After a quick cleanup of the mess, the Bulgar Army set out again.
To avoid delaying the army's advance, a large number of wounded were temporarily placed in a recently abandoned fortress by a Rus' chieftain, who, knowing he had no power to resist the Bulgar Army, simply fled, and the Bulgar Army naturally occupied the place.
Along the way, the Bulgar Army still controlled some suitable strongholds to ensure their rear was clear, but these strongholds existed more because the various cities did not act against the Bulgar Army; if they had, these strongholds would have been eliminated long ago.
These wounded had to endure considerable hardship; they even had to cross the Volga River to reach that fortress, and at the same time, they were escorting nearly a thousand slaves captured along the way.
Rostislav's raid made Akad realize that the real battle was imminent, and all factors that might affect the battle had to be dealt with quickly.
Akad accelerated the march, and anyone who couldn't keep up would be mercilessly left by the roadside; he had to reach the silver mine named Kashin as soon as possible and bring that city under his control.
Moreover, that Rostislav was probably guarding it, and he wanted to make that boy pay the price.
On the subsequent journey, Akad encountered no attacks, so their speed was unaffected, and following the dirt road and killing all the unobservant passersby along the way, the Bulgar Army arrived at the Silver City, Kashin, whose reputation had already spread throughout Eastern Europe.
The Bulgars arrived on a clear morning, and as they had expected, Kashin was in a state of preparation for war, with figures holding spears visible everywhere on the wooden palisade, and the Rurik banner also fluttering among them.
Due to the massive resources poured into it over the past few months, Kashin's city walls had transformed from their original flimsy wooden walls into stronger, taller, and larger wooden walls built on a foundation of bricks and stones.
This also gave the defenders immense confidence; these were among the best walls in all of Northeast Rus', and they could absolutely hold these walls until they died of old age.
Soon after, the burning thick smoke quickly turned the morning sky gray; the thick smoke was a product of Akad's orders; the ruler had ordered the burning of all buildings around the fortress and the hanging of all Rus' people who had not yet managed to escape into the fortress.
These people were mostly impoverished individuals who came to Kashin to mine, not allowed into the town, they could only build shacks outside the city walls, digging pits in the seeping mines with hopes for the future, and now these hopeful people were killed like this, everything was plundered.
The high-quality timber of Northeast Rus' glowed with a fierce and hungry red light in the flames. Hot air rose in plumes, penetrating the cold air, and the hanged bodies appeared hazy in the firelight.
Although such a scene was created upon arrival, the Bulgar Army did not immediately launch an offensive; the slaughter and flames were merely to intimidate the Rus' barbarians.
However, these plunderings also aroused more enthusiasm among the Bulgars; the ragged miners they killed had more or less a few pieces of silver ore in their hands, and although these ores were of poor quality, they were all silver, real silver!
The low morale caused by the defeat by the Rus' was swept away at this moment; everyone was full of hope for everything they would gain from breaking through the city walls, and the generals also encouraged the soldiers, telling them that all the wealth would belong to them after the city walls were breached.
The re-energized Bulgars first set up camp outside the city wall's arrow range, but after setting up camp, they did not immediately begin a siege, because Akad wanted to conquer this town in a way these barbarians had never seen.
The accompanying engineers began their work, assessing the weak points of the city walls; Bulgar did not lack talent in literature and religion, nor in war and slaughter; once the weak points of the city walls were identified, they immediately began to organize manpower for excavation.
Akad believed that Rostislav's main force was inside, and he could not wait for the moment the city walls would collapse!
— — — — — — — —
"So many people, Old Man Yefimi, can we really hold out?"
"What are you talking about? Why can't we hold out? Is this city wall fake?"
"Yes, we can definitely hold out. Look at those Bulgars, they're actually digging there. Don't they know how to besiege a city?"
On the city walls, the Rus' men in iron armor discussed, and as the discussion deepened, their morale became firmer, and they became more contemptuous of the Bulgars, until Old Man Yefimi, as they called him, roared, and they dispersed to do their duties.
Old Yefimi leaned against the city wall, watching the busy Bulgars outside the city, his eyes full of worry.
Inside Kashin, countless Rus' soldiers were busy, but compared to the Rus' elite Akad had imagined, most of these Rus' soldiers wore cloth or even fur, holding crude weapons, and very few wore iron armor.
Contrary to Akad's thoughts, there were indeed Rus' troops in Kashin, but this was not Rostislav's main force, but a combination of local farmers, adventurous warriors, and some impoverished miners.
Although Rostislav had made the decision to abandon Kashin, not everyone was willing to follow his orders, especially since he could not reveal the truth about the Kashin Silver Mine, which made persuasion even more difficult.
The nobles, relatives, and his subordinates were willing to trust him, but the scattered individuals who came to Kashin to mine were not; if you lords want to give up, that's your business.
So they united with the local farmers, elected Old Man Yefimi as their leader, and after the Prince's forces left Kashin, they occupied the place, claiming they would defend it.
Doing so was undoubtedly going against Rurik's authority, and the reason Old Man Yefimi stepped forward was simple: he clearly understood the significance of the Kashin Silver Mine to this region, and for the development of the entire region, he could only go against Rurik's authority.
Initially, Rostislav had intended to persuade these people to leave, but he quickly abandoned this decision; these people were like stones, no matter how he tried to persuade them, they refused to believe.
And Rostislav's inability to reveal the truth about the Kashin Silver Mine, which led to him speaking in riddles, made persuasion even more difficult.
Finally, the Moscow Prince simply gave up this option; it was not bad to have them in Kashin, it could make the play more real and make the Bulgars believe everything more.
As for them stopping the Bulgar Army? That was absolutely impossible; Rostislav knew this better than anyone; how could these farmers, who had never seen the world, defeat that conquering army?
Moreover, it was better if these people died; anyway, they were not under his control; these "local active individuals" might as well be dead.
— — — — — — — —