Rise of Rurik

Vadim, the man who established himself as a prince from Novgorod, his so-called notice of this lake area was only a dozen days before it collapsed under the absolute military might of the Rus army.

He became a de facto bereaved dog, clutching his injured left arm and more than a dozen of his last cronies, and fled in the nearby woods.

It was not until night fell that their gang's escape was forced to stop.

The woods gave them cover, and night was the perfect cover.

However, the vast forest area is not peaceful.

Vadim finally sat down with his back against a large cedar tree. He gasped desperately, and subconsciously lifted his sackcloth shirt to check the wound.

The blood has stopped flowing, which is a blessing in a misfortune.

But he lost a lot of blood, and running for a long time also consumes a lot of physical strength, but now he has no food or water. He is so, the brothers present are not much better.

Those ordinary and young cronies all tried to follow the young prince Vadim to conquer the world, so as to reap the fame and benefits.

Who would have thought that everyone's just act of resisting the Ross invaders ushered in the ultimate destruction.

Under the night, this group of people finally began to study their respective futures.

They approached Vadim, who was covering his wounds, and hoped that the leader would show everyone a clear path.

"Boss, what shall we do in the future?"

"We have lost everything now, should we go to other estates and see if we keep going deeper into the woods, we can find those who are hiding."

Someone suggested looking for "hidden people", as if a single stone stirred up a thousand waves, which really gave the confused people a hope.

They muttered one after another and went to the free manor farther away, because they were young men and excellent laborers, and they would definitely be accepted by them.

Some people even fantasize that they can marry a local woman in the new manor. As long as they get through the current predicament, everything is hopeful.

Following this "beautiful idea", someone dared to urge Vadim.

"Boss, let's find those people,

They have nothing to do with the Great Lake, you are the most honorable of the Great Lake, and you can also become the ruler of the new farm. "

Vadim couldn't listen at all, and didn't scold the guys for their unrealistic plans.

He reluctantly stood up holding the captured steel sword, forcing himself to be still tall, and the moonlight shining through the branches into the people under the tree, Vadim's face was pale.

"It's no use relying on cowards who hide! They're not the daughters of the Lake Ilmen gods, and the Rus never insulted them. It's crazy to expect them to join forces and fight for me."

"But the boss." Someone said again, "What else can we do except them? We are defeated, and the Russ will be afraid of a terrible revenge."

"Then you can't go to the people who are hiding." Vadim firmly determined that the Rus people will indeed take revenge, "We are also looking for death when we stay here, they will look for my body, and we will not stop until we achieve our goals. We must continue. escape."

"Escape? Where?"

"Go to the South! Desperately go to the South!"

Vadim's attitude is so certain that a name is ready to come out.

Many people said in unison, "Go to Smolensk?"

"There it is, to the land of the Kriwiches."

This term is really familiar and unfamiliar to everyone. Vadim has no clear understanding of Smolensk. It is just that in the past, his manor had some economic exchanges with Smolensk through merchant trade, at least They know each other.

There are even some contradictions between the two sides, but that is all in the past.

The so-called "hidden people" that Vadim can't trust are essentially the people who live near Lake Ilmen. Those guys, like White Tree Manor, were the weak who were squeezed out by the people near the lake. Vadim looked down on those people at all, and had no idea about relying on the strength of those people to fight back against the Rus and regain their power.

The only force in this world that can defeat the Rus people is probably the Smolensk people.

Vadim claimed to have made a very rational choice: "I...I am the prince of Novgorod, the ruler of Lake Ilmen, and I am a noble person, as long as I reach Smolensk, I will definitely You can make a comeback. At that time, you people will still be honored by following me."

A glimmer of hope amid despair? Everyone looked at each other, they couldn't make up their minds, since the boss said so, the brothers agreed.

Still relying on the big tree, Vadim summoned the courage to make a poisonous oath: "I must take revenge, and I will gather an army from the south to take back everything I lost!"

Really hated by the country and the family, his mind is occupied by revenge, but will his arm injury kill him?

Suddenly, the standing Avenger suddenly sat down with a soft body. He was too hungry.

When the brothers saw this, they also set up a shack. It's a pity that everyone escaped in a hurry. They didn't even carry the bow drill for drilling wood to make fire. How to make a fire quickly?

Do not! Even if they have the ability to make a fire, they dare not, for fear of being found and killed by the searching Rus.

They are also too tired. Once their tired and frightened bodies settle down, sleepiness will inevitably come like a flood.

Everyone fell asleep one after another, with fatal flaws all over their bodies.

No one stood guard for the group, they were like open-air food, and did not attract the Russ who searched for fleeing enemies, but naturally attracted roaming bears.

The brown bear smelled blood, and a strange smell of salt.

Bears generally do not take the initiative to attack people, unless there is something in the person that can stimulate the animal nature of these beasts.

A hungry brown bear took the initiative to attack, and everyone woke up from their sleep to realize that a terrifying shadow was tearing at a hapless companion. When everyone tried to rescue them, they found out that it was a bear!

Another person was snapped by his brother in the neck, and although someone stabbed the bear skin with an iron sword, it inspired the beast to become even more maddened.

Without advanced weapons, such as steel-armed crossbows that can easily shoot through wood, how can you hunt a bear with a group of young, exhausted and defeated? Even if the Russ hunted bears, very few madmen would be mad enough to fight bears at zero distance.

Vadim trembled with shock, he was suddenly not hungry, and the thought of running took over his entire mind.

He ran away again, this time out of his own mind.

How can a man of vengeance become a delicacy in the mouth of a mad bear? !

He ignored his brothers, succumbed to his survival instinct, and ran all the way in a certain direction, causing his brothers to ignore him.

He ran so frantically that he even broke the twine at the seam of his boots. He still ran wild, fell and still ran.

Until exhaustion, a black fell on the soft forest humus in front of him.

...

"What's wrong with me. In the end..." Vadim slowly woke up from an extreme headache, and everything in front of him made him feel like a dream.

Is this actually a camp for some people by the lake?

Gradually he found himself lying flat on the grass, the smell of barbecue in the air.

The hungry body sat up almost without thinking, and Vadim saw that there seemed to be a roasted rabbit on the ya-shaped rack? But those wandering people are actually...

Intense fear invaded his mind, he swiftly curled up and tried to stand up to escape, but he just stood up and fell down suddenly.

This move finally caught the attention of everyone in the camp.

A blond strong man came aggressively, carrying a small pottery urn full of lake water, and poured the water completely on Vadim's face. Agitated by the cold water, Vadim woke up again.

"You... Varangians. Don't! Don't kill me."

He subconsciously covered his face with his arms, but the strong man laughed.

After a while, another strong man came. This man sat down and stared into Vadim's eyes with a blank face: "Boy, do you still know me?"

"You? Are you Harold?! Damn, you are here, you are escaping..."

"Fleeing is a smart move. We don't fight the Rus. You see, you were wiped out in the war with them, and the manor was destroyed by them."

It was a great shame, and Vadim turned his face in frustration and didn't know what to say.

"Look at me!" Harold reached out and grabbed Vadim's chin, rudely continuing to describe what happened after the battle.

"We saw what the Rus did, they killed everyone, and countless corpses burned into a tower of fire. Even young children died, even the blind and born with disabilities. This is you Hope, bet everything on your estate to fight the Rus, and as a result, even the poultry they raise are killed by the Rus. They don't even want to roast chicken and beef, they just want to kill and burn everything alive at Pine Needle Manor. "

Vadim shuddered, he didn't even doubt it.

Harold looked at the boy's cowardice, and laughed wildly with a group of brothers.

"I lied to you. Fool, how do I know what the Russ did after that? If I dared to take my brothers to take a look, they would have chopped off my head."

"You! You amuse me! You coward!" Vadim yelled.

"You dare to call me a coward again?!" Harold pouted, stood up and deliberately stepped on Vadim's injured left arm, and deliberately twisted his boots to make it more painful, making him scream in pain.

"Your wounds are deadly enough. Well, let me tell you, I really don't know what the Rus did, but they are a bunch of thugs. On a remote island called Gotland, the locals are all Varangians, They organized an army of thousands of people and were defeated by the Rus. In the end, 10,000 people died! Even our hometown, Denmark, our... our prince was killed by the Rus. Vadim, you are very brave , dare to fight with the most ferocious people in this world."

"You... are you complimenting me?"

"No. You're still a reckless idiot, and that's what your father knew to be a docile sheep. Now you choose to fight, and that's what happened. As for us, my brother and I are nothing more than armed merchants to live here, We don't fight with the Rus. Now your people are dead, and your injuries are fatal. Boy, we went into the woods to hunt and found a dying man, and that's you!"

"You guys actually saved me.

"No. You're dying," Harold said patiently. "Your arm injury is actually fatal. For the sake of the many slaves you provided, I can grant you a painless death."

"No, you can't kill me."

"Are you afraid of death?"

"I want revenge!"

Indeed, Vadim did not have any fear of death on his face, but his face was full of unwillingness to fail.

"Vengeance? It's ridiculous, how can you take revenge as a bereaved dog? This is your destiny, rest assured that our brothers will remember you and tell others that a man named Vadim led his tribe to resist the Rus people and failed, resulting in 10,000 people being killed. !"

This remark was still an insult, and Vadim burst into tears in grief and anger. He gritted his teeth and squeezed out the words: "I want revenge! I want to go to Smolensk, I am the prince of Novgorod, I want to be with Smolensk. Molensk allies."

"Are you going to Smolensk?" Harold immediately became interested. He looked at the brothers present and said, "Our brothers are all going to Smolensk."

"take me!"

"Why? Oh no, why!"

Vadim's eyes looked at the blue sky, and he said solemnly: "I want revenge, which can only be accomplished by relying on the strength of the Smolensk people. I am a noble, and the local chief will reuse me, and!"

"Say it."

"The Smolensk people hope to get the fertile farmland of Lake Ilmen. As long as they use this as a bargaining chip, the Smolensk people will definitely gather their troops and go to the north. I can promise them that they can get the farmland by sending troops, and I will sell some benefits, He can still be the prince of Novgorod."

Harold just thought it was ridiculous, didn't this kid's plan lead to another kind of invasion?

The well-informed he immediately questioned: "I have long known that you who live in Lake Ilmen have some conflicts with the people in the south, is it all because of this reason? You let them come, and if they win, you will be satisfied. ? You will obviously lose a lot."

"At least the Smolensk people speak the same language and believe in fire. If you say the Rus people kill people everywhere, then they will definitely attack Smolensk, and then the territory of the other Krivicians. I... I want you to take me to Smolensk."

"Are you ordering me?" Harold laughed.

"No. It's a request."

"That's begging me? It doesn't matter, what kind of compensation will you pay for having nothing?" Harold shrugged, the young man in front of him did have nothing, but he also had personal value.

He continued: "I'm fair. You give us a lot of women, bros are happy all the way, and they'll turn into a lot of silver. If you were an ordinary man, I wouldn't hesitate to sell you. But you are Noble. Well, if you manage to regain power, give me... just give me a pound of gold. At least."

Immediately, Vadim saw hope. "Don't talk about a pound of gold coins, ten pounds of gold coins will do!"

"That's ten pounds! Even if you can't get ten pounds of gold, you can deliver it as an equivalent like leather."

"That's it, the deal is done."

Harold helped Vadim up himself, and then asked his brother to cut some roasted rabbit meat for the unfortunate man.

This group of Viking armed merchants from Pskov on Lake Chud in the west, the next step is to plan to take the existing slaves to Smolensk in the south. Harold and his gang know some customs of the southerners very well. As long as they don’t take the initiative to offend the locals, they will be persecuted. Even as long as they do business honestly, they are actually very popular in the villages of Krivich.

In such an era of information stagnation, foreign businessmen will of course be valued.

Since Harold and his group are businessmen, the business thinking in their minds allows everyone to see business opportunities. Vadim himself is a commodity, and if he dies, the brothers make less money.

Escort a nobleman in the north and the information about the crazy killing of the Rus to Smolensk. It's not that the brothers have not done business in the local area. Give the terrible news and this unfortunate person to the local prince, and the brothers will definitely get it. A bounty. As for the ten pounds of gold that Vadim threatened, who would believe it? He better be successful.

All twenty young women in the camp became slaves, and they were all forced to submissively have sex with the Varyags in order not to starve to death, which is what Harold called "a good life all the way." But they saw Vadim, the young prince, and they were completely informed of the destruction of Pine Needle Manor.

They originally had an idea to find an opportunity to escape back to their hometown, but now that the people in their hometown and their hometown are dead, this lake area will soon be killed by the Varyagros people.

They don't know their future, and Vadim has some doubts about whether he can go to Smolensk smoothly.

He ate some meat, and his body recovered a little, but he saw Harold, a crazy Varangian, coming with a red-hot axe.

A group of people held Vadim down and pressed him on the grass, his injured left arm was deliberately exposed.

"What are you going to do?!"

Suddenly, a ball of hemp rope was stuffed into Vadim's mouth, and the pain was so painful that it almost bit off the hemp ball, and there was a strange scorching smell in the air.

Harold was "welding" Vadim's wound, and the surface flesh that had begun to rot was turned into powder by the red-hot axe.

Without anesthesia, Vadim simply went through the pain. However, the penetrating injury to his arm has now been dealt with. This is not the end, Harold's men took some grass and wood ashes from the embers of the bonfire and sprinkled it on Vadim's wound, just wrapping a rag.

When Vadim woke up again, he was already sitting on the Varyag longboat. He stroked his waist and was shocked to realize that the sword was gone. Looking at it again, the Ross steel sword he had seized had actually become the property of that guy Harold. He has some atmosphere, but he can only admit that he is unlucky when he is so down.

He was seated in the middle and front of the boat, and behind him were a group of sullen, bound women. The Varyags were sitting on both sides of the boat, their round shields were hanging on the sides of the boat, and everyone was rowing hard, and it was obvious that the boat was sailing on a river, looking at the position of the sun, the boat was heading south.

This is the road to Smolensk.