Rise of Rurik Chapter 1257

It can be said that all ten villages in the entire Polotsk community have disarmed, because it becomes meaningless to defend themselves in the new era, and all of them have been annexed by the inflated Rus.

Like a fish on a chopping board, what to do with it depends entirely on the will of the conqueror.

Of course, there are also people with strong willpower who, after suffering the pain of defeat, do not want to be humiliated losers. They simply take their families and relatives with them, abandon their mansions and fields, and cut off all their old relatives.

Then, like an arrow from the bowstring, it headed south without returning—to the territory of the Drevlians and the Drigovichs.

Especially the Drigovich people. These Slavic peoples live in the area centered on today's Minsk. The activity area extends southward to the line from today's Pinsk to Mozyr, and further south is the survival of the Delevlian people. space.

They are just ordinary people in the vast world. The dense forest obscures their vision, and they don't know the vastness of the world. What remains unchanged is the desire to live, and...revenge.

Are those people in the South good people? have no idea.

But the Ross people from outside are really not good birds, killing people, stealing goods and doing all kinds of evil, but most of them cowardly surrendered.

The fugitives left in anger, and those who remained did not become collectively flattered by surrender.

Most of them are ordinary people who can't let go of their fields, houses and families, and they welcome the conqueror's cavalry in helplessness and numbness.

"Ahead is the village of the Polotsk people." A noble female aristocrat specially put on a gorgeous costume, and used a lot of jewelry to further adorn her nobility.

Carlotta, Duchess of Ostara is riding a steed, and beside her sits her only son Karl Rurikovich.

A soldier raised his whip and replied solemnly: "It is undoubtedly their village. The envoy sent out has not yet shown up, please be cautious, my lord."

"Alright." She turned her head, raised her right fist and made some gestures, ordering her Ostara cavalry to maintain high alert in sign language.

Therefore, while the soldiers put the reins on their left wrists, they combined to hold their short wooden bows tightly (the Ostara people did not have the financial resources to equip recurve bows), although they also held the reins with their right hands, they drew them out of their quiver Losing an arrow and firing it is instantaneous.

The cavalry left the massed forest in a grand manner, and they drilled through the gaps in the trees and entered the open farming area.

Looking around, the deeply developed fields have sprouted wheat seedlings.

They must be oat nurseries, but unfortunately they are arranged in a disorganized manner. Apparently, the locals just walk and scatter with baskets of wheat seeds. Such backward sowing techniques have been eliminated in the Yinlmen area, not just in the various farms under Ross. The use of columbine carts as a sowing tool is because farmers have a sense of response.

Facts for many years have proved that the final harvest of drill is more than that of sowing.

At this point, she ordered again: "Don't trample on the wheat seedlings, follow the flag and walk the field ridges."

Because the so-called village of the Polotsk people is actually a collective estate, where all the people collectively participate in farming and harvesting, and the final maintenance is also distributed by the social status of small families in the collective. The ground is refined, so that there are not many fields and roads for the cavalry to advance.

If it is a hostile village, there is no problem for the cavalry to step directly there.

Carlota and Fisk thought long-term, the cavalry would be stationed here for several months to complete real control, and the supplies for the army did not come from the peasants themselves, but the wheat fields beside the horseshoes.

The cavalry group lined up in a column is mighty, but they didn't trample on the farmland?

The villagers who hid nervously watched the gorgeously dressed horse riders from the cracks and holes of their homes, shocked by the well-armed Ross people, and also surprised that they seemed to have no intention of doing damage.

Finally, the main force of the cavalry entered the largest village of Polotsk, and the former chief's house was transformed into the temporary residence of the Duchess of Ostara.

Among the villages that exist like chains along the Polota River, a tributary of the main river, the one in front of you is the largest and the most densely populated.

The winding lanes were crowded with cavalry, and some warriors had arrived here for the second time, and the scene in front of them was much the same as it was a year ago. Farmers' mansions still use wood as building materials, and the houses all have yellow thatched roofs. It hasn't rained recently, but the roads are full of potholes, and the horses can trample some gray and black dust when they move at will. One can imagine how muddy the village will be once it rains.

There are free-range poultry running around, and sheep bleating from strange small houses.

Most of the livestock were hidden by the villagers, apparently fearing that these precious livestock would be taken away by the Rus conquerors.

The cavalry were ordered to occupy the streets and all the people of the village were taken from their homes.

It was the local villagers who personally went to each household to lead people to end the hiding. In fact, it is meaningless to continue hiding. The largest village had long since given up resistance, and unarmed men and women gathered anxiously at the huge threshing ground shared by the village, and that was also the best gathering place for people.

These villagers moved their families under the watchful eyes of the cavalry, and people shook their heads one after another, especially the young women were covered by their parents, or covered with coarse cloth, using all means to cover themselves in an attempt to create Too ordinary and humble to escape the coveted eyes of conquerors.

Because the envoy of the Ross cavalry who arrived first had already said that the villagers would hand over some young women and pay their allegiance to the Duchess of Ostara.

Is the Polotsk local girl any good? Carlotta did not know that all she cared about was the daughter of a local nobleman, a daughter of a nobleman worthy of her son in age and appearance.

As for other local girls, let the soldiers evaluate for themselves. They stood on both sides of the lane on horseback, and they must have their own ideas about whether to take the local girls as wives.

Carlota and Fisk walked into the largest occupied mansion with a small number of guards.

The simple wooden walls are useless, and the interior furnishings are too simple and boring no matter how you look at them.

Children are the ones who don't have a city mansion. Karl looked left and right, with disdain written on his face.

"Mom, this place...is as dirty as a cowpen."

"Silly boy, what nonsense are you talking about?" Carlotta patted his son's little head lightly.

Fisk smiled and said, "Karl didn't lie. I came here last year, and it's not as dilapidated as it is now. Maybe it's because the locals have neglected to take care of this place after Lambart left."

When he mentioned that Lambart, Carlotta didn't have a little liking for him, and he didn't care how high his status was in Polotsk, and he didn't feel uneasy about drinking him maliciously to death.

She is even more at ease in the current situation.

There is no need to worry about the fury of the locals after learning the news of the death of the headman. The villagers are unarmed and closely watched by the cavalry. If they dare to resist, they will use force directly.

"Go ahead and have a look. Damn it, are we going to spend time remodeling this place?"

Suppressing the displeasure in her heart, she signaled her subordinates to set up the Rose flag and the Ostara flag on the heights of the house. The soldiers then found wooden ladders and climbed up to the thick haystack on the roof, and stabbed the wooden pole on which the flag was hung inside.

The soldiers who planted the flag stood on a high place, and the fluttering flag became the most prominent touch of color in the whole village.

Especially the Ross flag, the interlaced blue patterns on the white cloth are extremely eye-catching in the village where the dark green and taupe tones are intertwined.

The villagers who arrived at the threshing ground of the village one after another were only ordered to gather here, surrounded by armored cavalry, and the villagers who were surrounded were afraid that they would be brutally executed. The leader's house raised the flag of the Ross people, and the indescribable feeling of oppression was like a stone pressing on the lungs, almost suffocating, and some people even retched in pain.

Although there is no concept of a national flag, the Polotsk people also know that the cloth with strange patterns is equivalent to the totem of the Rus. It stands in the mansion of the leader, which means that the Rus is the leader.

Only the most senior leader is worthy of the mansion protected by the wall. Even if the leader is vacant or the leader has gone to a distant place, only the leader's immediate family can use it.

So when Carlotta walked up the creaking wooden ladder and faced the wooden door locked by a simple bronze lock, a bad feeling arose spontaneously.

"Tch. Is this the best house you've ever seen? Why do I think... it has the texture of an empty warehouse?"

Fisk shrugged helplessly: "It must have been uninhabited for a while."

"It's still locked."

"This is evidence."

"How? Did you find the key? Or did you smash it?" she asked.

Fisk didn't answer. The strong man pulled out the hand ax at his waist, and destroyed the entire lock cylinder with a clean blow, but he didn't forget to look at Carlotta triumphantly: "Look, it's very simple."

"Enough decisive. Now look at what's inside." After that, she raised her foot and kicked it, completely ignoring the defect of her right leg.

The double doors were kicked open, and then the dust billowed, and there was still a mild musty smell in the air.

Carlotta couldn't help covering her mouth and nose: "Damn it. It's called a cattle pen and it's exalted. This place...is like a grave."

"Not at all. Well, it's really bad. If you live in this kind of place, you'll get rashes all over your body... Forget it." Fisk didn't intend to say any more, "We might as well pitch a tent, or build a new house. "

Even the mansion where the leader has the right to live, due to the looting of the local area by the Ross army last year, most of the valuable property was taken away. At that time, the Russian army and the Kiev caravan cavalry and Ostara cavalry who acted together were people who had seen it before. They robbed ordinary peasant families and lacked motivation because they kept getting rich, but they robbed rich households in villages. Sweep full of energy.

The house was indeed empty, cleaning it, opening all the wooden windows that had been closed for a long time, letting the wind blow away the filth in the room, everything was not too unbearable for the two of them.

But Carl really doesn't like it here.

The little boy broke free from his mother's hand and yelled loudly: "I will become a Duke in the future, and I will rebuild a fort here! Well, build a multi-storey attic just like Dad did."

"As you like. Since you don't like this place, let's go." Carlotta looked at the mansion again, "Just let's tear it down!"

"Maybe it's not necessary." Fisk shook his head.

"I think it's necessary. This place symbolizes the old chieftain's residence of the Polotsk people. I don't like it, and Karl doesn't like it either. You... don't you hate it too? Just like Karl said, tear it down, and let the locals live in the original place." Build a giant longhouse in our style to prove that we are the real rulers."

"There's some truth to that, too. You're the ruler, and I'm fine with that."

Carlotta stomped her foot lightly: "That's it."

Gradually, the threshing ground was crowded with people, and the villagers, old and young, had been gathered here for some time. In the past time, the Ross cavalry just stayed where they were. Only God knows what they will do next. Boredom, alertness, complaints, numbness, all kinds of emotions are intertwined, but no one dares to leave the group and ask "why" to the Ross soldiers.

Even in the family where the leader of Proclaw belonged, all the family members were as docile as lambs.

A once great family has degenerated like this?

It is precisely because the family was too heroic in the past, when the village alliance decided to attack the Rus people entrenched in Vitebsk, the young men and women of the family went to battle with weapons. In fact, because of being too brave, the young and middle-aged members of the family suffered heavy losses.

Even if there is a Lambate in the family who is appointed as the new leader by the conqueror, but this released captive still has the face to be the leader of everyone? Besides, what kind of leader is that? But a conqueror's dog.

The noble family has become mediocre, the young men and women have lost a lot, and their strength has shrunk, and they have no right to speak.

Those who survived did not encounter excessive white eyes from fellow countrymen. Everyone had fought together. At first, there were elderly women crying in the streets and alleys, wailing words such as "Proclaw give me back my son", but, Proclaw Waff also lost his own son. Time gradually dilutes the pain, because life has to go on.

Vecheslav, the son of the old leader, was just an honest man, and such a person was not qualified to be the next leader at all.

In the final analysis, the selection of the leader of the village by the largest farm is also elected by the people who are sages, and such people must be proficient in fighting and have courage.

Vetslav and his wife, who are cowardly by nature and just want to farm the land honestly, have the obligation to go to the battlefield to defend their homeland, and they have died for their own obligations, and even died without a name.

Now, an old lady in the family is holding the hand of a little girl, and together with her fellow villagers, they are caught in the sea of ​​people at the threshing ground.

The little girl was deliberately dressed plainly, wearing a coarse cloth robe, and covered half of her face with a gray-brown turban. Even her face was deliberately smeared with dust, so that her sloppy appearance covered up her true face.

Solkina Vicheslavina, her grandfather was Proclaw, a shameful loser who committed suicide this past winter.

Just a year ago, for a little girl, life was still peaceful and even boring. Life is quiet and indifferent, accompanied by parents and brothers, and now...

The huge change made her at a loss as to what to do. All the blood relatives in the direct line died, and the blood relatives in the collateral line each had their own plans.

"Grandma...I can't breathe here."

"Son. Hold on."

"But those Ross people... what are they going to do? Are they going to kill us?"

The girl asked the soul-piercing question. The old lady was not her real grandmother, and now she was at a loss and could only deny it mechanically.

Suddenly, the crowd became more noisy and began to shake, and Solkina, who was already squeezed, felt even more suffocated.

All because of the presence of His Royal Highness the Duke of Ostara.

At this moment, the villagers standing outside finally saw the legendary Duchess of Ostara, a wife of King Ross, and a noble northern nobleman.

Can a woman also be a high ruler?

This is unimaginable in Polotsk, but if the situation turns into some kind of helpless situation, it is not wrong to recognize a woman as the leader. Just like in the face of war, men and women in the entire village alliance are obliged to go to the battlefield. The most popular female soldier has become the supreme leader. It is acceptable for her to bring everyone victory.

At least the conqueror sent by the Kingdom of Ross was a female nobleman, which refreshed the villagers' senses and made them relax out of thin air.

However, UU Reading www.uukanshu.com is another bald man riding a horse. No matter how many years have passed, that iconic image is the nightmare of the Polotsk people!

As early as last year, people knew the name of the bald general—Fisk.

The name is said to come from "fish". In people's opinion, it is more appropriate to describe him as ferocious beasts such as wild boars and bears.

Now, some cavalry deliberately stood in a row, and they raised their horns one after another, forcing the whole scene into silence with the melodious and low sound of the horn.

Finally, a soldier with an extremely thick voice shouted: "The Duke of Ostara has come! Everyone! Salute her!"

Here, the Slavic shouting of the warrior son ah acts as a duke, deliberately using a feminine suffix.

All speculation has come to an end.

That equestrian female warrior, gorgeously dressed, embellished with gems, and with long golden braids, was indeed the leader of the conquerors, the commander of these mighty cavalry.

Chapter end