Rise of Rurik

The returning Ureko team brought important news, and the three brothers who died caused excitement.

The warriors had no sympathy for the Polotsks unless the natives declared their allegiance to Rus. The current situation is that Ross has died, and the old comrades of the deceased are holding back for revenge.

In this way, everyone had a resistance to the issue of going south to establish a new settlement, but after this incident, the negative emotions were swept away.

The standing cavalry was 100 cavalry, and the Ostara cavalry was 200 cavalry.

An army of three hundred cavalry was already a strong military force, and in theory the troops could directly attack the settlements of Polotsk. Fisk, the commander, would not do this, even if he had the right to go to war.

Sitting in the current position, Fisk had to consider a lot of things. He couldn’t go to war without authorization because of the excitement of the crowd. After all, the Ostara cavalry was in his own hands, and he had the elite standing cavalry on hand. Once the army was damaged, the loss would be too great.

He wanted to do things steadily, and the first point was to build the Vitebsk stronghold at the predetermined location.

An old man dressed as tough as he could, and the old Harold put on the clothes of the Rus and joined the cavalry as a guide. Unfortunately, he could not ride independently, so he had to sit on the back of the horse and hug the neck of the horse to ensure that he would not fall off, while his mount was led by the cavalry in front.

The construction of the Vitebsk stronghold was an unplanned move, but what about a new stronghold, which is currently a riverside fortress in Carlota's conception.

The fort must be built before the autumn rains can gather, and enough for some soldiers to stay here for the winter. She will send a small number of her own men to complete permanent stationing, even if it is a military adventure.

It was a sunny morning, the wind was warm and comfortable, and the cavalry assembled in the open space outside the city. They did their best to complete the preparation of supplies in a short time. Now is the time to set off.

As a Duchess, she stood on a high platform made of wooden carts and boxes before she set off.

When the soldiers saw the noblewoman wearing an iron armor and an iron helmet on her head, standing at a high place, they could not help but judge her. The cavalry continued to rumble, and everyone whispered, until Carlota's sharp voice overcame the wind and stopped everyone's noise.

In front of everyone's eyes, she drew her sword, and the blade pointed straight to the south.

"Now our king is in the north! I am his woman, let me continue to expand on his behalf! Ostarans! Gods bless you! Odin gives you strength!"

Perhaps this is the most normal scene, and it is also part of the necessary departure ceremony.

The real ceremony is the sacrifice.

Even if the action to establish a new stronghold in the south is not a war, everyone has already unified their mentality, and if a new gathering point rises up from the ground, it will be lost by all, and it is very likely that a sudden battle will break out around it. Even if it didn't fight right away, it was the army's garrison base, the starting point for the cavalry to deliberately find fault. As the saying goes, if there is no immediate fight, after stabilization, Ross's army, especially the subordinate Ostara army, will deliberately find fault.

After a brief speech from Kang, a cow was pulled to the banks of the Lovati River. Carlotta continued to hold the sword and pulled his son Karl over, letting his son's little hand touch the hilt. In this way, the mother and son pierced the cow's throat together. Due to the violent struggle of the cow, the gushing blood of the cow instantly splashed both mother and son.

Bloodstain is not terrible, but it is not very auspicious.

When the cavalrymen on standby saw this scene, they found that the Duchess had become a "blood man", and immediately became noisy again.

Fisker tightened the reins and rode his horse around in front of the army. He noticed that the army was emotionally ill, and he frowned when he looked left and right.

"It seems! This is Odin's revelation! Everyone adjusts their mentality, and we are likely to fight as soon as we go to the south. Check our weapons again, and then adjust our mentality! I warn you! Once the war begins, you must fight with all your strength, Any escapees will be hanged afterwards!"

Fisk's remarks were mainly aimed at the Ostara cavalry, most of whom did not have Viking blood, and most of them used to be ordinary Slavic farmers. Short-term military training is not enough to improve their military literacy, and the most important thing is that the discipline of the army is not enough.

Discipline, even if the Rus Standing Army is not strict to the level of dogma, the standing cavalry is divided into closely organized teams, of which ten-man squads are the smallest combat units. Because the soldiers of the army were from similar backgrounds and participated in large-scale wars, each team cooperated quite skillfully. Since the organizational structure was hierarchical, Fisk could accurately lead the entire team according to the regulations.

Looting and sabotage is a form of warfare, and cavalry is encouraged to loot frantically. The only principle in this regard is that once the other party declares surrender, any looting will be terminated immediately, and the parties involved will be punished if there is any damage.

The discipline of the cavalry comes from this hierarchy, and the morale of the army comes from the beliefs of the soldiers and the experience of fighting side by side.

This aspect is weak for the Ostara cavalry!

Even in the past few years, a part of the Ostara cavalry and the personal guards of Pecheneg's Prince Kagan have teamed up to rob, and they have all fought with the wind. Because he has been with the Pecheneg people for too long, he has learned a lot of rogue tactics. As for whether he can fight a tough battle, Fisk, who now has command, is a little worried. It's not that the "rogue tactics" in the grasslands are bad. One of the key points is "running if you can't beat them and then sneaking a sneak attack." This tactic is very clever, but in many cases, the cavalry must face the challenge, especially when the cavalry becomes the main force of the battle.

The Duchess's blood was interpreted as Odin's revelation that there was a battle trial ahead.

The veterans of the standing army are fearless and even hold their revenge, and those Ostara cavalry have to be fully vigilant.

There are 400 horses in 300 cavalry, and 100 horses are used as pack mules.

The standing cavalry are all equipped with armor, which reduces the load on the mount, and the armor and clothing are all packed and transported by pack horses. They moved forward lightly, with the swords hanging from their waists not leaving their bodies.

The extravagant Mongolian military technique of one man and five horses traveling 200 miles a day is simply impossible. Fisk and the 300 cavalry he led can only try to do so. After a period of rest, everyone was in good spirits, and the war horses also gnawed grass every day, and they were fed some cooked oats with salt before leaving. Each horse's shoes were removed, the shoes were repaired or replaced, and the hooves were rested.

A blacksmith arrived in Lukiholm from the rear with new shoes, and a blacksmith shop was opened in this new town. Its responsibility was to repair all kinds of old construction tools, and now it is to re-shoe all the horses.

There is a proverb in the grasslands: a bad horse's shoe breaks a horse's leg, and if a horse's leg is broken, it defeats the battle and defeats the tribe.

The horses stepped on new shoes, the warriors changed into washed clothes, with swords hanging from their belts, bows and quivers on their saddles, and the arrows in the sacks rained like reeds and rushes on the riverbank.

Workhorses carry chain mail, plenty of cables, provisions and cooking utensils.

In principle, this team of horses can quickly enter the battle, and it is also a good construction team.

The straight-line distance from the starting point to the destination was as long as 120 kilometers. The cavalry did not have accurate navigation equipment. The only high-tech they mastered was iron needle friction magnetite to determine the direction by water float, but it was useless.

They traveled south along the banks of the Lovati River, navigating by the sun, and eventually came to the end of the river, a lake.

The lake is simply called "Lovadi Headwater Lake", and the army did not stay here, because the scout Fisker himself came up with a very clear answer some time ago, as long as he hastened to the south, he can reach the West Dvina River on the same day. riverside.

This is exactly what the entire army did. They arrived at the lake at the source of the river near noon, and finally entered the watery swamp in the evening, with the quietly flowing West Dvina River in front of them.

"Are we really there?" Ostara general Svalgard asked while looking at the river.

"Here, this is the West Dvina River." Fisk was in a happy mood, with a sly smile on his face.

Svalgard couldn't laugh at it, the riding made him uncomfortable, and the crotch was tired. "Now that we're here, it's time to set up camp. We'll build our base here."

"No, this is not the destination."

"It hasn't arrived yet?" Svalgard was a little frustrated, and he glanced at the ground. "Okay. There is a lot of water here, and the water can seep from the horse's hooves. We should find a good place."

"No. We still haven't arrived." With that said, Fisk pointed his hand to the lower reaches of the river: "Next is our guide." After that, he shouted: "Come on, bring that Olaf here. ."

When the horse came with old Harold (Olav) on his back, he still hugged the horse's neck, lying on the horse's back passively and pouting his hips, which was very indecent.

Looking at this person, both Fisk and Svalgard held back their laughter, but fortunately they held it back.

"What? It's been many days, and you still haven't learned to ride a horse?" Fisk's words were a little joking.

Old Harold grinned in embarrassment. "I'm still better at rowing."

"Let's just look in front of you. This is the West Dvina, the name given to us by our great king. The Riga call it the Daugava, and it's the same anyway. How? You lead the way."

"Let's lead the way, where are we going?"

Such a question actually stopped Fisk. Yes, it's not surprising that a guide doesn't know how to navigate himself.

Fisk thought again: "Aren't you dragging the longboats south? Now take us to that location, where we're going to build a fort where the trade route must pass."

"okay."

Old Harold actually felt that his guiding behavior was not necessary for precise navigation. Ross' cavalry army has reached the Daugava River, and the rest is not what they want to do? Is the so-called destination really looking for it? They killed people and left the longboats alone, and there were obvious signs on the swamp, so why did they need to rely on human navigation?

Now that you've got an errand, let's do it to the end. But it was too late today, and the cavalry had no time to reach their destination.

So the army camped by the river, and the soldiers finally got off their horses and had a good rest. They lead their horses to gnaw the grass, and fill the unloaded cooking utensils with river water to cook wheat on the spot...

The entire army rested for the night and resumed operations after the morning fog dissipated the next day, and arrived at the destination in the afternoon.

The river channel presents a huge S shape, and the water potential becomes very relaxed due to this structure, and some tributaries flow into the West Dvina River from this, creating a large area of ​​shallow wetlands here.

The cavalry made it through the river and found the exposed damaged longship, as well as the place where they had been buried. The traces on the ground are still there, but unfortunately things are different.

Arriving here again, old Harold didn't want to make any statement, but the grief in his heart was written on his face.

The whole army has dismounted, and everyone is told that this open space is a good place to build a fort.

Fisk could see the embarrassment of the old guy, and the old Harold, who was piled up in flesh, sighed: "The person who killed you here before, we just buried it. Do you feel uncomfortable, or dig up the body and bury it again?"

"No need. I have fulfilled my duty, and besides they are dead, there is no need to destroy the bodies."

"Alright. It's because Otsuka is here that might delay our construction."

Old Harold didn't want to talk about this matter, he pointed at the river in front of him with swollen knuckles: "This is the right way, the river is called lucasa (Lucasa River), which means the winding road to Smolensk the river."

After hearing the detailed description, Fisk and Svalgard, who were slightly tired, instantly became refreshed.

"Haha? Shouldn't our cavalry go all the way south along this small river?" It seemed that the bald general was going to suddenly change his mind and attack the city of Smolensk directly.

Anyway, this was the end of the matter, and old Harold realized that he had no reason to hide anymore.

"That's right! It's just that this section of the river is too shallow, and people are passing by at will. We can only pull the boat through this place and then continue rowing. When we reach the water source lake, we drag the boat up a section of the road and find another river. The source of water, and finally the great river to the south. If you really plan to attack the main city of Smolensk, this is a shortcut."

"Very good." Fisk nodded.

He was convinced that some of the cavalry at hand had been wreaking havoc in this area in the past few years. They were definitely not ignorant of the situation in this area, but had no plans to settle down and control them. Too lazy to investigate the hydrology and geography of this place.

Even the commercial cavalry of Kyiv and Pecheneg, who were too lazy to stop on the way to the north. In the past, the horse team went directly north along the left bank of the Dnieper River, and crossed the river at the upper shoal. Geographically, it was actually in the east of the main city of Smolensk, where there were many community villages, which was convenient for cavalry to plunder. .

That path is actually a detour, but the big river is worthy of being a natural moat. The team must consider crossing the river. Since the horse team wants to cross the water, it must find a suitable shoal.

Or, just take some time, just take a boat in the Kyiv area to the other side, and from the beginning, take the Dnieper River on the right bank, and so on all the way to the north without turning back. Both paths have been tried, and each has its own merits.

The Kyiv people only had small boats, but they were organized more, and it took a long time to transport the cavalry across the wide Dnieper River. As long as you cross the river, you will encounter many shoals in the river that you can wad.

With the main city of Smolensk as the center, there are a large number of villages, especially along the river. Due to the rampant cavalry in recent years, the villages in the western area of ​​the main city have shrunk on a large scale, and people have evacuated eastward with supplies, leaving many abandoned farms.

Old Harold didn't actually know about this situation, and neither did the residents of the entire Bay of Riga. It was the joint looting of Rus, Kyiv and Pecheneg over the past few years that created a no-man's land (now the Orsha region).

People ran clean, and the inherent line of communication did not disappear. When the cavalry is not rampant, merchants from afar can still take the opportunity to travel together.

There are actually cavalry raids in the south, south, north and west of the main city of Smolensk, and the most in the west, so it is a shortcut for caravans to travel together.

Fisk can conclude that this year’s southern caravans will most likely be heading north from their own region, and they will also pass through this shallow water marsh.

In the past, the swamp had no name, and a large area was generally called "Valdezze", but now it has a very specific name - Vitebsk.

Where is the building going?

Since the place in front of you buried the body is somewhat unlucky~www.readwn.com~ may wish to go upstream and take a look.

Just about two kilometers northeast of the tomb, Fisk solemnly announced: "It's here! We'll build a fort!"

At the bottom of the S-shaped bend in the river, the first pine stake was knocked down, and construction of the fort began.

The first stakes of the Vitebsk fortress were laid here, and the suitable location determined that a city was necessary to be built on it, which just guarded the throat of the Smolensk waterway, and even more passages. . There are many paths leading to Smolensk, and the existence of Vitebsk can guard all the paths, even if Fisk only feels that he is guarding only one path now.

Those Ostarans began to roll up their sleeves and use various tools to build wooden fortresses. Ross's standing cavalry partially assisted in the construction, and some of them turned into scouts on the spot to start further regional reconnaissance.

The tentacles of the kingdom are permanently extended here, and people will no longer rush past here. The kingdom must be clear about the geography of this place to rule forever.

However, only two scouts were arranged with a total of twenty people, one cruising in the south and the other cruising in the east. Knowing that the Polotsks were in the West, Fisk did not arrange any Western reconnaissance teams in order to avoid unforeseen complications.

In the face of the new situation, he had to adjust his plan, so-called non-essential and not taking the initiative to cause trouble, even if he knew that the enemy was in the West. So the task he gave the scouts was to just reconnaissance. Even if he saw the village of Smolensk, he was not allowed to loot as in the past, just to scout its location.

Such a task is very boring, and the scout still gets the only key task - finding the horses in Kyiv or Pecheneg.

To this end, the two scout teams have prepared flags and bullhorns in case they meet without making an oolong.