After Svyatoslav became the Grand Duke of Kiev, time passed quickly. A year passed quickly. Many things happened in the past year, most of which were the two princes of the north and the south who were busy consolidating their power and strengthening their power.
rule.
And everyone adapted to the new form very quickly, because to be honest, although there have been constant fluctuations during this period, the impact on society has not been great.
In Southern Rus, the cities were happy to be loyal to Svyatoslav, and the church fully cooperated with Svyatoslav's actions.
Svyatoslav is now Kiev's new red sun, and the church plays a big role in creating this impression.
Kiev is the city with the strongest Christian atmosphere in Russia, and the influence of the church is also the greatest here. When the church makes every effort to build momentum for Sviatoslav, then surrender will be quick.
Poets also continued to produce poems praising the achievements of the new Grand Duke of Kiev. Svyatoslav's achievements were so powerful that they were worth bragging about.
The church portrayed Sviatoslav as the savior of the chaotic situation, put a sacred crown on him, and made the prince's reputation better and better.
As for outside Kiev, Izyaslav's loyal ministers found that if they did not want to be annihilated, then they had only one choice - to flee to the north or to live in exile. Most people chose to go to the north, but these people were still unwilling to leave Russia.
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In Northern Rus, after this period of hard work, Rostislav's bureaucrats were able to deploy them all over Northern Rus, allowing the princes to control the controllable resources and manpower on this land, and mastering these lands meant that
Rostislav finally had the troops to fight against the South.
Trade was also booming. Under the temptation of salted fish and furs, merchants from various ethnic groups came to the city to trade, making the city more prosperous and the princes' coffers fuller.
Northern Rus was becoming more and more consolidated in Rostislav's hands, and they were also ready for war.
Speaking of wars, of course, there are also wars in Russia, such as the former Prince of Polotsk and Grand Duke of Kiev Vseslav who escaped from Kiev. He took advantage of the annihilation of Izyaslav and his descendants to regain his
Principality.
However, the conquering armies of the northern and southern Rus' came soon. The northern and southern Rus' marched together, and this time they carved up the Principality of Polotsk. The Polotsk army could not even hold on for a single round in front of the northern and southern armies.
Vseslav's only choice was to go into exile again and head to the West. The political environment in Russia was becoming increasingly harsh, and it was obviously not suitable for an exile like him. It was better to work as a mercenary outside for a period of time to see if there was any chance of returning to the country in the future.
Bar.
Many exiles have embarked on this path, but it is really hard to say whether they will return home in the end.
After dealing with the eyesore Vseslav and excluding this non-Yaroslav descendant from the situation, the confrontation between North and South Rus also began.
At the beginning of the Polotsk war, the people thought that there would be no war in the future. They believed that after experiencing this series of events, Russia should settle down for a few years, and peace and development must come.
After all, in the public opinion during this period, everyone believed that the core of the problem was the war in Vseslav. As long as Vseslav was solved, peace would definitely follow.
The previous peaceful environment also caused everyone to misunderstand. At that time, Rostislav recognized the change of power in Kiev. Svyatoslav reciprocated and recognized Rostislav's status as King of the North.
At that time, no matter how you look at it, it should be an era of peace. The era of dual politics is coming. Just like Yaroslav once ruled Russia with Mstislav, Svyato will definitely follow.
Slavs and Rostislavs ruled Rus' together.
However, as Kiev accused Moscow of not fulfilling its due responsibilities, and Moscow refuted it with righteous words, and then the two sides started a debate, and the rhetoric continued to escalate, everyone realized that there was bound to be a war next.
Then the two sides started friction in Smolensk, and although there was a lot of friction, great restraint was ensured. This is the center of Rus, and it is unlikely that everyone will destroy it so early.
The residents of Smolensk began to move towards the city. This was an order from Veshata. This place will become a battlefield in the future, so it is better to move as soon as possible.
In Smolensk, the most common sight now is that while the soldiers are fighting, the land and water transportation system is still operating normally, and the passengers on the ship are just leisurely watching the fighting on the shore.
However, ever since the Ross soldiers, who were annoyed by the sight of them, fired arrows at the ship, there were not so many curious babies. Everyone came and went in a hurry, trying to leave this unfriendly war zone as soon as possible.
The elites of the Northern and Southern Rus are also facing off here. Their fights and battles are very methodical and will never cause too much damage. Everyone also wants to completely take over the land and water transport system, which is very important to both sides.
But in Polotsk, it was fierce fighting and looting, where warriors killed each other, burned villages, and kidnapped farmers.
Those who were granted the title of Polotsk were really unlucky. First they were troubled by the war started by Vseslav, and then their land turned into a battlefield. Finally, they sold the land at a low price, and some even abandoned it directly.
As for the local nobles who have persisted on this land to this day, they can only keep fighting. Only in this way can they keep the land. In the process, they have also been crazily weakened and become weaker and weaker.
The nobles and warriors could run away, but many people could not. After all, where could they go? Therefore, they could only be tortured by the flames of war and struggle to survive in the fighting.
Svyatoslav and Rostislav have a tacit understanding when it comes to the land of Polotsk. This is a good opportunity, a good opportunity to turn this land that is not consistent with the whole of Russia into ruins.
In the consensus of the descendants of Yaroslav, the land of Polotsk is extremely unreliable. Even after that wave of migration, they are not at ease. Now that the opportunity to weaken is right in front of them, everyone must seize it.
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After all, it is now impossible for both sides to let relatives come here to serve as princes, so it is better to destroy this land - to be precise, destroy those Polotsk supporters, because while they are destroying the local population, they are also destroying the larger population.
Orderly immigration of the population into safe controlled areas.
Polotsk has become a hunting ground for warriors from all walks of life in the past six months. Their destruction is efficient and perfect. At the same time, many wealthy people have been produced here, attracting more desperadoes to come here.
The Baltic tribes also actively invaded this area. This was a rare opportunity. The Russian princes all acquiesced to their invasion, and some tribes even bravely moved into this area.
Polotsk is already a Shura field, and a large number of refugees and slaves have been exported from this area. Those Polotsk people who were forcibly relocated before found that they were really lucky to be forcibly taken away from here so early.
Now the north and south of Russia are facing each other with Minsk and Polotsk (city) as the center respectively. This is the only area that is relatively stable. The residents who have not left are here, and the middle is the scorched earth destroyed by the war.
Outside of Smolensk and Polotsk, the remaining bordering territories remained calm. At most, some lords or tribes took up the general trend to settle some past hatreds. However, these were only small-scale battles after all, and neither side had any
It means devoting a large number of troops to fight in a place full of dense forests.
The atmosphere of war has become so intense that everyone can feel it. Everyone is preparing for the war. In everyone's opinion, the scale of the next war will be even more exaggerated than the previous siege of Polotsk.
There are many speculations about the tense atmosphere between the two princes, but none of them are on point. However, seeing that they have such a tacit understanding of the confrontation and are fighting so passionately in Polotsk, it seems that the feud is quite big.
But in the final analysis, no one really cares what the cause of the conflict between the gentlemen has to do with them, as long as the war can make everyone rich.