Great Zhou Empire: Kill Zhao Kuangyin at the beginning

Chapter 540: Destroy Kievan Rus (Special thanks to book friend Huatian Yuexia for the 2 monthly tickets!)

Who would have thought that after half a year, the people in Kiev were in a desperate situation of lack of food, some even had to trade their own children for food, but the Zhou army under the city did not show any signs of panic.

Vladimir I naturally could not have imagined that the national strength of the Great Zhou was now a hundred times greater than that of Kievan Rus. When the Zhou army set out from "Huyan Zan City", the food and military supplies mobilized from various prefectures in the northwest were enough to support the army for a year.

On August 22, the 43rd year of Kaixi, the 4th Corps of the Longxiang Army led by Yang Yanzhao and the 8th Corps led by Lin Wenshan, which had been besieging Kiev for more than half a year, finally had their troops led by Han Jiyu, commander of the 1st Army of the 4th Corps, the first to scale the more than 15-foot-high city wall and open the gate.

After Zhou's army broke into Kiev, after five days of fierce street fighting, they annihilated more than 220,000 Kievan Rus troops. The rest collapsed and surrendered, and only more than 30,000 people escaped from the north gate.

Vladimir I saw that the capital had fallen and the situation was hopeless. He could not bear to abandon hundreds of royal family members and flee alone, so he led the remaining hundreds of imperial guards to retreat to the palace.

On August 28, Yang Yanzhao and Lin Wenshan led the army to clear out the enemy forces in the city and take full control of the city defenses, and then led the troops to the front of the Kiev Palace.

After a short attack, the Zhou army broke through the gate, easily killed the enemy's imperial guards along the way, and broke into the main hall of the harem.

Vladimir I was about fifty years old, tall and strong. At this moment, he was holding a sword and standing in the hall where various items were scattered on the ground.

Yang Yanzhao shouted:
"Vladimir, you are so brave! Seeing my Great Zhou taking over the city, how dare you not flee?!

When you, the Russian devils, dared to invade the Northern Ming land of our Great Zhou, your fate was doomed to be what it is today! "

The Longxiong Guard, who was proficient in both languages ​​and stationed in the Beiming area, translated it loudly to Vladimir I.

Lin Wenshan sneered:

"You, Kievan Rus, are just a defeated army of the Eastern Roman Empire, a barren land. How dare you invade our Great Zhou territory and kill and plunder the people? You are truly greedy for profit and forget your lives!"

Vladimir sighed:
“My two governors, our country of Kievan Rus is poor in resources and our people are plunderers by nature, while your people are all rich, and I cannot stop your people from going there to plunder.

Now that things have come to this, I am willing to lead all the subjects of the country to submit to His Majesty the Emperor of the Great Zhou and offer him tributes year after year. I wonder if the two countries can put aside their hostility and make peace?"

Yang Yanzhao and Lin Wenshan looked at each other, and Yang Yanzhao said:

"We are following the orders of His Majesty and the Crown Prince and are determined to destroy Kievan Rus. I'm afraid it's wishful thinking for you to surrender and save your country.

How can we let go of the hatred of hundreds of thousands of people in our Great Zhou so easily? "

Vladimir I laughed bitterly several times and said:

“Even so, I will not force you two.

This king is willing to issue an edict to all places, ordering all provinces and prefectures to surrender to the Great Zhou. I only ask that the two governors do not kill the royal family of Kievan Rus!

"Will the two governors agree?"

Yang Yanzhao pondered for a moment and said:
"Vladimir, we two are not bloodthirsty and murderous people. If you are willing to issue an order for all parts of Kievan Rus to surrender, it will save our army's efforts in conquest, and you can spare the royal family.

However, whether you and the rest of the royal family can survive in the end depends on the will of His Royal Highness the Crown Prince and His Majesty."

Vladimir I heard Yang Yanzhao's tone soften, a glimmer of hope rose in his heart, and he saluted the two generals and said:

"If so, I am willing to issue an order to all prefectures and cities to surrender to the Great Zhou. I ask the two governors to take me to see His Royal Highness the Crown Prince of your country."

After Yang Yanzhao and Lin Wenshan discussed it for a while, they immediately agreed and sent soldiers to search the palace, capturing more than 100 people from the Kievan Rus royal family. At the same time, they sent a fast horse to Muro City in the east to report to the crown prince Chai Jiyu.

Because Kievan Rus has converted to Nestorianism in recent decades and advocates monogamy, the number of people is relatively small.

After the eunuch in charge of supervising the army sealed the government treasury, he obtained more than 5 million taels of silver and more than a thousand rare treasures.

On September 2, the 43rd year of Kaixi, Chai Jiyu received the victory news from the southern army in the camp under the city of Muro.

Seeing that the capital of Kievan Rus had been conquered and that Vladimir I had ordered all parts of Kievan Rus to surrender, Chai Jiyu was immediately relieved. He stationed his troops under the city of Muro, waiting for the enemy to surrender, and immediately returned to Bian Jing to report to his father.

Considering that Kievan Rus was a poor country with many inconveniences in life, and seeing that the cold winter was approaching, Chai Jiyu planned to leave three generals to lead the army to conquer the entire territory of Kievan Rus, while he would return to "Huyan Zan City" first.

So he sent an order to Yang Yanzhao and Lin Wenshan, ordering them to send troops to take over the provincial capitals of Kievan Rus as soon as possible, and to send troops to escort Vladimir I and other royal family members to the city of Muro as soon as possible.

On September 21, the governor of Muro received an order from King Vladimir I. Seeing that the capital had been captured and the situation was hopeless, he had no choice but to obey the king's order and open the city gates to surrender to the Zhou army.

Chai Jiyu was overjoyed and immediately led his army into the city. All affairs were handed over to Cao Can, the commander-in-chief of the Sixth Corps of the Longxiang Army.

On October 12, Vladimir I, King of Kievan Rus, arrived at the city of Muro under the escort of tens of thousands of Dragon Horse Troops.

Chai Jiyu summoned him to the temporary governor's office in the city.

Vladimir I was very respectful and prostrated himself on the ground.
"I, a guilty minister, do not know the might of the Great Zhou, and I regret it too late!

Now that the whole country has surrendered, I only ask Your Highness not to kill all my royal family members! I am willing to offer my two princesses, Ekaterina and Sophia, to serve Your Highness."

Chai Jiyu had originally made up his mind to massacre the royal family and the rebellious soldiers and civilians after conquering Kievan Rus. But when he saw that Vladimir I was very humble, he couldn't help but soften his heart.

Chai Jiyu said:

"Vladimir, for the crimes you Kievan Rus have committed against the people of our Great Zhou, I will slaughter all the royal family members and the soldiers and civilians who resisted to avenge my blood feud!
Considering that you were able to issue an order for all states to surrender to my Great Zhou, I will spare you!

Follow me back to Bianjing to meet my father, and he will make the final decision."

Vladimir I was overjoyed. His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, who was the commander-in-chief of the Zhou army, had already spared the royal family of Kievan Rus. It would be much easier for him to plead with the Emperor Chai Jiyu of the Great Zhou.

Vladimir I quickly fell to the ground and kissed Chaijiyu's leather boots to show his absolute submission, which scared Chaijiyu.

After leaving Yang Yanzhao and others to lead three corps to temporarily establish military rule in Kievan Rus, Chai Jiyu led 5,000 Longxiang Guards and escorted Vladimir I and more than 100 people to "Huyan Zan City", arriving on November 5th.

By the end of the 7rd year of Kaixi, Yang Yanzhao and three other generals led the three corps of the Longxiang Army to wipe out several local armies and more than people who dared to resist, and took over the provincial capitals of Kievan Rus.

The Great Zhou's war against Kievan Rus lasted one year and four months, from the August of the 42nd year of Kaixi to the establishment of military rule over the entire territory at the end of the 43rd year of Kaixi.

During the war, Zhou's army wiped out 220,000 Kievan Rus' imperial guards, 180,000 local provincial troops, and captured 130,000 people. They also massacred more than 600,000 Kievan Rus who resisted, and captured 250,000 young women and three-year-old children.

After this battle, the people of Kievan Rus were terrified. The names of Yang Yanzhao, Lin Wenshan and Cao Can could stop Russian children from crying at night.

(End of this chapter)