"It's only been a while since...you've already asked us for more mercenaries."
Rurik Rostislavich looked at the two letters in front of him, his face was full of dissatisfaction, and there was also a hint of surprise.
One letter came from Emperor Alexios Komnenos, asking Rus to provide more mercenaries, and the other came from his brother who ran to Alexios to serve as captain of the Varangian Guard.
They are also the ones who complain and want more.
The Norman War in the Eastern Empire did not go well. Even after prompting Robert Guiscard to return to Italy, the Eastern Empire still had difficulty defeating the Normans. Guiscard's illegitimate son Bohemond then defeated the Normans twice in a row.
Lexius.
The Normans now occupied almost the entire western border of the empire, and also expanded massively in the hinterland of the original Kingdom of Macedonia, occupying many lands.
However, the Norman army did not act according to their original plan, which was to capture Constantinople. Their leader Bohemond knew that he did not have enough strength. After all, his father took away the most important members of the conquering army for Roman affairs.
The stronger part, so he chose to occupy as much Greek land as possible and wait for his father to return after settling the affairs in Italy.
In this series of battles, Emperor Alexios suffered heavy military losses, but the emperor was not deterred. He was still gathering troops. This time he asked the Turks for 7,000 men, and wrote to Ross.
It was to allow Ross to bring out some people.
Volorida's letter mainly explains how miserable the current Ross mercenaries have become. At its peak, the Varangian Guard had a total of 6,000 people. However, after a series of battles, this team
The current number is less than 3,000.
Volorida hoped that his brother could send another three thousand men. He hoped to restore the Varangian Guard to its original size so that it could perform better on the battlefield.
Providing troops to the Greeks is not a problem. Over the past year, Ross has been recruiting soldiers for the Greek emperor throughout Russia in accordance with the agreement between them. There are also a lot of applicants, not only from Ross, but also from Russia
Many people also came from other places.
Rumors about the wealth of King Gard of Mikrigad have spread in the north for a long time. In the legend, King Gard rules the green and colorful coast. Strong men fight for him with swords and axes. They even have armor.
All are gold.
Now there are three thousand people outside Kiev who are eager to try. This time, the Grand Duke of Kiev paid for the travel and also provided training. Under such good conditions, applicants naturally came in droves.
Everyone was happy to serve the wealthy King of Gard. The biggest problem that troubled everyone before was the distance, but now the distance problem has been solved by the Grand Duke.
As for why travel expenses and training are provided, this is the product of the agreement with Alexios. The emperor of Constantinople asked Ross to at least provide these people with some basic training, and it cannot be completely like a piece of loose sand.
And covering travel expenses means using Ross's fleet to send these people to the imperial capital to minimize losses on the road.
After reading the letter from the emperor and his brother, Rurik asked Kirill to bring a document, and he signed his name on it. This document was about letting the mercenary team set off.
However, when sending this letter, Rurik also wrote a letter to his brother Vasilko Rostislavich who stayed in Constantinople.
Rurik was worried about handing over his troops to Volorida. According to his consumption capacity, these people would probably be gone within half a year. This would not be a good thing for Ross. If the troops were depleted too quickly, they would be gone.
It's not good either in terms of income or impact.
So it is better to hand over the troops to his more stable brother. As for why Vasiliko is in Constantinople, the main reason is that the Rus prince still thinks about the great library of Constantinople after returning to Rus.
So he wrote a report to his father soon after returning, and then went to Constantinople after obtaining permission.
Every time he thinks about this, Rurik can't help but sigh. Two of the three brothers went to the Eastern Empire, but he is the only one who has no interest in Rome at all. I have to say that he is really different from his two brothers.
, they only have responsibility and Rose in their eyes, and their lives are obviously much richer.
Rurik sighed for a while, then put the sigh aside and continued to work. There were still many things to do.
After dealing with the affairs of the southern imperial capital, Rurik then took up a more troublesome matter. This information came from a pagan friend of his father, a Persian businessman named Abdul. This businessman brought
The message was simple - Monomakh had retaken Tbilisi.
Seeing this familiar name, Rurik couldn't help but rub his head. It was such a nostalgic name. The name of this relative appeared in front of him again.
In the past, deep in Rurik's heart, he actually envied Monomach, because although he was in exile, he was able to live an unfettered life and be able to do what he wanted, but now this is
It's past tense, Rurik has long realized how naive he used to be.
But then he got stories about Monomach starting a business in a foreign country. Rurik suddenly realized that in terms of ability, his relative was probably much better than him, and he would never be able to do these things.
Arrived.
"I still have to leave it to my father to decide."
After watching for a while, Rurik decided to leave the matter to his father. To be more precise, this kind of matter can only be decided by his father.
As he said he had to meet him, Rurik didn't delay at all. He picked up the documents and left the room, heading to his father's place.
Generally speaking, Rostislav Vladimirovich is usually on the observation deck of Vladimir Palace, doing various things to occupy his time. Sometimes he is working with his craftsmen.
When discussing techniques, sometimes he was meditating on writing, and sometimes he was simply basking in the sun and practicing his sword by the way.
When Rurik came in this time, he found his father writing. But what was interesting was that there were a bunch of gambler's things on his father's table, from cow bone dice to chips.
However, Rurik's attention only stayed on it for a while, and then he began to report the business. He would not be curious about the hobby his father was doing. He knew that his father would never give anyone the problem before producing the results.
talked about.
"Really? That Monomakh occupied Tbilisi again." Rostislav pondered the news brought by his son, "He also conquered the Kingdom of Kakheti and the Kingdom of Shirvan Emir, ah ah ah
, this exile has unknowingly become a great warlord in Transcaucasia."
Rostislav was actually quite surprised. Although he knew about Monomakh's abilities, he never thought that he would achieve all this so quickly, and it had only been a few years since he left for Transcaucasus.
"Anton, Radko...are the guys who were under me back then, huh? Why is that guy Zhergi over there too?"
He continued to read the letters brought by Abdul, and then saw several familiar names, as well as a name that surprised him, Zerji. He still remembered the Arpad who almost killed him back then.
family members.
But his care only lasted for a while. This person was just a nobody to him now, so there was no need to care too much.
"So father, what should we do?"
Rurik asked about his father's decision. The current situation in Monomach has developed to a situation that they cannot ignore, and they must do something.
"Well, let's contact King George of Georgia first and spread our goodwill to him. If possible in the future, we will probably fight with him against Monomakh." Rostislav also made a decision quickly, "Also
How about sending some spies over there? What Abdul gave us is not very nutritious, but we have to pay him a lot of money for it. Well, that's all for now."
"Yes, father, I will do it immediately." Rurik responded immediately.