Like his own people, the kneeling leader Yin Erbet didn't know what was going to happen next. He raised his head slightly and saw the face of the legendary King Rus, and then hurriedly lowered his head in fear.
He paid attention to the Ross cavalry. They all stood in stirrups. There were all kinds of weapons hanging on the saddles. Even their horses had shiny horseshoes.
Horses are not rare in Latvia, but there are not many. Even the Seron people themselves have domesticated a few ponies.
Even though the Russian army rode Turkic horses, their shoulder height was much higher than that of the local horses.
As a result, there were only a few horses available for riding in the local area, and they were used to pull carts and sleds. Being able to be used on a large scale and organize a huge cavalry was an eye-opener for Yin Erbet today.
The Russian army has a large cavalry and a larger reindeer sleigh unit.
They are clearly wearing the same clothes, which is very visually stunning. Even putting aside these color consistency, the Russian soldiers wore high-quality clothes, and it was really embarrassing to look at the clothes of their own people made of messy coarse cloth and leather.
Finally, Rurik reined in the reins and stood in front of the surrendered people.
"Are you the Seronites?" he asked majestically in Norse.
Yin Erbet, who had just received a strong shock, moved his seemingly extremely bloated body. He did not dare to stand up hastily, so he knelt on the ice and moved around. He still introduced himself with his head raised: "I... I am the village. The leader, we are all Theron people. We are part of... Theron."
"I see, I know you to a certain extent. How do you think the Seron people are more than a few hundred of you. So, do you know who we are?"
"Yes. You are Russians."
Rurik nodded with satisfaction: "Do you know anything about us?"
Yin Erbet did not dare to say that he understood. The selon people's secluded life does not mean ignorance. As a leader in the village, he hurriedly complimented: "You are Russians, powerful beings, and conquerors of the world. Everything. It’s all fate! It’s God’s arrangement! We are waiting here to wait for the arrival of King Ross. We kneel here and surrender to the great king.”
Having said that, this Yin Erbet directly performed a show of admiration.
From Rurik's perspective, the villagers in front of him were surrendering in an undignified way, as if they were defeated.
To be honest, this kind of excessive humility makes me very dissatisfied.
But from another perspective, if they continue to maintain such a respectful attitude, it will be a good thing for Ross.
Just look at the geographical environment here and you will know that if Ross wants to send troops to conquer them, he will have to organize his team into the hilly area with endless woods and waterholes. The cost of combat is really not low.
Looking at the current situation of the surrenderers, they are all dressed in various colors, exuding the atmosphere of shabby poverty from head to toe.
As a king, he must consider the economics of war. To conquer the Seron people by force, in addition to gaining the reputation of a "conqueror", spending a large amount of national money will not be worth the gain.
If, like this, a village voluntarily surrenders and quickly develops into a collective affiliation of the entire Seron ethnic group, an opportunity is presented here, and I should not give up this "copy" of expanding the territory.
"You can stand up! Look up at me." Rurik said, holding up the riding crop.
"yes."
Yin Erbet was ordered to stand up and take off his hat, revealing an old face full of beard and dark brown hair.
There is a significant difference in hair color between the Rus' people and the people of the Baltic tribes. Even though the army led by Rurik was widely mixed, the fathers of the soldiers were almost all old Rus' or other Swedish immigrants, and their hair color was no longer as good as theirs. He is as golden as his father's generation, but much yellower than the local Baltic people.
"Are you the leader of the village? Your name."
"It's the leader. I'm Yinlbert, your...loyal servant."
"Ha! It seems that you are my old servant. Very good, I like your humility very much." Rurik raised his horse whip and swept it: "Are these your villagers?"
"yes."
"Is there only this small number of people in a Seron village? How many villages do you have? What is the status of your village among all the villages? What is your own status? Who is your supreme leader?"
The questions came one after another, and Yin Erbet had to answer them.
This short and skinny old guy looked bloated only when he was wearing a thick leather coat. He humbly explained: "We... have never elected the greatest leader. If we were forced to choose, only King Rus is worthy of it." Our leader."
"Are you kidding me? Without the supreme leader, how can I accept the surrender of your entire clan? Do you have to bother me and lead the army to visit every village in person? I am very happy with your compliment."
"Don't dare! We don't dare." Erbert trembled and continued to explain: "On the contrary, we imitated the Danes and made Alting. I think that when the villages know that King Rus is coming, they will gather in Althing. At that time, we can work together Surrender to you."
He spoke of a word that Rurik was all too familiar with - Althing.
This is the parliamentary chamber. In essence, the "Russ Duma" established by Rurik in Rus was just to cater to the Slavs, the most populous people in the kingdom, and it was called the parliamentary chamber in Slavic language.
Even so, Rurik was ignorant of the Thron people, and had no great interest in truly understanding them themselves. I don't even know if I can squeeze out any benefits from these people after accepting their surrender.
Seeing their shabby appearance, Rurik even thought about helping the poor.
"In this case, you don't have a supreme leader who surrenders like me, then I will arrange for someone. It's you." Rurik's riding whip pointed directly at Yin Erbet's nose: "You will be the supreme leader of the Seron people."
"Huh? Me? I don't dare."
"Why don't you dare?!"
Of course Yin Erbet refused in her heart, but now she did not dare to veto King Rus's arrangement, so she could only express her difficulties: "My village is not the strongest among the tribes, and no one will listen to me as the leader. Besides, maybe it’s not necessary.”
"Does anyone dare to question my arrangement? It's settled! I'm going to enter your village and see clearly your living environment. Then I'll go to your so-called Alting to meet with other village leaders. Listen, those who surrender will get Peace and a better future, and those who disobey will be destroyed. I like you very much, and if any village dares to refuse to recognize you as the leader, they should be killed."
Yin Erbet didn't want to be the leader at all. He never had the ambition to give orders to other villages. They were all from the village, and they were all living a peaceful life. He had no intention of trying to dominate the villagers. Besides, there were only more than a hundred men in his village who could fight and he really couldn't maintain his power.
But King Ross is here, looking at the posture, if he refuses, I am afraid they will be cruel...
Because the soldiers in these large armies had a fierce look in their eyes - they must have killed people before, and I'm afraid they wouldn't mind killing some more.
"Okay! I'll take you into the village." Yin Erbet had no choice but to do this due to the situation.
This was Rurik's impromptu idea. The army has been marching for several days and will still march for several days in the future. But according to Stekander, at the current slow speed it would take at most another five days to reach Riga.
You can arrive in Riga later. Besides, even if you arrive there, after leaving a garrison, Rurik considers that he will try to borrow a road from the Pskov people's territory. He knows the geographical structure of this land and knows it very well. The current geographical location is in the so-called "eastern part of Latvia", which means that it is closer to the destination of Lake Pskov.
Perhaps these Seron people active in this area know the road to Pskov.
At first, he only had one thought in his mind. As the army turned into the hilly area, he felt more and more that his speculation had strategic significance.
And this is probably the huge hidden role of the seemingly useless Seron people.
Because the target village was by the river, the army quickly entered the shabby village.
"They are like groundhogs living in caves..." He frowned
Rurik couldn't help but complain.
The same warriors also expressed similar emotions. The brothers thought that the Seron village was probably similar to the Polotsk or Smolensk people and should have many decent buildings. It turned out that they were a large group of "cavemen" .
Because there are almost no stones in the residential areas of Seron villages, they use lake mud to make black pottery, but have no intention of firing bricks. They live in a semi-underground house, and then use wood to build a roof, then pile thatch, and then pile a layer of soil.
Yin Erbet, who walked all the way, just hoped that the Russians would see how poor they were, because poverty is often a way to avoid disaster. There is no need to pretend, the poverty of the Seron people is a fact.
The shacks in the semi-crypt are arranged in a haphazard manner, but they are actually larger in scale. The farmland abandoned in winter outside the village is now the camping ground of the Ross army.
The order has been issued, and with the sound of camp horns and drums, the soldiers unloaded the tent materials placed on the sleds and stretched the fabric in the open space at their feet. Some soldiers put up the wooden tent frames, one after another with conical tents. The field tent with a strong Finnish tribal style was quickly built, and the speed of its construction really opened Yin Erbet's eyes.
After the Ross Army's camp was quickly built, the soldiers didn't care about the farmland under their feet. They just dug big pits and buried pots for cooking.
[Currently used, it is the most complete and best-used app for listening to books. It integrates 4 major speech synthesis engines, over 100 kinds of sounds, and supports offline reading.
The gray squirrel tribe, which was once the most resistant and most effective tribe, has now become the northern miners of the Kingdom of Rus. It is an extremely important part of the metallurgical complex of Rus. The once poor tribe has transformed into some of the richest people in the whole of Rus.
What can these Seronites do? have no idea. Now Rurik can't think of any ideas to make a fortune from the area where they settled.
Perhaps the most valuable thing about the Seron people is just their population.
The noble Russians entering their dark huts cannot be said to be grounded, but they are really grounded. The noble king might as well stay in the open air, lay out a leather blanket and sit on it, pointing at Yin Erbet, the leader of the village.
Yin Erbet is still well-behaved now. He knows that he has "led the wolf into the house" and has shown his entire family wealth to King Rus. It is unlikely that they will have the idea of plundering the broken wood and pottery urns.
Rurik sat casually, his right arm resting on his right knee, and he fiddled with his riding crop casually as he talked: "I'm not surprised that you are really poor. I never thought that you would risk fishing in the river because of lack of food. . Ha! It’s a lie to wait at the river to wait for me to arrive and surrender.”
Yin Erbet was sitting on pins and needles: "I don't dare. Everything is fate."
"It doesn't matter, I already know the situation in your village. I am very satisfied with your surrender. However... you still have to pay tribute to me."
"Yes! But, as poor people...what else can we pay tribute to?"
"You have no food, no leather, and live in a house like a rabbit hole. You only have one most valuable thing!"
"This...if the king is satisfied, we are willing to take it out."
Yin Erbet had already had a premonition, and Rurik said bluntly: "It's just a human being."
"Slave? You want me to hand over all the villagers to be slaves to the king? If this can satisfy the king, I..." He gritted his teeth: "I am willing."
"No. Not a slave." Rurik smiled and shook his finger: "Do you have a young son? A young daughter is fine too."
"Ah? Are you asking them to serve the king? My daughter has already married into a neighboring village, and my granddaughter is still too young to serve the king."
"You, you think too much. Do you think I am a cruel person?"
"No. He is an honorable person." Yin Erbet hurriedly replied.
Rurik felt that he was asking a question that was against his will. In the eyes of some ethnic groups, King Rus was a murderer with no bottom line, but in the eyes of some people, he was a holy king. On the whole, Rurik does not deny that he is a "killer", but he is definitely not today.
"Where are your young grandchildren? Hand them all over, I plan to take them away. You don't have to worry, your children will learn a lot, wear nice clothes, and eat good food every day. Your children You will live with my king’s children, and when they grow up, I will send them back to you and continue to be the leader of your village.”
What kind of arrangement is this? Rurik's arrangement indeed went beyond Yin Erbet's understanding. He didn't understand what it meant, but he just vaguely felt that it was a good thing.
Just to avoid being confused, Rurik had to explain what a proton was.
It is a good thing to live like a Russian, and the safety of the children is also in the hands of the Russians. As Yin Erbet further understood the long-term benefits of this move, he no longer had any doubts and trusted King Rus' arrangement.
Besides, considering the current situation, it is condescending for King Rus to sit calmly in the village.
As a surrender, you have no right to object to the king's arrangement.
This was Rurik's impromptu tolerant policy. He started from the village below and sent Yin Erbet's grandchildren to school in New Roseburg. After the children with a blank sheet of paper saw the prosperity of the big city, they How do you treat your hometown?
Centripetal force is cultivated in this way, and the children of the leaders of each village are trained as agents. In this way, in the future, the entire Seron tribe will be a good servant force for Ross due to their popular psychology and pursuit of real material life.
"Let's go! Look at your children." After saying that, Rurik stood up and patted his thigh again.
The guards led the horses and accompanied the king to the outside of the village.
, Yin Erbet's steps were heavy and he kept his head down at all times. He had to think a lot. After all, what he had just discussed with King Ross was completely beyond the imagination of the Seron people. He actually didn’t think King Ross’s arrangement was a pure favor. There is no love for no reason in this world. On the contrary, everyone seemed to be attracted by them. The little animal playing with the applause, the current kindness is just because King Ross is in a good mood.
As a result, the group saw a grand event at the entrance of the village.
"What's going on? There are no children in my team. Those children surrounding my cauldron, aren't they..." Rurik glanced at Yin Erbet, whose jaw dropped in shock: "Those are from your village. Child."
"Yes. They seem to be... eating your food?"
"That's right." Rurik immediately understood the situation and almost patted his thigh to praise his subordinates for a job well done. So he took advantage of the situation and said, "I said, I am very satisfied with your surrender. As you can see, your army not only does not harm your children, but also gives them food."
"Your Majesty is merciful, truly the army of God."
"I have already thought about it. I will give you some food in recognition of your surrender."
"Is this... really appropriate?" Yin Erbet hurriedly bowed and asked.
"Of course, I have made up my mind to unload the food now."
