Yin'ermen Lake is really a big lake, and its surrounding area can also be reclaimed into very good fields.

There are many rivers flowing into it, with it as the center and a radius of 100 kilometers all belong to its water system.

A small river flows through the traditional dwellings of Calf Manor and flows into Yinermen Lake, locally known as the Wallonda River. The average width of its main channel is equivalent to 20 meters. Because of its extremely flat geographical location, the river is shallow enough that some areas can even be waded through. The bottom of the river is sandy and muddy, and even in the wet season, the flow rate of the river is still slow. Both sides of the river are always infiltrated by river water, and the lush reeds and riverside grass form a sharp contrast with the nearby forest area.

Compared with other farms, Calf Manor lives up to its name. This farm with a small population is a big wonder in the traditional Inlmenslav community. They are not very willing to farm, but are more willing to feed cattle and live on animal husbandry. In this way, compared with others, since their farmland is not much, they also lack the **** of land.

Farmland is like an invisible shackle. People who are used to farming and eating wheat have been tamed by wheat, and they generally do not give up their current way of life.

Niu Calf Manor chooses to live as a supplement to the main planting of wheat, not the whole village likes it.

It's all about their unfortunate geography - too many trees.

In the past, relying on extremely limited iron tools, it really required a lot of labor to work together to cut down a big tree and then pull out the roots.

Their population is too small to compete with those large farms. Since they do not want to escape into the forest to survive, they can only find another way in the fertile riverside area.

In the old days, they paid tribute to the Rus of Sorgon and the Pine Needle Estate, the overlord of the Lake District, in dairy products and leather.

Now a whole new era has come, and Russ has incorporated the entire Yinermen Lake area into the core dominion, and King Rurik is a wise ruler. Since ancient times, the calf manor, which was not prosperous, has entered a period of population expansion. As the Ostara people who are better at raising cattle have brought cattle from Varyag, the calf manor has also begun to develop their animal husbandry in terms of cattle raising.

The constant trouble, however, is that there are still too many native trees.

Raising cattle requires qualified pastures. The pastures in the lakeside area are inherently trivial. Especially on the west bank of the lake, it is already a big era for pastures to be transformed into farmland. The development space for Niudu Manor is extremely narrow.

They didn't have any complaints, as they had in the past.

They have their own way of doing things, which is to vote with their feet. The manor's Boyar Uski is old, and others are old, or he doesn't really have a choice.

The only way to raise more cattle is to find qualified pastures where cattle can graze freely. Grass-fed cattle certainly don't grow as fast as grain-fed cattle that eat oatmeal, and few people currently have the luxury of feeding their cattle with wheat. They couldn't compete with anyone for the pastures, they could only find suitable pastures spontaneously, hoping that a large open space would suddenly appear in the forest, which was covered with green grass.

The latter is a kind of dream. When the Pecheneg people who came from afar heard that the far south is a vast grassland, the shock and confusion were instantly written on their faces, and even jealousy arose.

It can be said that animal husbandry is a kind of alienated agriculture, cattle and sheep are equivalent to the farmland that can exercise, and people get the products they need from these "farmland". So raising a cow requires a lot of grass, and raising a thousand cows requires a huge pasture.

The best solution is to organize people to drive away the growing cattle herd and move upstream along the Varonda River.

People ride in bullock carts and hold whips to drive the cattle. The bulls go all the way to eat, and the villagers set up camp at any time with all kinds of utensils for pitching tents.

Calf Manor certainly has its own permanent settlement by the river, but during the warm summer season in recent years, their way of life has become more and more nomadic.

Driving along the river to eat grass, the naked eye can see that all the cows eat their belly round. Cows also produce a lot of cow dung, and the hard dung cakes are collected and used as firewood.

They graze seasonally and travel backwards along the river with no fear of getting lost, so a few years ago, cattle herders who were still venturing far upriver found a large, forestless flat like gold!

But is that really flat ground?

The cattle herder hurried back to the farm to inform everyone he encountered of his major discovery, followed by a detailed inspection by Jianyong in the village.

Facts soon found out that it was not flat land, but a large swamp of wetlands. It is inappropriate to say that it is a pure swamp and muddy ground, or that there are a large number of puddles and mud pits scattered on the flat ground, and all kinds of grass are growing wildly.

People long for a huge and hard grassland for stable grazing, maybe this is an extravagant hope. On the contrary, this swampy flat land still has great value, after all, there is really no more suitable grazing land for the calf manor.

The Calf Manor calls the place "swamp", which is not an appropriate name, but it is fair to say that there is still a lot of hard and grassy land here. People still call it "The Swamp", and in the local language it is called "Ballotta", and the settlement here is called "Ballottavo".

Balotavo is the summer cattle ranching base of the Calf Manor. It is only 30 kilometers away from the farm. The seemingly outrageous distance is nothing to the locals, who have long been accompanied by hiking, villagers can look thin, and their stamina has been trained for a long time.

The entire calf manor plus the newborn baby is barely 300 people, and the limited population faces thousands of cows, so most of the farm's property is actually shared by the whole village. As the eldest son of the cavalry, he brought back a lot of booty and also shared with everyone. Because of affection, the people of the farm are all relatives, and Boyar's eldest son has to treat his relatives out of affection.

Therefore, the summer cattle ranching base has a long official name, the full name of which is "Ballottavo on the Wallonda River". As many as 50 people live here temporarily. Most of them are young and strong, and they are also responsible for taking care of most of the cattle on the farm. sheep.

They had to figure out where the hard flats were in the area, where were the muddy puddles hidden by water and grass, to make sure the cows didn't get caught in the muddy puddles and drowned.

This place is like an idyllic scene. It is just a whole piece of swampy flat land. Its water system is obviously very close to the main channel of the Reed River (Luga River), and the people of Niu Cao Manor also know that there is a rather wide road going west. The rivers have no waterway connection with each other.

So there are cattle herders who imagine that if the Wallunda River and the "big river" to the west have a waterway to figure out, wouldn't it be possible for a small boat to continue exploring at low cost, and it would be great to find a large flat land.

It is a pity that their population is still too small, and they are not like the Varyag people who have the spirit of abandoning some home adventures. It's not that they are superior or inferior to each other, it's that they both choose their own way of life.

No, the Varyag people they are interested in have miraculously descended!

However, they said that the Carl Brand team who entered the Reed River expedition accidentally met a child from the Novgorod region on the riverbank, which was not the same miracle for them.

Except for the little boy who was herding cows, he never saw any other living people. The whole team docked, including the ten little Savok girls, and set foot on the swamp.

The two children drove the calves back with small leather whips. They were innocent and kept spinning their whips, but they didn't seem to want to talk to adults.

Carl asked several times before an older child said, "It's called Barlotta. Let's go to a lot of tents first, you told my parents."

"Isn't it going to your calf manor? I know your leader is called Uski. Is he... okay?" Carl tried to get closer.

"It's the old man. He's fine. He took his two grandsons to Novgorod. Are you really going to see the king? It's too late to go now. Because..."

"What's the matter?" Carl was alarmed.

"I heard people say that the king has to go to New Rose Fort. Since you are from New Rose Fort, why don't you stay in New Rose Fort? In this way, you can see the king soon."

The boy's mouth was broken, but what he said contained important information.

The group followed closely behind the two boys and the herd, and the boy who was the guide shouted again: "There's some bad quagmire in here, you might drown if you fall in it."

"Is it very safe just to follow you?" Karl asked again.

"That's right. Our Niudu Manor has already surveyed this swamp. It's clear where it's suitable for cattle and where not to go."

The child is really open and everything is true. Carl is very pleased, and also appeals to his friends to hold the Ross flag hanging on the branch high, so as to avoid any misunderstanding. Karl already had an idea in his mind. He felt that he could resupply at the so-called Balotavo, exchange the large amount of goods he was carrying with the locals for some food, and immediately set off for Novgorod.

They really walked a long distance, which is about six kilometers.

The cowherd boys have already trained their iron feet at a young age, and they are not tired, but Carl's team has been complaining a lot. It's not that this old Rusian expedition team is not strong enough. It has been a serious burden to carry important goods on the shoulders. It is also because such a journey can be described as a kind of torture for the ten little Savok girls. The whole team persisted, and when they finally saw the tent in the distance, they were as excited as seeing home.

So in the small riverside tent area in Balotavo, the cattle that were released have been driven back, and a large number of cattle simply lie down on the grass to rest under the sunset.

Iron pots and pottery urns were set up, and the resident people cooked wheat and vegetables on the spot and boiled them into lake porridge to enjoy. And with grilled fish, cheese and even freshly milked milk left meal.

They saw that the flag of Ross suddenly appeared in this world where orange and dark green were intertwined, and there was a team that was constantly thinking about it, and the leader was wearing a standard Ross jersey.

what does that mean?

The casual people all got up, and even the guy who was sleeping in the tent and waiting for the meal to quickly change his clothes and get out.

Soon, a historic engagement began.

Someone asked bluntly: "You are indeed Rus. You came from the west? How is this possible, how did you come?"

"By boat, of course." Carl said casually.

"By boat? Where's your boat?" After all, the people surrounding him started chatting, and all kinds of questions came one after another, which made the Ross explorer with tired legs and sore shoulders miserable.

Carl's rare timidity: "Let's have a good rest. I smell you are cooking, can you prepare some for us too? We... will pay."

As soon as they heard "I will pay," the curious people instantly showed a strong joy on their faces.

Carl and Brand really paid for the excellent quality Frankish silver coins, and the villagers who got the money also offered a lot of oatmeal to reward the explorers. At night, people gathered around to listen to what these explorers from afar had experienced along the way. The children of Calf Manor also chatted with the children of the expedition team, and pointed at the Savok children like a fool.

Summer grazing is always accompanied by boredom, and people in Balotavo are eager to have a good life with outsiders.

On the one hand, there is a desire to chat to kill the boredom, on the other hand, there is an eagerness to understand his situation and the way to Novgorod.

After all, the five old Ross families headed by Carl were of extremely pure blood, and the children they brought were all pure blond hair like King Rurik. Unlike the black hair in Rome, in the eyes of the Slavs, because the powerful Varyag warriors are all blonde, pure gold hair is the most noble.

After some introductions, Carl explained his previous identity as the second flag team, and told the decisive battle to pacify the old pine needle manor he participated in that year.

After going back and forth, they actually found out that they were comrades-in-arms who fought side by side ten years ago, so there was nothing to hide.

So it is astounding that, later than the nameless river in the west, which was discovered in this grazing swamp, it actually curved and finally flowed into the sea, and its mouth was not far from New Roseburg.

The local Slavs have always believed that the Varyags have almost only one waterway connected to the sea, that is, the Volkhov River running north-south.

Unexpectedly, there is another passage hidden in the unknown western forest area? The simple villagers didn't think too much about it, they only knew that if the Rus people still used this waterway more, then they would meet more rich old Rus people when they graze in Balotawo in the future, so bring some agricultural products here. Wouldn't it be profitable to wait. Their thoughts were largely stuck here, completely unconcerned with the ambitions of Ross' explorers.

It was great to be able to rest in the settlement called Balotavo, but the team was a little disappointed to hear that it would take some time to reach the Calf Manor down the river called Valunda.

It is precisely because the old Rus men of the five families were ordered to participate in the war ten years ago. They knew clearly the geographical location of the Calf Manor relative to Yinermen Lake, and knew that even if they arrived at the manor, they would arrive at Novgorod by boat. It will take some time.

There will be a long journey waiting for everyone, but no one complains about the hardships of the journey.

Carl said this to the cattle herders: "You send a suitable guide and use your bullock cart to take us to the calf manor, and then find a boat to transport us all to the big city. I want to report all the expeditions to the king. , Your Majesty will reward me. You will also be rewarded as collaborators."

Soon volunteers came forward, willing to be guides purely for money.

In this way, Carl's team ate and drank in Balotavo, and had a good night's sleep~www.mtlnovel.com~ The next morning they divided into five bullock carts, took the goods they were carrying, and ran along the riverside grass to the tile. The estuary of the Ronda River.

This was probably the last overland journey, and Carl and Brand had been looking at the scenery around them. The two could assert that, although the Wallonda River was not very wide and shallow, in their experience even a standard longboat with a dragon head would have no problem drifting on such a river.

The biggest problem was how to get the two longboats parked on the banks of the Reeds to the Wallonda.

The swamp caught Carl's attention, and an idea came to mind.

"Why didn't the king organize people to use the natural mud ponds and water pools in the swamp to dig a river to join the two rivers? This is not as good as cutting out a connection between Novora and Novgorod in the forest with an axe. De's road is reliable? The overall flow of the Reed River is very gentle, but it is much better than the turbulent Neva and Volkhov Rivers." He thought so, intending to advise the king on this, and believed that since the king was in need of the second A road, will definitely accept the proposal to build a canal.

(The shortest distance between the upper Luga River and the western shore of Yinermen Lake is only 30 kilometers, and the shortest distance from the upper Mshaga River, which flows into the Great Lake on the west bank, is only 15 kilometers. The upper reaches of the Dahe River are only seven kilometers)