"Ah ha, so this is a Rus' city? It looks so crude."
Outside Rostov, a merchant with a white turban wrapped around his head spoke, his words full of disappointment regarding Rostov, as he stood among a caravan of camels and horses laden with goods.
The banner flying above this caravan was the fire-breathing dragon of Volga Bulgaria, signifying that this was an embassy from the Bulgar Khan, escorted by a hundred fully armed Bulgar horsemen.
These armored warriors wore lamellar and chainmail, with long tunics underneath, and a few even had face-covering helmets from the steppe.
The one who sighed was a slave merchant. There were many merchants like him in the caravan, as traveling through the dense forests between Rus' and Bulgar with the national escort was the safest way. No tribe dared to provoke such a powerful force representing the Khan's authority.
Abdul's disappointment was evident. For someone accustomed to the stone and brick walls of the south, Rostov's wooden walls and scale were extremely disappointing.
He had expected to see a large city similar to Bulgar City here, but instead, he found a city whose level of civilization was far below that of the Volga Bulgarians.
Abdul couldn't help but doubt if his journey to Rus' was correct. This land, no matter how he looked at it, didn't seem like a place where he could make a fortune. All along the way, he only felt it was too desolate, too barbaric.
However, as long as they could provide slaves, that was enough.
The merchant finally thought so.
This merchant, a follower of Allah, was a Persian whose family had once become the exclusive merchants for the Isfahan warlord through political speculation, thus earning a large amount of capital.
But with the Seljuk army besieging Isfahan, their former patron could no longer protect them. Helpless, Abdul had no choice but to use all his manpower and resources to acquire a batch of goods to sell in the north.
Abdul's journey north this time was partly due to the pressure from war and business rivals, and partly because he wanted to open up new sources of slaves. Since the warlord of Isfahan was attacked, his original supply had been cut off.
For this, he risked crossing the dangerous South Russia steppe, where a series of chaotic battles were ongoing. He spent a lot of money bribing Polovtsian tribes along the route to pass safely, and finally arrived at Bulgar, the pearl of the north. After selling some goods there, he continued his journey.
To curry favor with the Rus' Princes, the slaves he brought this time were Rus' Christians purchased in the south. He had gone to great lengths to find so many Rus' Christian slaves, and he also brought many Persian specialties and even luxury goods from the East.
As they drew closer to Rostov, Abdul suddenly noticed a gleaming armored contingent passing through Rostov's city gate. Its majesty and bearing surpassed those of many Emirs and even Sultans that the Persian merchant had seen.
"Hey, it seems we've arrived just in time."
Abdul recalled the news he had heard in Bulgar about a New Prince in Rostov. This couldn't help but make him feel a surge of excitement. It was great to find the main person in charge right away.
But then, his head instinctively looked up at the fire-breathing dragon banner, and he couldn't help but shrink back, realizing that no matter how urgent he was, he had to wait until the leader of this contingent met that person.
——————
"Allah is the Greatest! Is that the contingent of Rostislav? It seems they are not to be underestimated."
At the core of the Bulgar contingent, Aleff, the Bulgar envoy seated on a camel, spoke as he observed the orderly contingent.
Aleff, besides being an envoy, was also a veteran warrior who had experienced many battles. He immediately recognized the extraordinary quality of the armored warriors in the contingent before him.
"There are at least three hundred elites here… their strength is decent."
The envoy murmured, and a gaily dressed attendant, with a colorful shield hanging from his saddle, stepped forward and leaned his head close to the envoy's ear.
"So, should we?"
"No need. What needs to be done will still be done. Let us test the mettle of this Rus' Prince for the Khan. If he is weak and incompetent, then the Khan's long-awaited expansion is at hand."
"Yes!"
——————
"A fire-breathing dragon… Hey, why are the Bulgarians here? What a coincidence."
When the Bulgarians saw the Rus' contingent, the Rus' contingent naturally also saw them. Rostislav immediately noticed the banner with the fire-breathing dragon.
As a visitor from a later era, Rostislav was well aware of the past and present of the state of Volga Bulgaria.
Volga Bulgaria was one of the branches formed after the dissolution of the Great Bulgar Khanate. After the death of the great Kubrat Khan, his five sons divided the Khanate, and in the subsequent course of history, three of these branches were annihilated, while the remaining two established states in other lands.
One branch came to the Balkans, conquered the local Slavs, and established the once powerful Bulgarian Empire, converting to Christianity. Although this empire has now been destroyed by the Eastern Empire, the remnants of Bulgaria still exist and remain a powerful political force.
The other branch came to the middle reaches of the Volga River, where they conquered tribes, built cities, developed agriculture, and rapidly grew strong relying on the prosperous Volga trade route, becoming an undeniable hegemon in the surrounding areas, and converting under the protection of Allah. That is Volga Bulgaria.
The Bulgarians' cultural development was enough to completely overshadow Rus'. They simultaneously absorbed the fruits of civilization from both Byzantine and Arab cultures.
The absorption of these civilized fruits gave Bulgar a brilliant civilization; they built beautiful mosques, tall minarets, and even higher learning institutions for teaching religious knowledge!
As for culture, medicine, and metallurgy, they were even more developed. The urban scale of Bulgar City was completely comparable to Kiev, and the flourishing Volga trade made its prosperity grow stronger day by day.
It can be said that no country in all of Eastern Europe could compare with Volga Bulgaria in terms of civilization. It was the most brilliant light of civilization in all of Eastern Europe in that era.
However, fortunately, while Bulgar was culturally prosperous, its martial prowess was correspondingly poor. The Bulgarians had not completed national integration; even in their core areas, the influence of tribal customs persisted, and there was much discord among cities, constantly vying for better status, not to mention the ethnic groups outside of Bulgar.
Therefore, when facing Rus', it constantly suffered defeats, but Rus' was also powerless to cross the barbaric lands to conquer Bulgar, because the path was too difficult. "Saint" Vladimir back then only managed to make the Bulgarians bow their heads.
"What a meeting, all happening at once."
After recalling the history of Volga Bulgaria, Rostislav said this, then saw the Rostov Princes greeting them at the city gate before the guide. It seemed he would be busy next.