eastern european eagle

Chapter 169 Crimea
"We're here, we're finally here."

A group of ragged people came outside the city of Veruga. The local residents saw their appearance and immediately understood how much they had suffered.Because that's how they came here.

Since Veruga was founded, a large number of serfs and slaves fled to settle here every day.Over time, this place has become a thorn in the side of the Tatar tribe. The closest time to the destruction of Veruga happened half a year ago. More than 20 tribes formed a coalition force and attacked Veruga after receiving some sponsorship from Genoa.At that time, Veruga's city wall was about to collapse, and it was about to fail.When a heavy snowstorm hit, nine out of ten horses, cattle and sheep of the tribe were frozen to death. Taking advantage of this opportunity, the defenders reinforced the city walls. Seeing this situation, the coalition forces had no choice but to retreat.

Both the defenders and the residents believed that this was God's will. After the enemy retreated, they rebuilt Veruga and strengthened the city wall.The surrounding slaves also came here after hearing about it, and the population increased, and soon exceeded 4000.

Peter provided some support to the Crimea region and sent government officials to govern it.The local people also gradually moved closer to Wallachia, and the culture was reshuffled.

After this battle, the Tatar tribe continued to decline.The Crimean Church gained a firm foothold here and gradually moved northward, while the Crescent Church narrowed its scope as the Golden Horde retreated.

The southern part of the Crimea Peninsula is rich in iron ore. The local mines are owned by the government and have a certain scale.A large amount of iron ore was continuously transported to Constanta. With the export funds, Veruga built several churches and expanded production, and some businessmen invested in building factories here, and the local area has a stable source of income.

However, the escape of a large number of slaves not only made the Tatar tribe angry, but also made Genoa angry. The city of Kaffa under their rule was the largest slave trading center in the Black Sea.The Roman Empire and the Khazar Khanate also fought for the city.In the [-]th century, due to the Western Expedition of the Mongols, the power of the Golden Horde began to expand to the city of Kaffa, and the Genoese merchants in the city were also attacked by the Mongols.

With the occupation of Kaffa by the Golden Horde, the slave trade in the city of Kaffa began to rise.Before that, the slave trade also existed in Kaffa City, but with the addition of Tatars and Nogais, Kaffa City was completely reduced to a "slave city".The Tatars and Nogais continued to sell captive Eastern Europeans to Kaffa City, resulting in millions of Eastern Europeans being trafficked all over the world.

In the slave market in Kaffa City at that time, the price of slaves was generally around 20 to 60 gold coins, but the price of slaves would also fluctuate with the local situation.Generally speaking, whenever wars or natural disasters occur, the price of slaves is the lowest.The price of slaves in peacetime is the highest, because slave catchers can only get a large number of prisoners in times of war.

Tatars and Nogais often raided Eastern European villages in droves, taking children from mothers and wives from husbands.Moreover, whenever a war breaks out, the Tatars and Nogai will plunder the population on a large scale, so that slavery has become the main source of income for these tribes.

Prior to this, the Genoese and Venetians also started to carry out slave trade in the local area, and would take the initiative to kidnap Mongolian, Turkic and Slavic people as slaves.Grain, precious metals, olive oil, and weapons were widely traded in the city, and Slavic, Caucasian, and Turkic slaves were loaded at Kaffa and trafficked to West Asia or Egypt.

The Genoese started the Caffa slave trade and made amazing fortunes from it.Since Acre fell in 1296, the Pope of Rome prohibited direct trade with the Mamluk dynasty, and the Black Sea route became an important channel for the spice trade. Gold and silver coins fell into the pockets of the Genoese like a torrential rain.

The merchants suffered the most from the escape of the slaves, but Veruga and Aaron belonged to Wallachia, so they still had to discuss it with the Grand Duke.

"More than 300 escaped slaves came here today, should we take them in?"

The municipal clerk asked the mayor of Veruga, the mayor thought for a while, and then said.

"Yong, they are poor people, God will not give up everyone who is willing to pursue happiness. We have defeated the Tartars, and we will defeat anyone who dares to destroy the peace of Veruga. We will let those peasants and slaves See, Veruga always welcomes them."

In order to accommodate these people, the mayor can be said to have racked his brains. In addition to reclaiming land, hiring workers, and training militias, he also allowed some people to join the church.Expand the scope of control through the skin of the church.

"How much money is left in the treasury now?"

"Excluding what will be used in the next three months, there are still 12000 gold leu."

"Well, take out a third first, and build another housing area on the east side of Veruga."

The mayor is constantly planning that these will not only accommodate more people, but also increase Veruga's economic and military strength.More importantly, the Grand Duke has determined that Veruga is the capital of the Crimea region, for which a large city must be built to be worthy of his status.

Wallachia's expansion in the Crimea also received attention from both the Golden Horde and Lithuania, although government support was lesser.Whether it is Vytautas or Tutuo Lost, Crimea's geographical location in the Black Sea must be obtained.Now Wallachia took the lead, because they all felt that it would be better to unite and take it down before distributing it.

Peter also understands the importance of Crimea. For this reason, he has carried out large-scale construction of the two important cities of Aaron and Veluga, which not only have a complete defense system, but also new weapons such as artillery and flamethrowers.Since the Lithuanian and Golden Horde armies are dominated by cavalry, the long-range firepower of the defenders is very strong.

Crimea, under Wallachia, had a population of 15 and growing.The economy is also the most developed in the area, even surpassing Kaffa and Azov at the mouth of the Don River.A large part of this is based on local geography.

The local people also began to make a living by planting and animal husbandry, and raising sheep and food became their main objects of work.Life stabilized. Before that, they couldn't even imagine such a life.

Wallachia has become a paradise for slaves, and many people risked their lives to escape in order to be free.The more they escaped, the stricter the Genoese and nomads would guard them, but even so, these captured slaves still did not give up, preferring to die themselves, but also to create opportunities for their families to escape.Rather than a dark possibility, it is better to fight to the death, even if there is only a [-]% probability.

(End of this chapter)