Ella carrying a heavy suitcase is a bit funny, but all the suitcases are filled with things important to Rose.

Documents with recorded contents and even simple papers were wrapped in impermeable leather and stuffed into oiled backpacks.

Bags of all sizes were hung on the saddles, and Ella and the ten accompanying scribes also rode with the cavalry.

For this time, the horses of the cavalry team were more prepared. Those foals that had just grown up were even just pregnant. Rurik would not give these horses a chance to rest. It is true that mares are the first choice for war horses, and the horses must undergo more rigorous training.

Rigorous long-distance training proves that he is indeed a Turkic horse with high endurance.

Today's Rus can't achieve the true appearance of a man with five or even ten horses like the Mongolian Empire. The Mongolian army can advance at extremely high speeds precisely because each cavalry can change horses at any time. They sleep on the horse, and when they are hungry, they can

They drank the dried meat that came with the horse's milk and food. They had no logistics troops, or they had a large number of accompanying horses that were the logistics troops.

If Ross's cavalry flag force can have one man and two horses, the speed of advancement will exceed that of the longship, and the cavalry does not have to use the inherent waterways like the fleet. The cavalry can go directly in a straight line, through shoals, rapids, muddy lands, and even forests.

, can hardly be a real obstacle.

Ross's horse administration is still in its infancy, and the kingdom certainly has a promising future. For the sake of national defense and security, all suitable war horses currently have owners. In theory, Ross can mobilize a thousand cavalry of varying quality to go into battle.

At least there are no large-scale battles now, which gives the kingdom a very important period of development for its horse administration.

Taking the "second waterway" back to the capital was actually Rurik's personal exploration as a king. He didn't have to worry about guides. Karl Brand's team was the best guide.

The canal excavation work has begun in an orderly manner. In order to excavate as quickly as possible, the civilian workers from the Slavic Flag Team have used the resources at hand to manufacture manpower and animal-drawn cranes. In fact, they set up concave wooden piles on the ground and placed peeled tree trunks as crane arms.

The lever principle brought the mud out of the trench. The cattle in the Calf Manor immediately became an excellent driving force. The cattle pulled the rope, and the mud piled in the basket was quickly discharged.

All excavation work has been handed over to Governor Medvet, and Rurik no longer cares about it.

What he is quite concerned about now is the small agreement he made with the businessmen who are watching the excitement. These businessmen are actually from Lake Mälaren, so that they can promote the existence of the road to Novgorod in the capital and in Sweden.

Rurik gave them enough time to ferment public opinion in the capital, and it would be better to have a big discussion in the city. Finally, when the cavalry took the land route and appeared on the western coastline of the capital, his goal was achieved.

No matter what, it doesn't matter that I can't participate in the summer festival in the capital. After all, the summer festival is not a major festival throughout the year.

Once there is no large-scale war, life in Russia will return to its former peace and even laziness.

In the agricultural era, a large number of farmers adhered to the lifestyle of working from sunrise to sunset. They did not have clocks, no concept of detailed time, and no need for this. Even if they were still doing manual production voluntarily, because they were just

To improve their lives, they are not willing to work harder as long as their lives are better.

If possible, who doesn’t want to take it easy?

Rurik considered that he was still in the East. What was the current strategic layout of the Western world? Whether the Blue Fox brothers who had arranged to go out were really "doing something big" in the territory of Central Frank would be unknown until the news came back.

Out of their own heart and to protect their horse power, the whole team formed a column on the right bank of the river after passing the newly built wooden bridge on the Reed River and rode freely.

The three reconnaissance teams sent out all came back, and they brought back very unified news - there were birds and animals in the nearby area, but there was no human habitation.

This is exactly the same as the report of Karl Brand's expedition.

However, it is impossible to be completely depopulated. The way forward must be to subdue the so-called Savok village that speaks Finnish, and then to permanently manage it.

A very simple reason is that the "second waterway" needs some nodes that serve as service areas, which are inns and ports. It is better to use existing settlements to transform them than to build a rest stop from scratch.

Although Rurik believed that he was free to rein his horses, and the horses carried young warriors without armor, the overall load was not too severe. The horse team could still walk for five kilometers in an hour, which is equivalent to ordinary people walking at a brisk pace, but for horses

It can be described as a very friendly and slow walk.

It can advance up to forty kilometers in one day. Compared with the two accompanying long boats, the speed of the horse team is even a little faster.

It was an ordinary night. The ship docked and the horse team rested on the spot.

The young warriors cut down some small trees and smashed them into pieces to use as firewood. They brought their own charcoal, tinder and fire salt to support the fire, and quickly lit the fire by drilling with a bow. After the fire started, it gradually ignited the newly cut moist wood, and soon

The campsite is full of bonfires.

The iron pots unloaded from the ship were special cooking utensils, and the sacks filled with oats were unloaded, and the troops cooked the wheat on the spot.

Now there is no need to feed the war horses. It is now the peak season for all kinds of pastures. There is almost an inexhaustible supply of pastures along the narrow river. Some herbs can be seen deep in the grass, and the varieties are probably some rushes. Of course, they are far inferior to

Alfalfa is actually the most common wild grass in the back, and it is the best choice for raising cattle, sheep, and red deer.

These war horses have lived in human society for a long time. They are very young and well-informed. They are not afraid of fire at all, and they are also adapted to the noise of people talking loudly. Even if they let go of the reins, they will just nibble grass on the spot without any success.

Wild Horse's Desire.

There are only four women in the whole army, and they are the queen and concubines. If you look closely at their identities, they are all prominent nobles. Lanna hugged Prince Osborne and gathered with her three sisters to eat, talk and laugh.

"This is a bit like life on the grassland. When hunting, we also have hundreds of warriors working together. But there is no grassland here." Beiyashir sighed silently.

Her description of the grassland was so refreshing that Nolen cleared his throat: "The hometown where I live faces the sea, with tall snow-capped mountains behind me. There are only some small coastal flats for grazing in my hometown. The grassland is as big as the ocean, and I am very excited.

I want to go take a look.”

"We will all have a chance." Lana hugged her son tightly, "Rurik said that as long as we find the channel of the Volga River, our ship can directly reach Sister Beyashil's hometown."

"Ah... that would be great." Of course, Bayahir could not ignore her eldest brother Kagan who had become a Khan. She did not want the separation to be a permanent farewell. Ross and Pecheneg would become a country of brothers. As long as

Contact should be strengthened whenever possible.

"I just don't know how my sister is doing in the south." The quiet Ella showed a slight timidity. In this situation, she couldn't help but worry about her sister Carlotta.

"Of course she will be safe." Lana looked at her with confidence.

"Okay. I heard that the swampland at the source of the Lovati River is the source of many rivers. It would be great if there was also the source of the legendary Volga River. At least we are still exploring eastward. If Arik and the people have

A major discovery is even better. The scribes under my management will participate in it. My people will try their best to record what they see and hear, and finally it will be carried down by my plane. So I will also take good notes on everything I see and hear during this long trip...

"

Ella talked a lot, which made the other three girls quite speechless for a while.

Ella is responsible for keeping the map of the area drawn by Rurik himself and marked with as many acquaintances as possible. This is her job. Therefore, she surpasses others and is the second person besides Rurik to know the truth about the world.

The world is a big ball, and everyone lives on it. Ella still doesn't understand how people can avoid falling into the abyss outside the world when they stand on the "ball"? Anyway, Rurik has an obscure way to understand it.

explain.

There are large and small landmasses on the earth, some known and some unknown. Compared with the huge world, Northern Europe is only a small area. Ella can feel the hugeness of the world and her own smallness, and she is even more aware of those

The unknown area is full of infinite possibilities. Ordinary people simply cannot learn this profound knowledge from Rurik. It is said that all this is given by Odin. She fell into great happiness and was dominated by the ever-deepening desire for knowledge, as if she herself

I am also blessed by the gods, and I deeply love my work.

Lana smiled to ease the embarrassment and simply talked about their children.

So, what can men talk about among themselves? To put it bluntly, the young cavalry soldiers are a large group of brave and fierce men. They have all received cultural courses, know how to read and write, and understand general arithmetic and geometry knowledge.

Even some physics knowledge.

Their essence is still men. They laugh and talk about dirty jokes together, and then discuss hunting, war, and very simple horse racing, competing to see who is the best cavalry.

Rurik, on the other hand, gathered all five men from Karlbrand's team together and simply brought ten Savak children bought by the expedition to the campfire.

At first, these children were timid. After eating salted wheat and a lot of fish, they started to let down their guard against their masters. Due to the need to communicate with other Finns, they learned the Suomi dialect of Finnish.

It is a kind of homework in every old Russian family.

These little girls are equally ignorant about marriage, but they are very accustomed to doing housework for the main family, just like their life in their hometown village.

Slaves? No. When they give birth to children in the future, the children will be the third generation of Russians after entering the Kingdom Era. Mixing in some Finnish blood is not a big problem.

After giving these children good food and drink to make them let down their guard, they will most likely talk endlessly about all kinds of things they have seen and heard.

No, after hearing the news about Rurik's strange accent, and after having a full stomach, they really started to talk about their hometown without a story.

They were all chattering away, but Rurik was able to extract three very crucial pieces of information.

Savok villages have few people, weak soldiers and poverty.

A small community of less than 300 people seems to live by fishing, hunting and simple planting. In principle, it even actively refuses to communicate with the outside world. If the village is hidden in a deep mountain col or on the top of a cliff, it can be hidden for a long time. There is flat land everywhere. It happened to be a forest area where people settled next to a river. It was only a matter of time before outsiders found them.

Rurik then said to the leader of the expedition: "Hey!"

"King?"

"They are indeed very weak. Oh, thank you that we discovered them. I am worried that if others discover them first, they will launch a massive attack to capture slaves."

"It's not too late to catch him now. If the king is willing," Karl joked, he was sure that the current king had a good heart.

Is Rurik really benevolent on this issue? The matter has nothing to do with morality, everything is based on geopolitical considerations.

He gave Karl a reminder: "You and the other brothers are all old Russians, and we have a common ancestor. You are the initiator of the expedition, so the expedition has achieved great results. You need to be commended. I want to give it to you Opportunity to be a boyar.”

"Hey?! Thank you for your attention, Your Majesty. I just don't know where Your Majesty wants to canonize me."

"What?" Rurik looked at him and smiled: "You seem to be absent-minded?"

"No. My family is too ordinary. It was a shame to Ross in the past. That's why I responded to the call early and became the first settlers of New Rossburg."

"This is obviously merit." Rurik shook his head, "My father was still in power at that time, but it was indeed my suggestion to immigrate to New Roseburg. You are a loyal person, so continue to show your loyalty! I want Conquer the Savok village and build a new town there, and you! I appoint you count (war chief) to govern that village."

"Thank you very much." After saying that, Karl hurriedly knelt down and performed the warrior salute.

The earls under the Ross system are war chiefs. The difference is that in the past, war chiefs only had the power to command tribal warriors to fight, and the title was automatically lifted after the war. In the new era, those who have been awarded the title of war chief must be responsible for managing the security of an area. , taxation, human resources mobilization, becoming an earl.

They are both earls, and their strength is extremely different.

Noren, who was accompanying the cavalry, was the Earl of Narvik. The local population still exceeded 10,000, and his son was the first heir to the title.

To be a count in a Savok village with only two to three hundred people is a title that is really empty.

In any case, at least they were honored with the title of "Earl", and the Karl family immediately turned around. The family may still maintain a status of neither rich nor poor, but the title of earl is real. Karl's title is "Count Reed", the original meaning It was so boring and even funny, and he had no complaints about it. After all, he felt that it was an overly domineering name that didn't suit him.
To be continued...