The Ross tribe is naturally called deer herders, because once discovered, it means that a large herd of deer can be obtained.
Otto's explanation instantly awakened everyone's memories, thinking of the prophecy of Priest Vilia that Otto had said - those who participate in the hunting operation will surely make huge profits.
The yearning for wealth drove everyone to obey the leader unconditionally. In this way, Otto, with excitement and apprehension, once again trekked toward the northeast for two full days, riding on skis for another fifty kilometers!
Their efforts were worthwhile. When Otto and others clearly saw a large number of animal footprints on the soft snow, everyone had already made a clear judgment.
Smart hunters discovered a large number of reindeer footprints, and experience told them that they must be reindeer.
The snow showed signs of being turned over on a large scale, and the meadows weighed down by the snow were also eaten, which further proved the existence of the deer.
Deer herd, a lot of walking meat, a hundred reindeer, enough for the tribe to eat until spring comes!
At present, only deer herds have been discovered, but no clear traces of those animals have been seen. However, everyone has made a very optimistic judgment based on the traces, that is, the size of the deer herd is quite large.
But there are still some very serious people who discovered some other strange footprints through careful observation.
To be precise, they were human footprints, and the owners of the footprints were definitely not themselves.
This is really great news.
In the past few days, the main task of Otto and his party has been to rush on their way. As the leader, he has still found nothing.
Although I thought that if I kept going northeast, I might find a treasure, it was too long.
Otto had made two astonishing discoveries, and he ordered his men to gather on the snowfield.
"A large group of deer, we should kill them all, brothers, all the deer skins are ours. As for the venison... we fought our way back to the camp and told everyone to take all the venison with us. We also found people The footprints are those of deer farmers, we can... hey, take their wealth as our own."
Who could not be happy thinking about these things?
It sounded like a good idea, and everyone was happy, but they were not completely sure of their abilities.
After all, hunting a herd of wild reindeer, those animals are very mobile, and their thick fur cannot be killed with just a poke of a short spear.
As for the deer herders, it should be easy to defeat them. Everyone has full confidence.
Otto was very calm about this matter. He looked at his twenty subordinates.
Everyone stood in the snowy field where the north wind was blowing. Although they were all wearing thick skins and wearing huge deerskin or fox fur hats on their heads, Otto couldn't help but think of finding the deer herder and launching an attack. very worried.
Because in such an extremely cold area and far away from Fort Ross, if you are injured in battle, although you may not die on the spot, if you are seriously injured, the result will be death.
The situation began to become subtle, and the simple hunting operation instantly became militarized.
So, were there deer herders, the so-called Sami people, where Otto lived?
The answer is of course yes!
Otto and his twenty men, now following the trail of reindeer, had gone too far to the northeast and had broken into Sami territory.
Specifically, it is the westernmost edge of the Sami area.
Otto was unaware of this situation, and the Sami people who focused on winter grazing were also unaware of the approaching danger.
Because for decades, the Ross tribe, which had used harsh methods to expel the Sami people, did not encounter any new Sami people.
Decades are also a long time. Gradually, the past war was gradually forgotten by the two groups, as if they had never been in contact.
Compared with the Siiya Tribal Alliance, there is no doubt that the structure and organization of the Sami people are more backward and more fragile.
The Sami people are the oldest indigenous people in Europe, and they are also a part of the Finns.
Just in the past two hundred years, the Finnish tribes that were once scattered throughout Eastern Europe were driven away by the Slavic tribes that moved eastward. Some Finns went straight to the Ural Mountains, and some retreated to the north near the Arctic Circle.
The situation of the Sami people is even worse. They have been driven away by the Viking tribes who landed in the Svealand area. Finally, the Ross tribe among them gave a heavy blow, causing the Sami people to completely leave the Gulf of Bothnia. .
The Sami people retreated towards the Arctic Circle, into the so-called Lapland and Murmansk regions.
If they want to live in the Arctic, any energy they can harvest will be extremely valuable. Don't think about developing agriculture in extremely cold areas. The Sami people's livelihood depends heavily on the reindeer they raise. Through trade with some Finns living in Karelia in the south, they exchanged reindeer pelts, dried meat and wooden products for some flax and metal.
However, trade is also at a very low level. They basically live a life without disputes with the world and do not want anyone to disturb their poor and cold days.
Perhaps the Sami people are naturally peace-loving, but peace never comes from charity from others.
The Sami people originally knew how to farm, but after losing the battle, they fled all the way to the Arctic Ocean. Could this be a safe place?
No! Because the Vikings, who have a huge thirst for wealth, are approaching!
In general, all Sami clans have to guard against Arctic wolves attacking the deer they have worked so hard to raise. They have to be armed to be prepared, and they also have to send people to keep an eye on the wolves when they are grazing. group.
They always pay special attention to wolves, which are extremely threatening to humans and animals. However, because they have not had contact with the Ross tribe for a long time, many young Sami people can only learn some ancient legends from the mouths of their fathers.
Or because the description of ancient horrific memories is mixed with too many personal emotions, the "Varyags" that young people know gradually take on the image of wolves, as if they are a group of monsters with huge fangs.
The elders are indeed afraid of the "Varyags", especially pointing out that a group of "Varyags" who claim to be masters of oars and can maneuver long boats suddenly appear.
Young people don't understand all this. They inherit the not-so-rich inheritance of their ancestors, which is a herd of reindeer. According to the ancient living habits, they routinely carry out large-scale grazing twice a year. Their life is ordinary year after year. .
The reindeer's thick fur can easily resist the erosion of the cold. By eating grass under the snow, each reindeer can grow rapidly in winter.
Annual winter grazing becomes particularly important because when the weather starts to warm up, all reindeer will moult. The remaining hairs are not wasted by the Sami people. They can be mixed with the exchanged linen and woven into special linen, and then printed and dyed with moss in various colors.
Therefore, the clothes of the Sami people are much more gorgeous than the civilian clothes of the Rus tribe.
However, no matter how gorgeous their clothes are, they can't hide the fact that they are weak in military force.
The Sami people do not have any large organization at all. They are nomadic in the wilderness in clans with a population of only a few dozen people.
The leader of any clan must be an older woman, because they are still in the matrilineal clan stage, which naturally makes them only exist as a small settlement, and the number of the most combat-effective men in the settlement does not dominate.
Because of the Ross tribe, when the tribe is threatened, they can organize two thousand warriors armed with swords and axes.
In medieval Europe, two thousand warriors was already the limit of the number of troops that many feudal counts could organize.
However, no matter how many men the Sami had, it was useless. They used stone spears or antler spears to defeat the wolves, but they were unable to withstand the Viking battle axes.
Although the Sami people make single bows, they also make bow strings and arrow clusters. As a result, the weight of the bow is too low, and the arrowheads are not polished antlers or stones.
Such an arrow cannot even penetrate the fur of a reindeer at a relatively long distance, but it is powerful enough to shoot arctic foxes and ferrets.
They are such an ancient ethnic group with a sparse population, lack of organization, and a serious lack of metals that are still in the Paleolithic Age.
Suffering strong oppression from foreign nations and because of their own compromise, they escaped disaster and retreated to the far north at the edge of the world, but in the end they could not change their fate of being conquered.
Because the leader of the Ross tribe has made up his mind, Otto's greed cannot be appeased at all now.
