Yegor was quickly led away by Leo, the Prince entrusting the execution of the task to this Moscow bureaucrat.
After Yegor left, the audience continued, Gvaran's voice announcing the continuation of the audience.
However, the subsequent matters were generally somewhat boring, mostly routine governmental issues.
For instance, requests for materials and manpower from Moscow, and various ideas proposed to the Prince to seek funding.
To these requests, Rostislav, as always, provided reasonable support, as they had traveled so far to Moscow precisely to obtain resources, and it would be very bad if nothing was given.
So, he had to give at least a little; he didn't want to get a reputation for stinginess like his uncle.
Some people did notice this and came to Rostislav to beg for alms, employing various tricks and deceptions, and Rostislav tolerated it three times, but on the fourth time, he directly had the person hanged.
The Moscow Prince could give some resources to these beggars, but if they treated the Moscow ruler as a fool, then Rostislav would show that his sword was sharp.
And it was precisely by relying on this decisive killing that Rostislav deterred many greedy individuals, preventing his court from being filled with such begging mendicants.
No one came here to complain; Rostislav's circuit court had been established for so many years, everyone knew who to seek arbitration from in case of disputes, and even those who didn't know to go to the court would be guided there.
Over the years, the circuit court has more or less established its prestige in Northeast Rus, with judges and accompanying personnel patrolling the countryside every month, handling legal matters that required their attention.
The authority of the Moscow regime was reflected in such small matters, and Rostislav had always been very satisfied with this.
Compared to dismissing the beggars, the conversation with the Veche representatives took a considerable amount of time, and talking with these people made Rostislav's head ache; their demands always felt troublesome to him.
The Guild's main request was that the Veche wanted to strengthen its control over the Guild District, and thus hoped to obtain some privileges, privileges that would allow their status to override all civilian organizations in Moscow.
As the grassroots unit of Moscow, the Veche was very dissatisfied with the Guild District, this state within a state; the existence of the Guild District greatly undermined the Veche's power, making the Veche feel that their control over the grassroots was greatly threatened.
Although the Veche was, by nature, merely a self-governing organization of the Moscow populace, with its operation and the clarification of the appointment and powers of grassroots sheriffs, tax collectors, and militias, the Veche, as a grassroots organization, had developed its own will and interests, and it naturally acted to protect these.
Moreover, those Guilds were initially under the management of the Veche, even the Guild Masters were elected by the Guild organizations; now that these Guild Districts have become independent of the Veche's power, they naturally feel extremely uncomfortable.
They felt even worse after the Guilds made the city more prosperous; originally, all of this should have been their credit, but the Prince used privileges to separate the Guild District from the Veche's management, and now it is difficult for the Veche even to enter this area.
In response, Rostislav chose to continue to play both sides, telling the Veche representatives to talk to the bigwigs of the Guild District, and to come back to him only after they had settled things, otherwise, nothing would be discussed.
On the surface, Rostislav granted so many privileges to the Guilds to promote production in the Guild District—yes, that was indeed a reason, but he did not do it just for that.
More importantly, by separating the Guilds, if the Veche still had the support of the powerful group of Guild craftsmen, then the Prince's authority would truly be in danger.
Rostislav did not want the Moscow Veche to become as powerful as the Novgorod Veche, so he chose artificial separation, and the effect was very effective.
The Guild District regarded this power as a treasure, and therefore, its loyalty to the Prince undoubtedly rose to a new level, while the Veche also had a powerful enemy established, enough to keep it busy for a long time.
This answer made the Veche representatives' expressions as ugly as if they had eaten a fly, because what was said was as good as unsaid.
If the Guild District were willing to give up its privileges and return to Veche rule, the problem would have been solved long ago, and they wouldn't have kept bothering the Prince.
After the Veche representatives stated that they could not persuade the Guilds, Rostislav directly ordered them to withdraw; what was the point of coming to him if they couldn't persuade them, anyway, don't come to me with your problems—this was Rostislav's best excuse to shirk the matter.
The audience continued, and among the many petitioners, only one person caught Rostislav's attention and received his funding.
This person was named Prolev, a half-Norse, half-Slavic individual.
He had sailed the Baltic Sea for many years, but without his own ship, and he hoped the Prince would fund a huge sum sufficient for a long voyage, allowing him to recruit men and commission ships.
In fact, Prolev himself had saved a good amount of gold and silver during his seafaring career, but unfortunately, it was still too far from obtaining the resources he desired, so he went around petitioning Princes, hoping to find someone willing to fund him.
And he had now traveled all the way to Northeast Rus, showing how many rejections he had faced, as the place he spoke of was truly too ethereal, many people had not even heard of this land, a land known among the Norsemen as Vinland.
And Prolev hoped to travel to that land, hoping to explore its scenery and its vastness.
This mixed-blood individual grew up surrounded by various splendid legends of distant lands; his goal had always been to set foot on distant lands, to explore the unknown, and to satisfy his abundant curiosity.
So he chose Vinland as his long-voyage destination, a land that could only be reached by crossing the vast Western Sea; the scenery there would surely amaze him and satisfy his restless desire for exploration.
Regarding this, as someone from a later era, Rostislav naturally knew what kind of land Vinland was; it was the future America.
Vinland, which is America, had actually been discovered by the Norsemen long ago in this era; they had even attempted to colonize this land, but were quickly driven out by the indigenous people, and since then, this land had been forgotten.
Prolev's request greatly interested the Moscow Prince, because he had a perspective from a later era, so Rostislav didn't mind funding this person who seemed somewhat absurd to everyone else in the hall.
Although colonizing America lacked the technological conditions and the necessity, Rostislav still wanted to leave his name in the history of the discovery of America.
So he funded this person, giving him an extremely exaggerated sum of gold and silver, enough for him to commission a powerful ship, one that spared no expense in materials, and experienced sailors, allowing him to build the strongest long-voyage ship of this era.
Prolev himself was very surprised; he instinctively thought this ruler would still refuse him, but he didn't expect to receive funding, which made him almost jump with joy.
And everyone else in the audience hall was astonished; Rostislav's actions were truly a change of heart; according to custom, shouldn't he have just given a few silver coins and sent him away?
And it was also because of Rostislav's change of heart this time that no one raised an objection to this request; the Prince rarely indulged his whims, so everyone had to show some respect.
Facing the peculiar gazes of the crowd, Rostislav was unconcerned.
These people did not know the significance of exploring Vinland, but he did; he knew that doing so could further enhance his historical reputation.
And after providing such a huge sum, Rostislav also sent a few of his personal guards to accompany this ambitious sailor, ensuring that he used all the money on building ships and recruiting sailors.
Thus, Prolev thanked him profusely and left the audience hall, and at this moment, Rostislav did not realize that he would not see this person again for eleven years.
What the Moscow Prince did not know was that Prolev's penetration into the American continent would far exceed Rostislav's imagination, and everything this adventurer recorded and witnessed firsthand in America would become powerful material for his creations.