Since Monomakh captured the Kingdom of Kakheti, the situation in the Caucasus has gradually stabilized. The conqueror from afar has been busy managing the land he acquired and dividing new noble groups on it. The fighting is only limited to
In order to expel the Turkic tribes.
The distribution of newly conquered lands gave the Rurik exile a lot of support. Through the war, he drove out the original nobles of the land and used the ready-made land and population to create a staunchly loyal group for himself, and this group
Still eager to try, eager to carry out the next expedition to obtain more land.
Others were busy surrounding the overt and covert fighting in Tbilisi. This city attracted everyone's attention like a beacon. The only one who could cause trouble was the Emir of Shirvan (Azerbaijan region) who was beaten by Monomakh.
The combination of punches knocked him over, but he was still busy licking his wounds.
In the empire, Nikephorus, an important figure in defeating Russell's rebellion, captured Constantinople and became a new emperor. However, this caused other ambitious people to act blindly, and the war in the empire became intense.
On the other hand, everything is calm in Ross. Due to the war in the south, Ross-related industries have achieved further development and leaps, and those contradictions have also been suppressed under the general environment.
And with the cessation of Monomakh's activities, the discussion about him in Ross has also become dull, and Rostislav no longer pays much attention to this man who will obviously be trapped in successive struggles in the Caucasus for decades to come.
relatives.
In such a peaceful environment, time passed quickly, and before you knew it, 1080 had arrived, and this year was of great significance to Rostislav.
October 1080, Kyiv.
It has been exactly ten years since the day Rostislav became the Grand Duke of Russia. To commemorate this moment of great significance, a large number of important ceremonies were held throughout Russia.
The first was the grand prayer ceremony on the battlefield between the Northern and Southern armies. The Battle of Buda was the battle that allowed Rostislav to gain power. Every year, the Grand Duke organized churches to hold large-scale prayers to appease the souls of the dead, and this time was no exception.
And since it was the tenth anniversary, this time was also the largest, so the ceremony in April is still talked about by people. They have not seen such a large-scale ceremony for a long time.
And the Grand Duke announced a very important thing after the ceremony, that is, the appointment of a series of new "saints", and when seeing these "saints", every Russian knew what this was about, no matter what
It is the transformation of gods into Christian saints.
The explanation of this from the Ross Church is that these gods all surrendered to the powerful Lord of All Arms, and became the saints of the Lord by offering their loyalty.
This statement is quite popular with many people. It is not surprising that the god who was crucified on the cross is so powerful that the gods surrendered. However, there is no doubt that this is something that can be regarded as heresy in the south. Anyone who says these things will immediately be punished.
Burning at the stake, but this is Ross.
Nowadays, it is difficult for the Imperial City Church to protect itself from the successive political upheavals. Ross offered a sum of gold and silver, so naturally they could only hold their noses and endure it.
After finishing the prayer, Rostislav announced the highlight of this year. The Grand Duke of Kiev will hold the most grand martial arts tournament in Russia, and more importantly, he will invite warriors from all over Christendom.
The Grand Duke of Kiev sent invitations to all countries half a year in advance for this purpose, inviting all warriors who were willing to come. Rostislav regarded this ceremony as a declaration of Russia's recovery of strength, and promoted to the world the prosperity and strength of the country of city-states.
To this end, he set an extremely large bonus, including enough gold and silver to buy a castle, and a piece of land that was comparable to a county. Of course, according to Ross's tradition, the fiefted land had to be controlled by himself.
But this is enough to attract many people, because no matter what the actual situation is, it is a land comparable to an earldom. As long as you win, you can become a real noble lord. How can this not make people excited?
Various news about the generous rewards of the tourney circulated in the Christian world, and became more and more exaggerated in the process of spreading, and thus attracted more and more people, including not only the warriors who received the invitation, but also
Businessmen who sense business opportunities, and the service population who rely on providing services to the masses.
The most typical of them are prostitutes. Some people have complained that Kiev is about to become a city of prostitutes. The streets are full of frivolous foreign women. However, Rostislav's second son is very happy because of this. His Royal Highness the Prince has become "
His reputation spread far and wide, but he never cared about these things.
Kiev has also become prosperous. Now, in October, the city's foreign population is probably close to 10,000, and the wilderness is now occupied by countless tents.
They are not as eye-catching as the huge stadium. Although it is only temporarily built with wood, it can accommodate thousands of people to sit and watch. It is really spectacular at first glance.
But there is more than just one arena. Rostislav set up four major categories in this competition: mounted combat, infantry combat, archery, and team combat. That is, there are four arenas. They may use the original buildings in Kiev, such as
A racecourse, or a simple arena built on the spot.
The management pressure in Kiev has also increased. Even if the Kiev battalion and the Vicher militia are all put into management, it will not be enough. This restless city now has several vicious incidents every day, and they all have to die.
Few people.
Therefore, these two troops have also become the focus of reprimands. For example, Rurik Rostislavich is listening to the report with a livid face, as if he is going to have an attack in the next second.
"...That's about it, Lord Rurik."
After finishing speaking, the reporter tightened his face and quickly bowed to Rurik, trying to show as much humility as possible to reduce Rurik's brewing anger.
But what he didn't know was that doing so would only make Rurik angrier.
The reason why Rurik was so angry was simple. His father asked him to arrange the preparations for the martial arts tournament, including the most important security issues. As a result, so many vicious incidents happened before the tournament was about to begin. Isn't this just a slap on his face?
slapped his father in the face.
"In just two days, there have been five vicious incidents and a large-scale fight. No matter how you say it, this is really too bad. Captain, I need an explanation why you didn't do this before, but instead
At this time, something like this happened, are you intentionally sabotaging the overall situation?"
The evil in Rurik's tone could not be more obvious, and the captain was obviously even more frightened. If the prince put that big hat on him, he would be finished!
In the past few years, Rurik has been managing the trivial affairs of Kiev on behalf of his father. Therefore, the prince's majesty among the people has become more and more powerful, and the people of Kiev have become more and more afraid of him, not to mention the officials of Kiev.
, His Highness has always been known for being unable to see sand in his eyes.
"Yes...it's like this, Mr. Rurik, the news that the conference is about to convene has made many people restless. These restless guys are naturally prone to causing trouble, so..."
"Tell me directly if you can put an end to these things? This tournament is used by my father to show the prosperity of Ross to the entire Christian world. At this juncture, we must suppress the vicious events. If we can't do that, then get out."
Rurik didn't want to listen to him repeating useless nonsense, and asked him directly if he could guarantee public security. If he couldn't guarantee it, then he would have to beat the person in front of him to the end and replace him with someone more powerful, such as his father.
Gulag jailers transferred from Moscow to control vicious events.
The reason why they were not allowed to go in before was because it was filled with all kinds of scum. If they were rashly thrown into the streets of Kiev, big trouble would occur. This is a force that can only be used in the final stage.
"Of course, of course." The man said hurriedly, but his face showed an embarrassed look, "But I need manpower, Lord Rurik, nothing can be done without people."
"How many people do you want?"
Rostislav did not ridicule him, he directly asked how many people were needed and he would give them whatever they needed. But if this person could not give him what he needed, his future would be miserable.
"At least three hundred people, Lord Rurik!"
This request made Rurik think for a while, thinking about who could be used, "Let's do this, I will give you the control of the crossbowmen, and then I will draw fifty people from my personal army.
Problem?"
"No, no, Lord Rurik, so that I can complete my mission."
The man was simply overjoyed, with joy written all over his face, as if he was about to jump up the next moment, and then he hurriedly exited the room and hurried to complete his mission. Rurik always only looked at actions.
"Really, the organization in Kiev is still so bad."
Rurik, who watched the captain leave, couldn't help but sigh. He thought that after these years of governance, Kiev's organizational strength had improved to some extent, and it would be more able to face such large-scale crowd gatherings.
.
As a result, he didn't expect that his hips were still stretched so much, which made him quite helpless. He once had great hopes for the students trained by Vladimir Academy, but it turned out that although these young people were educated, they still needed
There is still a long way to go to be qualified for their positions. Thank God if we don't mess things up.
People always distrust officials without beards, and now it seems that this really makes sense.
"But that's it, Kirill, I'll leave everything here to you. I'll go see my brothers. I guess they can't wait."
Rurik stood up. He couldn't stay here for too long. The brothers were still waiting.