Arik and his brothers did find the source of the Musta River, but even if he floated on the lake, he couldn't be sure that this was the real source for a while.

Not far away, a larger water body is sparkling, perhaps that is the real source.

After all the hardships, those who are willing to follow Arik to this place finally get a good rest.

The nameless lake presented in front of everyone seems to have no end at a glance. There are a large number of lush islands on the lake. Only God knows what lies there.

In this era, there is indeed no ready-made waterway that is absolutely safe to navigate to connect the Volga River system and the Baltic Sea system. If you are willing to take risks, there are waterways for long ships with very shallow drafts to forcibly rush through, but the significance of such waterways to the commercial industry is almost negligible.

The extremely large Valdai Highland is the geographical high point in the huge area. The lakes are dotted all over. Almost all rivers are connected by large or small waterways. The rivers flowing out of these glacial lakes will eventually flow into the sea. They are injected into the Black Sea, Caspian Sea or Baltic Sea, it all depends on topography.

They are in fact standing on the shore of Upper Volochok Lake, which is a natural watershed between the two river systems. This place is the highest geographical point in the region, even if it is only slightly higher than the surrounding areas, it is enough to make it impossible for many rivers to eventually flow into the Baltic Sea without human intervention.

How to intervene?

It is only necessary to dispatch some labor to dig waterways with shovels and hoes, so that part of the lake water of the Upper Volochok Lake flows into the slightly lower Lake Musta, so that a long boat sailing to the Gulf of Finland can be relied on. Uninterrupted inland river navigation, and finally appeared on the shore of the Caspian Sea on the Volga River, or turned to the Don River and finally appeared under the city of Kherson of the Eastern Romans.

Of course, Arik was completely unaware of all this.

After he settled down, the accompanying scribe, Kanutet, took the time to write down what he had seen and heard these days on paper, picked up a pen made of charcoal and compared the scenery of the lake and mountains in front of him to sketch the scene. The original methods were as far as possible recorded for presentation to the king.

The small pine trees that are easily cut down are rich in oil. First, the withered and yellow reeds obtained locally are used as an introduction, and the ignited fire finally ignites the pine branches. The bonfire burned more and more vigorously. While the violent flame brought everyone warmth, it also dispelled their tension in the new and unknown world.

Arik felt a little regretful. He looked at the people who were busy grilling fish around the huge bonfire, his eyes were full of flames, and his heart was as restless as the flames flying to the sky with the rest.

The old man handed him a skewer of perch grilled slightly charred, and the whole gutted fish was skewered from head to tail with wooden sticks.

He didn't have much appetite for the time being, so he handed this skewer to his son Jill, and kindly reminded him. "Are you hungry? Be careful when eating, don't get stuck by fishbone."

Jill nodded, took the string of fish, and began to slowly pick out the fish meat from the side ribs of the perch with her immature hands and stuff it into her mouth.

"Are you really not hungry? Or are you just entertaining the children?" The old man who handed the fish smiled and looked at Arik and asked.

"Not really hungry."

"It's a combination of both. It doesn't matter, anyway, the brothers caught a lot of money in this unnamed lake." The old man couldn't help sighing: "In my opinion, we were the first to discover this lake. People, no one is robbing us of fish! Haha, just sprinkle a little bait, and soon there will be a school of fish approaching. At this time, we can finally have a good meal. Just wait, there are more fish waiting Baked."

"Very good." Arik nodded, his big hand couldn't help pointing to the dark west. "I saw some islands there during the day, and I bet there were some wild ducks nesting there from my experience."

"Are you going to rush to catch wild ducks tomorrow to get the best feathers?"

"Okay. But I still want to eat something greasy. Brothers!" Arik looked at the guys who were roasting their bodies around the fire: "Bass is not oily, and it must be roast duck if it is really comfortable. I have already thought about it." , we should consider turning back after we have had a full meal. I! I am already planning to retreat."

Everyone who was busy eating fish raised their heads one after another.

It was still the old man who handed the fish with a look of surprise: "Brothers follow you and want to do some more adventures, but you are finally satisfied? Only God knows where the southern exit of this source lake can lead, maybe it can. To the legendary Volga."

"But we still have to spend time looking for it." Arik's face turned to the south again: "Don't be too impatient. We will definitely explore as much as possible to the endless south, and maybe this year can be enough. At least we have found the Musta River We will come back next year... In my opinion, we can build a fishing village in our temporary camp. To be honest, the smell of grilled fish is wonderful."

No one will question this. European perch is a very common freshwater fish in Eastern Europe. It is a kind of perch. Fresh perch may be the most delicious when steamed, but it tastes quite good when it is simply roasted.

The unnamed Great Lake is called "Grilled Fish Lake", it can be said that this group of Ross people gave it a random name.

Of course, if wild ducks can still be caught on the nameless and trivial island, the island in the lake can also be simply given the name of "Roast Duck Island".

The air in the whole environment was extremely clear. It was still daytime, when they caught the first net of fish on the lake, they noticed that there was a large estuary not far from the south, and there was also a large estuary to the west.

That's why even if Arik didn't say a word, some people wanted to explore the estuary in the south.

Some people even made mental preparations in advance-only the gods know where we will end up drifting, and the opportunity is there. I'll take a look and maybe make a fortune.

Since it was Arik who announced the end of this year's expedition in front of all the men and women warming up, those who were most radical were forced to calm down.

After all, it was Arik who presided over this expedition, and he decided to return, so everyone had to admit it.

But to everyone's surprise, he had his own wonderful idea about how to return.

Because he didn't want to take the usual path.

Arik coughed twice, and then yelled a few words to attract all the fish-eaters.

"Everyone is here! Maybe we shouldn't just go back the same way, we should explore a new way home."

His words sounded like fantastic ideas to everyone. What is "The New Way Home"?

Someone hurriedly interjected: "Brother, explain what the new road is? The Musta River is right behind us, and everyone just needs to sail peacefully and go back. Since you want to go home, why do you bother?"

Those who were interested in continuing to explore also heard the way. But I saw a person patting his thigh excitedly, and two eyeballs on his happy face were about to pop out with excitement. "I support you!" he said. "Anything is an adventure! Find a new way home, maybe we will meet a herd of bears and deer on the way. Skin some good hides and go home, and we can make a fortune .

Immediately, someone retorted: "Are you so optimistic? Only God knows where we will drift to?"

"Enough is enough." Another human said: "We are all old brothers who fought and killed the enemy together. Out of friendship, I took my wife and followed you to the present. Can't we choose a safe path to go home?"

They actually started arguing among themselves.

To be honest, Arik was happy to see this scene, and the facts showed that there were still adventurous madmen who were willing to follow him.

But he is not as young and frivolous as he was ten years ago. He is in the prime of life in his thirties. There are two wives and three sons in his family, and his life is booming. Because of his warm family, it is impossible for Arik to abandon his family and risk his life for a risky adventure. Drifting safely to this grilled fish lake is already a great attempt.

"Listen to me!" He slapped his thighs hard, and he roared to end everyone's meaningless argument. "It's still the same sentence, we only have one boat now, and I have the final say on how to go back."

As he spoke, his big hand pointed straight to the west: "We all saw the river mouth there during the day. The scribes accompanying us along the way recorded the correct direction. In my opinion, we just need to break into the western river mouth and keep going along the river, saying Maybe I touched Lake Valdai."

"Are you that confident?" Someone interjected, "Even if we have mastered a certain amount of Odin's wisdom, the gods really hinted that we can take a new path home?"

"Otherwise? Odin will still tease us. Listen! Only the evil **** Loki will tease us, but that **** will not give us the new wisdom necessary for exploration."

The "new wisdom" that everyone claims is the compass technology, which is popularized by Rurik to all navigators, so this trick of inland river exploration can also be used. The materials to be used are nothing more than a piece of black iron ore (magnetite), an iron wire, a leaf, and a bowl of water. Everything is a common thing at your fingertips, but it always ensures that explorers can determine the correct direction regardless of the restrictions of night and day.

Kanutet, the scribe along the way, has been in charge of fiddling with tools until now at the grilled fish camp in the middle of the night. He has determined the direction again, and marked everyone's current location on the roughly hand-drawn map, marking four with thick arrows. direction.

Although the drawing must be very non-standard, Canutet tried his best to restore the direction of the tortuous river course he experienced during his travels. He couldn't remember the small turns, but the big ones were very clearly depicted.

On his maps, the Musta River was specially drawn so that its general outlines resembled real geographical formations. The brand-new "Grilled Fish Lake" is separated from the Musta River by a gentle slope. Even though many people think that the two lakes are one, he believes that they are two lakes after he has been trained by Rurik himself.

Now Arik is talking about Canutet's extremely solid voyage records.

"Anyway, the return route has been drawn on the map. I'm going to take you to the western river, even if you really arrive at the wrong destination, it's just a little more time to go back the same way. What do you think? Canutet, this kid! He was never able to go to war in his life, and now he is our best navigator. He is a boy taught by the king himself, and I trust him."

Everyone's eyes were on Knutat. The boy never thought that Arik, who had gained prestige due to his bravery in battle, would elevate himself, a "useless guy", by some strange coincidence.

Even if you question Aric, you can't question the king! As a scribe, the boy Canutet is King Rurik's right-hand man. Since this person's drawing records can ensure that everyone has the correct retreat, and Arik's attitude is very firm.

what else? Follow him and keep going.

In this way, everyone agreed on the first night of rest by the grilled fish lake.

Adventurous fanatics are obsessed with the southern estuaries, and subconsciously feel that exploring the south will reveal greater things.

In the early morning of the next day, the bonfire was still hot enough to grill the fish again. After everyone threw down the fish bones and scales, the morning sun shone on their backs, and everyone rowed towards the due west.

Just as Arik estimated, and it is also estimated by an old Ross, a large number of uninhabited islands are indeed breeding spots for wild ducks in summer.

They easily picked up a large number of duck eggs, caught some ducklings, and shot some mallards with crossbows.

They lit a new bonfire on the island and roasted the fat duck. What everyone lacks most now is oil and water. Although wild duck meat smells fishy, people who are hungry are busy stuffing duck oil into their mouths, and finally belch with a clear fishy smell.

The prey is thrown on the clothes, and the baskets made of vines were originally used to hold the catch, but now there are a lot of duck eggs filled with reeds.

For a period of time, you don't have to worry or have any problems anymore. Relying on the ducks and duck eggs caught from Wuming Island, you will be able to go all the way west again.

Soon, they reached the mouth of the western estuary.

"Don't hesitate, let's row in." Arik acted together with everyone. He was sitting on the bow of the boat and set an example. The huge paddles slapped the river surface, and it looked like a huge gnat moving fast on the water surface from a distance.

Arik just decided to move to the northwest after entering the new river, so that the lowered triangle sail could finally catch the warm wind from the far south, even though the wind is relatively weak today.

The course of the nameless river is extremely tortuous, and it is indeed facing northwest as a whole.

The current of the river is very gentle, everyone is paddling hard and with the help of the wind, the longboat is advancing at a high speed of about five knots. They were old Ross after all, and they could sustain that speed for hours. Putting on piles of plucked wild ducks and a large number of duck eggs, as well as uneaten dried salted fish and grains, ensured a relatively sufficient logistics for people.

No one has to worry about running out of supplies when food and water are plentiful.

Isn't the longship moving at high speed? What if it really drifted back to Lake Valdai? Besides, the axes and arrows in the hands of the brothers are not decorations, and everyone still has fishing hooks and big nets for fishing. Just in this Weiming River, we can get a certain amount of river fresh food to satisfy our hunger.

They rested by the river, and the nameless river was soon given its exact nameQingni River.

It is entirely because the mud in the flat and muddy riverside area is gray-brown in color, mixed with light blue in China. This is the characteristic of the local mud. When the mud is peeled off with a shovel, the smooth cross-section is also blue in the sun. Blue is very obvious.

It is called the Dobrau () River in the Russian dialect, and it should be pronounced as the Shileinna () River in the current Slavic language. No matter which language is used, what stands out is the slightly blue mud on the riverside.

And this is the Shrina River, whose source is Lake Shrina.

Lake Shrina is not an independent lake. Like the dotted lakes in this area, it is also part of the huge Valdai lake group, but it is located at the watershed, and the river finally flows into the Volga River.

The entire river belongs to a tributary of the source area of the Volga River. Specifically, as far as Lake Shrina is concerned, its water source is the most specific-Lake Villiers.

Things have become extremely weird and wonderful.

Arik's voyage was not destined to reach Lake Valdai ~www.mtlnovel.com~ but it was close.

There are some small streams and large areas of muddy swamps between Lake Valdai itself and Lake Villiers. Ross explorers rely on the human towing of dry land boats, and the boat can only force through the mud to continue exploring.

They just thought it was a **** boring dirt road, but they didn't realize that it was part of the Great Divide.

As long as you enter Lake Villiers through this dirt road, you will completely enter the Volga River system.

There are some small outlets from Lake Villiers that extend southward to the real main channel of the Volga River, and there are two outlets to the east of it. One of the small rivers continuously pours the lake water into Lake Shrina, and then into the muddy lake. Shrina River.

Today, Arik and his brothers are sailing on this river. They are still cautious about the exploration, but they don't know that they are rushing to the known world that the Ross people have already proven.

They will not be alone anymore, because Lake Villiers was only recently discovered by the Ross people. People who broke into this place are plundering fish, birds and wild animals, so that the lakeside spontaneously sprouted a "bear hunting house". Temporary settlements