One after another, the fishing boats left their home port to start this year's fishing operations. A group of extremely bold fishermen have gone straight to the east of Fort Ross. They are not chasing the sunrise, but purely based on their honor as Ross people, they spontaneously go out for the urgent need.
The army took the lead.
At best, this is the case. The essential reason is that they want to seize the fishing resources from the mouth of the Oulu River and catch some large cod before other tribesmen.
On the Fort Ross side, the army is ready.
Soldiers in blue-striped white robes carried their own weapons and walked on the plank to board the ship!
Rurik stood on a high place and witnessed this spectacular scene with great interest. Now he could say, who dares to question that the Russian army is not the Lord of the North?
His pride was palpable, and he casually asked John Ingvar, the "little attendant" standing next to him: "Compared to the Franks, what do you think of our Russian army?"
"Powerful! Very powerful." John Yingvall said hurriedly.
"Really? I must take you with me in this battle. I will give you a sword and a shield."
Although he had been mentally prepared, the fear in his heart resolutely surged into his heart when he thought that he was going to the battlefield. John Ingvar refused in his heart. In the end, he accepted the so-called holy faith. The priests said that the Holy
Workers are not allowed to kill, and their hands are not allowed to be stained with any blood, not even sheep blood.
"You still hesitate? You have no choice." Rurik shook his head, shutting up John Invar who wanted to explain: "Give up your unrealistic fantasies, you are a Dane, not a sheep. I am here
You have already finished studying Latin here, and if you want to prove that you are still useful, then join us to fight. I don't ask you to actually kill an enemy, at least you must be in the army."
"Yes Yes!"
This conversation can be heard by Fisk.
The courageous young man came up, grabbed John Invar's neck with one hand, and said to Rurik: "Brother, there should be no cowards in our army. He must kill an enemy to prove himself."
"That's fine." Rurik shrugged, "Just give him a crossbow and you make him shoot. I've changed my mind. Fisk, if this John Invar is cowardly, you can beat him afterwards."
Now even Kanuf, who was considered a bit weak, has become brave. For the young warriors who are thriving under his command, Rurik needs to perform better than he did in the decisive battle on Gotland.
In this era, boys are born to defend the tribe and the country, and participating in wars and killings play a large role in their lives.
The teenagers began to board the ship carrying backpacks filled with prepared food, quivers, water bags, and light wooden crossbows.
The elite warriors in their prime were carrying more and heavier weapons and equipment. Even some two-wheeled carts were being tied up with ropes and being pulled to the deck by the people on the ship before being transported to the warehouse.
The Russian army is no longer a typical Viking pirate force that comes and goes at a moment's notice. Their weapons and equipment are more sophisticated, and their ships are extremely cutting-edge. For this reason, they have also sacrificed a lot of military efficiency.
However, under Rurik's arrangement, such a Russian army will reserve more logistical supplies and heavy weapons for any battle. They have war toughness that far exceeds that of other Vikings and have the ability to fight tough battles.
Of course, the comparison is limited to the internal comparison of the various Viking forces. Compared with the Franks, the current Russians are probably weaker than the Frankish Kingdom only in terms of the limit of the strength they can muster.
A fleet was formed that would sail faster to the Gulf of Bothnia.
Five sailing cruisers: Avlora, Speros, Gurdot, Duke of Ostara and Balmok (Byonny simply named it after his tribe).
Mercury, Venus, Mona, Mars, four sailing destroyers.
It is normal for a cruiser to carry 200 soldiers and a destroyer to carry 100 soldiers.
Taking into account practical reasons, there are still ten modified armed cargo ships used to transport people and goods.
Because this battle is no longer as simple as defeating the invading Tavastians, Rurik and the elites discussed and came to a very simple conclusion, that is, the Principality of Rus does not yet have the power to devour the power of the Tavastians.
Ability. Of course, this self-destructive force must be conquered, but not now, and it will be difficult to accomplish even within a few years.
In order to avoid provocations from the enemy again, the Russians must build a permanent fortress at the mouth of the Oulu River. The power of the Kovin people in the Oulu River Basin has actually collapsed. There will no longer be any need for any entrusted rule. This area will be for the Russians.
Directly occupy and start colonization. For this reason, it is very important to transform the island's summer fishing village into a cement-reinforced wooden fortress.
The warm south wind swept away the cold, and the Russian navy was dispatched!
The mighty army took advantage of the technical advantages of their huge triangular sails and used the power of the south wind to achieve the highest sailing efficiency that this type of sailing ship could have, even if the ship was full of people.
The straight-line distance from the Rossberg Fjord (actually present-day Luleå) to the island at the mouth of the Oulu River (actually present-day Hailuoto Island) is only 140 kilometers.
The Ross fleet once reached an astonishing speed of twelve knots, and maintained an average speed of eight knots overall.
They set off in the morning, and when the sun was almost setting that day, taking advantage of the last rays of light, the Ross fleet gathered in the island's natural cove.
The cargo ship transporting timber stopped at the island to meet up with the fishermen who had arrived earlier.
One of its fortresses will be built on the island, but the Russian troops will disembark at the mouth of the river.
Arik, who had already received the news, had lit a large number of bonfires on the coast. A bright string of flames marked that place as the best landing site in the dusk!
Although landing at night was a lot of trouble, the hydrological conditions at the mouth of the Oulu River helped the Russians a lot.
The water level here is always less than two meters deep. The seabed is full of fine sand and gravel without any shipwreck rocks. During the night tides, although the Russians' landing activities lasted until nightfall, the anchored ships were parked offshore.
, except for some heavy equipment and supplies were still thrown on the ship, all personnel landed in the water.
Rurik dragged his wet leather boots to a nearby bonfire, skillfully took off his boots and cooked them.
A pair of big hands suddenly picked him up from behind.
"Hey! What's going on?!"
"Brother, you're finally here!" Arik hugged his brother and turned around three times before putting him down.
The light of the bonfire shone on Arik's face, and he saw his cousin again after more than a month, "You...have become old."
"Really?" Arik touched his bearded face and smiled.
"Your breath is a bit smelly..."
"There is nothing we can do. We have eaten too much raw meat and drank wolf blood these days. Now that the ice and snow have melted, our brothers have a chance to eat fish..." Looking at the army gathering under the night, Arik couldn't help but sigh with emotion.
"Rurik."
"Um."
"You brought too many troops."
"Is it too much? Is two thousand people considered a lot?"
"There are actually two thousand people?!" Hearing this, Arik laughed slowly, which soon caused his group of scouts who were sleeping in the open to cover their chests and burst into laughter.
"why are you laughing."
"Haha, I was laughing at those stupid enemies who never imagined that they would be annihilated by such a large army and that we would win quickly."
Although Rurik was tired from traveling, he still wanted to listen carefully to his brother's detailed introduction to the enemy's situation.
Looking at the vast number of soldiers, they lit new bonfires one after another as soon as they got off the boat. Often seven or eight people gathered in one place to grill the fish caught last night or cook wheat in pottery urns.
There are even five large iron pots sandwiched on a simple stove made of stones, but it takes a while to eat the wheat cooked in this pot.
Regardless of whether the food was lost, many people devoured the fish and fell asleep wrapped in leather blankets.
Rurik's elite mercenaries built a linen tent for their patron after finishing their meal.
The Ross Army's offshore camp is under construction. The dense bonfires here echo the stars, and the pirates not far away also light up a large number of bonfires.
The Russian army has landed, but the Tavastians have not yet learned about it at the first time.
Arik truthfully told his brother what he had experienced during these days. It turned out that the brave Ross scouts had lost a lot of energy. Faced with the swarm of enemy reinforcements, Arik's actions became more and more conservative.
The Tavastians realized that their opponents were showing weakness and immediately began to "pursue and fight". Although they still suffered from bows and arrows, they did not kill any of them when they got close to them. They captured an enemy, and at least the Russians were driven to the sea.
Some hunters from Tavastia have already discovered that the sea has thawed, and new ships have arrived at the island not far away. This group of forest hunters saw the ocean for almost the first time. The endless waters aroused their fear, and their courage to continue the pursuit disappeared.
Arik only had fifty tired brothers under his command, and most of the arrows were lost after all. When the ice melted and the snow melted, these tired men could take the initiative to attack again. As the commander, Arik took the lead and did not want to do this.
The two warring parties reached an extremely subtle tacit understanding, and each maintained a certain degree of restraint. As a result, the area where the Oulu River entered the sea suddenly lost all traces of human activity.
With a new understanding of the enemy, Rurik also made new arrangements in his mind.
Can the Finnish snow talk?
Those Tavastians will obviously form the foundation of the Finnish nation a thousand years later. If this group of people realizes that they can use the geographical advantages of the mountains and forests to carry out military operations, will the Russian army suffer?
Rurik was really not in the mood to fight guerrillas with them, and presumably the other party had no such idea either. It would be best to use some means to induce all their main forces to engage in a decisive battle with him, but the enemy would easily act according to his own ideas?
He didn't dare to think too foolishly about the enemy. The army was here, and there had to be a clear main direction of attack.
The main direction of attack is obvious - the old Gray Squirrel Hill Fort.
On a new day, the unfinished landing operations of the Russians continued, and the construction of the camp at the mouth of the sea began to be stepped up.
With the experience of building forts on Gotland, the Russians' civil engineering became somewhat organized. More than a thousand people worked together to cut down trees. A large number of pinewoods were inserted into the dug soft soil pits to form wooden pillars. Relying on these wooden pillars,
columns, a group of suggested wooden sheds began to be built.
In Rurik's plan, the wooden fort on the island is the last fortress of the Russians, and this camp built on land will be operated for a long time.
The military camp currently under construction and the island fortress under construction will exist as a brand-new settlement for the Russians, with a simple and conventional name - kwenstadt (Kwenstad).
If this was a large settlement, it would naturally have the suffix "burg". After all, it could only be a small fishing village. No Russian would think that this place would develop beyond the glory of Fort Ross.
Kovenstad originally described the fishermen's summer camp on Hailuoto Island. This conventional name became the official name of the new settlement.
Rurik was not stupid enough to march into the old Gray Squirrel Hill Castle as soon as he landed. Out of a cautious and stubborn sense of security, Rurik asked the army to at least transport various supplies first, and then remove the most basic equipment of the camp.
Now that the defense measures are in place, let's talk about the attack later.
In the two days after landing, the Russians were busy building the camp. The preliminary wooden walls were being spliced together, and people with shovels were digging and strengthening. Some people were already mixing the small amounts of cement and river sand they had brought.
, intended to be used to reinforce key parts of the camp.
They did not simply "build a house". A group of sentries with crossbows were arranged to ambush in an area farther away from the camp. They were under Rurik's order to monitor and guard against possible sneak attacks by the enemy while also taking care of catching tongues.
The "tongue" comes uninvited!
No trace of their opponents was found for many days, and some bold Tavastian hunters tentatively touched the coast. Some hunters were shocked to see a large number of ships moored on the sea in the distance, some of which were as big as mountains floating on the sea.
!
The hunter hurriedly fled eastward, hoping to inform the leader of the shocking news as soon as possible.
During this process, some people were shot or even captured alive by the ambushed Ross sentries.
Five unlucky Tavastian hunters were beaten up and finally dragged to the camp under construction with their faces covered in blood.
It was at this moment that Rurik and all the banner captains, centurions, and even Balmok allies made a clear strategic plan to conquer the invaders.
The plan was completely based on the comprehensive intelligence obtained by Arik and his team for more than a month. Rurik and everyone made the same conclusion, that is, the invaders can stay here for a long time, relying on the legacy of the Kovin people.
Hill fort.
Fires and previous wars have made the old Salmon Lord hillfort uninteresting even to invaders.
The Tavastia invaders built a stronghold based entirely on the well-defended old Gray Squirrel Hill Fortress. As long as this stronghold is removed, the enemies may flee into the forest and not escape for a short time, but without a stronghold, they will all leave eventually.
Perhaps the two sides could find an open space outside the mountain fort for a decisive battle. However, the river has thawed. Is there any open space in this river area for the two armies to position themselves for a decisive battle?
Then don't think about forming a decisive battle. The army will go straight to Huanglong and completely demolish the old Gray Squirrel Hill Castle this time! As for fighting a siege, compared to the conquest three years ago, Rurik is really well prepared this time.
.
Those two-wheeled carts are not just for transporting bundles of arrows, grains and dried salted fish. Their primary task is to carry heavy weapons.
The torsion slingshot and bull trebuchet were tied to a two-wheeled cart with hemp ropes, and they became a mobile weapon. With ten torsion slingshots and ten trebuchets, coupled with strong bows and powerful crossbows, the opponent had no chance of winning.
Some of the centurions were actually veterans from that time, and everyone talked about that expedition with great interest.
What's even more amazing is that the former owner of Gray Squirrel Castle was in the Ross army. When Mechasta and his tribe heard that they were attacking the Tavastians, they happily fought for Ross. After learning of the victory in the war,
The key was to destroy the Gray Squirrel Hill forts, and the old owners of these forts had no hesitation in specifying a plan of attack.
Is it still a pleasure to destroy one's own old home? Things have changed and people have changed. Mechasta and his tribe lived a very comfortable life in their new home of Ironburg. There is no memory of their homeland. They demolished the old stronghold and attacked Tavastia.
People, including Kewen people, all want to avenge their ancestors who were driven away and hunted down.
Now, the five "tongues" were escorted over shortly after the military meeting ended, and the situation has undergone some favorable changes.