"Monomach is really risking his life this time. Do we really want to go with him?"
In a hidden camp in the Georgian mountains, Anton told Radko that both of them looked fully armed. They looked around vigilantly as they walked, as if they were afraid of being attacked at the next moment.
The person who spoke was Anton, a top student at the University of Constantinople, whose words were full of worry.
"On the contrary, I think I should follow up. This might be a good opportunity. That boy Rurik is very courageous. He is indeed a man of great skill and courage. Looking at the current situation, we might really be able to succeed."
Radko doesn't have so many worries. He still has confidence in Monomacher. This young man gives him a good feeling.
Along the way, he kept Monomacher's performance in mind. This person was not proud when he won, nor discouraged when he failed. Even after he was stable, he was still tense at all times.
In Radko's view, such a person would do great things, and it was absolutely right to follow him. However, Anton didn't think so. He really couldn't trust this person.
"Radko, we have lost half of our brothers, do we really want to continue to follow him instead of cutting our losses?"
Anton is no longer willing to follow this military adventurer. Although he has achieved success and glory under his hands, he continues to encounter obstacles and setbacks, and the number of mercenaries under him is also decreasing. If this continues, they may have to fight again.
A total annihilation of the entire army.
"Hey, what is this? It's just a do-over. Not only did we escape with our lives back then, but it didn't take long for us to form a team and become the largest mercenary in Anatolia.
One of the teams.”
Radko's tone was full of indifference. The reason he didn't mind taking risks was that no matter what kind of environment he was in, the old mercenary had the confidence to escape smoothly. As for just escaping with his own life, this
It's not a big deal. Back then, when the situation in the empire was considered stable, they could quickly raise a mercenary team, let alone this era of war.
In this era where warlords and careerists from all walks of life are fighting against each other, there are restless people everywhere who are dissatisfied with the status quo. There are always people who can't survive and join mercenary teams.
What he said is indeed true. The two of them have faced worse situations several times, but they have not survived in the end. No matter how difficult it is now, it will still be as difficult as it was then.
And Anton's face was a bit ugly, because that failure was the product of his leadership. At that time, they had just entered the mercenary world of the empire. Although they relied on the money to pull up the team, he was still a newcomer after all.
, after all, they were not familiar with all this, but it was this unfamiliarity that made Anton’s first mercenary team doomed. In that border battle with the Slavs, the mercenaries who were supposed to guard their flanks retreated directly, while An
Dong's army was defeated in this way.
Although Anton later raised the team and made it stronger, he still felt bad when he thought about that incident, because it was so tragic, and half of the brothers he brought from the north died.
"But I don't want to do that. I'm scared when I think back about that narrow escape... Forget it, let's just continue this gamble. If it succeeds, we will be really prosperous."
Anton's tone weakened, because what Radko said was indeed true. The worst he could do was start from scratch again. With the current chaos in the empire, as long as he had fame and money, it would be easy to raise a mercenary team, and they
All.
And the "development" that Anton mentioned is indeed a very tempting thing, because if Monomakh's plan succeeds, then they can enter a big city comparable to Kiev, not to mention that they have more confidence in this adventurer.
The cost of silence invested is not huge at all, and it would be best if it could be recouped.
As for why this is the case, it’s a long story. First, we have to mention his experiences in the past two years.
After Monomakh and his army arrived in Georgia, he went to Kutaisi, the current capital of Georgia, to meet with the king, George of the Bagration family.
This king gives people a strong feeling of mediocrity. From the temperament, it seems that he has been busy all the time, but in the end he was still busy and lonely, and the same situation he faces now.
Although he finally managed to get rid of the interference from the Eastern Empire, now faced with the increasing pressure of the Turks and the arrogance and domineering domestic nobles, his efforts have failed. Nomadic tribes can even be seen near the capital of Georgia.
And many parts of his land have been turned into uninhabited ruins under the plunder of these tribes.
King George was indeed as generous as he said in his letter and gave Monomach a very large piece of land.
The location of this land is very interesting. Monomakh's new territory is a prominent part of Georgia. Facing the front line of nomadic raids, most of the Georgians on this land have now been lost.
Such nomadic tribes occupied those river valleys.
Monomakh knew very well that King George and the Georgian nobles were using him as a barrier against nomadic tribes. The continuous influx of nomadic tribes into Georgia had brought great trouble to the country.
At this time, Monomakh caught their attention, so they invited Monomakh to come to Georgia and use the land that had actually been looted by nomads to recruit thugs.
Monomach was also aware of all this, but he did not make any announcement and just quietly completed his mission. Although they regarded themselves as cannon fodder mercenaries, what they did not know was that from the beginning, Monomach had been fighting
That's the idea.
The most important thing is that Monomakh is very confident in his ability, and this is indeed the case. After arriving in his territory, Monomakh first solved the salary problem of the local garrison, and then controlled the people on this land as much as possible.
Then came the most important attack on the Turkic tribes.
Under his battle, the nomadic tribes that originally invaded the river valley stopped migrating. The scattered tribes could not stop Monomach's army and were blocked on the border. Some tribes even defected to him.
While using the limited resources at hand to complete the task as much as possible, Monomakh also gathered resources from other parts of Georgia within the scope of his authority, got to know the nobles there, and made new connections.
Due to Prince Rurik's excellent talent on the battlefield, Monomach's battles often resulted in no losses.
The act of mobilizing resources and manpower also went smoothly. King George supported all Monomacher's actions as much as possible because he had indeed achieved results.
Monomakh's achievements were also one of the means by which the king competed with the domestic nobles, so he always received a lot of support, and Prince Rurik was also happy to serve as the king's pawn for mutual benefit.
Under his governance, the abandoned land that was originally under constant attack by nomadic tribes gradually prospered, and the farmers who left to escape the war gradually came back, and the land finally became full of vitality.
It is not difficult for the Rus to govern. This land is an Orthodox parish with a long history, and the locals are not opposed to the Rus. Under such circumstances, there are naturally more asylum seekers, and there are even many Georgian heavyweights.
The cavalry came to seek refuge with the rising war lord.
Georgia's hinterland has also benefited from this, as the involuntary migration of tribes that have plagued the country over the years has finally been alleviated to some extent.
But no one expected that after two years of stability, the situation would change drastically. The Seljuks assembled a huge army and headed towards Georgia.
The news of the appearance of this army caused great panic in the entire king. In the past ten years, Georgia has only suffered one defeat after another in the face of the Turks. They were extremely reluctant to deal with the Turkic tribes who crossed the border on their own, let alone the Seljuqs.
The army.
As a result, a large number of refugees appeared in various places in a short period of time. The nobles either ran further west or focused on guarding their castles. The same was true for the land of Monomach. In just a few days, Rurik
The peasants summoned by the prince were basically all gone except for those near his castle.
It was also at this same moment that the huge Seljuk army crossed the border, and it was at this time that Prince Rurik came up with a plan.
If the nomadic tribes want to plunder, then let them plunder. He, Monomach, wants to make another gamble for his future.
And he has only one target, the ancient city of Georgia, Tbilisi.
Tbilisi, this city has a very long history and can be called the oldest and most prosperous city in Georgia.
But it is a pity that this city keeps changing hands between Persia, Rome and Arabia, just like the fate of this mountainous area. Georgia and Armenia are just small pawns in the game between the powers, even if the Kingdom of Georgia is established
, it failed to recapture the capital.
After the rise of the Arab Empire, Tbilisi fell into the hands of the Communist Party and became the emirate state in the Arab empire. After the collapse of the empire, the emirate state became independent.
Relying on Tbilisi's key location, the city gathered a large population and made a lot of money from early trade. The entire city became the capital of the entire Caucasus region, and the Emir Kingdom once had
After a period of strong strength.
When the Seljuk Turks arrived, the city quickly surrendered to the Seljuk Turks. Therefore, it became the starting point for the Turks to continuously invade Georgia. In the past ten years, the Turks have migrated or migrated from here.
Invasion of Georgia.
From the very beginning when he came to this land, Monomakh's goal was that city. The Emirate of Tbilisi was not strong. Due to the antagonism and contradictions between the Christians and the *** groups in the city,
It has been unable to mobilize the power of the city.
This is a large city with a population comparable to Kiev, with developed agriculture and prosperous commerce. If you can control it, then whether you choose to govern the city here or use it as a springboard to jump further, you can gain a lot of chips and your future
The goal is definitely easier to achieve.
Since arriving in Georgia, Monomakh has been working hard to establish ties with Tbilisi, has a warm relationship with the Christians in that city, and has successfully cultivated a group of insiders.
And this group of insiders was his confidence in seizing the city. Among them were many members of the Tbilisi Guard. They really wanted to get rid of the pagan rulers in their heads and the Turks who were showing off their power all day long.
However, Monomakh also admitted that if these guys retreated when his army arrived at Tbilisi, then his adventure could be said to be in vain.
But now that the main forces of the Turks and Tbilisi are attacking the hinterland of the Kingdom of Georgia, he will be able to escape unscathed by then.
Although they were prepared to face various problems, Monomach never expected that this journey would go so smoothly. They advanced on the uninhabited mountain road that had been explored in advance, and during this period they did not encounter any enemies.
When we arrived, we only met a few hunters, and they were all Georgians. These people chose to cooperate with the Christian army, hoping to drive away the pagans on their heads.
With the cooperation of the locals, Monomakh's team naturally advanced more smoothly. The hunters took them on many shortcuts and bypassed many dangerous places and Turkic army stations. Finally, the wealthy plains of Tbilisi appeared.
in front of their eyes.
However, the ravaged scene of this plain is very obvious now. Many villages have been burned by flames. There are corpses on the uncultivated fields. Occasionally, you can see farmers desperately searching for usable things on their burned homes.
Although Tbilisi surrendered to the Turks, this does not mean that the Turkic tribes who acted on their own will be kind to this land.
Seljuk Khan could not actually control so many tribes. The Khan's authority was limited to his own tribe and city. In other places, everyone moved around the land on their own to find suitable places to live.
However, the closer we get to Tbilisi, the rarer such scenes become. It seems that the Turks still want to show some respect and do not act recklessly too close to the city.
The locals have no objection to Monomakh's team. Most of them are Georgians and Armenians, and they are all Orthodox Christians (although the Armenians have their own way of doing it).
First of all, Monomakh did not plunder here, and his team carried crosses. Also, because half of the two thousand people he brought this time were Georgians and Armenians, Monomakh let these people walk outside.
, allowing Georgians to see these fellow countrymen who speak the same language as them, and increase the intimacy between them.
Many people even joined Monomakh, most of whom were farmers who could not survive due to the destruction of the Turks. They followed Monomakh's team with their families, and soon there were more people behind him.
There are two thousand people, but only 200 of them are men who can fight, but it is enough to make a big noise.
Some small and medium-sized Tbilisi nobles who had communicated with Monomakh also came with their own men, horses and supplies. Monomakh's continuous behavior of attracting people greatly increased his momentum, and the result was that after seeing this momentum,
Some wavered and came to join the military adventurer.
Monomach's team is like a snowball, growing bigger and bigger.
Under such circumstances, Monomakh's army came to the city of Tbilisi, and when he saw the city, Monomakh couldn't help but marvel at its beauty.
Tbilisi is a city with Persian, Byzantine and Arabic styles at the same time. Domes of various styles occupy the sky, and tall stone walls surround this city that is comparable in size to Kiev, making it look particularly magnificent.
The news of the arrival of Monomakh's army has already arrived, so the city is already in a state of war readiness, and the city walls are full of soldiers. However, Monomakh is not worried because he knows that it is full of old people and children who have been brought here to make up their numbers, and the most important thing is
What's more, his insiders have promised to open the city gate for him.
As agreed, Monomach's men waved the flag three times in front of the city. As the flag waved, the situation suddenly changed. A local guard composed of Christians suddenly rose up and attacked the city gate.
Killed the ******* officer there and expelled the nearby guards.
The defenders did not expect this at all, so they took control of the city gate without any reaction. When the traitors who captured the city gate opened the city gate, others did not react and rushed to take back the city.
The queue for the door is even halfway there.
The troops on the city wall were shaken on a large scale. Many Christians simply dropped their weapons and ran away, and they also broke up with others.
Monomach's army naturally rushed towards the open city gate. Arrows from the defenders on the city wall continued to fall. Some people in the attacking team did fall down, but this did not shake everyone, and those arrows were less powerful than the impact.
The number of teams is really too small.
Prince Rurik took the lead and rushed into the city gate. His spear just stabbed the group of army officers who came to retake the city gate to death, and his men immediately dispersed like birds and beasts.
Then a group of Normans came in. Monomach had been restricting these guys from looting before, but now they planned to enter the city and plunder. Damn, in such a big city, there must be a lot of money and women.
"Charge! Keep charging! This city belongs to us! Long live! Long live victory! Let those infidels die. Victory belongs to us!"
Monomacher's shout was full of excitement, because he knew that victory had fallen in front of him, and all he had to do next was to pick it up.
And his soldiers from various ethnic groups rushed in frantically, with various languages reverberating in the sky, making the scene as noisy as the construction site of the Tower of Babel.
This ancient city of Tbilisi will completely belong to him from today on! He will become the ruler of a city comparable to Kiev!