"Prince Rostislav, my brother is dead."
After Yegor uttered these words, his suppressed emotions burst forth—the grief over his brother's passing. He had been suppressing that emotion, and its sudden release made his voice tremble.
"Dead? What's dead? Boris is dead?"
Rostislav was truly shocked by the news. He had met Boris, Old Ivan's heir, and in his words, he was a man of iron. Moreover, this man knew how to interact with tribes. How could such a man die?
Boris had fully inherited all of Old Ivan's abilities.
Without a doubt, he could certainly inherit Old Ivan's legacy in the future, making their family even stronger and ensuring this enterprise was passed down through generations. Perhaps even the position of Yaroslavl Mayor could belong to them then.
But now Boris was dead, and everything had changed. This would inevitably have a huge impact on this rising family, making The Sherikhov Family's future somewhat unstable.
And after the initial shock and a hint of sadness, Rostislav immediately realized some bad signs and the unpleasant suspicions that came with them.
Boris's expansion was towards the Bulgar side, which made Rostislav somewhat wary. Were those people on the other side causing trouble? Were those warring Bulgar people finally reacting to the Rus' expansion?
Rostislav subconsciously thought of these things. As a ruler, it was like this: sometimes you needed to be extremely rational, even if that rationality made you seem somewhat cold-blooded.
Meanwhile, Yegor was thinking about his emotional journey. The day he received news of his brother's death, he simply couldn't believe that his mountain-like brother had just left.
He was so strong. During those days exploring the forests and streams with his father, he had shouldered the abilities a big brother and leader should possess.
It was for this reason that Yegor decided to leave the family. After all, his elder brother had demonstrated sufficient ability, so he could only seek other paths to prove himself, which is why he came to Moscow.
But reality was reality. No matter how much he refused to accept it all, he ultimately had to compromise.
Furthermore, he then realized that as the eldest child in the family, he should shoulder responsibility. He couldn't let his younger siblings and aging father bear these burdens. He now had to take over his elder brother's responsibilities and endure everything.
So Yegor proactively contacted his family, and the family's subsequent request was for him to express their plight to the Moscow Prince to seek help.
These thoughts flashed through Yegor's mind like a revolving lantern. Then, seeing Rostislav ponder Boris's death, he quickly added fuel to the fire, recounting the specific events.
"It's not just my brother; the backbone of the entire Sherikhov Family has been killed. My family was causing trouble. On that day, Boris took several key managers and core personnel from our colony to the East. There was a tribe there that expressed willingness to convert to Christ, but they never returned."
As he spoke, Yegor's body visibly trembled, clearly indicating how saddened he was by what followed.
He actually didn't want to say it, but he had to now, otherwise, how could he request the Prince's aid?
"The next day, we sent people to that tribe to look for my brother and them. All we found were corpses. Those bodies were dismembered, and even the people in that tribe who were willing to convert died. And then, many tribes we had previously cooperated with turned on us, attacking us, killing our immigrants, burning down trading posts, and even tribal forces came to our fortress."
"Tsk, it seems six years have passed, and those tribes have forgotten some things, these scums."
Gvaran said irritably. Five years ago, in the Bulgar army that invaded Rus', there were quite a few such tribesmen.
At that time, these people were directly captured as slaves, and only a small number managed to return home, bringing the terror of the Rus' with them.
Rostislav had no reaction to this. The area between Rus' and Bulgar was so vast that it was normal to have some tribes that didn't know their place.
Yegor's words made Rostislav close his eyes and rub the bridge of his nose. The Moscow Prince sensed trouble; this matter behind it was certainly not simple.
The Sherikhov Family was the first to expand eastward in Northeast Rus. Now that this family was hit like this, it felt like there was something wrong inside.
But perhaps Rostislav was overthinking it. After all, such internal conflicts were never uncommon, and fighting was even more commonplace.
Was it a warning from the Bulgar side, or was it an internal conflict among the local tribes against Rus' immigrants? Rostislav couldn't help but fall into deep thought.
Seeing the Moscow Prince fall into contemplation, Yegor just waited quietly.
In a way, he was there to beg for help. Now that everything that needed to be expressed to the Prince had been, his attitude had to be respectful, respectfully awaiting the Prince's command.
After a moment of thought, the Prince suddenly realized he had left Yegor hanging for a while. And realizing this, Rostislav immediately asked Yegor:
"Does your family need anything? Supplies, or manpower?"
The Prince's words carried a hint of urgency, because he knew that after losing so much core strength, The Sherikhov Family's situation was already precarious, so he had to extend a helping hand.
The significance of The Sherikhov Family's pioneering efforts was not only for their family but also of extreme importance to the Moscow Prince.
This was his attempt to actually establish power in the East. He had to stabilize this stronghold, and future military expeditions against Bulgar would also start from here. This was his chosen base of operations.
"Soldiers, we need more soldiers. There are too many tribesmen harassing us now. We must hold our fortress; it absolutely cannot fall."
Hearing Rostislav's slightly urgent tone, Yegor breathed a sigh of relief and then stated his family's request, because such a tone appearing meant the matter was basically settled.
"Then mobilize the Moscow Camp, Yegor. You will serve as the commander of the Moscow Camp and lead them there. Additionally, I will dispatch the Chud Camp to advance nearby. The fortress must remain under our control."
Rostislav's stance was very firm, and internally, he somewhat viewed this operation as a show of force.
As for appointing Yegor as the commander of the Moscow Camp, it didn't affect anything. He was already one of the most senior officers in the standing army.
However, Yegor hadn't even had time to be happy about the sudden arrival of power before objections immediately arose.
"Prince Rostislav, I must object. I believe this is very inappropriate. If we rashly move troops into the border, the Bulgar side will know our intentions, and they will also start preparing. Perhaps the Bulgar people will abandon their disputes and unite against us."
It was Leo who spoke, expressing his view in his usual concise and swift words: the provocation that moving troops would cause to the Bulgar side.
"I believe we should not use such a direct method. At least, we shouldn't make the Bulgar people feel that we are launching a major invasion and encroaching on their interests."
Leo continued to express his opinion.
"I think it's more suitable to use mercenaries. I happen to have some connections and can find many suitable mercenaries. In any case, it's not appropriate for the Prince's army to go to the border; this would be too much of a provocation to Bulgar, and it might make various Bulgar forces stop fighting and allow Akad to control the situation."
Leo's words also made Rostislav ponder for a while. Everything Leo said was true and presented existing problems. Moving standing armies indeed carried risks.
"Then use mercenaries, Leo. Go find your connections. As for appointing Yegor as the commander of the Moscow Camp, that order remains unchanged. And the Chud Camp still needs to go, but in a covert manner, without revealing their presence."
"Yes."
Everyone in the hall agreed. Yegor felt quite regretful inside. His family could have been directly stabilized, but that Greeks had to speak up.
This made him look at Leo with some hatred, but Leo completely ignored it. As an old bureaucrat, he had never shied away from offending people.