Chapter 206 The Escape of the Gran Tribe and the Ostara Refugees
The Northern Alliance knew nothing about the Danish military operations for a while!
Ragnar's opinion was correct. If the victorious Danish coalition broke into Lake Mälaren, it would be perfectly fine to give the locals a heavy blow. As long as it was done properly, they could spend a day looting and then leave.
Of course, they are only given one day.
Once the Danish Alliance's actions are delayed, things immediately become particularly troublesome.
The Danes destroyed the Ostara tribe, and it was impossible for the Mellaren tribe to get the news in two or three days.
However, some of the fleeing fishermen attacked the boat and entered the upstream waterway and broke into another lake.
These fishermen don't care about their own property, or even their wives and children. In times of crisis, they seem to be cowards.
This is not the case.
It would make sense to call them a cowardly escape. They fled to another lake area to explain the terrible things to the local allies of the Gran tribe.
The air in the entire world is clear, and the people of Gran can see the thick smoke burning in the distance.
The Ostara tribe seemed to be trapped in a burning crater, so far away that allied tribes had noticed something strange before the fishermen who reported it.
Allied tribes thought that there was a rare forest fire. When some fishermen broke in, they learned something terrible.
The fleeing fishermen in Ostara planned to move in to help, but their complaints turned into an alarm.
How could a small tribe of more than 500 people resist the Danish army that covered the entire bay?
Pooh!
When the people of Gran learned that the disaster was approaching, they naturally estimated that they would be the next to suffer.
Therefore, while the Danish coalition was enjoying a feast of plunder, the nearby Northern Alliance tribes that had not yet suffered disaster hurriedly packed up their belongings, drove a large number of cattle and sheep, and strategically moved to the north.
At least three small tribes received news, and eventually as many as two thousand people began a relatively orderly retreat.
People sit on bullock carts and drive cattle and sheep.
There were also many people rowing boats and moving as far as possible along the small river leading to the north, and then switched to overland evacuation.
The Northern Alliance tribes that have infiltrated into the Götaland Highlands are taking the initiative to evacuate the pastures they have managed for a long time. Many people are complaining why no one comes to stop the Danish army.
There was a businessman from the north named Fo Degen.
That's right, this guy spent a crazy sum of two pounds of gold to buy a steel sword carefully ordered by the great businessman Gould.
This person's business is to find tribes in the south, buy local cowhide, sheepskin, and other animal husbandry products on a large scale, and transport them to the north for sale at a profit. In order to maximize profits, this person went to the Mälaren Market
Some housing has also been built on a nearby island.
He hired more than thirty local poor people to process leather for them, making daily necessities and selling them at high prices. In fact, the so-called employment here is almost like using slaves.
Fordgen only gave them food and shelter, and received their labor. Especially when a large amount of leather was shipped to his island, this group of people had almost no time to rest. After consuming huge assets for a steel sword, Fordgen
Gen felt that it was worth spending a huge sum of money for a treasure. The next question was how to make the money back.
For the Siiya Tribe Alliance in the north, many people continue to immigrate to the south for better grazing pastures.
They followed a river full of stones and went south into another large lake. Hundreds of years later, a city grew up on the banks of this stone river, becoming the future iron-smelting center in central and southern Sweden.
Many people settled here, gradually forming the Hjelmalen tribe, and the lake where it is located is also named after this.
But the shores of Lake Hjermalen are not the best pasture for grazing. More tribes are still expanding southward until they encounter the immigrants from Gotland heading north.
The peaceful relationship ended when the Gotlanders joined the Danish-dominated alliance.
At the beginning of May, after leaving the Merlaren market merchant Vodgen, his small fleet entered the port of the still prosperous Ostara tribe, and then continued eastward along the river to find the Gran people.
of settlements.
Fordegen built his own trading post in the Glan tribe, and he has been operating it for many years. He always felt that the Ostara people placed their settlement on the coast, which was really close to the island of Gotland.
Unexpectedly, disaster really struck.
There is a huge lake in the west with lush green mountains and lakes. The people of the Northern Alliance who expanded here called this lake "Vetern", which is the name of the "God of the Forest".
Lake Wittern has an important waterway, and the river flows all the way into Burrow Bay, which is the harbor where the Ostara tribe is located.
The geographical environment of this place is good, and there are as many as five tribes belonging to the Northern Alliance living on both sides of the long waterway.
This waterway is the natural border of the Northern Tribal Alliance, or in other words, the border of the Svealand Plain. After crossing this river, going south is the Götaland Highlands in a narrow sense.
There was thick smoke billowing from the east, and the leader of the Gran people, feeling that something bad was going on, decided to take his people and flee for their lives.
The Gran people have a conscience. When the leader announced the evacuation, he also sent people to catch up with the fleeing fishermen in Ostara. After joining forces, they continued upstream and notified their allies upstream that the Danes were incoming.
Whether the allies upstream are transferred is no longer a concern of the Gran tribe.
"Damn it, after more than ten years of business, I have failed! You have all run away, and I don't want to be the prey of the Danes!" Businessman Forde was unwilling to do anything, because this year's business was disrupted by the war before he could do well.
The disaster had come. He urgently took the small amount of leather he purchased and a large amount of block cheese. He tried his best to remove all the soft goods he had placed in the Gran tribe shop, and began a difficult escape journey.
.
There were more than five hundred Gran people, and they formed a huge land marching team, shuttling through the cracks of the forest.
Even the businessman Fo Degen is also a part of this marching team.
It is very strange to say that merchants of the Northern Alliance usually travel by boat. Even for immigration, boats are the mainstream means of transportation.
Due to geographical reasons, there is no waterway that can unobstructedly enter Lake Mälaren.
The Eastern Harbor was ablaze, and no one dared to detect what the Danes were doing. In short, the shortcut to retreat to Lake Mälaren from the Eastern Harbor no longer existed.
The retreating people could only choose a compromise method, which was to walk for up to 70 kilometers through the gaps in the forest to find the Hjärmalen tribe. From there, they could take a boat back to their hometown in Mälaren.
As for what will happen to the future lives of the Gran people who evacuated their homes, Fodegen no longer cares about it.
Vodgen's caravan of more than 50 people rode more than 20 ox-carts, and along with the moving crowd, rushed toward the Yelmalen tribe.
Everyone knows the direction, but if you are moving forward in an area with no path, you won't be able to go far in a day.
that's the truth.
Since they had to take care of as many as two thousand livestock, the speed of the team was slowed down a bit. The speed was slow, but Fo Degen was not worried about his life and fortune at all.
Because he maintains a group of mercenaries in his small caravan, and as for the Gran people, they are all long-term friends.
Look at this team. The only beast that can threaten everyone's life and safety will definitely stay away from this formation.
However, two days after the team retreated, some ragged people suddenly appeared.
"What's going on?! A group of strange people?" Fodegen, who was leisurely lying on the bullock cart, heard the report of his mercenaries and sat up warily.
The mercenary said hurriedly: "Sir, maybe we should be on guard."
"Be on guard? You should be on guard. Let brothers prepare for battle. Remember, you must guard my property! When I return to Mellaren, I will definitely give you rewards."
"As you command, my lord."
The merchants' mercenaries drew their swords one after another. The Granites also took up arms, and even took out long-handled scythes for cutting grass.
Everyone was forced to flee under the pressure of the Danish invaders. Suddenly a group of people appeared from the forest. Who can guarantee that they are not enemies?
At first, it looked like just a dozen people emerging from the woods. From a distance, the people who came were generally disheveled and unkempt, but as those people got closer, their appearance was completely revealed.
There were actually many women holding their children! There were also some frustrated men! There were even a group of children without adult supervision.
More and more people came out of the hidden woods and ran wildly on the grass in the woods, as if they had found some treasure.
Even if it was a group of women, they rushed towards them, which attracted the spearheads of the Gran people to target them.
The leader who didn't understand what was going on immediately ordered: "Men, come forward and prepare your shields, swords and spears. Women, take care of our cattle and sheep!"
After all, the Glens are also a Viking tribe. Although their population is small, they are also well-trained in resisting attacks.
Those men, women and children were mostly with bare hands, and a few of them were on walking sticks. When they encountered the Gran people, they cried on the spot: "Give us something to eat."
Many women knelt on the ground, holding on to their children, and prayed to the shield-bearing Granmen for food.
They complained directly about the fall of Ostara and what they had experienced in recent days.
"Big leader, they are from Ostara. Many people managed to escape." Some tribesmen urgently reported to the leader.
"Let's go and have a look."
The leader of the Gran people shook his neck, and he led more than a dozen people out of the shield wall, squatting directly next to a poor girl. The woman immediately lifted her infant child: "Sir, at least please
Save him. My children are going to starve to death."
The leader looked around and saw these ragged guys sitting on the ground. They looked completely harmless.
"You... are so pitiful. It seems that our escape was correct." After saying that, the leader took the child and immediately ordered his subordinates: "Get me a wet nurse to save the child. Come over with the cheese and hurry up.
!”
His subordinates immediately said: "But sir, we don't have much food in hand! Don't you think these Ostara people are too much?"
The leader was indeed moved with compassion, and temporarily returned the infant child to its mother. After he stood up, he saw a large number of people sitting on the grass, "Ah! Why do I feel that you...are better than mine?"
There are so many people?!”
For a moment, the leader of the Gran people felt that his kindness needed to be limited. After all, they were allies, but not his own tribe.
Even as allies, it is based on the fact that the Ostara tribe still exists. Now that the homes of this group of refugees have been destroyed, what obligation does the Gran people have to support them?
Giving each refugee a little cheese is already a favor.
Unless there is a man in his tribe who is willing to immediately accept a refugee woman as his new wife.
Following the order of the leader, the Gran people gathered the refugees together, and then someone came carrying a small sack.
The leader stood on a bullock cart, looking at the refugees, and shouted: "Now, I will give you food, come and get it."
In an instant, hungry refugees flocked to the bullock cart, and then the leader himself spread the cheese cubes in the sacks.
Just like wolves tearing apart their prey, hungry people show their ferocious nature. For precious food, the refugees really fight for it based on their ability.
The young child was crying, the child's mother was screaming, and the yelling and cursing continued.
Those fleeing loggers tried their best to grab food and stuffed it into their mouths as soon as possible.
When a woman grabs a piece of cheese, someone else immediately tries to take it away.
The chaotic scene made the leader of the Gran people grit his teeth standing high up. Look at these hungry people. In order to eat, they actually dared to bite the fingers of their own people in order to snatch a piece of cheese.
In the chaos, a dexterous figure got into the chaotic crowd.
She was the older sister of the two sisters. Even though her legs were injured, she had no choice but to burrow into the ground like a marmot to fill her and her younger sister's stomachs. She endured some trampling and caught three small pieces of cheese.
If you want, just stuff it into your clothes.
The girl is not greedy. She knows that if she continues to stay here, she will either be seen carrying food and provoke a fight, or she will be trampled to death by her fellow tribesmen.
The younger sister sat on the ground blankly, with the breeze blowing her blond hair, and the golden threads swaying in front of her blue eyes. She didn't care about the chaos not far away, because she was already in a trance because of hunger. Finally, she saw a nimble figure smiling.
I came back and my spirits were lifted.
It's my sister!
The girl looked left and right, then quietly took out a small piece of cheese from her arms, and then looked around cautiously: "Eat it quickly. If others see it, they will definitely come and grab it."
Without saying anything, the younger sister grabbed this small piece and stuffed it into her mouth. Although it felt a bit smelly, the two girls had completely ignored it because of hunger.
The two girls shared one piece of food, but the sister still had two pieces in her arms. Even though the two sisters were still hungry, for the sake of the future, they could only save food until they found a safe place.
Now, no one respects the two sisters because they are the granddaughters of the leader. In other words, no one has noticed that there are still members of the leader's family surviving.
"Sister, what should I do next? I want to continue eating some."
"No. We still have to leave some food to the port of Hjärmalen." The elder sister hugged her younger sister and comforted her.
"Can we... get there? I have never been there. I... have never even been out of our bay."
"Me too. My dear, we have no choice. I hope we can finally go to Mellaren and try our luck there. Maybe the leader of Mellaren will take us in."
"Melarenites...really?"
"Of course." My sister's little hand gently pinched her neck: "We are the women of the Ostara chief family, they will take care of us. In the future, when we grow up, get married and give birth to a son, our Ostara
Tara was restored."
My sister really couldn't understand what she said.
In fact, my sister would not have said such mature words before the disaster. Even though the sisters were nine and seven years old, under the threat of the disaster, my sister was forced to become a "sensible adult".