Chapter 28: The Mongol Pirate King (Part I)

The Novgorod representatives were masters of negotiation who clearly understood what they could extract from the Purple Horde.

The Purple Horde lacked the strength to occupy Novgorod long-term. The distance from their ancestral lands along the Black Sea to the Far North was simply too vast. The various Rus states along the way were filled with ulterior motives; while they paid tribute in times of peace, they would undoubtedly unite in resistance if the Horde showed any desire for annexation.

On the other hand, establishing a foothold in Novgorod was of vital importance to the Purple Horde. Anyone with a modicum of strategic vision would grasp the significance of this cooperation. To project power into the North Sea while simultaneously creating a pincer movement against the treacherous and rebellious Rus states, the Purple Horde was willing to make concessions elsewhere to seize this opportunity.

In business, the goal is to sell at a high price. Since the market was currently at a premium, one should seize the initiative, sell decisively, and strive for the best possible outcome.

More importantly, for the Veche of the Republic, this was a truly troublesome time.

Novgorod was not a Moscow-style state composed of contiguous farmlands. Here, the territory was divided into two parts: the heartland, known as the "Isyaches," and the vassals and colonies, known as the "Frosts." Although, in theory, Rus people inhabited all these lands, there remained a significant disparity in status.

Complex conflicts permeated the relationships between the heartland towns and the colonies, as well as between the city of Novgorod itself—a special heartland district—and other heartland towns. They resembled the city-states of classical antiquity far more than they did other Rus states.

To maximize the acquisition of cheap raw materials and gain greater competitive advantages and profits, merchants in the city of Novgorod often ruthlessly exploited the residents of other regions, utterly disregarding any sense of fraternal solidarity.

Naturally, the other side was not to be trifled with. Local residents were likely to collude with bandits or turn to brigandage themselves, plundering the merchants traveling to and from the city. In some city-states, people would even collude with foreign powers, bringing in support from Moscow, Lithuania, or even the Swedes to oppose the mother city.

To suppress these recalcitrant subjects, Novgorod had to spend vast amounts of precious wealth every year. Especially now, with the situation undergoing drastic changes, many people were starting to have ideas of their own. Some councilors feared that if they did not hurry to strike a good bargain, the opposition might bring in the Roman army first, which would be disastrous.

The concerns of these people were not without merit.

To the southwest of Novgorod, near Lithuania, lay a city called Pskov. It also enjoyed convenient river access to the Gulf of Finland and was connected by road to the important ports of Tallinn and Riga.

As a vital transit hub between the Hanseatic League and the Rus region, Pskov developed rapidly, establishing its own handicraft centers and chambers of commerce, and growing increasingly dissatisfied with the control exerted by its mother city, Novgorod. Eventually, with the backing of Lithuania, it succeeded decades ago in forcing Novgorod to recognize its independence from the Republic.

Novgorod harbored deep resentment over this, but unlike other Rus cities—perhaps due to its proximity to Europe and immense military pressure—Pskov had built stone walls at the time of its independence. To the Rus, this was a rather sophisticated piece of engineering that was truly difficult to besiege, so they had to concede.

After Lithuania’s defeat, the people of Pskov, realizing their precarious position, immediately took action to contact the victorious Purple Horde, hoping to ensure their own safety and prevent being taken advantage of while in a vulnerable state.

Although Pskov was smaller and theoretically could not offer as much as Novgorod, they were not fools. Realizing this, the people of Pskov were likely determined to cede more sovereignty, provided they could retain free trade and the autonomy of their chambers of commerce.

This created a situation where both sides competed to bid for the Purple Horde’s favor, seeing who could offer more. Such a scenario is highly disadvantageous for the party selling its sovereignty.

The Novgorod Veche therefore decided they must act quickly, offering a generous deal upfront to exploit the Purple Horde’s lack of local knowledge and create a "done deal" before they realized the situation. Otherwise, the Horde would surely demand even more.

To this end, they drafted a contract proposing a series of trade terms. The Khanate’s court had very limited knowledge of the North at the time and was unaware of the hidden traps, so they were overjoyed and quickly agreed to most of the demands.

The Novgorod region was separated from the administration of the Rus and other provinces to form the independent North Sea Province, with a Secretariat Chancellor dispatched to lead two thousand troops to garrison the area.

Only after arriving at the scene did the Purple Horde officials realize why the locals had been so proactive.

As it turned out, these people had already crunched the numbers and found that the cost of paying tribute to the Khanate was lower than that of hiring their own troops. Once the officials arrived, they immediately disbanded a large number of mercenaries, saving a huge sum of money. The Khanate’s decision-making had been too naive, and their asking price too low, leaving them outmaneuvered by the unscrupulous merchants.

The tribute paid by the locality had also been carefully calculated.

In recent years, as the population grew, the Novgorodians had opened up vast new hunting grounds, significantly increasing the production of their traditional specialty: squirrel pelts. However, the merchants realized that increased production did not equate to a synchronized increase in profit. Chamber of commerce representatives from Lübeck, the center of the Hanseatic League, informed them that due to the increased supply on the market, the price of squirrel pelts had fallen, and the original procurement prices could no longer be maintained.

Under these circumstances, the best approach was to open markets in other directions and reduce fur exports to the North Sea region to maintain price levels.

Taking advantage of the opportunity to pay tribute to the Purple Horde, the merchants regularly carried large quantities of goods and swaggered southward, entering the markets of Kiev, Crimea, and even Dadu directly. Other Rus states, at least for now, dared not openly harass the tribute envoys, which effectively granted the merchants a safe and reliable path to the Mediterranean markets, bypassing middlemen.

The diplomatic philosophy of the Purple Horde was deeply influenced by the people of the Central Plains. In the minds of the Great Khan and his nobles, inducing the other side to submit and pay tribute was a significant achievement. If they accepted officials and garrisons, that achievement was elevated to an even higher level, as it meant the area had become a more "native" territory—a political milestone substantial enough to boast about for a long time.

Even the traditional Romans possessed a similar fixation. Within the systems of these traditional empires, this was a matter of great prestige—a prestige that was not merely empty vanity, but a symbol of authority and credibility, serving as a vital means to lower the costs of governance and enhance legitimacy.

However, often the mindsets of others are not necessarily the same. Commercial states like this might not care for such titles, nor did they wish to build an imperial-style organization; instead, they valued monetary gains more. It can only be said that the choices of different nations often differ. At the very least, both sides got what they wanted this time, so they accepted the outcome afterward.

Yet, the Purple Horde garrison soon discovered that relying on their own strength alone was not enough. Before long, they were even demanding that a naval force must be established there.