Novgorod's enemies came not only from the land, but also from the sea. They had frequent clashes with the Norsemen for a long time.

After Sweden, a large Nordic country, converted to Catholicism, it began to launch continuous crusades to the East. They built the fortress of Fort Viaborg across the bay and destroyed the Novgorod settlements around the Neva River in an attempt to cut off their access to the commercial circle of the North Sea.

Faced with the challenge, Novgorod also began to take the initiative after repelling several attacks from the Swedes. At the beginning of the 14th century, the Novgorod army even fought all the way to central Finland, removing Swedish fortresses along the way in retaliation. Around Lake Ladoga and the Neva River, important waterways, as well as the suzerainty of the local Karelians, the two sides fought back and forth for hundreds of years without results.

Although there was an idea of a peaceful settlement and a contract was signed, the conflict of interests could not be bridged.

The King of Sweden once suggested that since everyone was a believer in God, it was better to solve the problem through debate. He claimed that he could send a few philosophers (at that time theology and philosophy were often not separated) to debate with the Novgorod Church. Whoever loses will take refuge in the winner's sect, so that everyone will not have to fight again.

But the Bishop and the mayor of Novgorod rejected this request, pointing out that they were only a local church, and suggested that if the Swedes really wanted to debate the Bible, they should send the philosophers to Constantinople and debate with the Greeks there. If they can win, they are willing to gamble and lose, and it depends on whether the king of Sweden dares to bet.

Of course, this bet did not materialize in the end. After all, the king of Sweden was not a fool, and his philosophers fooled the Rus' and went to debate with the Greeks, didn't he have nothing to do......

As a result, the agreement fell through, and everyone fought back and forth for decades.

Unlike the Novgorodians, who traded mainly between inland rivers, lakes and swamps, the Swedes were serious maritime powers. For several hundred years, they repeatedly landed on the shores of Novgorod, leaving the republic in a rather passive position. Now is the opportunity to try to turn the tide.

With the help of the Purple Horde army, the Novgorodians finally gained a foothold on the Neva. At that time, Guo Di, the patriarch of the Guo clan, provided them with a group of engineers, and used their city-building technology to establish a military port fortress "Guojiabao" at the important estuary. Because the Greek name "Peter" is easier to remember, the locals call this place Petrograd.

The fortress was so strong that the Swedes and Karelian servants failed to take it down several times, so they could only stare dryly and temporarily withdraw from the estuary.

Of course, both sides have more ambitions than that.

If we continue to expand our horizons, we will find that the situation of the Hanseatic League, to which Novgorod belongs, is becoming more and more dangerous.

In those days, because the kingdoms had loose control over their localities, cities often sought autonomy and then formed commercial alliances with each other. But now, all over Europe, royal power is constantly strengthening.

Sweden and Denmark in the north, England in the west, Moscow in the east, and the HRE princes in the south all coveted this huge profit. When the state institutions continued to improve, and the dynasty's control over the local area gradually strengthened, the good days of the free city were coming to an end.

The merchants were also aware of this, and they constantly tried to intervene in the succession and territorial disputes of various countries, trying to dance on a few eggs in order to maintain their independence. But the tide of the times is unstoppable, and in the face of increasingly powerful powers, it is really difficult for traditional commercial free cities to support. All they can do is struggle as hard as they can.

Therefore, Novgorod suggested that everyone should take the Purple Horde as the suzerain, introduce the Roman army, maintain the balance of power, and confront the European kingdoms.

Although the nomadic state gives the impression of starting out in war, many times, for the Great Khan, the skill of doing business and building relationships is actually the most important. The Purple Horde was also heavily commercial, and it was a great power hostile to Poland, Lithuania, and HRE, and it was far enough away that it had no incentive to annex territory. It was also valuable not only for Novgorod, but also for other allied cities.

Of course, if this plan is successful, the Novgorod city-state will definitely greatly increase its position in the alliance and gain more voice. No matter how you look at it, it's all a sure win.

So, on the other hand, in order to persuade the Purple Horde to expand its army, Novgorod decided to increase the tribute in order to increase the persuasiveness.

These tributes were given directly to the Roman government and were actually a major part of the protection money given to the Purple Horde, or a major part of the military costs. In addition to the fur, it also includes the famous Gyrfalcon.

Novgorod, Tver, Moscow and other countries have a large number of falcon breeders, and even developed transnational management organizations, which is a very developed industry. And from Ireland to the Khitan, in the entire Eurasian continent, the upper echelons of various countries are extremely fond of this animal, which is almost a hard currency and very valuable.

In the Ming Dynasty, this bird of prey had a perhaps more familiar name, called "Haidongqing". When Shaharu reconciled with the Ming Dynasty and paid tribute again, he got one as a return gift. From this, it can also be seen how popular it is.

Due to the lack of several resale processes, the efficiency of spending money is much higher than that of recruiting mercenaries. The merchants decided that it was a more profitable trade. They were more enthusiastic about it than the Khanate itself.

The other vassal states would rather pay more money than let the Purple Horde send troops. However, the merchants of Novgorod, after paying the money, came every day to urge the "governor" to send more soldiers as soon as possible, especially to expand the navy, which seemed very unharmonious.

But the water power of the Purple Horde was also limited.

Today, the Black Sea is the inland sea of Rome. After the rise of Timur, with their help, the Purple Horde also managed to enter the eastern shores of the Mediterranean, establishing several strongholds in Asia Minor and Syria.

Navigation was the main means of transporting troops and trade, and it could even be said that the Purple Horde expanded along the sea lanes in these places, which led to the formation of this seemingly scattered, but in fact fairly stable territorial distribution.

In order to maintain the empire, sea power was of course indispensable.

When the Purple Horde was first founded, it didn't know anything about sailors. The founding emperor Boyan Timur himself was a famous landlubber. In order to enter the Balkans, he decided to follow the advice of the Eastern Roman Church and lead the congregation to join the Orthodox Church. Overjoyed, the church decided to imitate the baptism ceremony of Ross and let everyone go down to the river to wash around, and the ceremony was completed.

Who knows, when the Great Khan Boyan Timur took the lead to go down the river, he actually drowned. Minister Guo Gai and others scooped him up with all hands and feet, rescued him for a long time, and finally did not drown. Fearing that the casualties would be too large, the crowd had no choice but to refuse the mass baptism ceremony, and until now, the collective initiation ceremony has not been completed.

This became an ancestral joke in the Purple Horde, and it was still popular to this day. According to Li Xuanying, there are several Greek comedies based on this.

This also led to the fact that the nobles of the Khan's court were unable to expel the Greek forces in the court after the "Antar War". Because to a large extent, the Khan Tingshui still relies on their participation.