Rise of Rurik

Now Rurik faces a big problem!

This issue is easily ignored by many generals. It was not until the entire army had to face it that they realized that this once-ignored matter was extremely important to the victory or defeat of the war.

The Russian army, which has gathered people from all walks of life, will finally take action against Smolensk this winter.

The biggest problem at the moment is nothing else but "how do we reach Smolensk smoothly?"

Rurik, who had just returned, had no time to rest. When the whole army was agitated by the news of the immediate departure tomorrow, Rurik himself convened a small meeting with all the elites in the large wooden longhouse in the inner city of Vitebsk. .

Those people who had been sharpening their swords for many days did not want to wait. They rushed into the venue with great interest. After learning that Rurik not only defeated Vadim, he actually captured the man alive. In addition to being happy, everyone was shouting loudly.

They shouted in one voice - kill Vadim immediately, stick their heads on spearheads as decorations, and march with the army to Smolensk.

This warlike passion is like the summer sun, its heat can melt ice.

Of course, this is just Rurik's good hope. No matter how enthusiastic, warlike, and bloodthirsty they are, they can't change the general trend of getting colder and colder.

The coldest day of the year has not yet arrived, and if the Russian army has not forced the Smolensk people to surrender before the arrival of the extremely cold January, the situation will become a bit troublesome.

Rurik allowed them to make noises and shouts, but when they saw the noble past with a straight face and remained silent, he slowly closed his mouth.

The oil lamp hanging from the ceiling was swaying slightly, and the entire large room was filled with an unsettling dim light.

Rurik finally cleared his throat: "Is the quarrel over? Now it's my turn! Yes!" He stood openly in front of everyone and clapped his hands: "The entire army will set off at noon tomorrow, but a few personnel will continue to stay in Viteb. Sk, the vast majority of the soldiers are going on the expedition. This is an established fact, and I will not give you any complaints such as the time is too urgent. Our army must set off at noon tomorrow, and any difficulties will be overcome immediately after the meeting is over."

Obviously, the king showed a decisive attitude, which the captains of the banners liked to see.

I admit that some people have some hidden worries, and any worries are suppressed by the enthusiasm of war.

"But!" Rurik whispered again. "The big problem is how we get to Smolensk smoothly, that's a big problem."

When he was speaking, his eyes were already looking at the brothers sitting there. He deliberately slowed down his speaking speed and deliberately said some nonsense, just to prompt some brothers who had objections to stand up and question.

No, cousin Arik stood up as expected.

"Rurik." Even though he is the king, he still calls his brother by his first name with a smile: "Is that a problem? How did their army come? We can just go back the way we came."

[An app that has been running stably for many years, comparable to the old book-chasing tool, used by all old bookworms.

In the end, more than half of the Smolensk army died not from the multi-faceted attacks and strangulation by the Russian coalition forces, but from the cold and cold weather due to running out of supplies.

Is the Ross Alliance really blessed by the gods?

Maybe. However, once you take off your thick leather jacket and stand outdoors in the early morning, your whole body will be frozen and may turn into a lump of ice in the evening.

The current threat to every soldier is not enemy soldiers, the threat is everywhere.

Rurik only roughly knew the location of the Smolensk people. As for how those guys took a shortcut through the forest and snow fields to reach Vitebsk, the answer could theoretically be obtained by interrogating the prisoner of war Vadim.

"No. That man is not trustworthy. I humiliate this man as a lost dog, and he pretends to be my grandson. He must be harboring evil in his heart. If I believe this man's words easily, once this man leads my army to the big forest, good luck. The whole army was able to get out of the forest maze, but the bad luck was that a large number of the whole army froze to death in the forest for no apparent reason..."

Rurik was not interested in advancing passively against the Smolensk army's advance route.

Although it was the shortest straight line between the two points, the enemy knew about that path, but the Russian army did not know about it.

At least the Ross Army has an absolutely safe path to choose from.

In this day and age, rivers are natural highways, and they are even better highways if they freeze.

At this moment, Rurik made a clear announcement to everyone: "Tomorrow, our army will no longer go eastward! We will go south along the Amber Road and continue walking along it after reaching the frozen Orshacha River. . We finally reached the frozen Dnieper River, and the entire army moved upstream on the river."

At this point, he ignored everyone's surprise and specifically named a few people.

"Quetzal, Nurg, Wladyslav, and you, my dear Beyashir. You and your friends have all attacked Smolensk villages along this route, but have not gone any further. Your caravans travel this route every year, so you know the Amber Road better than my army. This time I need your help to lead the brothers into their territory."

Rurik deliberately glanced at Quetzal, the clan brother of Kagan, the new Khan of Pecheneg.

The other party stood up with a smile, knocked on his thick chest, and responded with a rich voice as a round-faced little fat man: "Please rest assured, Ross Khan, I swear on my honor that as long as we take this road, your huge army will go smoothly." Arrive at the enemy's lair."

"So, has the king ignored our existence?" Stekander didn't want all the credit to go to those mysterious and extremely strange-looking prairie people.

"You? Stekander?" Rurik looked at this dear man.

"Even the name of the Orshacha River that you know was given by your Latvian servants a long time ago. All Varyag merchants who know the southern waterways know its existence...but it is the Rus. In fact..." Stekander was too lazy to think too much. After all, this battlefield has unexpectedly caused a major blow to the Danish businessmen in the Gulf of Riga who were supposed to be spectators: "Actually, we know this route best, even though we may not be as active as you. The horse caravan is huge."

"That's great. Since you all know this path, even if it's a bit detoured, at least we don't have to worry about getting lost at all." Rurik couldn't hide his smile: "I thought you would complain about the detour, since no one has any objections. , we will do this tomorrow."

Do you really have no objection? Of course there is.

For an old explorer like Spyut, he was worried that exploring shortcuts might put the entire army in a passive position. If he has encountered a dilemma in his life, he may go on an expedition or be conservative.

Rurik himself has never encountered a situation where he was unable to retreat and was confused in an area.

There may be a limit to taking risks. With a historic army of more than 6,000 people, including the elite of the King of Rus, he really did not dare to act rashly. Taking the safest approach was really a wise move for the monarch.

The next day, everything went as promised, and the entire Russian army stationed in Vitebsk set off.

In the end, only the guard Visu was left, who seemed to have inhaled a large amount of toxic smoke.

Ende and other battle wounded soldiers, soldiers who accidentally suffered frostbite and were unable to move quickly (there are very few such people), the last Polotsk villagers who were forcibly immigrated, and a few Slavic warriors left to strengthen the defense of the fortress .

The Russian coalition forces were streamlined, and the wounded and sick soldiers who might be hindered in the battle stayed in the warm Vitebsk Fortress.

Even so, the army still numbered six thousand.

The soldiers were a little puzzled at first. Why did the king go south along the Amber Road instead of continuing to march eastward?

The news quickly spread in the army. Officers at all levels held a meeting to inform the soldiers of the king's determination. The entire army would take the safest road to reach its destination.

Steady means that the king has calculated the marching route. Marching in the world of ice and snow, they did not feel unfamiliar to Ross and other warriors from Northern Europe and could resist forcefully.

For a large number of Slavic warriors, this was a difficult challenge. They were extremely averse to taking risks because they were afraid that the king would lead his army on a road that he was not quite sure about. Instead, they settled down to take traditional trade routes.

Even though these honest Badajiao farmers were born as warriors, they had only known the name of the "Amber Road" where Varyag merchants and grassland merchants traveled freely. This was the first time they had set foot on it, and it was also the first time in their lives that they had entered the Dnieper River.

The small river Lhosa near the Vitebsk Fortress, during warm periods, was little more than a small tributary barely large enough for long boats. Thanks to the cold weather, this small tributary of the West Dvina River was once a complete mass of ice. It is feared that only the very shallow area at the bottom close to the silt river bed still has living water.

The army of cavalry and reindeer sleighs is advancing!

In Rurik's view, his army can basically be described as a "division-level combat unit", and it is a mixture of mules and horses of infantry divisions and cavalry regiments. In this way, Master Wang can really be called Master Wang.

The concept of "division" in the West comes from "organization". The so-called many arms are organized together in peacetime, and coupled with the general command organization, they are trained as a whole in peacetime. Whenever there is a war, they can be deployed on the battlefield as a whole after receiving orders.

Ross couldn't do this, and there was no need to maintain a huge army formation.

Ross has its own "organization". Based on the current war situation, the flag force, a de facto battalion-level combat unit, was vigorously developed by Rurik.

The infantry and cavalry standard corps of the standing army are ready to go to the battlefield at any time.

The flag team composed of citizen soldiers will take some time to mobilize. They are also a reserve army for the kingdom. Naturally, they cannot have too high requirements as they take into account production and life.

Rurik was convinced that Ross was superior to the rest in terms of military system, and coupled with better weapons, this was the basis for Ross to sweep across the Baltic Sea and have the ability to open up Eastern Europe.

On the other hand, look at the Smolensk people.

Could they still gather thousands of people to fight in a short period of time? It's almost impossible. When Vadim, who had the final appeal, was defeated and the de facto society was killed, Smolensk was leaderless. Even if there were a group of heroes in each village, those people were afraid that they could only guard the countryside, and there would be no strong people to immediately replace Vadim's army. As the leader, he organized the warriors of each village to resist.

Rurik was always thinking along the way, and no one dared to disturb the king who was deep in thought. Even though his two wives were in the army, Carlotta and Bejahir no longer stayed in the king's cabin sleigh, but with their own army.

They are the king's wives and generals who each lead a cavalry army. Together with other generals, they each lead their own teams and continue southward along the amber road frozen by ice and snow.

Walking on the twists and turns of the frozen river, the Russian army broke through the watershed between the Daugava River Basin and the Dnieper River Basin here at noon the next day.

People began to feel that they were obviously descending. Experienced visitors from the Gulf of Riga and horse riders from the steppe exchanged their knowledge of this area. This afternoon, the entire army was led to find the channel of the Orshacha River.

It was a relatively wide frozen river, and it was obviously wider as you went downstream.

Just like its name comes from the description of "soothing water" in Baltic language, everyone walks on the Amber Road

People all over the country are aware of the river and do not hesitate to use this natural pathway.

However, the river is so important, yet it is only used as a highway by businessmen, and even a "rest stop" has not been built.

In other words, any rest stop is considered to be built.

Today, a number of settlements have appeared on both sides of the Lovaj River, as well as the large city of Velikiy Luki. The northern line of the Amber Road has become increasingly prosperous due to the expansion of the Kingdom of Rus, and the middle line should be next.

Now, everything in front of him is extremely unfamiliar to Rurik, but he has heard about this area for a long time.

Even Mohu perceptions from another era.

The 6,000-strong Ross coalition had nearly 10,000 reindeer and horses, and they were also hauling a large amount of food and camping tools.

They went all the way south along the Orshacha River. It was now the third day after noon when they set off from Vitebsk. It took the Russian military 48 hours to pass the junction of the West Dvina River and the Dnieper River.

Rurik had already stepped out of the sled, and what he saw in front of him was the broad Dnieper River. Apparently this river was also frozen solid.

The daylight hours were already very short. In order to avoid embarrassment during the night march, Rurik hurried as fast as he could, and finally stood on the bank of the Dnieper River on the third evening after setting off - it was also the first time in his life that he saw the Dnieper River.

The Dnieper River is the mother river of various tribes in East Slavia. Most of the Krivi tribes, large and small, live in the river basin.

On the contrary, for the Yin Ermen Slavs under the rule of the Kingdom of Rus, the Great Lake is their mother.

As both Slavs, the North and the South gradually began to further differentiate due to differences in production and lifestyle.

There are a large number of Ermen Slavic warriors in the Russian army. They do not have much sympathy with the Smolensk people. Now that everyone is standing on the bank of the Dnieper River, the next step is to attack Gniezdovo, which is said to be the location of the enemy's high altar. , everyone can get rich by plundering the wealth there.

Because the King of Rus is fair, except for the precious loot that must be returned to the treasury (in fact, it is also Rurik's own treasure chest), the rest is for all the warriors to get in advance based on their own merits. Slavic warriors have the same rights as the Varyags of all walks of life. If someone grabs more trophies than the old Russian warriors, that is his own fault, and others are not allowed to fight back.

Standing by the river, they seemed to have seen the endless wealth stored in the Smolensk settlement not far away, and the fatigue of their bodies was temporarily shielded by the collective excitement.

Everyone laughed, and many people jumped up and down. After seeing the Dnieper River, the excitement gradually disappeared, and a strong sense of fatigue came over.

The entire army accepted Rurik's order and built a camp at the confluence of the Orshacha River and the Dnieper River.

It won't even be a temporary camp, but will serve as a strategic base for troops against Smolensk.

Rurik had to think more, he had to be able to punch in, and also be able to push out calmly after encountering trouble. He cannot expect that the other party will really become exhausted due to being leaderless. If for unknown reasons tens of thousands of local militiamen are waiting for a defensive counterattack, the Ross coalition must arrange an escape route for themselves in advance.

Retreating in a critical moment is not a shame, it can be transformed into a strategy to lure the enemy deeper.

Rurik made two preparations.

On the frozen Dnieper River, the ice surface is illuminated brilliantly by the orange sunset, and the surrounding snow-capped world is also shrouded in dazzling orange.

Wladyslav, who came from Kiev, vowed to point out that this location was not far from Kiev. "Perhaps the king can take time to take the army to Kiev for a parade in the future. As you know, the people of Kiev are very happy to have Rus as friends."

Wladyslav said this to Rurik who was standing by the river admiring the scenery. It was indeed a flattering move, and it was also a sincere invitation.

Only those who have been stationed in Rus for a long time can realize the power of Rus. Vadislav's father Sakzyn, this man was elected as the leader by the folks in Kiev, but in fact he was just the talker of a loose organization. Saxin led the Krichi people near Kiev and quickly accumulated wealth through years of trade. They have become increasingly close to the Rus Kingdom and the Pecheneg Khanate because of their economic exchanges.

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The Kiev community does not have a strong army to protect itself, so the militiamen may only be able to bully small tribes like the Lamic people.

Wladyslav, this young man had seen a lot in Russia and had his own ambitions - not content with being a permanent envoy, but to be canonized by the King of Russia, and even the territory of the entire Naros Kingdom in his hometown of Kiev, so as to ensure that In order to increase the wealth of his family, he also provided security protection for the folks in Kiev, even if he had to pay a "protection fee" to the King of Rus for this.

What you buy with money is the protection of the Rus' army. Once business and agriculture prosper, these taxes can be offset. Complete submission to the Rus' Kingdom will be very profitable for the Kiev community.

Rurik was in a good mood and had some thoughts, "I'm afraid that the direction of history will be slightly deviated in my hands? It would be great if the local people in Kiev were voluntarily ruled by me. The war of swords in history may have changed from It never existed in the first place.”

The current camp Rurik was planned as a permanent settlement, and its name was none other than Orsha.

The name of the settlement is simply the same as the name of the nearby river. The settlement can be added with the suffix "Sk", a riverside city. Rurik himself did not bother to emphasize it, and everyone who learned about the situation began to call the current giant military camp Orsha.