In the pure Nordic snow, the world turns gray-white.
A large number of black woods are covered with snow. In the gaps between the woods, a team dragging sleds is moving forward.
Snowboards help Otto and his team achieve very fast speeds. Even when entering so-called unknown areas, they are still pursuing the fastest possible speed.
As the team moved forward, the members also opened their eyes to observe the changes in the surrounding scenery, trying their best to find and note down special reference objects along the way, so as to avoid possible getting lost on the return trip.
They moved faster during the short daylight hours and continued to move forward even after nightfall.
Everyone pulls multiple sleds, one for luggage and items, and the others for carrying prey. The long paddling life in the warm period allowed these strong men to develop stronger strength. They also brought enough dry food and had strong endurance to move forward in the snow.
Those reindeer are the elves of the snowfield. They are the most endurance animals, but they are no match for humans.
Every time the team advanced for a period of time, someone began to pile snow blocks in the snowfield, forming snow towers one after another.
After all, there are too few unique things in this area, so some landmarks were built with snow and some wooden poles hung with linen were erected as guides.
In two full days, they had actually traveled an extremely long distance on the snowfield.
In the ninth century AD, there was an extreme lack of roads throughout Europe.
Coupled with the poor cultivation level of Western European farmers, long-distance travel will inevitably consume precious food. Farmers were not willing to walk too far, and even if they had to travel far, they faced a wilderness full of weeds with limited dry food, and they had to carry a stick in their hands to drive away wild beasts.
They can walk up to ten miles a day in the wilderness, which is basically the limit, otherwise they may die of exhaustion.
Even the infantry of the Frankish King's Army probably marched this distance every day. Moreover, after marching and then fighting, a day of rest is often required in between.
The Vikings who began to frequently harass the Frankish Kingdom were indeed strong in terms of their ability to move.
Not only were they good at rowing, but the Viking tribes were also very good at walking.
When snow covered the ground and the Vikings invented skiing, they gained even more outstanding speed on the snow.
Otto didn’t know how far he could go in one day. When everyone in the team was complaining that they were tired, he ordered to camp and rest.
The Russians are also professional hunters. They are in good physical condition and carry plenty of dry food. The assistance of skis actually allows them to travel faster than purely dry roads.
They were actually moving at a speed of thirty kilometers a day, so Otto and his party walked northeast for two days, actually moving up to sixty kilometers.
When night falls again, the sky over Central EuropeRuola shines.
After the team walked some distance, they settled down in a small forest.
Some pine trees were cut down and then smashed into small pieces. These wet firewood cannot be lived immediately.
Fortunately, the Russians had their own method. They brought their own special flammable dry firewood, and then used bows and drills to make fire. As long as one person's campfire is lit, the campground will soon be lit up with stars.
I saw that everyone had basically set up their tents and started eating dry food around the campfire.
Seizing the opportunity, Otto gave the order: "Just come here. We will camp here, and this will be our camp for a while. We will use this place as the center, brothers, we are free to go Exploring. After ten days, no matter how much we have gained, we will leave together."
Everyone agrees with the leader's order. Now there is only one question that needs to be resolved - who comes to see the house.
Otto clapped his hands again to attract everyone's attention: "We have to select some people to stay. According to our tradition, those who stay in the camp will receive some compensation, and everything will be done according to the past rules. Now, Who among you is willing to stay? ”
Because we are in an unknown territory, and now that we have arrived, it is most correct to explore in depth.
But precisely because it is an unknown territory, the hidden threats are also difficult to predict. Hunters can fully protect each other when moving in groups, and they also need a large camp as a backing in the wilderness.
After some discussion, 20 seniors from the team of 200 were finally selected to stay behind. Nearly twenty children were also ordered to stay.
Whether they are too old or too young, hunting in the wilderness for a long time is indeed a huge test for them, especially those children. Do not expect them to have much chance of winning when encountering white bears or wolves. .
Besides, hunting is really a technical job.
Otto gave everyone ten days of hunting time, which includes the time to set traps.
Even when it comes to capturing large reindeer or small ferrets, they are very vigilant animals. The success rate of direct hunting by throwing spears is not very high. Whichever is the most efficient is to lay traps. Among them, laying noose is the most practical.
At this point, four full days after leaving Fort Ross, the hunting operation officially began.
All the hunters dispersed instantly. They took their essential supplies into the snowfields and forests. They began to lay traps, and some people simply took the initiative to attack.
The Ross tribe only has twenty single bows, all of which are imported from allies in the south. After all, the Ross tribe does not have bow-making experience at this stage.
However, the bows retained by the tribe are all used in hunting. They follow their masters and become the force to kill small animals.
A single bow to shoot a reindeer in the distance?
Don’t expect this to be okay. Because they are all oak bows of low weight, and the bowstrings are also made of hemp rope.The shafts of the arrows used were barely straight.
Even bows of poor quality can still be useful weapons in the hands of a good hunter.
So on the first day of hunting, someone had already shot the ferret, and they peeled off the fur directly in the wilderness, and the meat of the ferret was not thrown away. Under the extreme cold, ferret meat immediately turns into icy lumps, and it seems that the only way to deal with it is to grill it.
Ferret is the most precious fur in the Arctic. Its pure white and extremely soft and silky down is a natural luxury product. Especially the wealthy Eastern Roman nobles, what they longed for most was to wear silks and satins from the East in summer and pure white mink velvet coats in winter.
One ferret skin is equivalent to three adult reindeer deer skins.
Otto and his twenty cronies simply formed a small hunting group. They were actually childhood playmates, and their friendship was developed through their daily wrestling and fighting. And this kind of friendship makes them naturally have a strong sense of teamwork.
Gathered together, they formed a powerful hunter group. On the battlefield, they naturally had stronger organizational discipline than the large number of armed peasants temporarily recruited by the Franks.
Among them, Otto is older than all of them. When he was a child, he was the king of children, but now he is a respected leader.
Putting aside these statuses, Otto himself is also an excellent hunter.
After two consecutive days of hunting, twenty people only caught three ferrets and found an Arctic fox cave, catching all the big and small beasts inside.
Although they are willing to let small animals go, they mainly target large reindeer. For the Arctic fox with pure white fluffy fur, it is really priceless. Under the temptation of huge wealth, it is natural to find it all.
Coexist in strict harmony with nature? None of the Viking tribes thought about this. They first want to improve their own lives, and they have no concept of protecting the environment, even if the people of Roseburg kill all the large beasts within a radius of 50 kilometers from their home.
Large beasts that can be hunted have become scarce, and the only solution is to wait for the migrating deer herds, or, as we did this winter, head to unknown places in the far northeast.
Although Otto was a leader, his subordinates were willing to dedicate part of their prey to him.
It is almost human instinct to dedicate yourself to important tasks so as to benefit yourself or your family in the future.
Otto shook his head and refused. He did not come up with any "great" reason to prove his selflessness. His explanation was really full of mystery. < /p>
The so-called "those people" are undoubtedly the Sami people who raise deer.
Otto always had the feeling that since he had walked so far to the northeast,, encountering those people is almost fate.