However, when daybreak came, things changed.
Otto and his party hid in a small forest. More than a dozen people chatted with each other about their daily lives, and most of them thought about hunting in the future.
They were already in a relatively high position, actually on the slopes of a hill.
The pine forest gave them some cover but did not completely obscure their view.
Everyone can see distant scenery with their eyes wide open, and their sharp eyes observe even the smallest changes in the environment.
Finally, a large group of crawling unknown objects appeared on the snowfield in the distance.
Almost instantly, the happy faces of the people who were still chatting and laughing suddenly became stiff.
People were lying on the snow one by one, facing the changes in the distance. At this moment, Otto's heart was filled with uncontrollable excitement.
"Ah! Odin loves us. Brothers, my prayers worked and we got the baby!"
Otto's loyal friend Harold Zossen couldn't help but ask: "Chief, your prayer? When did you pray?"
"It was last night that I made a wish to Aurora. It seems that the Valkyrie has helped me through the words, and Odin has also responded. If you knock, that is the herd of deer."
Although it was just a vague shadow, everyone could tell that it was definitely not a herd of deer.
"Hey, there may be a hundred deer. Chief, a dozen of us take action immediately. What do you think? We can easily capture a few." Haro Zuosen suggested.
"No! There's no rush, because we're not just here for a few deer. We want them all."
"Huh? Are you still thinking about those possible deer farmers?"
"Yes, don't you want a battle?"
Vikings are so simple at heart sometimes.
Everyone is eager to fight, especially the so-called "under the witness of the Valkyrie", to show their prowess through fighting, and to prove their strength with a hearty fight.
Of course, the Viking tribe didn't actually like fighting at night.
Those deer farmers are not of the same race.
Judging from everyone's simple ancient thinking, except for members of the same clan and allies, everyone else is a potential enemy. For the sake of one's own safety, one cannot easily show favor to them. The simplest and most direct method is to rob once and then talk.
Otto ordered everyone to lie down, and everyone quietly observed what was going on in the distance.
Sure enough, the speculation became reality and the deer herders showed up.
All I could see were a few tiny humanoid figures driving the deer away, forcing them out of the woods.
"Did you really set up your home in the woods in front of me? What a stupid decision. Maybe you can resist the wolves, but we are more ferocious than the white bears." Otto said to himself. His mind is already planning a rigorous plan.
The longest period of winter is approaching, the so-called polar night, when there is no daylight left.
According to the management of previous years, I should have returned to Roseburg with the prey at this time, and so did everyone else.
Thousands of people will shrink in the fjord, even those who dug holes to catch seals will go back. When the sea ice melts, everything begins to recover.
The Rus people are like this, and Otto believes that the living conditions of deer farmers will only get worse.
Only the warriors of Ross dared to advance in the ice and snow, while others could only hide in warm nests to survive the winter.
What the deer farmers are doing now is obviously grazing, and this vast area is their pasture. Otto continued to think along this line of thinking, and he could conclude that the deer herder had settled down and would not leave for a short time.
He watched for a while, and when the short daylight was about to pass, he instructed his men what to do.
"Harozov, my friend."
"Chief, what are your orders?"
"Now you rush back to our advance camp with your two brothers. You meet the rest of us at the camp. When they arrive one after another and the number reaches a hundred people, they will bring everyone to me. Your speed must be Hurry! Do you understand?"
"Ah! Are we about to fight?!" Harozov, who was excited, had to ask again.
Otto patted him on the shoulder at the right time: "My brother, we will launch an attack, and victory belongs to us. But I am not a reckless man. I hope that all people participating in the hunt can be in this distant place before Hanukkah." Enjoy a battle in the unknown. You know, that's what Odin would have wanted."
Harozov nodded deeply: "I understand! Including my son, I must let him participate."
"Okay, but I hope the kid will stay away for now, because we don't know what kind of people those deer farmers are yet. I just hope everyone involved can win without any injuries."
The deer herder has appeared, and all that's left is to wait for the team to assemble, and finally complete the victory with absolute power.
In the time that followed, Otto himself became an aging observer.
To be honest, he has experienced many battles with the Danes or Gotlanders in his life, as well as battles with the few Novgorodians who were unwilling to surrender.
The fighting power of the Danes is evenly matched with their own, and if appropriate tactics are used, the Ross tribe will always win.
Of course, this kind of victory is not so upright. Otto is better at using tricks and he is a very pragmatic person. He didn't like it when two groups of people gathered in one place, then roared and the two armies clashed, and finally turned into a brutal fight between the two groups.
That kind of fighting was unorganized, and in the end both sides suffered heavy losses.
So stupid! The Ross tribe cannot bear such casualties.
Otto likes to hide his people, and attack in a big way when the enemy relaxes their vigilance. An unexpected attack can always achieve a major victory.
The enemies called him shameless, and the tribal leaders of his allies also questioned that such behavior had brought shame to the ancestors of the Ross tribe and to the Siiya tribe alliance.
Otto doesn't care about that much. As long as it's victory, why does he care about so many strange etiquette?
But to deal with other ethnic groups, why not use sneak attack tactics?
After another whole day of observation, Otto was pleasantly surprised to find that the deer herders were moving in the snowy fields far in front of his hiding place, and the deer were grazing in this area for the time being.
He also made a very accurate judgment. Not only was the deer herder's home in the woods far away, but their population was definitely not large.
To verify your guess, you can actually just sneak over under the cover of night and investigate carefully.
After all, Otto was fifty years old. If he was a fool, he would really touch him.
He strictly ordered his subordinates to observe carefully for the time being, and if anyone dared to go to investigate, if they alerted the deer and caused the deer herder to run away, this person would bear the blame.
As for the result of punishment, it is even more simple and crude.
As the saying goes, "You let go of a large group of prey that should have belonged to the tribe, and now you have to die to apologize."
No one dared to disobey the leader's orders. Otto did hold real power in the tribe, and everyone supported the leader very much.
An excellent hunter is always calm, just like a dragon-headed warship floating on the sea. The oarsman throws the iron fishhook tied with a hemp rope into the water. The rest is to quietly wait for the fish to bite the hook and fish. The patient must have good patience.
Otto also has great patience, and he also has great courage.
The agreed ten-day hunting period will inevitably be exceeded. Who else thinks that they should go home as soon as the time is up?
Pooh!
Those guys who hunted scattered in the rear, each of them had different harvests. More than 100 people captured more than ten wild reindeer. This result is really not good.
The deer skin was peeled off, and they gathered together to roast the deer meat and eat it, because the reserved dried meat was an emergency food and could not be used immediately.
The Ross tribe cherishes food very much. Except for the deer's intestines, which cannot be properly processed in the wild, they basically eat the other internal organs of the deer. Even if it smells fishy, they must swallow it, because in a cold place, they don't eat much. Things themselves will freeze to death.
In addition to deer skins, the most harvested products are of course ferret skins, forest cat skins, squirrel skins, and even some fox skins, all of which are priceless.
Some people felt that their harvest was enough and returned to the camp. Because the leader has not returned yet, everyone dare not evacuate hastily. And because the leader took twenty of his bravest men who claimed to be in search of the huge herd, it seemed they would be successful.
The results are certainly positive.
