Trans-Volga Region, this land has now fallen into complete chaos.
The gods' believers' years of planning are now fully unleashed, and those nobles and feudal lords who thought this land had been completely tamed suddenly find themselves in a world of blood and fire, with countless enraged pagan peasants outside the walls, and their numbers are growing, becoming stronger.
pagan cadres from Veles Valley, according to prior plans, incited and organized villages one by one to resist and slaughter their oppressors.
Thus, overnight, countless armed groups suddenly appeared across the Northeast Rus land, and these armed groups turned their swords on the exploiters who had come with Rostislav in recent years.
Caught off guard, many chieftains' strongholds and noble manors were breached; all the men inside were killed, while the women suffered inhumane treatment, and children were directly smashed to death on the ground.
These rulers suddenly discovered that the tamed cattle and horses were now resisting them, raiding their homes, and killing their people; previously, they were the ones doing these things, but now they had become the ones being treated this way.
The peasants' anger against feudalization erupted. Who the hell wants these lords who ride on our heads, holding the power of life and death! These bastards should all die! This place does not belong to them, it belongs to us!
More than half of the chieftains' strongholds whose masters had marched out with Rostislav could not hold out for long under siege, as most of the masters and soldiers in the strongholds had already left, leaving the remaining servants struggling to resist.
Those stationed in Bulgar never expected that while they were still hoping to return home and bring spoils of war to their families, their homes and families would already be gone.
During these battles, the pagans acquired much grain, all of which had been exploited from the peasants, and now it was considered returned to its rightful owners.
This also made the people's hope for resistance grow, as they realized that even warriors in iron armor could be defeated.
Lev's Veles Gang—this was the name given by the peasants, a name that often made Lev feel like they were a bandit gang—obtained a massive amount of spoils in this process, and their manpower continued to swell, quickly reaching a scale of over a thousand, though the number fluctuated daily.
Aside from Lev's core three hundred resolute pagans, all others came for plunder and left for plunder; there were joiners and leavers every day.
Lev did not restrict these people; he knew he couldn't, as it would ruin their reputation, and the current manpower was still usable and completely sufficient, so there was no need to worry too much.
The pagan master greatly enjoyed seeing Christian strongholds being conquered, and it was also because of this sight that Lev's mood had improved significantly during this period; these victories, to some extent, dispelled the gloom of defeat.
However, the Veles Gang's power was not limited to this; in the countryside, an unknown number of forces obeyed Lev's commands, which was the true manifestation of this faction's power.
The peasant war gangs that had been incited also met varied fates; some disbanded after taking a chieftain's stronghold, some followed the cadres who incited them, while others turned into outright bandits, acting on their own whims... They ranged from war gangs obeying Veles Valley to opportunistic bandits.
Among them, some took the opportunity to attack and burn villages, especially those raiding parties returning from Bulgar, who were the worst.
These fellows had violated military orders and carried out extremely cruel plundering in Bulgar, which essentially led to them being abandoned by the Prince, with the attitude that if the Bulgarians wanted to kill them, then so be it.
Therefore, apart from a few who were blinded by wealth and remained in Bulgar to plunder, eventually being annihilated, most returned to Northeast Rus, as they had already plundered enough.
And now, after seeing the chaos in Northeast Rus, they organized themselves once again.
Various rumors about getting rich in Bulgar had always circulated in Northeast Rus, so the discontent of these plunderers had been constantly accumulating; they still wanted to carry out a few more heists.
These fellows were basically composed of forest dwellers living deep in the woods; it was incredibly easy for them to unite, and since the raiding parties had only recently returned, the various villages had not dispersed, making it very convenient to gather.
Then they began indiscriminate plundering; these people didn't care about pagans or Christians; they would rob everyone, at most sparing a life out of respect for fellow pagans—after digging out their eyes to ensure they couldn't retaliate.
Compared to the village militias across Northeast Rus, their combat effectiveness was very strong; they had learned a lot during their time marching with the Winter Army, which was enough to suppress mere commoners.
These actions attracted a large number of scoundrels and bandits from Northeast Rus; since this group could lead everyone to get rich, why shouldn't they join them? So their ranks swelled rapidly, soon exceeding a thousand.
Moreover, many bandits operated under their banner, and as for whether these people were truly their members, only the gods knew.
Because of this habit, these fellows were called the Eye-Digging Gang, corresponding to Lev's Veles Gang; both disliked each other and were enemies.
Lev wanted to restore the former peace of Northeast Rus, not turn it into a paradise for criminals, so he also ordered attacks on the Eye-Digging Gang.
In this regard, Lev had completely miscalculated; he had originally thought that at most, only a few bandits would emerge, but he never expected that this would be an opportunity for large bandit gangs to form and run rampant.
Besides these two groups, the largest Christian army in Northeast Rus was Yan's force.
Yan had defeated and suppressed countless pagan armed groups in recent days, he had thwarted the pagans' attacks on towns, and liberated many besieged manors and chieftains' strongholds.
After liberating the manors and chieftains' strongholds, the nobles and chieftains within them contributed troops to Yan's force, and Moscow also sent reinforcements, which continuously strengthened Yan's army, allowing him to contend with both the Veles Gang and the Eye-Digging Gang without issue.
Yan hanged all the captured prisoners by the roadside, letting their bodies sway in the wind, and this tactic indeed had a very good effect on maintaining order; seeing Yan's ruthless methods, many bandits who had been commoners basically stopped their activities and returned to their former lives.
The activity of Yan's force and the plunder of the Eye-Digging Gang forced the Veles Gang to change their strategy.
Lev knew better than anyone. Given the current situation, even if they gathered all the armed groups from various places and also brought in the Eye-Digging Gang, fighting against Rostislav's army would be like striking a rock with an egg.
Therefore, there was the great assembly in Veles Valley, to discuss their future.
"Now, let's vote by a show of hands."
Under the gaze of the veles statue, Lev spoke before the Veles Gang's subordinate leaders.
Looking at these people, Lev felt quite emotional; behind each person represented hundreds of armed men, the reward for his efforts and arrangements.
But unfortunately, the attack on Moscow failed, which meant the best possible outcome was lost, and now the situation in Northeast Rus was so chaotic that he had to make a change.
And Lev's voting item was his change regarding this matter: to completely separate the Veles Gang and make it leaderless.
Lev knew very well that he didn't have many years left to live; as he had once thought, win or lose, this was his last battle. So if the resistance was to continue, another way had to be found.
And his method was simple: those who gain power will want to hold onto it, so if he just distributes all these powers, the resistance will naturally be endless.
After all, the underlying nature of those who left the Veles Gang was paganism, which meant hostility from the Moscow government, and those in power, wanting to maintain their prestige, could only fight against Christians.
This was Lev's contingency plan after the siege of Moscow: simply let the resistance scatter. Let them be like scattered stars; let the Christians continuously suppress them, and see how long they can suppress them.
And in the valley, looking at the raised arms, Lev smiled; his goal had been achieved, which made Lev very satisfied.
As for himself... all of this needed a martyr, and he felt he was suitable.