Rise of Rurik

Chapter 573 This is Tavastia's expedition betting on national luck

Those who fled went south along the stream. They didn't know the true strength of the Rus, only that they were a group of terrifying enemies, more difficult than the Karelians.

The messengers scrambled and fled like the core of Tavastia, shouting and shouting in its sacrificial center.

The bad news quickly reached the ears of the leader of the alliance, Watkard. How could he believe that the thousand troops sent out were half dead after the battle?

The bad news is spreading, and the people who deliver the news are running wildly on the forest road. Most villages in the tribal alliance have learned the news in just one day. Although the news is crazy, a large number of migrants who have fled are saying the same thing in shock.

Do not! The situation is heading for an irreversible development!

Because whether or not the Rus really want to launch a war on the core area of ​​Tavastia, at least they have such ability and probably have motives in this regard. Exchange thoughts, if the Tavastians learn that there is a tribe that is much weaker than themselves, will they be friendly? Of course it was conquest by force!

The messengers and the returning migrants have different words, but their core meaning is the same.

What the leader of the alliance heard about this matter was like a bolt from the blue, and even a thousand reinforcements could not solve the matter, what should we do next?

He instinctively thought of continuing to increase his troops, and he continued to fight against the dangerous Rus people with the army!

Before that, he urgently called the leaders of all the villages, hoping that many wise men could brainstorm and come up with a better way to defend against the enemy.

There were more than 30 people sitting in the huge hut at once. Anxiety was written on everyone's faces. It was obviously a gathering of flowers in spring, and the chill of winter seemed to be killed by the Rus people who came across the sea.

But the question also arises, who are the Rus?

Then a village chief stood up and asked in public: "Does anyone really know these Rus people? Are they called this name? Are they also a Varangian?"

The messengers who were invited to the meeting were full of affirmation, and even patted their chests and swore to all the noble leaders that what they saw and heard was true.

"They...they are the Varyags! They are the Varyags who attacked the Suomis in the south and arrested them as slaves."

"Really?" Another leader asked the messenger: "We didn't provoke them."

The courier continued: "Provoked. We beat their pets."

"Is it those Kewen people? What is this? Just because of this, we are going to be slaughtered?" The village chief who spoke did not understand.

Most of the village chiefs felt puzzled. Everyone's understanding of the Rus people was just beginning. Although they suffered a disastrous defeat after the first fight, how could this make sense?

For a while, everyone was divided, and someone stood up in this noisy environment.

The old bald chief of the village stood up on a wooden staff and shouted: "To the east are the Karelians, who keep encroaching on our territory. Now there is another Rus, and they want to destroy us. If so, we Isn't it a matter of life and death?"

"Then fight!" Someone crushed a piece of wood to make it clear.

The atmosphere needs to be driven by someone. Since the bald old man represented his village and hoped to carry the war to the end, other leaders followed suit one after another.

Originally, the leader of the alliance, Watkad, thought that some people would back down because of cowardice, but now it seems that he is worrying too much.

In fact, think about it carefully, where can you go back? To the east is the domain of old enemies, to the north are the aggressive Rus who have popped up suddenly, and to the south are the long-harmonious Suomis. If you really retreat, you will also retreat to the territory of the Suomi people, and then there will be no friends to do.

But wait! Why couldn't Tavastiya get Suomi's support? Assuming that Tavastia has been defeated or even completely defeated, this area is the world of the Rus invaders, and eventually the Suomis will become the slaves of the Rus. Besides, it's not like the Rus haven't attacked Suomi.

Whatkad thought of a strategy to get reinforcements, but it was impossible for Suomi reinforcements to appear in a short time.

Now that everyone has decided to fight back against the Rus, Tavastia must rely on her own strength to defeat the enemy.

Many village leaders have reached a consensus, and Watkad, who is the leader of the alliance, stood up in line with the atmosphere. He knew that there was no need to continue the meeting.

"My friends, this is perhaps the most dangerous time for Tavastia. My brother Vatyara never lies, and neither do our compatriots who have escaped. If our brothers in the north are defeated, the next It is our turn to destroy. If war breaks out in our territory, we will pay huge losses whether we win or not. War is inevitable, then let the war be fought outside the territory! I decide to personally take the army to crusade! "

What Cardard wanted to "go personally", and everyone agreed.

In this way, bigger problems also follow.

Tavastia is nothing but a tribal confederation, and Watkad is nothing but a man of great prestige. The success of this man lies in his military exploits. In this spring of life and death, as a war hero, of course, he has to go out in person.

He was elected by all the village chiefs to be the supreme military commander, and the scene of this election really had the meaning of the early Roman senate electing Dick Tutus.

Whoever has the highest should have the second, and one named Nuoli (cluster of arrows) is considered the second military commander.

This Nuori is naturally one of the strong contenders for the position of the leader of the alliance. The Watkad and Wattara brothers do not oppose this person on weekdays. At such a time of life and death, this person led a group of old and weak guarding the territory mainly in The east was defended against a possible surprise attack by the Karelians, and Watkad was relieved.

Although the Tavastia Tribal Alliance is very powerful, it is only the powerhouse of the "novice village".

They have a crowd of 20,000, and they can assemble 5,000 men who can take up arms, and they can also assemble a group of female warriors when necessary.

But who would expect a woman's fighting power?

How many people must be sent north to defend against the enemy, Watkad called on all the villages to be strong.

How tempting survival is related to the war, the unreserved support of the village leaders, and the news spread is also full of responses.

Fathers take their sons to battle, and women bake dry meat for husbands and sons as dry food.

They unreservedly bring their best weapons, so that a large number of fighters are like this.

The warriors are covered in animal skins, often the peaks of deer's leather. Some strong men have a wolf's head or a bear's head on their heads, and more people's fluffy hair is tied with a hemp rope.

Each of them carried a short bear hunting spear, generally two or three javelins, a handaxe on their waist, and a wooden shield on their backs. Many also carried short bows, iron clusters of arrows slowly in leather quivers.

A very typical Tavastian warrior is such an image. A large number of warriors began to gather in the center of the priests. The people who were inspired by the swearing-to-death battle to see the infinite warriors see their army again, and everyone is full of confidence!

The priests dressed as beasts danced around the bonfire, and they even picked up bronze reeds and played wonderful music to set off the priestly atmosphere.

Ten sheep were slaughtered and their blood was sacrificed to the gods.

The most honorable female driver was clothed in a bearskin and wore a crown of owl feathers on her black hair. She knelt in front of the flames and spread her hands, then she knelt down, and then she knelt down and prayed in a strong voice: "O God of the Earth! Give your child a great victory! Bless me, don't let evil The enemy killed me, and let me kill all the enemies..."

The sheep were completely burned, as the so-called dust returns to dust, and the sheep turned into powder is considered a tribute to the god of the earth.

There is of course a deeper symbolism here, because the Tavastians share a very similar belief with the Kovins, the northernmost deer-raisers (Lapps), they believe in the sea of ​​souls, that "sea" is just below the earth , and the home of all souls.

More than 3,000 soldiers stood up, ranging from fifteen to fifty years old, and most of the Tavastiya freshmen were among them.

The soldiers left behind can still reach the scale of 2,000 people, which is to arm a ten-year-old boy as a bow-wielding soldier to guard the homeland.

For this sudden war, Tavastia has mobilized more than 6,000 so-called fighters, and this is basically close to their limit.

There was light in the eyes of a famous soldier. For this sudden threat of war, Tavastia had already bet his national luck.

Is this sloppy? Very sloppy indeed.

This decisive battle to go to the battlefield does not seem to be a rational choice at all, even if it is a decisive battle, why not wait for it? But things have already happened. The unruly Tavastians are not willing to lose control of the newly conquered territories, and have no intention of negotiating with their opponents. Even more miraculously, they realize that the Rus people are the same as a deadly threat. Realize the truth that lips are dead and teeth are cold.

When Tavastia's largest expedition began to leave its village and gather in the most heavily defended mountain fortress, the sacrificial center, a group of messengers had already entered the lake area in canoes, and the next step was to enter the river to reach the Suomi people. In the core area, ask the local chiefs to send troops to support them.

In any case, facing the risk of war, the Suomi merchants who are currently staying in the Tavastia territory are just around the corner. These guys don't think that the Tavastians who have assembled a strong force will be defeated twice, but they think that they can assemble such a large army in two or three days. Merged with Tavastia. The businessmen are subconsciously afraid of these people, and they also subconsciously hope that the Rus people can dampen their spirits. As for the relationship between the Rus and the Varyag robbers, the Suomi fur traders didn't care, as if they were just bystanders in the war.

On the eighth day after the war alert of the messengers and refugees, the Tavastiya army completed the final reorganization of the strongest expedition.

The leader of the alliance, Whatkad, was in a complicated mood. The Russ could defeat the younger brother in the first battle and lost half of his troops. This expedition defeated the Russ, and I was afraid that their own side would also have a tragic victory. This should be fate, and it is unrealistic to think about occupying new territories without bloodshed.

Since both Tavastia and Ross covet the resources of the Great River Basin in the north, let's fight.

Compared with other tribes, the Tavastians are indeed better in military appearance.

All villages, large and small, have sent troops, and their leaders or the strong sons of the leaders have become military commanders one after another, leading the village's Jianyong to the battlefield. more than 30 armed groups of various sizes.

Among them, the armed group of the leader of the Watkad has the most troops, but it is not much higher than the second. It is precisely because of the strength of the major large villages that Tavastia has continued a long-term simple military democracy. Even now, it is the highest military commander, and Watkad is still not a "Dick Tweet" who dominates the power.

They couldn't make the marching uniform, at least they formed more than 30 groups, and everyone would not be chaotic in the face of the march of more than 200 kilometers.

A sudden rain came, people took shelter under the trees, and continued to serve the reindeer carrying supplies.

The rain lasted for three days, and when the fourth day was still foggy and rainy, they dragged their wet bodies and ate the wet jerky and continued to move.

The rain lowered the temperature so low that it made people shiver for a while.

This situation undoubtedly poured cold water on the hot-headed Tawasty runner-up.

Some people say that this is not a good omen, and some people say that this is a trial for everyone by the god of the earth.

The leader of the alliance, Watkad, was very thoughtful. He publicized such a message in his army: "This rain is the help of the gods! The Rus who came from afar will be tired from the rain, the enemy is weak, we are still strong, and we will quickly overcome. They, kill them all and take away those iron tools."

The key point of the information is the last reason, that is, everyone can get iron weapons through the battlefield, and if they are able to grab it, people ignore the wetness on their bodies and become eager to try.

On the other hand, on the side of the Rus, the truth is what Watkad said.

The Rus people considered the possibility of rain when they set out on the expedition, and there was no good way for everyone to do it.

Rurik was determined to besiege the occupied Old Grey Squirrel Hill Fort. It was not that he was incapable of attacking successfully, he simply wanted to surround and help.

Ross and his allies are on alert. Even if a group of people go hunting in the forest to minimize material consumption, most of the soldiers are still rooted at the edge of the forest to monitor the mountain fort's every move.

When dark clouds began to appear in the sky, the Rus people hurriedly started large-scale logging, and then created a large number of simple shacks in the forest flats, but more than a dozen people gathered in one shack to shelter from the rain.

It can be said that Rurik's situation is much better. His tent blocks most of the rain, but he has to live with the humidity and coldness these days.

This rain was simply a gift to the defenders of the mountain fort, and the trapped Wattala once knelt in the rain and thanked God. The defenders of the mountain fort knew that all the forests were enemies, and they believed in the fact that "reinforcements are already on their way".

Those filthy and terrible things were washed by the rain, and a large number of pottery urns were placed in the open space in the mountain fort, which became an excellent water container.

People can go without food for a long time, but dehydration in a short time can make people lose their ability to fight. This rain is like nectar, which objectively improves the ability of Tawastia to persevere alone in the mountain fort.

The rain finally came to an end, and the appearance of the sun led to a dense fog!

The trapped beast did not use the fog to escape, but feared the bloodthirsty enemies hidden in the fog.

The fog cleared and the forest was evaporating quickly in the sun.

Thanks to this untimely rain, Rurik, who had hoped that the Oulu River would be a little calmer for the longboats to enter the river smoothly, estimated that he would have to wait a few more days.

Of course, the Russ have the strength to maintain the siege situation for a while. The icing on the cake is that the day after the rain completely ended, three longboats went against the turbulent river and brought a batch of slightly pickled cod meat. , and a boatload of slightly damp oats arrived at the Rus' camp.

The way they transported it really surprised Rurik - it was trackers.

These people who built Covenstad really came up with ingenious means to carry out the support mission. Rurik quickly learned that they originally relied on their strong arms to paddle against the current. The next step is to get off the boat and pull the boat all the way to the current camp by the cable. Such a heroic act of course paid a price. When they unloaded the precious supplies, the trackers all lay down like unloaded, and then panted...

Isn't the sudden supply also a "God's reward" for the Rus?

But their god is here. Rurik, the Son of God.

People eat the wheat brought from the rear, and they have the opportunity to stew salted fish soup. Everyone in the army is eligible for a delicious meal, and the delicious smell of the stewed fish and the attractive smell of wheat porridge naturally float to the tower that is trapped in the mountain fort. In the noses of the Bastia defenders, pitiful for these defenders, there are only a few and fewer moldy jerky, completely stinky unfinished reindeer meat, and the rest is the rainwater in the urn.

The situation is rapidly deteriorating, and Watyala wants reinforcements to clear the siege before everyone runs out of food and water.

In the dark, his hope is about to come true!

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