While the Rus' and Bulgars were preparing for the bandit suppression war, other things were happening in Moscow.
Moscow, the core of Northeast Rus, had become increasingly lively these days, with merchant caravans from other regions continuously pouring into the city.
The reason for so many caravans was simple: the Moscow Prince was generously purchasing grain, which led more and more merchants to rush to buy grain and bring it here. No matter how much grain they brought, Moscow would generously accept it.
Along with this booming grain trade, Moscow's exports of other goods also surged. After all, so many caravans leaving would always take some goods with them, which further boosted the city's exports.
However, even with so much grain purchased from merchants, to meet the supply demands of the distant army, the Moscow government had to intensify its requisitions from the populace.
As the orchestrator of all this, Leo was quite troubled by it. Grain requisitioning was difficult even in Northeast Rus, often requiring force, and sometimes even force couldn't secure the grain.
Requisition teams from Moscow roamed the countryside, taking everything they could, sometimes even resorting to swords to seize goods.
Rostislav had recently transferred Anwar, and this Persian had always been responsible for coordinating with the various forces outside Moscow. Without him, many things became even more difficult.
If it weren't for the continuous news of victories from the east, coupled with the occasional return of soldiers with full purses, proving the eastern campaign against the Bulgar was extremely smooth, chaos would have erupted long ago.
People still harbored hopes of victory from afar, believing that as long as their army returned victorious, these harsh taxes would become a thing of the past.
But even so, as the main person in charge of the requisitioning activities, Leo was given a nickname by the populace—"Death."
Because he relentlessly exploited the people wave after wave, his greed seemed endless, pushing countless families and villages to the brink of death.
Moreover, even for villages that had already paid taxes, their payments, or rather their goods, would be strictly inspected. If they did not meet the requirements, Leo would mete out merciless punishment. Undergoing a tax inspection was like undergoing Death's judgment.
And once Leo judged someone guilty, the lightest punishment would be a whipping, while the heaviest would be their head hung on a spear.
After all, the common people didn't dare to curse Rostislav; they were well aware of the Prince's capabilities and military achievements. In contrast, cursing Leo, this foreign Greek, was most suitable. His Greek identity was his greatest original sin, and cursing him was perfectly fine.
As for these curses, Leo wasn't particularly bothered. During his years in Constantinople, he had experienced countless such insults. The imperial capital's populace was far superior to these northern barbarians in cursing and making jokes, but none of that affected Leo.
Leo was more concerned about whether the extensive requisitions would spark resistance against the princely regime in Northeast Rus, because, to be honest, Leo knew that the current requisitions were indeed excessive, but they were necessary to meet the army's demands.
As an official who had served in the imperial capital, Leo was well aware of the destructive power the common people could unleash.
He had also experienced the Kiev riots, and in that riot, Leo witnessed the abundant martial virtue of the Rus' people, as well as the lingering pagan influence in this land, making him naturally more vigilant in this regard.
It was also for this reason that after discovering pagan sorcerers active in the countryside, Leo immediately requested Lady Zoe to purge these sorcerers, eliminating all possible unstable factors.
Although the ruthless high-pressure against pagan sorcerers earned Leo another wave of curses, Leo still didn't care at all. Who cared what the common people thought? For him, curbing potential chaos was more important than a bad reputation.
Today was also an incredibly busy day for Leo; he was busy checking the material lists, and after that, he had to inspect the actual goods. Finally, he had to arrange for teams to transport the grain to Yaroslavl, from where it would be sent via the Volga River to the Winter Army's location.
Looking at the huge amount of supplies on the ledger, Leo couldn't help but sigh that once a war started, the consumption of materials truly became uncontrollable. Rostislav had accumulated a full year's worth of supplies for this campaign, but after two months of fighting, these supplies were exhausted. Then, they had no choice but to start requisitions from the populace to ensure the army's logistics.
The consumption of materials in too many places exceeded everyone's expectations, and in many other places, the complicated rules led to a lot of waste. In short, the speed of consumption was completely beyond imagination.
For him, the only good news during this period was that, as the Prince's army took Bulgar, the demand for grain from their side suddenly dropped, allowing Leo to catch his breath and not have to send so many requisition teams to the countryside to seize grain.
But after seeing a report, Leo got another headache. This report was about rumors concerning himself.
The requisitions during this period caused widespread public resentment, and rumors naturally arose. The core of these rumors directly pointed to him, the Mayor of Moscow, the de facto leader of the Moscow government. In these rumors, it was said that he, Leo, had caused the large-scale requisitions for personal gain, and that all of this was a Greek conspiracy. Some even hinted that he was cuckolding Lord Rostislav.
Leo wasn't bothered by these insults; he simply didn't care about his reputation in this regard.
Rather, the various statements in the report were too misleading and formed a complete logical chain of conspiracy, which, if exploited, could achieve effects sufficient to disrupt the overall stability.
Because he, Leo, was currently the de facto leader of the Moscow government, Lady Zoe didn't get involved in this aspect at all; he, the bureaucrat, was always at the forefront. This was enough to prove some people's conspiracy theories.
"This is really troublesome, damn it, it hits my weak spot exactly."
Leo cursed as he looked at the report, because he knew that no matter what response he made, the creators and believers of these rumors would interpret it in a way that further deepened their conspiracy theory.
"Lord Rostislav, please come back soon..."
Leo pondered for a long time and finally said powerlessly, because, as he said, as long as Rostislav returned, everything would no longer be a problem. But if Rostislav did not return, the problems would continue to objectively exist there.
Just as Leo was having a headache over these matters, he suddenly heard a cheerful melody coming from outside the window. The Mayor of Moscow was startled at first, then he realized that the Alexei Troupe had returned.
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