Rise of Rurik

The Kowen man who led the way, Woima Kashad, not only escaped when the guards were not paying attention, but even stole some wheat cakes and dried meat as food during the escape.

Using the village building as a cover, he fled into the snow den, then hid in the snow, watching from a distance the Rus fighting against the mighty Salmon Lord tribe.

In the concept of this leader, the Salmon Lord tribe was warlike due to its large population. As a last resort, the Grey Squirrel tribe built a low wall on the border, and even passively strengthened the wall guarding the village. Without these facilities, the grey squirrel tribe would have disappeared long ago.

Woymakashad is happy to see the Rus launch an offensive, both sides are enemies, they better lose both!

The development of the situation was as he expected, and it was the next result, completely beyond his imagination.

In hiding, he intentionally waited for a result, but from a distance he saw a large number of strong men wearing helmets, escorting a large number of short men in animal skins, and a large number of people who were obviously women, moving down the hill.

"Damn! Are the Rus so strong?! Your salmon lord tribe is so unbeatable?!"

The lord of the old enemy salmon, all the surviving minions must have become the captives of the Rus and become slaves.

The old enemy is estimated to be completely destroyed, but Woima Kashad is not happy at all.

Because of the Varyags to which the Rus belonged, they were all greedy fellows. Those friends in the south have long criticized that the various Varangians always attack their territory, capturing their tribes like wild boars, brown bears, and deer.

Taking advantage of the night, the solemn-looking Woima Kashad no longer had any intention of dawdling, and he fled far away in the direction of his hometown.

He dug a snow pit in the snow in the forest as his shelter. He doesn't have the ability to light a bonfire, and even if he has the ability, he doesn't dare to really start a fire.

He broke off a branch, sharpened a sharp spear, and used it as a weapon, as well as his "Kewen", that is, a marching cane. After all, as a Kewen person, it is more appropriate to travel with a short spear.

Now, no beast can bring him fear. Only the Rus! Presumably the most ferocious beast had to run away in the face of the Rus people.

Woymakashad struggled through the cold night, and the trek was even more difficult. He had to speed up in order to enter the low wall built by his tribe in the shortest possible time, and meet the tribesmen who deliberately stayed at the low wall for a long time.

a lonely traveler,

After walking for a full day and a half with limited food, he finally met his clan, even if the clan regarded it as a deliberately offensive hostile force, which attracted an arrow in his arm.

It has to be said that the penetration of the Bone Arrow Cluster into thick leather is terrible.

Woima Kashad's arrow wound was very shallow, he didn't bleed much, and naturally he didn't have to worry about the fever caused by the infection.

After two full days of his escape, the wall of the village finally came into view. However, this wall that gives the clansmen a strong sense of security, it seems that now, I am afraid that it cannot withstand the offensive of the Rus.

Woymakashad did not know how the Rus broke through the walls of the Salmon Lord tribe, but they succeeded.

Perhaps the defenses of these walls are not so effective.

He was full of thoughts, and when he was escorted into the village, he announced to all the clansmen onlookers the fact that a powerful Varyag had invaded.

Originally, the clansmen were inquiring about the news of the expedition team, but the leader of the expedition team came back alone with a very embarrassed attitude, and what he said was some terrible news.

The happy clan members quickly panicked.

Because, everyone believes that this guy Woima Kashad will not talk nonsense.

The bad news reached the chief's ears before he himself.

The leader Mechasta, according to the local language, the leader's name is called "Hunter".

The reality is that this Mechasta is an excellent hunter. He is the son of the old chief. As the old chief died of wound infection caused by hunting brown bears, the thirty-year-old Mechasta, as the only son of the old chief, killed the furious brown bear with an obsidian spear. He was elected as the new leader.

Compared with the weak gray squirrel tribe, people need a brave person to lead everyone.

On the contrary, this Mechasta is always trying to do something new in addition to being brave. So he tattooed his face with some black mottled stripes, and through his weird face, he felt that he was blessed by some mysterious power.

Of course, smearing mud on the face, or directly tattooing, can deceive the eyes of the prey with a high probability.

After all, squirrels are smart animals, and wild deer and argali are not stupid. A hunter needs a little camouflage.

Compared with his dead father, the leader really knew the three main reasons for his tribe's disadvantage: small population, lack of iron tools, and lack of domestic livestock.

Trying to eliminate the disadvantage of the tribe, he felt that this was his life's responsibility.

The prime-age leader was overjoyed when he heard that Woymakashad had returned.

However, only one person returned, and one hell of bad news.

"What? The Varangians are attacking?!"

"Chief, that's what he said," reported the messenger, who was on one knee.

"Where is that guy?"

"He's just outside the cabin."

"Let him in!"

Mechasta, sitting on the wooden chair of the brown bearskin (the one that killed his father) tried his best to remain worried, but his heart was beating like a drum.

As soon as Woima Kashad, who felt that his mission was humiliating, entered the thing, he knelt down on the ground of the half-crypt wooden house with a bang, crying hoarsely about his past experiences.

Mechasta couldn't hear clearly at all, and he suddenly shouted: "You calm down first! Tell me, what about the others?"

"They! They are all dead!" Voima Kashad knelt straight, showing his face washed with tears.

To be honest, Mechasta has never seen such a tragic expression on his subordinates.

However, his words were really unconvincing. Not only Mechasta, but all the people present felt that things must be very complicated.

Woymakashad tried his best to keep his composure in describing his successful past, and then he complained loudly about what the Russ had done.

"Wait? The Rus? Who are they? They are the Varyags? I thought you were successful in connecting with those in the far west, farther west. How did you encounter the Rus?"

Mechasta here is unable to distinguish the relationship between the Rus and the Varyags, but he knows that there is a Balmerk tribe in the far west (that is, the Norwegians in the port of Narvik), the local people have ore, and they know better Smelting iron. He pinned his hopes on the expedition he sent, either attacking the deer breeders to scavenge their supplies, or finding the Balmerc tribe and exchanging his leather for some iron.

Woima Kashad said angrily: "The Rus, the Varyags! They are exactly the same. They attacked our old enemies a few days ago, those who caught salmon, the salmon guys are dead, I think Until they captured the remaining women, and then..."

"And then what?" Mechasta asked with his head stretched out and his eyes wide.

"Those women, humiliated in reality, and then all killed."

From Woima Kashad's eyes, Mechasta couldn't see the question of lying. This subordinate of his own has obviously encountered too many terrible things, and the whole person is terrified.

Mechasta was still a little skeptical: "Well, I believe you, those Rus are Varyags. But since they are Varyags, why do they kill prisoners? Don't they want women?"

Although Woima Kashad felt that his lies were logically untenable, because everyone had heard the news that the Varyag people's attacks on their southern friends had always been to search for treasures and capture people as slaves.

But the Rus people are absolutely greedy, they will expand the results.

Woymakashad's attitude was very determined: "Boss! They are a bunch of crazy enemies! Now that the salmon guys are all dead, the next target is us, and then our friends to the southeast. Maybe we should give up The strife of the past, because the goal of the Rus, is all of us in Kowen."

"You..." Mechasta trembled all over, because the words of his subordinates were so bizarre, he felt more and more that something was wrong.

At this time, a man standing in the wooden house said: "Boss, his words are amazing. Varyag? At least I have never seen a Varyag in the more than 20 years of my life."

Another echoed: "Yeah! Was Woymakashad an excuse for the failed expedition? That's fifty brothers! Our tribe lost fifty men!"

Thinking of this, Mechasta suddenly thought that the task he had given to Woima Kashad was a complete failure.

The risky move that he approved not only failed, but the fighting power of the tribe was greatly weakened. Because the entire tribe, there are less than 150 men who can be armed to fight now. Even if some young women are mobilized, how many can there be in the end?

Putting aside the Varyagians in advance, Mechasta thought that his tribe had been seriously damaged, and in anger, he lifted his big foot and put down Woima Kashad, who was reporting the news.

"Damn, I can't just take your word for it. The Varyags? I don't care if they are real, but you come back alone, and the remaining fifty brothers are simply beheaded by the Varyags?"

Woymakashad, who staggered up, roared with grief and indignation. This roar was like a wolf howling, and then he stood up, as if he had no intention of estimating superiority, although the entire tribe did not have such a clear concept of inferiority.

He rushed over, grabbed his neck when Mechasta was defenseless, and roared against the tattooed head of the other party: "We are running out of time! The iron-armed army of the Rus is already on its way to attack. .I insist until now is to report the news to the tribe! My expedition was wiped out, I can die! But, our tribe is finished! Are you still hesitating here?!"

Mechasta was taken aback, he had never been so offended before.

Woima Kashad was quickly pulled away and kicked several times before being pinned to the ground.

"Boss, this waste must die! We have lost fifty brothers, and someone must be responsible."

"No!" Mechasta categorically refused. "Now, I would like to believe that his words are true. I advise you all to believe it."

The suppressed Voima Kashad was grateful, and even though his face was on the ground, he still shouted: "We must be ready! Send someone to tell our friends! I heard the leader of Ross say with my own ears. , to destroy all the Kewen people. Only by joining forces can we defeat the enemy."

"Is this true?!" Mechasta stepped forward and asked.

"It's true. We have to take precautions! Please believe me, if the enemy doesn't show up after a few days, you can kill me. I will never run away!"

Mechasta nodded and motioned for his men to release the guy.

The sudden and vicious situation shook the entire gray squirrel tribe.

When they heard the news of the death of the family members who participated in the expedition, their relatives cried, and the father and brother of the deceased decided to take up arms to take revenge.

All tribal men chose to stand up and defend their homeland.

Everyone is never afraid of fighting, because in normal life, the battle with the Salmon Lord tribe has never stopped. What's more, tribal hunters often clashed with tribes upstream of the river.

The various Kewen tribes are never monolithic, only when a strong enemy enters the bandit, they may unite.

Because of this bad news, the winter life of the gray squirrel tribe was completely disrupted. Originally, everyone's mood can be relieved a lot during winter, because hostile tribes will never be stupid enough to make trouble in such a season.

The Varyags belong to the legendary enemy, they are here, and their purpose is to kill all the Kovins.

Although everyone did not know that they were just quietly catching squirrels in the forest, how did they provoke the distant Varyag people. At last the war is coming, and all the clans of the Grey Squirrel are united under the iron sword of their young leader.

In this time of crisis, the tribesmen can only hope that their heroes will bring victory.

It was undeniable, because Woima Kashad's frantic escaping action really brought a very critical preparation time to the Grey Squirrel Tribe.

The leader Mechasta thought about it, since the Rus people, that is, the Varyag people, their purpose is to destroy their own tribe, and for this purpose, the enemy will attack desperately. The enemy will definitely attack the wall of the tribe frantically, and it is difficult to defeat the enemy by its own strength, so the tribe relies heavily on the protection of the wall.

Second, the tribe needs reinforcements!

Just to the southeast of the Grey Squirrel Tribe, there are five villages of Kewen people, and their population is only five or six hundred people.

The reality is that there are only 50,000 to 60,000 locals living in the entire Finnish region.

The total population of the Kowen people is less than 5,000 people, and that's it, their population is still highly dispersed. But this is not surprising, because the Kewen people are a relatively young ethnic group, they are a group of people separated from the southern Finns. They just went to the north in pursuit of fur, and their motive for migration was exactly the same as the reason for the Rus people on the other side of the bay to settle north, and the migration to the north took the initiative to attack the deer people, and their behavior was also surprisingly consistent.

Mechasta sent some messengers to order them to travel as fast as they could along the frozen river on a reindeer sleigh to the allied tribes.

Yes, the Grey Squirrel Tribe raised more than fifty reindeer, all of which were snatched from the deer breeders in the previous years and further bred and cultivated.

Mechasta believes that the tribes in the southeast will send reinforcements, but he cannot rely on the reinforcements for victory. Besides, Mechasta can rationally think that he will be rescued, but the human heart is difficult to torture. When those guys learned that the Varyags were coming, they would be the first to run away with their troops. After all, this world is very big, and the fleeing clansmen are just going to open up new settlements.

Can't the grey squirrel tribe also escape?

Mechasta chose to refuse, and he decided to fight the enemy with grief and indignation.

Because Mechasta propaganda is that the expedition team was killed by the Varyags, and almost all the small families in the tribe died. This is the hatred of the entire tribe, and no one wants to flee.

After all, Wojma Kashad was the leader of the expedition, and he must take some responsibility for the fact that the entire army was wiped out. Mechasta did not kill him, but imprisoned him in a cellar.

Even so, Wojma Kashad has been satisfied, the war alarm has finally turned into war mobilization, and the Grey Squirrel Tribe is in action! Even large numbers of boys were organized.

The gray squirrel tribe began to strengthen the walls of their villages, and due to the particularity of the climate, they had their own magic tricks.

Beneath the snow is hard frozen soil, and digging with a stone shovel would hurt the tools too much. Also, because the limited iron tools are precious lumps, it takes iron effort to dig soil, and everyone is reluctant to do this kind of thing.

They dug into the snow at least a bit, and piled it up in front of the tribe's wall of stone and wood. There is more and more snow, so if there is a side profile, the tribe's wall has become an outward right triangle.

After the snow is accumulated, it is deliberately compacted. According to Mechasta's requirements, the solid snow must be able to ensure that a man can slide from the top of the wall to the bottom of the wall, and must not be pressed into the depression.

The job is not difficult because everyone is mobilized.

The walls were smoothed, and this was the trick that Mechasta thought of. In order to make it smoother, he also organized the women of the tribe to boil snow water. The snow water was boiled into warm water and poured directly on the snowdrifts outside the wall. In just two days, the grey squirrel obviously built an ice castle for himself!

The leader sent people to do experiments, and it turned out that no one can climb this ice slide with their own abilities, even with a dagger.

The wall was like this, and the two gates of the "Ice Castle" were also reinforced. If the enemy attacks the gate, the gray squirrel tribe has prepared a large amount of wood and stone, and they can block the gate in a short time. In theory, the gates are stronger.

With such a defense, it's just passive defense.

Mechasta sent a group of wolf dung and charcoal blocks to send sentry to the low fence at the border of the territory.

The sentinel has only one purpose, to light the wolf smoke when a person wearing a metal helmet appears. Mechasta also learned this vigilance trick from friends in the south. The Finns saw the Varyag boats docked, the sentinels lit the wolf smoke, and the settlements in the inland hurry to evacuate to avoid the disaster.

Although never tried, Mechasta decided to try the trick.

The Varangian army will come, it is a certainty.