The Rise of the European Emperor

This question is answered in another livestock trade between Marin and the Crimeans...

The Crimeans delivered 10,000 cows and 5,000 Eastern European Mongolian horses as promised, and Marin happily paid. Moreover, because of insufficient cash, Marin used a large amount of rye Erguotou to offset the account, and the other party readily accepted it.

The Tatars in Crimea are very interesting. It stands to reason that they are followers of Allah and are not allowed to drink alcohol. On the bright side, the Crimean Khanate is indeed prohibitive.

However, in private, the Tatars in Crimea are as good at wine as Maozi. Also, he likes to drink spirits. From the Khan to the ordinary Tatar herdsmen, most people like to drink strong wine. Of course, they all drink in private. In formal occasions, no alcohol is allowed.

Although it is not drinking on the surface, the consumption of spirits by the Crimean Tatars is definitely not less than that of Maozi under the same population size. After all, they were nomads of Mongolian descent.

When the Crimeans drank the Erguotou made by Marin, they immediately fell in love with this wonderful spirit. You know, Erguotou only appeared in the middle of the Qing Dynasty. But as soon as it appeared, it immediately swept the Qing Dynasty, especially in the northern regions.

In fact, before the Qing Dynasty in China, it was not popular to drink spirits, but low-alcohol wines such as yellow rice wine and rice wine were popular. After the Qing Dynasty entered the customs, because the Manchu and Mongolian unions ruled China, they were all outsiders. People outside the customs had a long history of drinking knives and spirits, and after entering the customs, the Manchu and Mongolian nobles were the ruling class. Then, under the leadership of these rulers, the whole society began to advocate drinking high-grade liquor. Therefore, as soon as Erguotou appeared, it was immediately sought after, and soon became popular throughout the Qing Dynasty... Until modern times, the favorite drinks of literati such as rice wine and rice wine were marginalized, and it became popular to drink high alcohol in the north and south of the country...

This is a digression, but it is undeniable that the grassland nomads, especially the northern grassland nomads, are very fond of drinking spirits.

Therefore, when Marin's rye Erguotou was spread to the Crimean Khanate, it was immediately sought after. Then, in the livestock trade with the Crimean Khanate, rye Erguotou automatically accounted for half of the trade...

Today, every time the Tatar cavalrymen in Crimea go to the Grand Duchy of Moscow to grab food, money, or women, they will fill a bowl of Erguotou before they go out on horseback. Moreover, when many people set out on expeditions, they also carried skins full of Erguotou...

...

Of course, this is not the point, the point is - after this livestock trade ended, General Jamahan, the leader of the escort team of the Crimean Khanate, made a suggestion:

"Grand Duke Marin, may I ask, do you want slaves to herd in your country?"

"Grazing slaves?" Marin wondered.

"Yeah, you bought so many cattle and horses, but you can't usually graze by yourself, right? So, we can provide you with some slaves who are proficient in cattle and horse herding..."

Marin understood in an instant, the other party was still the same old-fashioned person—he wanted to sell slaves...

"A Russ?" Marin asked. The Russians are naturally the later Russians, that is, Maozi.

Jamahan nodded, shook his head again, and said:

"It's Rus, but not the mainstream Muscovite Rus, but Kievan Rus. In addition, there are many tribes of fugitive slaves from Poland and Lithuania. They mainly operate in the southern steppe of Lithuania and are not under the jurisdiction of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. , We also go to visit them sometimes. However, they are also poor nomadic tribes with little oil and water. Moreover, they also have Cossack cavalry, which are more difficult to deal with. Therefore, we go there less."

"Kievan Rus? Isn't it Ukrainian?" Marin understood instantly.

Cossacks are generally divided into two groups by bloodline - one is Ukrainian Cossacks dominated by Zaporozhye Cossacks and Dnieper Cossacks; the other is Russian Cossacks dominated by Don Cossacks. There are also some Cossacks of the Caucasus group, which also belong to the Russian Cossack group.

Later generations of Cossacks were obviously dominated by Russian Cossacks. The Russian Cossack, also the sharpest sword in the hands of the Tsar, opened up territory for Tsarist Russia.

However, in the early days, in fact, the Russian Cossacks were not enough. Now, the strongest are actually the two ethnic groups of the Ukrainian Cossacks - the Zaporozhye Cossacks and the Dnieper Cossacks.

The ethnic majority of these two groups is Ukrainian, plus some runaway slaves from Poland and Lithuania.

It is now the 16th century, and the Ukrainian Cossacks already have a decent power. At least those Cossack villages had their own cavalry.

Protected by cavalry, plus the Cossacks are now mainly poor nomadic tribes. Therefore, the Crimean Khanate is generally not very willing to provoke such a difficult and insignificant object.

The reason why Jamahan was selling Cossacks to Marin this time was because he was escorting 10,000 cows and 5,000 horses on the way to the North Sea Kingdom of Eastern Europe, Mongolia, Malay, and happened to encounter a small Cossack tribe on the way. With the accompanying Crimean cavalry, they sacked this little Cossack tribe of only a hundred people.

Then, when he arrived in Beihai Kingdom, he wanted to sell these Cossack prisoners of war for a little more Erguotou wine...

...

Malin Zhengchou's own pirated German Cossacks have no fighting power. He heard that the other party actually has authentic Cossacks for sale, so he naturally became interested. So he asked:

"You caught these Cossacks, the Lithuanians are not angry?"

You must know that the cattle and horses of the Crimean Khanate have to pass through Lithuania. It is actually very taboo for the escort team to plunder the population in Lithuania.

Unexpectedly, Jama Khan shook his head and said:

"It's okay, the Lithuanians won't pursue it!"

"What? You robbed them, and they didn't hold them accountable?" Marin felt very strange. If someone dared to steal their own population, they would have sent troops to teach them a lesson.

"Prince Marin, you don't know about these Cossacks. What's the matter with the Cossacks?

"For these traitors who do not obey the management of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, it would be good if the Grand Duchy of Lithuania did not send troops to conquer them, and hope to uphold justice for them? If it wasn't for their clan being too poor and a little fierce, we Crimeans would have been long ago. Kill them!"

Marin hesitated and said:

"Since you said they were fierce and disobedient to management, what if I bought them and they disobeyed me?"

Jamahan laughed and said:

"It may be a problem for others, but it is a small problem for you, Duke Marin..."

"I would like to hear you!"

Jamahan took a sip of Erguotou and continued:

"Grand Duke Marin, did you know? The whisky (Erguotou rye) produced in your country is very popular on the steppe. Not only do we Crimeans like it, but those Cossacks also like it very much. After our whisky was exchanged back , Cossack merchants often come to exchange animals with us. Even some Cossack thieves will come to us to steal whisky and drink... So, those Cossacks, after you buy them, just give them a strong whiskey every day Fine wine, if you use the whip to drive them away, they won't leave..."

"Can you do this?" Marin was taken aback.

"Try it if you don't believe me? Among the more than 100 Cossacks I brought, there are more than 30 strong Cossacks. Just give them a small bottle of whisky every day, and make sure they are well fed and clothed, and I promise they will give up on you..."

...

After a fierce ideological struggle, Marin slammed the table and said:

"Okay, I'll try it once. If the results are really similar to what you said, I'll buy more Cossacks in the future! The price is easy to say, but I want a complete Cossack family, and don't kill their old and weak women and children!"

Marin suddenly thought - since the pirated German Cossacks are not good, why not buy some authentic Cossacks to mix with those German Cossacks, and then the old driver will bring the newbies? If it does, Marin will get a large number of wolf-like Cossack hussars...

"Are you serious?" Jamahan was also startled. This time he sold the Cossacks he captured along the way, just to exchange for more rye Erguotou, and he never thought of making it a long-term business. However, it is a fool to have money without making money...

"Of course!" Marin nodded solemnly. Then added:

"If you can win over those Cossacks with spirits, as you said, I'm willing to pay a high price to buy more Cossacks, but I ask the whole family to buy them. As for the price, it's all you need!"

Jamahan thought for a while and said:

"The looting of the Cossack tribes may cost a bit, but if you bid high enough, I think there are people who are willing to help you loot the Cossacks. You know, there are hundreds of thousands of Kievan Rus in the Zaporozhye region and the Dnieper region. What about the Cossacks. If you want, we can work together for a long time..."

Marin nodded and said:

"If according to what you said, we can use spirits to win over the Cossacks you brought, we will cooperate for a long time in the future. Money is not a problem, nor is spirits a problem!"

"Okay, I will wait for the good news from you, Grand Duke! Once it is successful, we will cooperate for a long time in the future!" After that, Jamahan went to work on the handover of the more than 100 Cossacks. After the handover, Jamahan returned home with the team.

It's just that Marin and Jamahan didn't know that because of today's transaction, a Cossack hussar team of Ukrainian Cossacks and German Cossacks appeared under Marin's command. European countries are terrified...

Of course, later this Cossack got its own name - Jutland Cossack. This is named after their residential area. In the future, this Jutland Cossack also provided Marin with a stable source of hussars and became one of the most important combat forces in the North Sea Kingdom...

In order to circumvent the Holy See's "no slave trade" regulations, Marin bought those Ukrainian Cossacks from the Crimeans in the name of "recruitment". The price paid is mainly a barrel of whisky (rye Erguotou)...