Perhaps
Iermak feared to boast too soon of his success, desiring, above all, to
achieve the conquest of Siberia, which he thought he had done in driving
Kutchum into the deserts and in establishing the limits of the Muscovite
empire on the banks of the Obi.
Transported with joy at the news they had just received from the
hetmans, the Stroganoffs set out at once for Moscow, eager to
communicate to the Czar all the details of this glorious enterprise.
They urged him to finish the reduction of Siberia, simple private
citizens like themselves not possessing the means to preserve so vast a
conquest. The envoys of Iermak, John Koltzo and his companions, also
appeared before the Prince to offer him the realm of Siberia, as well as
the precious furs of sables, black foxes, and castors.
These were, since a long time, the first transports of joy in gloomy
Moscow. The Czar and the nation seemed to wake up. At court, on the
great square, was repeated with intoxication, "God has sent a new empire
to Russia!" Bells were rung, solemn thanks were returned to heaven, as
at the epoch of Kazan and of Astrakhan, the happy time of the Czar's
youth! Rumor exaggerated the glory of this conquest.
There was no talk but of huge armies destroyed by the Cossacks, of a
great number of peoples subjected by their valor, of the immense riches
which they had found.
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