Chapter 1063： The fury of the people of Polotsk

Vitebsk has a historical inevitability in its current location, where the West Dvina River flows very gently, with several tributaries such as this one. The river channel forms a huge S, which makes the river water infiltrate a larger area of ​​land, which is a good place for the development of planting and animal husbandry.

The most critical is its geographic strategic value.

There were direct dirt roads between Vitebsk and Smolensk in the Tsarist Russia era. During the Napoleonic Wars, the army of the Russian Marshal Barclay De Tory was stationed in Vitebsk and took direct dry roads to participate in the battle of Smolensk. The road did not appear out of thin air, and Tsarist Russia also widened and strengthened the road on which the countless feet of its predecessors stepped on.

Whoever established this path can be said to be a traveler in the Viking Age.

In this time and space, the Danish explorers who immigrated to Riga determined the road of the West Dvina River - Luchasa River - Dry Road - Dnieper River - Smolensk, which is part of the Khiva Road.

The era is still 841. At this time, the "Kiva Road" still exists intermittently, and a powerful force is needed to integrate it.

The responsibility of history rests on Rus's shoulders. At present, the real purpose of Rus' expansion in Eastern Europe is to develop and stabilize trade routes. Any non-alliance forces that block trade routes will be hit.

It's just that people in the deep era don't know that they are the trendsetters of history. They are really creating the way of Khiva with boats, iron hooves.

The Riga were going to Smolensk, and the trade line was going east-west. The Rus wanted to trade with Kyiv and the steppe, and the trade line was north-south.

In the beginning, Rurik intended to use Lukiholm (Great Luki) as a crossroads of traffic lines, but history ceded the position of the crossroads to Vitebsk.

Of course, Fisk, who was commanding the cavalry to cut wood and build a house on the riverbank, didn't quite know how critical his location was.

The soldiers cut down pine wood arbitrarily. First, they selected some big trees and built some special scaffolding first. After digging some large pits, the large tree trunks tied with cables will be assisted by the people on the scaffolding, and the trunks will be inserted into the seepage pits in a mode equivalent to installing masts for large ships.

As the so-called wet thousand years dry ten thousand years, big tree trunks buried in wet pits can be preserved for a long time, so the core pillars of the fortress wall are built like this.

After the fort frame was completed, a large number of small tree trunks filled it.

They built the outer wall first, then built a large circle and then built the inner building.

All the work is quite complicated. Fortunately, the Ostara people who participated in it have almost all participated in the construction of the new Ostara city before, and even built a stable gate building at the mouth of the Lovati River. They refine their skills in practice, and although very tired, the construction is proceeding in an orderly manner.

The trees fell one after another, and the forest continued to make loud noises. Ross's Viking logging technique is frequently used. A strong man and an axe can cut down a Korean pine tree that is over fifty years old, and more small trees can be sawed off in a short time by a double saw.

There was no battle, and the war horses turned into draught horses. The horses dragged the trees through the shoal, and then many warriors with axes and scrapers served the trees.

There was a strong smell of pine resin in the air all the time, and it was really refreshing.

However, the cavalry team inevitably entered a state of slack, and the workers were exhausted. Originally, everyone had been vigilant. They found that there was no one around for many days, and the scouts sent there had not found any trace of living people. It was inevitable to be slack.

Even so, the minimum sentries were still set up, standing on the bow-wielding warriors who had just built the wooden wall scaffolding, and their eyes were vigilantly aimed at the downstream area. The so-called if there is an enemy attack, the attack can only come from the Polotsks in that direction.

What the **** are the Polotsks doing?

It would be absurd to say that the Polotsk community was ignorant of a large group of horse riders building up the river for days.

What they are currently showing can't be said to be highly concerned, and it can only be said that they haven't released a fart.

Because they have always been worried that the horse bandits will attack, there is even a legend among the people that when the wheat is ripe, the horse bandits will reappear to take the opportunity to grab the wheat and arrest people. At first, it was just speculation. Very big.

In order to avoid disasters, or the militiamen can quickly enter into combat when disasters occur, it is necessary to send more scouts to investigate in the distance.

From the standpoint of the Polotsks, it was not long before they were attacked by horse bandits. After the chief leader and all the village leaders discussed, they decided to send the reconnaissance team established by the assault to a larger mission.

The hunters of the entire community were entrusted with important tasks. After they arrived at the ruins of Duka Village, they continued to scout upstream.

The scouts, smeared with black river mud, deliberately dressed in brown and yellow burlap, with the buds of the bushes hanging on their hats, wandered back into the forest trying to hide where they were. This set of tricks is used by hunters to hunt large game, especially leopards, wild boars and bears.

In fact, the scouts wished that the horse bandits would disappear without a trace. Even if Polotsk suffered a loss, it would be bad if the horse bandits really came to find fault during the autumn harvest. It's not that everyone has lost their courage, but the autumn harvest is definitely not a period of fierce battles. Once the most crucial work of harvesting, threshing, drying, and storage is delayed, it means hunger and even famine next year.

The Polotsk community still adheres to rough agriculture. Their grain yields per mu are too low, and their agricultural foundation is very fragile.

However, whatever you are most afraid of will come, the disaster is clearly coming in a more terrifying form!

The scouts hiding in the dark had good eyesight, and they watched as the horseman turned into a builder.

A fort suddenly appeared in the swamp in front of it, and it was stronger than the stockade of the big leader. Near the fort was a lot of toilers, and the number of horses was even more astonishing.

Like an axe hanging over the head, it could smash down and open the head at any time.

The scouts summed up, some continued to use the forest cover to overlook and observe but did not dare to approach the exploration, and more retreated.

"Horse bandits! They appeared!"

The scouts returned to the village, and they announced their discoveries to the chained estates along the Polota, a tributary of the great river. They think they are sounding the danger alarm, and they are doing a great thing, and as a result, the entire community is naturally panicked. Suddenly, people thought that the horse bandits had already approached the city. Short spears, bows, mowing sickles, pitchforks, threshing flails, and even just wooden hammers, whether men or women gathered with a variety of weapons.

Even a woman can see the form clearly, and she falls into the hands of the horse bandits, and dying is a better ending.

People cursed the horse bandits to death with the most vicious words. They gathered and marched to the big chief's stockade. The young men and women of the whole community acted to defend their homeland. This is the first time that the entire community has been mobilized in its history. It was not called by the chief leader and the leaders of the villages, but was actually a spontaneous action by the villagers.

They are numerous and powerful, and the individuals caught in the vast crowd realize how small they are, in other words, how powerful is the whole group? They are no longer afraid of horse bandits.

The shouts of the people shocked the big chief Proclaw not knowing what was going on.

Finally, the returning scouts squeezed out of the crowd and stood in front of the leader to report their terrible discoveries.

Proclaw was sweating, completely baffled by the mass gathering of people.

"Tell me? What did you see? It seems that you have fanned the emotions of the people."

The leader was not afraid of the big leader's harsh criticism, his face was extremely solemn, and he was slightly gnashing his teeth. "It's a horse bandit," he said.

"Horse bandit? Sure enough, it appeared again?!" The big leader was instantly shocked.

"More than just showing up." Another scout shouted eagerly: "Sir! We are in danger! They suddenly built a fort upstream of the ruins of Duka Village. Even...even stronger than your fort."

"Yes. They also have a lot of horses, maybe five hundred, I reckon. So there may be five hundred horse bandits. Yes! There must be five hundred. They have so many troops, and everyone is very murderous."

"Yes. I noticed that the forest was shaking, and a lot of giant trees suddenly collapsed. When I wanted to venture out to see what was going on, I saw the horse bandits drag the giant trees out of the forest. They... a bunch of monsters. ."

The scouts were chattering, and what they said was outrageous.

The big leader frowned and listened for a long time, then cleared his throat: "Enough. Are they gods? What you said is too bizarre."

The scouts looked at each other again, and they all solemnly stated that they had not missed the mark.

Someone patted his chest: "Everything is true. There is no point in lying to you, and now our homeland is at stake. My lord, we must be ready for battle!"

"Battle ready?!"

Looking into the pleading eyes of the speaker, the big chief Proclaw hesitated. He calmed down, thought about it and ordered a serious order: "It's up to you to help me decide whether to start a war. This matter must be discussed by the leaders at a meeting, you all go down."

Obviously, the scouts were a little disappointed with the big leader's answer, and there was a fierce public opinion outside the stockade. Does the big leader want to pour cold water on everyone?

But the chaos would not last long, and at night the people from the various farms had to go home to sleep. Proclaw didn't show up, he was afraid that when he faced the public face-to-face, all the voices of war would be heard in his ears. In the end, he was really caught up in public opinion and launched a hasty attack.

If he was a rude man, he would never have become a great chief, and his power was recognized by the chiefs of the villages. Becoming a big leader means greater responsibility, and the more you are at this moment of crisis, the more calm you must be.

He had to think about very realistic things. If the victory is counted as a gathering, if the victory is won, what is the upper limit of the losses suffered by his side? What is different from the boiling public opinion is that he knows very well that in the last sneak attack, he killed three horse bandits. Such an outrageous exchange ratio made Polotsk's elites have to be calm.

It was impossible for the indignant people to spend the night in the largest settlement. The chiefs of the villages received news from the chiefs, who persuaded their own people to go home, and finally participated in the military conference related to whether or not to go to war.

Because the big chief Proclaw is not a dictator, the Polotsk community is in the transitional period of the village alliance entering the city-state. He is somewhat like the elected "Dick Tudor", and the power is indeed great, but there are also many limit. The big leader is the leader of the largest settlement first. Although the ruler family is hereditary, if the family wants to ensure the support of the allied villages, it must ensure that everyone's interests are not damaged. The reality is that Duka Village, an allied village, suffered a devastating blow. The villages were worried that disaster would befall them, so naturally they paid close attention to the attitude of the big leader.

"If I appear cowardly, I'll be questioned by them. There's a chance I'll be taken down."

Proclaw was under a lot of pressure. He held a military meeting overnight. The participants were the heads of the villages, as well as some well-known ruthless men in the community.

The participants fully inherited the anger of the people during the day, and everyone supported the war, at least on the bright side, no one was cowardly.

The big leader saw it clearly, he was stared at by dozens of pairs of eyes, and the flames of the oil lamp matrix on the ceiling swayed, making the atmosphere even more tense.

"The scouts have figured out a lot of things! A fort has appeared upstream with a large number of horses and flags flying openly. The pattern of the flag is exactly the same as the one on the horse bandit we killed, according to the information we have. , that is the unique coat of arms of the Rus, we can basically be sure that the horse bandits are the Rus from the north, a very dangerous Varyag. They built a fortress, obviously targeting us..." He described a fact.

"There's nothing to say, organize the army to fight over it! We gathered all our forces to smash that fortress in one fell swoop." One person was so excited that everyone immediately cheered.

The speaker was also an elderly village chief, and the big chief was somewhat surprised when the words came out of his mouth.

"My old uncle. It seems that your spirit is at least 30 years younger than your body." The implication is that the old man can't care about his body and his strength.

"It's okay." The old guy blushed with anger for a long time: "Let my son take Jianyong from my village to fight. I also advise the leaders not to hide it. This is a major matter of our survival, and we must take it. Use all your strength."

The old guy said it very seriously, and everyone cheered again.

But at this juncture, the big leader Proclaw ruthlessly poured cold water on the crowd.

"But... have you ever thought about what would happen if our attack failed? The horse bandits are likely to have five hundred cavalry! The last time we attacked them, we only killed three of them, and we killed forty brothers ourselves. Now that the enemy has five hundred cavalry, what should we do? We first have a force of one thousand. If we gather all our forces, will we be able to assemble a team of two thousand?"

This is a question that goes deep into the bone marrow. Ordinary people don't know much about the specific casualties, but the elites are very clear.

Someone pinched their fingers and counted: "Including women, we can gather 4,000 people."

Others shouted: "Count the young boys. And me! Even if an old man has an old bone, he will not waste his life to die on the battlefield."

One and two are so reckless, is it necessary? The big leader patted his face vigorously, and then said: "I am afraid that the battle cannot be avoided, but... we still lack understanding of their situation. Even if we gather everyone together and organize 4,000 people, the last experience, could it be that we We have to fight all the soldiers to win? Even if we win, what are we left with? Even if our homeland is not killed by horse bandits, it will be easily defeated by people from Riga. Remember, we loot the money of Riga merchants who pass through the border every year. , they are disgusted with us."

"You? What do you mean?" Another old man was indignant: "Don't fight if you're afraid of big losses? Proclaw, UU Kanshu At this time of life and death, we need a brave commander. Are you... brave? Are you still qualified to be our chief?"

"At least it's not a reckless commander." The big chief retorted righteously.

Suddenly, like a thunderclap on the ground, a young shout came out of the room: "Uncle! Maybe you are really not suitable!"

"You?" Proclaw turned back: "Boy, are you crazy?"

The young man took a step forward and said, "I'm not crazy. You're old, don't you think your brain is stiff? You'd better go for a walk in the village! Now every household is sharpening axes, spearheads and scythes, and everyone is suffocating. Angry to fight. But you persuaded us to calm down?"

The speaker's name was Lambert, the nephew of the great chief Proclaw. His biological father took the guys to shoot a European leopard in the forest, and carried the leopard's body back to the village. He was happy to hear that his pregnant wife had successfully given birth to a boy, so the boy was named after the leopard, named Lampat ( Leopard).

Perhaps because of the name, to harness it, he had to live like a beast.

In the chief family, Lambert is indeed a young brave man. The chief chief liked this nephew and brought him to this military meeting. I never imagined that the nephew would challenge his uncle who was the chief chief, especially in this situation. in a delicate situation.

"You are too reckless!" Proclaw threw his gloomy old face, shut up his nephew, and continued his argument.

Because Proclaw was extremely vicious when he was young, and he never lost a fight, Lambert saw the tragedy of his uncle who beat someone with blood all over his face and lost all his teeth, and he was in awe of him from the bottom of his heart. But in the face of the life and death crisis of the entire community, Lambert felt that he had to make a major contribution to be worthy of his identity.