Chapter 259 Alertness of the Salmon Lord Tribe

If there is a choice, the several tribes of the Kowensuomi people prefer to live their lives safely in the forests and lakes forever.

They know that they are from the south, but because they have no airborne history, almost all the tribesmen have forgotten that they have a very close relationship with the Finns, the Tavastians, and even the Karelians, and treat each other as brothers. .

Because of the competition and contention for furs, minerals and other materials, the Kovin tribe finally had an irreconcilable conflict with the Tavastians who settled in the central part of modern Finland.

The population of the Kovins is too small, and they have to retreat to the north compared to the strength of the Tavastian tribal alliance.

The Kovins discovered a river that flooded violently in summer, because the abundant salmon resources in the river became the key to nourishing the tribe's survival.

In this era, both the Finns and the Tavastians began to gradually give up their old life of fishing and hunting. They began to cultivate wheat in the lakes near the settlements and gradually entered the agricultural life.

Losing control of the relatively warm lands of the South, the Kowens had to continue their fishing and hunting lives.

In a relatively barren land, disputes among the Kewen people have also become serious in order to compete for fish and fur.

They are like living in a small universe. They are the masters of a large forest and lake, and then oppress the more backward deer breeders in the extreme north.

Finally, a large group of black figures moving on the glacier broke the tranquility of Kewen people's life.

The Rus' army has been traveling upstream along the frozen Oulu River, and they step unabashedly on the ice, as if conquering the Kovin settlements is like going to Novgorod to collect taxes.

After leaving the mouth of the Oulu River, the warriors were in a good mood. Everyone was dreaming of making a fortune, and even hugged two local women left and right, becoming a big winner.

They never thought that if there was a conflict, they would be injured or even killed.

Because in everyone's heart, Kewen people are a bunch of fools.

There are bow-wielding Kewen hunters, who go deep into the forest and use long arrows clustered with bone arrows to shoot down snow rabbits that occasionally pop out of the cave to look out for the wind.

There are even fishermen who make holes in the glaciers and lower their hooks to try and catch some fish.

Kewen people are used to winter and know that they are immersed in a world covered by ice and snow.

Still catch some animals.

Even the tribal warriors went up and down to assassinate a few wandering white bears.

These hunters were keenly aware of the abnormal vibration. After they hid, they gradually saw a large group of figures appearing on the glacier.

The hunter's eyes widened, and in the short day's sunlight, they saw the reflected light that must have come from the metal.

A group of unknown people, they all wear metal hats!

Do not! They are actually...

The Kovins were not purely isolated from the world. They were worried that their neighbors, the Tavastians, would come north to snatch their hunting grounds.

Kewen people, who are good at business, always bring the peeled squirrel skins, which Fan Yun sells to the southernmost Finns in exchange for locally produced wheat kernels and flax. During the trade, they also got a lot of news.

Especially with regard to the situation in the west of the sea.

Those hated Varyags, wearing metal helmets and generally holding precious swords, rowed longboats to raid the coastal villages of the Finns, looting the local population for slavery.

The young Kewen people grew up listening to these stories, which made them have an unusual fear of the seaside.

Young people don't even know what "Varyags" are, but they're a bunch of horrible guys, all wearing metal helmets.

Now, strange people appearing on the glacier, are they not Varyags or what?

Suddenly, a sense of impending catastrophe came to the hunter's heart.

The work of the Kewen hunters came to an abrupt end, they took their bows and ran towards the village.

Today was supposed to be a normal winter day.

Women make sackcloth or sew leather in half-crypt homes, and children play without worry. They hid in the warm room, except for some men, carrying axes to the nearby woods to cut and burn wood.

The Kewen people already knew how to burn iron ore into sponge iron, and they knew how to further hammer it into usable tools. It is only because of the extremely limited productivity, and the enormous difficulty of mining ore, that they have little iron.

Even so, the Kewen people have a huge military advantage over the northern deer breeders.

But these advantages are hardly worth mentioning in the eyes of the Rus.

Several hunters rushed back to the village and shouted: "The Varyag people have appeared, let's go to the mountain fort to take refuge."

At first, the people of the village were unbelievable.

Everyone knows about the existence of the Varangians, but no one has actually seen them.

Some hunters who insist on hunting encounter bears, and they are scared and have hallucinations.

However, the situation gradually deteriorated, and a large number of hunters and fishermen fled back, reporting the same information in unison.

The hunter ran back to his home, and took the lead in ordering his wife and children to pack up the valuable things in the house immediately, then carried them on their backs and evacuated towards the nearby mountain fort.

The hunters were the first to evacuate, gradually causing a commotion throughout the village.

This Kewen tribe of more than 700 people began to fall into chaos.

The leader of the tribe, an old guy over fifty years old, his name is Kaihas. In the language of the Kewen people, the name change refers to the "spear".

"What's the matter? The Varangians? I think you were frightened by bears! Uloxivi, you should have the ability to hunt bears, instead of telling me you are cowardly."

Obviously, the leader Kaihas not only distrusted the words of his own people, but also disdain them very much.

The leader was carrying this way, and the hunter Ulosivi panicked: "Leader! It's really a Varyag. Please go out of your warm residence to see the situation outside, everyone is already evacuating."

The leader glanced at the family in the room, and then glanced at his subordinates. He pushed aside the thermal insulation leather curtain, stood on the snow, and saw a group of clansmen who were carrying their own soft evacuation.

His eyelids began to tremble, and his own clansmen were so frightened by an undetermined news!

If the group of guys from the "Grey Squirrel" tribe came to attack at this time, would it still be a huge loss for my own people? !

The tribesmen were all saying the same thing: the Varyag army was marching on the ice and attacking the village.

In this case, the leader Kaihas also panicked.

He hurriedly questioned the hunter: "You swear you saw the Varyags?"

"I swear!" The hunter simply got down on one knee and proved to the leader that he was right.

"Did you see any details?"

"The Varangians?! I saw those guys, all wearing metal helmets. They came from the west, as the legend goes, to destroy our village. Chief, we must defend our home."

"Bah! I don't need you to teach me about this!" The leader's mood was like an ant on a frying pan. He anxiously ordered his family first: "Take the children and run! Take valuable things up the hills and mountains. Fort!"

"How about you?" asked the chief's wife.

"Prepare to fight, of course! Even if the Varyags show up, we must knock them down. We have nowhere to go."

The leader Kaihas put on his own leather armor, a leather armor purchased from the Norse by the expedition team. He took up his short sword, which he had bought from the Norse, and became a mighty old warrior.

In this village of Kovins, their concept of the Livarangs refers to the madmen of the land on the other side of the sea. As everyone knows, their hunting expeditions have set foot in the Norwegian territory many times, and have conducted some trade with the Norwegians. Even some men in the tribe knew a little bit of the Norwegian language.

The expedition actually followed the northern overland route, and the Norwegians who crossed the mountains and the Narvik Fjord traded. They never thought that the Norwegians and the Varyags were the same ethnic group and spoke the same language. With such a strange cognition, I am afraid it is only because these scientific people do not have a macro understanding of the geography of northern Europe. In their concept, the world is also a flat land.

This winter, the tribe did not send an expedition team. Instead, the gray squirrel tribe next door sent an expedition team to explore the outside world and find a new living space.

If the actions of the gray squirrel tribe were not unexpectedly hit by the Rus, I am afraid that they would gradually move to the mouth of the Tornio River, and gradually become another new nation born out of the Finn group - the Tornio People of the Arnio Valley.

The Rus people unexpectedly planned this natural historical process, but history will continue to develop in another form. Because of that river valley, Otto, the leader of the Rus, set his sights on the abrupt mine, and he was determined to build a new settlement, Elronborg.

This Kewen tribe leader Kaihas quickly gathered more than 200 men.

Hunters with bows and fishermen with spears gathered first, followed by a large group of teenagers who could carry short spears.

The leader stood on a snowdrift and publicly announced his "war mobilization".

"Men, there's a bunch of weird guys calling now. They're probably Varyags, and they're here to destroy our village, kill all the men, and kidnap all the women!"

It was heard that the bloody warriors were excited.

"Can we make them successful?" Kaihas asked deliberately.

"No!" Someone shouted first, and the others roared one after another.

Seeing that everyone's morale was up, the leader reassured: "In the past, we have gained an advantage in the fight against those guys from the gray squirrels. How can our hard-won advantage be destroyed by the Varyags? Men, you have already defeated. Grey squirrel tribe, now the Varyags have arrived. You can defeat them and take their excellent weapons.

I don't expect we can beat them on the ground! We lead the Varyags under the mountain fort and shoot them with arrows! Just like our hunter partnership that can shoot the most dangerous white bears, shooting Varyag invaders is not a problem. "

In this way, the leader, adhering to his past experience, determined that the intruder was as weak as the neighbors nearby.

The leader did not feel that he had an absolute advantage. Looking at the clansmen at hand, they could easily kill hundreds of intruders, which was really difficult for a strong man.

The only thing the village can rely on is that all the fallen men, women, young and old go into battle together, building a "tower" ring-shaped city wall with a lot of stones and wooden piles. It is the so-called mountain fort, a defensive system built by the Kewen people, and even all the Finns and Tavastians.

The mountain fort has only one main entrance, or the opening of the city wall. It is like a giant tortoise shell that can protect the residents of the village. When the enemy invades, everyone can retreat to the mountain fort. They blocked the opening with prepared stones, and then organized all the men to guard it.

In a sense, the mountain fort is not as simple as a refuge for the village, it is also the granary and material storage place of the village.

The leader Kaihas gave the last order: "Masters of salmon, we all withdraw to the mountain fort. Take all your bows and arrows and prepare javelins. We don't have to fight the enemy, just shoot them with the bows and arrows at hand. Don't worry. , No matter how ferocious the enemy is, the mountain fort cannot be breached."

Therefore, the name of this tribe is called "Lord of Salmon". They are a relatively strong tribe of the Kewen people. They are not only different from the "grey squirrel tribe" that Otto deliberately attacked. Because the hunting grounds of the two tribes are intertwined, the two sides have always been in conflict for the sake of interests.

But Otto couldn't do that much. He didn't target the "Grey Squirrel" tribe, but planned to attack the Kowen tribe as much as possible, so that the Rus could benefit as much as possible.

Otto, who was marching, never thought that the undisguised actions of the Rus people had begun to draw the nearest village of Cowen to full alert.

It was another long journey, and the Ross army was camping on the banks of the glacier again.

The long march frantically killed the fighting spirit of the warriors. Gradually, everyone felt that the prisoner who led the way had impure motives.

yes! In fact, Woima Kashad, who led the way, was indeed motivated by impure motives. His only pure intention was to see the people of the Rus fighting against the "Lord of Salmon". This is called, borrowing the sword of the Rus, beheading the biggest competitor of the "Grey Squirrel" tribe.

In this way, even if nearly fifty people died, the "Grey Squirrel" tribe finally gained a larger living space, which was also a benefit.

But Otto was really impatient.

Otto put a "leash" made of hemp rope on Woima Kashad and ordered him to lie down and imitate the barking of a hound. In the humiliation, Woima Kashad had to act like a loyal dog, otherwise, he believed that if he did not cooperate, the hemp rope around his neck would become his own rope, and finally become a Frozen corpses that get up quickly.

Because, the village of the "Lord of Salmon" is coming soon.

The tribal warrior who imitated the dog's tricks laughed, but Rurik couldn't laugh, but he didn't interfere.

Rurik noticed unexpectedly that the deer farmers were very happy to see Wojma Kashad being humiliated, they even wanted to see him slobber, and even more so when the Rus invaded the village of the Kovins. Massacre.

The deer breeders just want to vent their anger, so-called hope that the Kewen people will experience the same hardships, and then praise the Rus people for their cleverness.

Rurik didn't want to say anything about it. After all, the men who followed his father were not his cronies. In the days to come, he felt that the Ross clan he controlled would no longer need these madmen. Those young children who are trained will eventually become the backbone of the Rus army. They will be warriors with a principled bottom line built according to Rurik's wishes.

They must not have come up with such playful and humiliating passages of captives. Rurik was convinced.

As some Ross warriors keenly noticed that the glacier had been excavated, the warriors who were fishermen subconsciously decided that this was the hole made by the fishermen, even though it was covered with thin ice.

The news came back to the Rus people's camp and immediately attracted everyone's strong attention.

These, Otto fully believed the words of Woima Kashad, realizing that this person was still useful until now.

By the bonfire, Otto summoned the prisoner who had been off the leash.

"It seems that we are really going to your village. Will your people kneel down and submit to me obediently?"

Woymakashad hesitantly responded to the question.

Otto said arrogantly; "They shouldn't take the initiative. Unfortunately, I'm going to kill your people."

Woima Kashad was actually sober when he heard it. He deliberately said, "Anyone who is unwilling to surrender should be killed! I am willing to be your loyal dog."

Otto was amused and laughed, then dropped a piece of roasted snow rabbit.

"Eat it! My loyal dog, lying down like a hound, I want to see you eat this roast without your hands."

In this case, Yevluo translation is no longer needed, and Wojma Kashad knows what to do. He really did, so in Otto's mind, this guy really became a loyal dog.

On a new day, when the sun was shining, the Ross Army began its final march. And this day was the ninth day of the agreement, and it was obvious that Woymakashad did not lie.

The Rus still took the glacier as a path. They walked, and after passing a bend, they saw the village houses covered with snow on the river.

"This! It's really a big village." Rurik was a little shocked, but also felt a little strange, "It's really strange, why should I not feel popular?"

Rurik couldn't help but suspect that Otto, with his consent, gave the mercenary captain Yevlo a very bold order to take all the mercenaries as pathfinders and set foot on the territory of the suspected "Grey Squirrel Tribe".

The mercenaries carried their crossbows, and under the leadership of Yevlo, they cautiously advanced towards the enemy village. Behind them were melee warriors 30 meters away with swords and shields.

Otto sent fifty scouts to explore the village. The warriors were very happy. The order they received was to take the risk and enter first. When encountering a resisting enemy, they immediately launched an attack. After winning, they distributed the spoils and they got more. a little.

Except for these fifty people, the rest waited on the ice for good news.

Everyone is also ready. If they perceive that a fight is breaking out in a distant village, the rest of them will rush over and help the scouts solve the battle.