Chapter 1056： First contact with the Polotsks

Not all the cavalry squads that were released to patrol returned. In the vast forest and swamp, Fisk decided to return with the spoils, and naturally he could not inform everyone.

The brothers have exercised the ability to act freely in the Frankish hinterland. Everyone has received the steppe-style cavalry training, and their behavior has converged with the Pecheneg people.

Those prairie people rode horses and drove cattle and sheep, and they could camp and settle anywhere in the prairie.

It's very Viking-like, rowing boats and drifting to moor in far-flung places, building houses and docks to fish in situ.

The Rus people who were good at rowing turned into people who were good at horseback riding. Even if there were only a few people, they dared to explore alone in small groups.

Because they do have a "God's perspective".

The people of the first cavalry were all elites. They received more advanced education and knew the basic structure of the coastline of northern and northeastern Europe, so there was a guaranteed plan for exploration.

If you get lost, either head north to the sea-like lake and head west. Either go all the way west and go north along the coastline once you find the sea.

Eventually, the Lost Team will reach New Roseburg.

When a ten-man team went all the way south to the West Dvina River, they couldn't find a suitable shoal ferry, thinking that if they rode **** their horses, there might be an accident, so they simply continued to explore along the riverside area.

If they choose to push upstream along the riverside, they will soon encounter shallow fords that can be easily waded through.

They choose to go downstream.

There is a saying that has been circulated among the people for a long time. The so-called advancing along the river to the mouth of the sea can connect with the settlement called Riga. The matter is that King Rurik claimed that he even went to Riga to borrow his ships and could easily reach Saaremaa.

Ross had no contact with the settlers in Riga, and everything was told with certainty by the king, and he even drew a map.

The map was originally drawn in a simple way, and the soldiers kept it in their minds. Maybe they could take advantage of this year's opportunity to try to implement the king's statement.

The brothers beat their Pecheneg captain, a former Wrangler named Ureko (meaning thick arms).

The name of the grassland people is quite casual, especially for a slave who ran horses, it is a great honor to be given a name by the master. It's a good name, though, and it's a compliment to indicate that a person's arms are strong.

Over the years, Ureko has ushered in a new life in Ross.

His identity is still a slave, but it is only a slave in name.

He married and had children in Rus, and the heirs were already mixed Turkic-Slavic. He also has the assets of each person, and the destination of his children, that is, he continues to be a cavalryman.

Allegiance to King Rus is more promising than allegiance to Pecheneg Khan. For warriors, the young King Rus was extremely fair and just. The general spoils of war can be robbed by anyone according to their ability, and the precious gold, silver and jewelry must be turned over to the king, and then they will be divided proportionally.

he! It was the part that participated in the encounter with the East Frank King Forest, and also participated in the raids and looting of the Cologne and Bonn areas throughout the process. The deeds of extracting 5,000 pounds of silver coins from Cologne were brilliant, for which the man from the Wrangler was also allocated a large sum of money. Only the spoils of the 840-year war were enough for him and his family to live a life without food and clothing.

But people's desires are endless, especially if this existence itself is a warrior.

"We went down the river, and if we found a weak village, we would grab it. If the other party was strong, we would chat with them." Almost everyone had this attitude.

Ureko's team captain, his attitude is very important.

His response was more decisive than others. "Why do we talk? We'll grab it when we see the opportunity! Even if we grab a few sheep and slaughter them for roasting, after all, there's not much dry food left. It's better to catch a fat sheep by shooting dead hares. "

He said very truthfully, the brothers shot and killed wild animals these days and ate a lot of meat, but they were short of oil and water.

Although these old Rus descendants don't understand the concept of "rabbit-relieving hunger syndrome" at all, based on the habits and traditions of Nordic life, everyone has an obsessive attitude towards fat and oil. That's why when Ross was still a tribe, he was very keen on catching seals, whaling, and purposefully fishing for cod to eat cod liver, all for that sip of fat.

The roasted fat sheep was extremely delicious, and Uleko made his brothers salivate just by talking about it.

"Let's go!" Ureko ordered.

The group of ten lined up in a column, and they tried their best to avoid getting stuck because of the horsepower and the silt in the current riverside area. They walk on the reins, and the bow bags are hung on their bodies, and the quivers are attached to the saddles, which is convenient for them to turn into step archers immediately when they are in danger.

The team was separated from the flag captain Fisk long ago. All five teams left Lukiholm. They all arrived at the West Dvina River one after another. How to explore next is up to their own wishes.

In fact, when they decided to go down the river, they had been wandering back near the forest area. They quickly avoided the bear when they encountered a bear. They also hoped to meet a village in the forest and wanted to seize it.

They missed out with old Harold and his party from Riga, not to mention that the latter had been annihilated by Fisk in the upper swamp.

They completely lost contact with Fisk, and they had absolutely no intention of returning to the team by chance.

This is a group of guys with strong ability to survive in the wild, and the way of activities today is no different from that of beasts.

They are a pack of ferocious beasts, and will take the people they encounter as prey.

Ulyko's group decided to go down the river in Jomo, south of today's Vitebsk.

They have been advancing, and have been trying to find a suitable ferry, but they can see that the river is becoming wider and wider.

Suddenly, a white presence appeared on the riverside grass ahead, and there were swaying figures.

Isn't that white sheep?

Everyone looked at each other, and tacitly got on the horse immediately.

Ureko asked the crowd: "How? Kill the shepherd or take prisoners for questioning?"

Someone bared their teeth and roared like a hungry wolf: "At most, ask questions before killing. No one expects the prisoners to understand our language."

The crowd laughed arrogantly for a while, and then attacked with bows.

But to say that the shepherd had seen a horseman before, but it was too strange that ten shadows suddenly rushed over from the upper reaches of the river. Curiosity triumphed over fear, and the wrinkled shepherd was soon surrounded by cavalry.

How dare this man be so bold? Still simply terrified.

"Hey! Old man, where did you come from?!" The words were first asked in Norse, and the shepherd was indifferent.

Then he switched to Slavic with a strong Yinermen dialect, and he finally responded.

Most of the vocabulary is very similar, especially the word village (, ancient Slavic word).

The shepherd chatted, and the biggest question was "Who are you and what do you have to do?"

It stands to reason that a kind person would have a good chat with him, but these warriors can also become extremely vicious in an instant because of their experience in many battles.

The shepherd didn't wait for an answer, or the answer he got was a sword in his throat.

A fighter's precise throat shot ended it all, leaving the scene speechless.

"What are you doing?! We haven't finished asking yet." Ureko turned his head angrily.

I saw that the soldier plausibly said: "There is no need to ask more, just walk in the direction pointed by this person. You see, we are waiting to eat roast lamb, isn't it there?"

To be honest, Ureko couldn't hold back his so-called subordinates at all. They were a group of complete old Russ, and their style of doing things was exactly the same as that of their fathers, even though they had integrated into the Slavic blood. But Ureko is neither a Russ nor a Slav. He is a slave and is naturally despised by this group of young and strong cubs.

Ureko is very self-aware, and he can "retire" in a few years, and at most can continue to serve as a cavalry coach.

What the Rus needed was cavalry combat skills, not Pecheneg mercenaries. All the prairie coaches will soon complete their missions, and the rest is just what the cubs want. At least they've been acting too assertive now.

Ureko couldn't say anything, so he just followed these boys.

They did not manage the dead herdsmen, and they took all the six sheep they caught to a forest not far away, and lit a bonfire in the forest to slaughter the sheep and roast them.

They try their best to make barbecue, in the form of hand meat as a dry food to continue their heartbeat. The peeled sheepskin is kept, and then some people eat the whitish suet directly raw, and some people bake it again. Everyone has a full meal, and there is no need to discuss what to do tomorrow.

Early in the morning, the morning mist fills the whole world.

The Rus kicked the dirt into the slow-burning bonfire and left the camp with their horses. Only a lot of sheep blood traces, broken bones, and a lot of horse dung were left.

They mounted their horses, their backpacks filled with as much meat as possible. Now that the temperature is higher, even if the cooked mutton is kept fresh, it will not be very long. The brothers still need more supplies, and hope to get more benefits through looting, such as gold coins and silver coins.

Even arresting a few women...

Because of one direction the shepherd pointed, that was his village.

The dead shepherd's body fell silently in the grass, and no one gave the village at the bend of the river a danger warning.

The people of the small settlement continue their daily life of plowing their fields, raising cattle and sheep, and fishing near shore.

Today is a peaceful day in Japan, and the villagers continue their simple and hard work. Suddenly, a group of people on horseback suddenly appeared, and as soon as they appeared, they attacked everyone they saw like wild animals.

But it was said that this Russ cavalry team, their legs clamped the horse's belly, shot directly at the people who were hoeing the field in Tanaka, including those who were resting in the field. The farmer mostly saw the sudden rushing horseman stand up subconsciously to check the situation, but was directly hit by the flying arrow.

They shoot the peasants like they shoot the wild beasts, and they don't bother to fill the arrows to ensure that they will die. Because there is a village in front, although the village is not large and the building is very bad, even if there is no gold and silver, there are a lot of supplies that the brothers desperately need.

"Fight to the end!" Ureko shouted again: "Just follow your ideas! Show no mercy!"

Yes, they will repeat the malicious raids of villages near Cologne in this unknown land.

They shot arrows on the outskirts of the village, and the villagers, realizing the great danger, immediately began to flee. The cavalry charged further into the village, put the recurve bow back into the bow pocket, and immediately drew the sword and stabbed and slashed at the scurrying crowd.

No one explained why, and the Ross warriors recalled last year's mad war, they went mad with bloodthirsty, and now they just want to kill. Especially when the men of this village began to try to resist, armed with scythes for mowing, flails for threshing, and even genuine axes and swords, it was only because the Russ cavalry went further to kill.

The violent villagers faced professional cavalry, and the unilateral killing could not be changed.

There was no contact at all, and the men who fought back were shot by arrows, killed or injured, followed by trampling by horses' hooves and stabs by cavalrymen.

Seeing that they were completely defeated, the living villagers were all rushing to the pier of the village. Listening to some canoes here, they jumped on board with as many people as they could and paddled to the opposite bank.

However, the cavalry had already exerted all their strength on the pier, forcing some people to even take off their clothes and start swimming to escape.

Women with children paddled hard in canoes, and without wooden paddles stretched their arms in the water to replace the paddles with their hands. Every canoe has reached its carrying limit, and drifting is wobbly.

"They want to escape! Brothers, shoot arrows." Someone urged.

Everyone heard that they were shooting precisely at the fugitives.

At this moment, Ureko, who had recovered from his strength, unexpectedly chose stability. He wasn't suddenly kind, he just felt that there was no point in shooting arrows like this. "Why waste arrows? You can't get them back if you fall into the river."

But the young warriors were too lazy to answer, they laughed and watched the person hit by the arrow fall into the water, and even encouraged each other to shoot accurately. Until the successful escapee floated across the river and was quickly obscured by the reeds.

Those who drowned immediately drifted downstream with arrows stuck in their bodies.

The Russ cavalry completed the village raid, they created a mess and finally began to clean the battlefield.

So they found a small group of people who were hiding, and some young women dragged them away by their hair, ignoring them crying and making a fuss. The rest were killed together, and the bodies were thrown directly into the silently flowing West Dvina River.

The village has a population of less than a hundred people, with few houses and barns. There were actually quite a few people who escaped to the other side. Ureko and his group left four young women behind. According to their statistics, there were about sixteen dead bodies thrown into the river by themselves. Of course, the population loss of the village is actually more.

In this village, more cattle and sheep were seized, and there were even two smaller horses.

After a discussion, all the sheep were killed, and the skins were stripped off as much as possible. They found sackcloth on the spot, wrapped the **** sheepskin, used the captured pony as a pack mule, and carried two large bales of sheepskin away.

Now that the steel sword has dripped blood, things should be done even more absolutely.

Someone shouted: "Like we did in Cologne! Fire! Burn everything!"

The village lit up with flames one after another, the red flames shot up to the sky, and the thick smoke billowed like magma sprayed from a crack in the earth.

That night, the Russ happily left the burning village with their seized grain, cheese cubes, a little honey, and other spoils. They were resting in the woodlands further down the river, and the four women instantly turned into toys for everyone. They were casually played with by the fang-like warriors of Ross, each of them was tossed to the point of almost mental breakdown, and then curled up into a ball and did not know why they encountered such bad luck.

Some people even rose up to fight against the attacker, and indeed some women took advantage of the chaos to touch the attacker's dagger and confront it.

However, she was hit by the wooden stick that suddenly hit her head with precision, and was held down after a dizziness.

A storm ended immediately, and all four women were tied up.

"Like a female warrior." Everyone muttered.

"Carl, what do you mean. Could it be that you want to monopolize it?" Someone else laughed and teased.

"It's not impossible, it's just that our methods are too brutal. Even if this is my slave, I'm afraid she will cut my neck with a knife while I'm sleeping."

"Joke, are you still afraid of this?"

Hearing this, Uleko couldn't help but softly said, "We did a bit too much during the day. In fact, we can have a good chat with them, maybe the situation will be better. You guys! What a bunch of lunatics."

No one thought it was a criticism, so someone raised their heads: "That's right. It's not our allies anyway. It's not wrong to burn the village and kill people. We are soldiers, and fighting is our duty."

Someone else pointed out a very convincing statement: "So Odin saw our bravery."

They were battles and blood sacrifices to Odin, and the warriors immediately felt great in their actions.

In the end, the four captured women also spoke Slavic dialects. When everything was quiet, the witty warriors seduced them with barbecued meat, and then they promised to cooperate well and would not die.

Finally, a prisoner chose to cooperate and explained some situations.

It turned out that the small village that was easily defeated by the expedition Rus cavalry was called Duka Village (near Beshenkovich today) according to the locals, which means curved arc.

Indeed, the course of the West Dvina River, where this settlement is located, presents a huge arc. UUkanshu This is a river bend, and the river water infiltrates a large area of ​​land, which is more suitable for wheat cultivation.

So what kind of force does Duka Village belong to? The captive stated the word "Polot", and the suffix of the place name was Polotsk.

Does it not belong to the forces of Riga? As the prisoner in the negotiation understood what the inquirer meant, his eyes immediately blurred, and then he said bluntly: "We are not Riga. Riga are enemies."

So there was a misunderstanding. After all, the Russ also have pure gold hair and big blue eyes, and even if they are very young, they often have beards.

Only to hear the woman curse in grief and anger: "You Varyags from Riga! You have committed a big crime! Our leader will raise his troops to beat you."

This is so inexplicable. The soldiers couldn't understand what the woman shouted, and they completely ignored her threats. Quan should be a curse of incompetence and fury.

To everyone's surprise, Ross' initial contact with Polotsk came from Ross's armed invasion. The Rus, in the form of horse bandits, completely destroyed a small settlement in the easternmost part of the Polotsks. Since the captured woman said a lot, the warriors at least knew that if they continued downstream, they could indeed reach the legendary Riga.

"The Guard is Here"

Everyone is not afraid of the sky and the earth, and only ten people dare to enter the world, especially now with four captured women who still dare to act.

They also found that the women who were struggling for a while were all quiet, and were forced to lie down on the saddle very submissively. They should have been fully appointed, right?

In fact, it is not because they feel that they have a chance to escape.

Because the raider cavalry was still advancing downstream along the river, as long as they continued, they would reach the core area of ​​the Polotsk people. At that time, his clansmen will take revenge under the command of the leader!