Rise of Rurik

If Fisk's marauding cavalry continued southward, it would also be feasible to rush all the way along the Rhine to Mainz.

A snowfall calmed down the fanatical Ross cavalry. They counted the gold and silver they had plundered wildly these days, and then considered the supplies they now had. No one was willing to continue taking risks.

Their behavior caused panic among the people in Cologne and Bonn, and also aroused the vigilance of the nobles of the kingdom across the river.

Some bad news has been flying all over the sky in recent days, and Aachen has been attacked by barbarians.

The Normans were plundering everywhere in Flanders. Count Baudouin's life and death were uncertain, and his son took the initiative to imprison the country.

It was during this treacherous situation that a group of well-trained horseback bandits appeared in the east of Aachen.

Aachen is "the best place" and Charlemagne's coffin is located here. The defenders increased the city's security, and it would still take some time for the news to reach King Lothair of the Middle Kingdom who was still in the southeast.

A snowfall spreads from the Arctic Circle to beneath the Alps.

It was extremely cold in the north, with the whole of Scandinavia experiencing blizzards, and the Gulf of Bothnia and the sea near Rossburg, the place where the Russians thrived, were freezing rapidly.

It was during this harsh season that the Russian blast furnaces did not stop. Flames continued to roast several blast furnaces, and iron smelting operations continued.

But life for others has already entered a winter mode, and they are trying to hide in their homes until this snowfall is over.

Eastern Europe also encountered the first snowfall, and the Novgorod region was immersed in snow.

It is cold and desolate, because the soldiers from the expedition have not returned, and the news that has come so far still comes from September. The information that people know is that the war will continue.

A group of injured people have returned early, bringing first-hand information about the battle situation on the front line and praising the great achievements of the Russian army.

The final battle reports came only from the Danish operations in Jutland.

Finally, the Danish forces, which troubled all Russians and Swedes, turned enemies into friends after this war. Let the past grudges be over! Even if some people feel that all grudges should not be hastily erased.

Anyone with a discerning eye knows that when the maritime disputes ended, the fishing business in the Baltic Sea became much more stable.

All this is based on the great military exploits of the Russian army. The Kingdom of Russia and the Kingdom of Denmark are bounded by the strait. The Ross represents the entire Scandinavia here, and they have the right to rule.

The victory was inspiring. It was clear that the soldiers of the expedition would fight all the way until next year. This was the first time in history. When the joy faded, people began to worry about the comfort of the expedition.

What is comforting is that the king has exempted all people from taxes this year. However, this year's agricultural tax and commercial tax have been collected. Do they have to be refunded immediately?

No one asked much about it.

After all, the taxes collected were not a big problem for the people at this time. Although the tax was still a tithe, the results of pioneering had already demonstrated its power. Although most of the old and new Russian families have temporarily lost their strong labor force, they were the first to reap the dividends of the war. Relying on the strength of women and children and spending money to hire local Slavic labor, the grain harvesting work was still successfully completed. The tax was also paid successfully.

Most families still had sufficient food surplus, but the expected invasion of Smolensk people did not appear.

On the contrary, it was the steppe cavalry who frequently robbed the Smolensk area.

For more than half a year, these short black-haired prairie people have been transporting more than 500 abducted women to the north. These captives were snapped up, and Kagan and his steppe cavalry made a fortune, buying steel, leather, cloth, and even precious salt from the Kingdom of Rus.

The elderly Otto has age spots on his face. Thanks to the gray beard that covers his face, his hair has almost fallen out, so he usually wears a hat to cover up this embarrassment.

He didn't know when he would come to the end of his life. After all, he was already sixty-seven years old.

what does that mean?

The ten maids he once selected for his only son Rurik now all gave birth to children successfully.

He is just an old man surrounded by many grandchildren, settled in Novgorod and enjoying endless dreams.

He stayed here and lived the same life as a king. The Supreme King was also a king. With him here, the eastern region of the Kingdom of Rus was peaceful.

The huge kingdom needs busy transportation lines to maintain each other. Before the expansion war started in 840, it was divided into: northern region, eastern region, Swedish region, and Finnish region.

The so-called hometown in the northern region, the old man Haro Zuosen dreamed of becoming the boss of the Ross tribe. As times changed, this man finally got his wish. There would be no trouble in his hometown of Roseburg in the north.

The Swedish region has returned to the ancient tribal alliance state. The governor and the Uppsala Great Temple institution have been added to the local area. Rus controls the place with a system that is close to control.

Finland is just a county, and its population is too small. Today's economy is highly tied to the capital city of New Roseburg. A group of Finns have been working in the east for a long time. There are always some shantytowns built by Finns outside New Roseburg where they have settled for a long time. . They can't make any waves.

The core area of ​​​​the Rus Kingdom's rule is completely in the east. There are more than 200,000 people here, and the number is climbing to 300,000 at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Prince Osborne Slav is here, King Otto is here, High Priest Rumia and Deputy Priest Velika are here.

Old Russians, New Russians, and a large number of immigrants from Scandinavia settled here one after another. They still maintain the abundant martial virtues of the past. Due to the incredible stability of life, the increasingly prosperous days have made every family have a strong desire to have children.

The population is expanding rapidly, accompanied by increasing deforestation. People need a larger living space and a larger trade network. Countless needs give rise to huge desires.

It is already November in the Julian calendar, and soon it will be a new year.

The new year means that the results of the second large-scale marriage of the old Russians will show its power. Based on tradition, northern boys do not want to count their ages. A child is considered an adult when he reaches his twelfth birthday.

At first, the marriage between Rus and the Novgorod people was just a trial. In the second year, when the estrangement between them was eliminated due to the birth of their children, the marriages became more frequent.

Starting from the second year, the population of Ross began to explode. Now, the first generation of the "population explosion period" has reached adulthood. They have all the obligations of the Ross people. The most important thing is to take up arms to expand the strength of Ross.

Because if it doesn’t expand, it will die.

Everyone knew that the expeditionary army had entered Frankish territory. As for the situation of the battle, it was impossible to know due to the temporary interruption of transportation.

No one complained that the king was engaging in military warfare. The new young warriors were busy sharpening their swords. They were not afraid of tigers when they were born. They even looked forward to the continuation of the war, so that when the king called for reinforcements, everyone could take part in a large-scale war as a rite of passage.

Otto is old and needs a cane to stand up. He still likes to drink, ale, mead, raspberry infusion, kvass, and even precious wine.

He continues to enjoy life, and every day he lives is a day he earns.

He also hopes that the army will triumph and he can see Ross achieve greater glory.

Militarism did not exist, and Ross's rear was quite stable.

This was completely either the people of Russia or the noble saints, because Rurik did not allocate taxes to them to fund the military, and even passed official documents to them to be tax-free for a year.

The vast majority of the people did not suffer any losses, and the wounded soldiers who were withdrawn reported outrageous victory reports one after another, so they just lived their lives.

Different from purely agricultural people, they had to rely on pack horses and even people's shoulders to transport materials to the front line.

The Russian army's logistical pressure is very low. Relying on large ships and sails, as well as the vast ocean and countless rivers, the power of nature can propel the army to attack at a high speed.

Ross relied on war to support war, relying on looting and tribute to meet his needs, and immediately trawled for fishing during the period when the army was temporarily settled.

Then when the first snow fell in Northern and Western Europe, the Russian army was still able to ensure that its soldiers had oats and fish to eat every day.

The Saxon people suffered the most.

Rurik's combat plan has begun to be implemented, and Arik's squadron has been stationed at the mouth of the Elbe River on standby.

He wished that the enemy's army would immediately advance to the Elbe River, but it snowed heavily.

Since they were prepared to persist in fighting, the Ross-Danish coalition built wooden houses near Hamburg early. Most of them build houses using the old craftsmanship from their hometown. They build a rough wooden house first and then pile a layer of soil on the outside, which is like creating an unexpected earth hole in the flat ground.

This is the old way of building longhouses by the Vikings. It is really inelegant from today's perspective. It’s not impossible to build woodcut ridges that are better resistant to the cold, but it requires more man-hours. Considering that a decisive battle could happen at any time, the soldiers were too lazy to make a fuss and just built a hastily built shack to keep out the cold.

The Ross-Danish coalition had complete tools, but the situation of the war refugees who gathered in the Hamburg area was extremely bad.

For Saxons, it is not uncommon for people to freeze to death in winter, or even entire families to freeze to death.

Speaking more broadly, many people froze to death in the entire Frankish Kingdom every winter. Death from diarrhea due to eating unclean food and death from the cold in winter are the two major obstacles that restrict the expansion of the population of this huge kingdom.

The alliance between Rus and Denmark and Saxony was only an alliance with Duke Liudov. The life and death of the civilians of Saxony was a matter that Liudov had to take care of. It was kind of Ross to reward these civilians with some food, and there is nothing wrong with not giving them.

Now, Rurik is doing exactly that and giving nothing.

After the snowfall began, Saxons began to suffer from frostbite and death.

The maximum temperature in the environment suddenly dropped below zero. Those weak women and children could not withstand the test of low temperature and began to die. The combat effectiveness of strong men was also weakened by the cold.

Liudov assembled an army of 10,000 men by recruiting strong men. Originally, there were not many combatable soldiers among them, so Xue Xue's strength was further reduced.

He will not ask the Russians and Danes for some relief. He will not do it out of pride, and the situation has not yet evolved into mass casualties of the people.

The priests have gone to comfort these poor people and organized people to bury the frozen dead.

Especially Eskil, he conveyed this message to the people: "Some people died because they were not devout enough in their faith. This is a trial, and you must overcome the test of cold and war."

The northern sage has spoken, but everyone has nothing to say.

As for those Russians and Danes who couldn't see any signs of freezing to death, what's going on?

ah! Maybe it's just because they are weirdos who jumped out of the ice and don't need to go through God's trial. They are integrated with the ice and snow and are not afraid of the cold at all.

Are Vikings really not afraid of the cold? Is it really a creation of ice and snow? !

In Hamburg, Eskil presided over a modest Halloween celebration, which was followed by snowfall, a sort of festive follow-up.

The coalition forces still held on to the Elbe River in the snow and wind, and Hamburg became a large military camp, with various wooden buildings rising from the ground.

The food supply of the Rus-Danish army is very normal, and their living environment is also better.

The overall situation of the people of Saxony is much worse, and most people will not suffer the fate of freezing to death. At most a dozen people gathered in a room to keep warm. The food they brought could last for a long time, and they all hoped that the snowfall would pass soon.

Snowfall is a test for both sides in the war.

It delayed Ludwig's next move. The main body of the huge Frankish army has moved to the north of the Weser River. For the time being, they still have to stay in the rebuilt Bremen and build some wooden houses to accommodate more than 20,000 people. Survive this snowfall.

Archbishop Hardbold of Cologne held a simple Halloween ceremony in an open space in Bremen. Snow began to fall after the ceremony, and many soldiers claimed that the archbishop had brought bad luck.

But did this Frankish expeditionary force encounter enough bad luck? In other words, when King Ludwig insisted on launching a winter expedition, he was bound to face winter wind and snow.

But this snowfall could not only cause trouble for the Frankish army.

Ludwig rarely came to Saxony. He lived in the south for a long time. He mainly conducted remote control of the northern region and learned about the situation in the north mainly through letters from nobles.

"Maybe the weather will be colder this year, maybe the Elbe River will freeze. My army will go directly through the ice, capture Hamburg and fight them, and I will win."

The size of the force will determine the outcome of the war. Ludwig always believed that his strong army was invincible in land warfare. All previous setbacks were caused by the hateful ships of a Norman. The powerful cavalry cannot run on the water. The previous defeats were all due to this. If there were smooth roads everywhere, how could the Frank army fail?

Ludwig's pride is here, and he will never admit that his strength is insufficient. He is now blaming the traitors and invaders in the north for the failure of the border friction with his eldest brother Lothair during the summer. Even if he curses him ten thousand times, it is not an exaggeration.

Both sides of the war are waiting for the snow to stop, and it is clear that this snow will continue for a while.

On the other hand, while Rurik was waiting for the snow to stop, Nolen and Beyashil, who were in their late stages of pregnancy, gave birth to two normal baby boys on exactly the same day.

One's hair color is like gold, and the other's hair color is brown. They all closed their eyes and howled, wrapped in soft sheepskin, and held in the arms of their respective mothers.

The two princes of the Kingdom of Rus were born in Hamburg. Helping them a lot at this moment will be very beneficial to themselves in the future.

Liudov provided generous rooms for Nolen and Bayahir to cultivate themselves, and he also handed over his maid to take care of their children.

There are not many women in the Russian army. Women's bodies are very weak after giving birth and they do need care. The maids of the Liudov family are pure maids, and there are some old women among them. They are the maids who take care of the noble families, from cooking to toiletries. They are a group of professionals, and Rurik is certainly satisfied with Liudov's assistance in this regard.

However, the old man Eskil saw this as an opportunity. He estimated that his actions might make Rurik angry, but he thought that the big boy Regraf Ruriksson was wandering around Hamburg every day.

He couldn't help but start his conspiracy again...