In Northeast Rus, far away from Hungary, a team is advancing on a dirt road.
The total number of this team is only ten, and their clothing is no different from ordinary farmers or forest dwellers.
However, these people always put their hands subconsciously on the weapons on their waists, as if they would pull them out the next moment, which shows how vigilant these people are.
These people were walking scatteredly on the road, with a very casual attitude, and they were bragging and talking while walking. This is also the most common sight on this road.
What they talked about was basically the rumors on the road, the news nearby, and the war in the distance. This is also what people talk about most when they spend time on weekdays.
As for those weapons, this is a normal sight. If you travel in the wild without weapons, you are irresponsible for your own life.
But if an expert sees it, they will find that these people have all kinds of little habits that only veteran soldiers have, especially when holding weapons.
This detail is enough to confirm that this is a team of elite warriors who have hidden their identities.
And they dressed up like this to investigate some things in the wilderness countryside.
As for what they are investigating, it is clear when we see their leader. Their leader is none other than Jan Visadzic, who is responsible for investigating the heretical organization.
The mayor of Suzdal is now dressed like a nomad in the forest, wrapped in a somewhat sloppy fur, with a rusty logging ax on his back, and his arms are strong and powerful. Anyone who looks at him will subconsciously think that this is the case.
He is a lumberjack.
Compared to five years ago, Yang was much taller and stronger. Now he looked like a brave Russian warrior when he put on armor or fine clothes, but at this moment he was walking on the road in ragged clothes.
Yang's expression was very ugly, as if he had swallowed a fly. He offered Lord Rostislav a guarantee to investigate the pagan organizations operating in the countryside, but in the end nothing was found.
Although after five years, Yang has a very good understanding of the folk culture of Northeastern Rus', and he can disguise himself as a civilian very well, he always gets nothing after entering villages where pagans are said to be intensively active.
He couldn't see the rumored pagan sorcerers, nor could he see the villagers connected to each other, which made Yang extremely distressed. No matter which village he went to next, he saw the same scene.
This made Yang feel that something was wrong. It was normal to find nothing in some villages, but to find nothing at all was extremely normal, so there was a problem.
So Young decided to keep going. Mayor Suzdal wandered around the countryside of Northeast Rus for half a month, but found nothing. He had the patience, but the other party was obviously more patient than him.
Occasionally, Yang would see pagan warlocks, but after getting excited, the investigation gave him a huge blow. The investigation proved that these people were just soloists and could not be members of any pagan organization.
Therefore, Yang was very disappointed. In order to lurk, he endured a lot of hardships. He even ate the leftover food of farmers and made himself dirty just to pretend to be a farmer. However, the result of these efforts was nothing.
All I got was loss.
But the loss could not change the situation, so the mayor of Suzdal had to admit failure and returned to Moscow to give the prince an order.
The road that Yang and others are on now leads to Moscow, and the closer to Moscow, the more obvious the traces of road use are.
As they got closer to Moscow, the flow of people on the road increased. Businessmen driving carriages and horses walked with farmers carrying large and small bags to sell in the city. Emigrants with empty pockets but full of hope shared the road with citizens returning home from their trips.
From time to time, you can see vendors' stalls on the roadside. Since the guild system of the Moscow princes was established, some craftsmen who were unable to join the guild have been selling goods to people on the roadside outside the city, while others are proud of their talents, or in other words
Masters who simply want to be alone do not bother to join a guild and sell their works directly in the countryside.
It can be said that this kind of small stalls have goods of all kinds of quality. If you want to choose good things, you need a pair of equally good eyes, so there are always many people coming here to pick up missing items. If you are lucky, you can find products with the same price as those in the city.
Things are cheap, and if you are unlucky, you will have to lose money.
As for the farther away from these vendors, you can see farmlands and huts, where some farmers are working. From time to time, farmers stand up and look at the prosperous scene on the road, and then continue their work.
The harvest season is coming soon, and the crops in the farmland are full of abundant fruits. This is the happiest moment for farmers. Nothing makes them more excited than a bumper harvest.
The waterwheel mill by the Moscow River is being debugged by several workers. They are about to grind wheat. They have to maintain and inspect it to ensure that there will be no problems until today.
The suburbs of Moscow are becoming more and more lively now. Yang still remembers the desolate scene here when they first came here. Compared with the desolation then, the prosperity now is really amazing.
However, Yang didn't care about that now. He bypassed a convoy of cars loaded with red bricks in front of him and led his men quickly through the scenes of life and arrived in front of the city gate.
The city gate was guarded by a member of Rostislav's personal entourage. As a former commander of the prince's personal entourage, this man naturally recognized the old captain and let him in very simply.
In order to prevent their identity from being exposed, both parties completed the communication through a few glances. This was a habit between Yang and his old subordinates, and these habits were still preserved even if the commander was changed.
The current commander of the personal entourage is Vasily Ivanovich Khronsky. This son of a powerful man from Suzdal succeeded in becoming the commander of the personal entourage under Jan's advice, and he brought this
The team is indeed doing very well, but the traces of the past are still there.
After entering the city, Yang first went to his mansion in Moscow, and changed into clothes suitable for his status with his men. When they appeared again, they were wearing luxurious clothes and riding tall horses.
Even those who had seen them entering the mansion through the back door would have difficulty connecting them with the peasants who were dressed like beggars. After all, how could the nobles of Moscow be equated with beggars?
After a while, Yang arrived at the inner city where Rostislav was located. However, as soon as he got off his horse and before he could express why he came, he was pulled straight to the palace.
The man was burly and powerful, and he was obviously a warrior at first glance. He was wearing a blue cloak. He apologized to Yang and explained that the prince was going to have a meeting soon and it would be too late if he didn't go.
When Yang took a closer look, he realized that the person holding him was a soldier, and this soldier was also a relative of the captain of the soldiers, Domhnall Burns, who liked to write poetry.
Yang had recruited this person back then, but he refused the invitation and joined the prince's army instead. Now it seems that this person is indeed capable. He has quickly become the son-in-law of the captain of the personal army and made him his subordinate.
It's indeed a bit of a waste of talent.
But what Yang didn't see was how much hardship Domhnall had to endure and how much scolding he had to endure in order to achieve this result.
As they moved forward, Domhnall explained in detail what the meeting was about:
Dramatic changes occurred in Hungary. King Andrew and Duke Bela fought bloody battles on the border meadow. In the end, King Andrew was beheaded and Bela won.
Originally, this matter had nothing to do with Rostislav. Although they were relatives of the prince, they were too far apart geographically. But the two things that happened next made everything related to the prince, and the relationship was very important.
.
First, the prince's vassal, Edward Wessex, participated in the deadly battle on the meadow. After the war, he protected King Andrew's son and retreated to the empire, and rallied the defeated army of the Kingdom of Andrew.
Secondly, Rostislav's uncle in Kiev sent him a letter, asking his nephew to go to Kiev with a team of elites who would go to Hungary to intervene in what was happening.
This was why Rostislav held a meeting, but this was not so much a meeting as an explanation from the prince about what everyone should pay attention to after he left.