In the dense pine forest, an army escorted their prisoners forward at a fast pace.
"Hurry up, you all! Get to the lake earlier and open up the land earlier." A strong man carrying a round shield suddenly yelled.
This person was none other than the Novgorod city governor appointed by Rurik and his brother-in-law Medvet.
More than 300 soldiers closely guarded the captured people. These people were only nominally captured. Not only was Medved unwilling to harm them, he also ordered his soldiers not to allow the women among them to do anything to ensure that everyone reached the lake safely.
More than 200 men, women and children, carrying their own belongings and most carrying wooden sticks, pushed and pulled two-wheeled vehicles loaded with supplies, and set off on the traditional winding and hidden forest path leading to the big lake.
As the autumn harvest season approaches, everyone is captured by a group of terrifying Varyags.
No! They are not Varangians! Not even a strong person from Pine Needle Manor.
They are actually the guys from White Tree Manor!
The leader of this village is a man who is nearly forty years old. He is elected as the leader by the villagers because he is strong enough and possesses brute force. What is commendable is that he also has an ancestral iron axe.
The leader is pragmatic. He knows that the village's weak strength is not enough to fight against the powerful enemy with iron armor and giant shield. In the past, when encountering demands for tribute from the powerful Pine Needle Manor, they always handed over their belongings very obediently. They were also forced to accept the ban on entry to the lakeside. If the other party asks for a sheep, he will hide the sheep. If he asks for a young woman, he will tell the people to hide it.
But this time, there was nothing to hide.
The leader asked again and again: "Can we really freely use the land there when we get to the lake?"
Medved was obviously bored with the march, so he thought about appeasing their emotions, so he took the trouble to reply: "Of course. You can enjoy the fertile lakeside by paying tribute every year. I warn you not to flee or betray." , otherwise Prince Varyag’s army will deal with you like they annihilated the 10,000 people at Pine Needle Manor.”
The village chief was so excited by the former's promise, and shuddered by the latter's warning.
The leader asked again: "Will you... force us to hand over our women?"
"Of course. The only thing I can promise you is that you are not slaves. Our soldiers from White Tree Manor are here, and they can be your women's husbands."
A huge boulder fell to the ground. The leader didn't dare to believe it too much. Now he couldn't even fight. If the whole village fled this year, all of them would freeze to death and starve to death in the dense forest and become food for bears. He had no choice at all.
Some people say that leaders are compromising losers, but none of them dare to fight if they really choose to.
A lot of news circulated among the ranks of passive immigrants, saying that they were already the eleventh village to be forcibly relocated.
He also said that the escorting soldiers proudly claimed that because Baishu Manor chose to ally with the Varyags early on, every day is a good day, and life will be better for any village that joins the Varyags.
They move forward with mixed emotions and are unable to go very far every day. The fertility of their farmland in the dense forest is extremely low, and their low food production has caused them to suffer from summer famine.
If someone dies of hunger on the way, the prince will be angry if he finds out! Medved had no choice but to ask the soldiers to provide them with dry food.
Of course, food is not free, and it is natural to provide food harvest benefits.
A large number of women in White Tree Manor are married to Russians, and the most beautiful women in most of the farms around the lake are taken away by Russians! It is even more difficult for the men in the manor to find wives. Now that they have the opportunity, they must look for women among the people hiding in the manor.
There are still a large number of small villages hidden, and if you continue to search, you will surely find more. However, the autumn harvest season at White Tree Manor is approaching, and Medved has suspended his work.
The prince could not break his promise. The Russians wanted to bring the people from their hometown. They had made this their new home. From then on, the Russian conquerors would permanently mix with the Slavs.
In the past, the Ilmen Slavs settled near the lake. However, the rapid expansion of the population triggered a civil war, and a large number of people were forced to flee into the forest.
Finally, an open world appeared in front of them, and the sparkling scene in the distance shocked these people.
Only some older people still remember the beauty of Lake Ilmen, and more people have only known forests full of dangers and opportunities, and streams that provide water since they were born. It seems that the world is just a village in the forest and the cramped farmland nearby. Many people now realize for the first time that the world is actually very big.
The leader was so shocked by the sight before him that he unconsciously walked towards the fields by the lake, towards the reeds, and finally into the big lake, and then screamed with excitement.
More people rushed over, cheered in the conversation, and deliberately played with splashes...
Medved's soldiers were busy drinking water from the lake to quench their thirst, and they just laughed and watched these rare and strange guys playing with the water.
The leader got himself wet all over and his clothes still smelled like mud. He approached Medved with a playful smile: "Sir, can we really settle here? No one will evict us again?"
"Are you a fool?"
In one sentence, the leader was confused by the question: "I..."
"Have you never seen a lake?"
"My grandfather has seen it. I... it is indeed the first time I have seen it."
Hearing this silly remark, Medved took off his helmet and laughed again.
That's all, he pointed to the north: "Look carefully, there is a settled village there. We are walking a little further north. When I say enough, you will stop and settle here. Listen, I give your men permission to Then go back to harvest wheat, but if you escape, you must consider the safety of women and children."
"Don't dare! We don't dare to escape, we will open a settlement immediately."
It seems that Shunchang is really rebellious. Along the way, the governor Medved only verbally threatened and promised. The iron-clad soldiers did not use force. It seems that they did not intend to commit violence. The people were invisibly forced to immigrate. Not furious.
We are all pragmatic people. Who would want to live in Linhai, isolated from the outside world, if not forced by the current situation.
It is said that White Tree Manor has been transformed into Varyags, and tens of thousands of Varyags have dominated the north.
This is the eleventh village to be forced to immigrate. The population of each village is around 200 people. Life in the forest is very difficult. They work hard to give birth to children to offset the high mortality rate of their children. However, every winter some people freeze to death due to long-term physical weakness caused by eating less and poor food.
If you live by the lake, everything will be fine.
Since this was the permission of the Varangian Prince Rus, the villages were willing to accept his rule. Of course, the premise is that the amount of tribute paid every year does not force everyone's family to die.
The first people to be forced to immigrate had limited encounters with Ross fishermen. The encounter with each other was overall harmonious, because most of these fishermen can speak some Slavic. Since they can communicate effectively in language, there is virtually no barrier.
Most of these fishermen are young people from the First Flag Team. They have outstanding military achievements and have a lot of savings in their hands. They think very highly of themselves. They are arrogant but also pitiful towards these waning savages who emerge from the forest.
So some fishermen took out cheap mass-produced cast-iron hammers and harpoons, and exchanged them for young women to take Mstisk as wives.
In just one month, the soldiers of the First Flag Team recruited fifty women, and this was what Arik wanted to report to Rurik.
Just when the Ross fleet finally arrived at Lake Ilmen, Medved had just emerged from the forest.
When the eleventh farm began to lay the pile foundations of the new houses and began to use stone sickles to treat the weeds, Medved also led the main army to continue northward.
Garrisons remained in all eleven of the new villages of Medved. The people who left the forest had no clear hatred for White Tree Manor. They were both forced to leave the lake by Pine Needle Manor.
These remaining soldiers are often unmarried, so why isn’t this good news for new immigrants? The village leader immediately sacrificed his daughter and selected pretty girls from the village to give to the warriors in order to obtain further security promises through marriage.
On the first night after Rurik landed, Mstisk indeed became a sea of carnival. There were lit bonfires and dancing people everywhere. The New Slavic immigrants could not help but marvel at the strange and bright scene. Only the soldiers who stayed there proudly pointed out that it was the settlement of the Rus.
Mstisk is full of drunk men, and even many women are drunk. The soldiers of the First Banner Corps got a lot of ale and kvass from Novgorod. And because they had more wheat, they could make more wine.
They have no choice in this era, and alcoholic beverages are almost the only cheap drinking pastime. Drinking wine and eating grilled fish, the reunited Ross family is so cathartic. In the past, this kind of carnival could only be done on the day of Hanukkah. Now that there is abundant supplies and the harvest is approaching, there are too many reasons and a solid material foundation for everyone to squander.
Arik was red in the face from drinking, and Rurik was in bad shape too.
This was the first time Rurik drank too much, all because his brother mixed the ale with honey and strong vodka. The sweetness of honey covered up the pungency of alcohol, and when Rurik realized that the problem had turned upside down...
At least when he was awake, Rurik learned the good news from the south. The so-called Medvet had been implementing the task, and the villagers who were found out were all willing to accept the rule of the prince.
Are they really submissive? When he was awake, Rurik inspected the recently married village women. Although they were timid to meet him, Rurik, who had many wives, could see from the eyes of these women that they were actually very satisfied with their current lives.
Arik put it very bluntly: "They hide in the forest and often face hunger. Once they have finished eating the wheat, they can only starve, so some people starve to death every year. But here, they have wheat and fish every day." eat……"
Many of the messages described by the elder brother revealed his arrogance, and the brothers looked at the Slavs who were caught out with pity. Other than that, no one persecutes them.
Maybe it’s really Tomi Naga’s conscience? Rurik didn't quite think this was true, but he was afraid that those people were too poor to deserve the Russians' evil intentions. As for capturing people as slaves, the unspoken rules that have emerged in Russian society over the years exclude pure slaves.
The brothers still got a new population. They exchanged iron tools for women, and the transactions with each other were relatively harmonious.
When Rurik wakes up, he will go to these new lakeside farms for an armed parade to show the local village chiefs the style of a Russian prince.
Just do it!
Rurik stayed in Mstisk until the third day. After that night of fun, all the emotions that the tribesmen had held back for more than half a year were released.
Oats and wheat are both growing well, they have just started heading and the earliest harvest is in two weeks.
During the intervening period, at least for ten days, I had a lot to do, so I decided to gather the troops and visit those farms.
The horn was blown, and the souls of the soldiers were moved!
Arik hurried to Rurik's temporary residence early in the morning and asked the prince, who was dressed in gorgeous furry clothes, if he wanted to fight.
"Who are we going to fight when we gather our army?! Could there be an enemy attack?"
"No, I still have to gather the army. Well, gather at least two hundred people for me. Let's take a boat to see those new villages."
Aric scratched his head and didn't think there was anything clever about this. "I guess I understand that we should be like those poor people who are armed and parade?"
"Yes! It just shows my existence."
"Oh, then they will think it's God on earth!"
"That's just what I want."
Arik shrugged. Since it was his brother's order, he carried it out. Showing his illustrious martial arts to those poor and weak people would only bring him vanity, and he didn't like it.
What Rurik wants is not vanity. He does want to show his strength to those people. By the way, he also takes his "young boys" to explore their future living space and see if he can solve the marriage of some boys. question.
There was a farm that had always been a staunch ally of the old Pine Needle Manor. The former was executed and the latter was executed together.
Only the ruins of a smaller farm remain, but the land is not barren.
Part of the area there was given to the soldiers of White Tree Manor after the war. They cultivated oats, and when sowing, they sowed seeds on all the land they saw.
The wheat there has an owner, and the owner is Rurik. Liuli decided to give that piece of land to the youngest warrior, organize a new flag team, and build a new city.
The prince has been providing food for a large number of children. When the children reach the age of twelve, according to tradition, such boys should fend for themselves and girls should consider marrying.
Rurik couldn't really cut off the food supply for such a young child, they still had to cooperate with each other to survive, but it was time for the prince to cut off the free food supply.
Children who live on the king's salary without doing anything will feel guilty when they grow up. They really need to make a living on their own and repay past debts to the prince.
Rurik plans to build a "city of youth", with a total of nearly 400 men and women of the right age (the ratio of men to women is about 2:1). They have received cultural education, physical training, fought in wars, and can do carpentry. These people can be described as The best young students of the principality need to show their talents in the new world.
Their other existence is also to serve as the Russian army to guard the Slavs who left the forest. It seems that it is impossible for those people to rebel, and the Russian army must be around those people to prevent accidents.
An army of 600 men was assembled. Rurik was dressed gorgeously yet bravely. The soldiers generally did not wear heavy chainmail, but they had quite a complete set of weapons on hand.
There are as many as twenty flags in Ross, and each of the three-meter standing halberds (axes are tied under the spearheads) is tied with blue and white cloth strips. The soldiers are uniformly and neatly dressed.
If this army is placed in Frank, any lord will treat it with caution. It is very bluffing in terms of visual sense alone, and their strength is indeed strong.
Rurik wanted to show off his force, and this time he went forward by water.
Since the main force of the Russian navy happens to be in Mstisk, the professional sailors who have gone ashore to rest will take the fleet to patrol the south and park in front of the people of the new villages to open their eyes. Then the army, which is good at expeditions, swaggers arrival.
Rurik also thought about it. Medved's method of forcing them to leave the forest was indeed crude. Then giving them a little iron is a kind of comfort.
Everything seems to be in place.
Rurik looked at his army again, checked the carriages and deer carts containing supplies for camping, and finally ordered: "Let's go! Let the newcomers see how powerful we are!"
