The merchants accompanying the army had considerable objections to the decision to turn south, pass through Moldavia to Wallachia, and then cross this land full of Pecheneg tribes.
It's not that they are afraid of fighting. As merchants who travel around the world, they are actually used to plundering and so on, so they are not afraid of it.
Nowadays in the continent of Europe, even the powerful 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 battles and tests. After all, they have never been less likely to encounter robberies.
In order to protect the caravan and the guards, it is common to fight against God knows whether they are professional robbers or amateur robbers wearing makeup from 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 plunders, this land was too dangerous.
The Pecheneg tribe patrols the land like vultures looking for carrion. Once they find an active enemy, they will bite them fiercely and greedily devour the flesh and blood.
Moreover, these nomads often go out in hundreds or even thousands. Even if you are lucky enough to defeat them, new Pecheneg tribes 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 is a dead place, the kind where you will die if you leave.
The Moldavia nobles had a way to allow the caravans they controlled to pass through this land, but ordinary merchants like them couldn't find that way, and they didn't know how to pay the protection fee.
But just getting in touch...
The nobles earn gold and silver through this method and become rich. After all, they have a monopoly on this trade route, and their small businessmen can only envy them.
But the Yaroslavichs were not in the mood to listen to what the merchants had to say. With such a large elite, they could not pass through the land controlled by those horse bandits? That was really ridiculous.
You know, the thousands of people in this army are all soldiers wearing armor. This is the essence of Ross, the elite of Ross. How can these combined forces not defeat those bandits?
For this reason, while a small number of caravans decided to leave, most caravans decided to continue to follow the team of the princes of Ross. The reason is also very simple. The essence of the entire Ross is gathered here. It is absolutely impossible to follow such a team through.
safe.
In this way, the army changed its direction and headed south.
The first thing they had to cross was Moldavia, which is a land covered with hills outside the Carpathian Mountains.
Because it is far away from Kiev and close to the grassland, although this is also the territory of the Orthodox Church and is inhabited by Russians, Kiev's control here is very weak. The local rulers basically do their own thing and ignore Kiev.
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However, this land is very famous in Russia, and the reason is very simple. There are a large number of wine estates here, which produce the best wine in Russia.
This is also the most important economic connection between Kiev and this place. Kiev will import a large amount of wine from here, which is large and stable. The private wine cellar of the Grand Duke of Rus has made room for Moldavia's top wines.
When the Grand Duke of Kiev came to Moldavia, the local rulers who ran wine estates naturally came forward to greet him with great respect. In any case, the Grand Duke of Kiev was the highest ruler.
And they welcome this army very much, because such a large team will definitely purchase a large amount of wine from them.
Just as they thought, the Russians were indeed buying large quantities of wine.
For caravans, since they have come to Moldavia, they should buy more of these local wines and sell them when they go to other places.
As for the ordinary soldiers in the army, it is rare to come out so far once, and it would be a shame to go back so far without taking some with you. In the end, it is worth it whether you drink it with friends or sell it.
That is to say, during such purchases, the locals 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 just entertain them according to their vassal obligations.
And now that the Grand Duke has brought so many Gods of Wealth, they cannot be enshrined like Gods of Wealth.
As a result, the army received more and more warm reception. Many villages and towns even provided free supplies to the army, just to thank these gods of wealth. The more they bought, the happier they were.
And Rostislav took 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. Many of them were in Kiev.
The wine was only available to the Grand Duke, but now he drank it freely.
At the same time, he did not forget to buy a large quantity. This time he brought many carriages south. These carriages were empty because the grain they carried had been eaten up. Now they were used to store these fine wines. They would be sold again after arriving in Hungary.
You can make a lot of money by going out.
There are many people who bring wine, and they use various methods to bring more wine, sell it for money or take it back to enjoy, but they are not as convenient as Rostislav, who only pulls one car after another.
At the same time, through the opportunity of buying wine, Rostislav established relationships with local nobles, and through these relationships, Rostislav was able to contact some brokers who specialized in acting as middlemen between steppe tribes and caravans.
As Moldavia borders the grasslands, the connection between this place and the grasslands is naturally close.
Being a ruler here inevitably involves dealing with grassland tribes. Over time, professional brokers also appeared here, responsible for bridging the gap between them.
Yes, it is extremely dangerous to go beyond Wallachia, but if you have a way to contact a broker and bribe those Pecheneg tribes, you can also be safe and pass through this land smoothly.
So if that's the case, why is this land still considered extremely dangerous? Why don't many people take this road?
That's mainly because these tribes are too greedy, and they all have eyes in Moldavia.
These informants will evaluate the value of the goods passing through the caravan and then ask for a price based on their value.
This kind of asking price is often one-half of the value of the entire caravan. Many caravans find it difficult to accept this price. They either choose to refuse and take other paths, or they rush into Wallachia.
The fate of all intruders is the same - to become corpses.
Of course, the asking price of the Pechenegs also depends on the situation. For example, if a caravan with local Moldavia aristocratic background comes to negotiate, then the asking price will be very reasonable. This is part of their deal with the Moldavia aristocracy.
Therefore, even if those ordinary caravans found a way to contact the Pechenegs and paid protection fees to buy their way, they would have to bleed a lot and make no money.
The Pechenegs are not determined to be enemies of their surrounding neighbors. They will leave a gap for foreign exchanges and import of goods. This gap can always be used, and now this gap is Moldavia.
Through contacts with local nobles, Rostislav easily found a broker, and the brokers worked very quickly and soon brought the asking prices of their respective steppe tribes.
What surprised Rostislav was that the prices charged by these steppe tribes were actually very fair and acceptable, rather than the lion's mouth as expected.
Originally, Rostislav was planning to negotiate, but the other party turned out to be so forthcoming.
However, he was not surprised when he contacted the Moldavia nobles and could get a fair price from the Pecheneg tribe. After all, it seemed that these nomadic tribes were completely preying on people.
Rostislav immediately brought the results of the negotiation to his uncle, and Ijaslav was very surprised by this. He was still having a headache about how to get close to the Pecheneg tribe, but Rostislav had already settled the matter.
As for the asking price of the Pechenegs, it was indeed very reasonable, and Ijaslav agreed. They even met and drank with several Pecheneg chiefs, and finalized their cooperation at the banquet.
After completing the deal, just like that, the army began to head for Wallachia.