Yuriy II the Child – Part 2
With Novgorod's armies once again crushed at Beloozero, forced to flee the scene, Yuriy signed a hasty peace and led his men south, seeking levies and men willing to risk their lives on the way, and gathering quite many. He organized a hasty centralization of the state's army, to better defend their land in their time of need. Fortunatelly, all of Moscow's allies might be able to stall the Horde for a while. The treaty of Beloozero signed on the 14th of April 1422 was a mildly favourable one – Novgorod would cede Archangelsk and Volgoda, finance Moscow's war against the Horde and cede their rights on Kostorma. The Knyaz had no choice but to accept, and that left Yuriy with only two wars to fight.
The centralization of state did not go perfectly. As the power was given to the army and taken from the nobility, Yuriy's nephew Andrei (the Fourth, if he were to win the throne) Vasilijevitj rose to arms. By that, of course, I mean his mother rose an army under his banner, since the boy was only five. Dowager queen Yelena of Ryzan, the wife of late Vasiliy Borisevich, had shown to be a somewhat able leader and a true nuissance. Her army was scattered, in Ryazan where they rose, at once, but they gathered in Tula while Yuriy continued to meet the Horde. With the horrible situation at hand, Yuriy signed a white peace with the Kingdom of Hungary, and thus left only one war to fight – a bad one still.
Novgorod's former peasants did not like the situation, and rose to arms in Archangelsk. While Barclay de Tolly was gathering peasant levies to meet them, Moscow managed to get into a war with the Palatinate, proclaiming they will aid Poland against them. Luckily, that war never come anywhere near Moscow's borders. In the meantime, the first of Horde's armies came, laying siege to Nijni-Novgorod. Yuriy led his armies by the border, to the east, and he scorched fields all along the border, until finally reaching Ninji Novgorod and crushing the initial army.
The Grand Duke of Lithuania, Kazimiens I, attacked Andrei's army in the forests, where they were gathering again. He did it for a better reason than to help the Muscovite Grand Prince. Andrei was captured, as was his mother, and they took out his eyes before the Lithuanian Grand Duke took him to one of his dungeons, and he was not heard of for a long time. Yelena was to be dragged to Lithuania also, but one of her advisors, Petar Yuriyevich Kozloff-Tolstoy, led some fifty men into a madly brave operation, and managed to free her and twelve more nobles, from where they led their ragtag six hundred towards Moskva, to gain support from the locals and try to take the city once they had some.
In he meantime, Yuriy II led an army into the Horde's lands, defeating some troops in Tambow. De Tolly, doing his own part, took some two thousand levies and defeated the peasants, taking back Archangelsk. The peasants have beheaded the administrative heads of the region some time ago, and declared it the 'Peasant Principality of Archangelsk'. It didn't last. Yuriy II conquered Tambow, only to learn that Nijni Novgorod was under siege once again. He would not have time to head there, however, for Kuchuk Muhammed I was narrowly defeated when he tried to free Tambow.
The battle to which Yuriy owes the later victories.
Sweden, getting news of the Horde's awesome numbers, decided to withdraw from the war. The nobles saw their chance, and they pressed Yuriy, giving him this offer – if he would grant them the right to a 'veto', they will grant him their personal armies – armies that would be capable of winning this war with relative ease. Yuriy had the wisdom to say 'no' to their demands, knowing that the offer would bring to no good in the long run. He then led his sixteen thousand into Voronezh, where he won another battle and conquered the area not eight days later, in December of 1423. Having a fine chunk of the Horde's land, he signed a peace not much later, in January 1424.
The gold that would be invested in Moscow.
Yelena was still laying siege to Moscow by the time Yuriy was returning home, and he spent no time thinking if to attack her armies or not. He came in and easily defeated her armies that have swelled to four thousand so far. He had only left one in three prisoners to leave, and he captured Yelena alive. After her hands and feet were cut off, she was dragged into the dungeons, never to be seen again. People occasionally claimed to be hearing woman's screaming coming from the underground, but that might just be folks' tales.
Once again spreading his standing army, now an army of veterans, over the land, Yuriy disbanded a surplus of three thousand, commanding them to return to their land and work it, to help the scarred country recover. He wisely invested the gold he got in the war into making temples in the western part of his country, and thus keep the people happy. He also supported some Finnish patriot cells in Novgorodian lands and Lithuanian rebels. Wisely, he joined Sweden's war against Denmark and Norway, but once again did not participate in the very least.
Somewhere in that time, Yuriy Barachev died from a tooth disease, and Terentiy's nephew, Aleksandr Sjtjenjatvev was hired. He was not nearly as great a man as his uncle, but he served his country well. Persuaded by the Sjtjenjatvevs, Yuriy kept a careful eye and an open purse in his relationship with Poland, and he had renewed a royal marriage with their new king. Sweden was still an ally, but their relationship grew colder some, especially after Sweden was forced to admit defeat and cede their ancestral right to Scania to the Danish, as Moscow sent no aid, and soon thereafter signed a white peace with Norway, still participating in that war.
Both the allies, as well as Tver, came to aid when the Horde attacked again. It happened on 21th day of November, 1430.
This screenshot will happen again, believe me. The Horde loves pain.
Even with their allies on the side, the Grand Princedom was in dire straits. Their entire border was under siege, from Tula to Kosorma. Novgorod saw their chance and supported smaller rebellions over the country, but all were stopped before they rose to the status of an armed revolt. De Tolly scored some small victories against the invaders, but the situation was not looking much better for Yuriy the Child and his country. Yuriy thus led his men into the Horde's lands and scored some minor victories, before dire news forced him to return home – Moskva was under siege by the Horde! It was in August 1431 that the siege had begun, and on that day, it looked like Moscow was about to crumble.
It did not, however. Tula fell in October 1431, but was freed only nine days later. Vladimir was next, in January, but once again the occupation lasted only for eight days. Kostorma and Tula did fall into the heathen hands again, but Moskva's brave men held the line. The situation was further spiced by a heretic rebellion in Archangelsk, a group of madmen who claimed the reason for this war was that Yuriy did not build a church in their part of Moscow, too. Then, even more horrible news came. Poland lost, withdrawing from the war.
So cut off from their Black Sea ports, Poland would become even easier prey in the wars yet to come. More bad news followed in October. Prokopiy Kamerski died. Then, on the 30th, Yuriy's strong 18 thousand troops in Ryazan were defeated by a 35 thousand coming from Poland. Barclay de Tolly led a charge into the fortress of Tula, to free the region. His men won the castle, but de Tolly perished. He did, however, die like a hero. His men claim they had the castle commander closed in a set of sealed rooms in the castle. They had supplies, however, and could last in there for weeks, the few dozen of them. De Tolly chose to lead a siege inside, and it supposedly took nine arrows before he toppled over, whispering 'God and the Prince!' over and over before life finally left his body. It was on the 19th of December 1432 that this happened, marking an end to a hero. His body is kept in the St. Peter Cathedral in Moskva, even today.
A great hero, but an old man. He died in batle, like he wanted.
In January, Ninji Novgorod fell to the heathen and Vladimir was attacked by the same men. A number of small victories were won, and Tula freed and repeatedly defended against enemy attacks, but victory was still not in sight. On April 11th 1433 Yuriy the Child, now not so child-like anymore but still young, led his army into Vladimir. During the charge, an arrow hit his horse, and he toppled over, falling on the ground. His own heavy cavalary and chosen knights have ridden over him, breaking his spine and skull. He died a few minutes later.
Dmitriy IV comes to the throne.