king of ros

October 1082, Kyiv.

"How long has it been... you have asked us for more mercenaries."

Rurik Rostislavich looked at the two letters in front of him, his face was full of dissatisfaction, and there was a hint of surprise.

One letter was from Emperor Alexios Komnenos, to ask Rus for more mercenaries, and the other was from his brother who had gone to Alexios to serve as Captain of the Varangian Guard, in which It is also the person who complains and wants more.

The Norman war in the Eastern Empire did not go smoothly. Even after Robert Guiscard returned to Italy, the Eastern Empire still had difficulty defeating the Normans. Guiscard's illegitimate son Bohemond defeated the Argentines twice in a row. Lexus.

The Normans now occupy almost the entire western border of the empire, and they have also expanded on a large scale in the hinterland of the original Macedonian kingdom, occupying a lot of land.

However, the Norman army did not act according to their original plan, which was to occupy Constantinople. Their leader Bohemond knew that he was not strong enough. The strong part, so he chose to occupy the land of the Greeks as much as possible, and wait for his father to return after solving the Italian affairs.

In this series of battles, Emperor Alexios suffered heavy losses in military strength, but the emperor was not frustrated by this. He was still gathering troops. This time he asked the Turks for 7000 people, and wrote to Ross It was to get Ross to bring some people out as well.

And Volorida's letter is mainly to explain what kind of symptoms the Ross mercenaries have suffered. At its peak, the Varangian Guard had a full 6000 people, but after a series of battles, this team is currently The number of people is less than [-].

Volorida hoped that his brother could send another 3000 men. He hoped to restore the original size of the Varangian Guard so that it could perform better on the battlefield.

It is not a problem to give the Greeks troops. For this year, Ross has been recruiting soldiers for the Greek emperor in the whole of Ross according to the agreement between them. Many people also came from other places.

Rumors about the wealth of King Gard of Mikrigad have been circulating in the north for a long time. According to the legend, King Gard ruled the colorful coast where greenery is always present, and strong men fought for him with swords and axes. It's all gold.

Now there are [-] people who are eager to try outside the city of Kiev. This time, the Grand Duke of Kyiv paid for the travel expenses and also provided training.

Everyone is happy to serve the wealthy King Jiade. The biggest problem that troubled everyone before was the distance, but now the distance problem has been solved by the Grand Duke.

As for why travel expenses and training are provided, this is the product of an agreement with Alexios. The emperor of Constantinople asked Ross to at least provide these people with some basic training, and it cannot be completely like a mess.

As for the travel expenses, it means using Ross's fleet to send these people to the imperial capital to minimize the loss on the road.

After reading the letters from the emperor and his brothers, Rurik asked Kirill to bring a document on which he signed his name. This document was about letting the mercenary team set out.

At the same time as sending this letter, however, Rurik also wrote a letter to his younger brother, Vasilyko Rosdislavitch, who remained in Constantinople.

Rurik was worried about handing over the army to Volorida. According to his depletion ability, these people would probably be gone in half a year after going there. This is not a good thing for Ross. If the troops are depleted too quickly It's not good either in terms of income or impact.

So it is better to hand over the troops to his more stable brother. As for why Vasilico is in Constantinople, the main reason is that the Prince of Ross still thinks about the great library of Constantinople after returning to Ross. So shortly after his return he typed a report to his father and, having obtained permission, proceeded to Constantinople.

Every time he thinks about this, Rurik can't help sighing. Two of the three brothers went to the Eastern Empire, but he has no interest in Rome. I have to say that he is really different from the two younger brothers. , I only have responsibility in my eyes, only Rose, and their lives are obviously much richer.

Rurik sighed for a while, then put the sigh aside, and then continued to work. There are still many things to do.

After dealing with the affairs of the southern imperial capital, Rurik then picked up a more troublesome matter. This information came from a pagan friend of his father, a Persian businessman named Abdul. The message was simple - Monomakh had recaptured Tbilisi.

Seeing this familiar name, Rurik couldn't help but rubbed his head. It was such a nostalgic name. The name of this relative appeared in front of him again.

In the past, deep in Rurik's heart, he actually envied this Monomacher, because although he was in exile, he was able to live an unfettered life and be able to do what he wanted, but now this is already The past tense, Rurik has long realized how naive he was.

But then he got a story about Monomakh starting a business in a foreign country. Rurik suddenly realized that his relative was probably much better than him in terms of ability. He would never be able to do these things. arrived.

"I still have to leave it to my father to decide."

After watching for a while, Rurik still decided to leave the matter to his father. More precisely, such matters can only be decided by his father.

And if he said he would see him, he would see him, Rurik didn't delay at all, picked up the documents and left the room, heading to his father's place.

Generally speaking, Rostislav Vladimirovich is now often on the watchtower of the Vladimir Palace, doing various things to pass the time, and sometimes he is with his craftsmen When discussing technology, sometimes he is thinking about writing, and sometimes he is simply basking in the sun and practicing swords by the way.

After Rurik came in this time, he found that his father was writing, but what was interesting was that there were a bunch of gambler's things on his father's table, everything from beef bone dice to chips.

However, Rurik's attention only stayed on it for a while, and then he began to inform about the business. He would not be curious about the hobby his father was doing. He knew that his father would never give anyone a question before the results were produced. talked about.

"Really? That Monomakh has occupied Tbilisi again." Rostislav pondered over the news brought by his son, "He also conquered the Kingdom of Kakheti and the Emir of Shirvan, ahhhhh , this exile unknowingly became the great warlord of Transcaucasia."

Rostislav was actually a little surprised. Although he knew Monomakh's ability, he never thought that he would achieve all this so soon, and it has only been a few years since he went to Transcaucasia.

"Anton, Radko... are the guys who worked under me back then, huh? Why is that guy Zheerji there too?"

He continued to look at the letter brought by Abdul, and then saw several familiar names, and a name that surprised him, Jergi, he still remembered the Arpad who almost killed him back then family members.

But his caring only lasted for a while, this person is just a small person to him now, so he doesn't need to care too much.

"So father, what should we do?"

Rurik asked about his father's decision, what they had to do now that Monomakh had reached a point where they couldn't ignore it.

"Well, let's contact King George of Georgia first, and spread our goodwill to him. If possible in the future, we may fight against Monomakh with him." Rostislav also quickly made a decision, "still How many spies are sent there, what Abdul gave us is not very nutritious, but we have to pay him a lot of money for it. Well, that’s all for now.”

"Yes, father, I will do it immediately." Rurik immediately responded.

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