Rise of Rurik

The power of the Rus people is expanding in the direction of the White Sea, especially the fortress of Bear Festival Town, north of Ladoga Lake. Bear hunters hold heavy weapons such as sled-loaded torsion slingshots and directly launch javelins to strike the wandering polar bears with precision. .

As long as the bears are not allowed to get close, hunting bears is as dangerous as shooting arrows, and some hunters just have fun in the killing.

For each bearskin sold to the prince, he could get ten silver coins at worst, but usually twenty.

If you kill a bear, you will get two hundred pounds of oats, and it's a sure-fire business.

Even with powerful weapons, bears are not as often seen animals as squirrels. What's more, the use of reindeer sleds to shoot bears with torsion slingshots is very limited by climate and geography.

There are freshwater seals in Lake Ladoga. Wandering polar bears will run around the lake, looking for cracks created by the squeezing of the ice layers, and guarding the holes for the seals to capture. They even hunt for burrows of arctic foxes and marten, find wandering reindeer bravely hunt, and hunt for dormant beehives. They eat everything, but always give priority to the approaching shadows on the ice.

Then, he was hit by a javelin that suddenly flew, and after walking a few steps by the frozen lake, he suddenly fell to the ground.

The hunters from the town of Bear Festival faced a vast and unknown land, especially the large forests in the east, which did not seem to be the activity area of ​​the defeated Karelians.

There is a bear hunting team of more than 20 people, driving their own reindeer sleigh, and under the leadership of two guides who are registered deer breeders, they rode down the east bank of Lake Ladoga.

Their empty cargo sleds began to show their delightful cargo, the shorn bear skins, the severed heads and paws, and some huge chunks of meat frozen hard. They even cleverly cut the bloody bear meat into strips and skewered them on twigs on the spot, so that even if the meat was frozen like a stone, it would be cooked quickly by roasting it by the campfire.

In fact, they themselves wore heavy leather jackets tanned and tanned from polar bear skins, the leather was even cut into hoods, gloves were made of fox skins, and deerskin boots made of Slavic craftsmanship were on their feet. They even wore wooden-framed sunglasses uniformly, and they were really a group of "people in a cover". It was this kind of dress that made them extremely weird and absurd, even terrifying.

Because, they saw a larger human settlement!

"Where is it?" the leader asked.

Although the deer breeders who led the way were not very clear, they racked their brains to think of a possibility - the Ludi people's camp.

If this army is always large and the army launches an attack directly,

This settlement can be conquered in a short time.

There are only more than 20 brothers, and what's worse is that everyone is generally old. But even a 20-year-old prosperous boy, even wearing iron armor, would not dare to attack rashly.

Because those villagers who were suspected to be the Ludi people fought back and beat them with wooden sticks with an absolute numerical advantage, and they could also beat all the brothers to death.

However, if the brothers went with the purpose of trade, the situation may be different.

The Ludi people lived their own lives. In the past, they paid tribute to the powerful Karelian people every year, and even handed over some women as slaves. They exist as submissives, and now they have learned from the mouths of the fugitives of the great disaster in the north, the powerful Karelian tribal alliance has collapsed, and the shackles around their necks seem to be gone.

The Ludi people no longer need to pay tribute, and they also know that the remnants 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 cruel.

Such a description frightened the female leader of the Ludi people. She hoped that these were all absurd. If this was the truth, where would the Ludi people go? Are you going to move again?

How easy is it to move?

The whole tribe drove the deer to migrate here, and a major factor was to avoid fighting with the Perm Alliance to break free from the living space. Although the tribe was still conquered by the Karelians, the feng shui treasure land is now firmly established. Now that the owner 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 Rudi people had no strength to fight against the host. The two sides made contact again, and a land trade line connecting Onegahu and Ladoga Lake was born.

Maybe today should be an ordinary cold winter day.

A few days ago, the priests of the tribe held a sun sacrifice, and the days became longer and longer in the following days.

The Ludi people are basically the product of the congregation of multiple clan families. They graze reindeer in the ice and snow pastures near the settlement, and many people simply hide in their thatched huts and wait for spring to come.

However, some white shadows appeared on the ice, and at first glance it looked like a group of white bears were constantly approaching.

The vigilant tribesmen began to gather, a move that undoubtedly drew the Ross Bear Hunters on military alert.

"Boss, is the slingshot charged?" someone asked.

"Gather up your power! Install the javelin! Some follow my orders." The leader said, and immediately ordered the two registered deer breeders as thought: "Is that the Ludi people? You probably understand their language, give me a look ."

Originally, the registered deer breeders did not want to deal with those tribesmen at all. Although the two of them only knew the existence of the Ludi people before, but they were the servant forces of the Karelian people, which means that the two sides were naturally hostile. At least the Karelia and their servants were repelled collectively by the deer herders.

The two took off their bearskin hoods to reveal their black hair, and they walked towards the village with short spears like crutches. They are messengers, and they are very afraid of each other's use of knives if they disagree.

In fact, the village was already within the maximum range of the torsion slingshot. Above the ice lake, the north wind howled mournfully, and the Rossley Bears who were parked on the ice layer removed their shields and held their swords to watch the fun.

Gradually more than a hundred tribesmen with sticks have gathered, here is their settlement, and they have to guard their homeland. Seeing that the other party seemed to have sent a messenger with black hair, who seemed to have nothing to do with the image of the "golden snow-skinned giant" described by the exiles, the tense nerves could not help but relax.

The two entered the village cautiously, and were immediately surrounded by a group of armed tribesmen.

At first, the tribesmen's negotiation was polite, until the two stated their clear identity - Rus.

The peaceful atmosphere was immediately broken, and the two Ross messengers were directly held down. If it wasn't for the large number of tribesmen, the Ross Column Bears watching from a distance could find that their messengers were arrested, which would be a sign of hostility.

The Ross hunters at least saw that the otherwise orderly tribesmen suddenly became chaotic.

"Are our messengers being welcomed by them?" someone asked.

"Who knows?" The bear catching leader shrugged: "We'll see after a while."

"I'm afraid that the messenger will be chopped down by them. When the vast icefield encounters a village, if we have a large number of people, we will kill it directly, but we will only have twenty people..." Another person said with a gnashing of teeth.

"You have something to say." The leader asked again.

"We are few now, why don't they take the initiative to attack us?"

"How can they be so bold? Unless they die."

"Why not? No matter who they are, they are on the east side of the Great Lake. We must report this matter to the prince. This is a great achievement. In my opinion, we will continue to maintain vigilance. If there is a battle, I... war."

Even the raging bears are not afraid of war. This group of aged bear hunters slashed unparalleled when they were young, and they still refuse to accept their old age, so they bravely carried out bear hunting in winter.

The chief bear catcher listened to this explanation, and he ordered all the reindeer sleds' tails to face the village, and the on-board torsion slingshots adjusted their direction and shooting angles.

The other brothers held up wooden-arm crossbows and were ready to charge up at any time, especially the two steel-arm crossbows in the team had to stand by in case of unexpected events.

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 appeared.

The messenger was twisted to the leader's room, and then accepted the wheel-style interrogation of many tribal elders, that is, the elders of each clan.

But does the trial really make sense?

At the trial venue, the representatives of the fleeing Karelians were furious, and they demanded that the messengers be sentenced to death because they were servants of the Rus.

As for the small group of Rus people on the ice, there is no reason to negotiate with them, so it is better to kill them with an army.

The messenger was taken aback. He didn't think that this place was indeed the Ludi people, and that even the Karelian remnants were still "making suggestions" for the Ludi people?

Realizing that he was in deep danger, the one messenger was furious, and even if he died, he would tell his potential rivals bitterly: "Rudi people! Are you a bunch of idiots? You can kill me, but the Rus people will fight back with all their strength. How many of you are there? They will kill you all, even burn your bones to ashes."

But looking at the Karelian representative, an old man with a moustache and hair: "Don't listen to this man's nonsense. The Rus are strong, and now we have a clear advantage. Now is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and you must support as always. us."

"Who do you think you are?" An elder of the Ludi clan was furious: "Your clan is finished, and it is no longer our master. Whether or not to go to war with those Russ who hunt bears, that is our business."

Did they quarrel themselves? Aware of the opportunity, the messenger hurriedly took out the "carrot", while at the same time berating the Karelians on the scene.

The messenger simply screamed, his emotions basically out of control: "Karelia is the destroyer, and the despicable cowards, they have declined to the extreme, do you still want to surrender to them?. The Rus people are the most merciful conquerors. Listen, everyone who submits to Ross will receive rewards and security. Ross has discovered you, and you will all be killed if you resist unless you all flee. Listen, Ross is your true master. "

Such a description came from the mouth of a black-haired deer breeder, and the elderly female leader was puzzled.

"You obviously speak the same language as us, why do you speak to those Russ? Are you a Russ?"

Through these remarks, the two envoys saw the female leader's changing eyes again, and realized that she was swaying, and now was the moment to pursue the victory.

"Because, when we surrendered to the Rus, we became the new Rus, and all the clansmen got a good life. We can exchange for salt and iron by paying some live deer every year. We can freely enter and leave the settlements of Rus, and we will not be affected by any harm."

"That doesn't seem to be true. Do the Rus just want some live deer as a tribute?"

"Of course!" The messenger directly gave another example: "Do you know the Vips? They have already surrendered to Rus, and they no longer have to hand over women and deer to the Karelians as tributes. The Rus don't need these at all. The Sri Lankans have already lived a good life because of their surrender. Why don't you do this? You are just a small tribe. Is it more painful to surrender to the 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 will treat their settlers as friends and family. Chief! Look at the Karelians around you, they exploit you too much as reindeer, and the next step is to take your place and conquer your entire clan."

When the messenger was threatened with death, the negotiator suddenly possessed the expert. It was really painful with the female leader of Rudi, and deliberately provoke the relationship between the Rudi people and the Karelian exiles.

Suddenly, the Karelian representative, who was said to be red-faced, was furious, grabbed the small saber cutting meat and rushed to the very eloquent Ross messenger who was tied up and sitting on the ground, directly facing his neck. Stab it several times to kill it. When he was about to kill another man, he was held down by the startled Ludi.

The old lady, the female leader of Rudi, screamed while holding her aging head, but saw the guy who was being held down bared his teeth and scolded: "Now, you must obey the opinions of our Karelians, and you must fight against them!"

The exiles took over the entire Ludi tribe in this violent way.

Some things cannot be completely changed overnight. For example, the remnants of the Karelian people who were almost destroyed by a fatal blow still feel that they are powerful kings, while the people of the Ludi people who have been servants for a long time still have not really adjusted their position.

The Rudi people at least know what a Karelian is, and what is a Rus?

It's true that the Russ are slaughtering monsters, and they are also very kind to their submissives, which is really questionable.

Fortunately, there is no need to doubt it at present. Anyway, one of Ross's messengers has died, leaving another messenger's dog life. It is time to assemble the men to use weapons to blow up the Ross hunter team that invaded Kou.

From the position of the female leader, she didn't want to start a war at all, or the Ludi people as a whole rejected war. However, it is impossible not to fight now. At least if they fight, they can still seize a lot of iron tools and precious salt from the corpses of the Rus people.

The clan leaders have never seen a real Ross warrior, and it is precisely because they have not seen them that they are very optimistic. Those things like "terrifying giants" are legends after all, but who has seen them except a group of terrified Karelian exiles?

Optimism spread in the settlement, and the people heard that the Ross Bear Hunters had a lot of iron weapons and other good things, and attacked them to grab them according to their ability. All clans were scrambling for this issue.

The tribesmen were mobilized. They wore deerskin clothes that were brownish-gray as a whole. The warriors generally held spears with sharp deer bones and wooden shields covered with deerskin. They also have short wooden bows, which are of average quality, and whose bone-cluster arrows are poor, the bows are even worse when realized.

At least they have a numerical advantage, don't they?

The entire tribe quickly assembled a "robbery army" of more than 300 people. They didn't need a special high-sounding reason to start the war. Anyway, the bear hunting team had iron weapons to take. This is the most sufficient reason.

The Ludi people blew the antler horn, and the men rallied for it. Faced with such a situation, the female leader could only delegate power and let the clans do the work. At least she arranged for the last messenger to be detained as a backup.

There is no doubt that the act of blowing the horn is a signal of war.

The Ross hunters who had waited for a while became more and more bored, and when they heard the sound of the horn, their sullen mood disappeared.

"Damn it! It seems that I guessed right. They must be looking at our small number and want to annihilate us!"

"Thanks to you. Brother!" The chief bear hunter immediately called up his people: "It seems that the messenger was cut down by them. We could have evacuated now, but we are not cowards. Let's kill a hundred of them and offer sacrifices to Odin. !"

As soon as the words fell, everyone knocked on their shields neatly and let out a Viking battle cry.

It's a pity that the roar was blown away by the lake wind...