There are actually only seventy ships belonging to the Ross tribe. It sounds like a small number, and most of them are small boats that can be rowed by thirty people. Considering the limitations of this era, the Franks and Britons, and even the Iberians, lacked the technology to build such large ships. The Eastern Romans could even build larger ships, but they now only had indirect trade with the Russians and the legendary visits of missionaries.
The sudden appearance of such a fleet, the Danes must be shocked and distressed.
Behind them is a larger fleet!
That is a purely commercial fleet composed of merchants.
After all, when you are on the sea, it is difficult for others to interfere with what happens, or even completely unknown to you.
Now, the great businessman Gould can finally take the two maids who have served him all winter, as well as the warriors to protect his own safety, and go straight to his tribe of Onkras. He just wanted to follow Otto's fleet in order to get shelter.
Because he was carrying particularly valuable cargo this year, Gould even hired a warrior from the Ross tribe for this purpose. As an armed escort, he had to pay a larger commission for this.
As for other businessmen with much smaller strength, they looked at the actions of the big businessman Gould and imitated him. Only then could there be a larger commercial fleet, but with almost no leading warships and mainly flat-head transport ships.
Because the so-called fishermen, of course, fishermen mainly focus on fishing. Even if they see a ship sailing alone, they will always have evil intentions. As long as the method is clean enough, people die, wealth is taken away, and the ship is scuttled in the end, who will know in the vast sea?
Fishermen belonging to the Melalen tribe had attacked Gould's caravan, which made him very angry, but unfortunately he did not have enough evidence. Although we have suffered a loss, we still have to do business with the Melalen people. After all, everyone in the entire tribal alliance knows that the Melalen people are richer, and all kinds of valuable things in the sea world can be found in Melalen. appeared at the market.
Gould, who learned a lesson from his mistakes, postponed his voyage for a while in order to follow the actions of the leader of the Russians and get a shelter. Not to mention, the past few years have been really uneventful sailing.
Three fleets with different purposes are sailing together temporarily.
Whether it is businessmen such as Otto, Arick or Gould, everyone knows that when everyone sees a string of islands appearing in the distance, that is the moment when everyone goes their separate ways.
Only the afternoon of the second day after setting sail, the mighty army had already sighted the key Peugeot Åland Islands.
The flagship at the head of the fleet, Otto went through some ideological struggle and still ordered to reduce the speed.
Slowly, the flagship approached the group of ships of the punitive force, and approached the command ship of the "War Chief".
The distance between Otto and Arik was less than ten meters. When Peravina saw her husband, she quickly waved to him.
Otto isTo say goodbye to Arik, he shouted loudly: "Arik, go and prove yourself, don't forget everything just because of revenge, listen to Harold Johnson!"
Did Arik hear it?
He responded in a loud voice: "I will win! Dad!"
He called himself dad again!
Otto felt warm in his heart. If his eldest son had not died early, he would have been stronger than Arik.
The warmth in his heart was not expressed directly. Otto tried to remain as deep as possible. Then, looking at his nephew's face in the distance, he waved his hand and ordered the helm to be turned.
The fleet has no intention of docking at the Åland Islands, even though this island is also home to a group of fishermen belonging to the Melalen tribe.
Otto didn't stop, of course, not because he was worried about being attacked by such a group of people, but simply because he didn't want to waste time.
However, the fishermen on the island really saw a mighty army passing through the strait, including a large number of leading warships!
Suddenly, an ominous premonition emerged in the minds of these fishermen. They chose to lie dormant, worried that the Russians coming from the north were planning to attack their allies? This army simply continues to move south. It seems that the Russians are still going to the East to collect taxes. However, why are there so many leading warships this year? And what happened to the merchant ship that followed closely behind? Why so many? !
The fishermen are on high alert, and all Ross ships have no interest in this place. Just like in the past, Otto's feeling about this archipelago is just a good place for fishing. Although it is a good place, the fishing ground is also an area controlled by the Melalen tribe.
Because the mouth of Lake Mälaren is directly opposite the Åland Islands. The large number of islands at the estuary form a checkpoint with the entire Åland Islands, which controls the choke point of the entire sea extending to the Gulf of Bothnia. The commercial value of this area will only further develop with the frequency of trade.
Now, there are only a few micro-villages on the tiny islands at the mouth of Lake Malaren. As long as they continue to develop, it will be Stockholm.
The merchants were well escorted and their ships suddenly began to sail westward. In order to express his identity, Gould ordered the attached ships to display the Peugeot flag of the Unclas tribe.
Otto led the army into the Gulf of Finland.
Only the old guy Harold Zuosen led the crusade to continue southward, and everyone's relaxed mood suddenly became tense.
Harozolson is nearly fifty years old. He knows how to get to Gotland, and he also fully understands how to avoid the eyes of those people.
Want to remain unnoticed by the Gotlanders? Then we can only take a roundabout way.
Seeing the fleet led by his uncle go further and further away, gradually disappearing from his sight, Aric suddenly felt complicated. He held the hilt of his sword tightly, seemingly ready to fight at any time, and there was no lack of worry about the unknown in his heart.
Many people are exactly the same. They are young and eager to buildMany people have been injured in the barbaric games, so they are not afraid of blood at all. They just lack experience. None of the young people have set foot in this sea area, and they know nothing about meteorology, hydrology, etc.!
This is why Otto must arrange a group of seniors for them.
Twenty standard dragon-head warships are currently carrying 450 soldiers, most of whom are young people.
In Russian terms, the so-called "young people" probably refer to boys between the ages of fifteen and twenty-five. It seems that the older you get, the older you become, the older you become.
Although they are young people, most boys start growing beards around the age of eleven. Many have thick beards by the age of fifteen, and by the age of twenty-five, their beards You can make lots of braids.
Haro Zuosen knows the meteorology and hydrology of this area, and he also knows the special geographical conditions nearby.
If the northern part of Gotland is difficult to attack by surprise, the southern part must be weakly defended.
Arik couldn't help but feel anxious and excited, and asked Harold Zosen: "Next, why don't we go straight to Gotland? We must continue to go south?"
"Of course." Harold Johnson, who was also rowing, replied casually.
"Maybe...we can catch the enemy by surprise if we suddenly turn to launch an attack."
"Oh, maybe we can succeed, but it is easy to encounter their counterattack. Listen, Aric, we want revenge, but we don’t want to kill all the Gotlanders. We don’t have the strength, let alone the plan. Remember, find gold as much as possible, and there are other useful things.”
Arik tried his best to keep his mouth shut: "Actually, I still long for a real battle. You know, I need to become a real man."
"Oh? Then shut up, everything Follow my command. You will get the battle you want. Until then, I will lead everyone to land safely."
The ships formed an oval array, with a beam hanging from the top of the mast of Harold Johnson's flagship. A light blue strip of cloth, other ships just have to follow it.
In an era when there were no compasses or compasses in the West, even the Vikings sailed entirely based on experience.
When night falls, the fleet is drifting on the sea. Harold Johnson ordered his men not to light fires. Except for a few men who were left to take turns keeping watch, the others were wrapped in furs and sleeping on the deck.
When the day started, everyone ate the dried fish and a few wheat cakes they had brought with them, and then started paddling again.
Although the currents caused a significant overall displacement during the night when they were dormant, Harold Johnson still found the correct south after waking up.
After another boring paddling session, everyone can only sing old folk songs to pass the time, or discuss how many treasures they can grab in the so-called act of revenge.
Suddenly, the land appearing in front interrupted everyone’s discussion!
“Ah! It’s land?!”
“It must be Gotland, we’re here.”
“Let’s continue rowing across and get those Everyone is killed, and we move the golden mountain away."
...
Everyone is too focused on the final destination of Gotland. As long as a big land appears in front of them, Isn't it the ultimate goal?
At this moment, Haro Zuosen poured cold water on the excited Arik.
He scolded Arik, who was happily talking with his peers about arriving at the so-called destination: "Idiot! Stop being excited, that's Semeriya!"
"Semeriya "Where is that? Isn't it Gotland?" Aric felt it was very strange, it was the first time he heard this word.
Halozorson answered straightforwardly: "It is an island, a paradise for all escapees. Those who broke away from the alliance are happy to run here, and there are even a few Gotlanders."
"What? They are actually our enemies too?" As he spoke, Arik held the oar with his left hand and already held the hilt of the sword deeply with his right hand.
"Child, don't be nervous, they are just ordinary people. They are not our enemies, but they are not our friends either. Don't think you can conquer them easily. If you don't provoke them, they will I won’t take the initiative to provoke you.”
Aric still doesn’t quite understand that if he’s not a friend, he’s an enemy. Isn’t that how relationships are in the world?
At this moment, Haro Zuosen has no intention of landing on Semeliya Island, and he clearly knows that there must be a settlement on the southeast side of the island.
War? No! That's impossible.
Because some of the spontaneous Russian immigrants must have come here, and Semelia itself is a colony of Viking tribes. Many people who insisted on leaving their crowded hometowns to make a living elsewhere built a settlement on this island in a cooperative relationship.
Since then, the island, which was originally inhabited by only a few Baltic people, has become the territory of Viking pioneers. The new immigrants reclaimed the land themselves, planted wheat, caught game fish, and built their own small wharves. They also traded spontaneously and further south into the mainland, and also with native Livonians.
The immigrant population on the entire island is less than a thousand, and human activities here still remain at a very low limit.
It has huge development potential. Over hundreds of years, immigrants from various Viking tribes merged with Livonian tribes, gradually forming the Estonian nation.
There are only a handful of people on Semeria Island, and now there are many Viking settlements on the land of Livonians. When they left their homeland, set foot on Livonian land and settled down, they were no longer Danes, no longer Gotlanders, no longer members of the Svealan Tribe Alliance, and no longer Russians.
They all spoke Norse. Because they left alone and were abandoned by their former tribes, they frequently made peace with each other.The Warnians are intermarrying and are actively building their own community, and a brand new force is forming.
The young people are not aware of these situations, and Harold Johnson also knows a little bit about them. In short, landing on Semelya Island or even communicating with the locals was not at all part of the plan.
The heavily armed fleet approached the island for a very simple purpose - to find the most reasonable reference for the roundabout attack on Gotland.
The fleet moved along the coast, not caring about being witnessed by locals.
They wandered like this for a whole day, until dusk fell, the coastline to the east of the fleet suddenly changed direction, and the south of the fleet turned into the vast sea again.
Seeing this situation, everyone panicked for a moment.
Fortunately, the elders in the team stabilized the young people's emotions. Seeing this, Harold Zuosen continued to order to go south, and the fleet would continue to move forward in the night for a while.
As a result, they bumped into another piece of land, which was actually the land called Culonia, also called Courland, which was the main part of the later Latvian country.
Everyone has been bored on the ship for many days. If we continue not to dock, our fighting will will inevitably deteriorate, and we will land on Gotland in a bad mental state? It's crazy.
Boats landed on a large scale, and people began to set up bonfires on a beach full of gravel. In this way, they spent their first night on shore in several days.
The peaceful time was fleeting, and the next day, they set sail again. Fortunately, it was a new night and they still spent the night on the shore.
After two days of confused sailing, many young people saw a brand-new land that they had never known before, and their horizons were broadened. Even Arik could not imagine that the so-called human world was so huge. .
So, Arik also had new questions. He heard Harold Johnson personally with strong confusion: "It has been five days, when will we launch the attack? Are we getting further and further away? ?”
Under the light of the bonfire, Harold Johnson looked at the angry expression of this young man and felt that there were some things that he could no longer hide.
He did not answer directly, but muttered: "Go and call everyone here, I have to arrange something."
"About the attack?" Arik asked impatiently.
"Yes. Go quickly."
One of the reasons why Harozolson lost in the leadership competition was that he lacked charisma. He lacked a strong voice and a morale-boosting appeal.
This kind of person also has his own existence value. For this operation, it is perfect for Harold Johnson to serve as the general of the "War Chief".
Young warriors chewing dried fish, braiding their hair and beards in various styles, and wearing leather armor all the time, gathered near Harold Johnson. The scene of hundreds of people gathering was truly astonishing.
No morale boost, Harold Zuosen didn't even raise his sword to make a call gesture.
He tried his best to announce in a very straightforward manner: "Brothers, order us to start sailing westward. It is expected that we will spend another night tomorrow night. When Sirius reaches the correct position, we We will row at night, and we will launch a surprise attack on the enemy before sunrise the day after tomorrow."
Everyone understood. To be honest, what was supposed to be a war mobilization was made straightforward by Harold Johnson. narration.
It doesn’t matter!
The young warriors’ fiery hearts, which had been suppressed for many days, suddenly boiled over at this moment. All the previous depression and dissatisfaction with continuing to sail south disappeared in an instant.
"rua! rua! rua..."
They spontaneously shouted the "Viking War Cry", which was a trumpet that people deliberately shouted in rhythm when the shield wall advanced. son. This momentum can frighten the enemy, and it is also a good encouragement to yourself and your brothers.
They roared slogans on the lonely beach, and were extremely excited about it, and their morale was instantly maxed out.
No locals were aware of their existence, or in other words, the locals living in the inland areas did not dare to go to the seaside and be robbed by the Vikings.
Harold Johnson and the others still maintained a good deal of secrecy, and just had to head west for the new day.
Soon, a new day arrived, and the boats on the shoal were pushed into the sea again. After a night's rest, everyone adjusted their mentality and fully understood the next tactics.