The power of the Russians is expanding towards the White Sea, especially with the Bear Festival Fortress north of Lake Ladoga as a stronghold. Bear hunters use heavy weapons such as sled-mounted torsion slingshots to directly launch javelins to accurately strike at wandering polar bears. .
As long as bears are not allowed to get close, hunting bears is like dressing up in archery and loses the danger, and the hunter just gets fun in the killing.
For every bear skin sold to the prince, the worst one could get was ten silver coins, and usually twenty silver coins could be obtained.
As long as you kill a bear, you will get two hundred pounds of oats. This is a sure-fire deal.
Even with powerful weapons, bears are not animals that are as often seen as squirrels. What's more, the use of reindeer sleighs and torsion slingshots to shoot bears is highly restricted by climate and geography.
There are freshwater seals in Lake Ladoga. Wandering polar bears will flow around the lakeside, looking for cracks caused by the mutual squeeze of the ice, and guard their holes to wait for the seals to capture them. They even seek out arctic fox and marten burrows to actively hunt, hunt wandering reindeer bravely when they find them, and seek out dormant beehives. They will eat anything, but they always give priority to watching the approaching shadows on the ice.
Then, he was hit by a javelin that suddenly flew towards him, and he suddenly fell to the ground after walking a few steps by the frozen lake.
The hunters from Bear Festival Town faced a vast unknown land, especially the large area of forest in the east, which did not look like the activity area of the defeated Karelia people.
There was a bear hunting team of more than 20 people, driving their own reindeer sleigh, and led by two registered deer herder guides, along the east coast of Lake Ladoga.
Their empty sled began to yield pleasant cargoes, which were dismembered bear skins, severed bear heads and paws, and some huge pieces of meat that were frozen hard. They even cleverly cut the bloody bear meat into strips and strung them on branches on the spot, so that even if the meat was as frozen as stone, it would be cooked quickly by the campfire.
In fact, they themselves wore heavy leather coats tanned by polar bear skins. The leather was even cut into hoods, and they used fox skins to make gloves. Their feet were on deerskin boots made with Slavic craftsmanship. They even wore wooden-framed sunglasses. They were really a group of "people in suits." It was this kind of dress that made them extremely weird, absurd, and even terrifying.
Because they saw a larger human settlement!
"Where is that?" the leader asked.
Although the deer herders who led the way didn't know much about it, they racked their brains and came up with a possibility - the Ludi people's camp.
If this large army launches a direct attack, the settlement can be conquered in a short time.
There are only about twenty brothers, and what's worse is that everyone is generally elderly. But even a twenty-year-old young and powerful boy, even wearing iron armor, would not dare to launch an attack rashly.
Because the settlement people who were suspected of being Ludi people fought back and used wooden sticks to beat them with their absolute numerical superiority, they were able to kill all the brothers.
However, if the brothers went with the purpose of trade, the situation might be different.
The Ludi people lived their own lives. In the past, they paid tribute to the powerful Karelia people every year, and even handed over some women as slaves. They exist as surrenderers, and now they have learned about the huge disaster in the north from the mouths of the escapees. The powerful Karelian tribal alliance has fallen apart, and the shackles around their necks seem to be gone.
The Ludi people no longer had to pay tribute, and they also knew that the remaining forces of the Karelian Alliance moved eastward along a river, and a small number of people joined the Ludi tribe.
The Karelians who escaped were accepted, but the war stories they told were too fantastical.
Powerful, Karelia fell apart overnight. The invader named Ross was too powerful and his methods were too ruthless.
Such descriptions frightened the female leader of the Ludi people out of their wits. She hoped that these were ridiculous. If this was the truth, where would the Ludi people go? Could it be possible to move again?
How can moving be so easy?
The entire tribe migrated here with herds of deer. One of the main reasons was to avoid fighting with the Perm Alliance to break away from the living space. Although the tribe was still conquered by the Karelians, the geomantic treasure land was now firmly established. Now that their master has died, everyone has gained absolute freedom.
They knew that a group of fleeing Karelians had fled to the west bank of Onegahu. Those people had lost their authority as masters, but the Lüdi people had no strength at all to turn against the guests. The two sides regained contact, and a land trade route was established connecting Onegahu and Lake Ladoga.
Maybe today should be a normal cold winter day.
The priests of the tribe held a sun sacrifice a few days ago, and the days became longer and longer in the following days.
The Ludi people are basically the product of multiple clans and families living together. They herd reindeer in the snowy pastures near the settlements, and many people simply hide in thatched huts and wooden sheds and wait quietly for the arrival of spring.
But there are some white shadows on the ice, which at first glance look like a group of white bears approaching.
Alert tribesmen began to gather, a move that undoubtedly prompted the Ross Bear Hunting Team to take military alert.
"Boss, is the slingshot charged?" someone asked.
"Charge power! Install the javelin! Listen to my orders." After the leader said this, he immediately ordered the two registered deer herders who came to mind: "Are those Ludi people? You probably understand their language, let me check the wind. .”
Originally, the registered deer farmers did not want to deal with those tribal people at all. Although the two of them had only known about the existence of the Ludi people before, they were the servants of the Karelian people. Even so, the two sides were naturally hostile. At least the deer herders are collectively repelled by Karelia and her servants.
The two men took off their bearskin hoods to reveal their black hair. They walked towards the village holding short spears like canes. They are messengers, and they are very afraid that the other party will use the knife if they disagree.
In fact, the village was already within the maximum throw range of the torsion slingshot. The north wind was howling miserably above the ice lake. The Rossel Bears who were parked on the ice took off their shields and held their swords to watch the fun.
Gradually, more than a hundred tribesmen gathered with sticks. This is their settlement and they want to defend their home. Seeing that the other party seemed to have sent a black-haired envoy, who seemed to have nothing to do with the image of the "golden snow-skinned giant" described by the exiles, his tense nerves couldn't help but relax.
The two walked cautiously into the village and were immediately surrounded by a group of armed tribesmen.
At first, the negotiations between the tribesmen were polite, until the two of them explained their clear identities-Russians.
The peaceful atmosphere was immediately broken, and the two Ross envoys were directly held down. If there were not a large number of tribesmen, the Ross Bear Team watching from a distance would have discovered that the envoys they sent had been arrested, which would be a signal of hostility.
The Ross hunters at least saw that the originally orderly tribesmen suddenly became chaotic.
"Are our envoys welcomed by them?" someone asked.
"Who knows?" The bear hunting leader shrugged: "We will find out later."
"I'm afraid that the envoy will be chopped down by them. If we encounter a village in the vast ice field, if there are many of us, we will kill it directly, but there are only twenty of us..." someone else gritted his teeth and said.
"There is something in your words." the leader asked again.
"We have fewer people now, so why don't they attack us?"
"How could they be so bold? Unless they wanted to die."
"Why not? No matter who they are, they are on the east side of the lake. We must report this to the prince. This is a great achievement. In my opinion, we continue to be on guard. If there is a battle, I...will not hesitate to fight. war."
Even the ferocious bears are not afraid of war. This group of elderly bear hunters were unparalleled in killing when they were young. However, they still refuse to accept their old age, so they bravely carry out winter bear hunting.
The bear hunting leader listened to this explanation. He ordered the tails of all reindeer sleds to face the village, and the on-board torsion slingshots adjusted the direction and shooting angle.
The other brothers raised their wooden-arm crossbows and were ready to charge up at any time, especially the two steel-armed crossbows in the team that were on standby in case of any eventuality.
Looking at the two captured messengers, I learned that a group of despicable strangers appeared on the ice, and everyone who stayed in the tribe showed up.
The envoy was escorted to the leader's room, and then underwent interrogation by many tribal elders, that is, the elders of each clan.
But are interrogations really meaningful?
At the interrogation venue, the representatives of the fleeing Karelia people were angry. They demanded that these envoys be sentenced to death just because they were servants of the Rus.
As for the small group of Russians on the ice, there was no reason to negotiate with them, so it was better to raise troops to kill them.
The envoy was shocked. He didn't expect that there were indeed Lüdi people here, and even the remaining members of Karelia were still "making suggestions" for the Lüdi people?
Realizing that he was in deep danger, an envoy was furious. Even if he died, he would declare his interests to potential opponents: "Lydi people! Are you a group of fools? You can kill me, but the Rusians will fight back with all their strength. How many of you are there? They will kill you all and burn your bones to ashes."
But he looked at the representative of the Karelian people, an old man with loose hair and a mustache: "Don't listen to this man's nonsense. The Russians are strong, and now we have a clear advantage. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and you must support it as before us."
"Who do you think you are?" An elder of the Ludi clan was furious: "Your tribe is finished and is no longer our master. Whether to go to war with the Russians who hunt bears is our business."
They actually started arguing among themselves? Realizing the opportunity, the envoy hurriedly took out the "carrot" and at the same time scolded the Karelia people who were present.
The messenger simply roared at the top of his voice, almost losing control of his emotions: "Karelia is the destroyer, and they are despicable cowards. They have declined to the extreme. Do you still want to surrender to them? The Russians are the most merciful conquerors. . You all listen up. Anyone who surrenders to Ross will receive rewards and security. Ross has discovered you. If you resist, you will all be killed unless you all flee. Listen, the Ross people are your real masters. "
This description came from a black-haired deer herder, causing the elderly female leader to express confusion.
"You obviously speak the same language as us, why do you want to speak to those Russians? Are you a Russian?"
Through these words, the two envoys saw the changing eyes of the female leader, and realized that she was wavering, and now was the time to pursue victory.
"Because we surrendered to the Rus' people and became the New Rus' people, and all the people got a good life. We paid some live deer every year in exchange for salt and iron. We can freely enter and leave the settlements of the Rus', and we will not be subject to any harm."
"This is really not true. Do the Russians only want some live deer as tribute?"
"Of course!" The messenger directly gave another example: "Vips, do you know? They have surrendered to Rus. They no longer need to give women and deer to the Karelia people as tribute. The Rus don't need these at all. Vips The people of Russia have already lived a good life because of their act of surrender. Why don't you do the same? You are just a small tribe. Is it more painful to surrender to Rus than to surrender to Karelia? Let me tell you a secret, the high priest of the Rus is our deer herder woman , the Rus people will treat the converts as friends and family. Chief! Look at the Karelia people around you, they exploit you too much like reindeer, and the next step is to replace you and conquer your entire tribe."
When the messenger was threatened with death, he suddenly became possessed by a negotiator. He was really arguing his interests with the female leader of Lüdy, deliberately trying to sow discord between the Lüdy people and the Karelian exiles.
Suddenly, the Karelia representative who was blushing was furious. He picked up a small saber for cutting meat and rushed towards the eloquent Ross envoy who was tied up and sitting on the ground. He pointed it directly at his neck and stabbed him. Stab it several times to kill it. When he was about to kill another man, he was held down by the surprised Ludians.
The old lady, the female leader Ludi, held her old head and screamed, but she saw the guy who was held down bared his teeth and yelled angrily: "Now, you must listen to the opinions of us Karelians and go to war with them!"
The exiles hijacked the entire Ludi tribe in this violent way.
Some things cannot be completely changed overnight. For example, the survivors of the Karelian people who were almost destroyed by a fatal blow still feel that they are powerful kings, while the Lydian people who have been servants for a long time still have not really adjusted their position.
The Lydians at least know what the Karelians are, and what the Rus are?
It is true that the Russians are crazy killing monsters, and they are also very kind to their subjects, which is really questionable.
Fortunately, everyone no longer has any doubts. Anyway, one of Ross's envoys is dead, leaving the other messenger alive. It is time to gather the men with weapons to defeat the invading Ross hunter team.
From the position of the female leader, she did not want to start a war at all, or in other words, the Ludi people as a whole rejected war. However, it is impossible not to fight now. At least if we fight, we can seize a lot of iron tools and precious salt from the corpses of the Russians.
The clan leaders have never seen a real Ross warrior, and they are very optimistic precisely because they have never seen one. Those claims of "terrible giants" are just legends after all. Who has ever seen them except a group of terrified Karelian exiles?
Optimism spread in the settlements, and the people heard that the Ross Bear Hunting Team had a lot of iron tools and other good things. They attacked them to grab them based on their ability. All the clans were competing on this issue.
The men of the tribal people mobilized. They wore deerskin clothes and were generally brown and gray. The warriors generally carried spears equipped with sharp deer bones and wooden shields covered with deerskin. They also had short wooden bows, which were of average quality, and their bone-tufted arrows were poor, making the bow even worse.
At least they have the advantage in numbers, right?
The entire tribe quickly assembled a "robbery army" of more than 300 people. They did not need a particularly high-sounding reason for starting the war. Anyway, they had iron weapons after beating the bear hunting team. This was the most sufficient reason.
The Ludians blew their antlers, and the men rallied for it. Faced with such a situation, the female leader could only delegate power to each clan. At least she arranged for the manpower to detain the last messenger as a backup.
There is no doubt that the act of blowing the trumpet is a signal of war.
The Ross hunters who had been waiting for a while became increasingly bored, and when they heard the sound of the horn, their malaise naturally disappeared.
"Damn it! It seems that I guessed it right. They must be looking at our small number and want to annihilate us!"
"Thanks to you, brother!" The bear hunting leader immediately summoned his men: "It seems that the messenger was chopped down by them. We could have evacuated now, but we will not be cowards. Let's kill a hundred of them and offer sacrifices to Odin. !”
As soon as he finished speaking, everyone banged their shields in unison and let out a Viking war cry.
It's a pity that the roar was blown away by the lake breeze...
