Rise of Rurik

The young cavalrymen ran wildly in the snow. Even if the weather was cold, because the training ground was open enough, a group of idlers from Novgorod stayed outside the field wrapped in thick leather clothes, and even stood on the wooden city wall to comment.

There are three combat skills they need to learn: riding and shooting, chopping with swords, and thrusting with spears. Of all the training, the most important is riding and shooting.

Because they are too young, their physical fitness may not be enough to participate in mounted combat. It is also because the Russian cavalry was trained from the Pecheneg people in the steppe. It solves most battles non-contactly and relies on arrows, and uses mobility and flexibility to defeat the enemy.

Under Rurik's reforms, the Russians have long been completely different from other northern forces in terms of combat. Since they have the advantage of long-range weapons, they must of course carry forward them.

The imported recurve bow is combined with a crossbow to become a special crossbow that can also be used by cavalry. As long as the binding rope is untied, the crossbow turns into an ordinary recurve bow, which is convenient for rapid shooting.

"Three consecutive shots in the face". Braving the fog and snow, I thought that I would wait until the ice on the lakes and rivers was enough for sledding to move safely before setting off to the capital city of New Roseburg. I felt that I had relatively ample time, and now I focused on supervising the training.

Or because the king himself stared at him with eyes wide open every day, the young warriors did not dare to neglect him either out of fear or out of desire to show off.

If you want to save your horse power, ride on the reindeer sleigh and simulate riding a horse while shooting arrows at the target.

Or it could simply be the dismounted rider running wildly through the snow, shooting on the move. After two rounds, they were still wearing thick leather jackets in the morning, and in the afternoon they usually continued practicing wearing mainly woolen jackets.

The four cavalry teams were mixed together. In addition to the veterans leading the recruits, Quetzal, who was stationed in Novgorod as a diplomat under the command of Pecheneg Khan, naturally became the instructors of his guards. For this reason, he stayed Rick also has to pay a tuition fee.

As long as the conditions are ripe, the standing army will be fully cavalry, and more specifically, everyone will become a generalist.

The conditions are quite mature now.

"Is there a possibility? When I go on an expedition to Frank to intervene in their civil war, I can take the cavalry directly along the coastline to Hamburg. As long as I get to Hamburg, it will be much easier to reach Cologne and Mainz. And when I get to Mainz , I arrived at the main battlefield of their civil war."

"Is this too risky? Not necessarily. The Teutonic Knights followed this road to reach Lake Pskov. I walked in the opposite direction along this road, and there was no problem in thinking about it."

"Will there be any obstruction from some tribes on the way? Now that the Latvian tribe has defected to me, the other Baltic tribes... shouldn't be bored and block the road. I just lead the troops to pass directly, and I don't have any ideas for them. At least not in the next few years." Rurik had to think about the issue of mobilizing the army. Although the army and navy will operate simultaneously next year, the logistics cost of Ross's combat mode is lower, but dispatching too many troops will still be a huge test for himself.

The account calculated by Ella needs to be carefully considered. The so-called Ross should send about three thousand troops.

"Damn it, if I had 10,000 good horses, I could imitate the Mongols in fighting. The logistical pressure would be minimal, and my achievements would be greater..." Why should I participate in the Frankish Civil War?

Stir up the situation in Western Europe, plunder local resources, and construct a Western trade system that is beneficial to the Kingdom of Rus.

As for what

"The Revenge of the North" is already a thing of the past, and Rurik has found a more grand reason for his future actions - to fulfill the treaty with the Eastern Kingdom.

The core clause of the "Northern Treaty" signed in January 1841 is that if the contracting parties encounter military attacks by others, all countries are obliged to send troops in accordance with the treaty.

Considering that this is a treaty that I personally led, it would be foolish for the sponsor not to fulfill the agreement. It doesn't matter whether other parties send troops, Ross must send troops.

There is no news about the Aachen expedition in 842. They have Odin's blessing and Rurik doesn't need to care.

The Aachen Expeditionary Force is only a means to fulfill the treaty, and soon this means will be super doubled. Because Rurik patted his head and knew that the historical "Treaty of Verdun" was concluded in 843, and the Frankish Civil War ended.

"There may be a fateful war. As a newly rising northern power, Ross cannot miss this war in Western Europe." Does anyone criticize his own militarism in the past?

Obviously, this kind of person has been scorned as a coward by the overwhelming number of war factions. Men who might be going to war were busy buying their own military supplies, and the large demand greatly stimulated the entire Russian economy.

Since the autumn harvest, the core area of ​​​​the Rus Kingdom has begun large-scale production in preparation for war. Behind the wartime prosperity, a large amount of debt has been generated. In the end, the debt was basically transferred to the warriors who were in urgent need of war.

No one is worried that the debt will collapse, because it will be the king himself. For more than ten years, every time Rurik participated in or commanded the battle, Ross made huge profits after the war.

War is not a money-losing business, but a shortcut for ordinary people to get rich. Slavic women were busy weaving cloth, making leather shoes, and even sewing leather scraps into gloves.

They openly sell handicrafts from small family workshops in Novgorod markets because the demand from the whole society is very high. Although the prices of these products are not very high, they can be sold out quickly once sold.

After all, as many as 2,600 recruits are training in the snow-covered wasteland outside Novgorod. The boys who can be selected as soldiers must have better physical fitness, which also proves that their family's economic level is also better.

For such children, their parents or the farm they belong to will boldly invest in the training of the boys and provide them with good extra meals, or even honey and cheese to supplement their nutrition.

Spend another sum of money to buy new clothes and shoes for the additional children. Considering the wear and tear during training, a few more clothes will be purchased.

If they are not made at home, buy ready-made clothes in Novgorod. After all, the state-owned garment factory is in the city, so it is easy to buy.

Because the four new infantry flag corps are citizen soldiers, Rurik will not purchase uniform uniforms and weapons for them unless necessary.

He doesn't have to worry about this. The child's parents and relatives can buy everything they need for a little money. In the end, the warrior's equipment will add up to a considerable amount of money.

A standing army was completely different, everything was financed by the royal family. In spirit

According to the principle of "I will give you food and drink, give you salary, and give you the opportunity to perform meritorious service, you must obey my words." Rurik demanded strict military management. The boys of the two new cavalry teams who were trained at the end

After the "Eastern Adventure", as soon as I came back, I started to work hard again. I have been busy from summer to now when the ground is covered with snow, and the boys have been transformed from high-intensity training to now.

But, it's not enough! Rurik needed these boys to develop tendons at a young age, so there was an ample supply of venison and fish, as well as wheat and oats.

Rurik now does not need to worry about the high cost of training troops. The Kingdom of Rus must have a strong standing army for armed defense and foreign war.

Besides, he believed that the Franks would eventually pay for all this investment in disguise. Everything seems to be very normal. Today is the same as in the past. The fog and snow continue. The young soldiers wearing only sweaters continue their sweaty military training, as if ignoring the cold winter.

Until one of his wives, Carlotta, went crazy and rushed to the training ground on horseback. Regardless of aristocratic etiquette, she threw herself on him and cried in her arms.

Looking at her crying face, she looked like a little daughter-in-law who had been greatly wronged. Carlotta is a resolute female warrior. It is extremely rare for her to be so sad.

"What's wrong with you?" Rurik gently pushed him away in surprise, and noticed his son Karl from the corner of his eye, feeling a little relieved.

"It's war. The enemy you want to kill appears. Your enemy will attack me!"

"Ah?" Rurik was a little confused.

"Could he be from Smolensk?"

"It's Vadim! It's the fugitive Vadim!" The name was enough to shock everyone. Vadim!

Hearing this word was enough to make Rurik straighten up like a pine tree. He hesitated for a moment and couldn't help but clenched his fists.

Rurik didn't talk nonsense. First, he ordered his subordinates to continue training and kissed Carlotta hard on the forehead.

"Let's go. If you have any questions, go to the palace to discuss it in detail." After that, he glanced at his second son Karl, who was still riding a horse, and casually ordered: "Karl, follow me now. I just want to go see your grandparents." Novgorod is surrounded by wooden walls, and the city walls are being reinforced.

Due to the continuous expansion of stone transportation from the quarries on the shores of Lake Onega, all buildings in Novgorod began to be slowly replaced.

New buildings made of stone, clay-burnt bricks, and primitive cement will eventually replace the old pure wooden buildings, and this is destined to be an extremely slow process, even if the newly discovered stone mines in Demyansk this year will transport stone in the future, and This progress cannot be accelerated.

This is not a big problem. Rurik is accustomed to living in heavy wooden buildings. He just needs to pay attention to fire prevention on weekdays.

The slaves chosen by Old Otto personally for Rurik more than ten years ago are now mothers. Novgorod rose above the White Tree Manor, where they came from, and now they have returned to their hometown to settle down.

Having a relationship with them again can be described as an adjustment in Rurik's life, allowing him to have more children. When the children grow up, they can be entrusted to other places to open up territory for the kingdom.

However, they are the lowest-ranking wives and concubines, and the children they bear can only be lower-level nobles. Only a few wives and concubines and their children are truly noble.

The most noble person is Queen Svetlana. Now she has morning sickness again, and her body is gradually starting to feel strange.

It is a good thing that the royal family continues to have more children. Rurik can't control whether these unworthy descendants can be beaten to death. That is something in the distant future that even he cannot control.

All the wives and concubines gave birth to boys, and there were many theories among the people. There was only one popular theory - the gods gave Rurik a family of all male warriors.

It is natural that the descendants of those blessed by Odin are all boys! As for the high priest Vilia giving birth to the king's eldest daughter, this just proves that this statement is correct, because based on tradition, the high priest of Rus is naturally a woman.

The half-brothers gathered together. Most of them were almost two years old. One and two could walk, speak simple sentences, and began to express some opinions to others.

Here, the eldest is the de facto third son Oleg, followed by Osborne, the fourth and eldest son.

The age difference between these two brothers is very small, and naturally they are not very different from the other ten brothers. The boys were full of energy and played dangerous games all day long in the palace.

Because he was injured and crying, and there was no one to take care of him, the little boy basically had to get up by his own strength and continue the dangerous game.

Don't look at the fact that many children are less than two years old, and Ross's court education is already teaching them how to be warriors.

Perhaps it is male instinct to fight with wooden sticks. The game that boys play most often is fighting in groups while riding on a stumbling raft and using wooden sticks as swords.

They were full of vitality like the rising sun, and the haggard old Otto who witnessed all this could not help but shed tears in his cloudy eyes.

Because, those who are addicted to big fights every day

The "little ones" are all his grandchildren.

"Oh, I hope Odin gives me another ten years of life, and I can watch you become real men." The Kingdom of Rus is based on tradition. After a man spends the twelve Hanukkahs in his life, he is an adult and has the obligation to pick up Weapons to fight the enemy.

Ten years later, all the grandchildren in front of him will be adults, and the eldest son and heir apparent, Osborne, will also have a fine beard by then, and may even have a wife and children.

He knows his own body and bones, and Otto deeply feels that being able to survive until now is a reward from Odin. Now he is really living one day at a time, and he is fully aware that Rurik plans to personally take part in the Frankish Civil War next year.

"I have never been to Frank in my life. And you! All the kings of Frank have been trampled under his feet. Poor me, I am too old to walk." What if I die?

Especially if he died of illness next year and Rurik was fighting in Frankia, how sad would that be?

Just bury him in the capital’s cemetery! As the Supreme King of the Kingdom of Rus, Otto could guess that he would rest in a luxurious mausoleum after a state funeral.

This is understandable, the key is that Otto is holding his breath, he hopes to see his son defeat the Frank Lothair.

Ross will usher in supreme glory! It was because Otto had overstretched his body when he was young that he still dared to drag a sled on a winter hunt in the extreme cold when he was almost sixty years old.

He had never thought that he would live a long life, and he had never imagined that he would now live to be seventy years old. Unlike Otto, Niya, the Queen Mother of Rus, was much younger than Otto when they got married.

The most beautiful girl in the tribe was used as an additional reward for the competition to compete for the leader, which made the last session of the Ross tribe

The "competition" has a unique ending. Now Niya is sixty years old, and her overall condition is much better.

Many people say that this old lady will live to be eighty like the late high priest Vilia. But Niya was just an honest and responsible woman all her life. She had experienced the pain of losing her son, and now she was faced with an overwhelming number of grandchildren.

The blond hair turned into black hair, and one boy after another called himself grandma. Happiness was real happiness, but it was a bit too much.

She was just peaceful and peaceful in her old age, and she didn't care about tribal politics all her life, and now she was even less concerned about the larger Rus Kingdom.

She only cares about a few things at the moment, such as her poor eldest grandson Reglaf, who is traveling to the far southern Franks, her eldest grandnephew Ascard who is on an expedition to the Frankish capital, and her adopted daughter Carlotta who is taking her children to open up territory in the south.

She simply hoped that her children would be safe, and she also expected them to make a career overseas. She lived in this slightly contradictory mentality for sixty years.

The old couple seemed to be guests in this new era. Everything had changed. Rose was no longer the Rose in memory.

And all of this was Rose's choice. When the leader from 70 years ago arrived at Sorgon in the Ilmen Lake area with his fleet, this lake area is now the home of the Rus people...