Rise of Rurik

It is never a good idea to march on a large scale in a world of ice and snow unless the logistics are very sufficient.

From Novgorod to Novorosberg, the capital city at the mouth of the Neva River, rafting on a boat on a nice day can take up to five days at the fastest. The frozen rivers and lakes gave the sleigh team a shortcut to run wildly. The infantry rode a large number of reindeer sleighs, and the cavalry conserved horse power and sat on the sleds as well, carrying a large amount of supplies, especially a large amount of food, to start the attack.

In this era, the most efficient method of logistical transportation was water transportation, followed by mules and horses, and third by manpower.

With manpower carrying shoulder poles for logistics transportation, as the logistics line lengthens, the loss of materials in the process also increases exponentially. It is known that a thousand kilometers of logistics lines require twenty pieces of food to transport one piece of food to the front line. .

Mule-drawn transport greatly reduces losses during the journey, but the requirements for reliable roads are more stringent.

In the end, the cheapest transportation method was water transportation, which was more restricted by rivers, lakes and canals.

Therefore, although the straight-line distance between Novgorod and Novorossberg is only more than 100 kilometers, Rurik's army had to take a big detour to reach its staged destination.

At least the frozen world provided a thoroughfare, and Rurik's "army of mules and horses" moved forward at the speed of ships drifting down the frozen river.

For the foreseeable future, the army will continue to march in this way until it reaches Sweden.

A big problem lies in front of Rurik - the climate is getting warmer.

As the saying goes, it doesn't take one day to freeze three feet of ice, and it doesn't take three to five days for it to finally melt.

Finally, the army entered the frozen Neva River. The ice journey has not been a serious challenge to everyone so far. The soldiers are looking forward to arriving at New Roseburg for a good rest.

Look! In front of the flat farmland covered with ice and snow, an abrupt city wall appeared, and a tall tower stood out from the crowd!

Look again! A large number of ships stood on the ice like sculptures. They were fleets surrounded by ice, and those masts were as dense as a forest!

The people in the capital began to prepare for the war in September last year, and today is already the beginning of March. They have been preparing for the war for half a year. All war-related services, including the military industry, provided a large number of job opportunities for the people, and the temporary prosperity brought by the war was like a shot in the arm.

The prosperity of the war charter is a double-edged sword, and no one knows this better than King Rurik. He has mobilized manpower to produce a large amount of war preparation materials. It is said that if you have a good sword, you must kill the enemy. Any delay will be fatal to the country.

The people not only welcomed back their king, but also welcomed a powerful army.

The huge sled team stopped directly on the ice of the Neva River, and the soldiers who had been sitting all the way got down to relax their muscles.

Due to the long distance, many people come to the capital only rarely, and because the capital is developing at a rapid pace, seeing each other again today is like seeing a brand new city. They were once proud that Novgorod was a big city, but now it seems that Novorosberg has given a new definition to the city.

Rurik looked around with his sword in hand, arranging his confidants to order his subordinates who were looking around.

At this moment, the city wall was full of people, and a large number of people walked out of their homes to pay homage to Master Wang's glory by the frozen river. Those who were fishing in the ice also stopped their work, put down their fishing rods, and came to watch the spectacle.

Among the many onlookers were Governor Cornuson and his son.

The father's old big hand pressed on his son's shoulder: "The king is here. This time, you will lead the army to participate in the expedition."

Not surprisingly, young Cornuson will succeed his father's position and be appointed by the king as the next governor of the capital. This is an extremely honorable position. Although it cannot be regarded as a fief noble, the family is expected to be responsible for the defense of the capital for a long time and gain great honor as a close minister of the king. Therefore, young Conuson must gain military merit.

"The king's army is gathering. I should now assemble the second standard to greet the king." He suggested.

"Do it! Gather as many brothers as possible from the Second Flag Team."

The old guys were either too old to lift their swords or passed away, and the Second Flag Troop was transformed into a youth troop. A small number of old warriors who are still capable of fighting form the branches of the banner, a small number of newly promoted young people from Old Rus living in the capital serve as twigs, and a large number of young people from other Viking tribes form the leaves. Such a second flag team lacks a record, and most of the recruits' swords have not yet seen blood, but they are full of youthful vitality and eager to use their military exploits to gain honor for themselves.

Young Konuson was in a hurry with King Rurik. When he made an emergency gathering in Harvest Square and barely managed to organize the Second Banner, he rushed outside the city non-stop and merged with the main force of the army that was about to enter the city.

The king's army was uniformly dressed and equipped. They marched in neat steps on Nevsky Prospekt, accepting the ambiguity of the people. The newly assembled Second Flag Team also joined in to participate in the grand event.

Rurik arrived in his loyal capital in high spirits, and now, the real expedition has just begun.

The king arrived with the main army from the east, and many officers gathered together to eat barbecue and drink strong wine.

All "ship" captains, that is, officers equivalent to platoon-level commanders, were on the invitation list. Dozens of them drank with the King and the Supreme King and listened to the King's speech.

"If I just crusade against the Jotaland people and destroy a few villages, I don't have to gather an army of thousands of people. This year, I will sweep across the entire Jotaland! Those who are willing to surrender to us will be our compatriots! Those who dare to resist, Will be completely wiped out by our army! Odin gave me his blessing and gave me a mission. My mission is to conquer. Those villages and tribes that speak Norse will all belong to Rus! What we need is a great Rus! You all You will gain glory in this war, and you will get more in the future..."

Rurik said a lot. He never mentioned that war would bring killing, but emphasized that this was a glorious war, and it was a war in compliance with the will of the gods.

As soon as they heard that the battle had won the glory promised by the gods, the warriors became excited. They don't want to stick to ordinary life, they envy the heroes in legends and stories, and they long to live like legends themselves.

This time, Rurik allowed the whole army to have a drink to wash away the fatigue of the long journey and to prepare for the more difficult journey that was to follow.

The entire army has a three-day holiday, and soldiers can use their own money to buy needed supplies on the spot. After all, it was a war, and the handicrafts on the market sold very well, including a large number of wood carvings of lucky elves and even small sculptures of gods such as Thor and Frey. They were widely worn around the necks by soldiers as a protective shield, which gave them peace of mind.

Rurik was not idle this time. As a recognized "person blessed by Odin", he did not need the protection of these amulets, because in a sense, he himself was the amulet of the entire army.

The key to winning a war lies in sufficient strength, appropriate timing, and adequate logistical support.

In particular, the issue of logistical support is often ignored by European generals in this era. In this regard, the Russian army must try its best to make plans.

During this half-year period, the weather was extremely cold, and the royal mill of Rurik's sister-in-law Aslaki continued to be busy. Wheat was crushed into powder, and the wheat bran was mixed with fine flour and kneaded into a ball. It was then baked with some whole oatmeal flour. Plenty of dry, hard whole wheat biscuits. At the beginning, they all contained a lot of water, and the water was frozen into ice during storage. The earliest batch of sesame cakes were last year's products. The sesame cakes were essentially freeze-dried outdoors in a large refrigerator, and turned into a large number of dehydrated and hard cakes.

Such biscuits are not easy to eat, and you will grind your gums if you bite hard. The advantage is that it is extremely durable and ready-to-eat military rations. The reserves of nearly half a year are now finally put to use.

Not only the ready-to-eat sentinels, but also a large amount of dehydrated salted fish and dried meat were piled up in the warehouse. Now they are all pulled out, stuffed into large shopping bags and thrown on the sled.

If an army of 5,000 men was mobilized, a soldier would have to eat three pounds of oats every day during wartime to cope with the extreme physical exertion. If the campaign lasted for six months, the army would consume 2.7 million pounds of oats.

This is only the consumption of personnel. If the loss of animal power is added, it is normal to consume five million pounds of oats in total.

Rurik set the standards for his army based on the scientific military ration standards that would be adopted a thousand years later. He especially considered that all kinds of things would happen during the war. The only thing that could stabilize the morale of the army was sufficient food and grass.

During the break, a high-level military meeting was held under his chairmanship.

The atmosphere at the venue was enthusiastic but quickly turned serious.

The elder Conuson worked hard to promote his son's loyalty and bravery, and the younger Conuson also took a selfie of his chest and swore not to disgrace his old Russian blood.

"Put everything aside in advance. Now, Governor Cornuson, I want you to count all the stocks in the granary and prepare them. In addition to the normal consumption of the people, you must prepare a strategic reserve of two million pounds of oats for me. And wait for my king’s call.”

Old Cornuson half understood and half confused, "The king must have profound arrangements."

Rurik said: "The thing is very simple. I, the king, must be fully prepared. If the war becomes intense, I will need a large amount of supplies from the rear to fill up the consumption at the front. You...can't hope that our army can plunder Jotta. Food for the Lan people? I don’t think they are very wealthy. Therefore, the original sale of food to the people has been suspended, and all the grain warehouses have been sealed. How much food is left?”

Old Cornuson was shocked, but the king had given an order and he must carry it out. Fortunately for him, it is his great responsibility to control the granary, and the current inventory is extremely satisfactory.

"There are also more than 3 million pounds of oats and 200,000 pounds of wheat. As you know, the state's granary is the largest in the country. If there is really a food shortage, there are actually a lot of private grain stocks. If we really encounter problems, we can Collect food from the people.”

"Great!" Rurik's serious face was filled with a smile: "Stop the granary immediately, and I will post a notice to inform the people. Anyway, everyone has surplus food at home, and when the temperature recovers, people will go fishing again. In the past We Russians have always eaten fish to survive, and we can only eat some wheat during Hanukkah. Although wheat has become a common delicacy now, the old tradition of eating fish cannot be abandoned, especially now that it is a war, it can only temporarily suffer the people. "

"They will understand us, and as long as we gain glory, everything will be fine." Old Cornuson said some glorious nonsense, and he promised to cooperate with the king in the rear with a lot of practical actions.

Rurik found many people and held a meeting, and also gave the governor old Konuson important tasks, especially the important matter of dividing the troops and marching.

Of course, waiting for the ice and snow to melt and marching by sea will consume less materials. In that case, the march will be delayed until May, giving the Kingdom of Ross too little time to fight.

The main force must do its best to reach Stockholm, Sweden, as quickly as possible. It must wait until early April to assemble its forces and start moving south. At that time, most areas of the Gulf of Bothnia and the Gulf of Finland were still full of ice floes, which was detrimental to navigation.

In the capital city of New Roseburg, an allied army of only fifty men, composed of Vips and Rudy people, joined the king's army under the leadership of Count Terravis. Tyravis himself is a Covin, but now he has become the earl of the Veps people who were canonized by Rurik. His territory is on the west bank of Lake Ladoga, and its core is the walled city of Kekisalmi, which is a Rus people. An existence like a stop for hunting toward the northeastern world.

All of Terravis's army held bows. Because of his friendship with Count Jevlo of Finland, his army was heavily equipped with "ash tree" longbows. In terms of blood, they are all a tribe under Finland and will also be part of the Allied Forces. Rurik didn't ask them to send many troops, and there weren't many men anyway. To be able to gather fifty men was already Talavis's best effort.

According to Rurik's plan, the army gathered at Novorosberg to participate in a grand expedition memorial, and the army headed west on the northern shore of the frozen Gulf of Finland. The army was to recruit another force at Herminki (Helsinki), the trading town of the Finnish count, especially under the leadership of the Finnish count Jevlo himself, which fell under the direct rule of Rurik as it had once been.

A grand sacrifice was held under the auspices of High Priest Rumia. More than 10,000 people gathered in Harvest Square, making this rather spacious square look cramped.

Thickly dressed people crowded shoulder to shoulder. They kept a distance from the assembled army out of awe, admiring the military power from a distance, and waiting for the grand occasion of public sacrifice.

After all, this was a national war, and Ross also dispatched the largest army in history.

Another one hundred and eleven reindeer were pulled out, and the strong men, with their upper bodies exposed and showing off their golden chest hair, holding sharp knives, bled the stags one by one in front of the great temple. The barbaric and high-standard sacrifice came to an end, and the collected deer blood was rushed to drink by the warriors. The serious fishy smell is a problem, but these sacrifices must have been ordered by the gods, not to mention that it is said that men who drink deer blood will become more masculine. The soldiers actually ate all the deer's blood. The skin was peeled off and the meat was packed and frozen in the cold weather to become fresh meat, which was perfect for the journey.

The Ross army received an extremely important supply in the capital. A batch of heavy weapons were shipped on sleds. The number of combat troops, plus some accompanying non-combat auxiliary personnel, expanded to 3,000. There are also 600 sleighs pulling people and goods, and there are as many as 3,000 reindeer pulling the sleighs, as well as more than 300 horses.

After the army left the capital, it headed west, looking for Shuyuan www.zhaoshuyuan.com. The army marched according to the formation of the flag team. Although the distance between the teams gradually widened, they were eventually divided into multiple modules, and each sled in each module set up a side. Flags, a large number of flags gathered together are an eye-catching presence that cannot be ignored. There were as many modules as there were flag teams. Three thousand people were divided into seven modules and rushed towards Helminki City.

Rurik was convinced that his loyal Javlo had prepared a capable archer army and would follow the king's order to organize a Finnish flag force of about 500 people, and they would bring their own dry food and wait to be merged into the royal army.

The army will never be lost in the world of ice and snow. They advance along the frozen coastline, rest at night and continue marching during the day. Sufficient food reserves ensure the consumption of reindeer, horses and people, and the specially selected route also allows the reindeer to use their heads to open the snow and eat hay under the snow to reduce material consumption when resting.

The army finally arrived at Helminki. It had been seven full days and nights since leaving the capital, New Roseburg. At noon on the eighth day, Rurik finally saw the Finns' first formal palace built under his command. The city of Erba Sutra.

The loyal Jevro has already taken his six-year-old son Kelha to wait for the king's arrival.

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