Rise of Rurik - Chapter 782

[Chapter 783: Horse Riding and Blade Training]

The selected people rode on their own horses. At the beginning, the training they experienced was just sitting on the horseback, and a group of people formed a cavalry team that seemed to wander aimlessly on the snow.

Rurik even got involved, and Arik, Medved and others were also beginners.

Everyone learns how to drive a horse under the escort of real Pecheneg cavalry, honing their skills for a long time.

During the three-day special training, the rider basically learned to walk on horseback and began to try to gallop on horseback. Many young cubs felt that they were born with this material, and the question they were asked the most was like no other, so-called when we can ride horses to fight.

Fighting on horseback?

Just like the skill of riding and archery, it can be carried out at any time, and even the rider can pick up a short wooden bow by himself to explore the secrets of riding and archery.

Just at the time of training, the second winter snow came unexpectedly.

Unlike the gentleness of the first snow, it comes with the storm, as harsh as the wrath of a god.

The walls of each settlement are excellent windbreaks. People hide in the city, horses hide in stalls, and domesticated small animals and poultry are all in pens.

All living creatures hide in warm places to resist the ice and snow. I am afraid that only the hardy reindeer can resist the cold with their thick fur.

After this blizzard, the world was completely frozen.

Lake Ilmen was covered with thick ice, and the snow in the city of Novgorod was not thick enough, and the thickness of the snow on the roofs of all the houses was frightening.

After the snowstorm was over, the people of the whole city first swept the snow in front of their doors, and then tried their best to clear the snow on the roofs.

A large amount of snow accumulated on public roads and was gradually transported outside the city by animal sleds.

Those early ponies and a large number of reindeer took on this job. Although they are all horses, the local ponies are only suitable for the work of pack horses, and the Turkic wild horses trafficked by the Pechenegs are born for fighting. .

For the time being, Rurik has no shortage of labor force. Ragnar’s 300 warriors have been mobilized, and they are paid to clear the snow.

Everyone was happy at first, but as soon as the two consecutive days of work were announced, many people were directly exhausted and passed out, and some people were panting heavily and felt cold all over.

Although there was too much bread to eat and greasy grilled fish afterwards, Ragnar’s department needed to take a good rest.

Almost at the cost of overdrawing their lives, this group of Danes built a pyramid of rammed snow outside the city. For a while, the innocent children had a big toy that acted as a slide.

The top of the snow-covered pyramid has a very high commanding height. Some children stand at a certain section, staring at the horse riders gathered not far away with round eyes, commenting on those people, and even expressing some great dreams.

Rurik’s own equestrian skills are even more exquisite. Clamping the horse’s belly with both feet is braking, kicking the horse’s belly lightly with both feet at the same time is moving forward, holding the rein with both hands, pulling left and right when pulling left and right.

Except that the mount doesn’t know how to “reverse”, it is really a good horse that is obedient and understanding on the whole.

He was wearing a fur hat with a velvet head, his dagger was hanging on the belt around his waist, and with his golden beard, he looked like a classic Cossack.

His young cavalry men were given a uniform of clothing—white bear fur.

The helmets of elite mercenary guards are decorated with bear heads, and the elite warriors wear bear fur coats.

As the principality’s emerging military power, the cavalry must combine splendor and combat effectiveness.

The young people like their new coats very much. It has excellent ability to keep out the cold, and the thick white fur on the outside is soft and comfortable to the touch. When they think that it is bearskin, they feel a sense of pride in their hearts.

Even the ten Pecheneg “coaches” under Rurik’s command also had new bearskin clothes, and even the pointed iron helmets they brought with them decisively poked the bear’s head. Be where the visor is.

What is rather strange is that all ten of them wear sunglasses.

In other words, the horse riders who gathered together wore wooden-framed sunglasses on a large scale, so that the blinding white snow would no longer be blind.

Kagan is the real instructor, and his forty current subordinates are the real assistants.

More than forty of them formed a small cavalry combat unit, and Rurik deliberately asked his own people to imitate it in all directions.

Therefore, on the first training day after the snow, it is time to stop the boring horse riding slowly, and it should be the training for cavalry combat.

Some bowl-thick pine poles were stuck on the snow, and the poles were all wrapped with buckskin and tied firmly with cables.

They are all targets, what kind of training will be carried out today, the smart young rider can guess roughly just by holding the hilt of his steel sword tightly.

Rurik rode his horse and stood in front of many cavalrymen. His tall posture simply stood on the saddle, so that his eyes were overlooking his subordinates and Kagan’s Pecheneg allies from a height of about three meters. .

“Brothers! Is it too boring for you to ride and roam all day? You have learned how to ride in my opinion. From today on, you will learn to fight!”

“I have already discussed with the Kagan brothers. First, we will learn to chop and chop on horseback, then we will learn to stab with a spear, and finally we will learn to ride and shoot.”

“I heard that fighting on horseback is more difficult than fighting on foot. As long as you learn how to fight, you will be the strongest soldier.”

“Now even I, like you, have to learn from the Pechenegs. I will train with you…”

There is no big reason, even if Rurik knows that he is standing at a historical watershed, from today onwards the Principality of Ross will formally learn cavalry tactics, so that it can be said that it can really become a cavalry.

He thinks this is a historic moment, how do the young fighters feel?

Everyone just hopes to become an excellent cavalry sooner, and to make contributions to the principality in future battles and earn huge amounts of spoils for themselves.

Rurik seized the opportunity to establish the cavalry for the purpose of defending the country. If it hadn’t been for the crazy expansion of the Principality over the past few years, it would have taken some time to digest the prey.

The purpose of suspending expansion is for better expansion and the rapid development of internal comprehensive strength. The establishment of cavalry is a direct manifestation of this strategy.

Because of the continued expansion of power to the south, the superiority of the Principality’s navy is almost useless, and the cavalry will become the new “Imperial Tomahawk”.

After Rurik finished his speech, Kagan got the order, and immediately led his own people to perform a show of what it means to slash and kill on horseback.

The Pechenegs hold a slightly curved saber that resembles a Tang Hengdao.

It is indeed a knife. Although it has a sharp tip, it is sharpened on one side and thickened on the other side. The slight curvature of the back of the knife is even more intentional, just to adapt to riding a horse.

It weighs five pounds, and it is a heavy weapon for killing enemies.

In comparison, Rurik’s cavalry is still equipped with standard infantry steel swords, which are elastic, double-edged, and weigh a little more than four pounds.

The Ross people who are good at rowing and other Vikings from all walks of life have developed overly strong arms in rowing, and the four-pound sword is still quite heavy. Hands do not feel tired.

The two weapons have one thing in common, they are both straight handles.

Seeing the Pecheneg’s saber, Rurik intuitively felt that it was too similar to Tang Hengdao.

Thinking that the essence of this group of guys is the Turkic people who were beaten away by the Eastern Empire, it is only normal to absorb Eastern military technology for their own use.

Of course, what Rurik thought of was to redesign a saber for his subordinates—a Cossack saber with a larger bend.

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Not even just new sabers, but a batch of riding spears is also planned.

As for what kind of riding spear to use, Rurik had a good idea. He decided to imitate the breakable riding spear of the Polish hussars. Spears are used by the enemy twice.

In this way, there is no need to be too particular about the production of the spearhead. The only thing that needs to be paid attention to is the choice of wood for the spear, which must be easy to break.

Kagan led the team to show off in front of everyone. They held up the Turkic saber and galloped like lightning. They made a deep stab at the wooden pole wrapped in deerskin, and then walked away.

The entire cavalry team was dispatched continuously, and some soldiers first roared for the rest of their lives, and then chopped down their sabers.

At the beginning, the many deerskins didn’t show much damage, but after more than forty riders came to chop two rounds, the completely damaged deerskins just drooped casually, exposing the cracked wooden stakes inside.

There was even a stake that had been hacked to the point of crumbling.

Kagan rode over with pride and faced Rurik: “You have seen it all. If it was the enemy, they would have been bloody and bloody by us. Remember, you almost only have one cavalry battle on the grassland. Opportunity. If you seize the opportunity, you will survive, so you must use your full strength in this blow. I heard a rumor that some strong warriors can cut the enemy in half with one knife!”

Rurik also shuddered after hearing the description later, while his subordinates were dumbfounded when they saw the messy wooden piles.

They couldn’t help but be amazed, those prairie men were obviously not tall, but how could they ride horses and chop wood piles with such great strength.

If they were given an axe, wouldn’t a big tree be felled in the blink of an eye?

Finally, the young Ross cavalry was divided into ten teams, and each of them contacted and hacked on horseback under the leadership of their own Pecheneg captain.

Since the prince was willing to use deerskin as a target, the brothers obeyed.

The young warriors understood Kagan’s warning, and swung their steel swords with all their might.

But this kind of slashing always comes in vain, simply grasping the right slashing opportunity while galloping, they have to train desperately.

Even if he was lucky enough to hit the wooden stake, because the force is mutual, the reaction force will be the same as the strength of the rider’s chopping, which makes the hands numb for a while.

Some people were even so shocked that the steel sword was dropped from their hands, causing a big embarrassment.

Without him, Kagan made a point of saying that the so-called dropping of a cavalryman’s weapon during a fight was tantamount to suicide.

“Those who let go of the saber! You should be glad that you are on the training ground. If you are on the battlefield, you will die!”

Is it just a few stern warnings and it’s over?

Since the soldiers were trained according to the rules of the grassland, and Kagan was hired as a coach to gain a lot of freedom in training, then for this matter, the mistakes were punished according to the rules of the grassland.

Five of the eighty young cavalrymen lost their swords, and among them was even the son of the manor owner.

When the five people learned that they were going to be punished with whips, they immediately begged for mercy.

Even Medved and Arik, who were on horseback, were paying attention to Rurik’s reaction to this matter. According to the attitude of the two nobles, it is understandable that a group of cubs with “just growing beards” have too weak arms to take off their swords.

Rurik’s complexion was iron, and those people’s begging for mercy was like flies flying around, annoying.

He shouted loudly: “Just follow the law of the grassland! If you make a mistake, you will be punished! Listen, I’d rather you sweat and tire your muscles and bones during daily training, and at most bleed a little, than I don’t want you to be killed on the battlefield.” Kill! Slapping your whip is to make your memory long! Remember this pain! When you are injured again on the battlefield, you will be able to hold back perfectly.”

Kagan appreciated Brother Rurik’s words very much.

With a leather whip in his hand, Kagan, as the chief instructor, declared in advance: “What your prince said is absolutely correct. Now that you have endured the pain, you will not be afraid to fight in the future. Everyone whipping a whip is already my greatest kindness. ”

Let’s see that the five people were all tied to independent wooden stakes, their thick coats were stripped off, and even their inner shirts were gone, only their whitish backs were integrated with the snow that could be seen everywhere.

Kagan was about to strike when Rurik asked sharply, “Only one whip? What is your real law?”

“It’s… three whips.”

“Then three whips. Kagan, come here first…”

Rurik didn’t want Kagan to be the killer after all, he only emphasized in a low voice: “Just three lashes, don’t be too hard, try to make a small amount of blood, I chop the stake so hard, I don’t want you to whip people to death with one whip .”

“I have my own measure.”

The five received three whips each, and three clearly visible bloodstains quickly appeared on their white backs.

Many pairs of eyes watched this punishment, and the young cavalry staggered with his mouth restless.

Riding on horseback, Rurik is as firm as a sculpture. He has long since faded from being immature, but now he has become a strong and ruthless man. He even requires his brothers to be ruthless when he treats the cavalry who has high expectations.

“You’ve all seen it!” Rurik pointed with his sword, “This is the rule! They dropped their weapons and were punished according to the law! I am fair, and I am not punishing you for no reason. From now on, you must step up your training. If you do well, you will be punished, but if you do well, you will be rewarded.”

So in the next slashing training, the young riders showed mercy to the stakes, and were careful not to let go of their swords.

Even so, when night fell, there were as many as ten people who had been rewarded with whips.

The cavalry complained in the unified dormitory, but the ten people were independently arranged to a new dormitory.

The fireplace warmed the dormitory, and the ten unlucky bastards who had been whipped lay on the soft beds. Their back wounds were cleaned. First, strong wine was used to roughly debride and sterilize the wounds, and finally a layer of honey was applied along the wound.

Kagan was indeed merciful, the so-called injury was a little bit more severe.

Because the local Slavic farms expanded their traditional skill of tree hole beekeeping in the warm season in the past, they harvested more honey, and they sold the honey to Prince Rus in a big way, so Rurik got far more honey than before.

Honey is not only edible, but also a kind of medicine.

Since a piece of sucrose sticking to the affected area of oral ulcers can accelerate wound healing, it means that all kinds of sugar pieces can promote wound healing on the body surface.

What’s more, honey is not known to be a mixture of fructose and glucose, but also contains a lot of vitamins. Its sticky form can also form the outer protective layer of the wound.

Some people were punished and whipped, and the rest of the staff worked together internally and quickly worked out a way to prevent the sword from falling out of their hands – using cloth strips to tie the right hand to the hilt of the sword.

This kind of behavior was acquiesced by Rurik, and Kagan didn’t stop him when he saw it.

Compared with riding and shooting, riding and hacking is the most test of a steppe cavalry’s tactical ability.

After all, riding and shooting is just harassment, a tactic of slowly cutting flesh with a small knife, the purpose of which is to force serious flaws in the enemy formation.

The really decisive tactic is that the cavalry group rushed in to break through the formation, and finally turned into sabers to ruthlessly slash the fleeing enemy.

Therefore, hacking and killing takes a lot of time to train, which is the foundation of the grassland cavalry.

[End of this Chapter]