king of ros

Chapter 347
Twelve years have passed since the city's rulers changed in Novgorod, the pearl on the Volkhov River.

In the past 12 years, this city has continued to prosper. As the trade distribution center and the most prosperous city in North Ross, it is normal for its economy to continue to grow. The population also increases with the economy. Now the population has reached [-]. Moving forward, its important position in the Baltic Sea trade continued to rise.

But while the economy and population are growing, the country is falling apart politically.

Although Mstislav, the second son of the Grand Duke of Kyiv, has ruled the city for a long time, he has never tamed the city and failed to truly grasp the control of the city.

With the death of Ostromir, who had assisted Mstislav in his rule, the situation became even more chaotic.

Because no one in Novgorod can dominate the overall situation after the death of the old nobleman, the forces of all parties will naturally fall into the struggle for power.

His son Veshata is qualified, but Veshata's political identity is too sensitive. His staunch Rostislav supporter status is there, making it impossible for him to become the mayor of Novgorod.

The chief executives of various districts wander around every day in order to win over self-restraint. Supporters of different chief executives also fight in the streets every day. This is also a feature of Ross's democratic politics. Street fights will always be a beautiful landscape of Ross.

Especially on the bridge that connects the two sides of the city and crosses the Volkhov River, the two conflicting blocks often agree to fight here. Over time, it has become a must-see scene after arriving in Novgorod. , and even raised a small amount of tourism industry.

The Hagia Sophia in Novgorod overlooks all of this and serves as the backdrop for their brawl, giving the scene an extra touch of beauty.

No one stopped this scene, this is a normal phenomenon, why would someone stop the normal phenomenon, and this kind of fight basically does not kill people, at most they beat each other with black noses and swollen faces.

But then again, if the situation develops to the point that both parties need to fight in the city with weapons, then it is self-evident how serious the conflict in this city has become.

The prince of Novgorod just wanted to sit in the castle like a puppet and watch all this. He was very powerless to everything below. He could only guarantee the control of the Novgorod castle.

This power struggle lasted for a long time, but Novgorod is still developing normally, because this is part of the daily political life of Novgorod, and all parties have long learned to cooperate and develop while tearing apart .

It is normal for the chief executive who was still fighting yesterday to discuss administrative issues together today, but there will be more or less dirty words. Novgorod is the source of everyone's wealth, and no one will destroy this source.

Moreover, the city has always been united externally, and nothing can destroy the unity of the city.

There is no problem with the development of such a model in a peaceful environment, but it is hard to say what will happen when encountering wars that test Novgorod's organizational capabilities.

The rulers of Novgorod are also very aware of this, but how could there be any war?It's been so long since we've fought, so don't worry about it.

And this happened when Vseslav's army came under the walls of Novgorod.

The first signs of the appearance of the army were flocks of frightened flying birds in the distance. That scene attracted the attention of many people, but everyone did not devote too much energy to it. Daily life is already tiring enough. Who pays attention to these things in the distance? Movement.

Only a small number of people in the city were alerted by this scene. They realized that there might be a large army in the distance, and these people moved very quickly. They quickly packed up their things and started to run.

However, their preparations in advance are of little significance, because refugees will pour into Novgorod from the south one after another.

At first, the guards in the city thought it was the arrival of the enemy and closed the gate subconsciously, but after seeing that these people were dragging their families and they were not the enemy who came to attack, they also opened the door and let these people in.

And black smoke continued to rise in the south, and the refugees who entered the city told the Novgorodians that there was a large army coming from the south. These people murdered and set fire everywhere, and raped women, looking aggressive.

Businessmen with a little bit of culture and knowledge told the residents of Novgorod that they were from the Polotsk army. These people had seen the flags and teams of the Polotsk army, so they knew this better.

Novgorod was quite shocked by the news. Of course, they knew very well what the relationship between Polotsk and Novgorod was. No need to ask.

The number of Polotsk troops brought by those refugees further created panic, saying that the number of Polotsk people was "boundless" and "certainly above 1 people", and that "Thuds and bandits all joined this army" . . .

Exaggerated words form exaggerated sentences to create panic among the people.

They also mentioned the visit of witch princes and princes to Novgorod, which gave the hyperbole a boost of credibility.

There have always been various horror rumors about the prince of witchcraft. Many people believe that he is the king of black magic. His arrival has made many exaggerated statements believed.

The direct result of the speech is that a large number of businessmen fled. They still have to do business, but they can't be blocked in this place because of the war. The result is that the city gates and ports are immediately congested, and all kinds of large vehicles are blocked on the road. , and in the river, all kinds of ships were twisted together and couldn't move at all.

In the end, it was the Weicher militia who forcibly cleared the field. They forcibly towed all the carts away. As for the boats, they continued to block the river, preventing the enemy from advancing along the river and entering the city.

Some businessmen naturally wailed because of this, but some people supported the militia in doing so. Such businessmen often had a local background in Novgorod, their wealth was in this city, and they were very enthusiastic about defending this city.

Although the chief executives usually struggle constantly, they are clear about what to do at critical moments, and every order is decisive.

Next, Novgorodwich held a meeting immediately. This time, the chief executives of the various districts reached an agreement very quickly. They quickly reached an agreement to close the city gate and mobilize the militia.

In this way, Novgorod's war machine side was slowly mobilized, and the war side of the city was slowly operating.

However, due to some filth and confusion before, the mobilization of the militia was still quite difficult, and there were a lot of troubles in the middle, and the most terrible thing was that the militia from many blocks mixed together, which was not conducive to command, and it would also send out some Negative effects, such as people from hostile neighborhoods getting together or something.

Although there were constant problems, the gate was closed at the moment when Vseslav's army appeared in front of the Novgorod city wall. As the gate closed, everyone finally breathed a sigh of relief.

The city wall was also covered with soldiers. The city wall of Novgorod is a tall Ross wooden wall, which is different from the ordinary wooden wall. The wooden wall of the big city of Ross is based on bricks, and then a wooden wall is built on it. , so that the wooden wall can be made higher, and then covered with soil to protect the wall and avoid dead ends.

And then, when Vseslav's army appeared, when groups of soldiers walked out of the forest and occupied the snow-covered farmland outside Novgorod, the whole of Novgorod was overwhelmed by this scene. Deterred.

From the perspective of the city wall, the Polotsk army in the forest seems to be pouring out endlessly, and there are all kinds of siege equipment among them, wooden ladders are everywhere, and there are even crude the ram.

This was prepared by the Polotsk businessmen who came to the outskirts of Novgorod in advance. After the arrival of the Polotsk army, they only need to go out of these tools at the agreed location.

Not all the troops from afar came out of the city. It is obvious that there are still many Polotsk people active in the forest.

This is a small trick played by Vseslav. He deliberately spread out the formation of the army, and then slowly advanced a certain distance towards the city wall, so that the enemies above the city wall would not be able to see how many people were hiding in the forest.

At a glance, there are Polotsk warriors holding knives and axes everywhere, and armored soldiers are not uncommon among them, and there are also several shaman-like figures dancing in front of the army, plus the Prince of Polotsk The reputation of witchcraft makes this army appear even more terrifying.

This army looked murderous, and even after walking such a long distance, it seemed that their spirits were not affected at all, and their desire to plunder Novgorod was still very strong.

Vseslav's hidden troops in the forest played a big role. The Novgorod militiamen couldn't help feeling cowardly looking at the seemingly endless Polotsk army. They hadn't fought for a while, and they couldn't help but feel a little cowardly in the face of war .

At this time, it was the Chude people in the city who performed the best. These semi-barbarians adjusted their weapons on the city wall in an orderly manner, but it was a pity that there were not many of them.

In fact, it would be great if there was a mayor at this time. The mayor is the recognized chief executive of the whole city, but the mayor has not been elected due to the power struggle during this period.

But there is a prince without a mayor, so the chief executives of Novgorod plan to invite their prince who is like a puppet.

Although it is only a symbol, Rurik is still very supportive in this city, as long as he is lifted out, it can play a role in stabilizing people's hearts.

However, when Novgorod went to invite their mayor, they were told one thing.

"The prince has escaped!"

Now everyone couldn't help but panic, why did the prince run away first!
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(End of this chapter)