Inside a tent in the Moscow Army camp, Rostislav woke from his sleep.
These past few days, he had been sleeping incredibly well, feeling full of energy every day, unlike during the campaign when he would stay up for days on end, anxious about the army's movements and potential ambushes, thinking day and night.
Defeating Akad's main force allowed the Prince to relax; after all, there was no longer any force on Bulgar land that could threaten the Winter Army, and victory was only a matter of time.
Furthermore, he received good news every day, with Adam's control expanding continuously.
The usurper Akad had yet to make any reaction or give any orders; the Bulgar people who had once united around him were now disloyal, and Adam's letter even mentioned that many places were wondering if he was dead.
Speaking of death, news of Akad's death was indeed circulating in this land; people from one village claimed they had burned Akad to death, and if it hadn't been for a group of cavalry who suddenly appeared, they would have definitely gotten Akad's body, but no one took it seriously, as such fantastic stories were everywhere.
The Prince had met many old acquaintances during this period, mainly the islam merchants who had previously had economic dealings with Moscow.
For example, Abdul, this Persian, had always supplied Moscow with various distant goods, as well as the talents needed by the Moscow Prince.
Compared to when the Prince first met him, the Persian merchant's belly had grown larger, and he was always surrounded by many servants, showing that his life had become prosperous, and trade with the Rus' people had invigorated his family.
This time, he brought a large amount of grain to Rostislav, which made Rostislav suspect that he had been waiting outside the battlefield for the results to come out, but he said nothing about it, as it was completely understandable.
In his conversation with Abdul, Rostislav learned that Abdul's family seemed to have successfully connected with the Seljuk, and from then on, he himself would no longer need to travel north, with his family's subordinates taking over the responsibility.
Rostislav felt a little sad about this, but only a little; Abdul was the first Persian he had known, and the Prince had a deep impression of him.
This world always had constant partings, and after congratulating him on his successful business, the Prince did not say much more.
The arrival of these islam merchants was mainly to discuss business issues; they feared that trade would be affected after Bulgar changed hands, as the Rus' people had wanted to gain an advantage on the Volga River for a long time.
Initially, the Rus' people were destroyers of Volga River trade; in those years, they sailed south along the Volga River, constantly plundering villages and towns along the way, all the way south into the Caspian Sea for plunder.
The Bulgar and the once-existent Khazar Khaganate had both tried to prevent the invasion of Rus' bandits to maintain the trade order of the Volga River, and in the 10th century, they even annihilated a large Rus' raiding fleet.
Later, when the Rus' people learned the rules and plundered less, they were excluded from the trade system due to their past misdeeds.
Everyone knew that the Rus' people wanted to pass through Bulgar and continue further south, which would inevitably impact the original trade system, and everyone feared that the conquerors would use administrative power to hinder their business, giving the Rus' people an advantage.
However, the Moscow Prince gave them assurances that everything would develop smoothly and the current state of trade would not change.
Rostislav was the one who most hoped for smooth trade, as the profits he gained from it were never small, and the same was true for Rus'.
Of course, Rus' would take some profits, otherwise, their trip would have been in vain; the Rus' people could henceforth go south to the Caspian Sea without hindrance, but these taken profits were all within the acceptable range of all parties, and Rostislav was not someone who would spoil things.
Some local chieftains also came to pay respects to the master of the Winter Army and offered their gifts, which the Moscow Prince enthusiastically accepted; it seemed these people thought the Rus' people were going to occupy this land, but unfortunately, the Moscow Prince had never had such intentions.
The Winter Army had mainly been resting and enjoying themselves these days; after the war ended, merchants and various service providers emerged from who knows where, and now many soldiers were living in debauchery in brothels every day, intoxicating themselves with women and cheap alcohol.
A small number of soldiers embarked on the road back home; they had already obtained some spoils of war, and they felt that bringing these back home was enough; in Rostislav's view, these people were smart, no matter what the prospect of the war was, taking all the current gains and staying away from the war was ultimately a wise thing.
However, most people remained in the army; they craved more spoils of war, more fighting, and some greedy ones hoped to earn even more.
As the Prince woke up, the attendants naturally entered one after another to help the Prince dress; these boys were from noble families in Northeast Rus, serving as princely attendants by Rostislav's side.
Rostislav would keep some children of vassals by his side for service and education to show favor, and at the same time, to strengthen the relationship between these future rulers of Northeast Rus and the princely family.
As for the girls, they were by Zoe's side, serving as the Prince's wife's maids.
When Rostislav walked out of his tent, it was just dawn; the sun was still rising, and many places were still covered in darkness, and because of this, Rostislav saw something that made him frown tightly.
It was black smoke and firelight, which stood out even more prominently at this dawn; for a seasoned general like Rostislav, he knew very well what this scene represented.
"What's going on? I clearly didn't order the burning of the surrounding villages; what is this all about?"
The Moscow Prince's roar echoed; those fires and black smoke made him very angry; wasn't this causing trouble? It completely did not align with his plans.
And Vasily Ivanovich Khrensky, who had knelt by the Prince's side at some unknown point, immediately said.
"Lord Rostislav, this is the requisition unit punishing villages that refuse to hand over grain."
Vasily's words were very calm, as if this was a matter of course in this era; after all, they fought like this in their hometowns, shouldn't burning villages and killing people be a normal part of war?
Now that they had won, they should burn even more; after all, this was a normal part of war, and they were collecting their rightful spoils.
This completely ignited Rostislav's anger, and the expression on his face changed directly; he suddenly recalled the reports of a large number of troops leaving without permission, and now he immediately understood what was going on.
"Why didn't anyone inform me, damn it! Damn it! Get up!"
Rostislav's sudden anger stunned everyone present; they hadn't expected the Prince to suddenly lose his temper; wasn't it just burning villages and killing people? Was such a thing worth the Prince's attention?
"It was midnight at the time… Lord."
Seeing Rostislav's menacing aura, Vasily's tone also softened; he had no idea that the Prince would be like this, so angry about this matter.
If they had previously pretended to be disciplined to win over the Bulgar, now everyone thought it was unnecessary, so why was the Prince still angry?
"Bastards! Bastards! Gvaran!"
Rostislav was furious at the sight of these people; he felt that his father's old subordinates were more reliable, and Moscow called out the Captain of the Guard's name.
At the same time, he blamed himself internally, how could he have become so numb due to victory, completely insensitive to this matter, damn it, damn it.
And the silent Captain of the Guard immediately emerged from the corner where he stood, as always, fully clad in armor.
"Take the Bodyguard Unit, go and arrest all those bastards who are setting fires everywhere; behead the leaders, and if they raped, cut off their genitals, understand?"
"Then what should we do if nobles are involved in the looting, Lord Rostislav?"
Gvaran asked a crucial question: what to do with nobles who committed crimes? And Rostislav's answer was very direct.
"Do what needs to be done; do it without worry, I will support you."
After receiving a clear answer, the Captain of the Guard nodded silently, then set about leading his subordinates to depart.
This was what Rostislav liked most about Gvaran; he never asked why; if there was a task to be executed, he would execute it without any hesitation.
Handling it this way would greatly damage Rostislav's reputation, but as a Prince with military achievements, his prestige was enough to withstand these.
It was just being grumbled about behind his back by the soldiers below; it was not a big deal; they could curse all they wanted, but they wouldn't dare rebel.
In contrast, it was important to let him vent his anger.
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