After leaving the mouth of the Volkhov River, Arik's squadron searched for the correct west bank in the huge Ladoga Lake.
The Mercury led many long ships straight to the west. After a day of sailing, on a new morning, when the fog on the lake was dispersed by the sun, the dark green and narrow lake shoreline was in sight.
The fleet landed and set foot on this unexplored land.
Could it be that the mysterious Karelian people can be spied near here?
Crossbow-wielding warriors were ordered to explore the nearby woods.
Leather boots rustled on the soft pine carpet, and with keen eyesight, they noticed some agile pine trees jumping among the treetops.
Suddenly, an arrow flew past!
Those were the Kewen archers who were accompanying them. Shooting pine trees with bows and arrows was already their specialty. The one who shot this arrow was none other than Tyravis!
"Good job, boy!"
The Ross warriors praised him one after another, and the boy stepped forward with a smile and put away the arrow stuck in the pine tree. He didn't have time to deal with the little hand immediately, so he tied the tail with a small rope and hung it on the belt around his waist.
He is almost fourteen years old, a little older than Rurik. Even with his height, based on his bloodline, he is obviously unable to look like a golden bear like the strong man Ross.
He has a slightly flat face, and his hair and budding beard are both brown.
It is said that the language of the Karelian people is similar to that of the Kovin people. It is for this reason that the young man led his tribe and was temporarily incorporated into the First Flag Team to participate in this armed investigation.
Near noon, the team that was exploring the forest during the warmest time came back.
"Have you found any suspicious traces?" Arik asked in a slightly anxious tone.
"No, there are quite a few squirrels. This is for you." After saying that, Terravis untied the loot and threw it away.
European red squirrels are very big, and the Nordic red squirrels have even more outrageous tails. Such large tails help them climb and jump in the forest, which is also a favorite of hunters.
This pine tree has a broad tail that is almost half a stika. It is really not small. Arik almost held this huge capture in both hands, which also attracted everyone who was resting in the camp to watch.
The brothers gathered, and Arik stepped on a thick rotten tree, holding the squirrel's head with one hand and its tail with the other, showing off in public.
"You have all seen it! Our hunter has made a big capture from this! There is no one else in this place, and we can make a fortune here first!"
Everyone guessed what Arik meant, and they all raised their hands and cheered.
Arik is such a person. He has a noble status and a painful experience. His complicated and contradictory life experience makes him care about the feelings of his brothers very much. He is not a greedy person, nor does he deliberately give charity. He has made a lot of wealth through hard work, but he lacks ambition to grab new wealth.
The giant red squirrel moved his heart, and so did the soldiers of the First Flag Team!
Are squirrels easy to catch? Are the pine forests here filled with these little jumping beasts?
Even if they don't have a clear awareness, huge amounts of loot and hot money are pouring into the Russian society, and the once rare silver coins are nothing now. Although prices are skyrocketing, everyone still has a lot of money! The Duke even provided many labor opportunities for everyone, and even disabled people had the opportunity to save some silver coins to buy surviving wheat.
The price of once cheap squirrel skins has increased. Those small squirrel skins are not valuable. It is the large ones displayed in Arik's hand that are worthless! This piece alone can make a rat skin hat that is warm, comfortable and gorgeous at the same time. The price of unprocessed rat skin is two silver coins.
It's still early, and besides, the brothers need to explore the area at this location. If they really find the Karelian camp, wouldn't it be a huge fortune for the brothers to launch a raid? !
Besides, just to plunder squirrels, ferrets (brown fur in summer), and foxes is a worthwhile trip.
He gave his brothers three days off, which actually allowed him to start his own profession as a hunter.
Don't forget that the first flag team are all young people from the principality. Each of them is an excellent hunter and fisherman.
They were not as capable of shooting down the turtle doves on the treetops as their fellow Covins. Their archery skills were not good at all. The crossbows they had on hand made up for their technical disadvantages, making it easy to aim and kill.
The wooden arm crossbow is not very lethal to armored enemies, but it fully demonstrates what a crazy small beast hunting weapon can be.
Alert foxes swayed among the fallen leaves in twos and threes, and the sudden flying crossbow arrows completed the hunt silently.
They even hunted a miniature reindeer herd and carried eight deer back to the lakeside camp.
Some hunters stayed there for two days. Although they were on a hunting expedition in an unknown forest, their sufficient hunting experience prevented them from getting lost.
Centering on the camp at the landing site, the soldiers of the First Flag Team explored the lakeside forest with a radius of about 20 kilometers. They gained a lot from this trip. When everyone returned and took a roll call, they confirmed that no one was missing. Everyone showed off their prey to each other and ate the half-cooked meat. They quickly came to an obvious conclusion - this is a place where no one is missing. Human area.
They were old warriors who were covered in iron, and many of their equipment were used to kill enemies. They never thought that they would now become wilderness hunters, so that the protective chain armor became a complete burden.
There are foxes, squirrels, wolverines, martens, and reindeer, among which squirrels are the most abundant. Whether directly shooting or making a net trap, each warrior has at least one squirrel skin to hunt. Some good hunters, such as the masters of hunting among the Kovin people, may have ten squirrel skins scraped around their waists.
The young Tyravis was just such a talent. He tied the squirrel's tail and limbs with ropes until they were completely unfolded, and carefully peeled the skin with a steel dagger. The meat was naturally roasted and eaten, leaving behind the subcutaneous fat in the leather. He scraped it clean with great care. After such simple processing, the untanned leather dried in the shade and did not rot for a long time.
He thought about it, and after completing this mission, he immediately sold the leather in New Roseburg for money.
They got back on the boat, and everyone had an unexpected harvest. They are not satisfied at all. Instead, they regard unknown enemies as wild animals running around, eager to be hunted by them.
Soon, the squadron advancing along the western shore of the Great Lake passed a river that entered the lake.
What kind of river is this? No one knows.
Aric admired Taravis's superb shooting skills. He was on the flagship Mercury, patted the boy's shoulder and asked casually: "Do you know what kind of river this is?"
"Me? I have no way of knowing."
"Strange, you Kewen people have never set foot in this area?"
Arik's question was really retarded, and Terravis was too embarrassed to scold him, so he could only say: "If anyone is active here, they are from Karelia."
"Really? I see that this is clearly no man's land. For three days, my men surveyed a large area. Everything that moved was small animals. There were no living people or even bears. This lakeside forest is a good place. "
"How about we enter the river and investigate upstream?" Telavis asked kindly.
"Forget it. My brother said that the Karelians should move north of the Great Lakes. It's really strange. If it weren't for the cold, clear fresh water, I would have thought I was swimming on a new ocean. Where is the northern shore of the Great Lakes? ?”
"Maybe, this is a fresh water sea..."
Arik shook his head and did not answer any further questions.
The river they passed was actually the Burnaya River. This river was extraordinary. As long as they joined the current and followed the correct waterway, they could reach the core area of the Suomi allies in Finland. But in the maze-like complex upper reaches of the lake, how easy is it to find an extremely tortuous waterway? Without a map, ships entering the upper reaches would have to make mistakes here and there. Even if the correct waterway is found, it is bound to be a very tortuous and time-consuming voyage.
The glacial lake area in central Finland nourishes thousands of rivers, which turn into large rivers that either flow into the Gulf of Finland, the Gulf of Bothnia, or into the sea-like Lake Ladoga.
Abundant water resources nourished dense pine and fir forests, where squirrels and martens jumped freely, and also raised large beasts and people.
But the forest is not a place to raise reindeer. The original meaning of Karelia is "herders", and they do not foolishly graze in the forest area.
There is a lot of grassland in the north of the big lake, which is a good place for natural grazing.
However, it is not just the Karelians who live around the lake. Other small ethnic groups who speak similar languages are also living their own closed and indifferent lives.
Even the leaders of those small tribes must recognize the authority of the Karelian tribal alliance, serve them, and provide tribute to the Karelian leaders.
An unnamed offshore island appeared in front of him, and Arick knew from his feeling that this was another uninhabited island.
Uninhabited islands often have their own resources. For example, some birds use them as a habitat. Hunters wait until they can pick up a batch of bird eggs and put them on the hot stone slabs to make delicious omelettes, which are really good for picnics.
They successfully passed the waterway between the island and the mainland, but until now, the entire voyage had been shrouded in boredom.
People rowing didn't even have to exert any effort; many simply put away their oars. The Mercury and the longships behind it all had triangular sails, and they were drifting slowly to the north, blown by the warm southerly wind in summer.
enemy? Do the enemies really live on the shore?
People even began to suspect that the Duke had overestimated those unknown enemies and actually regarded the powerful enemies described by the Suomi and Tavastian people as really powerful enemies.
It has been ten days since I left the Novgorod people. Except for the familiar faces of the brothers, I really can't even see anyone else.
They start to become lazy, and often in this case, something abnormal suddenly appears in the distance.
Arik was awakened from his nap by the sailors. He hurried to the higher stern deck and indeed saw the boats floating on the lake in the distance.
"What is that? Is it a canoe?" he asked.
The sailor messaged: "After so many days, we finally meet other people."
"No. Those are prey, we..." Arik wanted to kill them, but then he thought about it. He has been wandering in unknown waters until now. He has no idea of the way forward. Who owns those boats? I'm afraid It's the Karelians.
"Let's go at full speed and catch up with the boat before it escapes!"
Arik immediately issued an order, and the Mercury, which had a human propeller, began to reach its maximum speed.
Those long boats took the order even more. They lowered their sails and extended their large oars into the water, like a giant water strider rushing through the water.
When the boss asked to capture someone alive, the brothers would not do it, regardless of the severity.
Looking at the canoe, the fishermen on the boat naturally noticed something unusual, and their instinct drove the fishermen to paddle quickly to escape.
Looking at the squadron that entered combat mode, the fleet was advancing at the fastest speed it could achieve. Soon, they saw a lonely canoe. There were actually three canoes in front of them, and they were all running for their lives.
The two sides have completely unequal strengths, just like a leopard chasing a rabbit, and the result is naturally the victory of the Ross Squadron.
The arrogant Russian warriors forced the canoe to stop. The warriors roared and even drowned out the questioning and shouting of the accompanying Kovin people.
The Covin people saw the frightened fishermen on the fishing boat. There were men, women and even children here. They were trembling with fear, but their appearance and appearance made the people of Kewen familiar and even friendly.
One canoe was torsion-slingshotted into the hull of the large ship, which was quickly silenced, and the man who fell overboard grabbed hold of the dropped cable and was pulled aboard the Mercury.
When the other two boats saw the situation, the fishermen were completely helpless and were easily captured by the Russians who boarded the boat. They were tied up and twisted and sent to the flagship Mercury.
They were all frightened rabbits. The man seemed calm, but in fact he was so scared that he was as stiff as a tree. Only his big eyes were trembling. The woman was so frightened that she trembled and huddled up holding the crying child.
There is no hope that Arik would have any sympathy for these people. If they started killing, he would not mind using an ax to chop them down. After all, he would become ruthless after doing this kind of thing too often.
After all, Arik behaved very rationally on this issue. Even if he wanted to kill someone, he would do so only after obtaining useful information.
He nodded to Terravis: "Boy, it would be great if you understood the language of these prisoners. I hope you can understand Karelian."
"let me try."
The face of Taravis made the prisoner feel a little bit safe. He sat down and asked casually, which pleased him. Although the other party's language was a bit strange, it seemed that some words were just modified.
Are you a Karelian? The prisoner denied it.
The women and children were still huddled together, obviously not trying to get these people to cooperate. Only the captured man claimed that he was not Karelian at all.
Who are they? A word called "Vipslane".
The Vipslenians? Are they on friendly terms with the Karelians?
The prisoners' words were also very clear. They, the Vipslenians, or the Vips, existed as servants of the Karelians.
From this, Terravis accurately judged that the Ross Squadron finally officially entered the area controlled by the Karelia forces. The Duke's previous prediction was also very correct. The boats of the seemingly powerful Karelia people were also common canoes in Finland. Such boats, which were more advanced than rafts, would be like shaking a tree from a tree when encountering a large Ross ship.
Perhaps a young boy was trustworthy, and the prisoner revealed some very crucial information that the entire squadron needed to understand most.
The prisoner explained it clearly, and when Taravis relayed it, Arik was overjoyed...
