Proclaw did not refuse to fight, but he became the target of public criticism because he asked everyone to calm down. For this reason, he had to express his position by patting his chest: "Friends! I have never been a coward! I am willing to lead you to fight,

But we cannot act recklessly! We must be on alert and further explore the enemy's situation. I have an idea now."

He calmed down: "Since they have built a fortress, they must be preparing to live there for a long time. We should send envoys to negotiate with their leaders and ask them what they want."

"Is this necessary? Are they worth negotiating with?"

"That's right! They must not be willing to negotiate with us. Any envoys sent there will only be beheaded by them."

"That's right! We should still organize the army. As long as we unite, we will definitely win."

Everyone seems to be determined to take the lead.

Proclaw gritted his teeth and held back a sentence for a long time: "In my opinion, you are simply afraid of sending the envoy. Or, you are just worried that the envoy will be killed."

After that, he looked at everyone's eyes again. There were many determined expressions, maybe he had misjudged them.

"Bah!" A young man shook off his hat: "No one here is afraid. Messenger? Just let me be the one!"

The speaker is none other than Lambart, who has bulging veins on his face and is obviously responsible for his words.

After all, he was his nephew, and the big leader Proclaw did not want his relatives to die. However, it was himself who proposed to send an envoy to negotiate.

"Child, do you know what your decision means?"

"I know!"

The big leader sighed deeply: "Actually, what they said is right. Those barbarians will probably kill the envoy."

"Is this enough to make me afraid? What should I be afraid of?! I have another idea, that is, if I meet their leader with my strange thoughts, I will take the opportunity to assassinate them. Even if I die, the enemy leader will also die. The enemy is leaderless.

, then our army will rush over and win a complete victory."

He stood here like a fearless warrior, and the old village leaders were greatly moved.

An old man was very excited: "Lambart, you are still young. Is it all worth it?"

"It's worth it." Young Lambart looked at his people: "I hope to be a real leader, but we are facing a life and death crisis. If my sacrifice can bring survival to everyone, I will have no regrets in this life. Of course, I will try

I will try to escape. I will see the opportunity to kill their leader, and at the same time, I will also explore their true and false identity. I will try my best to withdraw and tell you everything I know. We are sure to win the decisive battle after that."

The young man spoke softly and his words were deafening.

He continued to speak boldly: "Either don't send the envoy, or let me go. Someone will do it, so leave the opportunity to me."

All the village leaders expressed their support, and it was better to have the great leader's nephew as the envoy than to choose the villagers himself.

Seeing that he had made up his mind, the big leader Proclaw had nothing to refuse.

It can be said that Lambart is very aware of the risks involved, and he is also more aware of the benefits that will be brought about when things are done well.

Until now, the people of Polotsk have very limited understanding of the concept of "Russ". Even the elites believe that as long as those horse bandits who have a high probability of belonging to Rus are eliminated, the crisis will be over.

The big leader has absolutely no idea of ​​Ross's true strength, and he doesn't even know that the so-called horse bandits are largely just the armed forces of the Principality of Ostara under Ross.

The big leader was indeed frightened by the outrageous battle-loss ratio in the previous small-scale battle. In the meeting, he did not dare to show any cowardice based on the situation, and he had to constantly emphasize his bravery.

The more he emphasizes bravery, the more he pretends to be brave.

My nephew Rambat is brave and even reckless. This kind of person is indeed a warrior on the battlefield, but he lacks the overall situation.

After the meeting, he would hold another small meeting for his brave nephew.

In the warm little room, the wooden roof turned down the oil lamp, and the light in the room was dim and the flames kept beating, just like the complicated heart of the big leader.

"Sit down." He said.

Lambart sat on the leopard skin cushion, his attitude still resolute.

The big leader couldn't do it himself, so he paced in front of his nephew: "Your father has been dead for many years. If you are killed by the enemy this time, your mother will be heartbroken. Think about your wife again.

Your young child."

"Uncle, do you still want to persuade me? I advise you to stop being so anxious."

"You? Can I persuade you? You brat!" The big leader lowered his head and frowned: "You actually asked for the position of the big leader in public."

"What? Do you... think I'm not qualified? Or do you think this position should be given to my cousin (Proclaw's son)?"

"He? That kid doesn't have your courage. Maybe, you can indeed do it. You really need a chance to show off, that is..."

"I have made up my mind. Now, if I withdraw, I will be called a coward. Rather than doing that, I would rather fight the enemy with all my life. I am responsible for my words, and I will not be a coward!"

"Okay! Okay..." The big leader paced for a long time with his head raised. He was thinking about something. He probably figured it out and suddenly stared at his footsteps: "Okay. It's just that your assassination plan is really outrageous. I order you.

No assassination allowed."

"Why?!" Lambart, who had already planned more than a dozen plans to assassinate the enemy leader, suddenly raised his head with a puzzled look on his face: "I have already made a plan."

"It's better to give up your unrealistic plan."

"I……"

"Shut up first! Listen to me." As he said that, the big leader's old face was already on his face: "I want you to tell those gangsters to compensate us for our losses, and we must compensate them in silver coins! Ask them to hand over the murderer and evacuate them.

Build a fortress and leave our territory. Otherwise, Polotsk declares war on Rus! Oh, if they are indeed called Rus."

"Ah? Just because of that, am I just the messenger?!"

"You are indeed just a messenger. My child, don't add any extraneous details. Pass on my request. I think those gangsters will not make it difficult for a messenger, right? This is your only chance to come back."

"I'm not afraid of death!" Lambart still cast a determined look.

A big hand slapped him hard on the face, and Proclaw was speechless for his "brave" nephew.

"Yes. We all know that you are not afraid of death, but it does not mean that you can commit suicide casually. You are a warrior. I want you to come back. You must kill the enemy in the future battles and lead others to fight. Say

To be honest, I don’t believe that those gangsters will evacuate obediently. We must at least know what their plans are. Besides, you can delay as much time as possible by talking to them. We will take advantage of this time to actively prepare for war. I will give you ten days.

, if you don’t come back after ten days, you will be considered dead. I will lead an army to conquer the enemy."

"Sure enough, you are still willing to fight. You are worthy of being my uncle." A smile finally appeared on the young man's face.

The chief then untied his leopard skin shawl and put it on his nephew himself.

"this……"

"Accept him, this is the special authority I give you. You go find a few like-minded brothers, and I will prepare leopard print shawls for them. My child, you really need to make meritorious deeds. When you have enough merit, you can get this forever.

Leopard print shawl." The implication of the big leader's words was that he acquiesced to Lambart's future seizure of power, provided that this boy achieved enough merit to convince the public.

Lambart understood.

It sounded like my uncle had thought it through, but he really couldn't think of a better idea, and the leopard print shawl was so wonderful, so he simply agreed.

Therefore, he had one more task to delay time. From the standpoint of the people in Polotsk, they still had to fight, so they needed a longer preparation time to ensure that they would have an advantage after fighting.

As for the big leader Proclaw, he wants to comply with public opinion and join the war, and he is also ready for peace talks. It would be great if those gangsters are willing to negotiate.

Now there is no market for the entire Polotsk political ideology. The Polotsk community has never had the tragedy of "the village was wiped out". Even if you break your teeth, you still have to bite, even if you smash your finger bones, you still have to fight.

fist.

The majority of the people were filled with anger. Since the big leader publicly expressed his consent to the war, it was a military alliance of all the allied villages. Young men and women would participate in the war. This is the tradition of the Slavs. As early as the era of the Roman Republic, the Roman legions had fought with the older Slavs.

Tribal battles record an astonishing number of female warriors in their tribal armies. Even in the imperial era, records of battles between legions will still record the existence of a large number of female warriors.

No one thought it was inappropriate for all the people to participate in the war. Even the girls had their hair tied up, put on slim-fitting clothes for combat, attached sharp objects to the wooden sticks, and joined the manor's armed forces as spearmen.

The entire Polota River was bustling with activity. The locals still blocked the channel of the West Dvina River and forced some Latvian and Danish businessmen from Riga to stay. The locals did not force these people to join the army. The battle clouds in Polotsk were thick.

The stranded merchants no longer have the luxury of going directly south to the Derevlian territory to do business in a detour. Instead, they go directly back home to report the war happening upstream to the Gulf of Riga.

Because even Polotsk children were holding wooden sticks and shouting "Kill the Ross gangsters" in the intricate streets.

Their enemies are actually the Russians?

The Danish businessmen who understood the new situation of the sea had no obligation to tell the local chief nobles what the Kingdom of Rus was. They floated to the starting point in a boat and silently cursed the Polotsk people who had detained their property for provoking a powerful force that should not be offended.

It's just asking for death. "If you are looking for death, don't bring us with you to die unjustly. You can take care of yourself. Brothers, withdraw." All businessmen have this attitude.

The merchants were no longer too lazy to ask for their impounded supplies. They all ran away empty-handed. Such an abnormal behavior did not attract the attention of the elites.

The people of Polotsk are still sharpening their swords at home, and no one cares about what will happen if they lose the war. All they care about is revenge.

The young men of each farm have the obligation to defend their homeland, and the elites among them need to fight to prove that they are real men.

The brave Lambart went to the horse bandit camp as an envoy in person, which is really admirable. There are always people who want to fight side by side with the heroes. He easily recruited five more companions to form a six-person envoy team.

Rather than rowing a canoe, these six people preferred to move forward on foot.

At this moment, the bodies of the three horse bandits who were killed in the previous battle were put to use. There was sufficient intelligence to show that the flags hung by the horse bandits who built the fort upstream were exactly the same as the marks on the clothes of the three killed.

Clothes become a kind of token.

Lambart and his five followers were deliberately dressed up, with leopard skins on their shoulders and red feathers dyed with cinnabar on their heads.

Everything he does is just to make himself more conspicuous.

They walked along the river for three full days. Although their legs and feet were a little sore, in order to ensure their mission, they finally saw the fortress on the morning of the fourth day.

From the tributary of the Polota River where Polotsk is located to Vitebsk, where the river makes an S-shaped bend, it would be enough to walk a hundred kilometers along the river.

Lambart had good physical fitness, and so did the followers he recruited. The team as a whole went backwards along the river and tried their best to take shortcuts, and finally completed the journey in three days.
To be continued...