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Prologue: Lucky Break at Lubeck



1547. Lubeck. Several hundreds of craftsmen lay hidden inside a ship bound as Hans Schlitte looked around the port for any guards who were looking for these same craftsmen he recruited. His goal: to send his recruits to his master, Ivan IV's Tsardom of Russia. Earlier on, the Poles and Livonians requested the authorities in Lubeck to arrest any craftsmen who might go to Russia in order to complete the construction of Ivangorod, a useless port unuseable as of this moment. After negotiating with the German merchant companies interested in Schlitte's secret project about their potential business in Ivangorod once it's completed, Hans Schlitte ordered a reliable sailor to set sail from Lubeck. So far, the port authorities were busy drinking at a local Lubeck bar to notice the ship leaving. Schlitte constantly prayed to God for the safe passage of these craftsmen who would complete the construction of Ivangorod, despite the fact that the name of the port was named in honor of Ivan III, not the current Ivan.​

As luck would have it, the ship arrived in the derelict port as Schlitte's German craftsmen looked aghast at its sorry state. They now comprehended the full meaning of why Ivan IV wanted this port to be built. Russia was desperate to enter the sea trade around the Baltic without having to rely on its adversary, the Livonian Order, to ship its goods and to import foreign goods from other countries. At Ivangorod, the heavily bearded Ivan IV spotted the craftsmen and greeted them with the Russian tradition of presenting the bread and salt, as the women of Ivangorod had demonstrated. One craftsman named Heinrich was pleased with the hospitality as Schlitte showed the others where they will stay. For a while, or rather, for an undetermined amount of time, the craftsmen will work on completing the port. As Ivan IV explained, time is of the essence. Not only is Poland and Livonia eager to keep Russia from reaching the Baltic, but the growing power of Sweden is something he worried.​

Ivangorod's construction took three years to complete. Ivan IV also ordered some of his people to learn what they can from these foreign craftsmen his trusted agent Schlitte recruited, in case they were needed to build a new port elsewhere should Russia reach another coastline, either in the south, the north, or in the east. By the time Ivangorod was completed, the Germant merchant companies began to move into Ivangorod with the promise of prosperity upon their minds. Not only the Germans were surprised by Ivangorod's position as a promising port, but an English company who sought after a Northeast Passage to China had set sail towards the Russian tsardom as well. By 1553, the Muscovy Company set up by the English had established its foothold in Russia. With the completion of Arkhangelsk as a second Russian port on the White Sea, Muscovy Company soon began to compete with the German merchant companies over the profits that were to be made in the two ports. However, the dominance of Ivangorod soon alerted the Polish and Livonian leaders, who feared that a growing Russian domination of the Baltic trade would hamper their efforts to expand. Religious discord was also considered, as both the Poles and Livonians were staunchly Catholic while the Russians were Orthodox.​

With the prosperity of Ivangorod, Ivan IV now focused on using the profits made by the foreign merchants on building an empire. In 1552, he set out to conquer a remnant of Russia's oldest foes, the Kazan Khanate. With the Tatar representative pleading for Ivan to surrender to the Tatars in Kazan, Ivan simply refused and had the representatives killed. He also ordered numerous streltsy soldiers, along with an unknown amount of cannons and sappers to march towards the walled city of Kazan. Russian cannons soon obliterated its Tatar artillery counterparts as sappers led by an Englishman in Muscovite service began to tunnel underneath the walls. As in OTL, the siege lasted for a month and a week as casualties ran high for both sides. Some Englishmen began to enter Muscovite court service, with Richard Chancellor in charge of England's foreign relations with Russia. Ivan asked Chancellor to make some notes on how his boyars behaved, something that was out of character, even for a Russian tsar, to ask a foreigner to watch over his own nobles. He had a good reason to do so, having suspected the all powerful Shuiskys of murdering his parents. Chancellor advised Ivan not to do anything that would make him a villain, even in the eyes of his potential allies and adversaries alike. While Ivan the Terrible was not one to take advices and to listen to criticisms, the fact that the Muscovy Company is making a fortune in Russia had prodded him to be grateful to these English guests. With the ascension of Elizabeth I as Queen of England in 1558, the same year negotiations between Russia and Livonia was nearing its breaking point and nearly led to a war, Ivan IV now realized that through the Muscovy Company's operations in Russia, he could even propose an insane but bold move to ask Elizabeth I for her hand in marriage. Elizabeth I on the other hand, was pressured by the English nobility to marry and to produce an heir to succeed her. However, none of the suitors were good enough for the Virgin Queen. Chancellor's advice of not alienating the boyars seemed to have paid off until a member of the Glinsky family revealed to Ivan about the Shuiskys' role in his parents' death. Now fully armed with the information obtained from the Glinsky boyar, Ivan soon began to move against the Shuisky family. His methods of disposing each member of the Shuisky family were usually gruesome, with torture as the preferable tool.​

The capture of Astrakhan back in 1556 had enabled Ivan to fatally cripple and destroy the site of the slave market that constantly plagued his tsardom for a while, as Russian peasants usually captured in Tatar raids often go to Astrakhan before being shipped to the Ottoman Empire or in Persia. Now that the Russians have controlled its territories that stretched from the Baltic to the Caspian Seas, Ivan was comfortable with what he has right now. However, with the capture of Astrakhan came the hunger and desire to conquer more territories. Moreover, Chancellor died in the same year Astrakhan fell. Ivan now had to contend with the ascension of Anthony Jenkinson. Luckily, it was the tsar himself who would later tell Jenkinson his plans to propose a marriage prospect between Elizabeth I and Ivan himself. He wrote letters to Elizabeth I and had Jenkinson send those letters to England. Although Elizabeth I was curious as to why a foreign king, let alone a monarch with an entirely different Christian religion would propose to her. Another letter from Ivan arrived in Elizabeth's court, although he toned down his marriage proposal and asked for a formal alliance. While he wrote again that Elizabeth could provide sanctuary to him in the event that he's overthrown, he also offered her safe passage in Russia in case Elizabeth was overthrown by pro-Catholic factions or in case a Catholic power would invade England. This time, Elizabeth now began to have a heated debate on a potential economic and military alliance with the Russians. (although this alliance would be fragile at the most, due to the awfully long distance between the two countries)​

Between 1562 and 1579, the Muscovy Company soon became the dominant merchant company with the most profits made in Ivangorod. German merchant companies who made profits in Russia soon began to run into problems, mainly with the loss of profits. Ivan still faced the problem of Livonia menacing his territory, but with Chancellor's advice still stuck in his mind, he decided to wait until the Russian tsardom was large enough and strong enough to mount a challenge. The issue of the poor training the streltsy received continued to plague the tsar, and even a lack of interest in volunteering for the streltsy regiments would prove to be a devastating point in the long run, should Russia enter a war that it could not win. Luckily, the Don Cossacks that entered Muscovite service was able to help Yermak Timofeyevich with the Russian conquest of Siberia. Ivan had a hard time gaining the trust of the Don Cossacks, who often raided at will, without any thought of loyalty to any master who would employ them. Things would eventualy change when Ivan promised the Don Cossacks land for their loyalty. Even after Ivan's death, most of Siberia would eventually fall into the Russian dominion, except for the lands around the Amur River. It would be left to the Rurik Dynasty's potential successor ruling house to carry off where Ivan started.​
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