The fishermen living scattered among the islands saw the terrifying black smoke rising from the south early in the morning, as if all the woods there were on fire.
Soon, they encountered a group of lost women and children. These first people who fled immediately told all the fellow villagers they met about the horrific events they encountered.
And the black smoke came from the burning Sikkenborg, and the entire settlement fell completely. The escapees claimed that those who did not evacuate all became victims of the attackers.
The people who fled insisted that it was the Siyans from across the sea who launched the attack, because this was indeed worthy of belief. Many families in the north recruited private guards, and even all the fishermen spontaneously united to fight against the raids from the people on the other side. They never expected that their vulnerable south would be attacked.
After all, he was not the one who attacked him, considering the cold lips and teeth, and the horrific description of the attacker by the fugitive. Are there really a thousand attackers? oh! To defeat such an army, we must rely on the power of the north of the island.
In the daytime of a new day, panic began to spread to the north of the island. The description of the attackers becomes even more horrific as the men of Skenberg, who have become nofs, appear among the fleeing crowd.
The most powerful and terrifying of these is the description of the attacker's weapons. It was a special kind of sword. The person holding it could easily cut off some pieces, and all armors and shields were meaningless.
In order to avoid being affected, the people on the island began to flee north by boat.
The legend became more and more outrageous among the fleeing people, and it soon became clear that the Siyan Alliance had launched a war, with at least a thousand people landing on the island, and planning to bloodbath the entire island.
At such a critical moment, the people of Gotland knew they could not sit still and wait for death. Everyone retreated to the heavily defended north, organized the army, and fought a decisive battle with the landing enemies!
However, how could the Russians who launched the surprise attack have imagined that the Gotlanders would react like this?
The Russians have been satisfied after this battle.
How could they not be satisfied?
Although the legendary "mountain made of gold" does not exist, now look at this statement from the great businessman Gould. Perhaps Gould meant that there was a lot of wealth at the top of a small mountain. If understood this way, the truth is what Gould said.
The young warriors saw something they had never seen in their lives. They had never seen so much money. The thought that everyone could get their own share of the huge wealth made them excited. Laughing wildly.
The Russians paddled and retreated amidst laughter and laughter. They were happy now, and this happiness also washed away the soreness of their muscles and the stinging sensation of various small wounds.
The sails were all lowered at a special angle, and they began to use the weak south wind, together with the oars, to set off in the direction of Courland.
The Russians had experienced a rare battle, and the team needed at least a day of good rest. It seemed that the best place now was the beach where they had spent the night.
Twenty ships towed fifteen warships also decorated with dragon heads. Those were the ships of the Skenberg people, and many of the warships actually belonged to the Lord of Death Castle.
As victors, the Russians knew that they could not take away all the spoils. The Russians completely scuttled the poor-quality fishing transports. Only the sturdy and wide warships were retained, which temporarily served as transport ships for carrying prisoners and other trophies.
This large fleet has become larger in size and its overall combat effectiveness has actually been reduced. Any fisherman who sees forty warships with dragon heads and wide sails should walk around them wisely.
The young man believed that the mighty army he belonged to was invincible, because in the last battle, everyone had already fought fiercely with the mercenaries composed of Danes.
The results of it? The Danes are not as strong as their fathers said they were.
Young people are thinking in their hearts that in the future, the young power will beat the Danes hard, and the Russians will become the kings of this sea! The Ross tribe should also become the leader of the Siiya tribe alliance, replacing the status of the Melalen tribe.
They drifted towards Courland, where the army should recuperate for a whole day, and the return journey would take about six days at the earliest. In the end, everyone would be able to return to their own Fort Ross and tell their relatives about their illustrious martial arts. And taking the allocated handfuls of silver coins, they queued up to the blacksmith shop to pay their debts or sign new orders.
The steel sword in Arik's hand proved its tactical value. All the young people are dreaming that when winter comes again this year, they should throw away the old weapons, and in all future wars, they should hold the shiny sword. The steel sword kills powerful enemies.
They are eager to have their own steel sword. Although everyone can have a huge sum of money, the final acquisition of a steel sword must also consider the work efficiency of the blacksmith.
The steel sword will be obtained later, and now, many young people have set their sights on those poor prisoners.
Many people have been brewing some thoughts in their hearts, but because they are not yet stable, their thoughts have been suppressed.
The Russians sang ancient songs and rowed their boats, praising themselves about new and great achievements that could be told to future generations.
A new route to Gotland has been confirmed. As long as this route is taken, it seems that the vulnerable southern part of Gotland can always be attacked, but it needs to stop in the Courland region on the way.
In the Ross people's world view, the vast land with sparsely populated areas is the most normal thing. Settlement like Rossburg is already the limit of their concept of "city".
In fact, the current Novgorod is also an aggregation of a number of Slavic families. The core family controls the geographical advantage and established a large settlement on the Volkhov River, surrounded by a large number of small settlements. The population of the core area is also on the same level as the size of Roseburg.
This is Novgorod, where locals rely heavily on large lakes and rivers to irrigate their fields. They were not a strong unit, and they had no plans to build a city wall.
There are many Slavic settlements around Lake Ilmen. If you leave this area, it is really deserted and dominated by black bears.
Things are even more pristine in Courland, a peninsula deep in the ocean where the nearest large human settlement is the port town of Riga. Otherwise, only a handful of residents developed in Courland in the form of small settlements. Because of their land and climate, they can grow winter wheat, rye, and oats. The way of survival determines that the local residents of Courland are very happy to establish settlements along the river, and they must use fresh water for irrigation.
The Russian army carried a large amount of loot. After a long voyage, everyone finally saw the other shore in the distance when the sky became dark.
"Now furl the sails and let's row to the beach." Harozov, the flagship, gave the order. His ship took the lead, and other ships followed suit.
Because in the afternoon, the southerly wind strengthened significantly, which made the Russians' boat speed increase to the point where paddling was meaningless.
The boats took advantage of the rising tide and approached the beach full of crystal gravel.
It is another pristine beach. The warm south wind mixed with a hint of sea smell blows the flowing blond hair of all the people who landed in Rus.
The men disembarked, and the prisoners who were bound with ropes were unloaded.
They untied the ropes from the captive's feet, let him swim to the shore, and then gathered him together.
These prisoners kneeling on the beach are all women, and their faces are filled with sadness and fatigue. The panic that started from the last night and the hunger that filled the whole day made everyone lose the strength to fight.
If the prisoner is strong enough, he will try to escape.
The Russians wanted to use "starvation tactics" to wear down the captives to reflect the majesty of the victor and successfully tame them.
The Russians' axes began to chop down the oaks and pine trees on the shore, and a large number of branches were carried to the beach. Soon a bonfire was ignited using traditional tinder wood drilling techniques, and soon the number of fires on the beach grew to ten.
A batch of special iron plates were carried out from the warship, along with stone mortars and pottery pots obviously used for cooking.
Ten bags of seized dried wheat kernels and one bag of dried peas were also carried to the beach.
Since a batch of high-quality food was obtained after the battle, it should be distributed equally. People who have eaten enough dried fish have no objection to eating wheat immediately, so it is logical to bake some traditional wheat cakes.
In this matter, Harold Zuosen, as the war leader of this operation, has huge autonomy.
Each bag of dry wheat kernels is quite large, and it is too much to feed all the Russians.
The wheat and cooking utensils were brought to the beach. Who would do the cooking?
Harold Johnson approached the prisoners with frightened faces and shouted loudly: "I want some cooks to cook for us. If you are willing, crawl out for me! As long as you are willing to cooperate, you and your children can get food. Otherwise, Just starve to death.”
For a moment, no one responded, only a few people murmuring quietly drowned in the sea breeze.
"What? You don't plan to cooperate?" Harozov's tone became tougher. In order to show his majesty, he deliberately pulled out the ax from his waist and waved it to scare him.
It was a bad move, and many of the captured women simply screamed, as if the axe-wielding man in front of them was going to kill them next, just like they had done during the previous night's attack.
Harozov did not hesitate any longer, everyone was still waiting to eat!
Taking advantage of the soft afterglow of the setting sun, he quickly found the two wives and concubines of Lord Oxen of the Death Castle, pointed his ax at them, and ordered his two subordinates: "You take those two women and their children Drag them all over here."
Soon, the two women continued to hold their children, huddled together, looking up at these terrible people, with tears on their faces.
"Mom, I'm so hungry..." A child muttered silently out of hunger.
The woman hurriedly pressed her child's head to order him to shut up so as not to anger the savages.
The child's muttering was heard by Harold Johnson. "Oh? Woman, if you don't think about yourself, you also have to think about your child. Maybe after this hungry meal, your child will become a stiff corpse tomorrow morning."
Harozov said this deliberately to tell women how terrible hunger is. However, in women's understanding, the price of non-cooperation is that their children will be killed by these barbarians.
"Let me ask you one last thing, are you willing to cook for us?!"
The two women looked at each other and nodded slightly.
"Good. You two stand up."
Seeing the two young women standing up slowly with pitiful expressions, Harozov's aging heart stirred again, and an impulse to protect them couldn't help but arise in his heart! Even if they are all prisoners!
He continued the order: "Come to me immediately and hold out your hands."
The woman did so knowingly, and then Harozov pulled out a small dagger used for cutting meat and used it as a cutlery, cut the hemp rope around their wrists, and completely loosened them.
"Very good, woman. If you choose to cook for us, I will reward you with hands and feet that can move freely. Now go cook and be a slave with peace of mind. Don't think about resisting, otherwise you will die miserably. As long as you do Well, you can get a lot more in the future, now follow our people!”
The two women and their children were taken away, and their job was to pound the wheat kernels into powder with a stone mortar, pour water and sprinkle with salt, press it into a cake shape and bake it on a hot iron plate.
These things should be done by the Russians themselves. Since the war chief decided to let the prisoners cook, why should he do it himself?
Just wait quietly for the meal to be delivered to your mouth.
Others saw that the pirates did not act barbaric anymore, and seemed to simply let themselves cook. Many prisoners expressed their willingness to cooperate due to their hunger.
There were ten bonfires, each with four captured women serving as cooks, cooking entire sacks of grain.
Of all the delicacies, the Russians love wheat cakes and bread because they are rich in starch, and eating a small piece can quickly restore physical strength.
Even if the four prisoners were busy making coarse flour with stone mortars, it would take some time before they could make enough wheat cakes to feed thirty people.
The Russians still began to eat the dried fish they brought with them and the old wheat cakes that had been left for more than ten days and were as dry as stones. The only thing they could eat quickly was porridge mixed with wheat kernels and peas cooked in earthenware jars.
Feeling hungry, the Russians who were warming themselves by the fire immediately chewed the newly cooked wheat kernels into their stomachs. The feeling of fullness in the stomach quickly dispelled the feeling of hunger.
Then they gathered in twos and threes and commented on the prisoners who were still pounding flour.
The fish meat was stuffed between Arik's teeth. He found twigs and kept snapping them. His eyes couldn't help but glance at the two women cooking and their two daughters who were working together to stir the wheat porridge.
Judging from the action of pounding flour, they were obviously very experienced. Presumably the fat guy who died had been served by these two women on weekdays.
Arik did not pay any more attention to the two women. He glanced at Harozov, who was sitting leisurely. He never expected that the old guy's eyes would always fall on those two women.
What's going on here?
"Uncle Harozov, what's wrong with you?" Arik deliberately teased, "Did you fall in love with these two women?!"
As soon as this statement came out, the two women reacted the most violently. They endured hunger and loosened their hands that were holding the stone hammer to pound the flour.
Harozov smiled, sighed and said bluntly: "What two beautiful women, that man is really enjoying themselves."
"Soon, you want to enjoy it too?"
"Maybe." Harozov shrugged. "It's really a pleasure to eat fresh wheat cakes while they are freshly baked and crispy."
"Oh? I thought you planned to take them as your own. Uncle Harozov, your status is very noble, you can do it."
"You..." Harozov turned his head and looked at Arik, "My child, you have indeed grown up a lot. Your status is equally noble. It was you who killed their former master. You are qualified to be their new master."
"Forget it." Arik smiled reluctantly and said: "Look at the two of them, they can't be said to be very old, at least they are definitely older than me. I still like my Peravina, I hope she You can give birth to a son for me.”
"Hahaha! You young man, what you say is really interesting." After saying that, Harozov shook his head, said no more, and continued to sit quietly and wait for the fresh wheat cakes.
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Chapter 133 For the purpose of capturing prisoners
