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He chose the latter, and retired beyond the Volga to one of the most remote provinces of Kezan. Feodor had married the daughter of one of the most illustrious of his nobles. His father-in-law, a man of peculiar address and capacity, with ability both to conceive and execute the greatest undertakings, soon attained supremacy over the mind of the feeble monarch.
It was thus that one of the most considerable principalities of the descendants of Genghis Khan fell into the hands of Russia. Kezan was founded upon the ruins of ancient Bulgaria, and, situated upon the frontiers of Russia, had long filled the empire with terror.
He wished to strengthen his power by engaging the coöperation of the still formidable energies of the horde at Kezan, and accordingly married, quite hurriedly, the daughter of the czar of the horde. But the regal diadem proved to him but a crown of thorns.
This state of things encouraged the two hordes of Kezan and Tauride to unite, and with an army of a hundred thousand men they penetrated Russia almost unopposed, burning and plundering in all directions.
Fire-arms were also beginning to be introduced, which weapons have diminished rather than increased the carnage of fields of battle. From 1462 to 1480. Ivan III. His Precocity and Rising Power. The Three Great Hordes. Russian Expedition Against Kezan. Defeat of the Tartars. Capture of Constantinople by the Turks. The Princess Sophia.
The songs and the shouts of the drunken soldiers were heard in the streets of Kezan, and, from the battlements, the Tartars beheld these orgies, equaling the most frantic revels of pagan bacchanals. The Tartar khan, from the top of a bastion, watched the spectacle, and perceiving the negligence of his enemies, prepared for a surprise and for vengeance.
The three hordes, in Kezan, in the Tauride and at the mouth of the Volga, united, and in an army one hundred thousand strong, with numerous cavalry and powerful artillery, commenced their march. The Russian troops were hastily collected upon the banks of the Oka, there to take their stand and dispute the passage of the stream.
The artillery, placed upon the walls of Kezan, were speedily dismounted by the batteries on the tower. A new series of mines beneath the walls were now constructed by the Russian engineers, which were to operate with destructive power, hitherto unrecorded in the annals of war.
This encampment of the horde was but five hundred miles east of Moscow; but much of the country directly intervening was an uninhabited waste, so great was the terror which the barbarians inspired. Ivan resolved to take Kezan from the horde. It was the boldest resolve which any Russian prince had conceived for ages.
To this message a contemptuous and defiant response was returned by the Tartar khan. The answer was closed with these words: "We are anxiously awaiting your arrival, and are all ready to commence our festivities." That very day, the Russian army, amounting to one hundred and fifty thousand men, arrived within sight of Kezan.
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