The peace which followed was strengthened by two marriages. A son of Sviatoslav of Kief, that Glaib just released from prison, married Rurik’s daughter, and Mystislav, another son, married a sister-in-law of Vsevolod. So there was harmony between North and South for a season. Sviatoslav not only made peace with the Prince of Vladimir, but sent two sons to assist him in his campaign against the Silver Bulgars. “God grant us in my day to stand against pagans,” wrote Sviatoslav, and he sent one thousand men, led by Vladimir, his son, late prince in Novgorod. Forces came, too, from Ryazan and Murom, also from Pereyaslavl in the South, that place which the Polovtsi had always hit the hardest. This contingent was led by Izyaslav, the most gallant of Vsevolod’s nephews. All the forces met at Nizni-Novgorod, whence one part of the army advanced on horseback, and the other in boats down the Volga. Vsevolod himself was with the expedition. Never before did Russians go into an enemy’s country so deeply as this time. They gave many a defeat to the pagan Bohmitan, as Mohammedans were called at that period. But in front of a palisaded fort, to the great grief of all, the gallant Izyaslav, son of Glaib, was struck in the heart by an arrow, and brought to the Russian camp dying. The loss of this youth, loved by the army, was avenged through a crushing battle fought at the edge of the Volga. More than one thousand Bulgars were drowned with their boats. More than fifteen hundred were cut down near the river. The body of the brave Izyaslav was taken back to Vladimir, and buried there with great honor. The Grand Prince did not wish at that time to bring Mohammedans under his rule; his only desire was to prove beyond question that Nizni-Novgorod and the places around it belonged to Vladimir, his capital. He wished to settle Russian ownership in those places, and establish moral influence over the people who lived between him and the Mohammedans, and who were still pagans. Not fearing war when it must come, but shunning it always when possible, Vsevolod, at home again, toiled at developing the lands of Vladimir. He desired, above all, the confidence of the people, and won it through giving them safety, order, and prosperity. He was busied specially with the many towns founded by Yuri, his father. In Suzdal he built a strong fortress, and put walls around it. He also repaired the cathedral in that city. “Though old, let it be as if new,” was said of the building. Pereyaslavl, renewed, and adorned as in the old time, grew distinguished.