Anwar's report made Rostislav very satisfied, which showed that his series of construction and development in Northeastern Rus over the years had still achieved very fruitful results. Finally, the Persian General Manager ended with a report on the amount of supplies stored in Moscow.
In the past five years, with regular hunting and grain purchases, Moscow's warehouses have accumulated enough grain for tens of thousands of troops to go to Bulgar and support them for a period of time.
After Anwar's report, the next step was some daily chores in Northeastern Russia, such as negotiations with some wealthy merchants and nobles, the construction of local infrastructure, and the maintenance of roads and bridges.
Rostislav is very familiar with these tasks, after all, he has been doing them for so many years.
After completing all this quickly, according to the established flow, Rostislav planned to visit the blacksmith's guild and inspect this guild that he had devoted a lot of effort to.
This guild is an important part of Moscow's war machine, and he has invested a lot of money in it.
As the prince left, today's meeting was considered to be over, and everyone dispersed. Some people followed the prince, while others went to do their own business.
As managers of Moscow, the civil servants did not follow Rostislav. After all, they still had work on their hands, and the blacksmiths' guild was a matter for another system.
However, this time the two leaders of the Moscow civil service silently walked up to the city wall made of red bricks and ordered the soldiers guarding it to retreat. These two persons with powerful authority in Moscow chatted here.
.
On their way over, they saw the mayor of Suzdal, Jan, talking to Domnar, the son-in-law of the janissary captain.
The young nobleman Yang's expression was not good-looking, but Domhnall just lowered his head.
The two officials paid no attention to these two people, let alone being curious. They had their own affairs.
"Anwar, when do you think our prince will launch an expedition against Bulgar, or in other words, what do you think about the prospects of this expedition?"
Leo looked at Moscow under the city wall and said, looking at the bustling traffic scene, he was quite sighing when he saw this scene. He still remembered the most wild look of Moscow, which was in sharp contrast to now.
"Next year or the year after that, it's unlikely this year. The prince went through a lot of wars during his trip to Hungary, and he still needs some time to rest. By then we will have to get busy."
Anwar thought for a moment and then said cautiously.
He must be cautious. Although he said that he followed Leo's hint, it did not mean that Anwar was subordinate to Leo, and he could not send out such a signal.
Although the civil service system in Moscow today has at most a hundred people, there are already factions among these hundreds, namely the Greek faction and the Russian faction.
Needless to say, the Greek faction was composed of civil servants brought by Leo from the imperial capital, while the Russian faction was naturally composed of local intellectuals in Russia. Both sides were naturally formed rural factions, and they began to oppose each other after they were formed.
The Greeks headed by Leo now occupy the middle and high-end of the Moscow government. They are basically important cadres of the Moscow government, while the Russians occupy the majority of the grassroots.
The Russians are naturally very dissatisfied with this, but with the abilities of the Greeks, they will not cause trouble, and sometimes the Greeks can mobilize people from the Russian sect through job promotions. After all, the Russian sect is just a simple local identity.
It's just a product of condensation.
The formation of the Russian faction actually happened in the past few years. The Moscow government has been continuously expanding in the past few years, but there are only so many Greeks, so it can only absorb a large number of Russians into the system.
The requirements for these people are not high, that is, they only need to understand writing. After all, if they understand writing, they can read out government orders, which is enough.
As the number of Russians increased, the Russians naturally became hostile to those who came from outside the region, forming a loose but unified faction.
Although this faction is huge and will inevitably become the mainstream in the future, this future must be decades in the past, and it is still easy to pry.
It's different for Anwar. He is in a very special position. He is neither Greek nor Russian, and he also holds a high position and is in charge of almost the entire Northeastern Rus. This is his own case.
Due to his special nature, both sides do not regard him as one of their own and are extremely wary of him.
Anwar, on the other hand, simply remained neutral. Anyway, he just wanted to get things done and repay Rostislav for his trust in authority.
As a Persian Orthodox Christian, Anwar cherishes his current status. He knows that no one else has given him this, only Rostislav has given it to him.
It is also because of his work attitude and neutral stance that no one made it too difficult for him. Anwar did not want this situation to be broken.
So now that the leader of the Greek faction met him, he was full of vigilance. If the old bureaucrat in front of him got a hold of him this time, the future would be difficult.
When Leo heard Anwar's answer, he didn't reply for a while. Instead, he was silent for a while, thinking whether the old bureaucrat of the castle was trying to scare him. After making sure there was no language trap, he then said,
"Anwar, I want to hear the truth. What do you think of the conquest of Bulgar?"
Leo's words immediately made Anwar nervous. He quickly glanced around and saw only the empty city wall to confirm that there were no eavesdroppers around.
Then he looked at Leo's eyes, and he only saw seriousness in them. That was what it looked like when Moscow didn't have these factions opposing Leo's work. This made Anwar understand that Leo really wanted to talk to him.
something.
"Lord Leo, I don't think I need to say more. You and I both know it well. After all, we are both people who have experienced many wars and have worked in the army's logistics. Although our prince has created
There have been miracles, but it’s hard for me to believe that it will still be like this.”
Anwar hesitated for a while, and finally expressed his thoughts implicitly. He was not as optimistic about the expedition to Bulgar as Rostislav.
"It seems that we all have the same idea, but no one wants to go to Mr. Prostislav's cold water. From Moscow to Bulgar, the distance in between will take several weeks even if the speed is faster, let alone a whole day.
The loss of materials on the road, and the subsequent supply of materials... This prospect is really not good. Although we have stored a lot of materials for this purpose over the years, it is unknown whether we can support such consumption for a long time. After the war starts, the materials
It’s never enough.”
"Unless our prince can end the war quickly and take over Bulgar City, but this..."
"It's unlikely. Judging from the intelligence we have received now, if Akade cannot win the field battle, it will stick to the city wall. And a famous city like Bulgar, which is on the same level as Kiev, is not so easy to defeat, and it will be very expensive then.
, if you fall into that situation, it will last forever.”
After seeing Leo open the skylight and speak frankly, Anwar also said simply.
And at this moment, he also understood why Leo called him over. It was simply that the head of the Moscow civil service wanted to complain.
Experienced senior civil servants like Leo and Anwar were not optimistic about the conquest of Bulgar at all, nor did they think that the prince's troops and supplies were sufficient.
They have gone through the test of time, and they are still very clear about some things. Although Rostislav is proficient in battle formations, if it is the expedition to Bulgaria, which is his first time to fight outside the country, he can really handle those intricate things.
Business?
On such an expedition, handling the relationship with the locals is more important than the war, but to be honest, if it were easy, the two of them would not have seen so many overturns.
But what can they do? You can't persuade the prince not to do it just because there are difficulties. Their prince has overcome a lot of hardships to build today's Moscow. He will definitely think that he has the ability to solve all this.
The two talked back and forth, and at the end they sighed silently to each other. No matter what, just take it one step at a time, and you may not necessarily fall into that kind of predicament in the future... I hope so.