As his servant led his horse through the streets towards Novgorod Castle, Rostislav appeared incredibly majestic on the surface, but in reality, he was empty inside; the Moscow Prince was still shocked by the fact that he had acquired Novgorod.
Because Rostislav maintained such a convincing facade, no one noticed that the Prince was lost in thought.
The people of Novgorod were full of praise for Rostislav; the Moscow Prince's military renown had, after all, spread throughout Rus' long ago, and now seeing him in person, they found him even more imposing.
The young men were all incredibly envious of the Moscow Prince's military renown, and the Prince's demeanor captivated them immensely; however, what attracted them even more now were the armored retainers of the Moscow Prince behind him—no boy would refuse such armored beasts.
Many young women in the throes of first love were attracted by the Moscow Prince's valiant appearance; 28-year-old Rostislav was like the hero in a hero's song.
Moreover, most importantly, the Moscow Prince not only possessed the strength of a hero but was also far more handsome than those heroes who plundered homes; that mature temperament was enough to entice these inexperienced young women.
As for the middle-aged citizens and elders of Novgorod, they regarded Rostislav with an attitude of looking at a junior.
This Prince grew up in Novgorod; many people had seen a young Rostislav running around everywhere, and for Rostislav, they felt more like they were watching a child come into his own.
Everyone praised the Moscow Prince profusely, showering him with countless compliments; no one opposed his rule.
Even the pagans preferred to have this battle-hardened Prince as their ruler, rather than a pampered boy from Kiev.
As for the Chud, they supported Rostislav even more; due to the existence of the Chud Camp, the Chud had a very good impression of this Rurik Prince, and many Chud even sent their children to this unit.
As for the Chud Camp, they are now stationed in the new Rus' territories, specifically on the tribal lands taken from the Bulgar, to strengthen control over the local tribes, as there is no unit more suitable for operating in the forest.
The entire city strongly supported Rostislav; it can be said that the Moscow Prince established a firm foothold in Novgorod from the very beginning of his rule, though exercising actual power would certainly still take time.
And the Moscow Prince's subordinates were filled with surging emotions upon arriving in Novgorod; those Bodyguard Unit members and retainers who had left Novgorod with Rostislav found their eyes uncontrollably moist as they looked at everything before them.
Many of them had once been an inconspicuous part of this city, and now, they were in the midst of a warm welcome from their former neighbors, returning as if they were heroes.
Gvaran's emotions were particularly strong; the former Captain of the Guard had thought he would never return to this city in his lifetime, but now he was back, and under the welcome of the entire city.
These people were all veterans under the Prince's command; they couldn't help but be moved to tears, for they had come home.
As for the soldiers from Northeast Rus, they could only marvel; they had originally thought Moscow was already the largest city in Northeast Rus, but today they saw a city even larger than Moscow.
Only the immigrants from Kiev were somewhat better off; they had come north from the Mother of Cities, for was there any city in All Rus that could compare with Kiev?
Thus, the Moscow Prince arrived at Novgorod Castle amidst welcoming cheers, where the Veche held a ceremony, formally making Rostislav the Prince of Novgorod.
The administrators pledged loyalty to Rostislav, the Bishop of Novgorod pledged loyalty to Rostislav, the nobles pledged loyalty to Rostislav; the entire city had now become subjects of the Moscow Prince.
Regardless of their previous leanings, now, under the immense popular will behind the Moscow Prince, they could only choose to submit to him, for in Novgorod, popular will ruled the city.
Because if they did not, Rostislav would not even need to act; the fervent people of Novgorod would help their Prince smash the heads of all opponents.
Sitting on the throne of Novgorod, Rostislav still felt everything was like a dream; he even slapped himself several times to confirm whether he was dreaming.
However, this did not affect his work; the Moscow Prince, also the Prince of Novgorod, received city magnates and merchants as a ruler, accepting their congratulations and gifts, then offering comfort and promises in return.
After all this was done, the Moscow Prince immediately went to his father's tomb and spoke these words before his father, needing a moment to compose himself.
Rostislav had too many words bottled up inside him now, but the Moscow Prince would not say them to his subordinates.
Since Zoe and his sons were still in Moscow, Rostislav could only speak to his father in the coffin.
"But I think I should also accept this fact, Father; I have more work ahead of me. I'll take my leave for today, and when Zoe and the boys arrive, I'll show you my family."
After speaking the last words to his father, he stood up; there were still many things that needed to be handled.
And soon after, Rostislav sat in the room where his father and grandfather had handled city affairs, busy writing a letter.
This letter was addressed to his uncle, Grand Prince of Kyiv Izyaslav Yaroslavich Rurik.
With such a major event happening in Novgorod, Rostislav naturally had to write to his uncle to explain the situation. What if his uncle thought he had driven his son away? So the letter had to be written, and the situation had to be explained.
As for whether his uncle would demand that Rostislav also give up the title of Prince of Novgorod... well, he would just pretend he didn't see or hear it; he was determined to be this Prince.
He had become Prince legitimately and legally, entirely in accordance with the rules; it was absolutely impossible for him to give it up, no matter what was said.
Although doing so might be a bit unfair to his uncle, he had to do it; at most, he could make some more concessions to Kiev. It was his uncle's son who first abandoned Novgorod, which allowed him to become the Prince of Novgorod.
So from this perspective, he had done nothing wrong to his uncle; all of this was a matter of course, and no one in all of Rus' would raise any objection to this point.
Additionally, as compensation, Rostislav would send the current year's taxes that his nephew Mstislav had not taken from Novgorod back to Kiev; this was a large sum of money, and Rostislav was not so greedy as to covet it.
Of course, Rostislav had also considered what to do if his uncle got angry because of this, but even if he got angry, he couldn't deal with Rostislav; at present, for them, the descendants of Yaroslav, there was only one most important thing.
To deal with Vseslav of Polotsk Principality; this person actually dared to shake the peaceful environment established by the Yaroslavich and even wanted to shake the Yaroslavich's rule, so he must be punished, and all descendants of Yaroslav must focus their energy on this matter.
All Rus must unite their forces to punish the ruler of Polotsk; speaking of which, his uncle probably didn't expect that Polotsk would be the first to act, and almost succeed.
This was also the key reason why Rostislav dared to write this letter; his uncle couldn't spare the time to trouble him; all his energy must be focused on Vseslav, who was breaking the rules.
And Polotsk Principality was not easy to deal with; Vseslav had managed it for three generations, and this principality had been forged into a powerful, iron-strong entity. And when his uncle finished dealing with Polotsk, he would find that some things had happened in the south again...
In short, Rostislav's future was bright, but he did not relax because of it, for his enemy was not his uncle, never had been; his enemy was that fellow, his second uncle.
However, regrettably, even with Novgorod under his rule, he still lacked the means to interfere in the affairs of South Rus, and could only watch his second uncle do what he could do.
Speaking of which, I really don't know what his second uncle's reaction will be when he finds out that he has taken Novgorod...