The roads in the villages along the river are messy, and there are many weeds growing near the simple wooden houses.
Jevro swallowed his saliva and approached the first wooden house softly.
"Brothers, be careful." He ordered in a low voice.
Behind them were a group of Russian troops who were ready for battle. Aric did not want everyone to take risks before the scouts confirmed that it was safe.
The ajar wooden door was opened, revealing that this was actually a wooden house that was half underground.
The light inside the house was dim, and as the wooden door opened, Yevro could clearly see the structure inside.
"It's strange, like someone just left?" The space inside is so big, is there any danger?
He walked in and used his steel sword to stir up the dark place that was obviously a bonfire, even though it was covered with soil.
There was a hint of anxiety in the room. He peeled away the soil and saw some charcoal blocks burning slowly at the bottom. The dark red charcoal proved everything.
Suddenly, his hair stood on end, he ran out of the house with a steel sword in hand, and shouted to the guys who were still searching: "Brothers, they just left. Be careful, this village is not abandoned. ."
Without his words, all the mercenaries discovered traces of human activities.
We found no clear footprints yet, but we found a large number of roughly hidden fires and even several broken black pottery urns.
Some people even found scattered wheat grains.
Everyone became bold. They kicked open one house after another, hoping to find something good. Sure enough, someone actually found the sack with the mouth locked. He stabbed it hard with his sword and saw that what flowed out from the bleeding groove of the steel sword was actually brown oatmeal.
Is there anything more joyful than discovering fresh wheat in the wilderness?
Seeing that there was no one around, the mercenaries took care of their small linen bags and filled them with some wheat as their trophies. Mercenaries are different from Ross warriors, but if Rurik doesn't blame them for taking private trophies, that's fine.
This village is not big. Jevlo and his guys inspected almost every wooden house and came to a very clear conclusion.
He took his people back to report and faced Arik who was on guard.
Arik was already impatient: "Have you noticed any abnormalities?"
"Some."
"Ah? What is it?"
"There are people living here, and they have escaped. I think it is probably the escaped fishing boat. The fisherman told his people that we are coming."
"They are Gotland People?"
Jevro directly denied: "If they were those people, maybe we should be fighting now."
"Damn it! A bunch of stupid Polo people?" Arik stomped his feet angrily: "If I had known this, I should have rowed hard, nowWe're late. By the way, have you found any treasures? "
"Baby? "Jevluo thought about it and decided to tell the truth: "There is some wheat, but the quantity is not large. I guess they couldn't have gone very far when they escaped. There are still some footprints on the soil, both human and sheep. As for silver coins or copper coins, no coins were found. "
Aric believed deeply in Yevluo's words: "So, the villagers ran away with a lot of things? They must not have gone far, they are in these woods. "
"Huh? Do you want to give chase? "
Arik flatly denied: "No! We came to this ghost place on a temporary basis. Since we can find some wheat and inexhaustible fresh water, it would be a good idea for us to replenish our supplies here. "
After that, he turned around, pointed his sword at the village, and shouted at the eager brothers: "Brothers, a group of cowards abandoned their wealth and ran away. Now, you are the masters of this village! Rush in and take whatever you can find. Remember, don’t fight among brothers, we all have a share. Only I don’t want a single copper coin! ”
After speaking, the crowd was enthusiastic!
Arik is such a person. He realizes that he has a lot of personal wealth, and he and his family already have enough food and clothing. His biological parents are dead, Arik has no more worries. He has a strong desire for revenge. In the battle of revenge, his growing popularity allows him to find the meaning of life and personal value.
He is an iron man. In order to maintain his power, Arik has learned many things, such as the importance of not being greedy for merit. Whoever plundered according to their ability would own whatever they plundered.
The Ross warriors, who were already full, burst out with wildness like tigers and wolves, and they rushed towards one building after another with their swords and axes raised high. Wooden house, looking for everything useful.
Throughout the robbery, only the mercenaries were ordered to restrain themselves.
Jevro was a little reluctant: "Sir, just do it. Watching your cousin's men loot? "
"Yes, just watching. "
"Don't you want to get something? "
"What else could there be? You just secretly harvested a little wheat, and I know it. There is only a little bit of wheat in this place, so I don’t pay much attention to it. Look, we're just going to rest here and let them wreak havoc. ”
What followed was a feast for the Russians, not to mention, they actually discovered the entrances to some cellars.
The so-called cellar is a dark hole, a cold cellar. The water could freeze. Some soldiers bravely got in, and actually brought out some cold sacks, and saw that they were full of wheat.
They got some leather and linen, and they did find some useless rags. The villagers raised sheep and chickens because there were livestock excrement on the ground, but they were all missing.
A batch of wheat quilts. move toOn the ground, their size is actually not many compared to a hundred Ross warriors.
While Arik was excited, he held his chin and muttered: "It's strange, they only expect this little wheat to survive the whole year? It's obvious that they have just finished the autumn harvest."
Rurik Walked forward: "Maybe they have other granaries. It must not be here. Oh, maybe they were carrying wheat when they escaped."
"Forget it, they may have a second granary. Granary. Or there are even bigger villages. We have too few people. Next time I come with four hundred or five hundred people and a large number of empty ships, I will definitely return with a full load." He really has plans for this.
An empty village serves as a resting point for everyone tonight.
A large amount of wheat was seized. Everyone can eat as much as they want and drink the sweet river water. After all, the wheat was thrown on the ship and the long ship was seriously overloaded after taking it away.
The load limit of a larger long ship can reach four tons, which is even comparable to some cargo ships. With such a heavy load, it can hardly withstand any wind and waves. As long as the waves are slightly bigger, the ship will be seriously flooded. The waves reached two meters high, and the overloaded long ship capsized.
Since you can’t take them all away, you can eat them all! At least everyone has to eat with a strong stomach.
Russian warriors used the stone grinding rods they found to process fresh oats into coarse flour on the grinding disc. They must spend some experience to deeply process the wheat grains, so that everyone can store some dry food for a long time during the next journey.
Is it true that the invention of cookies was made by survivors of a wrecked sailboat, using flour soaked in seawater and stones heated by campfires?
Rurik thinks these are nonsense. In his opinion, the inventors of biscuits are the Vikings, and the so-called whole wheat biscuits are one of their staple foods.
It takes a while to cook the oats thoroughly. While the wheat grains in the pottery urn were rolling up and down on the boiling water, some river pebbles were pulled out and they became a platform for baking wheat cakes. .
Rurik was a little strange. He saw that the world was obviously lush and green, and the surrounding terrain was very flat. The ground where his feet stepped was obviously black soil (proving it was fertile). The soothing river should be full of It's silt, why are there still some large pebbles? All he could guess was that the river also had summer floods. Whenever there is a flood, some rocks from the upper reaches are pushed here.
But the problem comes again. Rurik never remembered that there were any mountains in Estonia. The country was obviously very low and flat.
"Could it be that I was wrong? This is not Estonia? We have veered off course?"
Rurik patted his face hard, and he felt that the situation was actually very good. Look at your own people, they are already celebrating their harvest in other people's villages.
There were still some strange things that made Rurik feel calm. He was holding a piece of crispy wheat cake, which was beautiful.Chew up the beauty. Although there is no sugar, it really tastes better the more you chew it.
Taking advantage of the joyful atmosphere, Arik stretched out his face, which was flushed and warm by the bonfire, and muttered to his brother: "We will spend the night here. We will leave tomorrow morning."
"Very good, the village is not ours after all. We still don't even know who those people are."
Rurik's words seemed to reveal caution, and Arik certainly had no idea. Fearful: "I don't care who they are, they are seeking death when they show up. Get out of here, we will leave with the remaining food tomorrow. Oh, by the way, this village must be burned down before we leave."
Rurik's heart has only been touched a little by now. His temperament has not become violent, but he has really become rational.
Yeah, who cares about the unknown villagers, they just set the fire deliberately to make Rurik feel that this move was unnecessary.
"Let's save some effort and continue sailing with the food. Burning the house is a waste of time."
"That won't work." Arik insisted, "The house must be burned! They are not even willing to take up arms to protect their homeland. Why should I respect them? Remember, if the enemy is a coward or despises you, you will return your anger twice as much."
"Okay. You have a point, I won’t say it anymore.”
Rurik continued to eat, and even gnawed on a bass caught from the river. He skillfully spit out the bones of the grilled fish and ate two pieces of wheat cake in a row. Rurik was completely full.
A child's body is easy to fill up, but this is not the case for other strong men.
Russian warriors, or professional fishermen of Rus. Whether it was fighting, fishing, or long-term oar voyages, they were forced to develop a big appetite. Now they got a lot of wheat without paying any price, and they started eating like crazy. A strong man It is perfectly normal to eat two pounds of oats tonight.
This night, they had been tortured by the journey and had to eat too many carbohydrates, which inevitably made them less energetic after the meal. To put it bluntly, they are caused by a sudden increase in insulin secretion in response to the body's stress, causing large-scale postprandial hypoglycemia and depression.
Rurik could tentatively guess this. He saw that his people gradually lost their former vigor and showed wilting appearance beside the campfire. Many people simply curled up indifferently. Snoring began.
Of course they can live directly in the wooden houses in the village because of the protection from the wind. They really can't get used to living in a house that is half underground, because it makes people feel like they are rats burrowing into the ground. It is a symbol of cowardice and reminds people of tombs.
They curled up and slept wrapped in leather and linen beside the campfire. Only those who went to the toilet ran to the houses in the village.
Since the semi-crypt house is regarded as a symbol of a tomb, the Russians with abdominal pain naturally regard it as a hiding place for evil and evil. After all, whether in Rossburg or in Mälaren, the people of various tribes bathroomIn this case, there will be a big pit carrying all kinds of filth.
Although the tribesmen are sleeping, their swords and shields are never leaving their hands.
Does this count as being on guard? Rurik really couldn't stand that his cousin didn't even set up sentries, but actually camped in the enemy's house.
He tried to tell his cousin, who was so tired that he could barely raise his eyelids: "Brother! I'm afraid that the villagers will take back their village at night. It's really too dangerous for us to spend the night in the village. "
"Forget it." As he said, Arik yawned deeply: "They are cowards during the day, and they dare not come at night."
Listen, Rurik secretly cursed his brother as a reckless man. He did have some wisdom. Is it because after eating and drinking tonight, his intelligence dropped to the level of an ape?
Rurik stamped his feet: "Just sleep, and remember to sleep with your sword in your arms. Don't worry, I will send mercenaries as sentries. If the enemy attacks, you might as well get up and fight immediately."< /p>
Aric waved his hand, this perfunctory look clearly showing disdain for Rurik's advice.
So what? Rurik had to arrange for his men to do things.
The mercenaries were divided into two groups. They were ordered to use the bows and arrows of the Ross people. They spread out and hid behind some big trees on the outskirts of the village, alert to any disturbance.
While one group is on alert, the other group takes a break. They judged the time of the handover based on the position of the stars, especially the Big Dipper, the "Seven Valkyries" according to the Russians.
Under the personal protection of Jevro, Rurik was wrapped in thick leather and slept leaning against a bonfire.
It seems that the Russians have completely fallen into silence?
In fact, they are always on guard against the figures sitting under the dark trees.
The quiet time passed by minute by minute, as if nothing dangerous would happen this night.
So, is this really the case?
Is it really safe that in the morning, the Russians would burn the village to the ground after breakfast and then leave?
Rurik had long expected that the situation should not and could not be so simple. He did not believe that there were really villagers who had opened up acres of land and would run away in fear just because they saw a few boats and uninvited guests. Never show up again.
At the beginning of the day, something finally happened.
A sentry noticed the strange footsteps. The sentry was already on his third round of duty. He was in good spirits. When he heard the strange noise, he raised his bow and suddenly shot out. What happened in front of him was Much to his shock.
In the dim forest, those tree trunks blocked people's vision, and some black shadows were moving cautiously.
A monster? Or something terrible?
No! It's the enemy!
The sentry drew his bow and shot an arrow, and soon there was heard the painful wail of a man.
"Oh no, we are really enemies."
The sentry suddenly drew his bow and shot another arrow, then ran away.
He was running wildly, and the shadows were also chasing him. Fortunately, all the mercenaries had undergone rigorous physical training at Rurik's request. Their endurance and explosive power were excellent, and they were running wildly. The speed is amazing.
One sentry sounded the alarm, and gradually the other sentries responded. It's not that the sentries communicate with each other, it's just that all the sentries are aware of the danger!
Now, before running back to the camp, the sentry has begun to use various means to try to wake up his sleeping companions.