The Novgorod deputies were masters of negotiations and clearly knew what they could get from the Purple Horde.

The strength of the Purple Horde was not strong enough to occupy Novgorod for a long time. From their hometown on the Black Sea coast to the Far North, it was too far in between. Along the way, a bunch of Rus' states had their own evil intentions, and although they usually paid tribute, if the khanate showed a desire to annex, it would definitely rebel together.

But on the other hand, being able to take root in Novgorod was very important for the Purple Horde. With a little strategic vision, they know the importance of this cooperation. In order to extend its influence into the North Sea and at the same time form a flanking posture against the Rus' states that are plotting rebellion, the Purple Horde will also make concessions in other directions, trying to seize this opportunity.

The pursuit of doing business is to sell at a good price. Since it is a period of high prices, you should turn passive into active and sell decisively in order to achieve the best results.

What's more, it's a troublesome time for Republic Vicher.

Novgorod is not a Muscovite state of continuous farms. Here, the territory was divided into two parts: the mainland known as "Isjaces", and the vassal colonies known as "Frosts". Although theoretically the Rus' were inhabited by various territories, there was still a considerable difference in status between the two.

There were intricate contradictions between the native towns and the colonies, and between the city of Novgorod as a special native region and other native towns, which were more like the Greek city-states of classical times than the Rus' state.

In order to obtain as much cheap raw material as possible, and to gain a greater competitive advantage and profits, the merchants of Novgorod bon often tried to squeeze the inhabitants of other regions, without regard for the friendship of their compatriots.

Of course, the other party is not easy to mess with. It is likely that the local population will collude with the bandits, or they will secretly go to the grass and rob the merchants of the city. In some city-states, people will also collude with foreign powers, bringing in support from Muscovite, Lithuanians, and even Sweden to confront the mother state.

In order to suppress these people, Novgorod has to spend a lot of valuable wealth every year, especially now that the situation has changed drastically, and many people's minds are lively. Some councillors feared that it would not be good if they did not hurry up and make a good price and let their opponents attract the Roman army first.

These people's concerns are not unfounded.

Southwest of Novgorod, near Lithuania, there is a city called Pskov. It also has easy access to the Gulf of Finland via the river and is well connected by road to the important ports of Tallinn and Riga.

As an important transit point between the Hanseatic League and the Rus' region, Pskov soon developed into its own handicraft center and chamber of commerce, and became increasingly dissatisfied with the control of its mother country, Novgorod. Finally, with the support of Lithuania, a few decades ago, Novgorod was forced to recognize its independence from the republic.

Novgorod was reluctant to do this, but unlike other Rus' cities, probably because of its proximity to Europe and the enormous military pressure, Pskov built stone walls as early as the time of independence. For the Ross, this thing is a bit too high-end, and it is really not easy to fight, so I can only admit it first.

After the defeat of Lithuania, the Pskovs, realizing that they were in danger, also immediately moved into contact with the victorious Purple Horde, hoping to ensure their safety and prevent being robbed.

Although Pskov is smaller, theoretically not able to give more than Novgorod, they themselves are not stupid. Realizing this, the Pskovs are likely to relinquish more sovereignty and seek to retain free trade and the autonomy of the chamber of commerce.

In this way, it became a battle between the two sides to make an offer to the Purple Horde to see who would give more. This situation is very unfavorable to the seller of sovereignty.

Novgorod Deviche therefore decided that he had to act quickly, give enough at once, and take advantage of the fact that the Purple Horde did not fully understand the local situation, make a mistake with information, and cook the raw rice to maturity. Otherwise, they will definitely ask for more.

To this end, they have made a special list of contracts and proposed a series of transaction contents. The Khan's knowledge of the north was very limited at the time, and he did not know that there were so many routines in it, and he was overjoyed by this, and quickly agreed to most of the requests.

The Novgorod region was divided from the province of Xingzhongshu in Rus' and other places, and a separate province of Beihai was established, and a Zhongshu Pingzhang was sent to garrison with 2,000 troops.

It was only after arriving at the place that the Purple Horde officials discovered why they were so active.

It turned out that these people had already settled the accounts, and found that the cost of paying tribute to the Khan court was lower than that of their own hired army, so as soon as they came, they directly disbanded many mercenaries and saved a lot of money. When the Khan court made decisions before, his thinking was too simple, the price was too low, and he was calculated by profiteers.

And the tribute paid by the local people was also carefully calculated by them.

Over the years, as the population has increased, the Novgorodians have opened up large areas of new hunting grounds, which has increased the production of the traditional specialty squirrel skin. But businessmen realize that higher production does not mean a simultaneous increase in profits. Representatives of the Chamber of Commerce from Lübeck, the central city of the Hanseatic League, informed them that due to the increased supply on the market, the price of squirrel skins had dropped and that the original purchase price could no longer be used.

In this case, the best way is to open up markets in other directions and reduce the export of hides to the North Sea region in order to maintain prices.

Taking advantage of the opportunity to pay tribute to the Purple Horde, merchants regularly carried large quantities of supplies and swaggered south, directly into the markets of Kiev, Crimea, and even Dadu. The other Rus' countries, at least for now, do not dare to openly make things difficult for them, which is equivalent to a safe and reliable opportunity to enter the Mediterranean market, bypassing the middlemen.

The Purple Horde's diplomatic thinking was heavily influenced by the Central Plains. In the minds of the Great Khan and the princes, it was an important achievement to make the other party call him a tribute. If you accept officials and garrisons, then the achievement has to be upgraded to another level, because it means that the local area has become a more "homegrown" area, and the political significance is quite large, enough for everyone to brag about it for a long time.

Even the traditional Romans had a similar complex. In these traditional imperial systems, this is a very face-saving thing - this kind of face is not a simple name, but means authority, credit, and is an important way to reduce the cost of rule and increase legitimacy.

But a lot of times, other people's ways of thinking aren't necessarily that way. A commercial state like this may not care about these names, nor do they want to build an empire-like organization, but rather value monetary gains. It can only be said that the choices are often different in different countries. This time, at least both sides took what they needed, so they admitted it afterwards.

However, the Purple Horde garrison soon discovered that it was not enough to rely on their own strength. Soon, they even demanded that a sailor be established here.