On the wild ancient northern land, the sunlight shining through the tent woke up Prince Rostislav. He put on his woolen coat and climbed down from the camp bed.
When he walked out of the tent, what Rostislav saw was the iconic black hat of the Black Hat Army. These riders who were guarding the border for Ross were chatting about killings and robberies. The appearance of the Prince of Nuocheng only made these nomads glance at him.
That's all.
The Black Hats didn't like this Rurik kid. He always looked at them with condemning hypocrisy when he was robbing slaves, as if he was as morally noble as a saint, but he was not the one who led them to attack the poor village of Chude, pretending
He is a saint, but I don’t know if he has any serious illness.
"Father, he said he would be back today."
The flag-bearer Yang appeared next to the prince, and he was in high spirits.
"I don't know if there is anything to investigate. Except for those in the mountain fortress, no Chude people dare to stand in front of us."
Following Yang's words, Rostislav looked at the hill fort on the hill. Compared with the so-called "hill fort" they had conquered, this hill fort had a deep and wide trench filled with various traps.
As well as a huge wall made of stone, it is one of the most powerful fortresses in Estonia.
Coupled with the dozens of wealthy villages radiating from this mountain fortress, this is the basis for Alar to lead the Chude tribes.
But now the villages have been reduced to ashes, and the farmland that was once full of crops has been trampled by the iron boots of soldiers and tents have been erected to accommodate the army. The tridents of the wise and the crows of the ruthless are scattered among them. The tents of the coalition forces have covered the mountains high above.
The fort is surrounded by it.
"Anyway, let's go meet Lord Visatta."
Rostislav did not want to say more about the war. The atrocities during the war made him a little upset, and he did not want to talk more.
Yang couldn't help but give the prince a strange look. The young flag officer seemed to Rostislav to be a little strange recently. He always showed disgust and intolerance when catching slaves and burning villages. As a soldier who devoted himself to the battle,
Prince, shouldn’t this be regarded as as natural as breathing?
However, Yang never expressed his inner doubts. Rostislav is the master, he is just a minister, and ministers should not judge the monarch. Lord Rostislav is just too kind, and he believes that time can make him fade away from these weaknesses.
The two walked through the noisy camp, with Granval and a few soldiers following them. After Yuriev's battle, his father's soldiers had completely convinced him and served him as their master.
The coalition camp is very busy. Countless craftsmen are working hard to make various siege equipment. Engineers hired from the imperial capital are debugging their precious ballistae. My grandfather spent a lot of money on these ballistae.
The morale of the Russians and Norwegians was very high. What Rostislav heard most was everyone's discussion about how much loot was in the mountain fort. No one thought that they might fail. The veterans regarded the next battle as an inevitable victory.
, newcomers are full of the desire to join the battlefield to gain glory and wealth. Everyone is eager to kill and war.
"Ah, someone just happened to be here."
When the two walked to the gate of the camp, they saw a queue approaching, and Yang couldn't help but said excitedly.
Rostislav raised his hands to his forehead and recognized the leading rider as the Veshata they were waiting for.
Visatta was riding upright on the horse, behind him were the Russian soldiers with bulging bags and smiling faces. The prisoners tied in chains were sobbing behind them, and the accompanying black hats were laughing and pointing at the slaves.
Give some pointers and find fun in the embarrassment of these people.
"It seems that father has gained a lot of trophies."
Yang said excitedly, but then looked at his prince with concern. Fortunately, Rostislav's face did not show much fluctuation.
"Lord Visatta, it seems that you have won a victory. Congratulations."
"We've just eliminated a few tribes. Even these people dare to resist. It's really overestimating one's own capabilities. It actually made my young man rich. But I won't tell you more. The soldiers need to be repaired and the slaves need to be resettled."
Visatta looked unconcerned. Those battles were really childish. It was just a charge, and the Chud people fell apart. Then there was a happy burning, killing and looting.
"Of course, it's up to you."
Rostislav made way for the prince's army to pass. The Russian soldiers and the black hats quickly passed in front of him, and the next ones were the miserable slaves.
The slaves are visibly sad. They are in low spirits, like a group of walking zombies. Basically all their relatives and friends died in the hands of the Russians. They are extremely lucky to survive, but after experiencing a huge blow, living like this is not the same as death.
What's the difference?
But even more miserable things are still waiting for them. Most of the men among these people either work as oarsmen on ships or work as cattle and horses on a farm for the rest of their lives. As for the women who are lucky, they can marry some wife buyers.
Singles who are unlucky will have to live in the women's branch for the rest of their lives.
Looking at the tattered and devastated slaves, as well as the black-hatted riders who were beating and scolding around them, Rostislav couldn't help but think of his teacher's teachings, "The way to rule is to lead the beasts and eat people." This sentence is here.
It’s so relevant to the times.
And he can only be grateful that he is a noble Rurik. If he is unfortunately captured, someone will take care of him and redeem him. As for these ordinary people waiting to be slaughtered, their fate is like a weak branch in the storm, which may break at any time.
Many times Rostislav couldn't help but feel sympathy. His modern values cannot tolerate these ugly things, but in this era these are the norm.
Even his personal followers and soldiers take all this as a matter of course and participate in it, so what can he say and do?
Rostislav knew that he was too hypocritical in the eyes of many people around him, and this was indeed true for this era.
Although it has been almost ten years since he came to this era, it still takes time to accept the most cruel side of war.
In the past years, he was too well protected by his father and failed to get in-depth contact with these most cruel scenes, and now he has to pay the price for it.
But fortunately, this is only a minor problem after all. Although Rostislav cannot understand all this, he will not refuse orders or commands because of this. From this point of view, he is indeed very "hypocritical".
Thinking of this, Rostislav couldn't help but smile to himself. He was really pretentious, like a timid jester.
But what Rostislav didn't know was that in the surrounded mountain fortress, the real "fools" were staging a clumsy political drama.