king of ros

Among the many territories in Russia, Temutorokan on the coast of the Black Sea (near Taman today) has always been the most special part, both in terms of location and this piece of land, it is very special.

As early as the Vladimir era, Ross built a stronghold here, controlled the land, developed trade, strengthened its influence and control over the Black Sea trade, and absorbed a large amount of trade benefits.

During the reign of Yaroslav's brother Mstislav, the Rus also defeated the local nomads and greatly expanded the territory of Temutorokan.

This land is the place where the two cultures of grassland and Ross merge most seriously. The stone men left by some nomadic people look down on the land, watch the years go by, and spend those years together with Ross's wooden castle.

The local Ross people also mastered skilled riding skills like nomads, and were as flexible on war horses as nomads, and the nomads also used various tools of Ross, and some even worshiped the gods of Ross .

Temutorokan is also a prosperous land, it can be said to extend in all directions, the west is the colony of the Eastern Empire, the east and the north are the grasslands and Ross, as for the south, it is the imperial capital and the Caucasus, and the core of the Yinjiao world further away Baghdad.

Merchants from all walks of life gathered here, bringing together a large amount of gold and silver. Therefore, the Grand Dukes of Rus paid great attention to the control of this. When Svyatoslav was still in Chernigov, he was on this land A lot of resources were tilted, and a monastery was also built.

However, due to the characteristics of being far away from the center of Ross, this is also an enclave of Ross. If you want to travel here, in addition to crossing the dangerous grassland, you can only take the Dnieper River to enter the Black Sea first, and then go here.

As long as the local ruler is willing, he can completely separate himself from the center of Temutorokan, just like an independent kingdom.

Yaroslav's brother, Mstislav, who expanded the territory of Temurotokan, did just that. The forced points were given to Mstislav half Rose.

Now, this place is occupied by the descendants of Yaroslavich. After their defeat in Rus, they retreated to the only piece of land they still held firmly. The local independent position is enough for them to prepare here and prepare for a comeback.

Although this area is ethnically mixed, it is also full of countless sources of available soldiers. Whether it is nomads on the grasslands or mountain people in the Caucasus mountains, they are happy to come out to fight and more importantly, to plunder.

The Yaroslavitches who retreated here used the looting of Ross as bait to recruit many such barbarians. It took them three full months, plus those loyal followers, to gather a force Reach troops of a thousand.

It is said that they have also found some allies on the grassland. With the help of those allies, their strength will reach [-] or even [-], which is enough to fight against the mayor of Chernigov in Rostislav.

From the bottom of their hearts, they didn't want to take these barbarians to plunder Ross, but they had too few troops. They could only recruit those barbarians, and they could only raise troops from the barbarians. …

Relying on their influence, the previous Svyatoslavitches had been active in the Chernihiv area, but they were always unable to do much due to the problem of their military strength, and they couldn't defend the territories they had regained. , and caused heavy casualties to the diehards, and finally they had to follow them to flee to Temutorokan.

But they also have merit, that is, they rescued Sviatoslavich's eldest brother Gleb, and now he leads the descendants of Yaroslavich.

Then they set off with this army. Their goal was very simple, to capture the frontier town of Murom, and then use it as the core to consolidate their positions, calling on people to rise up and resist, and create riots throughout Southern Ross.

What Ross needs right now is a flag of resistance. Only when this flag is erected can they call on everyone to join and fight against Rostislav.

Since someone is going to fight, there must be someone staying behind, and the two staying behind are Oleg and Monomakh who killed Harald together.

As the youngest Svyatoslavich, Oleg had a right to stay behind. As for Monomakh, the Pereyaslav prince in exile was not optimistic about war, so he chose to stay behind.

The Svyatoslavitches also agreed to him. In their view, it would be a good thing not to have Vsevolodovic and them grab credit.

However, in terms of merit and contribution, this is very unfair, because it was Monomakh and Oleg who first went to Temtoro to cut, and stabilized this piece of land that was unstable due to the drastic changes in Ross.

But after all, they were too young, so after the elder Svyatoslavitches came back, they were taken away from power, but the two finally chose to accept it. Against this background, Yaroslavich The sons of sons cannot fight each other.

The two people staying in Temutorokan were not idle. They were busy collecting supplies as much as possible, reorganizing the existing forces in their hands, and contacting as many other forces as possible.

But Oleg has always been very upset. He has been arranging spies and spies everywhere to investigate the situation in the north, as if he is still planning some conspiracy. Monomakh has persuaded him several times, but it was useless.

As for Monomakh, he was busy traveling across the mountains to meet with Temutorokan and the leaders of the nearby ethnic groups, talk to them, understand their needs, and try to solve them as much as possible.

This allowed Monomakh to win a lot of hearts, but he didn't expect these forces to help him. It was impossible for these people to send dozens of people when they encountered problems. He just wanted to get to know these people and prepare for the future. And prepare.

Monomacher saw it clearly, counterattacked, hmph, is it possible to counterattack in this situation?They can fight against that powerful cousin by pulling some rotten fish and rotten shrimp?Don't dream, let's manage this land well and prepare for the next escape.

In Monomacher's heart, to a certain extent, he has no hope of returning to Rose—at least ten years—so instead of Rose, he might as well establish a good relationship with the powerful factions around him. A new story unfolds. …

And amidst such a busy schedule, a piece of bad news came, that is, their brother suffered a defeat in Murom, and the mayor of Chernigov in Rostislav defeated them and the allies they invited.

Fortunately, the Svyatoslavitches are all fine, they are still alive and are currently on their way back to Temutorokan.

Before even touching the walls of Murom, this army was routed in an ambush by Jan Vysadich, and none of the Svyatoslavitches could stand up against this mighty general, only one The wave hits the entire army and it collapses.

Those nomadic cavalry and mountain people who came for looting were not reliable at all. They fled when the attack started, and they didn't want to fight.

As for the nomads, these guys slipped even faster. They even robbed Svyatoslavich's train and made a lot of money.

When they got the news, Monomakh and Oleg were not surprised at all. Failure is just a matter of time, even if there are no wolves who are attracted by wealth, the gap in strength is too big. A little desperate.

Under such circumstances, the two cousins ​​who stayed behind naturally had to welcome the team returning from the defeat, and at the same time, they had to appease Temutorokan who was disturbed by the defeat.

It's a pity that for some reason, the army that was supposed to return at the original time did not arrive for a long time, which made them wait for several days and made several trips in vain.

But today, their return has been confirmed. The scouts saw the arrival of the distant army from the tower, and the two naturally led their team to meet the brothers who had returned from defeat.

"Oleg, you don't look happy that your brothers are back."

Beneath Temutorokan's wooden fortress, Monomakh looked to his cousin.

Temutorokan is a typical Rosewood Fort, but it is surrounded by various yurts. The people in this land were influenced by nomads and gradually developed the same customs and habits as them. .

The port of Temutorokan is quite prosperous, with ships from all over the Black Sea on it, and many residents such as the Greeks and Armenians, but these residents have united themselves to form an autonomy relative to the princely government organize.

Most of these residents came here, and they all came to watch the fun.

The local nobles also have a strong nomadic style, and many local noble warriors even wear the iron masks of nomads. When they stand with the nobles and soldiers who fled from Ross, they are very conspicuous.

Many of them do have the blood of the Caucasus mountain people and the surrounding nomadic peoples. These frontier warriors fought with each other, but they also married each other. ——They can be said to be the most serious aristocratic group of Ross mixed blood.

This has also led to the centrifugal force of these people. Kyiv has become a story from afar. They really have no interest in Kyiv at all. It is also very difficult for Ross to control here. Many times the ruler of Kyiv has to put his own A son is placed here. …

The local noble warriors didn't take part in Sviatoslavich's adventures because they were not interested in conquests far away, and those guys were talking about defeating Rostislav, which sounded too unreliable.

These nobles don't care about Kyiv in the distance at all, because it sounds too illusory. In comparison, they should care more about their own territory.

In contrast, they are willing to follow Monomakh. Due to his activities in the frontier all year round, Monomakh has a strong reputation among the grassland peoples, and he is gentle and rational. No matter how you look at it, you should follow this person, not those The kid who is full of rejuvenation.

"You're right, Monomakh, I'm not happy." Oleg said in a voice that only the two of them could hear, "We are obviously smarter people, but they use our age to suppress us, see Look at what they've done, this defeat has buried all the connections our father had amassed in the area."

Since they worked together to defeat and kill Harald, the relationship between the two has improved to a new level. Now many people think that they are more like a pair of brothers, which is why Oleg said these words.

"Don't be so disrespectful to Gleb and the others, they are your blood brothers after all, and he was just too impatient, Gleb is a smart person, but it's a pity that emotions dominate his thinking now, making him so irrational. As for burying connections... that's not necessarily the case, many people just don't want to take risks, as long as the decision is reasonable, they will still follow..."

Monomacher rubbed his chin and said that he has been visiting guests nearby to understand the situation in this area. Now he knows everything well and knows how to deal with it.

At present, he has initially summed up a preliminary draft of how to act, and now that Sviatoslavitch and the others are just returning from defeat, he just happens to give them this plan.

If it was before, they would definitely not accept Monomacher's plan, but now that they are defeated... Monomacher thinks that everyone can still reach a consensus.

"The team is coming!"

The sharp-eyed saw the return of the defeated army, and soon, a team of about 50 people appeared in front of the crowd. Looking at their armor from a distance, these people were followers of the exiled princes.

And even from that far away, Monomacher could see that their armor was in tatters and their morale was low.

"I've said a long time ago that none of the temporary recruits and recruited scum is reliable. Take a look, they are basically gone."

Oleg complained, but Monomakh didn't say a word, he even gave Oleg a look, told him to quiet down and stop talking, and for some reason, he felt that something was wrong with this team, and made him alert , and even put his hands on the hilt of the sword, the only way to make him feel a little more at ease.

However, as the team approached, the expressions of the two became more subtle, because they saw three war horses without riders in front of the team, and three personal soldiers led them dejectedly.

The two of course understood what this represented, and when the procession reached them, Yevgeny, Chernihiv's bodyguard captain, knelt in front of Oleg and Monomakh.

"Lord Vladimir, Lord Oleg, I'm sorry, the three Sviatoslavitches all died in...the north."

It was all like this, and everyone could see the meaning of it, and the atmosphere became very awkward for a while, everyone didn't dare to do anything, and everyone didn't know what to do.

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