Novgorod's enemies came not only from land, but also from the sea. Very early on, they had frequent conflicts with the Norsemen.
After Sweden, a major Nordic country, converted to Catholicism, it began to launch Crusades to the East. They built the fortress of Vyborg across the bay and destroyed the Novgorod settlements around the Neva River in an attempt to cut off their access to the North Sea commercial circuit.
Facing the challenge, Novgorod also began to take the initiative after repelling several Swedish attacks. In the early 14th century, the Novgorod army even fought all the way to central Finland, removing Swedish fortresses along the way in retaliation. The two sides have been fighting for hundreds of years over the important water transportation channels of Lake Ladoga and the Neva River, as well as the suzerainty of the local Karelian people, but to no avail.
Although there was an idea of peaceful settlement and a contract was signed, the conflict of interests was really irresolvable.
The King of Sweden once proposed that since everyone is a believer in God, it is better to solve the problem through debate. He claimed that he could send several philosophers (theology and philosophy were often separated at that time) to debate with the Novgorod church. Whoever loses will convert to the winner's sect, so that everyone can save themselves from fighting again.
But the bishop and mayor of Novgorod rejected this request, pointing out that they were only a local church, and suggested that if the Swedes really wanted to debate the Bible, they should let the philosophers go to Constantinople to debate with the Greeks there. . If they can win, they are willing to admit defeat. It depends on whether the Swedish king dares to gamble.
Of course, this bet did not come true in the end. After all, the King of Sweden is not a fool. It’s okay for his philosopher to fool the Russians, but he is just looking for trouble when he goes to debate the Bible with the Greeks...
As a result, the agreement fell through, and everyone fought back and forth for decades.
Unlike the Novgorod people who mainly ran business among inland rivers, lakes, and swamps, the Swedes were a serious maritime power. For hundreds of years, they repeatedly landed on the coast of Novgorod, leaving the Republic in a very passive situation. Now we have an opportunity to try to reverse this situation.
With the help of the Purple Horde Army, the Novgorodians finally established a foothold on the Neva River. Guo Di, the head of the Guo clan at that time, provided them with a group of engineers and used their fortification skills to build the military port fortress "Guo Family Fort" at the important river mouth. Because Guo Di's Greek name "Peter" is easier to remember, the locals call this place Petrograd.
The fortress was very strong. The Swedes and Karelian servants failed to defeat it several times, so they could only stare blankly and temporarily withdrew from the river mouth area.
Of course, the ambitions of both parties go beyond this.
If you continue to expand your horizons, you will find that the Hanseatic League, where Novgorod is located, is now in an increasingly dangerous situation.
Back then, because each kingdom had very loose control over local areas, cities often sought autonomy and then formed commercial alliances with each other. But now, throughout Europe, royal power is increasing.
Sweden and Denmark in the north, England in the west, Moscow in the east, and the HRE princes in the south are all coveting this huge profit. As state institutions continue to improve and the dynasty's control over local areas gradually strengthens, the good days of the free city are coming to an end.
Businessmen are also aware of this. They constantly try to intervene in inheritance issues and territorial disputes between countries, trying to dance on a few eggs to maintain their independence. But the trend of the times is ultimately unstoppable. In the face of increasingly powerful powers, it is really difficult for traditional free commercial cities to support it. All they can do is struggle as hard as they can.
Therefore, Novgorod suggested that everyone should regard the Purple Horde as the suzerain, introduce the Roman army, maintain the balance of power, and confront the European kingdoms.
Although the nomadic country gives people the impression of starting from war, in many cases, for the Khan, the skills of doing business and building relationships are actually the most important. The Purple Horde Khanate also had a strong commercial nature, and was a powerful country that was hostile to Poland, Lithuania, and the HRE. It was far enough away that it had no motive to annex territory. It is also valuable not only to Novgorod, but also to other allied cities.
Of course, if this plan succeeds, the status of the Novgorod city-state in the alliance will definitely be greatly improved and it will gain more say. No matter how you look at it, it's a sure profit.
Therefore, on the other hand, in order to persuade the Purple Horde Khanate to expand its army, Novgorod decided to increase its tribute to increase its persuasion.
These tributes were paid directly to the Roman government. In fact, they were protection fees for the Purple Horde Khanate, or the main part of the military costs. In addition to fur, it also includes the famous gyrfalcon.
There are a large number of falconers in Novgorod, Tver, Moscow and other countries, and they have even developed transnational management organizations. It is a very developed industry. From Ireland to Khitan, throughout the Eurasian continent, the upper echelons of various countries are extremely fond of this animal. It is almost regarded as a kind of hard currency and is very valuable.
In the Ming Dynasty, this kind of raptor had a name that may be more familiar to people, called "Haidongqing". When Shaharul reconciled with the Ming Dynasty and paid tribute again, he received one as a gift in return. This also shows its popularity.
Since there are fewer resale processes, the efficiency of spending money to do things is much higher than recruiting mercenaries. The merchants decided that this was a more advantageous deal. They were more enthusiastic about this matter than the Khanate itself.
The other vassal states would rather pay more than let the Purple Horde send troops. But after paying the money, the merchants of Novgorod came every day to urge the "governor" to send more soldiers, especially to expand the navy, which seemed very inconsistent.
But the water power of the Purple Horde Khanate was also limited.
Today, the Black Sea has become Rome's inland sea. After the rise of Timur, with their help, the Purple Horde also successfully entered the east coast of the Mediterranean and established several strongholds in Asia Minor and Syria.
Navigation is the main tool for transporting troops and commerce. It can even be said that in these places, the Purple Horde Khanate expanded along the sea lanes, so it formed this seemingly scattered, but actually quite stable territorial distribution.
To maintain the empire, sea power was of course indispensable.
When the Purple Horde Khanate was first established, it knew nothing about the navy. The founding emperor Boyan Timur himself was a famous landlubber. In order to enter the Balkans, he decided to follow the advice of the Eastern Roman Church and lead his people to join the Orthodox Church. The church was overjoyed and decided to imitate Ross's baptism ceremony that year, asking everyone to go into the river and take a bath, which would complete the ceremony.
Unexpectedly, the Great Khan Boyan Timur actually drowned when he took the lead into the river. Minister Guo Gai and others tried their best to fish him out and rescue him for a long time, but finally he didn't drown. Fearing that there would be too many casualties, everyone had to decline the collective baptism ceremony. Until now, the collective initiation ceremony has not been completed.
This incident became an ancestral joke in the Purple Horde Khanate and is still popular to this day. According to Li Xuanying, there are several Greek comedies based on this.
This also caused the nobles of the Khan's court to be unable to expel the Greek forces in the court after the "Anda War". Because the Khan's navy still relied on their participation to a large extent.
