As for why the King summoned Rostislav?
That was, of course, for a reward.
Without a doubt, Rostislav was the one who saved the city; if he hadn't decisively rallied the troops, defeated the enemy, and curbed the evil schemes of those pagans, then everyone would have been doomed.
Fehérvár would have become a ruin, every inch of this great city dedicated to God would have been desecrated, evil would have spread across this land, and all sorts of terrifying things would have happened…
So, for Bela, as the host, Rostislav had to be rewarded, and grandly so.
After all, if your house is on fire and someone helps you put it out, pulling you out from almost being burned to death, you should at least be grateful.
What's more, King Bela was about to launch a large-scale encirclement and suppression campaign against the pagans, and there's an ancient German saying, 'Jewels wield swords.' If Rostislav wasn't rewarded, how could others possibly serve?
So, upon entering the audience chamber of the royal palace to meet King Bela alone, Rostislav was stunned by the several large chests filled with gold, silver coins, and gemstone jewelry.
And these gold and silver coins included several types of currency; Rostislav even saw coins minted by the Great Emperor of the Imperial Capital centuries ago, as well as coinage from some unknown Central Asian Princes, and even copper coins from the East.
This must be everything they had hidden away, King Bela, what are you trying to do?
Coupled with King Bela's perpetually taut face, Rostislav was genuinely bewildered for a moment, completely at a loss.
What, what, what is this for?
It wasn't until King Bela clearly explained the reason that Rostislav breathed a sigh of relief; it turned out this was to thank him. Why didn't he make it clear from the start?
At first, he presented him with several large chests full of gold and silver, with a bunch of burly men standing by. One might have thought they were going to buy Rostislav's life.
However, what Rostislav didn't know was that King Bela had indeed brought out all his hidden family treasures.
He even went so far as to pry open the tombs of his Árpád Dynasty ancestors and take out all the burial objects, which is why Rostislav was able to see so many ancient coins.
After all, the Magyars once plundered everywhere, so it's normal for them to have collected so many ancient coins.
Of course, he naturally dared not disturb the tomb of Saint Stephen; that was a great figure who led Hungary to convert to Christian, and disturbing it would lead to serious consequences.
But his previous ancestors, weren't they all easily raided? They were just pagans, so raiding them was fine. And as a descendant, he could personally ensure the integrity of his ancestors' remains, avoiding desecration.
Moreover, it wasn't just the Árpád Dynasty; as long as they were pagan nobles, Bela's people dared to secretly excavate and remove the gold and silver within.
All of this was done in secret, so few people knew about it, and Bela's Christian subordinates had no psychological burden about raiding pagan tombs; in fact, they worked very diligently.
And it's not like once they dug them up, they were gone forever. When Bela won the war in the future, he would just put the gold and silver back, and even add more.
So, besides Rostislav, many high-ranking Magyar governors also received these ancient gold and silver, and everyone's loyalty to the King increased to varying degrees.
At the same time, everyone's attitude towards this perpetually stern-faced King also improved significantly. Although he always had a serious expression, he truly gave out money.
Bela, this fellow, is also a reckless, beast-like character. He would rather spend every last penny, dig up his ancestors' graves, and try every means to scrape together resources, all to make everyone feel his generosity, for generosity could bring him an army and loyalty.
And if the war was won, these problems would no longer be problems and could be easily resolved. As for losing, if everyone was dead, would it still matter…
Rostislav naturally accepted this gold and silver with a smile. He, the Moscow Prince, needed money, a lot of money. Developing Moscow required money, and developing Northeast Rus' required it.
King Bela also asked Rostislav if there was anything else he wanted, assuring him that anything within his power could be done.
And Rostislav only asked for one thing.
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"Rostislav, you truly always want to gather immigrants, and King Bela said he could do anything, and this is all you asked for?"
Yang looked back at the queue of Magyar commoners behind him. These people were either walking or leading horses, with more leading horses.
Then he couldn't help but say to Rostislav that his liege and friend was truly overly enthusiastic about recruiting people.
Rostislav merely smiled at Yang's comment.
"Northeast Rus' needs population, and I can't just continuously gather people. Besides, these people are Christian, much more trustworthy than the pagans in Northeast Rus'. As for why I only asked for this, it's because I only need this, Yang. Many times, doing something to a certain extent is enough; one shouldn't be too greedy."
What Rostislav asked King Bela for was the right to recruit immigrants to fill the vast lands of Northeast Rus'.
The Hungarian King naturally agreed wholeheartedly; it was just immigrants, a complete favor.
And by virtue of this royal command, Rostislav attracted many people to accompany him to Rus', and most of these people were Christian.
As for why these Christians ran with Rostislav, it was because the unrest in Fehérvár had frightened them, and this military disaster had caused many people to go bankrupt; they now only had themselves.
Moreover, a major war against the pagans was about to begin, and who knew how much more chaos and military disaster lay ahead. Under various influences, they chose to follow Rostislav to Rus' to make a living.
Speaking of pagans, Rostislav recently heard news that Zhe'erji had recently raised an army in the name of the 'greatness of restoring the pagan era.'
His Árpád bloodline added many points for him, attracting many pagans to join his army, and many nobles and chieftains who longed for the old era also chose to join, and after a sweeping campaign, a large army was formed.
Even some governors were restless, wanting to join this army that sought to 'restore the old faith.'
And Yanos had already regrouped and reassembled his army.
Now there were two pagan armies within Hungary, so it seemed King Bela's upcoming civil war would be quite a fight.
And just as Rostislav and Yang were chatting about Hungarian affairs, discussing the possible direction of this civil war, a person suddenly rode up to Rostislav in a hurry.
He was followed by several other riders, and that person was Edward Wessex.
Edward's face was now devoid of his usual smile and leisure; there was only seriousness, and a hint of embarrassment.
This made Rostislav somewhat curious; he rarely saw this person show such an expression. And then his attention was drawn to the people behind Edward.
Those people all had long, flowing hair and wore striped tops, their clothing having a Northern style, yet different from Norse, clearly their own distinct style.
Rostislav felt as if he had seen such a style somewhere before, and just as he was deep in thought, Edward spoke.
"Lord Rostislav, I have come to bid farewell."
Huh? What did I hear? You're leaving?
Edward, what are you doing? How long has it been since you rejoined the team, and you're leaving again?
Of course, Rostislav was not foolish enough to say such words directly.
"Edward the Confessor of England has no heir. The Witenagemot, with the King's consent, has summoned me back to become the heir to the throne, so that I may succeed to the English throne after the King's death and become the King of the Anglo-Saxon, to prevent the bastard from Normandy from usurping the throne."
Ah, how could I have forgotten about this? This matter is clearly so important.
Edward and his son are the last male descendants of the Wessex Family, the undisputed first in line to the English throne!
More importantly, if he returned to England, the major events he would participate in next would be extremely important, and even more famous.
The Norman Conquest!
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