king of ros

Chapter 2 Landless Prince
"Keep your formation, hold on! Control the horses, don't be taken away by the horses!"

In 1052, in a small school field on the outskirts of Novgorod (remark 1, hereinafter referred to as Novorod City)—or a simple open space—dozens of teenagers were training.

The teenagers wear helmets and armor, and bows and arrows and swords are hung on the saddles. Although most of them still have a little childishness on their faces, they look like adults who are skilled in riding horses. Their heroic appearance can't help but make people look forward to it The performance of these future warriors on the battlefield.

The commander rode his horse and stood in front of everyone, and under his command, the youngsters tried their best to control the horses to keep the front line stable.

It's a pity that even so, the formation is still uneven, because the nature of war horses is competitive, and it is too difficult to curb their nature. Old riders may not do well, let alone these young people.

But even so, the performance of the teenagers was much better than most of the riders in this land, but the prince who called the shots—Rostislav Vladimirovich was still very dissatisfied with this.

Rostislav sighed uncontrollably. He knew that this was the limit that young people could reach, but since his grandfather was about to come to Novo, he couldn't help becoming anxious, and he scolded his followers more, always wanting to see better performance.

In the long run, the Grand Duke of Kyiv will die in two years. At that time, there is no strong force to protect itself, so it is difficult to say what will happen.

Yes, Rostislav knows what will happen in the future, and this also shows his identity, a time traveler from later generations.

In his previous life, Rostislav was a Seris history buff studying ancient Rus. He spent a lot of energy on this hobby, and was even willing to travel thousands of miles to foreign countries to get in touch with first-hand manuscripts.

However, when he came into contact with the ancient manuscripts of the past, he lost his will after a shock. When he woke up, he came to Kievan Rus in the 11th century and became a Rurik nobleman.

At first, it was difficult for him to accept the time travel, and it was even more unbearable for this era. After all, this was a bloody, barbaric and underdeveloped era, and it would be unbearable for modern people to rush into it.

It's just that as time goes by, he can only accept everything here, and work hard to survive in this cruel world.

It has been five years since he came to this world, and he did not do much during these five years. Due to his age, he fought hard and was allowed to form a personal team, so there are these trainees now. young boy on horseback.

In this barbaric era, only force is the foundation of standing. As a future landless prince, if his followers are not skilled in battle formation, how can he gain a foothold in future wars?
If he died on the battlefield in the first battle, it would be too speechless. Did he come to this world to die on the battlefield in obscurity?And there is also the thing that he should have, is it as far away from him as the track of history?
Nuocheng, this magnificent city should have been his property, especially the throne of Kyiv, but in history, with the death of his father, everything disappeared, as if it never existed.

As a person who knows history, he wanted to avoid the death of his father in this world, but in the end he couldn't escape. His father died in the hands of the Chude (Note 2) tribe. After all, disputes and even wars in Ross are daily, and he How was it possible to persuade my father not to deal with these things that were part of the life of Prince Ross.

The aborigines of Estonia are now united with Aral to confront Ross toughly, and the reason is that the ministries are dissatisfied with the increasing tribute.

The Chud people are a branch of the Finno-Ugric people. They paid tribute to Ross in exchange for protection and goods from Ross, but now the increase in tribute has made them very dissatisfied, so there are disputes and struggles.

On the day his father was attacked, he happened to have a meeting with the tribes of Chu De. It was not a pleasant meeting, and then his father was attacked on the way home.

The attackers were numerous and well-prepared, and in the end the guards only took back the father's body.

This undoubtedly made the situation the worst. The situation around Nuo City suddenly became tense, as if it would explode at any time.

The situation in Yuriev on the other side of Lake Chud (Note 3) has reached the brink of war. As Ross’s bridgehead in Estonia, scouts from various tribes of Chud have appeared near it, and there is even news that the chiefs of Chud are Raise the army and prepare for war.

But these are not important to Rostislav now. After the news of his father's death came, his mother was too sad and soon followed his father. Now Rostislav has completely become an orphan. Their deaths made his situation even more difficult.

In today's Ross, the deceased father's property will not be handed over to his son. The Grand Duke of Kyiv who granted this power—that is, his grandfather—will take back this power and then redistribute it among his sons.

In other words, as the heir to the throne of Kyiv and Novo, Rostislav would lose his right of inheritance and become a landless prince.

"Lord Rostislav."

At this moment, a rider wearing a linen robe rode forward from the direction of the city. Prince Nuocheng looked at him and recognized him as one of his father's messengers.

"The Grand Duke has arrived, please go and greet him."

"Grandfather finally arrived?"

Rostislav's face twitched unnaturally, this day has finally come, this annoying waiting can finally be over.

"Then let's go back and face that damned fate."

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The horse team was galloping on the road to Nuocheng, and armed teenagers in fresh clothes and angry horses formed a queue.The teenagers kept in line and remained silent as they walked forward. The effect of years of training was fully reflected at this moment. The neat line showed the power and power of the ruler.

On both sides of the road is a vast farmland, which is the collective field of the village, but it is now bare, and nothing can be grown in the north in winter.

Farther away in the field, shepherds can be seen driving their flocks towards the village, while the farmer's thatched hut stands not far from the field, protected behind by a wooden wall.

This village is on the road to Nuocheng, so it is also the landing place for business travelers going to Nuocheng. Many businessmen will rest here for a while, and then go to their destination in one go.

The tension of the current situation is also reflected in this village. There are gray-bearded sentries standing on the simple wooden sentry boxes. As long as any suspicious person is found, the old man will ring the bronze bell to warn everyone to take refuge behind the wall.

The progress of the prince's team on the dirt road was very eye-catching, and both merchants and farmers couldn't help but look up at the team in surprise, watching the young warriors ride away mightily, and then most of them lowered their heads and were busy with their own affairs.

The locals all know Prince Nuocheng's juvenile cavalry, and the peasants in the village have seen it a lot. The cavalry come and go on this road every day, and they see each other every day.

A small number of foreign business travelers asked which prince's team this was, and it was so neat.

Some well-informed merchants lamented that they did not expect to see such a capable cavalry team in the north. Some people who have experienced wars can see that these young men are not cavalry infantry, but real cavalry warriors. This is quite rare in the north where infantry is preferred.

Some peasant girls looked at the armored boy with fascination and longing in their eyes, even if they had seen it many times.

After all, Rostislav's entourage is like the warriors in the hero's song, and is the most desired spouse template of every pregnant girl.

Occasionally, a young girl would show off to her companions that she was in the prince's guard, which aroused a lot of envy, and then there were fights between the little sisters until they were called back by the adults.

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When passing through a field, Rostislav stopped the procession.Next, it is only 20 minutes away from Novo City. Rostislav hopes that his followers will take a rest here, tidy up their appearance, and enter the city with a better attitude.

The teenagers naturally obeyed Rostislav's orders. They skillfully dismounted from their horses, or sat on the side of the road to rest and tidy up their clothes, or took care of their horses.

Their actions are orderly, which is reflected in the influence of training since childhood, and they have also developed a strong army style over the years.

The scenery on both sides of the road leading to Nuocheng is actually more fields and forests. This is also the most common sight in the vast Ross. A large amount of land is still in a wild and ignorant state, and the pioneers holding the torch have not yet arrived.

The prince sat on the stone pier by the roadside, overlooking the wild scenery, thinking about how to deal with his grandfather, but there were too few things he could think of.

Rostislav couldn't help looking around melancholy, he was really confused about the future, but what's the use of being confused?After all, you still have to pack up your mood and move on.

The field on both sides of the road is very desolate, with shrubs and scattered trees nearby, which is a common sight in the land of Ross.It's just that Rostislav felt a little dissonance when he saw all this, but he couldn't say what it was.

what is it?Rostislav thought in distress, his eyes scanned around, hoping to find the problem.

It's voice!Rostislav suddenly realized that there were no insects or birds in the vicinity!

Then the war stories told by my late father came to mind naturally, in these stories, the disappearance of insects and birds meant only one thing.

"Pick up your shield! There's an ambush!"

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Remark 1: The second largest city in Ross, the largest city is Kyiv.

Remark 2: The Great Lakes located at the junction of Russia and the three Baltic countries today.

Remark 3: In the concept of Rus people, it refers to the Finnish-Ugric people in Estonia, Karelia, and northwest Russia. In this context, it refers to the Finnish-Ugric people around the city of Nuo and Estonia.

(You can see the book map in the book review area)

(End of this chapter)