Rise of Rurik

The newly promoted war horses are all nailed with iron horseshoes. Each horse has a simple saddle made of leather and stirrups made of rope.

Formal riding equipment is still being made in various handicraft workshops. They are mainly a mixture of leather and linen. Once they are ready, they will be immediately supplied to the troops.

The first task of the new cavalry is just to learn to ride a horse, which is a great challenge for extremely young boys.

They have to learn to build a close relationship with the horses they are assigned to, learn to sit on simple saddles and endure the discomfort of their buttocks, adapt to the bumps when the horses are moving, and even learn the Turkic vocabulary for horse riding.

Kagan and his best Pecheneg cavalry were excellent trainers, and Rurik himself, on horseback, served as the best supervisor.

After the first seven days of special training, the children frequently fell off their horses. Thanks to the soft snow they fell on, some suffered minor internal injuries, but that was all.

Most children aspire to become invincible cavalry, even if they fall off their horses, they will try their best to get up.

It is the first time for a child with good understanding to ride on a horse. He tightens the reins and puts his feet on the rope. The whole person seems to be growing on the horse's back.

People with poor understanding will have to practice more.

To be fair, the Pechenegs knew the purpose of the Russians buying horses from the beginning, and they knew they had to be kind to their distant friends, so that they could smoothly exchange for a batch of strategic materials that the tribal alliance urgently needed. Kagan took the lead in this national task. When each tribe took out its own horses, he selected them and selected the young and docile ones.

Not a single bad horse was imported to Rus, or the Pecheneg people's steppe Turkic horses were naturally docile in nature.

The main bloodline of the horses exported by the Pechenegs is an older Mongolian horse, mixed with a small amount of the bloodline of the large-eating desert horse. The docile appearance has not changed, and the overall quality of the horses has been slightly improved. It is precisely this kind of blood that is cold-resistant and has amazing endurance, so he can continue marching for three months to reach Novgorod.

The consumption along the way made all the horses too thin. They traveled against the river and replenished their energy by eating dry grass on the riverside.

When they arrived at their destination, most of the horses were unable to ride. They were restrained in warm pens and fed large amounts of oats and carrots, allowing them to recover quickly.

To this day, the horses bought by the Rus are still provided with good food and drink.

In recent months, the horses and their new owners have been busy training, doing high-intensity cavalry training in the coldest months of late January and early February. At least Kagan has always found this ridiculous based on his knowledge. When the weather is too cold, horses will lose weight if they run around outdoors.

Kagan has completely shut up in the face of the new situation, just because the Russians have oats and wheat, and his Rurik brothers are really willing to invest in feed.

The long manes of each horse were styled into strange braids by their owners, just like their owners themselves.

All Viking people have a special obsession with their hair and beards. Even children will start to grow their beards when the golden hair grows on their chins. When it is long enough, they will tie it up, like tiny cables.

The long mane on the horse's neck is exactly the same. Wealthier children can also add drilled amber pieces, or simple drilled glass blocks, which are not only beautiful, but also serve as markers to prove that this is their mount.

The training of the young cavalry is extremely lively!

Hundreds of riders were riding horses outside the city. Since it was still early for spring plowing, all the flat fields were covered with snow. Rurik had no scruples in letting his new cavalry run around the wider world. A large amount of horse manure is left directly in the fields where the snow has not yet melted. They are a treasure.

The hot and humid horse dung was quickly frozen into ice lumps. Rurik sent people pulling sleds to collect them, and then threw them into a special huge wooden crate with constant temperature, humidity and odor, right here. Fermentation of various types of manure. It was so disgusting that clean-minded Viking settlers and Rus' people shunned it, even though it was rumored to fertilize the land.

Although the fertility of cow, sheep and horse manure is very limited, fermentation will make a difference.

What's more important is that nitrifying bacteria will multiply wildly during this fermentation process, and part of the fermented feces will undergo more stinky processing such as cooking and precipitation, and finally some white soil nitrate will be obtained. The finished product is already a very good potash fertilizer, but the output is at laboratory level. Rurik needed it for military purposes, as an auxiliary tool when making fire with a bow drill.

All human and animal excrement and urine can be collected as much as possible. Now the Viking immigrants and the Russians no longer have to search for natural earth salt under the roots of rotten trees to make "tinder". The self-made products have far exceeded the needs of the army during picnics. quantity. As for transforming it into a more powerful weapon, it only depends on Rurik's own wishes.

The large amount of horse manure left after the cavalry training will be collected immediately. In this way, the cavalry will walk their horses in an overall tidy area during daily training.

All the young cavalrymen formed a dense column to run in a large circle in the morning, and in the afternoon organized small teams to run single vertically and short distances.

The one hundred recurve bows that were traded were not yet equipped with troops, but instead they became a kind of bounty prize designed by Rurik.

Rurik was planning a cavalry excursion in late winter. It had been ten days since the special training, and all the new soldiers had learned to ride horses.

They are equivalent to getting a driver's license. Of course, they still have a long time to improve their skills. During the internship period, they need a horseback riding excursion to quickly improve.

Look at the cavalry today! They put on uniform uniforms. Although it was still very early for them to participate in the battle, they were not even called cavalry. They rode horses to form a dense formation, which was really quite mighty.

During the ten days, the entire Novgorod hand tailoring workshop never stopped working, especially when the entire workshop was moved from Mälaren to Novgorod Vodgen. This man largely laid the foundation for the Rus' principality's ready-made garment industry. A set of standards. Those housewives who were mobilized to work and take advantage of the opportunity to make a fortune generally worked as seasonal temporary workers in the "First Garment Factory of the Principality", and they had to accept the standards of the garment factory.

The tailoring standard was set by Fo Degen. For this elderly man, he was hired by the Prince of Rus as the director of the garment factory. With the high salary given by the prince, he could continue to run his own factory. His desire to make a fortune steadily in this life has been realized, and his children will naturally inherit his status.

Fo Degen is a real man of action. When the prince issues a national order, he will naturally order his slave workers to work overtime in order to get an extra bonus.

The female manager of the state-owned garment factory is Bloma, the mother of Rurik's young love general Fisk. She became a highly regarded person by the prince simply because of her tailoring work. She and her sisters were only responsible to the prince himself. Based on a set of not strict work schedule set by the prince, he was ordered to make ready-made clothes. The finished products were given priority to the army, and the rest of the products were put into the market.

Fordegen is the general consultant of product quality control and the person in charge of the garment factory, but his energy is more focused on his own workshop. Those slave workers were working as cattle and horses for Vodegen. Since most of the slave workers had been bought by Rurik and assigned to Broma's management, the number of Vodegen's own "cattle and horses" was already quite small. Even so, in order to obtain more benefits, these slaves can only "work all day long".

In this unequal social environment, it would be a real honor for a slave to work as an ox and a horse for the Prince of Russia. This does not mean that Rurik is a good person. The fundamental reason for giving more benefits to private slaves is that the prince controls the most wealth in the principality. If you give a little reward to the slaves casually, the living conditions will be completely new.

What he needed was the results of the tailors, and within ten days, a sufficient amount of bearskin coats and hats had been made.

The young cavalrymen all wear white "Ushanka hats", and their other names are ** hats. Leatherized bearskin is cut and stitched, and key parts are reinforced with pine rubber. It doesn't have much defensive capabilities, so it's perfect as a hat to keep out the cold. But its shape is entirely due to Rurik's preference.

Making barreled Caucasian papaha hats was another option, but Rurik still chose the former. Otherwise, the Wushanka hat can cover the ears and the entire face, which is perfect for the extremely cold north.

Except for the hair, the young cavalrymen have a uniform white bear skin jacket. The leather vest is sewn with sleeves. The overall look is slimmer and more suitable for the movement of the arms on horseback.

The trousers are also uniform. This is a mixture of thick and fine linen stitched. Their overall style is larger. This is to adapt to the bodies of young cavalry who are still growing rapidly, making a pair of trousers useful for many years. As for the trouser legs that are too long, it is never a problem. The Slavs are better at making leather boots than all the Viking tribes. The brown boots made of deerskin and wool felt are also very large, and the warrior's trouser legs are too long and can be easily stuffed into them.

The little soldier has short legs and small feet, so his feet are wrapped in several layers of foot-wrapping cloth, and his trouser legs are stuffed into his boots.

They wore quite a bit of snow camouflage, and a staggering number of polar bears turned into their clothing. Some blue cloth strips were deliberately sewn on the white leather jacket, including their white fur, and staggered blue stripes were sewn on the forehead protector on the front of the Ushanka hat, as if they were holding the Ross flag on their foreheads.

They did not yet have their own swords, but a combination of daggers and handaxes hung from their belts.

Instead, they all raised a spear about three meters in length. The polished carbon steel spearhead shone brightly in the sun. Each spearhead is tied with blue and red cloth strips, adding to the might of the army with multiple colors.

What's even better is that all the children are wearing wooden-framed sunglasses to protect their eyes from being burned by the glare of the snow.

The cavalry gathered in such a posture. As the chief instructor, Kagan and his Pecheneg soldiers took a closer look and all took a breath.

More than ten days ago, the children who saw the assembled armored prairie cavalry for the first time felt fear and cowardice.

The Pecheneg army was shocked now.

Kagan knew that these children had no fighting ability now, but it was only a matter of time before they became excellent cavalry.

The New Rus' cavalry and the Pecheneg cavalry assembled an army of 600 cavalry. If this were an elite force and rushed into the territory of the Frankish Kingdom, they would be able to burn, kill, loot and be difficult to contain.

Wearing new clothes and holding a spear, the humble man also became a member of the mighty army. The young warrior was very confident. Everyone only wanted to gather the princes and princes, so everyone had brought enough dry food, and even sacks were hung on the saddles, which contained oats for horse feeding.

Rurik held the reins, controlled the horses and made another speech on the snow: "Young cavalry! This time I want to inspect the entire Lake Ilmen before spring plowing. I want to inspect all villages and all subjects. .You are the warriors I rely on and the most important military force of the principality. Now follow me to complete the great inspection and prove that you have mastered the horses..."

Speaking of excitement, Rurik suddenly pulled out his steel sword, pointing the sword straight into the sky.

Seeing this, all the young cavalry raised their lances high and yelled Ula as Rurik taught them.

Thousands of people admired the gathering of cavalry, including Otto, who put on his battle uniform again and admired his son's brilliant move with the support of his attendants.

Every young cavalryman wears Ross's logo on his forehead, and the interlaced blue patterns are the oars.

Old Otto watched all this with a calm face, relying on his willpower to suppress his tear ducts, so that he did not burst into tears due to excessive excitement. He never thought that Ross could form a large cavalry force, or that a few years ago he never thought that there could be a new unit called cavalry. Since other countries already have cavalry, it would be foolish for Ross not to form his own.

At the sound of the trumpet, the Russian cavalry mixed with the Pecheneg cavalry began a counterclockwise armed parade around Lake Ilmen.

One after another, the spears are pointing towards the sky, like a moving grove. The cavalry lined up in double columns, forming a team nearly one thousand meters long.

The young cavalry were talking and laughing along the way. Most of them were born after the Russians, and they were born not too long ago. Everyone was ignorant. Through education, they learned that the vastness of the world was beyond ordinary people's cognition, but they I did not measure the land in person, nor did I go around Lake Ilmen, especially while riding a horse.

The cavalry team deliberately circled the old Russian city of Mstisk to let the people have a good look at the Russian cavalry team, and also to let the parents of some children know how majestic their sons are now as cavalrymen.

As for the cavalry's arrival at the dozens of villages built along the lake like strings of beads where "hidden people" were housed, a strong deterrent with military power was an important purpose.

The people stood on both sides of the ice road and saluted the mighty cavalry. When they saw Prince Rus himself, they took off their hats and saluted. Most people just watched.

Rurik had no more demands and was too lazy to order the people to kneel and kowtow. He just wanted these people to take a good look at the Ross cavalry, suggesting that they weigh their own worth.

The huge cavalry team successfully arrived at the rest stop of this patrol - New Ostara.

As the prince, Rurik also wanted to take a good look at what his woman had built into the important town in the south of the principality.

The first cavalry team was stationed south of the lake. The young cavalry hurriedly mounted their horses to meet their prince. Even Carlotta got on her mount and had a horse-riding meeting with her man.

Her heart was beating in ecstasy, and Carlotta wanted to jump on Rurik's saddle.

"This is your brand new cavalry? It's so powerful." Carlotta couldn't think of any more complimentary words, and her face was quite distorted because of the exaggerated smile.

Rurik smiled slightly, took a good look at the city, and saw Duke Svalgard of the Granland who came here to visit a few days ago. This man was also riding a horse, and his reserved appearance showed that this man His riding skills are extremely poor.

"Carlotta, you run New Ostara very well."

"That's natural. How about it? Come to my city and have a good rest?"

Rurik nodded: "That's what I meant. I also want to take a good look at my Karl and you." After that, he deliberately opened his arms, "I didn't bring any women with me this time, you know …”

Carlotta understood completely. She nodded with a knowing smile, and then ordered her subordinates to fully open the gate of the wall.

He added: "Although my city is small, it is enough to accommodate this large army. The accommodation conditions are certainly not as good as Novgorod."

"It's okay, I don't even need you to provide additional supplies. Let's go, I want to go to the city to rest."

It was at this time that Svalgard realized that he had an opportunity to interrupt, and he hurriedly called out to attract Rurik's attention.

"You? I just wanted to ask you, looking for books. www.zhaoshuyuan.com What was your experience in the south? My Carlotta is an old friend of yours. Does it remind you of the past a long time ago?"

Svalgard answered very simply: "Prince, I am even willing to remove the title of Duke. I plan to move all the Gran people here to guard the southern border of the Principality of Rus for you. There are too few of us Gran people at all. You are the only one who has the qualifications to call yourself a principality."

What he said surprised Rurik, but what this man said was very self-aware.

"If you want to do this, just do it. The population on my southern border is too small. With hundreds of you Gran people, the pressure on my southern defense is also much less. I am tired. My army and my allies need to Go to the city to recuperate. Carlotta!"

"Um."

"Hopefully your remaining stables can handle six hundred newly arrived horses."

"It doesn't matter. I will breed more horses for you in the future. I have already built many stables in advance."

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