After the war, Ivar found Vig: "Your strategy is very good, but I have found an inevitable flaw. The chariot formation moves slowly. If a nomadic tribe decides to migrate, how will they cope with this?"
To this end, Vig gave a seemingly reasonable explanation:
The sheep of a nomadic tribe usually mate in the fall and give birth in the spring. The born young have more than half a year to grow and develop. Having stocked up on enough food, they will enter the first cold and harsh winter of their lives, and their chances of survival are much higher than those of lambs born in the summer and fall.
It is now late April, and the enemy's cattle have just given birth to young. They are inconvenient to move. Running away means abandoning the young and the newly born sheep. Only by staying in the camp can they find a glimmer of hope.
"So that's it," Ivar was amazed, his light green eyes sparkling with uncontrollable curiosity, "How did you come up with that?"
Vig said casually, "Bared mentioned this information, and I just happened to remember it."
In fact, this strategy was common among the Ming Dynasty's border troops, and they took advantage of the weak period of mares and ewes after giving birth to launch an attack commonly known as "breaking the nest." With the two measures of "autumn burning" and "iron embargo" combined, the power of the northern nomadic tribes was greatly weakened, and the effect was remarkable. It was a pity that the court ignored the threat from the fishing and hunting tribes in the northeast, which ultimately led to a major disaster.
...
At noon the next day, they found a nomadic camp by the lake. It was surrounded by a low wall with wagons on the outside, and a shallow ditch had been dug behind the wall, apparently intending to defend it to the death.
Unfortunately, the young and strong men of this tribe had already suffered great losses, and they could only muster more than 120 people for defense, including several old men with gray hair and young boys with gentle faces.
"You dare to resist with only such goods?"
Rurik announced the attack and ordered his troops to form a shield wall and advance slowly. Fifty archers were responsible for hurling feather arrows at the rear to undermine the enemy's morale.
When the shield wall reached the edge of the camp, the enemy collapsed. With the exception of the leader and a few close associates who died in the battle, the rest of the nomads fled with their families and scattered across the meadows. The lucky ones would be accepted by other tribes, while the unlucky ones could only become dead bodies left for the crows to pick at.
...
After the battle, Vig was uninterested in participating in the subsequent action and sat alone on the grass to take stock of his experience. As a traverser, he did not want to be just a warrior who broke the line and was more inclined to look at the problem from a commander's point of view.
"The battle two days ago proved that light cavalry equipped only with sabres and horse bows cannot defeat infantry that holds its formation. But history shows that cavalry has a significant advantage over infantry, especially in the late Mongol Empire. How did they do it?"
He collected dozens of gravel and spread it on the ground to simulate the military formation of both infantry and cavalry. If he were a cavalry commander, how would he break through this hedgehog formation?
Pursuit with bow and arrow?
Horse archers are not as good as infantry, and both sides will suffer heavy losses in a skirmish.
Artillery?
With the current level of metalworking, he could not count on this weapon. After spending
almost half an hour, Vig came to the conclusion that some elite cavalry should charge in heavy armor and break the infantry formation at the cost of casualties, and then send in the light cavalry to reap the harvest when the formation broke up.
At this point, Ivar rushed to interrupt his thoughts.
"We have made a fortune. The enemy robbed a total of six caravans. All the goods are stored in one tent. It is estimated that three cargo ships will be needed to transport them. Rurik has calculated that we will make a fortune this time!"
Vig walked over and lifted the curtain, and found that the snow-white furs were piled haphazardly on the ground. Due to improper storage, almost a quarter of the furs were seriously damaged, some were moldy, and some were gnawed by mice.
"Not only that," Ivar led the men to the chieftain's tent and pointed to a box buried in the corner, which contained a pile of amber.
Vig picked up the largest piece of amber and held it up to the sun. The color was warm, and it was expected to sell for a lot of money. In addition, there was a ring at the bottom of the box, and on the back of the ring was a line of Greek words.
While escorting the captives back to the Rus tribe, Vig asked someone to help translate the line of Greek words and learned that the owner of the ring was named Bardas.
"Bardas, is there such a person in history?"
After interrogation, the captive confessed that six months ago he had robbed and killed a group of travelers. The chieftain was Greek, and he was guarded by more than a dozen Rus mercenaries.
Vig quickly sensed something was wrong and quickly asked what things the Greeks had left behind. Unexpectedly, the captive responded indifferently: "It seems there is a letter that we cannot understand. The chieftain simply threw it into the fire and burned it."
"Burnt it?" —
Vig asked several other captives individually, distrustfully. The results were similar. He could only put it aside for a while and begin to discuss how to divide the spoils.
This battle brought many benefits and eliminated the greatest problem of the Ross tribe. The chief was very pleased and left the horses and sheep, and gave all the captured furs and amber to the caravan. He also promised to build three good cargo ships and send 15 tribesmen to help transport them.
As for the caravan, the members unanimously agreed to divide the spoils equally.
Ivar took a glass of wine: "It turns out that the iron sword broke. I have heard that the eastern peoples are good at forging swords. I want to buy a handy weapon."
"They say that in the Far East they produce a fabric that, I believe, is called silk. I want to bring her to Northern Europe to give to Princess Eva." Nils was obsessed with King Eric's youngest daughter Eva and planned to exchange silk for the beauty's heart.
...
The more they talked, the more excited they became, until they got drunk. Rurik discovered that Vig had not said a word the entire time. He guessed that this guy wanted a fair-skinned and beautiful slave, and he could not resist making a joke:
"Haha, do you need me to lend you money?"
"No, I'm thinking of tracking down the target." Having run through most of Eastern Europe, Vig was physically and mentally exhausted. Now his greatest concern was how to find Lord Borg. There are hundreds of thousands of people in Constantinople. Without the help of official agencies, it is difficult to find the other side in a huge crowd.
...
For the next two months, the caravan enjoyed a rare period of peace. Bored, Vig found time to learn archery from Nils, but unfortunately his talent in this area was much lower than in fencing, and the training ended in failure.
In July, they set off again. The Dnieper River was full of water in the summer, which significantly reduced the difficulties of navigation. The cargo ship arrived smoothly at the mouth.
"It's so black, it's not for nothing that they call it the Black Sea."
Vig couldn't help but dip his hand into the sea and move it carelessly. Then he rowed the oars according to the captain's instructions and led the cargo ship to a nearby settlement for a short rest.
Before entering the port, Rurik reminded his companions: "In order to import grain, honey and slaves, the Greeks built several isolated settlements on the northern shore of the Black Sea. They have complicated rules. You must remember not to create problems."