After several more visitors, finally it was the turn of the envoy from Volga Bulgar.
The Bulgar envoy named Aleph did not wear a turban like the Christian believers, but wore a fur pointed hat, which was something that the nobles on the steppes liked to wear.
The white robe with some red embroidery is tied up at the waist by a leather belt. There is also a scimitar with a scabbard with the pattern of a nomadic warrior's bow and arrow hanging on the waist. On his feet are slightly turned up and shiny leather boots.
Just like the title of Khan of the Bulgar rulers, even if they have been settled for many years and have become civilized, the customs of the grasslands will still emanate from the Bulgars from time to time, telling people their connection with the grasslands.
"Greetings to you, Prince of the Rus, I bring you the greetings of the Bulgar Khan."
The messenger bent down and held up a rolled-up piece of parchment in front of him. Rostislav's soldiers took the letter and opened it in front of the prince.
The parchment is full of Cyrillic letters. It seems that Bulgar Khan has someone who is proficient in Russian writing. This is not surprising. After all, Bulgar’s first partner for many years has been Rus.
In the letter, the Bulgar Khan briefly congratulated Rostislav on his appointment as prince, and hoped that the peaceful relations between Russia and the Bulgars would continue to be maintained during his tenure. The final details would be provided by his plenipotentiary envoys Aleph and Rostislav.
The prince spoke in detail.
To put it simply, the Khan said a lot of diplomatic clichés, but the real highlight was what the envoy in front of him wanted to talk to him.
"I have received Khan's greetings. So, Lord Aleph, what do you want to talk to us about? Trade conditions or trade privileges?"
Rostislav looked at the waiting Bulgar envoy. He was curious about what the Bulgar Khan planned to talk about. Ever since "Saint" Vladimir came to Bulgar and forced the then Khan to sign a city alliance, this half
Century Rus and Bulgars maintained peace and did not have any wars.
At most, many small-scale wars broke out over the competition for the tribute rights of various tribes between the two countries, but these wars were the product of unspoken rules between the two sides, and the competition did not affect the peace between the two countries.
This can be seen from the hostility emanating from the crowd behind the Bulgar envoy from time to time. The small team led by the Russian dignitaries fought in the forest with the Bulgars, and they also forged a lot of hatred between them.
But some people are quite gentle and even welcoming in their eyes. After all, Rostov and Bulgar are in an upstream and downstream trade relationship. There have always been many trade connections between the two parties. Only by cooperating with each other can we make a fortune together.
"The Khan wanted the right to claim tribute from the Malians."
As soon as these words came out, the entire hall fell silent. Everyone looked at the Bulgar envoy, and their hostile gazes came like a wave.
The right to claim tribute is a very serious term in this northeastern land, because it is related to gold and silver, wealth, and the future.
Bulgar, like Northeastern Rus, exports a series of commodities such as beeswax, honey and furs, which actually come from the tribute paid to the people living on this land. Without these tributes, they would not even be able to export the goods.
Therefore, in order to compete for the right to claim tribute, both Rus and Bulgar agreed to engage in a small-scale war because this was too important and related to the future and development of both parties.
But now, the Bulgars' initiative to ask for the right to claim tribute from the Russians is undoubtedly breaking the rules, and the Mali region has always been a contested area between the Russians and the Bulgars. This is undoubtedly asking the Russians to make concessions.
So there is so much hostility and so much unity, Bulgar is trying to destroy Russia's food bowl.
The people in the hall even started making noises, clamoring to beat the Bulgar out, but Aleph remained extremely calm.
This Bulgar envoy has seen many more dangerous things. He once had a knife put to his neck by the Borovets, and he once led an army to face a battle. This noise is really a small scene.
"Is the Khan asking for something from me?"
Rostislav ignored the noise and just asked the messenger.
"Of course not, Your Majesty, the Khan is willing to pay to redeem these rights."
As the messenger waved, two groups of Bulgar warriors carrying large boxes walked in. They wore painted coats outside their armor.
The box made a lot of noise when it was placed on the ground, which showed that there was a lot of stuff inside.
The two boxes were opened one by one by the messenger, revealing a silver light. They were filled with silver coins. The prince recognized them as dirham silver coins, the largest driving engine of the Volga trade route. His ancestors used to do this.
Come.
But Rostislav felt a little strange. These things were so new. The shiny and new appearance made people very concerned, as if they were placed in these boxes after being made in the mint. This is very rare.
Condition.
The messenger grabbed a handful of silver coins and let them slip between his fingers. The silver coins struck each other and made numerous crisp sounds.
For many people present, this was an extremely beautiful sound, and some looked greedy.
"They come from the mint in Bulgar City. They were made by the previous Khan in imitation of dirhams, and the silver content is even greater than dirhams. These two boxes are just deposits. The Khan will send three boxes of such silver coins in the future.
,You can see it?"
To be honest, Rostislav was excited. This was a huge sum of money, enough to fill his scarce treasury and then do more things.
But the next moment, he gave up this idea, because he knew that this was not an ordinary business behavior, but the Khan's conspiracy to harm him.
Yes, as the prince of the entire Northeast Rus, he certainly has the right to sell the right to claim tribute from the Malians, but what do the powerful people who rely on the tribute from Mali for income think of this? They can get nothing from it.
penny.
What will follow is bound to be resentment towards Rostislav. Even if he distributes all the silver coins to those powerful people, the resentment will still exist, because he is the first person responsible, and no matter what, he will push the pot on his head.
Moreover, as Mali is an area of power competition, there will definitely be people who ignore this deal and enter that land, which will inevitably cause conflicts. If conflicts occur, Bulgar will attack Ross and blackmail... or even start a war.
Rostislav clearly understood the stakes, so his answer was very firm.
"I reject."
"That would be a pity, my lord."
The Bulgar envoy was not surprised by this. He showed a ceremonial smile on his face. There was something in that smile that Rostislav could not understand, and he bowed again ceremonially.
"I hope we will have opportunities to cooperate in the future."