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 reach 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 journey.
They moved faster during the short daylight hours, and kept going even after nightfall.
Everyone is pulling multiple sleds, one to hold luggage and items, and the others to carry 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 would start piling snow blocks on 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.
In addition, the cultivation level of farmers in Western Europe is really poor, and 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 Kingdom Army would probably march 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 various Viking tribes were also excellent 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. Their physical fitness is very good and they 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, Aurora shines in the sky.
After the team walked some distance, they settled down in a small forest.
Some pine trees were cut down and then broken into small pieces. These wet firewood cannot be lived immediately.
Fortunately, the Russians had their own method. They brought their own specially made 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.
Taking advantage of the opportunity, Otto gave the order: "Let's go here. We will camp here, and this will be the camp for the next period of time. We will use this place as the center, brothers, we are free to explore. After ten days, no matter what How much harvest we have left together.”
Everyone agrees with the leader's order. Now there is only one question that needs to be resolved - who will come 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 of you is willing to stay? "
Because we are in an unknown territory, 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 a discussion among the people, 20 elders 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. Don't 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 included time for setting 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 most efficient is undoubtedly laying traps, among which laying nooses is the most effective. practical.
At this point, four full days after leaving Fort Ross, the hunt officially began.
All the hunters dispersed instantly. They took their essential supplies into the snowfields and forests. They began to lay traps, and some even took the initiative to attack directly.
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 a force for killing small animals.
Use a single bow to shoot a reindeer in the distance?
It’s better not to expect this to be okay. Because they are all oak bows with low weight, the bowstrings are also made of hemp rope, and the arrow shafts used are 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 pelt is equivalent to three adult reindeer pelts.
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.
Together they form a powerful hunter group. On the battlefield, they naturally have stronger organizational discipline than the large number of armed peasants temporarily recruited by the Franks.
Among them, Otto was older than all of them. When he was a child, he was the king of children, and now he is a respected leader.
Regardless of 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 the small animals go, they mainly target the 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.
Living 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 men were willing to sacrifice part of their prey to him.
It is almost human instinct to be attentive to important people 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" reasons to prove his selflessness. His explanation was really full of mystery.
"It's better to stay and give it to those who are left behind. I have a huge hunch that we will ignore the others for the time being. As long as the twenty of us continue to move northeast, we will encounter those people."
The so-called "those people" are undoubtedly the Sami people who raise deer.
Otto always had a feeling that since he had walked an unknown distance to the northeast, his encounter with those people was almost a matter of fate.
