The horrors of Ryazan were repeated in Vladimir. Only young women, nuns, and strong laborers were led away captive. The sick, the infirm, the weak and the aged were slaughtered at once, and without mercy. Smoking ruins alone were left of the beautiful city of Vladimir. When the Mongols marched away from the remnant of the capital, there was not a groan, or a cry to be heard from the people, for all who were in that city were lying dead. To overtake Yuri and destroy his forces was no difficult task for the savage invaders. They found him in Yaroslavl regions, on the banks of the Siti. Among other princes was Vassilko, his favorite nephew, a son of Constantine, whom his dying father had asked Yuri to treat as one of his own sons. Crushed by news from Vladimir, Yuri seemed dazed, and repeated unceasingly: “Why am I left, why do I not die with them?” Grief for children and wife was swallowed up in his anguish over the destruction of the city, the people, the bishop, and the clergy. Volunteers who were pouring in brought similar tidings from every part: “The enemy are slaying all people, burning all places; they are everywhere!” Only one thing remained: retreat to the distant north. But from Vologda, and even from Galitch beyond the Volga, came news of the same universal slaughter and destruction. Three thousand men, sent as scouts to the north, returned with these tidings: “The enemy are attacking off there, they are around us far and near, they are everywhere.” Soon the struggle began on the Siti, and became straightway a most terrible massacre. Numbers crushed everything. The Mongols had scarcely begun when they had victory. Those people who were not mortally wounded, and who rose from the battle field, and a few who were unwounded fled, and hid in the forests. Yuri, Grand Prince of Vladimir, lay dead in a great pile of bodies,—his head was not with his body. More terrible still was the death of Vassilko. The young prince was taken alive by the Mongols. Attractive in mind and in person, his men said of him that whoso had served him would not serve another. He pleased also the Mongols. Batu strove to incline him to friendship. “Oh, dark kingdom of vileness,” answered Vassilko, “God has given me into thy hands, but thou canst not separate me from Christians.” He would take neither food nor drink from the pagans. Enraged at his stubbornness, they killed him most cruelly, and threw out his body to be eaten by wild beasts. The corpse of the young prince was found in a forest, under the guidance of a woman who said that she had witnessed his tortures, and Vassilko was buried with Yuri, his uncle. The headless Yuri, as found on the field of battle, was put in a coffin, but afterward the head was discovered and placed with the body, and the two bodies were taken later on to Rostoff for interment.