The dragoons were excitedly exchanging fire with the Highlanders. They rode in front of them as if on a shooting range. They just didn’t hold the targets in their hands. Their guttural shout was heard in Tatar. It is not at all similar to the Nogai accent to which the ear of non-commissioned officer Semyon Gorodovikov is accustomed.
And he wasn’t listening. After the battle of Andy, he served his ten days in the guardhouse for unauthorized excommunication from the ranks to fight with the mountaineer Akhmat. He sat so long that out of boredom he learned a little literacy from the regimental priest of Father Athanasius, who flew on his lip for looking drunk during the arrival of the emperor himself.
Father Athanasius taught clearly and quickly. And how is it not clear if for every mistake in a letter on government paper, which they were given as officers, Shelban gave them a slap on the forehead. Semyon’s forehead was strong, but because of the mistakes and the powerful hand of Father Athanasius, it burned like the star of Bethlehem. Pop himself expressed himself about the star. He also liked to pronounce:
I don’t like half measures! I volunteered to teach you. And I’ll finish it! There will be a lot of time during the hike!
And the hike was supposed to be long. The troops were gathering in the Tersk town. There were all kinds of cavalrymen, infantry, sailors on foot, Tatar cavalry, Circassians, Kalmyks, Don Cossacks, Kabarda.
After leaving the lip, Semyon immediately joined the regiment. He was already preparing to leave. Well, Chief Officer Makarych, who treated Semyon as his son, ordered his orderly to prepare all Semyon’s equipment. The horse was ready, the harness was ready, the fusee was cleaned, the uniform was adjusted.
Semyon had only to fix it all. And go camping. The cavalry went through the mountains, and the infantry were put on ships.
They went to the main settlement of the Kumyk Utamysh sultanate — Utamysh
The Utamysh Sultanate on Gustaf Gerber’s map in 1728
Along the way, the mountaineers staged ambushes, rockfalls and shelling. When they approached the possessions of the Utamysh saltan, they sent a Cossack captain with three Cossacks to him with an offer of peace. They were hacked down!
This news angered the Russian army. The dragoons and Cossacks, who had been walking without haste, asked the tsar for a quick transition. Peter not only allowed it, but also rode with the cavalry himself. He, like other warriors, was burning with a desire for revenge.
The Don Cossacks and the 8th Dragoon Regiment were the first to reach the vicinity of Utamysh. Semyon Gorodovikov and Makarych served in it.
In the mountains, the Russian cavalry was attacked by a lot of people. According to Makarych’s calculations, there are at least 15 thousand highlanders.
A shootout ensued. Semyon did not get involved in it. After the guardhouse, he became wiser and realized that the military articles were written in blood. A military man must wait for an order. And not to crawl like a soaring young woman.
The order has come. Peter was also tired of this useless firefight. He took the dragoons and personally led them to a collision. The highlanders welcomed her with joy. A battle ensued. Semyon and Makarych tried to stay close to the tsar. Makarych did not wave his saber. At the right moment, he fired a pistol, of which he had a dozen in store.
Where does he keep them? Semyon was thinking about Makarych, fighting off another highlander who was twirling such intricate circles with a saber that it made his eyes blink. Semyon contrived to hit the hilt of the saber on the head in the papakha so that the highlander flew out of the saddle. And he disappeared under the hooves.
Soon the Cossacks joined the dragoons. Together they drove the highlanders into the mountain gorges. They already had to dismount there. The dragoons, accustomed to both horse and foot formation, began to make their way to Utamysh.
On the way, Makarych shot down a mountaineer with a pistol, who rushed onto Semyon’s back from somewhere on a steep slope. Semyon only thanked God that he had sent him such a guardian angel as Makarych.
Thank you, Father! — for the first time, Semyon called Makarych’s father. Tom liked it. Already the eyes of the old and childless warrior shone.
The mountaineers climbed out of all the cracks and rushed at the soldiers with only sabers. They were taken to bayonets. The highlanders died fearlessly. Sometimes taking one or two dragoons with him to the next world.
The dragoons were the first to reach Utamysh. It has already been abandoned by civilians. Peter, burning with a desire for revenge, ordered the settlement to be burned. The dragoons did so. The adobe bags caught fire quickly. Utamysh burned down in a short time.
Dragoons and Cossacks were leaving the ashes. There was nothing else to do here. Semyon, saddling his horse, felt the mountaineers’ eyes burning with vengeance staring at his back and the other soldiers from the mountains. They were not far away and saw how the Russians burned their houses. Semyon felt uneasy. He understood that the highlanders would not forgive them for the ashes.