In the dense forests of Northeast Rus', a massive hunt was underway.
Such a large-scale hunt was the first of its kind in this northern land.
Dier, who had become a Prince's personal guard due to his superb archery skills, was now back to his old trade, leading a group of personal guards and hunters to drive beasts, preparing for the great slaughter.
It was Dier's first time participating in such a massive hunt; in the past, village hunts involved at most dozens of people, but now hundreds, even thousands, were participating.
This made him feel nervous; although it wasn't stepping onto a battlefield, such a large-scale hunt was, to some extent, no less than a battlefield.
Many in Dier's team carried instruments that could make loud noises; they struck these instruments to create sounds like thunder, startling the beasts in the forest and driving them in a predetermined direction, towards death.
Similar commotions echoed all around, indicating the immense scale of this drive and hunt.
No matter what kind of animals, timid deer and rabbits, or fierce wild boars and bears, they all scattered in disarray amidst the earth-shattering sounds; they had never seen such a sight or heard such deafening noises, and their survival instincts prompted them to flee subconsciously.
Even the sky was filled with startled birds, instinctively fleeing from the loud noises; some birds were even scared to death, plummeting straight down from the sky.
Occasionally, a beast bravely resisted the humans behind it, but unfortunately, it would then be pierced through the head by an arrow, showing other animals the consequence of resistance and urging them to run faster.
Finally, herds of beasts ran out of the dense forest and onto the open wilderness, and just a few minutes later, more animals burst out of the forest, driven out by other teams.
At this moment, all the teams stopped their pursuit, because if they rushed forward and let the beasts see their weakness, many beasts would undoubtedly turn back and fight, causing many casualties.
But most importantly, going any further posed a risk of friendly fire.
In front of the massive herd of driven beasts, there was a team of archers standing ready, and warriors holding the rare Rus' crossbows had their weapons mounted on shields; they had already drawn their bows and nocked their arrows, ready to fire at any moment.
"Fire!"
After that command, there was the sound of countless bowstrings, followed by wave after wave of beast wails; under the overwhelming barrage of arrows, these beasts had no chance of survival.
Before long, the wilderness was completely soaked in blood, and covered with countless animal carcasses.
The hunters reacted very quickly; based on the experience accumulated over these days, they went forward to retrieve the shot arrows, then loaded the animal carcasses onto the waiting wagons.
Armored personal guards moved among them, supervising the work.
These preys were very diverse: bears, deer, rabbits, birds... Many of them were natural predators, but now they all lay together, as corpses.
"No matter how many times I see a scene like this, it's still shocking."
Dier, who had already boarded a wagon laden with animal carcasses, held his bow and sighed; this Northeast Rus' farmer increasingly felt that joining the army was the right choice; how else could he have witnessed such a sight?
The wagon carried this personal guard along a beast path in the forest, and after about ten minutes, a huge camp appeared.
The wagon stopped, and as soon as it did, soldiers came forward to move the carcasses, which would then be sent to the pile of corpses that had already accumulated like a small mountain; even though people were constantly taking from it, its height was still slowly increasing.
As far as the eye could see, there were people everywhere processing animal carcasses; first, the animals were skinned, with experienced tanners skillfully removing the hides perfectly, and then the carcasses would be sent to the butchers for further decomposition, and finally, they would be salted and packed into barrels.
This was a bustling work scene, everyone was in high spirits, because the Moscow Prince would distribute the proceeds to everyone based on the total amount, and the more the total, the more everyone would receive.
In addition to the wagons full of animal carcasses, hunters and even farmers occasionally carried game to sell to the Prince, and Rostislav was very happy to accept their goods.
Once the carcasses on the wagon were moved, Dier immediately called out to the wagon driver to turn the horses around; he still had to go back to work.
---
Since mid-March, Rostislav Vladimirovich had launched a massive hunt.
This hunt deployed most of the Moscow Prince's forces, and the Prince's goal was simple: he wanted to eliminate the wild beasts that were plaguing the wilderness.
Although the roads in Northeast Rus' were quite safe due to the construction of fortresses, if one ventured even a little off the main routes, people would face danger, and in most cases, this danger did not come from humans, but from wild beasts.
Yes, wild beasts.
In this era, wild beasts posed a great threat to humans; in the wilderness, packs of wolves even dared to attack villages, openly snatching people from them.
Bears were not much better; stealing villagers' honey was a daily occurrence, and honey was an important export commodity for Northeast Rus', so every household had bear spears.
If they were so audacious towards settlements, then imagine their behavior towards travelers in the wild.
Therefore, the Prince launched this great hunt, aiming to reduce the number of these wild beasts and create a safer outdoor environment, and importantly, the Prince wanted to use this opportunity to declare his authority to the rural areas of Northeast Rus'.
It was somewhat embarrassing to admit that although Rostislav had been Prince for several years, he was certain that more than half of the farmers in this land were still indifferent to him, giving him the cold shoulder.
So the Prince needed to increase his presence in the countryside, and the best way was to launch large-scale hunts, using these hunts to show the bumpkins his extremely powerful strength—this was why the Prince deployed so many elite troops.
The hunt was also beneficial to the Prince, and it was mandatory for local residents to participate, as it also benefited them; this was an opportunity to establish authority, and it could also be used to train militiamen and confidants; a large-scale hunt could be said to be a rehearsal for a large-scale military operation.
Furthermore, the large quantities of meat and furs obtained, after a little processing, could also bring immense wealth.
When Rostislav's hunting party first set out from Moscow, it numbered only a thousand people, but as time passed, in a very short period, the hunting party's numbers exceeded three thousand.
---