The Northern Alliance knew nothing about the Danish military operations for a while!
Ragnar's opinion is correct. If the victorious Danish coalition breaks into Lake Malaren, it is perfectly fine to give the locals a heavy blow. If done correctly, they could loot in a day and then be gone.
Of course, they are only given one day.
Once the Danish Alliance's actions were delayed, things immediately became particularly troublesome.
The Danes destroyed the Ostara tribe, and it was impossible for the Mellaren tribe to get the news in two or three days.
However, some of the fleeing fishermen raided the boat and entered the upstream waterway and broke into another lake.
These fishermen do not care about their own property, not even their wives and children. In times of crisis, they seem to act like cowards.
This is not the case.
It would make sense to call them a cowardly escape. They fled to another lake area to explain the terrible things to the local allies of the Gran tribe.
The air in the entire world is clear, and the Gran people can see the thick smoke burning in the distance.
The Ostara tribe seemed to be trapped in a burning crater, so far away that the allied tribes had already noticed something strange before the fishermen who reported it.
The allied tribes all thought that there was a rare forest fire. When some fishermen broke in, they learned something terrible.
The fleeing fishermen in Ostara planned to move in to help, but their complaints turned into an alarm.
A small tribe with only more than 500 people to resist the Danish army covering the entire bay?
Pooh!
When the Granites learned that the disaster was approaching, they naturally estimated that they would be the next to suffer.
Therefore, while the Danish coalition forces were enjoying a feast of plunder, the nearby Northern Alliance tribes that had not yet suffered disaster hurriedly packed up their belongings, drove a large number of cattle and sheep, and strategically moved to the north.
At least three small tribes got the news, and eventually as many as two thousand people began a relatively orderly retreat.
People sit on bullock carts and drive cattle and sheep.
There were also many people rowing boats, moving as far as possible along the small river leading to the north, and then switching to overland evacuation.
The Northern Alliance tribes that have infiltrated into the Yotaland Highlands are actively evacuating the pastures they have managed for a long time. Many people are complaining why no one came to stop the Danish army.
There was a businessman from the north named Fo Degen.
That's right, this guy spent a crazy sum of two pounds of gold to buy the steel sword carefully ordered by the great businessman Gould.
This person's business is to find tribes in the south, buy local cowhide, sheepskin, and other animal husbandry products on a large scale, and transport them to the north for sale at a profit. In order to maximize profits, this person also built some houses on a small island near the Melalen Market.
He hired more than thirty local poor people to process leather for them, making them into daily necessities and selling them at high prices. In fact, the so-called employment here is close to using slaves.
Fordegen only gave them food and shelter, and received their labor. Especially when large amounts of leather were shipped to his island, the group had little time to rest. After consuming a huge amount of assets for a steel sword, Fo Degen felt that it was worth spending a huge amount of money for a treasure. The next question was how to make the money back.
For the Siweiya Tribal Alliance in the north, many people continue to immigrate to the south for better grazing pastures.
They followed a rocky river southward into another large lake. Hundreds of years later, a city grew up on the banks of this stone river, which became the future iron-smelting town in central and southern Sweden.
Many people settled here and gradually formed the Hjelmalen tribe, which is also the name of the lake where it is located.
But the shores of Lake Yermalen were not the best pasture for grazing. More tribes were still expanding southward until they encountered immigrants from Gotland heading north.
The peaceful relationship ended when the Gotlanders joined the Danish-dominated alliance.
At the beginning of May, after leaving the Merlaren market merchant Vodgen, his small fleet entered the port of the still prosperous Ostara tribe, and then continued eastward along the river to find the Gran people. of settlements.
Fordegen built his own trading stronghold in the Gran tribe, and he has been operating here for many years. He always felt that the Ostara people placed their settlements on the coast, which was really close to Gotland.
Unexpectedly, disaster really struck.
There is a huge lake in the west with lush green mountains and lakes. The people of the Northern Alliance who expanded here called this lake "Vetern", which is the name of the "God of the Forest".
Lake Wittern has an important waterway, and the river flows all the way into Burrow Bay, which is the harbor where the Ostara tribe is located.
The geographical environment of this place is good, and there are as many as five tribes belonging to the Northern Alliance living on both sides of the long waterway.
This waterway is the natural border of the Northern Tribal Alliance, or in other words, the border of the Svealand Plain. After crossing this river, heading south is the Götaland Highlands in a narrow sense.
Thick smoke billowed from the east, and the leader of the Gran people, who felt that something was wrong, decided to take his people and flee for their lives.
The Gran people have a conscience. When the leader announced the evacuation, he also sent people to catch up with the fleeing fishermen in Ostara. After joining forces, they continued to swim upstream and notified their allies upstream that the Danes were incoming.
Whether the upstream allies move or not is no longer a concern of the Gran tribe.
"Damn it, more than ten years of business success has come to naught! You have all run away, I don't want to be the prey of the Danes!" Businessman Forde was unwilling to do anything, because this year's business was disrupted by the war before he could do well.
The disaster had come. He urgently took the small amount of leather he purchased and a lot of block cheese. He tried his best to remove all the soft goods he had placed in the Gran tribe shop, and started a difficult escape journey. .
There were more than 500 Gran people, and they formed a huge land marching team, shuttling through the cracks of the forest.
Even the businessman Fo Degen was part of this marching team.
It is very strange to say that merchants from the Northern Alliance usually travel by boat. Even for immigration, boats are the mainstream means of transportation.
Due to geographical reasons, there is no waterway that can unobstructedly enter Lake Mälaren.
The eastern harbor was ablaze, and no one dared to detect what the Danes were doing. In short, the shortcut to retreat to Lake Mälaren from the eastern harbor no longer existed.
The retreating people could only choose a compromise method, which was to walk for up to 70 kilometers through the cracks in the forest to find the Hjelmalen tribe. From there, take a boat back to your hometown in Mälaren.
As for what will happen to the future lives of the Gran people who evacuated their homes, Fodegen no longer cares about it.
Vodgen's caravan of more than fifty people, riding in more than twenty ox carts, rushed towards the Yelmalen tribe along with the moving crowd.
Everyone knows the direction, but if you are moving forward in an area with no path, you won't be able to go far in a day.
that's the truth.
Since they had to take care of as many as 2,000 livestock, the team was slowed down a bit. The speed is slow, but Fo Degen is not worried about his wealth and life at all.
Because he maintains a group of mercenaries in his small caravan, and as for the Gran people, they are all long-term friends.
Look at this team. The only beast that can threaten everyone's life and safety will definitely stay away from this formation.
However, two days after the team retreated, some ragged men suddenly appeared.
"What's going on?! A group of strange people?" Fodegen, who was leisurely lying on the bullock cart, heard the report of his mercenaries and sat up vigilantly.
The mercenary said hurriedly: "Sir, maybe we should be on guard."
"Be on guard? You should be on guard. Let brothers prepare for battle. Remember, you must guard my property! When I return to Melalen, I will give you rewards."
"As you command, my lord."
The merchant's mercenaries drew their swords one after another. The Gran people also took up arms and even took out long-handled scythes for cutting grass.
Everyone was forced to flee under the pressure of the Danish invaders. Suddenly a group of people emerged from the forest. Who can guarantee that they are not enemies?
At first, it looked like more than a dozen people emerging from the woods. From a distance, those who came were generally disheveled and unkempt, but as those people got closer, their appearance was completely revealed.
There were actually quite a few women holding their children! There are also some frustrated men! There is also a group of children without adult supervision.
More and more people are running out of the hidden woods. They are running wildly on the grass in the forest, as if they have found some treasure.
Even if it was a group of women, they rushed over, causing the Gran people to point their spearheads at them.
The unaware leader immediately ordered: "Men, come forward and prepare your shields, swords and spears. Women, take care of our cattle and sheep!"
After all, the Glens are also a Viking tribe. Although their population is small, they are also well-trained in resisting attacks.
Most of the men, women, and children were walking with bare hands, and a few were on crutches. When he encountered the Gran people, he cried on the spot: "Give us something to eat."
Many women knelt on the ground, holding on to their children, and prayed to the shield-bearing Grans for food.
They complained directly about the fall of Ostara and what they had experienced in recent days.
"Big leader, they are from Ostara. Many people managed to escape." Some tribesmen urgently reported to the leader.
"Let's go and have a look."
The leader of the Gran people shook his neck, and he led a dozen people out of the shield wall and squatted directly next to a poor girl. And this woman immediately raised her infant child: "Sir, at least please save him. My child is going to starve to death."
The leader looked around and saw these ragged guys sitting on the ground. They looked completely harmless.
"You... are so pitiful. It seems that our escape was correct." After saying that, the leader took the child and immediately ordered his subordinates: "Get me a wet nurse to save this child. Come over with the cheese and hurry up. !”
His subordinates immediately said: "But sir, we don't have much food in our hands! Don't you think these Ostara people are too much?"
The leader was indeed moved with compassion, and for the time being he returned the infant child to its mother. After he stood up, he saw a large number of people sitting on the grass, "Ah! Why do I feel that you...are more people than me?!"
For a moment, the leader of the Gran felt that his kindness needed to be stopped. After all, they are allies, but not their own tribe.
Even as allies, it is based on the fact that the Ostara tribe still exists. Now that the homes of these refugees have been destroyed, what obligation does the Gran people have to support them?
Giving each refugee a little cheese is already a favor.
Unless there is a man in his tribe who is willing to immediately accept a refugee woman as his new wife.
The Gran people gathered the refugees together on the order of the leader, and then someone came carrying a small sack.
The leader stood on a bullock cart, looking at the refugees and yelled: "Now, I will give you food, come and get it."
In an instant, hungry refugees flocked to the cart, and then the leader himself spread the cheese cubes in the sacks.
Just like wolves tearing apart their prey, hungry people reveal their ferocious nature. For precious food, the refugees are really fighting for it based on their ability.
The young child was crying, the child's mother was screaming, and the yelling and cursing continued.
Those fleeing loggers, they tried their best to grab food and stuffed it into their mouths as soon as possible.
One woman grabs a piece of cheese, and immediately someone else tries to take it away.
The chaotic scene caused the Gran leader standing high to grit his teeth. Look at these hungry people. In order to eat, they actually dare to bite the fingers of their own people in order to snatch a piece of cheese.
In the chaos, a dexterous figure got into the chaotic crowd.
She was the older sister of the two sisters. Even though her legs were injured, she had no choice but to burrow in close to the ground like a groundhog in order to fill her and her younger sister's stomachs. After being stepped on some times, she caught three small pieces of cheese and stuffed them into her clothes.
The girl is not greedy. She knows that if she continues to stay here, she will either be seen carrying food and cause fights, or she will be trampled to death by her fellow tribesmen.
The younger sister sat blankly on the ground, the breeze blowing her blond hair, and the golden threads swaying in front of her blue eyes. She didn't care about the chaos not far away. She was already in a trance due to hunger. Finally, she saw a dexterous figure returning with a smile, and her spirits were lifted.
It's my sister!
The girl looked left and right, then quietly took out a small piece of cheese from her arms, and then looked around cautiously: "Eat it quickly. If others see it, they will definitely come and grab it."
Without saying a word, my sister grabbed this small piece and stuffed it into her mouth. Although there was a slight smell, the two girls had completely ignored it due to hunger.
The two girls shared a piece of food, but the elder sister still had two pieces in her arms. Even though the sisters were still hungry, for the sake of the future, they could only save food until they found a safe place. .
Now, no one respects the two sisters because they are the granddaughters of the leader. In other words, no one has noticed that there are still members of the leader's family surviving.
"Sister, what should I do next? I want to continue eating."
"No. We still have to leave some food to the port of Hjermalen." The elder sister hugged her younger sister and comforted her.
"Can we... get there? I have never been there. I... have never even been out of our bay."
"Me too. My dear, we have no choice. I hope we can finally go to Melalen and try our luck there. Maybe the leader of Melalen will take us in."
"Melarenites...really?"
"Of course." The elder sister's little hand gently pinched the younger sister's neck: "We are the women of the Ostara chief family, and they will take care of us. In the future, when we grow up, get married and give birth to a son, our Ostara And Tara was restored.”
My sister really couldn’t understand what she said.
In fact, my sister would not have said such mature words before the disaster. Even though the two sisters were nine and seven years old, under the threat of disaster, the elder sister was forced to become a "sensible adult".
