In the Slavic language, "Ukraine" means border district. In contrast to Lithuania in the north, and even Moscow, Ukraine is the southern "border region" of the Slavs.

Therefore, the "Ukrainian count" that Marin bought for Simon means, in Slavic, "count of the border".

Maybe future generations will find it incredible - the warm and fertile Ukraine on the Black Sea in the south will actually be a border area? Yes, that's true......

The Slavs originated in the Vistula River basin in Poland, and in the Roman Empire, the Slavs were distributed from the Oder River in the west, the Dnieper River in the east, the Carpathian Mountains in the south, and the Baltic Sea in the north. And the Dnieper is the central river of Ukraine. Therefore, it is not impossible to say that Ukraine is a border region of the Slavs.

Later, the Slavs expanded in Europe, and a southward detachment occupied the Balkans for the South Slavs. Northward...... Well, because of the Baltic Sea, they migrated along the seashore to the Livonian region, which later became Estonia and Latvia. Needless to say, to the east, Maozi is a branch that develops eastward. As for the west, it was blocked by the Germanic knights, stopping at the Czech region.

As for the Ukrainian region to the southeast, such states as the principality of Kievan Rus' originally appeared, which should have developed into an important civilization of the Slavs.

But unfortunately, during the Mongol expedition to the west, the principality of Kievan Rus was destroyed, and the process of Ukrainian civilization was interrupted and reduced to a poor border region.

Later, although the Grand Duchy of Lithuania took advantage of the decline of the Golden Horde to wrest Ukraine from the Golden Horde, it was difficult for the Ukrainian economy to develop because of the fierce bandit states such as the Crimean Khanate in the south of Ukraine.

So, the current Ukrainian region, in the eyes of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, is the border region of poverty. But the irony is that this impoverished border region is the warmest and most fertile place in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.

Because the land is so fertile and there are rivers such as the Dnieper, this part of Ukraine still supports two or three million Ukrainians. The so-called Cossacks, in fact, are just a relatively aggressive minority among Ukrainians. Most Ukrainians are ordinary herders, and a few are engaged in agriculture along the big rivers.

But agriculture in the regions of Ukraine is generally concentrated in the northern regions. Because, the farmsteads in the south were easily looted by the Crimean Khanate.

And the Galicia region of Poland was actually originally a Ukrainian region. After the fall of the Golden Horde, Poland seized the opportunity to seize the Galician region. And Lviv in the Galicia region is now the famous granary of Poland.

It also belonged to the Ukrainian region, and it was also black land, but because the Lviv region was protected by Polish knights and was located in the northwest of the Ukrainian region, it was basically undisturbed by the Crimean Khanate. As a result, local agriculture developed.

As a result, only in the north of the current regions of Ukraine are there relatively stable agricultural zones. For example, Kyiv, because it is located in the north of Ukraine, is relatively safe, so agriculture has also developed. And the southern regions were largely abandoned under the threat of the Crimean Khanate. Either that, or some Cossack village was grazing.

And those southern Cossacks and ordinary Ukrainians chose to graze their cattle for fear that the Crimean Khanate would come and loot them. The reason is very simple - you see, we are also poor grazing people, and we usually eat cheese, and there is no oil and water to grab...... Good men of Crimea, don't come to rob us herdsmen who are also poor...... Not to mention, Crimeans really have little interest in their villages, which are also herders. At most, go grab some population......

In addition, it is easy for herders to relocate. If they heard that the Crimean Khanate had invaded, everyone put tents or something on the wagon, and then drove the cattle and sheep, and immediately ran away. The Ukrainian steppe is so big that it is not easy to be caught by Crimean bandits. If it is a farming village, it is a monk who can't run the temple......

……

Of course, Marin asked Simon to go to Kiev to be a count, not to let him go to the wasteland and farming, but to fight the idea of the Ukrainian population.

After all, there are two or three million people in the Ukrainian region, and for the countries of the world before the industrial revolution, population is labor and productivity.

Although Marin encourages childbearing in the North Sea Country, it takes time to give birth. Waiting for domestic women to slowly give birth and grow up, Marin may be hanging.

Therefore, the easiest and quickest way is to plunder the population. And Ukrainians, who do not have a country of their own, have become the object of Marin's coveting.

Although they are both Slavs, Ukrainians and Muscovites are different. Maozi had formed a strong and unified country by this time, with a strong sense of national identity. Moreover, Maozi is also accustomed to using her own language and writing.

And what about the Ukrainians, because there is no country of their own. Although they have their own language, they are mainly written in Ruthenian of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (roughly the language of Belarus and Lithuania). In normal times, Ukrainians must use Ruthenian, even German, Latin and Polish to communicate with the outside world. Even the legal texts of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania were written in Ruthenian, Latin and German.

And this gave Marin the opportunity to absorb and integrate the Ukrainians - the nobility and the upper echelons of the Ukrainians, all of whom knew German.

The reason for this is mainly due to the conversion of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania to Catholicism, and the German missionaries played an important role. In addition, the number one rival of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the Teutonic Knights, is a German-speaking country. For religious and diplomatic reasons, the Lithuanian aristocracy generally studied Latin and German.

In this way, when Simon became the Count of Ukraine, it would not be a problem to promote the German language in the local area. When the time comes, Marin plans to pay for the construction of a number of church schools in Ukraine to teach German to Ukrainian children, and eventually Germanize Ukrainians.

What are the benefits of the Germanization of Ukraine? Of course, it's convenient for immigration! These people all spoke German, and it was easier for Marin to recruit them. Even, German-speaking Ukrainians can be recruited into the army of the North Sea State.

Once the Ukrainians are accustomed to speaking German, they will be completely Germanized and integrated into the Germans, just like the historical East Prussians.

It should be noted that the Prussians were not Germans, but authentic Slavs. However, with the invasion of Prussia by the Teutonic Knights from Germany and the Germanization of the Teutonic state, the Prussians, who were originally Slavs, were integrated into the German Empire and became Germans.

Apparently, Marin intends to use the same routine to promote German language education in Ukraine. Even, at the expense of tuition-free church schools, to Germanize Ukrainians. In this way, after a few generations, these Ukrainians will be integrated into the North Sea State, like the Prussians, and will be silently integrated by the Germans......

And the North Sea country, at least a million more people, can alleviate the problem of labor shortage when Marin developed the Americas......