The Cave Monastery is an important monastery in the Kiev region. Its founder, Antony, dug a cave here to practice alone decades ago. Now the number of monks has reached hundreds. The monks have opened rooms in the cave as monastery rooms to hone their souls.
and thoughts.
Many members of the Rus' Church came from this monastery, and even the current Metropolitan was born here. Its importance to the Rus' Church is undoubted.
When Rostislav led his army to the Cave Monastery, he saw the famous hill and the villages and towns below it.
Although it is said that monks should cultivate the land themselves, and they did so, due to the existence of the monastery, nearby farmers and devout believers involuntarily gathered under the monastery and developed settlements.
Later, the Grand Duke simply waved his hand and assigned these farmers who were approaching the monastery directly to the monastery, asking them to use taxes to support the monks. However, although they no longer had to worry about food and clothing, the cave monastery still maintained its poverty-stricken and rigorous style.
The monks still directly participated in labor and taught farmers the agricultural techniques they mastered to help them obtain better harvests. In the process, the farmers were gradually infected by the monks' discipline.
Now due to the threat of the Polovets army, the gates of the villages and towns under the monastery are closed, and vigilant militiamen can be seen everywhere on the wooden walls. These young and strong men clumsily picked up weapons, put on armor and stood on top.
But outside the gate, there was an army of peasant soldiers waiting for Rostislav's arrival. Their leader was Theosido, the abbot of the cave monastery.
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"Thank you very much for your help, Dean."
After riding his horse and talking with Abbot Theosido, Rostislav learned that this army was prepared for him, and that these 600 militiamen from the Cave Monastery would join his army.
There were even dozens of nomads among these people. When the prince asked, he found out that these were wanderers from the prairie who had been taken in by the abbot. After converting them to Christianity, the abbot allowed them to stay in the monastery and do some work in transporting goods.
matter.
The most important thing is that the dean also brought out a large amount of food, weapons and equipment, as well as the carts that Rostislav had been working hard to collect, which can be said to have solved their urgent need.
"That's all, son of Vladimir, your father has aided our monastery many times and now it's time to repay the favor."
Dean Theosido replied to Rostislav with a serious face. This bishop is a strict person. It can be seen from his stern eyes and neat clothes. His calloused hands show that
The abbot often personally participated in labor production.
However, looking at his stern look, it is difficult to imagine that he had selflessly helped pagans and urged them to convert to the great God.
"This is the clerk we sent to you. His name is Nestor."
Theodore pulled out a timid young man and pulled him in front of Rostislav.
"I salute you, my lord."
The young man saluted the young Prince of Rus under the majesty of the abbot.
"Nestor? Clerk? Thank you very much, Dean."
Rostislav looked at these cowering young people, his words were filled with surprise and joy. Although this person was so young now, he knew what this person would achieve in the future.
This man would become the author of Ross's first chronicle, "Past Years". Of course, this young man who was still very young did not know the achievements he would create.
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After obtaining the troops provided by the Cave Monastery, the prince's army numbered more than a thousand, with which Rostislav continued to move forward.
These peasant soldiers provided by the Cave Monastery have lived together with strict discipline monks for a long time, so they generally have a sense of discipline, which makes Rostislav very satisfied. This is rare. The soldiers he has come into contact with before are all in need.
Restrained with a whip.
The prince still remembered how powerless he was in the face of those lawless soldiers when he first led the army. In the end, Uncle Visatta came to the rescue and used a whip to deal with these people, so that the situation did not deteriorate.
It's just that in terms of war experience, these people are complete recruits. The way they hold spears is no longer more like holding farm tools, and they look like farmers no matter how they walk.
Moreover, many people still have some fantasies about war that come from songs, which makes Rostislav cringe.
But it is normal. After all, before going through the war, people always had inexplicable romantic fantasies about the beasts that wreaked havoc on the world. It was not until the beasts devoured themselves that they woke up in a pool of blood, but by then it was often too late.
Most of these farmers are equipped with armed clothes, and they also have swords, axes, spears, and spears and shields in their hands. This is the equipment provided by the monastery. Many of them were made by the residents organized by the monastery to cope with today's situation.
Some of the shepherds who tended the sheep for the monastery were good at using slings, but looking at their honest looks, it was clear that they were completely unaware of how deadly killers they were.
Sometimes when looking at these shepherds, the prince couldn't help but think in his heart, what is the essential difference between lords and shepherds? However, these philosophical questions only bothered him for a while, and he had to focus on reality after all.
After daily marches, Rostislav and his soldiers would drill these peasants and tell them how to use carriages to form a formation to fight. Shields were installed on both sides of those carriages as shields. The prince did not use these things
Spend less energy on it.
Vehicle formations are no stranger to this land. The Pechenegs are accustomed to forming large convoys for mobile operations. The grassland and surrounding ethnic groups all know this tactic, and this is the first choice for infantry to fight against nomads with inferior forces.
choose.
After discovering the cavalry brigade of the nomads, the prince would immediately order his subordinates to use large carts to build a car formation to defend it. In order to defend the car formation, he also specially pulled several carts of arrows, just to provide bows with arrows when the time came.
Hands provide enough ammunition.
The car formation method also has a flaw, that is, the size of Rostislav's army is too small. If the nomadic army attacks with all its strength and presses the entire army regardless of casualties, then he will be defeated in the battle formation. But fortunately
His mission is not to challenge the huge nomadic army, but to conduct reconnaissance, obtain useful information or accomplish some feats.
The Cave Monastery also gave a dozen crossbows, which was a great gift. As a monastery that has close ties with the Imperial City and the Church, the Cave Monastery was naturally not a problem (for Ross) to get a dozen novelty items from the Imperial Capital.
.
These crossbows are priceless in Rus. Except for the cave monastery, there are simply not so many crossbows available anywhere else.
The advantage of the crossbow is that with a little training and being able to draw the string, even a farmer with no foundation can become a qualified crossbowman. Moreover, the crossbow is extremely powerful and is extremely suitable for use against heavy armored cavalry.
Rostislav selected a dozen reliable people from the infantry to use these crossbows, which gave his army another long-range strike force. The crossbowmen were very effective against cavalry archers.