Rise of Rurik

The Principality of Rus opened three horse farms, the area along the Neva River, the north shore of Lake Ilmen, and the south shore of Lake Ilmen.

The purpose of raising horses in each region is also different. Pack horses and draft horses are mostly domesticated along the Neva River.

Many horses are domesticated on the north and south sides of Lake Ilmen, and two cavalry barracks have been formed, keeping a number of war horses that can be called upon at any time.

Now the first cavalry barracks in Russia is located in the city of New Ostara at the southernmost end of Lake Ilmen. The original cavalry troops were stationed here to guard the southern gate of the principality on land. With the cavalry on guard, even if the Smolensk people suddenly attacked northward, the cavalry's super mobility would be able to beat them hard in the open area south of the lake, and at the same time, they could gallop on horseback to inform the enemy of the attack.

Rurik now has no illusions about Smolensk. The orders he issued and the agreements he made with the Pecheneg allies will inevitably directly harm the interests of the Smolensk people. It's reasonable to induce the other party to retaliate, but if they take the initiative, Ross will seize the opportunity to make a name for himself.

One cavalry barracks is not enough! Ross needs more cavalry!

The second camp was built in Novgorod, and the newly trained cavalry was used directly as a standing army.

Based on the current situation of the Principality of Rus, it is necessary to form a standing army. If too many troops are formed, this gold-swallowing behemoth can deplete the national treasury.

How many standing troops are there? Under the current situation, the fully independent standing army is limited to 1,000 men.

The rest of the men formed their own warriors. Just like the traditional custom of the Vikings, the young men and women of the tribe were obliged to serve as warriors. This tradition needs to be changed in a new region and a new era. A large number of women no longer need to be female warriors, but men in all villages, whether they are from a Viking tribe or a traditional Slavic farm, it doesn't matter. People of this ethnic group are obliged to enlist in the army when necessary when they reach the age of twelve.

As a monarch, Rurik did not have the energy to meticulously manage the large number of Slavic farms, and he was not optimistic about the combat effectiveness of the peasant soldiers composed of simple farmers.

There are only a large number of the new generation of Russians who are growing up, and their parents are almost all old Russians.

In the next few years, these young people will form a new flag team, leave their current families after getting married, and then use the flag team to open up new settlements. They and their descendants are the principal source of soldiers. And they are also the first-class citizens of the principality.

But anyone with a discerning eye can see that those temporary mercenaries who were paid to do things in the past have become permanent.

Last year, I took the opportunity to attack the King of Denmark and won the victory, but the price I paid was really high. The main force in Novgorod City lost a group of strong young men. This was something they had never experienced before, and from this, the people got a glimpse of the tragedy of the war that took place in the distance.

The group of mercenaries suffered the most, and no one felt sorry for a group of professional desperadoes with various backgrounds.

but!

Everyone has seen that the latest additions to the mercenaries are either descendants of the Russians, descendants of other Vikings, or even children of Slavs.

When the prince returned to his loyal home of Novgorod, another group of children with the potential to become strong men were selected.

Nearly 700 children were selected one after another. They were pure-blood Russians, mixed-blood Russians, and pure Slavs.

The youngest is only ten years old, and the oldest is only sixteen years old.

Those children whose parents donated money in exchange for places are destined to become standing cavalry. Together with the children who have been selected by Rurik before, the reserve cavalry has reached four hundred.

A large number of children are already students of the national school in Rurik. They have already received the royal salary and have lived a collective life. The boys also know that they will serve the prince in the future. It is truly the greatest honor in this life to become a cavalryman who can show off his strength.

The origins of the other three hundred people are even more complicated, including almost all the immigrants who defected to Russia and the descendants of the conquered people. Naturally, the largest number are still the children of the old Russians.

The army has its soul, and the soul of the Ross standing army is the tribal soldiers of the Ross tribal era.

There is a "group" of ten people, a "ship" of thirty people, a "centred team" of one hundred and twenty people, and a "flag team" of five hundred people.

This formation model was first born exactly eleven years ago, and the boys who received training at that time are now incorporated into the Sixth Flag Team. Most of the best in the Sixth Banner were incorporated into the first cavalry, and a handful of outstanding ones also became officers of the standing army.

Eleven years ago, when Rurik started training his soldiers on the slope of the mountain behind Ross's hometown, there was the beginning of Ross's new army.

The time was not yet ripe then, but now it is enough!

Each group leader is one of those little boys who first received training. Time has passed, and the youngest child is sixteen years old. After eating and drinking well for so many years, he has become a capable Viking strongman.

A veteran leads a group of new recruits, both of whom were born and grew up in the Principality of Ross.

Now, they gather in the open space of their school.

It's still early for spring plowing, and the entire world is still covered in ice and snow. People are always facing the threat of cold currents moving south, and no one dares to wear thin clothing lightly.

The residents in the city knew very clearly that the prince had gathered a group of young boys in the seasonally closed school to start school in advance. The prince had already announced the formation of a new cavalry and the establishment of a standing army.

The people commented on the chosen child, and a large number of people complained about why the prince did not favor his cub.

It is obvious that serving as a standing army for a prince is a huge benefit. Not only does he pay for food, drink, and clothing for the prince, but he also has a monthly allowance for each person. More importantly, the standing army will of course give priority to fighting, and thus has the right to give priority to looting. As the saying goes, the war to destroy the country must involve the mobilization of all Russia, and small-scale conflicts require the standing army to attack first. How risky is a small expedition? The key is that his son gets the opportunity to plunder loot like crazy. Being a soldier by one person can bring a lot of surprise wealth to the family.

and the glorious reputation that everyone aspires to.

Rurik spoke loudly in front of all the chosen ones. He mentioned what is glory and greatness, and also mentioned the significance of the standing army to the Principality of Rus.

The boys held their heads high and stared at the prince pacing on the wooden platform with squinted eyes, listening attentively to his preaching.

"You remember, you are from the Principality of Ross. You can only be loyal to me and my family, and secondly to the entire Principality of Ross. Your mission is to protect me and the Principality of Ross. You must ruthlessly attack the enemy and protect the people of our country."

"You must understand your identity. This is like the relationship between Odin and the warriors in the Hall of Valor. I am the hero blessed by Odin. As my most loyal warriors, you have entered the moment you take the oath. Qualifications for the Hall of Valor.”

"Now, I ask you to make an oath to me. If there are betrayers, their souls will fall into the abyss. If you die gloriously, your souls will directly enter the Hall of Valor to share endless glory."

Rurik said a lot, and they all swore poisonous oaths as requested.

Many people felt that the prince's request was quite unnecessary. Everyone had already eaten the free wheat and meat given by the prince and learned some wonderful wisdom. If anyone thought of betraying the prince, it would be as absurd as a person lying down to eat horse dung. Incredible.

Everyone still gathered together to swear an oath, and the Viking war cry formed by the immature business still had great momentum.

Four hundred men will immediately be incorporated into the cavalry and learn to ride before spring arrives.

There are three hundred people organized into the Guards. They will be infantry, but they will receive quite strict combat training.

Including the existing army, the total number of cavalry will be 500, and the Praetorian Guards will also have 400 people. The total standing army of 900 people has not yet reached the set expectation of 1,000 people, and the 900 people are just a bluff in terms of quantity, and the current quality is a mess. Because almost all warriors are boys who have just entered puberty, they are promising talents in the future, but now they are easily killed when they go into battle.

It is impossible for this kind of army to engage in high-intensity combat. They can only hide behind the army with bows and crossbows to assist. Even so, as long as they are given three to four more years to grow into adults, these years of training will soon turn them into a group of professional warriors.

The coach of the Guards is Grund. It has been seven years since he was captured and surrendered. Maybe this man is just for money. If so, everything will be easier. It was impossible for Rurik to completely trust this surrendered guy, but he needed this person's ability. Rurik hired Grund as the coach of the imperial army. He was quite young and his family members were also in Rus. He was really being manipulated. When Grund grew old and the young cubs of the Guard reached their thirties and were in the prime of life, the leader of the Guard naturally changed at that time.

Rurik even had a candidate in mind and would choose one of his sons when the time came. For example, Oleg, the son Rumia gave birth to, was his son after all, so he would never rebel against his father.

As for the cavalry instructor, there happens to be one of the best talents at present, a distinguished steppe nobleman - Prince Kagan of Pecheneg.

It was an ordinary day. The Pecheneg warriors living in Russia continued to hunt with the local Russian and Slavic hunters at the request of their boss Kagan.

The leather of the red squirrel is also very good, but the price of a piece of leather is too cheap, far less than that of ferrets and snow foxes. Kagan didn't understand at first, but now he completely understands the reason. Among the so-called leather products in the North, squirrels are the largest in number, making leather naturally cheap. But this is not necessarily the case, because Russian and Slavic hunters tried their best to buy wooden-arm crossbows. This weapon was used in hunting, and catching squirrels became a simple aiming and shooting game. Hunters used simple and crude methods to deal with the seemingly inexhaustible squirrel resources, allowing the Pechenegs to personally obtain a batch of squirrel skins.

Although this thing is not valuable in the north, it will be completely different when it is transported to the southern grasslands.

A large number of Pecheneg soldiers were Kagan's slave soldiers, so when Rurik formally brought out the Guards, Kagan had a strong sense of déjà vu.

Kagan was too lazy to go hunting in the forest himself. He was a great nobleman of the steppe, and the money he had could be enjoyed in Novgorod. Since Brother Rurik is invited today, let’s reluctantly go and have a chat.

As a sworn brother, Kagan himself behaved quite easily, so Rurik had no intention of being formal.

The two of them were sitting in a small room in the prince's palace, surrounded by other people, and the two immediately started talking.

Kagan was in a good mood, and he took off his hat to show off his fancy braids. "Are you inviting me to drink together? Are you inviting me to do something? Or are you targeting a new enemy and inviting me to send troops?"

Suddenly, this short prairie man suddenly stretched his head and asked Godly: "Hey, it's not you who made the decision? Let's organize an army to rob that thing? Oh, yes! Let's rob the Smolensk people."

"Attack them? Now is definitely not the time." Rurik shrugged speechlessly.

Kagan sat up straight again: "What are your plans?"

"Brother, I do have a request."

"Speaking."

"Just like the first one, you can help me train the cavalry."

Rurik would say this, which did not surprise Kagan. He subconsciously pinched his mustache and said meaningfully: "I have been paying attention to your group of brats for a long time. Are they your slaves?"

"Slaves? How is that possible? They are all children of my people, and many of them even have some blood connection with me."

"To be honest, your actions reminded me a lot. Look at my warriors. Those people are slaves. They were trained when they were very young. It is natural for them to serve me now. I don't understand you Russians very well, but I Understand your moves.”

Hearing this, Rurik also laughed meaningfully.

Then he asked: "Now that you understand everything, what do you think? Help me train my soldiers. At least in the next month, I will train these brats to learn to ride horses."

"What's the problem? I'm willing to do it."

"Great." Rurik clapped his hands happily, "I will give you some reward."

"Remuneration? It's unnecessary. I'm your brother, and helping you train soldiers is nothing."

Judging from Kagan's triumphant attitude, Rurik guessed that this guy was enjoying it. Also, Kagan has been doing nothing in Novgorod these days. He eats and drinks well and takes baths every day. His already round face is now even rounder, or in other words, Kagan has gained a lot of weight. Maybe he himself feels that such a life should stop for a while, but who is willing to give up a leisurely life? He needed a reason to force himself into action.

Kagan was interested, and Rurik also deliberately owed this favor, so he said respectfully: "Then I'll help you."

At least Kagan has no intentions at all towards his Rurik brothers and the entire Principality of Rus. There was obviously a small group of Russian nobles who were wary of the Pechenegs, but Kagan didn't know and didn't care at all.

Ross was a three-month ride from the prairie, far enough that at least Kagan felt that Ross was a simple ally.

Kagan even has a thankful episode.

He knew that the Russians could provide a large amount of salt and that the price of salt was ridiculously cheap.

Rurik had no idea about the price paid by the Pechenegs in trading salt with Roman profiteers in the past. From Kagan's point of view, he felt that he had obtained an incredible amount of salt in Rus at a very low price, and even felt that this It was the deliberate concession of profits by the Rurik brothers. In any case, a huge amount of salt was imported into Pecheneg, and the chronic problem of salt deficiency was greatly alleviated.

Kagan is much older than Rurik, and he is proud of being an older brother, which is naturally reflected in his help to his younger brother.

After this small meeting, he quickly recalled his men who had dispersed for hunting, and then showed himself as a Pecheneg cavalry unit. The two hundred cavalrymen all wore iron plate armor that looked like riveted chainmail at first glance. Each cavalryman wore an iron helmet and an iron mask that covered his entire face. Holding short spears in their hands, they gathered together majestically, attracting thousands of Novgorod people to watch.

Among them is the senile Otto, whose aging is concealed thanks to a warrior costume. Find Shuyuan www.zhaｏshuyuan.com

Otto saw the assembled Pecheneg cavalry, their iron armor shining in the sun. The first thing he felt was fear. He didn't think it was wise for his son to allow such an army to be in the hinterland of Rus, but it was out of reason. , this group of cavalry's allies will not make irresponsible remarks.

Otto's vigilance came from instinct, and it seemed that his son Rurik had similar thoughts.

A large number of Russian horses were brought out, plus the newly purchased and previously owned local horses. Although the quality of the horses varied, at least 400 horses were collected, which was enough for each rear cavalry to be equipped with its own mount.

On one side were two hundred prairie cavalry wearing armor and masks, and on the other side were four hundred children leading horses.

The children's hearts were shaken and frightened, followed by pure envy and hopes for their own glorious future.

Because the short man with black hair and a round face said very clearly in broken Slavic: "I will train you to be as strong as them (referring to the steppe cavalry)."

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