The Ross tribe is naturally called deer herders, because once discovered, it means that they can obtain a large herd of deer.
Otto's explanation instantly awakened everyone's memories, thinking of the prophecy of Priest Vilia that Otto once said - those who participate in the hunting operation will surely make huge profits.
The yearning for wealth drove everyone to obey the leader unconditionally. In this way, Otto, with excitement and apprehension, once again trekked toward the northeast for two full days, riding on skis for another fifty kilometers!
Their efforts were worthwhile. When Otto and others clearly saw a large number of animal footprints on the soft snow, everyone had already made a clear judgment.
Smart hunters discovered a large number of reindeer footprints, and experience told them that they must be reindeer.
The snow showed signs of being turned over on a large scale, and the meadows weighed down by the snow were also eaten, which further proved the existence of the deer.
A herd of deer, a lot of walking meat, and a hundred reindeer are enough for the tribe to eat until spring comes!
At present, only deer herds have been discovered, but no clear traces of those animals have been seen. However, everyone has made a very optimistic judgment based on the traces, that is, the size of the deer herd is quite large.
But there are still some very serious people who discovered some other strange footprints through careful observation.
To be precise, those are human footprints, and the owners of the footprints are definitely not themselves.
This is really great news.
In the past few days, the main task of Otto and his party has been to rush on their way. As the leader, he has still found nothing.
Although I thought that if I kept moving in the northeast direction, I would probably find a treasure, but too much time had passed.
Otto had already made two astonishing discoveries, and he ordered his men to gather on the snowfield.
"A large group of deer, we should kill them all. All the deer skins brothers belong to us. As for the venison... we fought our way back to the camp and told everyone to take all the venison with us. We also found people
The footprints are those of deer farmers, we can...hey, take their wealth as our own."
Who could not be happy when thinking about these things?
This sounds like a very good idea, and everyone is happy, but they are not fully sure of their abilities.
After all, hunting a herd of wild reindeer, those animals have very strong mobility, and their thick fur cannot be killed with just a poke of a short spear.
As for the deer herders, it should be easy to defeat them. Everyone has full confidence.
Otto was very calm about this matter. He looked at his twenty subordinates.
Everyone stood in the snowy field where the north wind was whistling. Although they were all wearing thick skins and wearing huge deerskin or fox fur hats on their heads, Otto couldn't help but think of finding the deer herder and launching an attack.
very worried.
Because in such an extremely cold area and far away from Fort Ross, if you are injured in battle, although you may not necessarily die on the spot, if you suffer a more serious injury, the result will be death.
The situation began to become subtle, and the simple hunting operation suddenly became militarized.
So, are there deer herders, the so-called Sami people, where Otto lives?
The answer is of course yes!
Otto and his twenty men now followed the traces of reindeer and had gone too far to the northeast and had broken into the territory of the Sami people.
Specifically, it is the westernmost edge of the Sami active area.
Otto was unaware of this situation, and the Sami people who focused on winter grazing were also unaware of the approaching danger.
Because for decades, the Ross tribe, which had used harsh methods to expel the Sami people, did not encounter new Sami people again.
Decades are also a long time. Gradually, the past war was gradually forgotten by the two groups, as if they had never been in contact.
Compared with the Siaya Tribal Alliance, there is no doubt that the structure and organization of the Sami people are more backward and more fragile.
The Sami people are the oldest indigenous people in Europe, and they are also a part of the Finns.
Just in the past two hundred years, the Finnish tribes that had been scattered throughout Eastern Europe were driven away by the Slavic tribes moving eastward. Some Finns went straight to the Ural Mountains, and some retreated to the north near the Arctic Circle.
The situation of the Sami people is even worse. They have been driven away by the Viking tribes who landed in the Svealand area. Finally, the Ross tribe among them gave a heavy blow, causing the Sami people to completely leave the Gulf of Bothnia.
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The Sami people withdrew towards the Arctic Circle, into the so-called Lapland region and Murmansk.
If they want to live in the Arctic, any energy they can obtain is very valuable. Don't think about developing agriculture in extremely cold areas. The Sami people's livelihood is extremely dependent on the reindeer they raise. By living with some people in the south
The Finns in Karelia traded reindeer pelts, jerky and wooden products in exchange for some flax and metal.
However, trade is also at a very low level. They basically live a life without disputes with the world and do not want anyone to disturb their poor and cold days.
Perhaps the Sami people are naturally peace-loving, but peace never comes from charity from others.
The Sami people originally knew how to farm, but after losing the battle, they fled all the way to the Arctic Ocean. Could this be a safe place?
No! Because those Vikings, who have a huge desire for wealth, are approaching!
In general, all Sami clans have to guard against Arctic wolves attacking the deer they have worked so hard to raise. They have to be armed to be prepared, and they also have to send people to keep an eye on the wolves when they are grazing.
group.
They always pay special attention to wolves, which are extremely threatening to humans and animals. However, because they have not had contact with the Ross tribe for a long time, many young Sami people can only learn some ancient legends from their fathers' mouths.
Or because the description of ancient horrific memories is mixed with too much personal emotion, the "Varyags" that young people know gradually take on the image of wolves, as if they are a group of monsters with huge fangs.
The elders are indeed afraid of the "Varyags", especially when they point out that there is a group of "Varyags" who claim to be masters of oars and can control long boats that suddenly appear.
Young people don't understand all this. They inherit the not-so-rich inheritance of their ancestors, which is a herd of reindeer. According to the ancient living habits, they routinely carry out large-scale grazing twice a year. Their life is ordinary year after year.
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The thick fur of the reindeer can easily resist the erosion of the cold. By gnawing on the grass under the snow, each reindeer can grow rapidly in winter.
Every year winter grazing becomes particularly important, because when the climate begins to warm up, all reindeer will molt. The remaining hairs will not be wasted by the Sami people. They can be mixed with the exchanged flax and woven into special linen cloth, and then
Print and dye with moss in various colors.
Therefore, the clothes of the Sami people are much more gorgeous than the civilian clothes of the Rus tribe.
However, no matter how gorgeous their clothes are, they can't hide the fact that they are weak in military force.
The Sami people do not have any large organization at all. They are nomadic in the wilderness as clans with a population of only a few dozen people.
The leader of any clan must be an older woman, because they are still in the matrilineal clan stage, which naturally makes them only exist as a small settlement, and the number of the most combat-effective men in the settlement does not dominate.
Because of the Ross tribe, when the tribe is threatened, they can organize two thousand warriors armed with swords and prisoners of war.
In medieval Europe, two thousand warriors was already the limit of the number of troops that many feudal counts could organize.
However, no matter how many men the Sami had, it was of no avail. They used stone spears or antler spears to defeat the wolves, but they were unable to withstand the Viking battle axes.
Although the Sami people make single bows, they also make bow strings and arrow clusters. As a result, the weight of the bow is too low, and the arrowheads are not polished antlers or stones.
Such an arrow cannot even penetrate the fur of a reindeer at a relatively long distance, but it is powerful enough to kill an Arctic fox and a ferret.
They are such an ancient ethnic group in the Paleolithic Age with a sparse population, lack of organization, and a severe lack of metals.
Suffering strong oppression from foreign nations and because of their own compromise, they escaped disaster and retreated to the extreme north at the edge of the world, but in the end they could not change their fate of being conquered.
Because the leader of the Ross tribe has made up his mind, Otto's greed cannot be appeased at all now.