"What? What? What? My uncle was kicked out of Kiev, and the wizarding prince became the Grand Duke of Kiev? And then my second uncle won a great victory with three thousand against twelve thousand?"
(The real events in history, Vseslav became the Grand Duke of Kiev, and Svyatoslav defeated 12,000 with three thousand, all really happened.)
Although he was mentally prepared, Rostislav could not suppress his inner excitement after hearing the news.
It is Novgorod in October 1068, and the location is Novgorod Castle, in front of Prince Rostislav of Moscow.
The Prince of Moscow was sitting on a low armchair. When he heard the news, he almost wanted to get up, want to get closer to the businessman, and wanted to listen more closely, but in the end he felt it was not appropriate and sat back down.
In fact, Rostislav was mentally prepared for these things, but he did not expect that these things would happen so intensively.
"Yes, Lord Rostislav, you should really see the scene at that time. Tens of thousands of Polovts collapsed in front of Lord Svyatoslav's attack. The only enemies they encountered were the Khan's personal guards.
tribe, but these Polovets were also quickly defeated."
The businessman who brought the news excitedly described the scene he saw with his own eyes. When Prince Chernigov entered the battle, he was on the city wall of Kiev and saw this scene with his own eyes.
At first everyone thought that Sviatoslav was going to die, and this was even more true when they saw the Polovtsians surrounding the Russians. Some people were even mourning for those warriors.
But then, after a period of fierce fighting, the Polovets began to disperse one after another, and the yellow flags fell one after another, as if they were washed away by the tide.
Rurik's Trident was the tide that submerged everything, and then this wave hit in front of Polovts Khan, and then people saw the collapse of Polovts' army.
"Then the entire Polovtsian army retreated, and the siege of Kiev was thus lifted. After the war, Prince Chernigov carried the armor and equipment and yellow flags of the Polovtsian nobles in a circle of force around Kiev,
Then he retreated to Chernigov. Mr. Rostislav, you don’t know the scene at that time. The whole Kiev was cheering for this miraculous victory.”
After the businessman said these words, he still looked like he was thinking about it endlessly, which showed that the scene had a great impact on him, but Rostislav was not in such a mood.
"Thank you for the news, merchant, and we will reciprocate your briefing, Gavrila."
"Yes, I will take this guest to buy salted fish and fur immediately."
The mayor of Novgorod immediately made an invitation gesture, and joy immediately flew to the businessman's face.
Salted fish is something that has a price but no market now, because you can make money by just getting it, so there are always many people who want it. As for the furs, the previous batches of goods are all good things, the sooner you get them, the better.
As the businessman withdrew with great gratitude, Rostislav thought for a while, and then called someone to come in, and he was none other than Rostislav's relative, Edward Wessex.
As a member of the prince's court, Edward naturally followed the prince at all times and was always ready to respond to the prince's call.
In fact, at first Rostislav wanted Meshko to go, but considering the young man's recent marriage and his usual rough tactics, the prince of Moscow finally gave up the idea.
The farmers in his territory are always on the verge of rebellion, so if this guy leads an army alone, there might be some trouble.
This Anglo-Saxon dignitary is now dressed like a Russian dignitary, and his gestures and demeanor are exactly like that of a Russian dignitary.
This also made the Ross people like him even more. Not many people cared about his foreign status. It can be said that this person has been completely integrated into the circle of Ross nobles.
Recently, his wife Rurik gave birth to a son, and this son was named Marin, a completely Russian name.
"Lord Edward, I want you to immediately lead a thousand Novgorod militiamen to Polotsk. I have already given orders to Gavrila. You just need to go to him to take over."
"Master Rostislav, what do you want me to do?"
In the words of the Prince of Moscow, the Anglo-Saxon noble immediately realized the seriousness of it, and what happened in Kiev had already spread in the city, so he did not ask why, but directly asked what to do.
"Go and help my cousin Svyatopolk defend Polotsk. After what happened in Kiev, there will definitely be problems in Polotsk. The original subordinates of the Witch Prince will definitely rise up and cause trouble.
My cousin may not be able to suppress the blind movement over there. Don’t worry about the lack of troops, the Yoms regiment in Riga will also cooperate with you. I have already sent an order to Thorgil, asking him to invest his troops."
Rostislav immediately noticed the key to the current situation. Although drastic changes occurred in Kiev, chaos could not arise in the north, so the Principality of Polotsk must be stable. This place is a possible source of trouble. The prince of Moscow must help his relatives.
Bundle.
After arranging the measures against Polotsk, Rostislav was a little at a loss. The reason why the prince was at a loss was simple, because no matter what he did now, it was inappropriate.
Aiding Polotsk and maintaining the stability of the principality is the limit of what he can do. As for the rest, it is difficult for him to recover Kiev.
Regardless of whether it can be conquered or not, the most important thing is who will the city belong to after it is conquered? The uncle is still there now.
This is also unjust and unjust in legal terms. No matter how you look at it, it should be done by the second uncle and the third uncle to recover Kiev. But the second uncle returned directly to Chernihiv after lifting the siege of Kiev. The third uncle
He still has to clean up the mess on his property.
The most important thing is that if you do this, you will be too abrupt, and you will undoubtedly become a target. You sit in Kiev, and then reach out to Novgorod. What are you doing? What about the patriarchal issues that arise here?
solve?
The final conclusion Rostislav came to was that he could do nothing but wait and see what happened. This fact made Rostislav a little uncomfortable, but it had to be done.
Let the uncle solve this problem by himself. Even though the uncle was driven out of Kiev in embarrassment, in fact, the cards in his hand are not weak at all. Southwest Russia actually still surrenders to him, not to mention, he also has a Poland
Relatives can be invited.
"However, how did Svyatoslav win this big victory so early? This is really..."
Speaking of his second uncle's victory, Rostislav was really surprised. This victory also gave his second uncle a huge reputation. With a record of 3,000 to break 12,000, even Rostislav, who has always been famous for his martial arts,
Nothing they did.
In the original history, the second uncle should have achieved such a result after a month, but in this changed timeline, he did it after the drastic changes in Kiev.
This victory can be said to have dispelled Rostislav's mood to go south. Originally, he had the idea of taking advantage of the two-month gap to go south to save Kiev and gain fame. As a result, Kiev experienced a drastic change in the front foot and the second uncle in the back foot achieved an epic victory.
The victory will undoubtedly make the second uncle the most popular prince in the entire Rus. Although Rostislav fought many battles and won many victories, he did not achieve it under such a huge gap in military strength.
Moreover, rescuing Kiev had no intention of winning the hearts and minds of all Russia for his second uncle, which made Rostislav feel as if he had drunk bitter wine. For him, it was very uncomfortable for his second uncle to make a profit.
From this point of view, these uncle and nephew are so similar...
But after struggling for a while, Rostislav decided to let him go, and there was no need to dwell on what had happened.
The next thing to do is to continue to develop, accumulate strength, and prepare for the future.
The series of events in Kiev made Rostislav feel that that moment was getting closer and closer. The Prince of Moscow knew very well that sooner or later he would have to fight the Prince of Chernigov.
In the same way, Prince Chernigov also knew very well that sooner or later he would have to fight against Prince Moscow.
After figuring this out, the Prince of Moscow continued his work in Novgorod. No matter what, just treat it with a normal heart and continue his business of selling salted fish.