Next was Vanigo, who represented the Guild District as a whole, which meant Rostislav had to reward the entire Guild District.
The Prince's reward was to allow the Guild District to expand, granting them the vacant block next to them, doubling the size of this existence that was practically a state within a state.
As for Vanigo himself, Rostislav granted the Master of the Blacksmiths Guild many privileges, including cheaper raw materials, unconditional access to the Bulgar market, and monopoly rights on product sales, among others.
However, the Moscow Prince played a word game here, meaning these privileges would only be effective when Vanigo was the leader of the Guild District.
That is, if the Guild District wanted to continue enjoying these privileges that would allow them to gain more benefits, then they had to support Vanigo as their leader.
And the Merya were famously the Prince's lackeys, which undoubtedly deepened the Prince's control over the Guilds.
After these three was Yan. For this old comrade-in-arms who saved the situation, the Moscow Prince was also very generous, adding three chieftains' territories and their subordinate villages to Yan's land in one go. After this wave of enfeoffment, Yan undoubtedly became the strongest land noble in Northeast Rus.
However, since Yan had always been uninterested in managing estates, these areas were actually still managed by the Prince's people, so there was basically no change, meaning Yan just got more resources and could support more personal guards.
Yan seemed disinterested in these rewards, clearly still unhappy about the Lev matter. Rostislav was not worried; Yan would understand sooner or later.
The subsequent rewards were not worth mentioning, and after these rewards were completed, then came the punishments.
First to bear the brunt was Leo. He had always been the target of everyone's attacks, after all, people dared not criticize the Prince, so they could only criticize Leo, the executing Greek elder.
Moreover, Leo was very slow to react to the changes in the Moscow countryside, completely failing to notice the undercurrents in the rural areas, which made him a very unqualified bureaucrat.
And indeed, a large amount of corruption occurred during the process of collecting supplies, greatly worsening the image of the Moscow government.
However, the Moscow Prince's punishment for Leo was very lenient; he was only removed from his position as Mayor of Moscow, but he still effectively acted as Mayor, and his scope of authority was further expanded. Since Anwar was still in Bulgar assisting Adam's rule, all the political affairs of Northeast Rus were entrusted to him.
Many of his Greek compatriots below him, especially among the newcomers, suffered. Some of these people planned to make a fortune in Northeast Rus and then find a way to escape back to Constantinople, which led to high taxation in some areas.
Rostislav would never tolerate such phenomena, so these people were hung in cages at the city gate of Moscow.
These cages were specially made, with spikes lining their interior. The condemned could only stand upright, otherwise they would be pierced and bleed profusely. Then they would either starve or die of thirst under the gaze of passing commoners, or simply bash their heads against the spikes and die.
This scene was enough to make many people applaud, and combined with the news of a year of tax exemption, it could alleviate most people's inner dissatisfaction.
With rewards and punishments concluded, the next step was compensation for those who suffered losses. Although this upheaval did not significantly impact the Moscow Prince's foundation, it directly caused many chieftains and nobles to lose their territories and families, becoming penniless beggars.
For these people, Rostislav assigned them new commoners. To do this, the Moscow Prince could only transfer the ownership of some villages within his direct domain to them in exchange for their service.
This is the essence of feudal relations: obligations and rights are relative. Rostislav wanted soldiers, so he had to protect their vested interests. There is no reward without effort.
However, many chieftains still chose to take money from the Moscow Prince and then rebuild their territories and recruit farmers themselves, because Rostislav's land was not given for free. If they took land from the Prince, they basically had no possibility of expanding their territory, and the Moscow Prince would not allow them to do so, making it impossible for them to become great nobles in the future.
This group of people was more ambitious; they did not want their descendants to only be low-ranking nobles, rural landlords.
There were also some who planned to take money and leave Moscow; they no longer wanted to stay in Moscow. The Moscow Prince did not force them to stay, as that would be meaningless.
The Moscow Prince also dispatched a special strike team into the countryside. Their target was precisely the bandit gangs roaming Northeast Rus. Rostislav intended to use these bandit gangs as a way to train soldiers, to let some new recruits see blood.
Various villages also gained organization, forming militia teams to protect their hometowns and roads, but their most important task was to inform the punitive force of the bandit gangs' movements.
Also, regarding the Church, Rostislav decided to increase investment in the Church, especially supporting the construction of Monasteries.
A strong Monastery is a fortress, a nail embedded in a sea of pagans, and a center for spreading Christian.
Anyway, he had recently acquired so much manpower from Greek, which was perfect for utilizing these people.
For example, during this chaos, places with Monasteries were significantly more stable, and the local commoners were less interested in rebellion. Some even caught the pagan cadres who came to incite and handed them over to the Prince's officials.
The Hilarion Monastery, under the command of the former Metropolitan, also mobilized Christian to defend themselves, repelling several bandit gangs. They even took the initiative to attack, defeating the main force of the Eye-Digging Gang.
Anyway, finally, under Rostislav's series of operations, Northeast Rus once again stabilized.
And with stability, the Prince was also able to attend to his family affairs.
First was rewarding Zoe. Zoe's calmness this time helped her husband defend his territory, preventing the worst from happening and allowing the Prince's regime to get through the most difficult period.
As for how she was rewarded, how else can a husband and wife reward each other? Anyway, the result was that less than two weeks after Rostislav returned, Zoe was pregnant. Rostislav was going to have his third child.
The news of the Prince's wife's pregnancy undoubtedly swept away the gloom that had arisen in Moscow due to the rebellion and chaos. Finally, with Zoe's pregnancy, Moscow also finally returned to its former peace.
Then Rostislav continued writing his book, conceiving his stories, and playing with his children. Life finally became a little more leisurely.
But some things could not be restored. Beyond the walls of Moscow, beyond the walls of the cities of Northeast Rus, there was organized bandit activity in the countryside, and the fighting between Christian and pagans suddenly intensified.
Consequently, the reports of attacks sent to the Moscow Prince also increased, but they only made Rostislav frown and scratch his head. Although these skirmishes were more intense than in the past, they were ultimately just minor disturbances.
Thus, Northeast Rus continued to advance, only all of this was bloodier than in the past.
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