Chapter 201 Potential Expansion in the North and East

In the north, Crimea under Wallachia's control is almost reaching the northern isthmus. The local nomadic tribes have been eliminated or surrendered, and the Cossacks on the mainland have been tightly bound to Wallachia by trade and religion. They are still subject to Lithuania in name only.

With the escape of a large number of slaves and the deepening of Wallachia, the slave trade in Kaffa has become increasingly difficult, and the profit of slaves has dropped to one-third of last year. Coupled with the harassment of nomadic tribes and the unrest in the local area, the local business is almost unsustainable.

Parma, the chief executive of Kaffa City, has been frowning recently. Their tax revenue has been greatly affected. The political situation of the Golden Horde is not optimistic. The reduction in slave supply and the plunder of nomadic tribes are all situations that have never been encountered before.

Kaffa is also transforming. They began to get involved in re-export trade and increase investment in the industry, but it is just a drop in the bucket. They can only rely on trade with Wallachia to barely survive. He even wrote a letter to the council, proposing to sell Kaffa to Wallachia to stop the loss, but there is no news yet.

On the Ukrainian plains, Cossack tribes settled in the southern region. Wallachia liked to hire them as troops, and the rewards were generous every time, so the Cossacks liked to be hired by Wallachia.

Firewater was also part of the Cossacks' loyalty to Wallachia. The tribes living on the grassland liked this stimulating alcohol very much. However, firewater was only produced in Wallachia, so the price was also very expensive. The Cossacks also began to plunder and harass the surrounding areas to get more funds to buy, or to contribute more soldiers to Wallachia.

The town established at the mouth of the Dnieper River gradually grew and the population exceeded 5,000. It has relatively good defense facilities and is also a trade node. Both Wallachia and Lithuania will conduct some trade here, especially Crimea, which is their only land route at present.

A large number of Wallachian missionaries took root in southern Ukraine. They built monasteries and church schools to assimilate the Cossack tribes. After the Rus Church moved to Moscow, the Wallachian Church rebuilt the local parish in this southern town. They protected the Orthodox Christians in Lithuania from the oppression of Catholicism.

Although Lithuania has a vast territory, the local rule is very loose. Strong centralization is only maintained near Vilnius, and other places are only ruled by nobles. In the vast Russian region, the Duke of Kiev, the Duke of Chernigov and other principalities were mainly enfeoffed to rule. The Grand Duke of Lithuania is their ruler.

The nobles in Vilnius have always wanted to convert local Orthodox Christians to Catholics. For this reason, they strongly support the spread of the Catholic Church in the local area. In northern Russian cities such as Novgorod and Minsk, Catholicism has a considerable market.

In the southern region, most people are unwilling to convert. They gradually move south and settle in the middle and lower reaches of the Dnieper River. Kiev gradually became a Catholic city. The Sophia Church was occupied by the Catholic Church, and the glory of Russia seemed to have become history.

The Russian company built a city in the middle reaches of the Dnieper River. This town on both sides of the river is located at an ancient trade node. Relying on the Dnieper River and the fertile land nearby, it has become a relatively wealthy city.

The Rus Company bribed the Duke of Kiev and Vilnius with more than 40,000 gold coins to obtain trade concessions and a large amount of land in the middle and lower reaches of the Dnieper River. The company lived up to expectations and directly contacted Moscow and other northeastern countries of Rus. The surrounding trade was carried out at these nodes, and the shareholders also made a lot of money.

The company built two cities in the middle and lower reaches as bridgeheads for expansion to the north. The Lithuanian dukes were very happy because they could collect more taxes; the people were also very happy because they finally had their own safe haven.

However, there are always some people who are unhappy. They are the big landowners in Lithuania. Because the establishment of towns in the south caused some serfs on their land to have thoughts that they shouldn't have, they ran away and ran to the south to avoid being hunted down. Even if they can catch up, they will hide in the city, and attacking the city will change the nature. They don't want war.

Another group of unhappy people is the local Catholic Church, who feel hindered by the missionary work in the south. I thought that after Rus was gone and Rome was about to fall into the ground, Eastern Europe would be their world, but who knew that Wallachia suddenly popped up. It seems that their road to spread the gospel will be cut off for the time being.

In addition to Moscow, the Rus Company also established trade and diplomatic relations with northeastern countries such as Suzdal, Ryazan, and Novgorod. The company's business expanded to the Volga River, and through re-export trade, the company's assets became more and more.

The lei became a currency like the ducat in Eastern Europe. Because of its good quality and high gold content, the people of the Rus countries liked to use the lei for transactions. Wallachian merchants became very popular in Eastern Europe, much better than Polish and Lithuanian merchants.

In the Caucasus, Wallachia and the Kingdom of Georgia established trade relations. In 1386, Timur led his army to capture Tiberias, and the Georgian army was defeated. Tiberias was bloodbathed by the invaders, and the king and queen were taken prisoner. A year later, Timur attacked Georgia again. In 1394, Timur invaded the Principality of Samtskhe, and the residents there fought fiercely. Timur then defeated the Golden Horde in the North Caucasus and occupied the North Caucasus. After that, Timur attacked Georgia many times. Under the resolute resistance of the people from all over the country, the two sides reached an agreement and Georgia paid heavy taxes to him. The war with the Timurid Empire dealt a huge blow to Georgia again, the royal power was severely weakened, and the economy was paralyzed.

Most of the Wallachian merchants traded with Georgia in Sukhumi, but many of the two countries' commodities overlapped, especially wine. Wallachia also deliberately raised taxes on imported wine, as well as wool, grain, etc.

However, Wallachia did not raise the tariff on timber. Because Wallachia was in particular need of timber, Georgia's timber trade grew rapidly, but the diplomatic relations between the two countries were lukewarm because they were in-laws of Trebizond, which was ruled by Komnenos.

Anyone with a discerning eye could see that the Bartram family was going to charge at the throne of Constantinople. How could this be allowed? In terms of the orthodoxy of the throne, the Komnenos family was more suitable than Palaeologus and Bartram. One of them was a conspirator and the other was a nouveau riche. How could they be allowed to taint this pure throne? As a relative of the Komnenos family, Georgia naturally had to support them with all its strength.