The Prince's petitioners were usually composed of nobles, merchants, and farmers, sometimes even envoys from other places. They had waited for an hour to meet the Prince, and he was now ready to receive them.
As was customary, Zoe, the Prince's wife, accompanied him. When she saw her husband, who had hastily changed his clothes, walk in, Zoe gave Rostislav a somewhat angry look, upset that he had made the petitioners wait so long.
Rostislav pretended not to notice. He was too lazy to explain to his wife, and many times her temper truly baffled him, leaving him completely at a loss.
At this, Zoe angrily turned her head away, and as she did, her earring fell to the ground, the fragile and expensive ornament shattering into pieces.
At this very moment, the announcer declared the petitioners' entry. The Prince and his wife put these matters aside, sat up straight, and prepared to attend to the upcoming affairs.
The petitioners entered one after another, bringing their problems. Nobles and merchants were basically there for trade agreements or exclusive rights to certain goods.
The Prince's attitude towards this was very firm. Trade agreements could be negotiated, but such privileges as monopolies were absolutely impossible. He was not yet at a point where he needed to sell such privileges for cash.
Following trade-related issues were requests for assistance. Every Rus' town was not wealthy, and many infrastructure projects required support from the capital. Rostislav had to carefully weigh these requests and then allocate resources.
There was only one matter for which Rostislav would approve funding without a second thought: the construction of roads and bridges between the cities of Northeast Rus'.
The Prince regarded completing this task as his top priority. Northeast Rus' was a land divided by forests and a network of rivers, naturally suited for fragmentation. To effectively rule such a vast and expansive territory, building roads and bridges was the only option.
And this was a hugely expensive undertaking, not to mention how difficult it was to carve out roads from that sea of forests.
Fortunately, all the cities were willing to invest resources in this matter. As cities where trade accounted for a significant portion of their income, they all understood that as roads improved, commerce would flow more swiftly, and flowing trade routes brought flowing gold and silver. Therefore, when the Prince announced his intention to take the lead in planning, every town expressed support.
And for the Prince, these roads would draw the cities closer together, make the deployment of the Prince's army more convenient, and further strengthen his authority.
Some merchants would try to sell their luxury goods to the Prince, but the Prince had no interest in them. He simply introduced these individuals to the nobles under his command.
After the nobles and merchants, the next to be received were chieftain, citizens, and farmers.
The chieftain were basically all there to complain about poverty and ask for aid. These individuals were all enfeoffed near Moscow, and their commonality was that they had been granted their titles for military achievements in the war against Bulgar.
For these individuals, the Prince could only routinely give a small amount of Grivna. There was not much he could do to help; only when serious incidents such as a chieftain being killed occurred would the Prince's army be dispatched.
The chieftain were very dissatisfied, but it was better than nothing.
As for the matters brought by citizens and farmers, they were much more complicated. Due to the Prince's recent small attempts at improving urban production organization and agricultural technology, there were many citizens and farmers who came to petition. They came to report various problems and hoped to receive support and assistance.
For these matters, the Prince directly delegated them to his professional bureaucrats, that is, the clerks trained by Leo. These scholars from the Imperial Capital and Kiev had now mastered the relevant professional skills, and naturally handled these matters with ease.
As for requests for the Prince to arbitrate disputes, they could not come in the first place, because the Prince had already established a court to handle civil and criminal disputes on his behalf. This court would tour the countryside every month to make judgments and proclaim the Prince's authority.
After dealing with these internal matters, the next naturally involved external affairs, mainly receiving various envoys.
Initially, the Prince met with his envoy sent to Bulgar to demand a ransom. The envoy brought good news: the Bulgar side was willing to pay the ransom, even if they had no money to redeem their own people, the Khan would pay for it.
And he also brought a surprising piece of news: the Bulgar Khan had been replaced.
Akad Moska Duluk, that defeated general of the Prince, had become the new Bulgar Khan.
After returning to Bulgar, this loser went south and took control of the border garrison. He brought this force to the Bulgar capital, controlled the city, and after a fierce battle, killed his father and the Khan, who had sided with the old Khan.
Now this Khan is called the Kinslayer because the two elders of the Dulu Family he killed were his relatives.
Of course, no one dared to mention these things in his presence.
The new Khan assured everyone that their families could return to them. This calmed the populace, who had fallen into unrest due to the coup and the bloodshed. For the people, the most important thing at the moment was for their family members to return safely from a foreign land.
The Prince was quite surprised by this and also felt a hint of unease. That clumsy general had actually launched a rebellion so decisively, not hesitating to commit kinslaying to seize the Khanate, and was even willing to spend so much money to solidify his position. It seemed this neighbor would be difficult to deal with…
However, fortunately, ransoming so many captives would cost a lot of money. With all that money spent on these matters, Bulgar would have no spare capacity to wage war for several years, and peaceful days could still continue.
Among the news from Bulgar brought by the envoy, there was one thing Rostislav was very concerned about: the disappearance of the former Khan's son, Adam Dulü.
Rumors in the city of Bulgar said that this Prince had escaped from Bulgar with the help of Aleff, a confidant of the Khan…
A hunch told the Prince that this was a good opportunity. He always felt that this opportunity to intervene in Bulgar would fall into his hands…
As the envoy to Bulgar withdrew, the next envoy was a Rus' envoy from Novgorod. He brought news that excited Rostislav.
The Moscow Prince's teacher, Luka Zhidiata, had been consecrated as Moscow Bishop and was on his way to Northeast Rus', expected to arrive in about a week.
Rostislav had been striving for the establishment of the Moscow Bishop for a long time, but because Kiev had to report to Constantinople and obtain approval, a lot of time was spent on the road.
Now that approval from Constantinople had come, Luka would naturally assume his duties.
The Prince was very pleased about his teacher's arrival, and his teacher would surely bring many clergymen. At that time, the shortage of personnel in the Northeast Rus' Church could also be alleviated.
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