Novgorod, the pearl on the Volkhov River, twelve years have passed since the city's rulers changed.
Over the past twelve years, this city has continued to prosper. As the trade distribution center and the most prosperous city in Northern Russia, it is normal for its economy to continue to grow. The population has also increased with the economy. Now the population has reached three
As the country moves forward, its important position in Baltic trade continues to rise.
However, although the economy and population are increasing, it is politically fragmented.
Although Mstislav, the second son of the Grand Duke of Kiev, has ruled this city for a long time, he has never been able to tame the city and truly control it.
With the death of Ostromir, who originally assisted Mstislav in ruling, the situation became even more chaotic.
Because after the death of this old nobleman, there is really no one in Novgorod who can take charge of the overall situation, so all parties will naturally fall into a struggle for power.
His son Veshata was quite qualified, but Veshata's political identity was too sensitive, and his identity as a staunch Rostislav supporter made it impossible for him to become the mayor of Novgorod.
The chief executives of each district are wandering around every day in order to win over themselves, and supporters of different chief executives also fight in the streets on a daily basis. This is also a feature of Russia's democratic politics. Street fights will always be a beautiful scenery in Russia.
Especially on the bridge that connects the two sides of the city and crosses the Volkhov River, the two conflicting neighborhoods often agree to fight here. Over time, it has become a scene that must be seen after arriving in Novgorod.
, and even a small amount of tourism industry has been established as a result.
Novgorod's Saint Sophia Cathedral overlooks all this, and also serves as the background for their fight, giving this scene a touch of beauty.
No one stopped this scene. This is a normal phenomenon. Why would anyone stop this normal phenomenon? Moreover, such fights basically do not result in human life. At most, they only beat each other with bruises and bruises.
But then again, if the situation develops to the point where both sides need to fight with weapons in the city, then it is self-evident how serious the conflict in this city has become.
The Prince of Novgorod just wants to sit in the castle and watch all this like a puppet. He is very powerless about everything below. He can only guarantee the control of Novgorod Castle.
This power struggle lasted for a long time, but Novgorod was still developing normally, because this was part of daily political life in Novgorod, and all parties had long learned to fight while cooperating and developing.
.
It is normal for the chief executives who were fighting yesterday to discuss administrative issues together today, but there will be more or less dirty words. Novgorod is the source of everyone's wealth, and no one will destroy this source.
Moreover, the city has always been united externally, and nothing can destroy the city's unity.
There is no problem for such a model to develop in a peaceful environment, but it is hard to say what will happen when encountering something like war that tests Novgorod's organizational capabilities.
The rulers of Novgorod are also very aware of this, but why is there any war? There has been no war for so long, so there is no need to worry.
And when Vseslav's army came to the walls of Novgorod, this happened.
The first sign of the army's appearance was the flocks of frightened birds in the distance. That sight attracted the attention of many people, but no one put too much energy into it. Daily life was tiring enough. Who pays attention to these things in the distance?
There's movement.
Only a few people in the city were alerted by this scene. They realized that a large army might appear in the distance, and these people moved very quickly. They quickly packed up their things and began to prepare to run away.
However, their advance preparations were of little significance, because refugees continued to pour into Novgorod from the south.
At first, the city guards thought it was an enemy coming and subconsciously closed the door. However, when they saw that these people were dragging their families with them and were not enemies coming to attack, they opened the door and let these people in.
Moreover, black smoke continued to rise from the south, and the refugees who entered the city told the Novgorod people that a large army was coming from the south. These people were killing people, setting fires, and raping women everywhere, looking menacing.
Businessmen with a little bit of culture and knowledge told Novgorod residents that they were the Polotsk army. These people had seen the flags and ranks of the Polotsk army and knew this better.
Novgorod was quite shocked by this news. Of course they knew very well what the relationship between Polotsk and Novgorod was. The coming of Polotsk’s army must have killed it. This is not a question at all.
No need to ask.
The number of Polotsk troops brought by the refugees further created panic. They said that the number of Polotsk people was "endless" and "must be more than 10,000 people", and that "Chuds and bandits were joining them."
To defeat this army"...
Exaggerated words are used to form exaggerated sentences to create panic among the people.
They also mentioned that the wizard prince came to Novgorod, which gave the credibility of those exaggerated words a wave of increase.
There have always been various terrifying rumors about the Prince of Witchcraft. Many people believe that he is the king of black magic. His arrival has made people believe many exaggerated statements.
The direct consequence of the remarks was that a large number of businessmen fled. They still had to do business, but they could not be blocked in this place because of the war. The result was that the city gates and ports were immediately congested, and the roads were blocked by various large vehicles.
, and all kinds of boats in the river were stuck together and couldn't move at all.
In the end, the Wicher militia came to forcibly clear the area, and they forcibly towed away all the carts. As for the ships, they continued to block the river, preventing the enemy from moving up the river and attacking the city.
Some businessmen naturally lamented because of this, but some people supported the militia to do this. Such businessmen often have local backgrounds in Novgorod. Their wealth is in this city, and they are very enthusiastic about defending this city.
Although the chief executives usually struggle constantly, at critical moments they know exactly what to do and every order is decisive.
Next, Novgorodvich immediately held a meeting. This time, the chief executives of each district reached an agreement very quickly, and soon reached a unanimous decision to close the city gates and mobilize the militia.
In this way, Novgorod's war machine side was slowly mobilized, and the city's war side was slowly operating.
However, due to some previous dirty and chaos, the mobilization of the militia was still quite difficult. There were a lot of troubles along the way. The most terrible thing was that the militiamen from many neighborhoods were mixed together. This was not conducive to command and would also spread some
Negative effects, such as people from hostile neighborhoods getting together and so on.
Although problems continued, the door was closed the moment Vseslav's army appeared in front of the Novgorod city wall. As the door closed, everyone finally breathed a sigh of relief.
The city wall was then covered with soldiers. The city wall of Novgorod was a tall Rus wooden wall. It was different from ordinary wooden walls. The wooden wall of the big Rus city was made of bricks as the base, and then wooden walls were built on top.
, this can make the wooden wall higher, and then cover it with soil to protect the city wall and avoid blind spots.
And then, when Vseslav's army appeared, when groups of soldiers walked out of the forest and occupied the snow-covered farmland outside Novgorod, the whole of Novgorod was captivated by this scene.
Shocked.
From the perspective of the city wall, the Polotsk army in the forest seems to be pouring out without end, and among them there are all kinds of siege equipment, wooden ladders and other things are everywhere, and there are even crudely made
of battering ram.
This was prepared by the Polotsk merchants who came to the outskirts of Novgorod in advance. After the Polotsk army arrived, they only needed to take out these tools at the agreed location.
Not all the troops who came from afar have left the city. It is obvious that there are still many Polotsk people active in the forest.
This was a little trick played by Vseslav, who deliberately spread out his army's formation, and then slowly advanced a certain distance towards the city wall, so that the enemies on the city wall could not see how many people were hiding in the forest.
At a glance, there are Polotsk warriors holding swords and axes everywhere, and armored soldiers are not uncommon among them. There are also several shaman-like figures dancing in front of the army, plus the prince of Polotsk.
That reputation for witchcraft makes this army even more terrifying.
This army looked murderous. Even after walking such a long distance, it seemed that their spirits were not affected. Their desire to plunder Novgorod was still very strong.
Vseslav played a great role in hiding his troops in the forest. The Novgorod militiamen couldn't help but feel timid when they looked at the seemingly endless Polotsk army. They hadn't fought in a while, and they couldn't help but feel timid in the face of the war.
.
At this time, it was the Chude people in the city who performed best. These semi-barbarians adjusted their weapons on the city wall in an orderly manner, but unfortunately there were not many of them.
In fact, it would be nice if there was a mayor here at this time. The mayor is the recognized chief executive of the entire city. However, the mayor has not been elected due to the power struggle during this period.
But there is a prince even without a mayor, so the Novgorod administrators planned to invite their prince who was like a puppet.
Although it is just a symbol, Rurik is still very supportive in this city, and as long as he is brought out, it can stabilize people's hearts.
However, when Novgorod went to ask for their mayor, they were told something.
"The prince has escaped!"
Now everyone couldn't help but panic. Why did the prince run away first?