Having received at the end of 1242 a call to Khan Bat at the Mongol headquarters, then located on the Volga, Yaroslav Vsevolodovich faced a choice: to go or not to go. Of course, he understood how much depends on this choice, and tried to predict the consequences of one or another of his decisions.
More than four years have passed since the departure of the Mongols, full of work and worries. The country was slowly rising out of the chaos and devastation into which the invasion had plunged it. Villages have been rebuilt, in which livestock has already moaned, large cities have been partially restored, although in each of them large bald spots still gap in the place of certain buildings. Unlike southern Russia, where after the departure of the Mongols a certain vacuum of power arose, which self-appointed rulers immediately began to fill, northern Russia, thanks to the efforts and labor of Yaroslav Vsevolodovich and his brothers, escaped this fate. Life, seemingly roughly trampled by the Mongol cavalry in that terrible winter, began to make its way out like grass in the ashes.
But still, it was not like that. Long merchant caravans did not move along the spring rivers, numerous carts with princely food did not go in winter, everything became much less, and the people themselves became much less. And still every spring, after the snow melts, here and there are human skeletons, not buried since the time of the invasion.
Yaroslav, unlike his brother Yuri, managed to save his life, and the squad, and the family, of which only one of his son died (during the capture of Tver), the chronicles did not even preserve his name. There were seven sons alive: Alexander, Andrey, Mikhail, Daniel, Yaroslav, Constantine and the youngest eight-year-old Vasily. We can say that a strong root has been put in, the dynasty is provided with a continuation for at least one generation. At the same time, Alexander crossed the twenty-year milestone, was already married and successfully defended his father's interests in Novgorod - a city that, after the Mongol invasion, came out by a wide margin in first place in Russia in terms of wealth, population, and hence military capabilities. There was also an adult nephew - Vladimir Konstantinovich and two younger brothers - Svyatoslav and Ivan. Vladimir, another brother of Yaroslav, died in 1227, shortly after the battle of Usvyat in 1225.
Approximately such a picture was before the eyes of the Grand Duke of Vladimir when he received a message from Khan Batu with an invitation to visit him at his headquarters.
The skill of a politician in many respects consists in being able to correctly formulate the goals that he will achieve and determine the order of their achievement. What goals could Yaroslav set for himself at that moment?
It seems that he was pleased with the amount of power - in fact, he and Daniil Galitsky divided Russia, and clearly in favor of Yaroslav: Kiev, Novgorod and Vladimir belong to him, Galich and Volhynia belong to Daniil. The Smolensk principality is also, in fact, controlled by Yaroslav, and Chernigov is in ruin, the elderly Mikhail Vsevolodovich is hardly capable of large-scale active actions, and his son Rostislav pays more attention to Hungary than Russia. With such leaders, one should not expect a quick revival of the principality.
So the only thing that Yaroslav could strive for was to maintain the current position. The only force that could threaten abrupt changes in the region at that moment were the Mongols, since all other foreign policy issues were resolved, at least for the near future - Alexander managed to fight off the Swedes and Germans, and Yaroslav himself had dealt with the Lithuanian threat.
Could Yaroslav have come up with the idea of continuing the military confrontation with the Mongols? Of course she could. What could he oppose to them? Smolensk and Novgorod, which had not been devastated by the invasion, were actually under his hand. But Smolensk was weak, it was itself subjected to strong pressure from Lithuania from the west and needed help. Large military contingents cannot be collected from the devastated regions, while during the invasion most of the military class of Russia died, there were very few professional and well-armed soldiers left, the losses of the middle and junior command staff were virtually irreparable. Both must take years to prepare. Even if all the mobilization resources are completely squeezed out of the country, the outcome of the clash will most likely be predetermined in favor of the steppe people, but even if it is possible to defeat one army of the Mongols, the losses will most likely be so great that it will not be possible to defend the western borders of the country. the first army may come the second …. Lithuania still does not seem to be such a dangerous enemy, the forces that would splash out of it under Gediminas and Olgerd have not yet finally awakened, but the Catholics on the Novgorod borders are much more dangerous. This is what Yaroslav, who devoted most of his life to the struggle for Novgorod and in the interests of Novgorod, understood very well. I also understood the increased importance of Novgorod, which, in the event of another military defeat, would undergo an imminent attack from the Germans or Swedes and could fall. In this case, its own sea trade will be lost, it is difficult to come up with anything worse.
As a result, the conclusion is that a military clash between Russia and the Mongols is now guaranteed to play into the hands of only Russia's western neighbors, who are more dangerous for it than the eastern ones.
From this the following conclusion - you need to go to the headquarters of the khan and negotiate peace, preferably an alliance. At any cost, secure yourself from the east and throw all your strength into defense from the west.
It seems that it was with these intentions that Yaroslav Vsevolodovich, taking with him his son Konstantin, who at that time could be about 10 - 11 years old, went to the headquarters of Batu.
Now let's try to look at the current situation from the point of view of the Mongol Khan, who in 1242 was thirty-two years old.
Genghis Khan, Subedei, Batu. Medieval Chinese drawing.
He was full of strength and ambition, and after his own brother Ordu voluntarily renounced the seniority in him, Batu, he was the direct and closest heir to his uncle Ogedei, the last of the surviving sons of Genghis.
In 1238, during the battle near Kolomna, the Russians apparently managed to defeat the tumen of Kulkan Khan, the youngest son of Genghis Khan, Kulkan himself died in the battle. Until now, the Chingizids did not die on the battlefield, Kulkan was the first. Rus, especially the northeastern, resisted, albeit clumsily, but firmly and desperately. Losses in the troops were serious and by the end of the campaign reached half of the tumens. And the humiliating standing near Kozelsk, when cut off from the world by muddy roads, Batu was expecting help from the steppe from his cousin Kadan and the nephew of Buri, constantly looking around - weren't the Russians going to finish off his tired, starving and starved army? Didn't he imagine at that moment heavily armed Russian warriors, on tall horses with spears at the ready, jumping out from behind the ridge of the hill, whose crushing attack he saw near Kolomna on the tumen of Kulkan? Then the Russians did not come. And if you came?
The conquest of southern Russia was easier, although near Kiev the losses were also terrible, but this city had to be punished, its ambassadors were killed in it, which deed cannot be forgiven. The rest of the cities were given easier, but all the same, every siege and minor skirmish brought losses.
Batu himself was not in the battle of Legnica, but he listened carefully to the reports of his subordinates about it. Especially about the European knight-monks (small contingents of Templars and Teutons participated in the battle of Legnica), who proved to be disciplined, experienced and skilled warriors. If there were more of them in that battle, the battle could have ended differently.
And now the Russians, defeated by him, are crushing these knights somewhere on a frozen lake, taking away their cities and fortresses. On the territory of Russia remained cities unconquered by him, and one of them is as large and rich as the captured and plundered Vladimir and Kiev. The Russians still have strength.
In the east, things are getting worse day by day. Rebellious during the western campaign, now a personal enemy, cousin Guyuk is aiming at the great khans and, apparently, supported by mother Turakina, will win at the kurultai. You cannot go to the kurultai yourself - they will kill you. But if, or rather, when Guyuk is elected, he will certainly call Batu to him and will need to go, otherwise there will be a war in which, if he wants to win, he will need many soldiers.
Now he has summoned three Russian princes. He had to choose who in Russian land he could rely on.
The first is Yaroslav, the brother of Prince Yuri, whose head Burndai brought him when he stood near Torzhok, the eldest in the family of Russian princes.
Most likely, by that time, Batu was well versed in the genealogy of his opponents, such information was of particular importance for the Mongols, and their intelligence worked excellently. The indisputability for him of the seniority of Yaroslav Vsevolodovich over the rest of the Ruriks stemmed from the knowledge of this genealogy, because Yaroslav represented the tenth tribe of the Ruriks, the rest of the princes, according to the general account, when inheritance is carried out not from father to son, but from brother to brother (the Mongols adhered to the same system), stood below him. For example, Mikhail Chernigovsky represented the eleventh tribe of the Rurikovich, that is, he was Yaroslav's nephew, and Daniil Galitsky was generally the twelfth, that is, he was Yaroslav's grand-nephew. Yaroslav's rights to seniority in the family were based in the same way as the rights of Batu himself, so the khan had to take them especially seriously.
In addition, Yaroslav is known as a warrior, an experienced military leader, loyal to allies and implacable to enemies. It is bad to have such an enemy, but it is good to have an ally. Of no small importance was the fact that Yaroslav himself did not raise weapons against the Mongols during the invasion, although his city of Pereyaslavl offered them resistance.
And, probably, the most important thing for Batu was that from the west, Yaroslav's lands were closely bordered by the lands of his opponents - Lithuania and the Teutonic Order, with whom Yaroslav waged a constant war. This could serve as a guarantee that Yaroslav was really interested in peace in the east.
The second is Mikhail Chernigovsky. In fact, an old man out of his mind (Mikhail was deeply over sixty), who killed his ambassadors in Kiev and then escaped from his troops, without even waiting for a siege. You cannot rely on such an ally - he will betray at the first opportunity, like any coward, moreover, for the murder of ambassadors he deserves death and must be executed. Plus, he himself is old, and his son was going to marry the daughter of the Hungarian king Bela, whom the Mongols never managed to catch and who, as we hear, returned to his broken but unconquered kingdom by the Mongols. This candidate for the role of an ally is clearly not suitable.
The third is Daniil Galitsky. The prince is forty-two years old, all his adult life he fought for the inheritance of his father, received it, and immediately his cities were plundered by the Mughals of Batu. He did not accept the battle, like the Suzdal prince Yuri, he also fled from the Mongol army and sat out in Europe. Daniel is an experienced and successful warrior, perhaps not as direct and open as Yaroslav, but also a loyal ally and a dangerous adversary. His principality was closely adjacent to Poland and Hungary, not conquered by the Mongols, and Daniel's relations with these kingdoms were by no means as ambiguous as Yaroslav's with Lithuania, the Germans and Swedes. With them, Daniel could well enter into an alliance against the Mongols (which he tried repeatedly to do later, albeit unsuccessfully), and such a hypothetical alliance threatened the Mongols with the loss of the conquered territory. So it was difficult to regard Daniel as a reliable partner in the future.
It is not known whether Batu thought so or if there were other thoughts in his head, but when Yaroslav Vsevolodovich and his son Konstantin came to his headquarters in 1243 as the first Russian princes, he was greeted with honor and respect. Without long bickering, Batu handed him the supreme power in Russia with Kiev and Vladimir, paid due respect and sent him home. Constantine was sent by his father to Karakorum to the court of the great khan, where he was supposed to receive confirmation of the awards to Batu. Konstantin Vsevolodovich became the first Russian prince to visit the headquarters of the great khan, located, probably somewhere in Central Mongolia, for which he had to cross half of the Eurasian continent from west to east and back.
What Batu and Yaroslav agreed on, the chronicles are silent, however, some researchers, it seems, not without reason, believe that the first treaty of the Mongol khan and the Russian prince did not include the concept of tribute, but only confirmed the vassal dependence of Russia on the Mongol empire in principle, and possibly obliged Yaroslav to provide the Mongols with military contingents if necessary. From that moment, Yaroslav with his possessions officially as a sovereign prince and a full nobleman became part of the Mongol Empire.
In the next year, 1244, representatives of the Rostov branch of the Yuryevich clan went to Batu's headquarters: Yaroslav's nephew Vladimir Konstantinovich with his nephews, Boris Vasilkovich and Vladimir Vsevolodovich. All three soon returned from the khan with awards, confirming their vassal obligations towards Yaroslav and, as his suzerain, the Mongol khan.
In 1245, Prince Konstantin Yaroslavich returned from the headquarters of the great khan. It is not known what news he brought, but Yaroslav immediately gathered his brothers - Svyatoslav and Ivan, as well as the Rostov princes and went to the headquarters of Batu. After some time, Yaroslav left the headquarters of Batu for Karakorum, and the rest of the princes returned home.
It was from this time (and not earlier) that the chronicles mark the beginning of the payment of the Horde tribute by Russia.
