Over the years, the palace in Bulgar city had seen many masters, and now, it was ruled by a new monarch.
Adam Dulü, the first Christian Khan of Bulgar, now sat on the throne of Bulgar, and the entire land of Bulgar bowed to this young man—at least on the surface.
As a Christian, Adam's rule was very different from that of his predecessors, the islam Khans, which was quite unaccustomed for many islam followers, but the influence Adam leveraged was simply too powerful, and he himself also had a strong force, so everyone could only choose to surrender.
Among his many policies, the most important was the liberation of slaves, as the emancipation of slaves was a politically correct stance in the Christian world.
Of course, the actual implementation was another matter, but as the first Christian Khan, Adam had to put on a complete show, and this could gain him a group of the most loyal and steadfast supporters.
Similar to Ross, Bulgar's main export used to include slaves, but while the proportion of slave exports from Ross decreased, Bulgar's slave export proportion remained very large, which led to a large concentration of slaves in Bulgar.
Tens of thousands of slaves scattered throughout Bulgar were liberated; they either worked in the homes of nobles or were enslaved on estates, and now they all gained free status, and they also received enough property from the Khan to support themselves.
As for where Adam got so much, facing Adam's Christianization, there were always idiots who ran headfirst into trouble, as well as the purging of the islam Church, and some supporters of Akad were also purged, along with those neutral islam nobles who wisely offered a generous donation to Adam Khan, which allowed Adam to acquire a large amount of wealth and property.
Even after giving huge sums to the Ross people and rewarding his meritorious subordinates, this wealth and property were still substantial, enough for Adam to resettle many more people.
These people were then gathered by Adam in the cities, and they also understood Adam's benevolence and what he needed them to do, so they quickly converted to Christ.
During that time, Bishop Tiberius was so busy with conversions that he almost fainted, and finally, at Rostislav's suggestion, a mass conversion was held by the Kama River, just as Vladimir, the first convert of Ross, had done for his subjects.
However, Adam did not force the populace to be baptized like Vladimir, because Adam knew that his power was not yet strong enough to declare that "non-converts" were all his enemies; acting rashly would only lead to resistance.
Bishop Tiberius had been quite busy during this period; islam was not like those primitive religions without scriptures; it was a faith that required serious confrontation, and besides helping the populace with baptism, the Bishop had been busy debating with various groups.
Many of the Bishop's subordinates were quite satisfied with Bulgar; originally, these exiles had thought Bulgar was a barbaric place, but in fact, this land was much more culturally rich than they had imagined.
The Bulgar Religious Academy had always drawn nourishment from Baghdad Round City and Persian civilization, which gave Bulgar a considerable intellectual class.
Oh, speaking of the Religious Academy, it no longer goes by that name; Adam has completely transformed this academy into a Christian religious academy, and the teachers are all Greeks from the Imperial Capital.
However, the teachers who taught knowledge and technology in the academy were retained; they were simply not allowed to mention any aspects of islam, only permitted to teach the knowledge that was allowed to be taught.
Now, the Greeks who came to Bulgar would often stay in this place; only here could they feel a hint of the civilized atmosphere of the Imperial Capital.
In short, Adam's rule in the cities of Bulgar was quite smooth; the cities had submitted to the new Khan's banner, and as for the countryside, it was surely only a matter of time, so they did not spend much resources or invest too much manpower.
Although the countryside was filled with various resistors, their power was limited, and dealing with them was just a matter of time—but this was the previous view.
After the report came in that the Ross Army's grain collection team had been completely annihilated, the Adam government suddenly realized that their previous view of the countryside was severely outdated; a giant beast had unknowingly risen here.
Adam was quite troubled by this; he was now sitting on his ancestors' throne, looking at the report document about this matter, which Rostislav had brought; the Moscow Prince asked him to look at this first, and then he would discuss with Adam how to resolve the matter.
Adam wore the same style of luxurious robes his father once wore, sitting on the throne like his ancestors; compared to his former self, Adam now possessed much more of a ruler's demeanor, a change brought about by his experiences in war.
Five hundred men were all annihilated, not a single living person escaped, and then they were stripped of their armor and clothes and thrown into a large pit, while the nearby Bulgar officials and lords acted as if they had discovered nothing, showing no reaction to these events.
As for questioning the populace, nothing was found out, or rather, they refused to say a single word, and they could not rashly torture people, as that would only push the populace further to their opposition.
This news came when the Ross people announced they were leaving Bulgar, which was really bad for Adam.
Although he, Adam, had relied on the Ross Army to reclaim his ancestors' throne, he also very much hoped that this army would leave.
Supporting such a large army was truly exhausting; every day, this army consumed countless amounts of Bulgar's grain, and their troops were constantly requisitioning grain in the countryside.
Currently, Adam could afford to support them, but in a few more months, Adam truly would not be able to afford them; Adam was supporting the Ross people by using the few remaining bits of his political power and prestige.
Furthermore, only with the Ross people's departure could he become the true monarch of Bulgar; this had nothing to do with Adam and Rostislav's relationship, it was simply a monarch's nature, and every monarch was like this.
Of course, Adam would not state these things directly; he and Rostislav were both well aware of such matters; how could they bring things up explicitly?
And just as Adam was troubled by this matter, a fully armed Bulgar guard suddenly walked in; he bowed respectfully before the Khan, then announced a message to him.
"Adam Khan, Lord Rostislav now requests to see you."