Just as the Russians and Bulgars were preparing for a war against banditry, something else was happening in Moscow.
Moscow, the core of Northeastern Russia, is becoming more and more lively these days, and caravans from other places are constantly flocking here.
The reason for the influx of so many caravans is simple. The Prince of Moscow is generously purchasing grain, which makes more and more merchants rush to buy grain and come here. No matter how much grain they bring, Moscow will generously eat it.
Along with this booming grain trade, Moscow's exports of other commodities also surged. After all, so many caravans always have to take some goods with them when they leave, which also makes the city's exports more prosperous.
However, even if it purchased so much grain from merchants, in order to meet the supply of the distant army, the Moscow government must continue to step up collection from the private sector.
As the person in charge of all this, Leo was very troubled by this. Things like collecting food were not easy to handle in Northeastern Rus. Many times, force had to be used, and sometimes even the use of force failed to collect food.
Expropriation teams from Moscow roamed the countryside, taking away whatever supplies they could, and sometimes had to use swords to rob them.
Rostislav also recently transferred Anwar away. The Persian has always been responsible for coordinating with many forces outside Moscow. After he is gone, many things will become more difficult to handle.
Had it not been for the constant news of victory coming from the East, and the occasional return of well-packed soldiers, proving that the East's conquest of Bulgar was extremely successful, trouble would have arisen long ago.
People still have hopes for victory in the distance, and everyone believes that as long as their troops return victorious, these exorbitant taxes will become a thing of the past.
But even so, as the leader of the expropriation activities, Leo was still nicknamed "The God of Death" by the people.
Because he continued to exploit the people in waves, his greed seemed endless, bringing countless families and villages to the brink of death.
And even for villages that have already paid taxes, their taxes, that is, their physical goods will be strictly inspected. If they do not meet the requirements, Leo will be ruthlessly punished. Going through a tax inspection is like experiencing the effects of death.
The trial is average.
Once Leo is found guilty, the lightest punishment will be a whipping, and the most severe punishment will be that his head will be hung on a spear.
After all, the people did not have the courage to scold Rostislav. They knew the prince's ability and military exploits very well. In comparison, scolding Leo, a foreign Greek, was most appropriate. His Greek identity was his biggest original sin. Why?
There's no problem with scolding.
Leo didn't care much about these scoldings. During his years in Constantinople, he didn't know how many such insults he had experienced. The people of the imperial capital were infinitely better at cursing and making up jokes than these northern barbarians.
Went there, but none of that had any impact on Leo.
Leo was even more worried about whether Northeastern Rus would rise to resist the royal regime under the massive expropriation, because to be honest, Leo knew that the current expropriation was indeed a bit excessive, but it must be so in order to meet the needs of the army.
As an official who had served in the imperial capital, Leo knew very well what kind of destructive power the people could unleash.
Moreover, he also experienced the riots in Kiev. During that riot, Leo saw the strong martial virtue of the Russian people and the residual influence of paganism on this land, so he was naturally more vigilant in this regard.
It is also for this reason that after discovering pagan warlocks operating in the countryside, Leo immediately asked Mrs. Zoe to eliminate these warlocks and eliminate all possible unstable factors.
Although the ruthless pressure on the pagan warlocks earned Leo another wave of infamy, Leo still didn't care at all. Who cares what the public thinks? For him, curbing potential chaos is more important than infamy.
Today is also an extremely busy day for Leo. He is busy checking the material list. After the inspection, he has to check the physical objects. Finally, he has to arrange a team to send the food to Yaroslavl, and then pick up the food.
It will be sent to the location of the Winter Army via the Volga River.
Looking at the huge amount of supplies on the books, Leo couldn't help but sigh that the consumption of supplies after the war started was really uncontrollable. Rostislav had saved supplies for the expedition for a full year, but the war only lasted two months.
These supplies were exhausted, and then they had to start expropriating civilians in order to ensure the logistics of the army.
The consumption of materials in too many places exceeds everyone's expectations, and in many places there is a lot of waste due to cumbersome rules. In short, the consumption rate is completely beyond imagination.
The only good news for him during this period is that as the prince's army captured Bulgar, the food requirements for them suddenly dropped, allowing Leo to breathe a sigh of relief and allowing him to not have to dispatch
So many grain collection teams went to the countryside to grab grain.
But after seeing a report, Leo got a headache again. This report was a record of rumors about himself.
The expropriation during this period caused people to complain, and rumors naturally emerged, and the core of the rumors pointed directly at him, the mayor of Moscow, the actual leader of the Moscow government. In these rumors, it was said that he, Leo, was responsible for this in order to enrich his own pockets.
That large-scale expropriation was all a Greek conspiracy, and some even suggested that he had cuckolded Lord Rostislav.
Leo didn't have a headache because of these insults, he didn't care about his reputation.
It's that the various remarks above are too tempting and constitute a complete set of conspiracy chain logic. If this set of logic is copied, it can achieve some effects that are enough to destabilize the overall situation.
Because he, Leo, is now the actual leader of the Moscow government, Mrs. Zoe does not care at all in this regard, and it is him, a bureaucrat, who takes the lead. This is enough to prove some people's conspiracy theories.
"This time it's really troublesome. Damn it, it hit me right in the middle."
Leo couldn't help but curse when he looked at the report, because he knew that no matter what response he made, the creators and believers of these rumors would interpret a set of logic that would continue to deepen their conspiracy theories.
"Lord Rostislav, please come back as soon as possible..."
Leos thought about it and finally said this feebly, because as he said, as long as Rostislav comes back, then everything will not be a problem, but if Rostislav does not come back, the problem will always exist objectively.
Just when Leo had a headache because of all this, he suddenly heard a burst of cheerful music coming from the window. The mayor of Moscow was stunned for a moment, and then he realized that this was the return of the Alexei Troupe.