Perhaps even Yusorov himself didn't know that he had become the target of a power struggle between two factions
within the Kremlin. A chase was underway between the royalists led by Ivan IV and Tuchkov, and the princes led by Shuysky. Ivan IV wasn't afraid that Shuysky would get there first; he simply wanted to control all destabilizing factors. While Tuchkov was heading to Yusorov's militia, he and Tuchkov went their separate ways.
At this time, Yusorov was drunk in his tent, a bottle overturned, the clear, fragrant liquid dripping from the spout, fast asleep.
The militia commander was originally a sinecure, an informal organization existing only to assist and compensate for the Tsar's insufficient numbers in the regular guard.
At this time, vodka wasn't called vodka; it was referred to as "burnt liquor" by the Slavic people. Initially used as a disinfectant and anesthetic, it was officially monopolized by the state starting with Ivan III.
The entire idle militia was suddenly thrown into disarray by the sound of galloping hooves.
Grand Prince Tuchkov lifted the tent flap and saw Yusorov sound asleep in a chair. He walked up to him with a grim face and picked up the bottle from the ground. However, he raised it high above his head and slammed it to the ground.
The sharp clang jolted Yusorov awake. He groggily raised his head and saw Tuchkov standing before him.
He rubbed his bloodshot eyes, clearly still recovering from the previous night's hangover.
"Damn it, who are you?"
Tuchkov turned to the drunken man beside him and calmly said, "Grand Prince Tuchkov."
Tuchkov?
Yusorov processed the name in his mind, then, as if remembering something, his eyes widened.
"Drunkard, now you remember my name, don't you? But I'm not here to pick a fight with you, but to give you a choice. Whether you can seize this opportunity depends on what you say next."
"What opportunity?"
Yusorov sat upright, a sense of foreboding creeping over him at Tuchkov's words.
"In a few moments, your cousin, Grand Duke Shuisky, will arrive in a carriage and demand to see you by name. He will tell you the devastating news that his son, Dmitry, has been killed on suspicion of assassinating the Tsar, and emphasize that the Shuisky family is now besieged on all sides. He might overthrow Ivan IV's rule and install the Tsar's mentally challenged brother, Yuri, as the new master of the Kremlin. And what you have to do is lead this militia to attack the Kremlin and help him capture the young Tsar."
Hearing this, Yusorov nervously wiped the sweat from his brow. He was now completely sober, and after hearing Tuchkov's account, he finally realized the seriousness of the conversation.
This forced Yusorov to make a choice, as he was Grand Prince Shuysky's last card. Moreover, Tuchkov might have troops lying in ambush outside the tent.
Yusorov instinctively peeked out of the tent, his gaze catching glimpses of people moving about. He wasn't sure if they were the Tsar's guards or his own men; Yusorov, who valued his life above all else, hadn't dared gamble with it when he reached this position.
"I agree to your demands. I'll give you anything you want, as long as you don't harm me or my family. Even if you want me to help eliminate Grand Prince Shuysky, I'll agree. Whatever it is!"
Yusorov nervously rubbed his hands together, occasionally glancing up at Tuchkov. The other man slowly rose, patted him on the shoulder, and whispered, "Congratulations, Yusorov."
He breathed a sigh of relief, but the gloom that had been hanging over him hadn't yet dissipated when he saw the Tsar's guards rush in. They wore studded tunics, the single disc of armor on their breastplates gleaming pale white in the sunlight.
"You just escaped from hell."
At that moment, the Tsar's guards were heading towards the Grand Duke Shuysky's residence. Ivan IV, on horseback, watched the crowds fleeing in both directions of the street with a solemn expression. He felt increasingly powerful as the monarch.
People looked at his sinister eyes with an innate fear.
Who could imagine that just a few months earlier, Ivan IV and Archbishop Kamali had even begged Grand Duke Andrei Shuysky for mercy, the archbishop's robes torn, Ivan pale and powerless? The thirteen-year-old boy realized for the first time that a cowardly character would lead to being at the mercy of others, and that powerful ministers still controlled the power that originally belonged to them.
Historically, after Ivan IV eliminated Grand Duke Andrei Shuysky, the Grinsky family seized control of the government, executing or exiling their rivals, and even stripping the nobleman Budurlin of his tongue for speaking disrespectfully. Andrei's death was merely the beginning of a chain reaction; several ambitious families rose and fell in succession. When one family head fell, his brother, uncle, son, nephew, or cousin would take his place; no one could eliminate them all at once. He even complained at the opening of the Stochlav Religious Council, "Our nobles rule the country as they please because no one opposes their rule. They are surrounded by a bunch of sycophants."
A pack of wild dogs is tearing at the power that has slipped away, but they don't see the wolf lurking nearby.
But this time, everything is different.
To completely destroy the power of a Moscow prince, one must use the most resolute and cruel methods, shedding a lot of blood and killing a lot of people.
He thought of a certain leader from Georgia and his iron-fisted methods when he controlled Moscow. He eradicated all dissidents in the most cruel way, dragging them to Siberia to be frozen into ice sculptures.
"Shedding the blood of just one person is not enough. You must make everyone clearly understand that in the face of absolute power, the intrigues of political clowns are no match for a single bullet from the firing squad."
That term was firmly etched in his mind. Faced with the corrupt and incompetent Moscow court, Ivan IV was finally about to make a momentous change.
A political terror etched into history.
From now on, it would become a symbol to be emulated and worshipped by all iron-fisted rulers of Russia.
The Great Purge.