Chapter 1,309 Prisoners of War and Messengers

The killings and looting slowly subsided, and the "Odin Blood Sacrifice" at the Gniezdovo Altar also ended.

The place is full of horrific corpses of the murdered, and the snowy world is dyed red with blood. Those who were not killed were dragged by the soldiers by their hair. At this moment, the villagers had become slaves.

The conqueror had a smile on his face. At first, everyone did not believe that these villagers had a large amount of gold and silver in their hands, but they believed that they had a large amount of grain in their hands.

After conquering the high altar, apart from those who looted the priest's residence and made a small fortune, the soldiers gained the most nothing more than food and dried meat.

All the buildings in the area near the altar were cleaned, and the blood stains on the swords were wiped off. The soldiers lived in these simple houses-at least they were more comfortable than setting up tents.

The young soldiers of the four newly formed citizen flag corps finally saw their swords stained with blood for the first time.

They can claim to have grown up and become true warriors by killing their enemies.

But it was clear to each other that killing enemy civilians before engaging actual enemy soldiers was not enough to qualify as a claim to bravery.

Even so, after the first killing, the soldiers had retreated from the enthusiasm of the march. Their restless hearts were still beating wildly, and they sat down one after another. In the excitement, they stared at the dead body with weird smiles and then quickly became cold. corpse, chatting nervously with his companions about the battle just now.

They killed so many villagers that not many were left alive.

Although young women were most sought after by everyone, their population was not large, and the dreams of the warriors who once planned to capture a large number of slaves came to nothing. Fortunately, the linen bags they prepared now contained a large amount of grain, and some people even hauled oats nearly equal to their own weight! This much food can feed this soldier for two to three months.

The killing basically came to an end. As time passed, the soldiers who gradually collected their weapons began to spontaneously clean up the corpses in the huge area.

As we all know, there are still a large number of local villagers who took advantage of the chaos to escape. There was no need to pursue these people, and their escape was exactly what the king wanted - after all, someone needed to go to Smolensk, not far away, to inform more people of the arrival of the Russian army.

On these cold days, a dead person can freeze to death in half an hour.

Soldiers used ropes to drag the dead around and arrange them into piles.

The Ross coalition had a large number of personnel, and they accomplished the victory with almost no resistance, so no one was killed and only some were injured.

The bodies of the dead are piling up, and they will be buried or burned, but that is not the case now.

Because this was ordered by Rurik himself.

"Eventually we have to deal with all the corpses. Mass cremation may not be appropriate. Finally, we dig pits and bury them all. Until then, the corpses are left beside the altar mound, and then the Smolensk nobles can see our masterpiece. .”

Rurik wanted to build a temple, and his warriors were indeed doing that.

The mountains of corpses piled higher and higher, and the Ross soldiers who carried out the orders were still afraid at first. After all, in this way, they could directly see how their own camp was killing the enemy's heads. Even veterans who had experienced hundreds of battles were somewhat surprised.

With the continued execution of the order, the Beijing view was completed after nightfall.

In one afternoon, more than three thousand people were killed in the entire settlement of Gniezdovo! The pile of corpses thus formed a large mound.

The entire settlement has been destroyed, and the sacred altar is now owned by Rus.

Thousands more have fled!

But in extreme panic, they walked on the snowy road toward Smolensk at night. The cold eroded their identity, because many of them did not bring any clothing and lacked the ability and courage to light a fire in the forest. The escape route of the villagers was extremely dangerous. Fortunately, the distance between the two places was not far, and a group of villagers could easily cross the snowy ten kilometers overnight.

And many people with weak constitutions, once they stop to rest and then fall asleep, will be found as a frozen zombie body the next morning.

There are bonfires everywhere here at the Great Altar, and the local villagers have been replaced by Rus' conquerors.

Rurik is very satisfied with the current situation.

He discovered the largest wooden structure building to serve as his temporary palace, and also found a large amount of blood stains during a cursory inspection.

The soldiers found the rosin, burned the wooden poles with the rags they found, and soaked them for a while, making a batch of long-lasting torches, but the pine smoke was really choking their noses.

Rurik used this kind of thing as lighting. He looked around and saw that the house had become dilapidated and furniture was thrown everywhere.

"Are there any nobles living here?"

The accompanying warrior immediately replied: "Your Majesty, this should be their priest's residence."

The soldier warned Rurik: "Priest? Oh, where is their high priest?"

As if questioning everyone, the brothers looked at each other and could only reply "not found."

"Your Majesty, maybe their high priest has died in the rebellion. Anyway, all the priests are dead, and now there are only some women captured by our people."

Another soldier hurriedly added: "Those grassland brothers, they have captured a group of prisoners. Maybe... the high priest here is there."

"No matter." Rurik shook his head and ordered: "You guys clean up this place immediately and throw out all the bloody things. Throw out the miscellaneous furniture as well. Then bring in blankets and bronze oil lamps. Today I’ll stay here tonight.”

All the guards said so.

Rurik walked out of the house aggressively holding the hilt of his sword. Outdoors, bonfires everywhere illuminated the snowy night extremely brightly!

Looking at the huge empty field, the victorious warriors were cooking food around the campfire, singing and dancing. The sounds of joy were mixed with the cries of some women, but the sounds were so small that they were almost inaudible.

"Okay! No matter what, I won." Rurik pinched his waist and muttered to himself.

Soon, there was a horse's hooves.

A female warrior came in a hurry on horseback. As soon as the horse stopped in front of Rurik, the female warrior quickly dismounted sideways, stood deftly in front of him and gently took off her fur hat to keep out the cold.

"Khan." Bayahir couldn't hide the joy in her heart: "I have been looking for you, but I didn't expect you to be here."

"Looking for me? Okay, I'm standing here. What's the matter? And your people... I also have some questions to ask you."

"The king should ask first." She said with a smile.

"Okay. I heard that you and your Pecheneg soldiers captured a group of prisoners of war. Is this true?"

"It's true! And this is exactly what I want to report to you."

"Oh? How many did you catch?"

I saw Beyathil stretching out her right hand and spreading her five fingers: "There are five hundred people, haha, what a huge wealth."

"So many?" Rurik was a little surprised: "My warriors are killing everywhere, and all the northerners are sacrificing blood to Odin! And you are busy capturing prisoners. Well, Quetzal also said at the beginning that he would capture prisoners. .how is he?"

"Quezal? He is setting up our camp with Nurge, and is guarding our prisoners. Your Majesty, I just want to say..." She paused and said, "You must keep your promise, these prisoners are all our admirers." Cheneg’s.”

"You? It's really strange. You are my woman, why do you want to show off to me? Besides, I seem to be someone who can break my promise?"

"Hehe..." Beyathil lowered her head slightly and smiled without saying a word.

"Perhaps Quetzal asked you to do it, right? It doesn't matter, your prisoner is yours, I don't ask for anything."

All forces involved in the war should be paid in blood.

For the main force of the Russian army and those visitors from the Gulf of Riga, everyone was busy looking for gold, silver, daily necessities and food.

For the Pecheneg people in the grassland, what they need most is population!

Large-scale killing of hostile tribes is not an art of war in the grasslands. To kill the enemy leader, a more brutal method is to kill the men who are taller than the wheel, and the women must be captured as intact as possible. The grassland people don't care about a woman's status at all. As long as she can give birth to children, she is a treasure to the tribe, so she is taken as a slave girl. After successfully giving birth to a child, her status will be improved to some extent.

After all, many herder men are

It is rare to get a wife through normal means.

These prairie cavalry focused on attacking parts of the Great Altar settlement, trying not to kill but tying up people and taking them away. Due to their limited military strength, they also had a limited number of people they could capture. After meeting their own needs, Beyashir and Quetzal took the initiative to leave the battle after discussing it.

The main force of the Ross army continued their killing spree.

Since Beyasier came specially to explain this matter, Rurik went to their camp out of curiosity to have a look.

The prairie people lived in the villagers' houses, tied their war horses to wooden posts, and fed them directly with the captured wheat. They also brought prairie musical instruments and sang and danced around the campfire.

Rurik listened carefully and heard a kind of electronic music.

Taking a closer look, it was a few prairie warriors wearing iron masks jumping around with their teeth and claws open. The brothers sitting next to them were constantly playing the strings of the oral harp that was stuffed into their mouths. They were more like doing something around the campfire. A ritual.

Seeing the arrival of the princess and Ross Khan, the playful prairie warriors stood up and saluted the noble one one after another.

After a while, two prairie nobles, Quetzal and Nurger, walked over in a hurry. "Khan."

"You, Quetzal, I heard that you captured a large number of prisoners? Is this true?" Rurik asked knowingly, because he clearly heard the low cries coming from those closed rooms.

"It's true. The prisoners of war are in these houses, and now these slaves are our spoils of war."

"Are you emphasizing this? Don't worry, the slaves are all yours, and I don't make any demands. But I only have one request."

"This..." Quetzal looked a little embarrassed. He noticed the dissatisfied look from Beyasier in the corner of his eyes, and hurriedly changed his words: "It doesn't matter, anything we can do will be done for Khan."

"Very good. Are there any men among the prisoners of war? Are there some locals with higher status?"

"I don't know yet, but if the king investigates, I can release people for the king to choose."

"Then do it immediately!" Rurik ordered.

What does King Rus intend to do? As a diplomatic envoy stationed in Russia, Quetzal guessed the king's intention - to find a high-ranking person to act as an envoy.

After all, King Rus had already revealed his tactics to himself: now the great altar was offering a blood sacrifice to Odin, using large-scale killing as a shock, forcing the Smolensk people to give up their resistance.

After all, King Rus does not want to indiscriminately exterminate the entire Smolensk Krivi community.

The prairie people separated the men and women of the prisoners of war. As some doors opened, a group of male prisoners emerged tremblingly under the threat of swords.

They gathered more and more, their faces full of fear. Facing the large number of armed men who gathered, they subconsciously felt that they would be killed by these invading savages.

Now, prisoners of war could tell who their attackers were - Varyags - by the way they dressed.

And those black-haired guys on horseback, aren't these villains the enemies they have been attacking for several years? Many rational people have estimated that the attackers are Russians, but they cannot believe the strength and combat power of the Russian troops.

But all doubts were quickly dissipated.

Rurik's move has now attracted thousands of warriors to watch the excitement, and the entire camp at the high altar has become even more lively.

"You Smolenskians, pay attention!" He shouted in the Ermen Slavonic dialect at the top of his voice: "We! We are Russians!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the prisoners of war were all surprised and whining could not be heard.

"Shut up!" Rurik shouted again: "Your leader Vadim has been defeated, and all your troops have been killed by me! Now, it is the revenge of us Rus! All of you are guilty of great crimes, you Now that you are being punished, it is all your fault and you died unjustly."

"You all look at me! I am the king of Rus, and my name is Rurik Otojevich." Rurik addressed himself in the local language mode, hoping that some of these prisoners of war knew something about Yin Ermen Lake some things in recent years, especially recalling the name of the ruler of Rus. "I have decided to terminate

Killing, I hope that all Smolensk will surrender to me. Are there any nobles among you? ! "

Because this matter was very important, Rurik sharply questioned him many times. He had already made it clear that he needed some local nobles to stand up as envoys to persuade them to surrender.

However, there are indeed no nobles among these prisoners of war. In other words, the people who can be expelled near the big altar are all following the leadership of the priests. The local nobles who own large manor lands do not exist at least in Gniezdovo.

"Are there really no nobles?" Rurik interrogated again, but these village men were still submissive, and their timid eyes showed that they had no fighting spirit. It’s so sad that such people don’t even have local faith. Can they really still serve as guides and messengers?

"At least some people stand up, and I can let you go! Just carry a message for me and bring it to the nobles of Smolensk. I need ten people, who of you is willing to stand up?"

Did you hear that right? Is there such a good thing? ! The timid villagers did not express their opinions yet. They were really frightened.

Rurik didn't have time to waste time with them here, so he pointed at ten men who looked young and strong. They were picked out by the soldiers, and looking at some of them, they were indeed young and strong, but they would not fight to the end to protect their homeland. Instead, they were willing to be prisoners of war and slaves. Rurik really despised them.

In this way, ten prisoners of war were pardoned, and they would serve as envoys and rush to the main city of Smolensk with King Rus's surrender order.

Since the personnel were randomly selected, Rurik did not believe that these guys would obey the instructions honestly. In fact, it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter whether the freed people deliver clear information. If Ross doesn't get a response after a few days, the cavalry will quickly rush to Smolensk to launch a crusade and use swords to force them to surrender.

The remaining prisoners of war were packed back into the building, and the door was sealed.

Although these ten people were being led like animals, Rurik took them to meet a person.

Vadim, he is no longer noble.

Some time ago, the entire Gniezdovo residents saw the mighty appearance of the big leader Vadim.

Now seeing him again, the prisoners of war couldn't believe that the man placed in the wooden cage was actually a big leader, and he was as embarrassed as a sheep waiting to be slaughtered.

It's because Vadim was once extremely flamboyant and his face is remembered by many people, even the ordinary villagers here.

Rurik had no intention of investigating the identities of the prisoners. He gave the prairie people a sum of money to buy the ownership of the ten prisoners of war. Whether they wanted to kill or behead them all depended on Rurik's mood.

The Russian warriors carrying round shields stared at the ten prisoners of war with eager eyes, and also stared at Vadim in the wooden cage with disdain.

Rurik, the king of Rus, was here and ordered in Slavonic: "You people will be free tomorrow. Tomorrow, the cavalry will give you a ride and send you to Smolensk! You will take everything you see to the Gaussian The nobles here! You especially have to tell the nobles something, please listen carefully!"

Rurik has some extremely critical requirements:

One: The captured Vadim will be sacrificed at the Great Altar of Gniezdovo

Second: If we do not want Smolensk to suffer mass killings, all local nobles must come to apologize and watch Vadim's execution.

Third: All those who own manor land are considered nobles and must come in person to discuss war compensation and surrender with the Russian conquerors after watching the execution.

Fourth: Any nobles who refuse to come will suffer genocide in the future.

One order after another made the ten prisoners of war breathless.

At first Rurik looked serious and spoke harshly, as if he wanted to kill someone.

After giving the order, he changed his tone again and his attitude became kinder: "You are just civilians, there is no need to sacrifice your life for those nobles. You complete the mission of delivering the message, and you can be used by me later. There are a large number of people in my army. Slavic soldiers, and you can surrender to me and become farmers under my rule."

This was not over yet. Rurik ordered his subordinates to give each of these prisoners of war ten silver coins, and also gave them a small Russian flag, and then told them: "Silver coins are the reward for your mission. With this flag, the Russian army will not Will attack

you. When you return to Smolensk, you must explain to all the ordinary peasants you meet that the Russian army is taking revenge on your Vadim and on the nobles who started the war, and it has nothing to do with you peasants. As long as all farmers are willing to surrender to Rus, they are Rus, and their lives will be protected by Rus. From now on, they only need to pay some grain tribute every year to live comfortably. "

There are big sticks and carrots.

The villagers knew Ross's existence to some extent. At first, they only knew that they were a group of gangsters. But what they saw today was indeed gangsters.

But this giant-sized Rurik, who claims to be the ruler of Rus, keeps saying that surrendering to him will bring benefits?

The hearts of the prisoners of war were shaking. As their bound hands were released and the Russian army rewarded them with hot meals, they had to think carefully about their position.

At this point they are suffering from Stockholm Syndrome.

"Maybe what the Rus leader said is true? We live in Gniezdovo because we don't want to pay heavy taxes to those nobles. If the Rus are targeting those nobles, there is no need for us to sacrifice our lives for them. If the ten of us have made meritorious deeds, Can you live a safe life among the Russians? Give it a try."

They think so...