Chapter 458 Alliance Building

Visby returned to normal much faster than Rostislav expected. The locals, together with his soldiers, quickly repaired the port that was burned by the fire, and ships from all over the city no longer need to stop in the city.

Landed on the beach outside.

Loading and unloading cargo on the beach is inefficient and now we can finally get rid of the damn thing.

After all, it was about feeding themselves, so the residents of Visby worked very hard, and the requirements for the port in this era were really not high, so they completed the reconstruction in a very short time.

After the reconstruction of the port, Visby has truly returned to peace at this moment. Although the impact of the war can be seen from time to time on the ships that sank in the port, those are the smoke of the past, and people have to move on after all.

look.

The local people did quickly adapt to the rule of the Rus. Anyway, it was no different from the previous rule of the city's dignitaries, so there was nothing uncomfortable for everyone.

Even after the Russians abolished many unnecessary taxes, they still gained the support of the people. For the people, everything is fake and only a good life is real.

And Rostislav's abolition of those taxes was not out of kindness. It was just that the Grand Duke of Kiev believed that those taxes were completely exorbitant and miscellaneous taxes. Keeping them in this land would only affect future trade, so he abolished these laws.

The new government of Gotland was stabilized by Rostislav's series of actions. This government was now led by Rostislav's captain Prolev. This was Rostislav's reward for his feat - the rule of important Baltic towns.

right.

However, although it was given to him, Prolev actually had little involvement in urban affairs. As an important trade hub on the Baltic Sea, many important institutions of the future Free Trade Alliance will inevitably be located here. In fact, the generals who manage the island

It would be them, not him, the mayor.

Regarding the Free Trade Alliance, Rostislav has built the Alliance Coordination Office here, which is to facilitate the cities in the alliance to help and coordinate with each other. Rostislav also plans to move the venue of the alliance conference here in the future to facilitate the gathering of all parties.

Prolev seems to be very aware of this, but his attitude is also very casual. As long as I can get the money I can get as the mayor, everything else doesn't matter. He doesn't know how to govern anyway.

After consolidating the position of the new government in Gotland and seeing the flourishing development of the Free Trade Alliance, Rostislav did not return to Rus immediately. He still stayed in the north, and the Grand Duke still had unfinished business.

Rostislav was mainly busy with one thing, and that was the construction of a city located on a harbor in Holstein, North Germany. Rostislav named the new city Lübeck.

Yes, this is the historical center of the Hanseatic League, but now it is still a wasteland, and Rostislav made it appear in advance.

The Grand Duke of Kiev took a fancy to its geographical location. The Baltic Sea trade was indispensable for its connection with the North Sea further west. Historically, the Hanseatic League relied on the transfer of trade in the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to transfer a lot of money and almost controlled it.

The supremacy of two seas.

Although it is said that the Kingdom of Norway in the alliance can influence the North Sea, Youdao relies on everyone to run. The current King of Norway is willing to cooperate with everyone in the alliance to make money, but what about the future? What is the attitude of his descendants?

Rostislav must make preparations early and invest strength in the west, and he also knows one thing, that is, they will go to war with the Kingdom of Denmark sooner or later.

This does not mean now. When the alliance develops for about four or five years, and when they gain more and more benefits from the ocean, some people will naturally be dissatisfied with Denmark's unscrupulous collection of transit fees. By then, it will inevitably lead to war.

Even if it is just for the future war, he must prepare early. After the war with Denmark, the distribution of forces within the alliance will inevitably change.

Continuing back to the present, regarding Lübeck, Rostislav first purchased this land from the local Slavic princes. They were also willing to sell this land to distant relatives. With distant relatives as a barrier, those greedy German knights invaded

They will also have one less direction.

There were even Slavic princes who realized the business opportunities behind the construction of Lübeck and came to ask if they could participate. Rostislav refused without hesitation. How could the westernmost outpost of Russia be allowed to be involved by outsiders?

Next came the construction of Lübeck. Lübeck would become the westernmost outpost of Russia and an important trade hub. Rostislav attached great importance to it and immediately sent a huge amount of resources and manpower.

But now it is just a large construction site, with a large number of German and Slavic workers attracted by the high wages. After all, it has only been started for less than a month.

Rostislav stationed a hundred people there for supervision and control, and to ensure local security. The German knights and Slavic warriors on the border were not honest people, and they would definitely take advantage of it if they had the opportunity.

The move of the Rus' Grand Duke who defeated Gotland to build a city in Lübeck was very eye-catching. People looked at Rostislav and analyzed the Grand Duke's plan.

Some businessmen with a keen sense of smell have begun to plan to move to Lübeck. They all take note of the location here. It will definitely become a prosperous place.

Not to mention, there is a Rostislav platform behind this city. Now everyone can see that Rostislav's Free Trade Alliance will become the Baltic hegemon, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with following the footsteps of the Grand Duke.

His authority and army can ensure the safety of the city. If the safety of a newly built city is guaranteed, immigrants will inevitably flow in an endless stream.

Such a scene has already appeared for residents. The local Slavs have moved into the city one after another after being converted, and then became workers and joined in the construction of the city.

Rostislav offered very favorable conditions to these pagan residents. As long as they converted to Christianity, they could move into the future city. This attracted a lot of people. By the way, some local colonizing Germans also joined this emerging city.

City.

Rostislav is still happy to win over these distant relatives. After all, distant relatives who can find common ground in language are better than Germans, and after they believe in Orthodoxy, they are completely reliable as one of his own.

Some small feudal lords from this land were also attracted. Some of them were Slavs and some were Germans, but they were all precarious small lords. Their lands were newly opened and they really wanted to get shelter.

Rostislav gave these uncared-for feudal lords a refuge, and the Grand Duke of Kiev was happy to increase Lübeck's sphere of influence - of course, these admissions were normal vassal relationships in the name of the empire. After all, Lübeck was also an empire in name.

City.

If you want to operate in the Holy Roman Empire, you have to act according to the local rules. Rostislav knows this better than anyone else, so he never stops bribing the emperor's court, and these efforts are worth it, for Lu

Baker got the name of an imperial city in exchange.

That's why the construction could proceed so smoothly. Without the consent of the emperor's court, Rostislav's behavior would have been regarded as an invasion, and then he would have been besieged by many parties.

However, soon after the construction began, many refugees from Saxony, including nobles and peasants, asked to join the construction of this emerging city and asked for asylum from the Grand Duke of Kiev.

This surprised the Grand Duke of Kiev, but he still readily agreed. The more people the better at this stage.

And then he also learned the reason for their flight from these mouths. It turned out that rebellion and uprising broke out in Saxony. It seemed that Emperor Henry was busy.

This is a good thing for Rostislav's cause. Emperor Henry cannot remain indifferent to the construction of Lübeck, and until the city develops as powerful as possible, it is better not to let the monarch devote too much energy to this.

.

In this huge project, Rostislav did not spend much money throughout the entire process - to be precise, the Grand Duke of Kiev spent all the resources and cash he plundered from Gotland and the towns that followed it.

It can be said that these towns are all extremely rich, and the treasury is full of coins. Now these things belong to Rostislav. Rostislav put them into production without hesitation. The money spent today

It will all swell tomorrow.

He is very optimistic about the future here. This location will definitely bring Lubeck prosperity, and the gold and silver that he smashed down will definitely be rewarded.

After letting Lübeck's affairs come to an end for the time being, the time almost came to January 1074, a full year had passed since Rostislav left Kiev.

At this time Rostislav received a letter from Kiev, a letter from his son telling him what was happening in the south.

During the period when Rostislav left, everything was calm in Rus. Rurik governed Kiev very well, and no one could find fault with him.

This prince behaved fairly and considerately, and flexibly coordinated the conflicts among all parties in Kiev, making most people satisfied with him.

Many people in the Kiev court were worried about whether there would be problems if the Grand Duke handed over affairs to the prince for so long. This worry reached its peak when Rostislav set sail for Gotland, because what Rurik had done before was actually

It was after Rostislav approved it. At that time, Rurik was just Rostislav's puppet.

Now that the Grand Duke is gone, people are worried about whether this young man will do anything bad.

The fact is that as mentioned before, Rurik performed very well. He could manage the city in an orderly manner even without his father's instructions, and he also faced foreign enemies toughly.

During the time that Rostislav left, the Salu Khan of the steppes continued to harass Pereslav and even Kiev, robbing merchants everywhere, destroying villages, and the Polovets cavalry even appeared in Kiev's sight.

among.

Salu Khan's explanation for these cavalrymen was that they were all tribesmen traveling alone, but with such a number of marauders appearing, no one could be deceived by his lies.

Rurik did not show any cowardice. He directly chose to attack and annihilated all the Polovets who dared to cross the border.

His tough reaction made the Salu Khan immediately soften and declare that the plunderers had nothing to do with them and that they had "crossed the border on their own initiative."

Everyone knew about these words, just like the news about the tribe walking alone, but no one tried to refute it. These nomads had made countless rumors. It would be terrible if they tried to divulge them one by one.

It's so boring, and it might make these guys angry, which is very inappropriate.

In addition, after his son dealt with Salu Khan, he also faced the challenge from the wizarding prince. The prince of Polotsk wanted to take back his principality while Rostislav was away.

But he found that everything had changed dramatically. The local Polotsk nobles had been wiped out in several rounds of melee. Some villages that originally housed loyal subjects of their families had also been vacated and replaced with birds to lead these people.

The nobles even ignored them.

Vseslav could not stand firmly on such a land, and he was quickly driven away. Rurik's army entered Polotsk and overwhelmingly defeated the remnants of the wizard prince, leaving

This man got out of Ross again.

Rostislav is very satisfied with the news. His son has proven himself, so it seems that there will be no problem in inheriting his career in the future.

For Rostislav, there is nothing more gratifying than this. He has been worried about the successor, and now his son tells him that there is no need to worry.

In addition to his son's actions, the message sent also included what happened in the south.

What happened in the southern empire was very exciting. First, Russell's rebellion was put down, Ankara was captured, and the Norman's head was chopped off. The person who chopped off his head was none other than the young Alexius Co.

Muning.

This made Rostislav couldn't help but lament that Russell had finally reached the historical outcome. It seemed that his remarks did not change much reality.

But as expected, Rostislav was not surprised that Russell's rebellion was suppressed. He took all the resources of Russia and went south to seize the imperial capital and found it difficult to win. How could the Normans rely on thousands of mercenaries to succeed?

Yes, Rostislav encouraged him to rebel with the idea of ​​pushing him into a pit of fire from the beginning, but after the rebellion started, he still had some expectations for this person to reach beyond historical achievements. After all, even if he entered the imperial capital, he could not even think about it.

Sit tight, you'll have to get out sooner or later.

And the more chaos the Normans make in the imperial capital, the better for Ross.

But everything still developed according to the logic of history, which made him quite regretful.

However, the report about the two Ruriks - that is, Rostislav's two cousins ​​- is very interesting. These two people were obviously aware of Russell's defeat, so they led their troops to set up another mountain before the battle of Ankara.

, broke away from Russell's rebels.

They took away a total of two thousand people, not only the Russians, but also many ethnic groups in the Russell rebels. It seemed that no one was willing to stay on a ship that was about to become silent.
To be continued...