In 1380 Mamai boasted that he had assembled half a million warriors. He had left the Lower Don and was moving on Varony. Besides Mongol warriors, he had many hired troops in his army, Turks and Armenians. One complete regiment was made up of Genoese from Kaffa. Mamai, who wished to repeat the success of Batu, intended to cross the Don River, and so march that Oleg and Yagello might join him and strengthen his forces in season. He boasted tremendously. “We need supplies for the winter,” said he to his Mongols. “We are going to eat Russian bread, and grow rich on Russian treasure.” “Does Mitya,[1] my servant in Moscow, know that I am going to see him?” asked he, laughing, in presence of some Russians. “With me are twelve hordes with three kingdoms, and thirty-three princes, besides foreign leaders. We have seven hundred and three thousand warriors. Can Mitya, my servant, entertain us all?”
Oleg of Ryazan turned to the Mongol with these words: “To Mamai, the free Eastern Grand Khan above Khans, I, thy appointed and sworn servant, pray thee. Thou art marching to punish Dmitri, thy servitor. The time is near, Serene Khan, when thy hands will hold all the riches of Moscow. Free me, thy slave, through thy grace from disaster. Dmitri and I are thy slaves, but I am obedient and humble; I serve thee. Dmitri is refractory and insolent.” Papers like these, seized by Dmitri’s swift horsemen, revealed what his enemies were plotting.
Interesting was Oleg’s correspondence with Yagello: “Grand Prince Yagello, I write to thee gladly. Thou hast been thinking [[381]]this long time to punish Dmitri; the time has now come to do so. Mamai is marching on Moscow with countless warriors. My envoys have gone to Mamai with many gifts and with worship. Thou wilt send things of as much higher value as thou art above me in greatness. When the Khan comes and Dmitri escapes to distant regions, we will sit in Moscow or Vladimir. At the Khan’s command, we will divide Moscow between us; thou from Lithuania, I from Ryazan.”
It is noteworthy that Mamai, while delighted with their offers of service, declared to each of the princes as follows: “As much Russian land as ye wish in my dominion I will give as reward, and ye will utter strong oath to me.” And then, with Mongol haughtiness, he added: “I do not need your assistance, but since ye have been abused I reward, and show you favor.” He informed them suggestively that he considered the campaign against Moscow as undertaken only to punish disobedience. “The terror of me will crush Moscow,” said he, as if to chide them for exalting his glory in the triumph then approaching. For invincible majesty like his, it was no exploit to quell Dmitri.
When the summer of 1380 began, Yagello set out to join Mamai. News came to Moscow in season. Swift couriers hastened in many directions. All were anxious, all were impatient. Each man sent out seemed to go at a snail’s pace. Soon reports were confirmed by the statement: “Mamai is coming!” Meanwhile, regiment after regiment was appearing at Moscow, and marching on farther toward Kolomna. Somewhat later news came that Mamai had halted, or was moving more slowly; that he was waiting for his allies. He and Yagello had agreed to meet at the Oká, and enter Moscow regions in early September. All of Dmitri’s men were to be at Kolomna before the first half of August had ended.
As there was no metropolitan at that time in Moscow, Dmitri went to the Troitski abbot, Sergai, for a blessing. He shared his food with the holy hermit, and noting among the monks present two of great strength and stature, by name Peresvait and Oslyaba, he asked as a favor that they should go with him. In the world they had been boyars, and noteworthy persons. At parting, Sergai gave this comfort in words to Dmitri: “The Lord will defend, He will help thee. He will put down thy enemies and give thee great glory.” [[382]]
August 20, Dmitri left Moscow and found his whole army waiting at Kolomna. There was a general review at that place, and a redistribution of parts of the army. When everything was in order, prayer was offered up in the open field, and then all the army sang “Spasi Gospodi pyudi Tvoya” (O Lord, save Thy people). It may be that never had the strength and great meaning of these words been felt more profoundly in Russia than in Kolomna on that day.
The army was divided into the center, the left and the right wing, the rear and the vanguard, each of which divisions was again subdivided in the same way. Dmitri was in the center with his chief voevodas. Among the first of these was Bobrok of Volynia, to whom the most difficult work in that march had been given. The next famed voevodas were Mikula and Nikolai Velyaminoff. On the right wing marched Vladimir, Dmitri’s cousin; the left wing was led by Glaib, among the most beloved of the leaders, a prince from Bryansk, whose name his friends had changed to Brenko. When all places were assigned, the army advanced toward the Don, marching so as to intercept the advance of Yagello.
As soon as the army had moved from Kolomna, scouting parties were sent out on all sides to learn clearly the positions of Mamai, Yagello and Oleg. In the first days of September, the army reached the Don country, and on September 6, 1380, Dmitri’s men beheld the brown river. They encamped directly in front of that spot where the small river Nepryadva enters the Don. Some of the voevodas were in favor of waiting for the Mongols without crossing the river, but in this case Dmitri showed resolve and immense firmness. He wished to cross the river and give Mamai battle immediately. When all opposing reasons were given, he answered: “I have not come to the Don to watch Mongols.” Just then one of the two monks who had come with him from the Troitski monastery gave him a letter from the abbot, which contained these words, and seemed to Dmitri to point out the true order of action: “March on, O Prince Dmitri, Our Lord the Holy Trinity will assist thee.”
Meanwhile, a Mongol prisoner had been brought in from Mamai’s outpost; not a simple warrior, but a man who, because he feared torture, gave true information. “The Khan is waiting,” said he, “for Oleg of Ryazan, and Yagello. He does not know [[383]]that the Moscow prince has reached the Don.” To the question “Is his force great?” the man answered: “An immense multitude; it is countless.”