The Brudny family has a lot of private wealth. In order to protect their wealth, it is logical that they build their home to look like a fortress.
For safety, he also raised a team of completely out-of-work servants, more than fifty people in number, and they were fully equipped with short spears with iron spearheads and even broken-edged daggers around his waist.
In addition to these people, many farmers in Pine Needle Manor also have their own metal tools.
The manor has a blacksmith. Due to Novgorod’s geographical location, it is very difficult to obtain iron ore. The blacksmiths knew basic metallurgical techniques, but due to the shortage of raw materials, they had no choice but to repair the residents' metalware.
If there is a war, the men in the manor can quickly assemble and use their iron sickles for cutting grass and wheat, as well as their hoes for digging the ground and their iron axes for felling wood to attack the enemy. Because of these excellent "weapons", they clearly have an advantage in combat.
And this is exactly the task that Ligus of White Tree Manor gave to his eldest daughter Lilia, which is to obtain metal tools from the Ross blacksmith through in-laws.
Is it just that more farm tools make agricultural production more promising? Not just. Because these iron farm tools are weapons at critical moments.
Almost all the ironware and bronzes in Pine Needle Manor were imported from Smolensk in the south using agricultural products. A small number of them were bought from a few lone ranger Varyag merchants from the southeast.
The team of servants demonstrates the power of Brudne himself. Compared to the peasants with iron sickles, his servants are equipped with real weapons. This is also the key to preventing other tribesmen from having any unreasonable thoughts.
This team of powerful servants has an overwhelming advantage against the local residents.
In front of the Russians, their strength was gone.
Brudne's home is like a fortress. As long as the enemy cannot break through the wooden walls he carefully built, it is very safe inside. The stored food and water can support a family with all their servants for at least a month.
However, Otto has never seen the so-called fortress of Prudne, the head of Pine Needle Manor, in all these years.
It’s just a wall made of wood. How many times can it withstand an axe? !
Not only did the Russian army land, they were walking quickly on the road to the manor.
Brudne's servant burst into the wooden wall with a mournful face and shouted: "The Russians are coming! The Russian army is coming!"
This roar frightened the gatekeeper into hurriedly close the door.
The servant ignored any etiquette and went straight to the manor chief's bedroom.
At this moment, the head of the manor, Brudne, was already sharing a sumptuous meal with his family, two wives, the eldest son and his wife, three daughters and the youngest son.
He was very unhappy with the appearance of his servant.
"How can you act wild when you get out?"
"But those Russians, they have already come in!"
"Didn't they come yesterday, and now they finally come to me?" Brudne put down the spoon and waved his hand: "You can leave. I will go see the Ross leader in person in a while."
"But they have already..."
"Get out of here! Don't disturb my breakfast!" Brudne, who was so angry that he had just woken up, threw the spoon over, causing the frightened family to roll over. Climb and run away.
Brudne’s youngest son, Vadim, hurriedly ran to pick up the spoon that his father had thrown away, wiped it back and gave it to his father. By the way, I asked: "Dad, why! Why do we give those robbers a large sum of wheat every year."
"Why? Why else?" Brudne was still angry, "Because they are strong and we are weak."
"Are we weak?" Vadim's big eyes revealed great confusion, "We can organize thousands of people to fight with them, they can How many people are there?”
“We tried before, but we failed.”
There was strong frustration in Brudne’s words, and Vadim was clearly aware of it. arrive.
"Then keep fighting! Even if we die a thousand people, we must defeat them. We can't always be like this, giving them property year after year, and now they are getting worse and asking for my sisters. How can we be slaves for them? We are human beings, not sheep!” In Vadim’s view, starting from last year, the Russians added “young women” to their list of tributes. One item. She was said to be a wife for a young Russian. According to past legends, Vadim was more willing to believe that she was a humble slave for the Russians.
Isn’t this more humiliating than the humiliation of paying tribute to wheat?
The younger son spoke so forcefully, which made Brudne feel happy. He glanced at the slightly dull look in his eldest son's eyes, and he couldn't help but sigh in his heart, they were brothers born from the same mother, how could there be such a big gap in consciousness? !
In the future, would it be appropriate to hand over the position of head of the manor to the eldest son?
Thinking of this, Brudny, who was in a better mood, asked her younger son: "Vadim. If you had the opportunity to lead our people, how would you deal with these Russian bandits?"< /p>
“Of course we attack them proactively!” Vadim blurted out without even thinking: “Gather all our men who can hold sticks and women who are strong enough. We attack their army and use Defeat them with sheer numbers. Maybe we are weaker, but if our entire estate takes action and joins forces with other estates, we will definitely be able to defeat them."
"Oh? What if some estates don't cooperate with us?"
Vadim was stunned for a moment, and then said with a strong attitude: "Then destroy them completely. Dad, we are the leaders of this great lake, and we are their masters. I heard that the White Tree Manor Those bastards are all willing to be the hunting dogs of the Ross people. They betrayed us. We should completely eliminate the White Tree Manor and let other manors know that there is only one.It is only right to follow us. ”
“Okay! Very ambitious! "Brudne patted her youngest son's head, which was only ten years old.
Hearing the young son's high-spirited words, Brudne became bold. Since the Russians have arrived, then Let them wait outside for a while.
I wanted to show off to them for a while.
Of course, Brudne's decision was obviously overestimating his own. Strength, his actions will definitely bring losses to himself.
The family still gathers together to eat, as if the world outside the wooden wall has nothing to do with them.
As everyone knows, although some servants are living on the food provided by Brudne, at the critical moment, they may not be loyal and dedicated to them.
The servants who were rolling around should have reported, This year's Rus people became a little strange.
The group was a group of people wearing metal helmets that reflected sunlight. The number of them was very impressive. They were obviously ready for battle with their weapons.
Due to the current situation, the servant thought with his toes and could estimate that there was going to be a bloody storm
Many people on guard quickly chose to avoid it out of instinctive fear. They opened the small door and slipped away quietly. Only a few people still stayed in the host's house, because they firmly believed that no matter how arrogant the Russians were, their purpose was simply to ask for money.
This is very embarrassing. When Otto arrived under the wooden wall, he didn't see anyone responding. All he faced was a wooden door with a huge latch and a circle of wooden walls with no other reliable entrances.
“Chief, something is very wrong. "A powerful Russian warrior came over and said, "When we came last fall, that guy named Brudne brought his family and a group of his useless men to greet us. "
"Maybe they saw us looking like a pack of wolves and all ran away? "Another person speculated.
"Forget it. Let my ax take care of the problem. ”
A strong man stepped forward with his shield behind his back and the recently purchased steel sword stuck in his waist. In terms of his preference for using weapons, he still loved his long-handled axe.
This ax can be used with traditional Viking felling skills to skillfully and quickly chop down a large tree with a diameter of one meter.
A mere wooden wall is nothing.
He was about to swing his big ax to violently break the door, but Otto hurriedly stopped him
It wasn't that Otto had any kind thoughts, on the contrary, he listened to Bai Shu. After the explanation of the manor, he already had opinions about Pine Needle Manor, but now that he was rejected, he felt a bad feeling in his heart.
“Chief? No more cutting! ? " asked the strong man.
"No, Stark. I'm very angry now! Of course you could easily chop down this weak wooden wall, but that still wouldn't quell my anger. "
"Chief, what do you mean..."
Otto smiled: "Hold it up.Already? See the houses around here? Go grab what you need. The only thing is to drive away the residents as much as possible and take away the food and dried meat. ”
Of course it’s not enough to just tell a strong man. Otto immediately faced his army and issued a permission to loot.
Without the restraint of the people, all the Russians immediately devoted themselves to looting. Feast.
Those residents living near Brudne's house are basically the richest people in the entire Pine Needle Manor.
In fact, when the Russian army marched on the manor. When the streets were still muddy, most of the residents had taken refuge with their families.
The Russians began to plunder!
Including Kawei, who was a blacksmith. He doesn't think looting is wrong, or he doesn't understand whether it is right or wrong. In short, he just obeys the leader's orders and loots. The basic principle is that if they are not his own kin, allies, or servants, they are enemies by default.
< p>Escaped residents often stuffed some wheat as rations into sacks and evacuated and hid with their families. Most of their belongings were left at home, which was enough to eat this year's wheat harvest, and they all became Rus.Of course, these seizures are not within the scope of collecting tributes.
The smell of burning began to fill the air. It was malicious arson, and this was Otto's acquiescence.
The faces of the Russian warriors were filled with the joy of the harvest.
Many of them were already carrying sacks filled with oats, and some were carrying them. A few dried salted fish walked out of the empty house happily. Since the leader wanted to punish the arrogance of Pine Needle Manor, wouldn't lighting a fire make the leader very happy?
Flames broke out in many rooms, and the thatch on the roof had absorbed a lot of rainwater. The flames gradually ignited the thatch, causing thick smoke to billow from the roof. The large amount of evaporating water vapor only highlighted the horror of the smoke.
This. The air of the era was very clear.
The farmers of Baishu Manor working in the fields noticed the black smoke coming from the southeast, and many people thought it was a forest fire for a while.
Rigus stopped the panic immediately. He told the panicked people that this was the Russian people's crusade against Pine Needle Manor.
Of course, he himself was thinking, maybe it was Leader Otto. Or could he not hold back and take a military offensive against those people?
Otto planted the patterned steel sword on the ground, holding its ruby-encrusted hilt with both hands, and looked at the wooden wall with sharp eyes, waiting. He asked the people inside to give him a formal response.
Almost no warriors found enough wealth to satisfy themselves.
According to the new rules set before departure, all the tributes officially collected. Except for what is distributed to the priests and the chief's family, the rest is equally distributed among all participants.
All the property looted by the soldiers now belongs to the possessors. People's abilities are indeed different. , luck also variesSample. Some people plundered little, and some people could hardly carry the captured wheat kernels.
In the end, everyone gradually ended the looting because they were basically satisfied.
It was during this process that the residents who had been unwilling to leave and tried their best to keep their food rations became the ax victims of the Russians.
What happened to those people was really sad, and Otto didn’t care at all.
Finally, the burnt smell in the air spread into the wooden wall, and Brudne, who was immersed in the illusion that he was a strong man, suddenly woke up.
"Come here! Let's go see what's going on? What good things did those Russians do?!"
The servants who were always on call seemed to be completely confused at this moment. members are missing.
"It's really abominable." Brudne stood up and ordered his weak-minded eldest son, "Boike, go and see what's going on."
"Dad, Is it really me?" Fear was written on the young man's face.
"Idiot, you are going to be the future head of the manor, why..."
Brudnie, who was angry again, stamped his foot and directly ordered his youngest son: " Vadim, your brother is a coward. You are braver! Go and see what happened."
Vadim stood up immediately and walked toward him. Run outside.
These two boys, whose age difference is nearly ten years, do have the same mother, and there are three girls between them. Perhaps it was precisely because the Brudne family was considered pampered that all the children they gave birth to survived.
Vadim is only ten years old, and he was indeed very ambitious in front of his father today.
But he had no intention of robbing his eldest brother of his position.
As the saying goes, a newborn calf is not afraid of tigers. He has never seen war or bloodshed. From the mouths of his parents and tribesmen, he learned about the ongoing humiliation of his estate and even the entire Novgorod region, as well as the despicable faces of those shameful traitors.
Do we still need a reason to use force to fight back against the invasion?
A brave heart is brewing in Vadim’s little heart. He had already seen the Ross people, and even met the abominable Ross leader, and clearly recognized this furry and bearded face.
They are indeed strong, but this does not mean that the Russians are invincible. If a peasant is bound to lose against a Russian, what about ten? As long as everyone unites and is not afraid of sacrifice, isn't it natural to defeat the Russians?
However, when he saw the sky dimmed by smoke and dust from across the present, fear also emerged in his brave heart.
His dexterous body approached the wooden wall, and through the narrow gap he saw that the outside of the wall was densely covered with people!
These are all Russians!
Most of Vadim's bravery suddenly disappeared. What he saw were a large number of axes and swords, as well as the ferocious faces of the Russians.
A figure suddenly appeared on the wooden wallAfter wandering for a while, Otto keenly noticed this sneaky little figure.
"There is someone there. Let me take a look." Otto gave an order, and three strong men rushed over immediately.
The three of them were all holding big axes, and they were trying to chop the wooden wall into pieces.
They rushed over like three brown bears. Although they were separated by a wooden wall, Vadim suddenly panicked due to the instinct of fear and fell to the muddy ground.
He didn't care to get rid of the dirt on his robe, and ran towards the hall of his home, rolling and crawling, to report the terrifying fact to his father - the Russian army was wreaking havoc!