Rise of Rurik

Just as Rurik predicted, many aspiring young people failed to pass the first middle-distance running test in competition.

The amount of fine sand poured into the sand timer was deliberately reduced, leaving them with very limited time. Even those who passed the first round of tests could not help but lie down on the grass after reaching the finish line. Not only did their lungs hurt, but their tooth roots also hurt. , the fair face turned red.

As soon as the sand clock expired, the soldiers in bearskins tugged at the rope.

Even if they were just one step away, the young people hit the rope and crossed the finish line with the rope. Even so, their qualifications were disqualified.

Failure to pass the finish line within the stipulated time is a fact, and the king will not make an exception to allow a loser to pass the test.

Rurik is indeed just and fair. He has always been personally supervising. Anyone who has any doubts can have the courage to come and hear the news. Of course, no one dares to do so, and there is no doubt about the result.

Of course, the descendants of the old Russians were also among those who were brushed off. The boy kneeling on the ground felt the shame of life.

But he completely ignored that he was too young. This kind of boy always took chances. Little did he know that even if the child passed the first round of tests, when Rurik investigated his age and found that he was too young, he would still be dismissed.

The first is to test endurance by running in middle and long distances, and the second is to test strength by carrying wood on the shoulders.

Just like lifting weights, a piece of pine wood weighing nearly a hundred pounds is placed on the grass. The young man has to pick it up on the ground, carry it on his shoulders and stabilize his position.

One hundred Roman pounds, equivalent to a weight of nearly forty kilograms, is not a severe test for adults, but it is for boys.

Even if a child who is too young has good legs and feet, he or she will not be very strong in terms of strength.

inferior to adults.

Another group of people were eliminated from the weightlifting test, and so far the only ones left were some older boys.

But it was only the second test, and Rurik suddenly found that he could no longer recruit the two thousand soldiers he needed.

"I...seem to have really overestimated their quality? Damn it, the standards need to be lowered."

In the end, Rurik recruited enough troops within the planned time.

It was a sunny autumn afternoon, and the cool breeze on the pavement was already mixed with a hint of coldness from the Arctic.

All the boys who had been tested assembled in the wasteland outside Novgorod.

The sound of flags and drums is loud! The cavalry in full costumes acted as the king's guard of honor. For the first time, Rurik held a golden laurel crown on his head and stood on a temporary high platform made of wooden boxes to review his four newly formed citizen soldiers.

The selection of four flag captains has been completed. They are veterans from the Second Flag Corps who were in their prime and served as junior officers in the old army. Because of their merits in past battles, they were promoted to flag captains as a special reward.

For this purpose, the four men received orders to rush to Novgorod from Novorosberg. They are: Sedrike, Olaf, Triggve and Tostig.

It doesn't matter if you are famous or not, because northerners always like to name some good words that show their masculinity, the rate of men having the same name is too high, so everyone will have one or more weird nicknames.

Nicknames often come from a person's appearance and personal preferences, or they can also come from some special opportunities.

….

Now the four of them each lead a new flag team and have an absolute obligation to

He is trained to be able to go to the battlefield.

They had new nicknames, Cedric the eighth, Olaf the ninth, Trygve the tenth, and Tostig the eleventh.

The officer system of each flag corps was quickly established. For this reason, the second and fifth flag corps had many officers.

Old Rus and Slavs are mixed to form the officer system, but the current flag captains are all from the Old Rus tribe.

The status of the lower-level soldiers is diverse. Since the descendants of the old Rus who have grown up in recent years are given priority to be absorbed into the standing army, the number of boys enrolled in these four citizen flag corps is very limited. Slavic warriors have become the mainstream, and boys from the three estates of White Tree, Calf, and Fisherman account for a large proportion.

After all, the results of the military expansion satisfied Rurik's desire for the whole people.

Promise, all Slavic farms have more or less sons and nephews who have successfully joined the army. Since the soldiers are selected through competition, it objectively becomes an autumn event. The entire Novgorod residents are both spectators and witnesses. Those who successfully join the army have won this honor through their own efforts.

Glory is only temporary!

Immediately afterwards, the rigorous training is about to begin.

Rurik stood on the high wooden platform, his tall figure like a statue.

"I see! There are four new armies composed of my loyal subjects. You are all young people, just like the sun that has just risen. You join the army at the age of greatest potential. You will fight for Russia in a new war. Make great achievements. Regardless of your origins, being a warrior of Rus means you can gain glory.

The king needs you to continue to secure territory for Rus, and it is up to you to defend Rus' territory.

but! As soldiers, you are now

Not qualified yet. In this winter, you are not afraid of the severe cold and will become real warriors in the rigorous training.

The vilification comes first! Those who are cowards in training will be eliminated and will never have the opportunity to join the army in the future. You must persist in training, even if it may cost your life. Those who die in training will be posthumously awarded the title of Warrior and will receive a pension.

You must think carefully, if you are timid, it is still too late to announce your withdrawal, and you will not be punished. After this opportunity, you will lose the opportunity to exit, unless you are evicted! Let me see, does anyone dare to quit? "

Quitting out of cowardice? Relatives and friends have high expectations for me. I have gone through the test with all my life. If I quit, will I still be alive?

As for future training…

The boys all felt the hardship revealed in the king's words. Maybe it was not a training that people could bear? It shouldn’t be. The king wanted warriors who could fight, without the possibility of torturing them for fun.

"Very good. You have chosen this path, and you have to bear any pain yourself. In the end, after the winter, you will all be qualified warriors."

Rurik didn't have much time. After the opportunity was over, the four new flag teams began complex training.

A group of boys received two years of school education, during which they learned subjects such as individual combat, array assault, and archery. It was a simulated battle after all, and now they have real weapons!

What Rurik gets now is only the bodies of soldiers, even if they are citizen soldiers, all supplies during the training period come from the treasury.

….

Nor can we expect the boy’s parents to be able to spend money to purchase weapons and equipment for their sons. In order to ensure the consistency of combat effectiveness,

In terms of armor, weapons, luggage, and daily necessities, Rurik deliberately achieved consistency at the expense of large financial expenditures.

Due to the experience of large-scale war preparations three years ago, planning a brand new expedition, it seems that just replicating the strategy at that time is enough.

The two longships looked after each other, and the messengers on board were ordered to deliver the king's urgent orders to the capital.

All orders are written on paper, and they are in duplicate. The messenger is required to deliver the orders safely, and if it is related to military affairs, he must defend it with his life.

Among them, there was an urgent order submitted to the "state-owned blacksmith shop".

That was actually a huge military order Rurik issued to his old subordinate Kamne.

Three thousand mild steel swords, one hundred thousand cast arrow clusters, five thousand javelin heads, and five hundred one-piece forged breastplates (front).

News that the king intended to conquer the Franks and fully intervene in the civil war had long spread.

The expeditionary force that sets off this spring is just the vanguard. Eventually, the king will gather the elite to launch the second and true expedition.

Everything is a continuation of the war of 840 years!

So throughout 842, the situation in the capital was turbulent, and any knowledgeable person was talking about war. There were many merchants coming and going, and the news about the king's intention to personally conquer the Franks quietly spread to Sweden's Lake Mälaren region, the Port of Narvik in the far north, the Norwegian community in Oslo, the Danish world, and even joined the group a year ago. Latvian Riga.

For the Danes, the war against the Franks was not a matter of discussion because it was happening right now.

Denmark's free fishermen turned into pirates.

These people accompanied the Ross expeditionary force, like vultures following a pride of lions, as the army plundered along the Meuse River. These pirates followed the plundering and conveyed the news to the north in advance.

Due to the geographical distance, there is a time difference. In addition, Danish merchants will hardly break through the frozen Gulf of Finland to spend the winter in the Russian capital. Regarding the Russian expeditionary force's plunder of the Maas River and the Nassau army's strong Russian identity, The raids on the Moselle and Saar rivers were not reported back to New Roseburg in late autumn.

It even seemed as if the expeditionary force had disappeared. They have not sent back any news, not even news about the Netherlands or Saxony. Rurik now doesn't even know where his sworn brother Ragnar, King of Denmark, is now rich.

These are not important. The warriors on the expedition have their own gods to protect them. The warriors who stay in their hometowns not only don’t have to worry about them, but brand new warriors will soon rush to the Western world...

The messengers tried their best to deliver the news to the state-run blacksmith complex, arrow-making institutions, engineering weapons institutions, navy, and large shipyards in the capital as quickly as possible.

The decisive royal decree was delivered to the governor, Cornuson the Younger, and the high priest Rumia.

People in the State-run Printing Bureau took full action after receiving the order. They were ordered to reproduce the content of the king's order. After completing the typesetting of the movable type, they began to print at full strength.

This is much more efficient than the Governor standing in Harvest Square and preaching to people in Japan.

….

State-run paper mills never stop working, as society's demand for various types of paper increases day by day. Businessmen were happy to accept an easy-to-write carrier, and written business contracts became a necessity. People also need to add fun to their boring lives

, a magazine full of vulgar jokes. Because paper is used as a carrier, people are very happy to buy it for the sake of fun.

Papermaking became a profitable business, and the people in the capital were eager for the royal family's state-run publishing agency to come up with new tricks.

The news about military expansion and preparations for war is no longer "a statement". Documents with black and white letters are spread everywhere. It comes from the royal publishing organization, and it is believed that the content is what King Rurik himself meant.

Throughout the war of 840 years, most people reaped the dividends of the war.

The new war is a big one. Those who got the bonus last time still want to continue to drink oil and water, and those who unfortunately missed the opportunity don't want to let it go this time.

There are many ways for soldiers to gain benefits by participating in the war. They directly bring weapons and supplies and act as volunteers to fight for the king. This is the most direct way but it is very risky.

If you sell military supplies to the king, you can get real benefits. If you participate in the production of military supplies related to war preparations, you can get benefits immediately.

Kamne, he is no longer the skinny boy he once was.

His status is still Rurik's personal servant, which is not a lowly status. In the capital city of New Roseburg, Kamne is responsible for managing the state-owned blacksmith shop, which is an extremely large metallurgical complex on the battlefield. The whole kingdom mines Most of the iron, copper, lead, chromium and other ores will be turned into finished products here.

A large number of lumberjacks, potters, charcoal burners, and miners are the downstream industry workers of this "large state-owned iron factory."

In the end, as many as 10,000 people lived in an industrial chain centered on the state-owned blacksmith shop. Heavy industry caused economic prosperity, and it was also Ross's war machine.

The messenger personally delivered the king's orders to Kamne

in hand.

This sturdy Slavic man now lives like an old Russian. Although he no longer blacksmiths, his children have already participated in the metallurgical industry.

At the beginning of the period, he could not calm down at all while holding the order documents in his hands. After calming down, he organized his subordinates to start large-scale production operations. Everything seems to have returned to the autumn and winter of 839 when the heat and the cold wind coexisted.

The king's request is to force everyone to challenge the limit, and there is no mention of additional rewards.

Everything will be like that in the late autumn of 839. Everyone will work overtime, workers' wages will remain unchanged, everyone will be exhausted, and after the war is won, everyone will be exhausted.

After making a profit, you will receive a large reward. So only when the war is won, people's complicated labor will be meaningful.

There are hundreds of blacksmiths in the entire state-run blacksmith shop, and everyone's interests are completely tied to the royal family.

It is not difficult to forge three thousand new low-carbon steel Ross swords in this era. The techniques of burning pig iron in blast furnaces and frying steel have matured, and the most critical iron ore, which Ross has in the Swedish world, is the most indispensable. Quality iron ore.

Therefore, the king ordered to notify the navy, and Admiral Goedlund would rush to the north to transport as much cast iron ingots and even simple ores as possible before the bay froze.

The two cities in the north, Fort Ross and Fort Ailon Orava, guard the mines and also own the kingdom's blast furnaces. The earthen blast furnace can only produce molten raw iron. Kawei completely succeeded his aging father. He was responsible for providing ores and primary manufactured products to the entire kingdom, and was also responsible for the production of some iron weapons and tools.

….

Rurik made a long list of metal munitions throughout the winter capital.

The blacksmith shop may not be able to complete production, which requires the efforts of the old family in Roseburg...

The Kingdom of Rus has not entered a state of wartime mobilization.

At that time, it was still the tribal era. With the leader's order, all the men and women of the entire tribe could devote all their energy to fighting the war. At that time, Ross was too small and had few available soldiers. Because there was nothing to fear from poverty, it dared to gamble on the fate of the country.

Nowadays, Ross's stall is too big, and the lifestyles in the north and the hinterland of Eastern Europe are very different.

"Tsarist Russia is too big and bloated. To mobilize military forces for a full-scale war, it would take at least a month just to assemble the army." No one understands better than Rurik how difficult it is for Russia to assemble a large army now. If the population is not mainly concentrated in Novos In the two major settlements of Gorod and Novorosberg, war preparations are even more troublesome.

New Roseburg is a commercial city and the most powerful "industrial city".

Who will participate in the expedition? All men with military status will return to their flag corps. Most of them have received huge war dividends in previous wars and are full of expectations for the new war. They are also strong consumers. In order to protect themselves and plunder more wealth in the new battle, they spend money to repair and add weapons, buy replacement clothes, belts, gloves, etc. Even food is now being purchased, so the cadres in the capital The cheese was sold out in a short time, and all the honey was bought...

"War demands" began to cause a special boom, which was a process of redistribution of wealth. Those who had plundered huge dividends in previous wars began to transfer some of the dividends to ordinary people in the form of silver coins.

The latter provided these people with the cloth, leather, cables, dry food, etc. needed for the next expedition.

What Rurik didn't know was that the ruler of Finland's Suomi, the de jure acting count, and the loyal Javlo, personally escorted a batch of Finnish specialties for sale in the capital.

Jevlo was also shocked that he had not yet seen Rurik in person, but had seen the combat preparation order for the expedition to Frank.

He went to the Governor-General Cornuson to learn more about the situation, and then went directly to the High Priest Rumia to hear more about it.

Forget it, in the community of Finnish workers in New Roseburg, he organized the people for war mobilization and announced that families stranded in the capital must serve in the war this winter.

Jevlo wanted to support Rurik's new expedition in his own way.

How to support? The Count of Finland will assemble an unprecedented elite army to serve Rus, and it will not cost the king a single copper coin. Such a decision has elements of Yevlo's personal feelings. He himself regards Rurik as a relative. At the same time, it is also for the prosperity of Finland, especially the huge Suomi tribe. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to seize the dividends of the war. Finland, still poor, will improve its life by plundering the Franks.

However, the first snow hits the world earlier than usual. At the beginning of the period, people were highly alert to it, thinking that it would be a severe snowstorm. Every household would have to hide for a few days before going out to clear the snow. After the snowstorm, winter life would begin early.

The reality is not as harsh as people think.

First there was light rain, then endless snow, and the gray days lasted for three days.

The terrifying blizzard did not come, and the waves surged at the dark Kronstadt anchorage.

, the world is wrapped in a thin blanket.

After all, it’s the first snow, and winter life has just begun!

It was at this juncture, just like in previous years, that two commercial horse teams from Kiev and the grassland walked the already very mature "Amber Road" and finally passed the rising city of Vitebsk. Without stopping, we braved light snow and arrived at Big Luki, which also rises from the ground.

There is light snowfall in Novorosberg and more snowfall in Novgorod.

The southern caravan successfully arrived at New Ostara City at the southern end of Lake Ilmen at the traditional time. In fact, they brought detailed news about the southern expansion of the Principality of Ostara. They were surprised that Princess Bejasil was given a title and even a title. In charge of New Ostara City, I even learned about the royal order recently issued by King Rus - prepare for war! Prepare for an expedition.

For Rurik, the smooth arrival of the southern caravan was really an unexpected surprise!

Horses and recurve bows are the top products exported to Rus by the Pechenegs. They are really powerful weapons for the military. Until this period of military expansion, it is obvious that the military equipment of the 3rd and 4th Cavalry has been stabilized due to the strong arrival of allies.

The reborn star fruit