Chapter 258 The campsite at the estuary of the Oulu River
A huge procession moved south along the frozen western coastline of modern Finland.
Voyma Kashad, who has become a guide, drags his painful feet and holds a wooden stick as he struggles to move forward in the ice and snow.
He must remain alert and very loyal.
Otherwise, the powerful bows and arrows of this group of Russians could easily kill him.
Because he actually saw the horrific death of his companions.
The heads of some of his companions were completely shattered, and the enemy's short and thick arrows completed all this. He was fortunate enough to observe the unique arrows of the Russians at close range. After seeing the various weapons and equipment of this group of people, he could not imagine it.
These three hundred people were actually a group of madmen armed with steel.
He clearly saw the iron mail armor worn by the leader of the Rus!
"If you guys had a fight with those guys, who would win?"
Woima Kashad suppressed his thoughts in his heart, and he was as humble as a hound all the way.
For those who were willing to cooperate, Otto did not hesitate to feed them some wheat cakes.
Compared to the leader, Otto was actually worried about whether the group of deer herders following the team would escape.
After three days of camping in the wild, Otto felt that he was worrying too much.
The transformation of reality is very subtle, as if the deer herders have willingly regarded their sons as their leaders. Otto has no worries about this. He even feels that with the help of these deer herders, the team can move forward with fewer enemies.
some burden.
If we say who is the master of snow walking, deer herders must be the masters of masters. Their winter herding is to drive their reindeer herds and wander around the snowy world.
Now they have lost all their deer, but they are also guaranteed safety and protection.
The deer herders began to take the initiative to help the mercenaries directly under Rurik share some of their luggage, and also took the initiative to sit on the ground and drill wood to make fire, and even went hunting.
Another big reason why they work so well together is Rumia.
The deer herders with relatively simple hearts were more likely to trust the words of their female tribesmen, and Rurik also fulfilled his promise. The deer herders who lived almost purely on meat suddenly lived a life of wheat cakes and wheat porridge.
.
Once they eat wheat, they want to eat it every time.
This is exactly what Rurik promised. The reward for raising deer for the Russian people is not only safety, but also food security. The "security" here refers to highly nutritious wheat.
Like the deer herders, the Rus are masters of snow-covered terrain.
Because cowardly people basically die in childhood and grow into strong men, they are first of all guys with extraordinary perseverance.
Everyone bundled up tightly in their fur coats, endured the dry and biting wind from the Arctic, and moved forward at a faster speed.
Under normal circumstances, Russians can only walk up to 20 kilometers a day on foot in the snow.
If you step on the ice, the situation will be much better.
They set out on a clear morning and continued their journey at night. In the evening two days later, the team walking along the coast encountered a slightly wide frozen river.
"Where is this?" Otto forced Voima Kashad, who was leading the way, to explain.
The leader, who knelt down in front of Otto to show his humility, hesitated and said: "I...I don't know the name of this river. Because we Kewen people rarely touch this place."
While Jevro was translating, Otto, who was in a mood of excitement, raised his big feet and knocked Voima Kashad down. The man curled up on the ice and screamed in pain, thinking that his life was lost.
"Jevro, help him up! Others, let's cross the glacier!"
After that, Otto took the lead and walked into the frozen river, followed by the others.
By now, the team has already entered a field that they have never understood. For all the Russians, everything they are seeing is brand new.
Exploring the unknown world, everyone has a desire to explore, but also a deep fear in their hearts.
Otto is willing to shoulder great responsibilities, become a great explorer, and lead his people forward.
The team spent the night in the forest on the other side of the river, and bonfires were soon lit in the pine forest.
As a result, the tribesmen almost instinctively "teamed up to explore the map" and accidentally discovered suspicious footprints in the forest, which seemed to contain some big prey.
The tribesmen who tried to hunt succeeded!
The hunters happened to find a white bear that had suspended its "partial hibernation" and took the opportunity to kill it.
Before falling asleep, Rurik happily gnawed on a piece of half-roasted bear meat. He only took one bite, and the strong smell made him feel uncomfortable all over.
"Damn, I thought I could stand shark meat, but I can also stand white bear meat. It's disgusting!"
Rurik casually threw the meat to his Rumia. He rinsed his mouth with hot snow water and ate the wheat cake he had brought.
Rumia happily took the bear meat and distributed it to the deer herders and children in a blink of an eye.
Real deer farmers never shy away from the taste of food. They are a group of people who can eat fresh meat raw and digest it well.
From the perspective of the deer farmers, they felt that this was a favor from their new masters.
A fat white bear was dismembered and its head was chopped off, becoming a symbol of Otto's strength. The snow-white bear skin was also carefully peeled off. If you ignore some holes in the leather, it is a wonderful daily necessities. Otto
Tuo had already thought of bringing the bearskin back to Rossburg to be tanned and used as a soft mattress for the bed.
It can be said that Otto’s ideas are truly worthy of our Russian name.
However, the white bear died from at least five volleys of crossbows. The white bear did not even have a chance to fight back and died of internal bleeding. The same is true. Rurik, who can't stand the pure life of eating hair and drinking blood, just can't stand meat without blood, let alone his own nature.
There is bear meat with a strong smell.
However, the scene of the Russians skinning and dismembering a white bear almost frightened Voyma Kashad.
According to the concept of the Kovin people, it is best not to actively provoke animals like white bears. Who would have imagined that the violent white bears, hunted by the Russians, are like hunting for prey.
After hunting a white bear, Otto felt much better.
And those tribesmen who have been traveling all day long have hope for their journey south.
The Russians began to focus on the surrounding scenery, trying to find small animals hidden in the snow.
After another two full days of travel, some Russian warriors already had some new items in their luggage. The main items were white fluffy snowshoe skins. A few luckier ones managed to catch ferrets in temporary traps.
They crossed another frozen river on the way and stopped at a very large frozen river.
At this point, Woima Kashad, the leader of the way, announced something very important.
Panting, he walked closer to look at the glacier. Otto, who was sighing at the ice sea, pointed to the defense line of the river and said plausibly: "My tribe is coming. We know that if we walk along the river, the nearest tribe is the Gray Squirrel Mountain Fort."
Hearing Jevlo's translation, Otto nodded and motioned to his men to take the leader down and reward him with a piece of wheat cake.
It was approaching evening, and Rurik felt that the troops would camp here to rest. He did not expect that his father would leave him with him.
Those deer herders have already begun the traditional trick of drilling wood to make fire. They use hemp rope and sticks to make "auger wood fire starters". Of course, the Russians also have this skill, and it even exists widely.
As the first bonfire burned, the fire soon spread to all the bonfires.
On the frozen coast, an old man with a white beard covered his young son's head with his big hands.
Although it is a sea of ice, Otto realized the superiority of this place.
"Do you know why I let you stand here?" Otto asked deliberately.
"Is... to see the ice sea?"
"Bah! Did you see that island in the distance?"
Rurik narrowed his eyes slightly, looked around again, and constructed a geographical structure in his mind that resembled a bay.
At this point, he suddenly realized.
"Is this... a bay?"
"Yes!" Otto nodded with satisfaction: "It's very suitable for a settlement, isn't it?"
"Is it really appropriate?"
"My son, we should try." Otto stroked his son's head, "Our fishing boat has never touched this place, but I have a wonderful hunch that if we set out from here and head west on the ice sea, we will
You can get to Roseburg.”
His father's words suddenly aroused Rurik's strong curiosity. He closed his eyes and desperately thought about a possibility.
Because the geographical structure of the Gulf of Bothnia is very clear in Rurik.
It can be said that in the past, the Russians were measuring "the structure of the known world" with their feet along the coastline.
An idea came to mind.
Rurik suddenly broke away from his father's big hand: "Dad, please give me some time. We won't set off tomorrow morning. We will wait until the sun reaches the highest point in the sky. I want to make sure of one thing."
"One thing? What is that?" Otto was a little confused.
"This is where we are now. You should know that our world is not a plate held up by branches of the world, but a big ball held up..."
Rurik talked for a while, but his father didn't understand at all. The only thing that made Rurik feel happy and embarrassed was that his father recognized his willful decision.
Otto was determined to give the tribesmen a long rest. After all, according to the guide, the destination could be reached very quickly by walking along the glacier.
At that time, Otto did not believe that those Covins could kneel on the ground obediently and swear to be loyal slaves, but he would still have to use force to force them to submit.
It is said that there may be eight or nine hundred people in that tribe. Because of the previous battles, Otto felt that these unknown enemies were fools. Their only advantage was that they had a relatively large number of people. The premise was that children and women could be warriors.
It is natural to despise the enemy, but Otto did not want to force his men. It is said that only by recharging your strength and launching a battle can victory be achieved in the shortest time.
After learning that they could finally fight openly and openly, the warriors thanked their leader for the opportunity and the high priest's prophecy. They then prepared their weapons in their respective shacks, or took the time to sleep.
As for Otto, early the next morning, he did not pay attention to his son's towering branches on the ice. Instead, he took a few young cronies for a walk on the frozen coast.
Otto was investigating the geographical conditions of this area. The more he explored, the more he felt that not building a stronghold here would be a waste of its unique geographical location.
It can be said that Otto's vision was wise, because in another dimension, it was the Swedish king who conquered Finland and built a city here.
She is the city of Oulu, a beautiful city that is frozen in winter and yet produces salmon.
Now, the Russian hunting army is the first to camp here. In a sense, the "Swedes" of this plane completed the conquest of this place in 830 AD. A city may have been built because of this, and her construction
The time should also be historically determined as 830 AD.
Remember Rurik’s trick of measuring latitude?
This time, he repeated his old trick and only wanted the precise geography of a campsite.
Rurik used the rope ruler carried by the team as a measuring tool, and then inserted a pine branch into the hole drilled in the frozen river. The length of the pine branch exposed on the ice was trimmed to a standard stika, which is the so-called 98 centimeters.
The length of pine branches requires precise figures, and Rurik's calculation was only the length of the sun's shadow at noon.
No one knew what Rurik was doing. Some curious warriors watched for a while, but they felt bored and left.
The sun is shining brightly today. This is the river that runs southwest. The Arctic wind can easily wreak havoc on the frozen river. If you stay on the river, your ears will be filled with whirring sounds. Rurik insists on staying here because it’s noon.
About to arrive.
After some preliminary calculations, Rurik calculated today's solar altitude angle using the Julian calendar.
In the end, he only needed to get the maximum length of the sun's shadow, and all the problems were solved.
Otto never left his son and Rumia. This girl also insisted on standing in the midday sun, letting the cold wind howl.
Rurik used his sword to draw a line where the sun's shadow was the largest, and then hurriedly took out a measuring tape to measure.
He began to use the ice surface as a scratch paper for calculations, using the tip of his sword to draw symbols on it that Otto could not understand at all.
"Rurik, what are you doing? Is it a prayer spell?" Otto Shadow asked in surprise.
Rumia basically understood. She explained for her master: "Big boss, my master is calculating."
"Calculate what?"
"It's... calculation..." Rumia couldn't say it for a moment, because she didn't really believe that the world she was in was on a big ball.
Rurik did some trigonometric calculations and finally obtained the precise angle value. Finally, he calculated the latitude of the campsite.
Rurik estimated that there must be an error in his calculations, but the error was within an acceptable range.
He enthusiastically put the sword back into the leather scabbard and walked closer to find his father.
At this moment, Otto, who was confused, had been watching for a long time. He loved his son so much that he couldn't bear to disturb him, and he stood here to show his support.
"Did you get any good results? What on earth were you calculating?" Otto asked.
"Dad, I already understand. Our current location is 65° north latitude."
Otto heard some incomprehensible words, and Rurik also realized that his father could hardly understand what he said.
Otto scratched his beard and continued to ask: "Rurik, just tell me, can we go back to our hometown directly after crossing the ice sea? Have you found the way back?"
Rurik nodded deeply: "Found it. Let's go due west. When we reach a new land, we need to walk north for about a day, and then... we can return to Roseburg."
"Huh? Is this true?" Otto was overjoyed.
How can Rurik be completely sure? Although this is the theory, the latitude of Roseburg is 65°4′, and the current campsite where he is currently is barely less than 65°1′. The latitude difference between the two places is very small, but
This difference is placed on the ordinate, excluding calculation errors, and is at least more than twenty kilometers on the map.
Rurik was willing to believe in the power of mathematics and his own calculations. He stamped his feet vigorously and said firmly: "If we move a little to the west and a little to the north, we can go directly back to Roseburg!"
"Okay! I listen to you." Otto pulled out his sword directly and pointed to the west: "I have decided that after we conquer those Covin people, we will return along the glacier. Right here, we will go home directly across the ice sea
."
Otto immediately began to publicize the news, saying that the team could go home all the way west, which would definitely save a lot of time when everyone returned. At first, everyone was worried and instinctively felt that this was unreliable.
Since it was Rurik who played the trick that looked like a "sacrificial ritual", many people believed that Rurik had received another revelation from God.
Then don't worry about anything. Once the Kewen people are dealt with, everyone's road to victory will no longer have to take many detours.
The short day passed again, and it can be said that the Russians stayed in the camp at the mouth of the glacier for more than a day!
The swords and axes of all the warriors were sharpened, they had enough to eat, and their mental state was back to its peak. Everyone was fully prepared to face the unknown war, and they had even begun to dream of getting rich.
It was another clear morning, and the Russians, who were ready to fight, finally set off.
Before setting off, Otto suddenly asked Voyma Kashad who was leading the way: "You must know the name of this river."
Javlo translated for Otto and relayed a rather special name for the river "River with a Great Flood", which in short was "Oulu".
So to put it another way, the original meaning of Dinghe is "flooding river".
"Oulu? Okay! An interesting name. Maybe I will build a Fort Oulu and control this place forever."
History has reached a coincidence here, because the Swedish conquerors from another dimension named the newly built fortress "Olu Castle". The conquerors named it in the Finnish language and added a common place name in Northern and Western Europe.
suffix.
Voyma Kashad didn't know the exact reason why the Rus were the leader and asked for the name of the river. It seemed that it was simply to prepare for future battles?
Facing the menacing Ross army, Voyma Kashad, who led the way, felt extremely happy.
Because he longs for a war, because it is not his war, but it may give him a chance to escape.
Woima Kashad pointed to the river and threatened that within two days' journey at most, the Russians could reach the so-called "Grey Squirrel Hill Fortress" village, where more than 10,000 squirrel pelts would become trophies for the Russians.
What is irrefutable is that the fighting spirit of the Russian people has been completely inspired!