribes found the "shield wall" tactic, and unexpectedly obtained the ancient Certain elements of the Roman legions.

Rurik did not directly imitate Rome, or in other words, training his students to play in a goose-stepping formation was just a matter of course.

Why not? Are you worthy of being a student if you can't do these things?

Even if they only received two years of education, the boys who were forced to undergo physical training lined up on the grass and marched neatly as the instructors shouted from left to right. To others, they looked like an army.

It often only takes three days of intensive training to teach a boy who can't tell the difference between left and right to walk in a matrix. After all,

They are by no means weaker than people hundreds of years later. What they lack is just some knowledge and plans and a commander who understands it all.

"Competitive selection" is like a kind of sports examination, except that it is more stringent.

If four thousand boys of all kinds come, do we have to choose two thousand from them?

No! If only a thousand people can pass the running test, then take a thousand people.

Today is a warm and sunny autumn day. Rurik, dressed in military uniform, accompanied by the queen and the prince, made a high-profile appearance amid the cavalry escort!

Rurik indeed completed the formation of the 3rd and 4th Cavalry with extremely high efficiency, and the team framework design was completed. Do these two units really have qualified combat capabilities? Rurik took a negative attitude towards it. They are too immature, but they are qualified to show off their glory for the royal family.

….

Let’s talk about the two newly compiled cavalry

For the army, Rurik asked for a horse from the Principality of Ostara, and also brought in the Pecheneg guard who was the nurse for his concubine Beyashil to serve as the captain of the cavalry team.

Residents of the entire city saw the appearance of three cavalry teams gathered together. The horses were basically prairie horses (mainly mares, followed by stallions, and geldings began to appear). The soldiers were uniformly dressed, with similar dyeing inserts on their white bearskin hats. wild goose feathers. The cavalrymen carried one more spear as a ceremonial guard, a bow or a crossbow hung on the saddle, the arrow feathers in the quiver were in a ball, and the swords on their waists were clearly visible.

People were talking a lot, wouldn't it be more powerful if the most courageous First Cavalry was here?

The cavalry, who are gorgeously dressed, neat and yet powerful and domineering, are here, and the young people from all over the country who come to accept the competitive selection are really impressed by their power. Because many members of the Second Cavalry had participated in wars and killings, the aura they exuded was a little scary.

Suddenly, drums and trumpets sounded loudly, and a group of warriors wearing bearskin and decorated with bear heads suddenly appeared. Take a good look at them. These people actually have breastplates made of whole iron. They are the First Infantry Standard Corps of the Standing Army. There is no doubt that these people are acting as guards of honor.

The scene of the competitive selection seemed to be an opportunity for Rurik to show off his military prowess. After all, if he plans to go on an expedition to a big country, there will definitely be doubts about the risks of war among the people. Even if they are forced to keep silent due to formality, it may be unrealistic to shut them up completely, but Showing off military prowess to boost morale should convince doubters.

Because for the Slavs with a huge population, the army assembled outside Novgorod was the only army they could see. they do not know

Frank knew almost nothing about whether this army could easily defeat enemies in distant worlds. But they knew that the Pine Needles Manor and its servants had been completely destroyed during the rebellion eleven years ago, and perhaps ten thousand people were buried in the tomb. This was done by the Ross-Confederate Farm Alliance at that time, and most of the boys who came to participate in the competition were descendants of the vested interests of the Confederate Farm.

The boys have no doubt about the strength of the Ross Army and are eager to become a part of this powerful team.

It was here that Rurik made a brief speech in front of everyone.

Even with the whistling north wind sweeping across the open space, his preaching at the top of his lungs lacked penetration.

He did not announce some new ideas. The various Slavic boyars and old Russian nobles who came to join in the fun just wanted to start the "competition" as early as possible to add a thrilling enjoyment to the life lacking in fun.

The so-called competition does not require young people to fight in a team with wooden weapons. It is a team training that is carried out after the selection is completed.

In competition, the first choice is to meet the physical fitness standards. The biggest event among them is none other than long-distance running.

The running length is one thousand stikas, which is slightly less than one thousand meters. For boys in this era, no matter which ethnic group they are, they have to do a lot of exercise in their daily life. Running is a normal thing, but it is really difficult to run the required distance within the standard time.

Rurik did it deliberately. A glass-blown sand timepiece was placed at the end, and flag soldiers communicated with each other between the end.

People who can complete this kind of long-distance running have good endurance and explosive power. After improving their diet, it will be possible to conduct tensile training close to 5,000 meters.

he believes

, just this competition can attract a large number of people who are interested in joining the army.

Rus is fair to everyone in this regard, including the descendants of the old Rus, the descendants of Viking tribe immigrants from various places, the descendants of Slavs, and even the descendants of the Finnish Suomi people who rowed all the way to Novgorod. The boys have the right age (it counts if they look qualified), and they don’t even have to pay the registration fee. They are eligible to participate in this middle-distance running competition first, and they must participate in it first.

One hundred people were divided into groups and stood outside the starting line made of chalk mud.

Who will give the starting order?

It was none other than Rurik himself.

It is a great honor for the king himself to be the one giving orders. If he performs poorly today, won't he be despised by the king? The boys of all ethnic groups worked hard and took the opportunity to catch a glimpse of the king's face. After all, many people rarely had the opportunity to meet the king. Looking at the king seemed to be a "big brother" who was a few years older than them, and they felt an inexplicable feeling. A sense of closeness arose spontaneously, as if this initial competition was the elder brother testing the younger brother.

"Odin only appreciates the strong! You are competing in a fair competition. Look at my flag and listen to my orders! Get ready!"

Rurik said deliberately, watching the first batch of a hundred boys slowly squat down.

"run!"

After the words were finished, the flag fell, and the boys ran wildly on the grass like wild horses. They went all out and were unstoppable...

The reborn star fruit