king of ros

Chapter 206 Grape Country
The merchants who accompanied the army had no qualms about the decision to turn south, through Moldavia to Wallachia, and then across the land dotted with Pecheneg tribes.

It's not that they are so afraid of fighting. As merchants who travel all over the world, they have long been accustomed to looting and so on, so they are not afraid.

Now on the continent of Europe, even the mighty Greek Empire dare not say that it is absolutely safe outside the city walls, let alone other areas.

Therefore, these businessmen have more or less experienced many trials of fighting, after all, they have never been robbed less.

In order to protect the caravan and guards, it is also a daily routine to fight God knows whether it is professional robbers or amateur robbers who are disguised by nearby residents.

But even so, they were unwilling to pass through the land of Wallachia. Even in the eyes of these merchants who had experienced many plundering tests, this land was too dangerous.

The Pecheneg tribe patrolled the land like vultures looking for carrion. Once they found an active enemy, they would bite down fiercely and devour the flesh greedily.

Moreover, these nomads are often dispatched by hundreds or even thousands. Even if you are lucky enough to defeat them, a new Pecheneg tribe will soon come to bite you.

And seeing that you are struggling with ideas, the tribes will unite and plunder together, and then divide your caravan equally.

For businessmen, this place is a dead place, the kind that will die if they leave.

It turns out that the Moldavian nobles have a way to let the caravan they control pass through this land, but ordinary businessmen like them can't find that kind of way at all, and they don't know how to pay protection fees if they want to.

But just to get in touch, also...

And those nobles earn gold and silver through this channel, and they are rich. After all, they have monopolized this trade route, and their small businessmen can only envy them.

But the Yaroslavitches are not in the mood to listen to what the businessman has to say. They are such a huge elite that they can't pass through the land controlled by those horse bandits?That's really ridiculous.

You know, thousands of people in this army are all armored soldiers, this is the essence of Ross, the elite of Ross, these forces combined can't defeat those robbers?
It is also because of this that while a small number of caravans decided to leave, most of the caravans decided to continue to follow the ranks of the Ross princes. The reason is very simple. The essence of the entire Ross is gathered here. safe.

In this way, the army changed direction and went to the south.

The first thing they want to cross is Moldavia, which is a land of hills outside the Carpathian Mountains.

Because it is far away from Kyiv and close to the grasslands, although this is also the territory of the Orthodox Church and inhabited by Rus people, Kyiv's control over this place is very weak. The local rulers basically act on their own and ignore Kyiv. .

However, this land is very famous in Ross, and the reason is very simple. There are a large number of wine estates here, producing the best wine in all of Ross.

This is also the most important economic connection between Kiev and this place. Kyiv will import a large amount of wine from here, which is large and stable. The private wine cellar of the Grand Duke of Ross has made room for the best wines of Moldavia.

When the Grand Duke of Kyiv came to Moldavia, the local rulers who ran wine estates naturally stepped forward to greet him respectfully. In any case, the Grand Duke of Kyiv was the supreme ruler.

And they welcome this army very much, because such a large team must buy a lot of wine from them.

Just as they thought, the Ross people were indeed buying wine in large quantities.

For the caravan, since they have come to Moldavia, they should buy more of these local wines and sell them in other places.

As for the ordinary soldiers in the army, it is rare to go out so far once, and I am too sorry for such a long journey without bringing some back. In the end, whether it is drinking with friends or selling it, it is worthwhile.

That is to say, during such purchases, the local people became more and more enthusiastic about the Grand Duke's team. If the Grand Duke brought a small team to conduct official inspections, then they would entertain them according to the vassal's obligation.

But now that the Grand Duke has brought so many Gods of Wealth, they should not be enshrined as Gods of Wealth.

As a result, the hospitality received by the army became more and more enthusiastic. Many villages and towns even provided supplies for the army for free, just to thank these gods of wealth, the more they bought, the happier they were.

And Rostislav was able to take this opportunity to drink all the good wines in Moldavia. The local nobles took out all the good wines in their hands, so of course he had to try his best to taste them. Only the Grand Duke has wine, but now he can drink it casually.

At the same time, he did not forget to buy a large batch. This time, he brought a lot of carriages to the south. These carriages were vacant because the food on them had been eaten up. Now they are just used to store these fine wines. They will be sold after arriving in Hungary. Going out can make a lot of money.

There were a lot of people carrying wine, and they used all kinds of methods to sell more wine or bring it back for enjoyment, but none of them was as convenient as Rostislav, who was pulling carts by carts.

At the same time, taking the opportunity of buying wine, Rostislav established relationships with local nobles, and through these relationships, Rostislav was able to contact some brokers who specialize in acting as middlemen between grassland tribes and caravans.

As Moldavia, which borders the grassland, the connection between this place and the grassland is naturally close.

Being a ruler here inevitably involves dealing with grassland tribes. Over time, professional brokers also appeared here, responsible for matchmaking.

Yes, going beyond Wallachia is dangerous, but if you have access to brokers and bribes out of those Pecheneg tribes you can travel safely through the land.

That being the case, why is this land still considered extremely dangerous?Why don't many people take the road of selling?

That's mainly because these tribes are too greedy, and they all have eyeliners in Moldavia.

These eyeliners will assess the value of the goods that pass through the caravan, and then make an asking price based on its value.

And this kind of asking price is often half of the value of the entire caravan. Many caravans find it difficult to accept this price. They either choose to refuse, take other paths, or rush to Wallachia.

And the fate of the trespassers is the same - to become a corpse.

Of course, the asking price of the Pechenegs also depends on the situation. For example, if a caravan with a local Moldavian aristocratic background comes to negotiate, the asking price will be very reasonable. This is part of their transaction with the Moldavian aristocrats.

So those ordinary caravans found a way to connect with the Pechenegs, and they would have to bleed profusely if they paid protection fees to buy the road, and they couldn't make any money.

The Pechenegs don't just want to be enemies with their neighbors. They will leave a gap where they can communicate with the outside world and import goods. This gap can always be used, and now this gap is Moldavia.

Through contacts with the local nobles, Rostislav found brokers without a hitch, and the brokers worked very quickly, and soon brought the asking price of their respective steppe tribes.

To Rostislav's surprise, the asking price of these grassland tribes was actually very fair, an acceptable price, not the lion's big mouth as imagined.

Originally, Rostislav was planning to see-saw the negotiation, but the other side turned out to be so straightforward.

However, he is not surprised to find that the Moldavian nobles can get a fair price from the Pecheneg tribe. After all, it seems that these nomadic tribes are completely preying on people.

Rostislav immediately took the negotiation result to his uncle, and Izyaslav was very pleasantly surprised. He was still having a headache on how to get close to those Pecheneg tribes, but Rostislav had already settled the matter.

As for the asking price of the Pechenegs, it was indeed very reasonable, and Ijaslav agreed in this way. They even met and drank with several Pecheneg chiefs, and finalized the cooperation at the banquet.

And after completing the transaction, just like that, the army began to go to Wallachia.

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(End of this chapter)