king of ros

Chapter 388
After that little episode, the army continued to step through the gate, and the army that started from Kyiv soon set foot on the road to the south.

At the beginning, the energetic young men in the army seemed to be fearless, discussing excitedly what they would do when they went to the battlefield.

As the team went further south and entered the grassland-forest transition zone, the surrounding scene became novel to the young people, and they had only heard such a scene in poetry.

In the mouths of those poets, such a place is the place where strong men make contributions. Generations of Ross warriors are here to fight against the eternal enemy of Ross, the enemies of the grassland that seem to come endlessly, and then those who make military exploits can be honored all over Ross.

Their discussions became more lively, even when they camped at night, and they did not stop until the officer ordered them to sleep.

It's a pity that they are still full of energy now, but it will be different in the future. No matter how many times they have seen the novel scene, they will only be bored.

And after the excitement wears off, complaints about the boring march follow.

Many times, the army has to march on the deserted wilderness. Every day, there is nothing to see except the sparse forest and the boundless wilderness. As time goes by, the young people's hearts are full of complaints.

And there is another problem with these young people, that is, their subconscious disregard for discipline. This is a situation that the Grand Duke's officers will not change no matter how many times they are punished. Just make a fuss.

This road was once passed by countless armies, nomadic troops went to Kyiv, and Rus' troops went to the steppes, but those people don't care about history.

They didn't go to war to walk around this incomparable wilderness!This fact really disappointed them, and some even began to encourage their companions to leave the army. Instead of walking endlessly in the wilderness, they might as well go home directly.

And at this time they knew the seriousness of the army.

For these noises in the army, Ijaslav chose to suppress them without hesitation, and directly hanged the most jumping thorns in front of everyone, so that the entire army was in peace at once.

In order to be a general, one needs a heart of stone, and in the face of shaking the order of the entire army, one must sacrifice one's head.

Now these young people know that war is not a joke, and the blood of their peers makes them understand the seriousness of the matter.

The Grand Duke of Kyiv didn't take these things to heart either. It's normal for young people to make trouble. It's normal to chop off a few heads and let them go to the front line to bathe in some blood.

But this time the number of recruits is a bit large, so some generals said that this is not a good idea, but Ijaslav said that if there is no problem, there is no problem.

There is indeed no problem with what the Grand Duke said. What is it about a few young people making trouble?I didn't see that the militiamen and the soldiers were not making trouble. After all, it was up to them to fight.

But what Ijaslav didn't know was that many of these people had objections to the Grand Duke's behavior. They thought that the Grand Duke was too ruthless this time, and those nomads were so weak, so there was no need to treat these young people like this this time.

As for why they did this, after all, the army was full of children from Kyiv this time, and many of them naturally wanted to speak for their own children.

Svyatoslav noticed the direction of the wind, but Prince Chernigov did nothing about it.

In Ijaslav's view, the prospects of the entire army are not generally good, and they have also received news of another victory from Pereyaslav.

Vsevolod sent a letter to tell his brother that he had defeated tens of thousands of Polovites, and the situation in Pereyaslav was greatly eased.

This news undoubtedly caused a lot of fluctuations in the coalition forces. Whether they were veterans or rookies, they all called for an immediate speeding up of the march.

It seems to the soldiers that if they don't rush to the front line, they really can't even have a drink of soup. If they can't participate in the battle, they can't get the spoils of war, and it really becomes a trip.

In response to everyone's appeal, Ijaslav also increased his speed. After increasing his speed, they quickly came to the Ross fortification area facing the grassland.

This is an area full of earth embankments and trenches, and there are still many strongholds that can accommodate soldiers. Even the villages are armed to deal with all enemies from the grassland.

The Grand Duke's soldiers asked all the way, and found that the men in these villages and strongholds were basically absent. After inquiring, they found out that they were fighting under the command of Prince Pereyaslav.

Among the local population the Grand Duke heard news of many victories, and the Polovets were constantly routed under blows.

The battle this time was much smoother than the one 15 years ago. The entire Pereyaslav region was ravaged by the nomadic army 15 years ago, and now the nomadic army is effectively blocked under the city of Pereyaslav. .

This made Izyaslav speed up his march even more. Damn it, it seems that Vsevolod can win by relying on his own strength. If this continues, he will really not be able to pick up any bones.

Under the acceleration, the army led by the two Yaroslavichs finally arrived at the residence of Prince Pereyaslav, the city of Pereyaslav.

Vsevolod has a full 6000 people in his hands. This is the product of the gathering of men from the entire Pereyaslav region. This force has indeed maintained the safety of the city.

The local residents were very happy to accept the prince's call. As border residents, they understood the principle of unity better than anyone else. If they wanted to stop the nomadic frenzy, the only choice was to join the call.

In addition, many border nomadic tribes joined them, and there were quite a few nomadic tribes living in the Pereyaslav area, and these tribes were more or less Rossized, so they were willing to join the army of Prince Pereyaslav.

The morale of the Pereyaslav army is very high. After all, they are in the stage of moving from one victory to another. Successive victories make their morale high, and they are increasingly looking forward to the next war.

The arrival of the Kyiv and Chernihiv armies was undoubtedly welcomed by Vsevolod, and at any given time, the more boots that could be put on the ground, the better.

Backed by the city of Pereyaslav, the Ross army camped here, on the one hand because the city did not have enough space to accommodate so many troops, and on the other hand because they were not worried about the possible enemies outside the city at all.
And the three Ross princes saw that the Polovets were so weak in fighting power, so they began to think about whether they should advance into the grassland with their army, to destroy the nests of nomadic tribes, and make some preparations for the future.

But the above is so harmonious, but it is not the case below. Due to the successive victories, the Pereyaslavs have a lot of arrogance in their hearts, and some people even think that they do not need reinforcements from the north.

This creates a contradiction. The people of Kyiv and Mrs. Chernigo seem to have traveled so far to support you, but you have such an attitude. What are you doing?
Naturally, there will be quarrels next, and if there are quarrels, there will be fights. After all, there are too many young and energetic young people in the Kyiv army. stand up.

The situation even developed into a group fight at one point, hundreds of people participated, and more people were ready to make a move. In the end, the prince's personal soldiers came to forcibly clear the scene and separate the two sides of the fight.

The final solution was to deal with it in a nasty way. The leaders of the fights and insults on both sides were all hanged, but even so, both sides were still very unhappy. It was obviously the fault of the other side. Why did their people die?
The morale of those young people was hit by this. In the end, they came with a passion, but they marched besides marching, and then they were ridiculed by Mrs. Pereyaslav.

So far, they haven't seen the shadow of the battle, what is this, so their morale has dropped visibly with the naked eye, but for the upper echelon, this is just an episode.

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"This is really, damn it, it's the first time I've seen such a bad army."

In the barracks of the coalition army, a veteran, Ivan Tvorimilić, sighed like this.

It's a pity that not many people listen to his words, not many people care about this old man, even his children are not very willing to obey.

In the battle career of the old Tvori Milic, such a unit was almost full of elements of collapse, and it was only a matter of time before it was over, but he was always soft-spoken after all.

Although he has a high status among the nobles of Kyiv, he has no right to speak in the army after all. Everyone thinks that he is an existence behind the times.

Looking at those dazed youths and proud militiamen, and their loose atmosphere, old Tvori Milic is a headache.

He tried to persuade some people to wake up, but the whole army was caught in a loose atmosphere.

All these actions of his were regarded as a lunatic by others. If the old lunatic said nonsense, if it wasn't because he was too old, he would have been beaten by others. As for his words, they were all considered crazy.

So he can only lament here, can only lament watching all this.

But when he sighed, he didn't see a young man rubbing his chin thoughtfully behind him.

His name was Vladimir Vsevolodovich Rurik, but he was more often called by another name, Monomakh.

Monomacher also felt that the situation of this army was not good. Anyway, this army was too lax, and the enemy they faced was the Polovets who were always known for their maneuvers and tricks.

Moreover, those victories were actually doubted by him. He was also a person who had been active on the border for a long time. In his opinion, it was too deliberate. How could the nomads collapse so easily.

It's a pity that just like the old Tvori Milic's advice was not taken seriously by others, Monomakh's doubts were not taken seriously by his father, and the whole army was in a blindly optimistic atmosphere, which made him a little nervous. confused.

It was also under such circumstances that Monomakh discovered the old Twori Milic who was spreading his failures everywhere. For this reason, he dedicated a day to listen to the old man's opinion. Of course, it was all without his knowledge. in the case of.

The servant once asked him why he didn't contact this person, wouldn't it be better to ask directly?And Monomacher's answer was that this person is really conspicuous, and mixing with such conspicuous people will make him conspicuous too.

So he could only listen secretly, and after listening to the old general's series of complaints, Monomacher decided to make preparations early. The coalition army looks powerful at the moment, but it is actually full of loopholes. No matter what happens, you can handle one or two yourself.

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"The troops from Kyiv and Chernigov have arrived?"

"Yes, I'm quite sure, Khan, they've arrived."

While the coalition army was sleeping, in the camp of the Polovites, the Khan Saru of the Polovites army listened to his subordinates.

Although they have experienced many defeats, the morale of the Polovets has not been affected much, because those are just bait thrown out.

The Khan who now commanded this army was very tall, but he was blind in one eye, so that eye was covered with a black patch.

The remaining eye always exudes the gaze of a predator, which makes him look more majestic, and there are many horror stories about how he cruelly treats his opponents.

But this is exactly the kind of ruler that the grassland needs, especially in this grassland that has just experienced a wave of order collapse. If you want to rule the grassland, kindness has never been of much use. Only cruelty can control those cruel nomads. .

"Very good, very good, finally it's time to attack, the patience during this period is undoubtedly worth it."

Saru, the son of Bruce Khan, threw the whip on the table, and his words were full of joy bursting out of suppressed emotions. He had waited for this moment for too long, and now the troops from the three cities of South Ross finally arrived.

But he was a little regretful, why that Rostislav didn't come, Saru didn't forget that it was he who killed his father, led to the defeat of the Polovite army, and led to his miserable fate.

Yes, Saru is the son of the Polovets Khan Bruce who came to Kyiv back then, and now he is sitting in his father's position, leading the Polovets tribes.

"Call together all the ministries scattered all over the place and tell them that we have to show our true skills. Don't hide it from me anymore. It depends on this time whether we can develop or not!"

Fifteen years have passed since the last time he came to Kyiv, and Saru has changed a lot.

That ignorant boy back then has now become an experienced old prairie wolf, just like his father, no, the kind that is more cunning than his father.

Saru has suffered a lot in these years, and he was on the brink of death countless times, but he survived all of them, and every time he won by relying on being more desperate than the opponent, and winning crazily.

After one adventure after another, he regained the authority of his father's generation, and made them fear him and fear him through countless fights.

Then, under the joint effect of force threat and poisoned wine, all the ministries obeyed his command.

After completing this feat, Saru Khan immediately started to invade Ross. Revenge is one aspect, but more importantly, he took the troops to win the spoils and consolidate his position.

Saru Khan's authority is not stronger than his father Bruce. If the cities of Ross are united with the Grand Duke of Ross because of commercial profits, then the nomads are united with the nomads for the purpose of plundering. A khan whose clan won the spoils could not gain support.

This is the ecology of the prairie, either fighting each other or looting outside, anyway, it is either at this stage or at that stage.

This khan intends to play big, and he described a very bright future to the chiefs.

In this future, the entire Ross will become a hunting ground for the Polovets, where they can get all the prey they want, food, handicrafts, slaves... they can have whatever they want.

It was also because of this promise that Saru was able to "defeat" the chiefs. People in the grasslands all know the truth that if they want to get something, they have to pay first.

But this does not mean that he has no pressure, because if he cannot keep his promise, his future will be very miserable.

The Polovets were cruel to the promiseless and the loser—these words were often used synonymously in the steppes—and the rule he had managed to establish would surely crumble with it.

But Saru has the determination to complete this matter. Over the years, he has shed blood on the tip of the knife countless times, and he has never been against taking risks and gambling.

Even if it fails, it doesn't matter, the big deal is to go back to the grassland and start again. He is still young, even if he loses everything again, he can still regain it with a sword.

But Saru Khan, who had such a mentality, recently received a letter, a letter from the north.

Although the person did not name the person, and the handwriting on the letter was clearly written by several people, making it very difficult to identify, but Saru still knew that the person who sent the letter was Sviatoslav Yaroslavich, which It's not that hard, just follow the logic backwards.

Saru has been paying attention to Rose's internal political affairs over the years, and he never forgets even when he was in the worst times, because he always thinks about revenge, even if it means giving everything, he wants revenge.

So regarding the purpose of the owner of the letter, Saru understood at first sight that it was nothing more than wanting to borrow his knife for use.But he doesn't mind making a gun for this person, because in this, he can also get what he wants.

But having said that, it is estimated that the prince of Chernihiv who wrote the letter was well aware of this point, so he dared to write that letter. Anyway, everyone just takes what they need.

It's just that none of the co-conspirators thought that all the developments would eventually turn into a scene that no one thought of.

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(End of this chapter)