The lake breeze blows away the morning fog, and the sun shines on the bear altar after the war.
This important sacrificial center and trade bazaar of the Karelian people quickly collapsed under the dawn attack of a partial division of the Russian army. After the prosperity disappeared, only a pile of corpses and hundreds of years of violence were left. The Rus' warriors were busy searching for treasures.
Arik disembarked from the long boat and floated to the shore. The Vips who participated in the battle also entered the bear altar as attackers for the first time.
Completely different from the Ross army, the Vips servants looked at the devastated tents. They had no joy of victory, but only fear.
The lake fog started and they attacked. The fog from the lake cleared and they plundered.
In a very short period of time, this place that was once considered inviolable by the Vips was destroyed.
Some Russian soldiers set fire to vent their anger, lighting leather tents with ready-made fire sources and letting them burn.
There were also female prisoners whose lives were temporarily spared. The Russians were as happy as they wanted, but they still made up for it with an ax afterwards.
Aric walked menacingly and with terrifying steps. He allowed his subordinates to go berserk and even enjoyed seeing them destroy wildly.
He motioned to Terravis: "Let the Veps do it."
"Just stick the stakes on the shore? Look at this place, there are corpses everywhere."< /p>
"Wouldn't this be better? Other Karelia people will see this, and our nobles will be deeply shocked."
Arik feels that his determination is very reliable. The Vips servants followed suit.
The wooden stakes were erected, and the heads of the tribute envoys were stuck on them. Their complexions had long been gray, and the broken necks were stained with black blood. The ferocious horror had always frightened Wei Pu. The servants of Ross were afraid, but this group of Ross veterans were already used to it.
Seeing that they had finished their work, Aric shook his neck and ordered Terravis: "Let's go. Follow me and see what treasures the brothers have found."
What interesting things can you find in tents and wooden sheds?
Some useful wooden utensils such as combs, small boxes, and wooden bowls were put into linen bags by the Russians, and some interesting bone tools and leather were also hidden privately. Robbery is an opportunity to make a fortune, and Aric has always been generous. He doesn't even care too much about his brothers embezzling gold and silver. As for the large amounts of materials discovered, this should not be divided among everyone, but should be handed over to the Duke.
He carried two swords and walked into the area where the soldiers were most densely populated. There were also the tallest wooden sheds there. Compared to the large number of small conical tents, the buildings here were obviously permanent. As it happens, the Veps servants claim that this is the Bear Altar itself.
The Karelia people indeed worship bears, and looking at the group of low warriors covered in bear skins lying dead on the ground fully proves this point.
The Ross army is a berserker wearing the heaviest scale armor. They are formation-breaking madmen, and they are also the tallest and strongest. Not only were their iron helmets reinforced with interlocking chainmail, but their heads also stared at the entire upper jaw of the bear, featuring a chest and upper jaw with a set of fangs.Sun hat.
The berserkers of the Russian army are the real "bear men", and these Karelian bearskin men who are said to be altar guards are all fakes.
More than a dozen older priests died, and the young priests were beheaded. There were as many as three hundred dead bodies here. What Arik could conclude was that the enemy did not just kill them at the first sight. They tried their best to resist and still ended up like this.
The two flag captains came over with smiles, each reporting their results and presenting the gem necklaces they had grabbed.
Arik squinted and took a look: "That's it? What else did you find."
"Boss, what a nice necklace, you don't want it?" one person said in surprise.
"Give it to me? Forget it. Keep it for yourself. Tell me what else you found."
Another person said: "We also found the place where they placed the leather. There are a lot of squirrel skins in the cellar! It’s really amazing.”
Squirrel skins? The first thing Arik thought of when he heard this word was that it was a currency.
"Haha, it seems that we have also discovered their treasury. Let's go! Let's take a look..."
The battlefield has returned to calm, and those Karelian fishermen are because of their own It was not important but only to save themselves. They saw the violence and terror of the attackers, and they also knew that their home was completely destroyed. All the canoes had escaped. They wanted to escape to the nearest settlement, so they rowed all the way east, at least first to the Ludi villages on the east bank of the lake, where the Karelians were the leaders, and told them about the foreign army. Destroyed the bear altar, rested, and then searched for the chief's "big tent" to tell all the Karelian nobles that the disaster was coming.
It’s just that those who have successfully escaped from the Bear Altar are already running on the road to report the news, and another difficult trek is waiting for them.
At noon, an astonishing number of reindeer were driven to the bear altar full of carcasses. Most of the tents were either burned or destroyed.
Arik inspected the cold cellars and asked his brothers to take out the hides of squirrels, ferrets, lynxes, forest cats, and foxes, and tie them up with hemp ropes and transport them quickly. On to the big ship.
No one can loot these leather treasures, they will be dedicated to Rurik, Duke of Rus.
Besides, anything anyone grabs belongs to them!
The opportunity to plunder is given to everyone, including Vips servants, who legally join in the hunt for the treasure.
Apart from a small amount of gems and a batch of rare animal leathers, perhaps the most valuable capture here is the deer.
The astonishing number of deer suddenly confused Arik.
Up to forty reindeer were killed, their fresh hides stripped off, and their internal organs violently thrown directly into the lake, except for the nutritious and delicious deer liver.
A large bonfire appeared by the lake, and the Russians prepared roasted whole deer very extravagantly.
Everyone eats meat crazily. Even the Vips are lucky enough to hold a half-roasted deer leg and gnaw on it.The Russians also gave some salt as a gift, and the delicious taste actually moved many people to tears.
People were immersed in the joy of victory. When they set out, no one expected that this armed reconnaissance would yield such a big harvest, let alone the Karelia people who were boasted to be extremely powerful by the Suomi people. So weak.
While eating barbecue around the campfire, Terravis asked Arik a soul question: "How do we deal with so many deer? Take them all away?"
" Of course. If we bring the deer back, we will be the heroes of Russia. These deer will make our life much easier in the future."
"But there are too many deer, you...can't. Put them all on the boat."
"Haha, then eat them all." Arik said this as a joke, and he laughed.
But Tyravis’s question is very critical. The Ross Squadron does not have enough transport ships, but this is not a problem.
Arik thought for a while: "We should take back as many deer as possible, and some of them can be used as rewards."
"To whom?"
"To the Vips."
"You?" Tyravis was surprised: "I doubt that you are so generous."
"You bastard, Are you mocking me?" Aric smiled with anger.
"I...I don't dare."
"I'm sorry you don't dare either. But the Vips still participated in the battle. They are servants, and we have to give them some rewards. By the way, how many deer should I give them?"
"Let me decide? If they come to 20 people, give them 200, or more. In my opinion, we are all good at it. It doesn’t hurt to raise deer and give them more. This way we can receive more tributes in the future.”
This is actually a good idea, but Arik looked suspicious and didn’t say it openly. , but he was muttering in his heart that this boy was speaking for the servants.
"I've decided to give them two hundred. As for more deer... we will stop the armed reconnaissance now. This will be the landing point for the Ross army, and our army will assemble here." "
"Ah! Do you want to go back and move the transport ship?"
"Of course. We will take action tomorrow."
When informed. He was rewarded with ten deer, and all the Vips servants bowed their heads in emotion. They were authorized to select ten deer themselves, and they were smart enough to select a total of 200 fawns that were more than one year old from the herd. what does that mean? These extremely young female deer can give birth for the first time this fall, which maximizes the interests of the herders from a utilitarian perspective. They paid no attention to the fawns that were obviously just weaned.
A fawn is born in the spring. If it is a female deer, it can be pregnant in the autumn of the following year. Even if reindeer are raised, the Karelian people will not let a deer live to be ten years old, they will kill the old deer for meat. Therefore, a female deer can only give birth to eight babies in her lifetime.One deer is the current limit. This kind of creature is not highly reproductive.
Just as cattle and sheep are the lifeblood of grassland nomads, reindeer are the lifeblood of Karelia and other tribes grazing in the cold zone, and their economic foundation is almost based on reindeer breeding.
After being selected in this way, the Vips basically took away the most fertile female deer in the huge herd. For such professional things, Arik, who was like a demon king, was too lazy to know. of.
On the other hand, Terravis and other Covin people simply saw through it without saying anything. They had regarded the Vips as distant and non-threatening kin, and they had planted seeds in the villages of the Vips. It won't be responsible, and it would be nice to let them get some excellent deer.
Throughout the afternoon, the huge herd of deer was counted in groups, and the Russians, who had excellent calculation skills, counted the precise number of deer.
After excluding the deer that were eaten, there were still 3,400 deer. After excluding the deer that were rewarded to the Vips, the Rus controlled 3,100 deer.
The more than 3,000 deer are also exquisite, and there are as many as 800 young deer in them.
They are not wild reindeer at all, and there are not many real wild reindeer left in this area. The Bear Altar was originally a center for the Karelia people to trade reindeer, and all the deer captured by the Russian army were domestic deer.
These deer thus have two significant characteristics that distinguish them from their wild counterparts.
First: They are large in number and clustered together. They are indifferent to the fact that their companions are skinned, roasted and eaten by humans, but continue to chew grass on their own. They have completely lost their aggressiveness and are left with pure docility and humility.
Second: Male deer are always artificially screened out, and a group of male deer are retained as breeding deer. The most domesticated female deer in Karelia are female deer.
Female deer are much more docile than male deer. Female deer are the main force for carrying goods and pulling sleds. The Russian leather craftsmen know this very well. A small number of breeding deer and a large number of female deer result in an astonishing number of fawns in the herd.
After all, the bear altar is a trading place, and the antlers of young deer are also a commodity. The meat of young deer is more delicious than that of old deer. When it comes to food, the Karelia people are also trying their best to eat well.
Aric and other Russians paid more attention to the development prospects of young deer. It is this kind of young deer that is easier to tie with ropes and pull to the Mercury.
The deer were divided into different grades, and the bear altar itself began to be thoroughly cleaned.
In principle, Arik and the guys did not want to collect the bodies of the killed Karelians, but the plan completely changed because of this herd of deer.
Why did the army leave? On the contrary, the brothers occupied this place, and the enemy's corpses were buried or burned. The Russians established their own permanent settlements on the ruins of the tent group, so as to give priority to the fishery resources here and serve as a gathering place for excellent troops. .
The settlement should have a name. Since it is the bear altar of the Karelian people, the Rus followed this meaning and gave it a Viking-style name - Bjorn Vista Bjornvistadt). Meaning: Bear Festival Town,
On these issues, Arik showed his greatest command, not only the deer were diverted, but the army was also diverted.
The next day, the four flag captains under the sun were forced to gather together to draw lots.
Aric held a silver coin with Justinian's image printed on it. After some group guessing, he selected a lucky team of 100 people to escort the first batch of supplies back. Who would really want to stay in this wild place? They fought a victorious battle, and many became wary of Karelian retaliation. Although the brothers are very confident, if the opponent suddenly kills thousands of people, things will be difficult to handle.
Although the latter is a low-probability time, the fact that the three centurions are left behind is clearly God's choice, and the result of the coin toss cannot be questioned.
They dug a big pit, threw all the corpses in, covered it with soil and set up markers. The mark is nothing else. The heads of the twenty Karelian envoys were moved to this huge tomb and became a kind of terrifying tombstone.
The Vips decided to go home overland. Nineteen of them took some iron weapons gifted by the Russians and drove as many as 200 young female deer on the familiar road. on the road.
Why nineteen people? Just because one person will serve as a messenger and return to the village of Vips in a big boat to inform the local people about his experience.
It is a long journey home by land. The Vips who are good at hiking are not afraid. Their inner ecstasy exceeds everything. Everyone is imagining that they surrender to the newly arrived blond Ross. This is a great thing, Master. The Russians are not like masters, but like fathers and mothers. In their concept, only parents can give such generous rewards.
This is of course just wishful thinking on their part.
Weeps are sheep. Killing them for meat is one way of doing it, and letting them develop and shearing their sheep regularly is another way of doing it. Obviously the latter is more clever. It was meaningless to kill them and grab a wave. Arik naturally implemented the latter option, and he could not think of a third way.
The more than 300 people who stayed behind used local materials and began to build a walled settlement. This would be a huge project. Considering the possible revenge of the enemy, defensive fortifications must be done. The big trees were cut down quickly and the sheds would be the quickest to build. It is very inconspicuous to build the wall in a short time. It is very important to convert some wooden sheds into wooden towers. These are watchtowers and the commanding heights for archery.
This group of young and strong veterans put their experience in fighting powerful enemies here. After all, they relied on advanced civil construction to take advantage of the decisive battle in Gotland.
Aric left first with a large number of captured things. Now three long boats towed the Mercury. All the boats lowered their sails and relied on the most traditional oars to row straight along the lake shoreline. Run south.
When the Ross fleet came, they were forced to sail carefully due to the unknown environment. They kept a slow speed. Now there is nothing to worry about. Arik has only one thought in his mind: to take the Vips female leader on board, and then immediatelyRush to New Roseburg immediately.
And this was completed in just four days!
Arik traveled from the northernmost end of Lake Ladoga to the mouth of the Neva River, taking the aging female leader with him, in just four days.
The rowing brothers did not enter downstream mode until the fleet entered the faster-flowing Neva River and had a chance to take a good rest. They arrived at New Roseburg smoothly. At this moment, the city was already in a busy period of wheat harvest. Farming peoples throughout Eastern Europe had begun their wheat harvest season. Even Rurik, in order to show his closeness to the people, also brought his newly arrived group of wives and concubines. , holding a wooden chain to beat the newly harvested wheat ears to shell the oats.
Arik’s return was not unexpected. It must be the result of an armed investigation. But when Rurik, who was busy with farm work, learned that there were only four ships in total, one large, three small, and so on, things became complicated. .
Rurik was suddenly startled: "Oh no, it was not my carelessness but his recklessness that caused my army to suffer heavy losses!"
He gave up his farm work! , rushed to the dock...