Those who escaped fled south along the stream. They did not know the true strength of the Russians. They only knew that they were a group of terrifying enemies, more difficult to deal with than the Karelians.
Those who brought the message rolled and crawled away like the core of Tavastia, shouting and screaming in its sacrificial center.
The bad news quickly reached the ears of the leader of the alliance, Watkard. How could he believe that half of the thousand troops sent out were dead after one battle?
The bad news spread, and the people who delivered the news ran wildly on the forest roads. In just one day, most of the villages in the tribal alliance had learned the news. Although this news is too crazy, a large number of immigrants who fled back are saying the same thing in shock.
No! The situation is developing towards an irreversible disaster!
Because regardless of whether the Rus really want to launch a war against the core area of Tavastia, at least they have the ability and probably the motivation to do so. Exchanging thoughts, if the Tavastians learned that there was a tribe nearby that was much weaker than themselves, would they have friendly relations with each other? Conquer by force of course!
Although the messengers and the returning immigrants had different words, their core meaning was the same.
What Alliance Leader Watkard heard was like a bolt from the blue. Even a thousand reinforcements could not solve the matter. What should we do next?
He instinctively thought of continuing to increase his troops, and he would lead the army to continue fighting against the dangerous Russians!
Before that, he urgently summoned the leaders of all villages, hoping that many wise men could brainstorm a better way to defend against the enemy.
There were more than thirty people sitting in the huge shack at once, with anxiety written on everyone's faces. It was clearly a gathering of spring flowers, but the severe cold of winter seemed to have followed the Russians who came across the sea to kill them.
But the question also arises, who are the Russians?
Then a village leader stood up and asked in public: "Who really knows these Rus? Are they called this name? Are they also a kind of Varangians?"
The messenger who was invited to the meeting was full of affirmations, and even beat his chest and swore to all the noble leaders that what he saw and heard was true.
"They...are the Varyags! They are the Varyags who once attacked the Suomi people in the south and captured people as slaves."
"Is that true?" Another leader asked the messenger: "We didn't provoke them."
The messenger continued: "Provoked. We beat their pets."
"Those Kewen people? What do these mean? Just because of this, we are going to be driven out and killed?" The village leader who spoke really didn't understand.
Most of the village leaders found it puzzling. Everyone had just begun to understand the Rus people. Even though they suffered a disastrous defeat in the first encounter, how could this make sense?
For a moment, everyone was divided again, and someone stood up in this noisy environment.
The bald old village leader stood up with a wooden staff and shouted: "To the east are the Karelians, who are constantly encroaching on our territory. Now there is another Russian, and they want to wipe us out. If this is the case, we Isn’t it a matter of life and death?”
"Then let's fight!" Someone crushed a piece of wood to show his determination.
The atmosphere needed someone to stir up the atmosphere. Since the bald old man represented his village and hoped to see the war through to the end, other leaders followed suit.
Originally, the leader of the alliance, Watkard, thought that some people would shrink back because of timidity, but now it seems that he is overly worried.
In fact, if you think about it carefully, where can we retreat? To the east is the territory of the old enemy, to the north are the aggressive Rus' people who suddenly appeared, and to the south are the Suomi people who have been peaceful for a long time. If we really retreat, we will retreat to the territory of the Suomi people, and then our friends will have nothing left to do.
But wait! Why couldn't Tavastia win Suomi's support? Assuming that Tavastia declines after the war or is even completely defeated, this area will be the domain of the Rus invaders, and the Suomi people will eventually become slaves of the Rus. Besides, it’s not like the Russians haven’t attacked Suomi before.
Watkard thought of a strategy to get reinforcements, but Suomi reinforcements were unlikely to appear in a short time.
Now that everyone has decided to launch a desperate counterattack against the Rus, Tavastia must rely on her own strength to defeat the enemy.
Many village leaders have reached a consensus, and Watkard, who is the leader of the alliance, stood up in response to the atmosphere. He knew that there was no need to continue the meeting.
"My friends, perhaps this is the most dangerous moment in Tavastia. My brother Vatyala will never lie, and neither will our compatriots who have escaped. If our brothers who stayed in the north are defeated, what will happen next? It is our turn to be destroyed. If the war breaks out in our territory, no matter whether we win or not, we will pay huge losses. War is inevitable, so let the war start outside the territory! I decided to personally lead the army to crusade! "
Watkard wanted to "conquer personally", and everyone agreed.
In this way, bigger problems also follow.
Tavastia is just a tribal alliance, and Watkard is just a man with great prestige. This man's success lies in his military exploits. In this life-and-death situation, as a war hero, of course he has to take action personally.
He was elected as the highest military governor by all the village chiefs. The scene of this election was really like the early Roman Senate's election of Dictado.
Where there is the highest, there must be the second. A man named Nuori (Arrow Cluster) is considered the second military commander.
This Nuori is naturally one of the strong contenders for the position of alliance leader. Brothers Watkad and Watyala usually do not oppose this person. At such a time of life and death, this man leads a group of old and weak people to guard the territory, mainly in Vatkad felt relieved that the east was defended against a possible sneak attack by the Karelians.
Although the Tavastia Tribal Alliance is very powerful, they are just the strong ones in the "Novice Village".
They have 20,000 people and can summon 5,000 men who can take up arms. They can also summon a group of female warriors when necessary.
But who would expect a woman’s fighting power?
How many people should be sent north to defend the enemy? Watkard called on all villages to send out their best troops.
The war is related to the life and death of many people. The leaders of each village have unreserved support, and the news is always echoed.
Fathers take their sons to the battlefield, and women bake dried meat for their husbands and sons as dry food.
They bring their best weapons without reservation, so that a large number of warriors have this image.
The warriors were covered in animal skins, often made of deer leather. Some strong men wore wolf or bear heads on their heads, and more had their fluffy hair tied up with a hemp rope.
Each of them has a short bear hunting spear, usually two or three javelins, axes on their waists, and wooden shields on their backs. Many people also carry short bows and iron cluster arrows slowly in their leather quivers.
A very typical Tavastian warrior has this image. A large number of warriors began to gather in the priest center. The people who had been inspired by the decisive battle to fight to the death to become infinite fighters saw their army again, and everyone was full of confidence!
The priests, dressed like beasts, danced around the bonfire, playing bronze reeds and playing wonderful music to enhance the priestly atmosphere.
Ten sheep were slaughtered and their blood was sacrificed to the gods.
The most distinguished female driver wore a bear skin and wore a crown of owl feathers on her black hair. She knelt in front of the flames with open hands and then knelt down on the ground. Then she knelt down and prayed in a deep voice: "God of the Earth! Give your child a great victory! Protect me and don't let evil Let me kill all my enemies, and let me kill all my enemies..."
The sheep were completely burned. As the saying goes, ashes return to dust and dust returns to earth. The sheep turned into powder were considered as tribute to the earth god.
There is of course a deeper symbolic meaning here, because the Tavastians have very similar beliefs to the Kovins, the northernmost deer herders (Lapps). They believe in the sea of souls, that "ocean" beneath the earth. , is also the destination of all souls.
More than 3,000 warriors stood up, ranging from fifteen to fifty years old, and most of Tavastia's new troops were among them.
The number of soldiers left behind can still reach 2,000. This means ten-year-old boys are also armed to become bow-wielding warriors to protect their homes.
For this sudden war, Tavastia has mobilized more than 6,000 so-called warriors, which is basically close to their limit.
There is light in the eyes of a famous soldier. For this sudden threat of war, Tavastia has already bet his own national destiny.
Is this sloppy? Very sloppy indeed.
Going to the battlefield in person for the decisive battle does not seem to be a rational choice at all. Even if the decisive battle is going on, why not wait for work? But things have already happened. The unruly Tavastians are unwilling to lose control of the newly conquered territory, and have no intention of negotiating with their opponents. They have a more magical long-term vision and realize that the Russians are the same as the fatal threat, and they are also Realize the truth that the lips are dead and the teeth are cold.
When Tavastia's largest expeditionary force began to leave their villages and gather at the sacrificial center, the most heavily defended mountain fortress, a group of messengers had already paddled canoes into the lake area. The next step was to enter the river and reach the Suomi people. In the core area, request the local chiefs to send troops for support.
In any case, facing the risk of war, the Suomi merchants currently staying in the Tavastia territory are ready to take action. These guys didn't think that the Tavastians who had assembled a strong force would be defeated in the second battle. Instead, they thought that they could assemble such a large army in two or three days. If they went south in a large scale, Suomi (the people of the lake) would be forced to Fused with Tavastia. Businessmen are subconsciously afraid of these people, and they also subconsciously hope that the Russians can dampen their spirit. As for the relationship between the Rus and the Varyag bandits, the Suomi fur traders did not care, as if they were just bystanders of the war.
The Tavastian army completed the final preparations for its strongest expedition on the eighth day after the messengers and fleeing immigrants issued the war warning.
The leader of the alliance, Watkard, was in a complicated mood. The Russians were able to defeat half of his brother's troops in one battle. This expedition defeated the Russians, but he was afraid that his own side would also suffer a tragic victory. This should be our destiny. It is unrealistic to occupy new territory without bloodshed.
Since Tavastia and Rus both covet the resources of the great river basin in the north, let's fight to the death.
Compared with other tribes, the Tavastians are indeed better in military appearance.
All villages, large and small, sent out troops, and their leaders or the leader's strong sons became military commanders one after another, leading the villagers to the battlefield. Therefore, they took the village as a unit and formed a group at once. More than thirty armed groups of various sizes were formed.
Among them, the armed group of leader Watkard has the largest number of troops, but it is not much higher than the second one. Precisely because the main large villages are only half as strong as each other, Tavastia has maintained a long-term simple military democracy. Even now as the highest military commander, Watkard is still not a "Dictrad" with monopoly power.
They couldn't keep the pace of the march uniform. At least they formed more than thirty groups. Facing the march of more than 200 kilometers, everyone would not break up the ranks.
There was a sudden rain. People took shelter under trees and continued to serve the reindeer carrying supplies.
The rain continued for three days, and on the fourth day when it was still foggy and rainy, they dragged their wet bodies and continued to move while eating the moist dried meat.
The rain dropped the temperature so low that it made people shiver.
This situation undoubtedly poured cold water on the hot-headed Tavasti runner-up in a practical sense.
Some people say this is not a good sign, while others say this is a test from the God of the Earth to everyone.
The leader of the alliance, Watkard, was very thoughtful. He promoted this message in the ranks: "This rain is the gods helping us! The Russians who came from afar will become tired due to the rain, and the enemy is weak. We are still strong, and we will defeat them quickly." Kill them all and take away the iron tools."
The focus of the information lies in the last reason, which is that everyone can obtain iron weapons through the battlefield. If you use your ability to grab it, people will ignore the wetness on their bodies and become eager to try.
On the other hand, on the Russian side, the facts are as Watkard said.
When the Russians set off on the expedition, they considered the possibility of getting caught in the rain, and there was no good way to deal with it.
Rurik decided to besiege the occupied Old Gray Squirrel Hill Fort. It was not that he did not have the ability to successfully attack by force. He simply wanted to encircle the point and call for reinforcements.
Ross and his allies were on alert. Even if a group of people went hunting in the forest to minimize the loss of supplies, most of the soldiers were still rooted at the edge of the forest and monitored every move of the mountain fort.
When dark clouds began to appear in the sky, the Russians quickly started logging on a large scale, and then built a large number of simple shacks on the forest plains. More than ten people gathered in one shack to take shelter from the rain.
It can be said that Rurik's situation is much better. His tent blocked most of the rain. However, he had to live with the humidity and cold during these rainy days.
This rainfall was simply a gift to the defenders of the mountain fort. The trapped Watyala once knelt down in the rain to thank God. The defenders of the mountain fort knew that the forest was full of enemies, and they had no doubt that "reinforcements were on the way."
Those filthy and horrible things were washed away by the rain, and a large number of pottery urns were placed in the open space of the mountain fort to serve as perfect water containers.
People can go without eating for a long period of time, but dehydration in a short period of time will cause people to lose their ability to fight. The rain was like nectar, which objectively improved the ability of Tavastia's lone army in the mountain fort to hold on.
The rain finally came to an end, and the appearance of the sun caused a thick fog!
The trapped beasts did not use the mist to escape, but were afraid of the bloodthirsty enemies hidden in the mist.
The fog has cleared and the forest is rapidly evaporating in the sunlight.
Thanks to this untimely rain, Rurik, who had hoped that the Oulu River would calm down a little so that the long boat could successfully enter the river, estimated that he would have to wait a little longer.
Of course, the Russians had the strength to maintain the siege for a while. The icing on the cake was that on the day after the rains completely ended, three long boats sailed against the fast river water and brought a batch of slightly pickled cod meat. , and a shipload of slightly damp oats arrived at the Rus' camp.
Their method of transportation really surprised Rurik—it was trackers.
The people who built Kovinstad really thought of ingenious ways to carry out their support tasks. Rurik soon learned that it turned out that they initially relied on their strong arms to paddle against the current, and the path was about the location of the old Salmon Lord mountain fort. The next step is for everyone to get off the boat and use the cable to pull the boat all the way to the current camp. Of course, such heroic behavior came at a price. When they unloaded the precious supplies, the trackers all lay down as if they were relieved of their burdens, and then panted...
Isn't the sudden supply also a "reward from God" to the Russians?
But their god is here. Rurik is the son of God.
People ate the wheat brought from the rear and had the opportunity to stew salted fish broth. Everyone in the army was eligible for a delicious meal, and the delicious smell of the stewed fish and the enticing smell of the wheat porridge naturally drifted to the tower guarding the mountain fort. In the noses of the Vastia defenders, pitifully, these defenders only had a decreasing number of moldy dried meat, completely stinky uneaten reindeer meat, and other than that, there was only rainwater in the urn.
The situation was deteriorating rapidly, and Vatyala hoped reinforcements would come to the rescue before everyone ran out of food and water.
Somehow, his wish is about to come true!
