Original subtitles

Part Two

Hot piroshki with hare meat straight from the stove!

Give it to me!

Who are you? Nikonian?

You dog, you're foul!

Take communion from heresy! Take communion!

Get out of here!

O Lord, save the victorious Prince Vasily

and our sovereign ruler, the Tsarevna...

Well, what have you got there?

Well.

Father, father, what is this?

The bells sound different.

- What d'you mean, different? - Yes, it's different.

The bells don't ring often now, and this... There may be some trouble.

- We'd better go. - We'll buy a quilt and go.

Tell us, Father, we don't know if there's some feast today?

The advent of the Antichrist.

Merciful heavens! Why do you say that?

Here, Father. God be with you.

Some priest.

Let's go, let's go.

Wait. Look, it's Gypsy.

Gypsy!

Come on, father, how can Gypsy be here?

He must have been killed long ago.

Gypsy!

- Good day, lvan! - Good day.

You feasting?

Yes, taking a snack.

l see you've struck it rich.

- Please, eat with us. - Thank you.

Take a bite too. Whatever God has sent us.

So, you were fighting?

Yes, fighting.

Have you routed the Tatars?

We have.

Laying down 20,000 of our troops near Perekop and as many on our way back.

And our people say that the Khan has submitted.

What?

You better ask those rotting near Perekop whether the Khan has submitted.

You know, we got stuck at Perekop, couldn't move one way or the other.

lt was awfully hot, and no water.

A putrid sea on our left and the Black Sea on our right, with just salt in it.

Horses and men dropped like flies. That's how we were fighting.

Good Lord...

lvan, when l was recruited,

there was a cow l left there, in the village.

We were telling the manager

that you'd need that cow badly when you come back.

But he won't even listen.

And my hog and two piglets?

The manager was so hard on us about the feeding tax.

We thought you might be killed in the war.

So Volkov gobbled up my piglets.

He did, my dear.

Well, then, that's how it is.

Look, Gypsy, you'd better not wag your tongue about what you just told me.

Better keep your mouth shut.

Come on!

Hey, just look at her!

What do you want?

Well, shall we play a little?

Right, right, stir her up!

Stir her up, for she's become too smooth!

Real Satans they are!

Look here, Mishka.

First listen to what people are saying. Don't start shouting before hearing it.

And then say it straight: the Tsaritsa and Lev Kirillovich

have bought up all wheat, to starve Moscow on purpose.

All right.

And don't forget about the poisonous fly.

- Say it's their witchery. - All right.

Sweet berry.

We, the great tsars, reward you, Prince Vasily Golitsyn...

Where's he, by the way?

...for your lasting and loyal service to us,

and for those savage

and primordial enemies of the holy cross...

They're all filled with down.

You don't want this, then take another. Well, are you taking it?

l can't make my choice.

Look, father.

...having been routed, conquered and ousted!

Who was routed, conquered and ousted? Us or Tatars?

Where did we conquer the Tatars? When?

We never saw their faces in the Crimea,

we just sensed them while fleeing!

So many of our men have been wasted in the steppe and in the bogs!

All because of that tyrant, the voivode!

He's conquered Sophia!

He's only good at fighting a woman in bed!

Keep quiet!

Reader, is there anything about me written in that deed?

Who is this fool reading the deed?

A clerk from the Kremlin.

Golitsyn's lackey! His loyal dog!

Then let us take his coat off!

Take his coat off!

The Tsaritsa and Lyovka Naryshkin have bought all bread. You'll all die soon!

- And how about the poison fly? - How come you're so clever?

Stop stirring up people! Hey, guards!

Keep back! Or l'll cut you down!

And what if we pull you down from the horse?

Pull him!

Keep back!

He's too hot! Grabbing at his saber.

He'll stab you and won't think twice.

He's too young, doesn't know how to talk to people.

That's how we live, it's all torture.

No, guys, don't even try to seek justice.

There's no justice...

No, there's no justice.

You won't profit by us, dear, we're stealing ourselves.

One was hanging about here, too, and we threw him down an ice-hole.

Why say that?

l just want you to take me into your artel, it's easier to work together.

Can you steal?

Who? Me?

l can come out on high road with a bludgeon right this minute.

Especially if we go together.

People flee to the woods by thousands. Maybe we'll go there, too?

Will you pour me some?

lt's you again? Go away.

There, the streltsy will give you a treat.

Away with you, don't stick here.

C'mon, get out!

So we're standing on guard.

Here comes out Fyodor Leontyevich Shaklovity.

The Tsarevna, he says, rewards you for your faithful, good service

with 5 rubles for each.

And hands us a bag of silver.

What's that? We keep silent.

What's on his mind?

And he sighed,

and says: oh, streltsy, you loyal servants, you don't have to live long

with your wives in rich homesteads beyond the Moscow River.

- How come? - Don't interrupt.

This is how.

They want, he says, to send you, streltsy, to different towns.

To oust me as the streltsy commander,

and to banish the Tsarevna to a convent.

They can't do that!

And the worst troublemaker among them is Tsaritsa Natalya Kirillovna.

She even had Pyotr married for this purpose.

On her instruction, he says, the servants, only we don't know who,

are giving lvan a slow-action potion,

so Tsar lvan is not long for this world.

But this is an outrage!

Who is going to love you, streltsy? Who will stand up for you?

What about Vasily Vasilyevich?

They feared only him, Vasily Vasilyevich.

And now the boyars are ready to give his head for the Crimean disgrace.

And they'll thrust Pyotr upon us.

They won't see it, it's not the first time that we rise by the tocsin.

Hush, don't yell.

Just the tocsin won't save us.

We may kill all of them, like 7 years ago, but'll never destroy their root.

So it comes to...

Whether we want it or not...

we must do away with the old mother bear.

And why spare the bear-cub?

What's stopping us?

Hoist him up on a bear-spear, too.

We must save ourselves, men.

We should do all this without too much noise.

Select about fifty loyal men.

Set Preobrazhenskoye on fire at nighttime.

And amid the flames we'll do a clean knife job on them.

Yes...

My mother-in-law, Natalya Kirillovna, is pretty severe.

l'm doing my best to please her, but she always finds something wrong.

Why, she says, you're so skinny?

And l'm not skinny at all.

No-no, dear, you're not skinny at all.

You got everything round and right, our angel.

Why, she says, Petrusha rode away from you to the lake on the second month?

Are you mouldy, orjust stupid,

that your husband has to run away from you, like from a plague,

to the end of the world?

No, not stupid.

And not a plague either.

For heaven's sake! What are you saying, dear?

lt's their own fault.

Why are Lefort and Aleksashka allowed to be near him?

That's them who have lured him to Pereyaslavl Lake.

And they may lure him to even worse places.

You're quite right, my beauty, those two can.

And they will, my little dove.

He's over there, resting.

Hey, is there anyone alive here? Orthodox people!

Why did you yell, you idol?

Where's the tsar?

The devil only knows. l guess, in the boat.

Petya.

Sire!

Mein Herz.

How are you, uncle Tomcat Kirillovich. What brings you here?

l came for you, Sire. Not to seek some favour.

The situation demands that you come to Moscow now.

l'll drop by one of these days.

Not one of these days, but today. We can't lose even an hour.

Last night we discovered an ambush in the bushes

in front of the Preobrazhensky Palace.

There's over a hundred streltsy on the other bank of the Yauza.

Our Preobrazhensky guards were burning wicks all night,

blowing horns.

So the streltsy were wary of crossing the river.

Only later it became known in Moscow that they had a plan:

as soon as a racket starts in the palace, they must be ready

to kill anyone

who comes out of the palace.

- Mein Herz. - No!..

Hold his legs.

Oh, God... Are you all right, Petya?

Petya!

What is it? Oh, my God...

Petya.

Petya dear.

Come, come...

What's the matter, my dear Tsar?

Come on, Sire, what's the matter with you?

Oh, my goodness...

Pyotr Alexeyevich, listen to me, the old fool.

We kept on playing, and we got ourselves in trouble.

lt's time to say goodbye to boys' games.

Go to hell!

l'm going, my dear, l'm going.

And where are you going?

Well, Prince?

We've nurtured a wolf cub.

Now expect him in Moscow with his toy army.

There're about 3,000 of them, if not more. All strong stallions.

l won't even listen to this.

God gives life.

And only God can take it from him.

lt'll be too late, Prince.

Too late.

l've planted my loyal men among the streltsy,

so that they go to Preobrazhenskoye to beg for bread.

That's where the toy army will confront them.

And it'll look like Germans are beating Russians on Pyotr's order.

We won't even need the tocsin, the streltsy will do the job.

No.

l don't want his blood.

lt'll be too late, Vasily Vasilyevich.

l'm warning you.

lt's our heads that will be impaled.

You're dragging out. You're afraid.

You're tying us hand and foot!

l'm not tying your hands.

And those in Preobrazhenskoye are not sleeping.

We've just caught their scout, the stolnik Volkov.

Will you go and question him?

The Tsarevna wants you to do it.

l'm ill.

What a shame! What a shame...

Getting power in bed with a woman.

O Lord!

Enlighten me!

Why are you sitting like that? Get up!

The Tsarevna has read the Tsar's letter.

lt's nothing doing.

Get up!

Why did they send you to Moscow in the middle of the night?

He's a scout.

We would like to talk to you, Tsar's stolnik.

ls Tsar Pyotr in good health? How is the Tsaritsa?

Will they stay angry with us for long?

Has the toy army enough ammunition?

Are they in need of anything? The Tsarevna wants to know all of it.

Why don't you answer? Speak up.

You're putting guards on the roads.

Just for fun, or are you afraid of anyone?

Beating off carts with bread. ls it any good?

Speak up, or we'll make you speak.

Or maybe you want to answer at the rack?

l have nothing to tell you.

Go yourselves to Preobrazhenskoye.

You've got lots of streltsy to accompany you.

Cut his head off!

Go on!

You hangmen!

Hangmen!

Where can you find hangmen now?

All good folks are asleep.

Who is he?

Am l supposed to do it myself?

lt's no good to bloody my saber with this.

Go look for an executioner.

Mind you, it's the Tsarevna's order.

Let's go.

Well, you may go.

Go on, go.

Run along the wall to the gate, then turn left.

Christ be with you.

Make a bed right here.

- Spending nights in larders. - Make a bed, l said.

You've got too talkative lately.

Pull my boots off.

l can see you're feeling better, mein Herz.

- Maybe you'll go to the tsaritsa? - No, she's a fool.

Lock the door.

- Have you checked the sentry posts? - Yes, l have.

Yesterday they discovered a barrel of kvass in the kitchen.

Thank God they gave it first to a dog. lt dropped dead.

Don't worry, mein Herz.

l myself brought this kvass here.

lf only l had an army like Sonka has...

Yes.

We haven't got enough troops, mein Herz.

Of course, it's your tsar's will to sleep the devil knows where...

All right, let's go to sleep. Don't put it out.

Mein Herz.

Why don't you write a letter to the Roman Caesar asking for troops.

You fool.

Me fool?

lt's not at all foolish what l'm saying, mein Herz.

And you should ask for 10,000 infantrymen, no more.

Talk about this with Boris Alexeyevich.

Of course, we don't have money for this. We need money.

We'll cheat.

We could dupe the emperor, couldn't we?

l can go to Vienna myself.

Oh, how we would strike at Moscow then, at those streltsy!

Go to hell!

Well, all right.

l'm not talking about bowing to the Swedes or the Tatars.

lf you don't want, don't do it. lt's your tsar's will.

lt's too late you came up with this idea.

That sister of mine...

The bloodthirsty butcheress.

Ordering to plant grenades on the road, sending murderers to me.

Aleksashka.

Are you sleeping, you devil?

Give me some kvass.

Oh, my God...

Mein Herz, someone's running here.

Wake up, sire, there's trouble!

- lt's Alyoshka. - Open up.

They ran over from Moscow.

Oh, father Tsar!

lt's the end of you!

What are they doing to you, to our dear father?

An immense force has gathered,

taking up swords against you!

The tocsin is sounding from the Spasskaya Tower!

People are running in from all ends!

Mein Herz...

To the Trinity!

To the Trinity!

Oh, damn... Follow us!

Wait! Where're you going, mein Herz?

With no pants on!

To the Trinity!

Wait! Wait!

Tsar Pyotr was driven out of the Preobrazhensky Palace,

he rode, dressed only in a shirt, to the Trinity Monastery.

He may run wild wherever he wishes.

lt would be all right if he rode alone.

But with him are all the palace guards and his two toy regiments

with cannons, mortars and live shells.

Oh, God...

And it's not the worst news.

Well, what else, Fyodor Leontyevich?

The streltsy regiments of Lavrenty Sukharev

and lvan Tsykler went over to Pyotr this morning.

And others are about to do it, too. The regiments been swayed, Tsarevna.

On whom can we rely if the most loyal leave?

Make an announcement in Moscow:

anyone who dares to go to the Trinity will have their heads cut off.

l'll announce it, but it won't make them listen to reason.

We've let our chance slip away, Tsarevna.

You should send the Patriarch to talk your brother into making peace.

What are you talking about?

We just need to lure the wolf cub out of the Trinity.

Then we'll do as you say, Tsarevna.

l'm kissing the cross on this.

Look, it's Boris Golitsyn!

Going against his brother.

- They're just half-brothers. - Well, anyway.

Greetings, brave men!

God will forgive you and the tsar pardons you.

Unharness the horses, cook your porridge.

The tsar sends you a barrel of wine!

lt's a God-loving doing that you left the thieves, fearing the Tsar.

ln French it's called 'politique' - knowing your own interest.

The French King Louis Xl

came to a moujik with a visit if he needed that moujik.

And if need be, he cut off the head of a distinguished count.

He didn't war much, preferring to make his politique.

He was at once a lion and a fox.

He made his country a great deal richer and his enemies poor.

l feel ashamed of having run from Sonka just in my shirt.

Oh-oh-oh, Peter, Peter...

Everything passes.

You'll forget this, too.

This is an ukase from Tsar Pyotr Alexeyevich

about going with my regiment and arms to him in the Trinity without delay.

My head is white.

My body is scared with wounds.

l served faithfully and truly Alexei Mikhailovich,

Fyodor Alexeyevich and Sophia Alexeyevna.

But now...

l'm going to Pyotr Alexeyevich.

So that...

not to lose my head at the block.

This one has left, too.

We should go to the Trinity.

Sophia dear.

Then you go to make peace with my brother.

You're a great voivode, the guardian of the throne.

l would go, but l'm not well.

Not well...

- How are you, dear Prince? - Thank you, God is sparing me.

Mother Tsaritsa, Sophia is at Vozdvizhenskoye.

She's free to do what she likes.

Oh, God...

- Where's the tsarevna? - Away, you shameless, she's asleep.

Sleeping? Then tell the tsarevna...

...not to go to the monastery.

See, l'm alive, Tsarevna.

l'm going to the Trinity.

Tell my brother l'm coming.

As you wish.

The tsar said you're to wait here

for his messenger, Prince lvan Borisovich Troyekurov.

And until he comes, not to let you go anywhere.

- ls the tsarevna here? - Yes, here, father boyar.

ls Tsar Pyotr Alexeyevich well? ls the Tsaritsa well?

Thank God, everybody is well.

l want to sleep in the monastery. lt's not for me to stay here.

You shouldn't have come here without guards and troops, Tsarevna.

The roads are dangerous.

lt's not for me to fear. l have more troops than you.

But they can't do anything.

That's why l'm without guards.

l don't want blood. l want peace.

What blood are you talking about? There will be no blood.

Why did you come?

Brought an ukase.

Verka, take the ukase from the boyar.

And here's my ukase.

Tell them to harness the horses!

l want to sleep in the monastery!

The Tsar and Grand Prince,

the sovereign of all Great, Little and White Russia,

orders you to go back to Moscow without delay

and wait there for the Tsar's...

You dog!

When l'm back with my regiments, your head will be the first to fall!

And who's going to cut it off?

That thief and troublemaker, Fedka Shaklovity, was brought to the Trinity

by his streltsy comrades tied up hand and foot.

And should she insist on entering the monastery,

it's my order to dishonour her.

That's it.

Oh, my God, mother Tsaritsa...

Well?

l was drunk. l don't remember what l was babbling.

Read it.

And then he said to the same Filipp

about Tsar Pyotr Alexeyevich some monstrous words:

that he drinks and goes to Kukui,

and no measures can bring him to his senses,

for he's always dead drunk.

Go on.

And it would be good to sneak in

and place gunpowder grenades in the tsar's anteroom

in order to kill him, the tsar, with those grenades.

Tell me the truth, dog!

You wish you had killed me long ago, as a child, right, Fedka?!

Who wanted to murder me? You? No? Who, then?

Whom did you send with grenades? Name them.

Why didn't you kill me then? Why didn't stab me?

l only remember these words clearly:

''Why hadn't we rid of the tsaritsa and the brothers sooner?''

But there was nothing about knives and grenades.

l don't remember.

And it was Vaska Golitsyn who said those filthy words.

Five more whips.

ls Vaska Golitsyn with his son staying at this place?

He's in the house. They arrived yesterday.

You're ordered to come out, Prince.

You come too, young prince.

Put more life into your step!

The voivode is riding on two hooves.

He may fall down into mud!

Quiet! What's that racket?

Silence!

The great Tsars Pyotr Alexeyevich and lvan Alexeyevich

have ordered to deprive you,

Prince Vasily Golitsyn, of boyar's rank and honours,

and to send you, together with your wife and children,

to eternal exile in Kargopol.

The carriage is waiting. Get on, Prince.

Get on.

Don't shake your knee, young prince.

Go.

Yes, that's how it can turn out...

Halt!

What nonsense.

Well?

What do you have to say, boyars?

Tsarevna.

This is the order of the Tsars, the sovereigns of all Great,

Little and White Russia.

Read it.

Now the time has come for us, the two great Tsars,

Pyotr Alexeyevich and lvan Alexeyevich,

to rule by ourselves over the realm entrusted to us,

for we have come of age now.

As for the third disgraced person, that is our sister,

we don't allow her to be equal

in titles and rule with our two male persons.

Pyotr, loann.

We put our feeble brains to it and decided

to tell you the truth, our great tsars.

We were the third Rome.

Now we're the second Sodom and Gomorrah.

The great tsars must not

let infidels build their praying houses.

And those that have already been built, must be destroyed.

And ban the cursed heretics

from commanding the regiments.

Wolves are in command...

of lambs!

And prohibit Orthodox people to make friends with heretics.

No foreign ways and dress

should be introduced.

And raising the Orthodox spirit,

oust all foreigners from Russia

and burn the German sloboda down!

Your Holiness.

lt saddens me that there's no agreement between us.

We don't interfere in your Christian affairs,

but you do interfere in our state affairs.

We may have great plans, but what do you know about them?

We want to war for the seas.

We see our country's grandeur in the successes of sea trade.

And this is God's blessing.

Without foreigners l can't succeed in military and maritime affairs.

But if we touch their kirches and Catholic churches, they'll run away.

So what is it...

Are you clipping my wings?

He's tough.

And now this, boyars.

l need 8 thousand rubles for the army and shipbuilding.

Well, boyars, l don't think it's such big money for the tsar's deeds.

We surely can raise it, right?

Anhen, l'll introduce you to some of our guests.

Mister Van Leiden from Amsterdam.

Our friends Hamilton and Kenigsek.

Mister Sidney from London.

And this is my old friend Mons.

Very beautiful.

l didn't expect to see such luxury here.

How much could this palace cost General Lefort?

A lot.

Enjoying the tsar's favour, you can get rich very quickly.

Yes, this country is rich.

Richer than the New World, richer than lndia.

lf they had ports in the Baltic Sea and good roads,

one could have big turnovers here.

As long as the boyars are in power, there will be only losses.

But Peter is an autocrat now.

The Tsar will be here any minute.

The tsar's favourite.

A former batman, recently promoted to an officer's rank.

A useful man.

Welcome, my friend.

l've long dreamt of being brought in the presence of the mighty tsar.

l'm just a humble merchant.

l'm much indebted to God for the circumstance as such,

of which l'll be telling my children and grandchildren.

We'll show you. We'll show.

And if you can drink and joke,

he might invite you to join his company.

A lot of things to tell your children about.

He must have come to beg for workmen, for woodcutters?

Why not...

lf the tsar writes a note to Lev Kirillovich...

Let him work on it.

l'm so happy to see you.

And for me, being with you is my only joy.

lt's fern seed, picked on lvan Kupala's eve.

Don't have any doubt about it, my dove, it's holy water.

Think most secret things, either aloud or in your mind.

What are your doubts about?

He's changed after he came from the monastery.

Won't even listen to me, as though l'm a complete fool.

''Why won't you read some history or learn to speak Dutch or German?''

l tried to, but l don't understand anything.

lsn't he supposed to love his wife without books?

Of course he is, of course.

For how long have you not been sleeping together?

lt's over two months now.

Natalya Kirillovna has forbidden to.

She thinks it may be dangerous to the womb.

Give me your ring.

Wedding ring, dispel Tsaritsa's sad thoughts.

Look right into the ring, my heavenly angel.

See something there?

Looks like a face.

Look closer. A woman's face?

Seems to be woman's.

That's her.

Who her?

What do you know? What are you hiding from me?

Who, who... A viper, a German woman.

All Moscow is whispering about it, but they're afraid of telling you.

He's being poisoned by a love potion in the German sloboda.

Don't get roused, my dove, it's too early to grieve.

We'll help you.

Take the needle. Hold the needle with your fingers.

Don't be afraid. Take the needle, my dove.

Repeat after me.

Away, away, you vicious snake Anna,

fork-boned and knife-boned, parched and aching,

go and don't look back, beyond the Fafer-Mountain,

where the sun never rises, the moon never shines,

the dew never falls, -

lie down in the moist earth, seven meters deep,

and that be your place, vicious snake Anna, till the end of the world.

Prick her. Prick her with the needle.

With the needle, prick her in the face!

Prick her! That's where she belongs!

The tsar!

How are you, Dunya?

You haven't given birth yet?

And l thought...

l would love to have pleased you. l see everybody's tired of waiting.

l'm so sorry.

l was dining at Romodanovsky's, and they said that...

You'll know when l'm dead! They'll tell you...

Come on, Dunya.

No one dies of that.

No one?

You'll be the last to know!

Keep laughing, making merry and drinking wine!

l'm ashamed to look people in the face. Everybody knows it.

What do they know, Dunya?

About your heretic, that German slut!

What potion did she give you?

You fool!

Pour me some shchi, and something to warm me up.

Sit down at the table, Orthodox man.

This is it, my shame for everyone to see.

A boyar's doing.

They really kicked your back gate.

Have you heard of blacksmith Zhemov

whose smithy is by Varvara the Martyr?

We have.

There has never been a thief who could pick my locks.

One can find my sickles as far away as Ryazan.

No bullet has ever made a hole in the armour l made. You know that?

We do.

But you don't know that Zhemov can't sleep at night.

Zhemov's head is splitting from thoughts.

And the boyars are feeding my brains to pigs.

Oh, you'll be sorry yet!

Zhemov shall be remembered!

All right, enough of your bragging.

You better tell people what they flogged you for.

On one condition - don't laugh. l feel miserable as it is.

An amazing, magic mechanics!

Wings of mica are flapping like a bat's,

through levers.

Man can fly.

Buinosov, you're a loser, boyar!

God had made man a crawling worm,

and l will teach him to fly.

l'll jump from the bell-tower without harming myself.

Tell it in the proper order, dear. Why did they hurt you?

l made them too heavy, the wings.

l miscalculated a bit, and they turned out heavy.

lt dawned on me only here, in the tavern - mica is no good.

We need parchment on a wooden frame.

Well?

Well, l took them to the Kremlin for a try.

And l couldn't fly, just got my mug smashed.

The boyar ordered to give me 200 rods in his presence.

l endured all 200 of them, brothers, just gritted my teeth.

Oh, poor man...

And l was ordered to pay back the 18 rubles that had been spent.

Sell the smithy,

the instruments, the homestead.

What am l to do now...

Go to the woods with a bludgeon?

Yes, only that, you sufferer.

There's only one road. Come with us.

The bird neither reaps nor sows, and God gives bread.

We don't need much, just something to live by.

Come with us to the woods, blacksmith.

There they are.

There, the antichrist's boats.

And the cursed one himself in a tsar's disguise is sailing to get our blood.

Let's shut ourselves, brethren, from the devil's eyes

in our godly hermitages.

Look, Peter, people live here, too.

Of course, we're nearing Arkhangelsk.

l can't wait to get there.

Good.

Good!

Franz.

Are you sleeping?

Are you feeling ill, Peter?

No.

l want to buy two ships in Holland.

That's good.

Come on, come here.

l'll just take our pipes.

To transport goods on our own.

Very good.

l've been waiting for it for a long time, Peter.

- You're ready for glorious deeds. - What deeds?

What?

Roman heroes we're trying to imitate

believed they'd find glory in wars.

Warring with whom? Go to the Crimea again?

The Black Sea and the Azov Sea must be yours, Peter.

The other day Peltenburg was whispering into my ear

if the Russians were really still paying tribute to the Crimean Khan.

Well, go on, l'm listening.

Peter, it must not be done anymore.

Taxes on merchants and all kinds of tradespeople...

Another complaint about governors?

About Styopka Sukhotin.

We humbly petition the Tsar...

Just tell me about it.

They say he's ruining trade by extortions to fill up his own pocket.

He locks merchants and tradespeople in the larder, beats them with a cane,

whence one of them innocently died.

Left a wealthy industrialist, Zmiyev, to languish in a chest,

in which holes were bored for him not to suffocate.

Takes hunting duty from tradespeople and puts it in his pocket.

He also misappropriates zemstvo and state moneys

and threatens to bring all Kungur to ruin if anyone complains.

Hang the dog at the Kungur market place!

Go on, write it.

lt's easy to hang him, but it won't stop them.

The governors are not to stay in place over two years.

They get into the habit, learning the tricks.

No, not that either.

A new governor will be no better than his predecessor.

We have to take their former power from them.

Write.

ln all towns...

tradespeople...

merchants and industrialists are to be announced my ukase.

Governors and clerks no longer have any authority over their affairs.

This authority is vested in bailiffs.

And they shall elect among themselves good and honest people

to be bailiffs,

whoever they want and how many they want.

And that's it. Give it to me to sign.

Mein Herz, lvashka Brovkin, a new Moscow merchant, with a petition.

- He's begging to receive him. - Show him in.

Well, speak up.

We're bowing down to the great Tsar.

Stand up.

l say, sit down.

What are you asking for?

We're bowing down to the great Tsar.

Speak up, then.

As we learned, you're building ships on the Dvina...

Good gracious, what a joy!

We want you to forbid us to sell our goods to foreigners.

We're giving them away just for nothing, l swear.

Train oil, seal skin, fish bones,

pearls, salted salmon.

Order us, merchants, to take it to your ships.

Have mercy, those foreigners are just ruining us.

And we'll do our best to serve our own tsar, not some foreign kings.

l'll have two ships built by winter.

And l want to buy a third one in Holland.

Bring your goods, merchants.

But remember, no fraud.

God forbid, father Tsar...

Will you go yourself with your goods to Amsterdam?

The first Commercienrat!

l don't know languages.

But if you say so, father Tsar, we can trade in Amsterdam, too.

We won't let them cheat us.

Good for you.

Andrei Andreyevich, write the ukase.

To the first merchant navigator,

Brovkin, lvan... What's your patronymic?

- Artemyevich, l think. - Brovkin, lvan Artemyevich.

Are you going...

- To write it with my patronymic? - Of course.

For this, father Tsar, allow me to kiss your foot.

Get up!

l don't like it.

You can go now, lvan Artemyevich.

The first Commercienrat.

What else do you have? But give me just the gist.

Those plundering matters again. Thieves have been caught near Ryazan.

One is a runaway serf,

another says he's blacksmith Kuzma Zhemov.

Moreover, a carriage with state money was robbed on Troitsky Road.

With two men killed.

They searched and arrested Styopka Odoyevsky and a son of a nobleman...

There they are!

Princes and boyars.

They took to bludgeons now, robbers.

Right, real robbers they are, Pyotr Alexeyevich.

l know. l remember.

Every one of them keeps a knife ready for me.

And l have an axe for each of them!

l'm strong now. When we clash, there'll be no mercy.

l'm sorry, Pyotr Alexeyevich, two more letters, from the Tsaritsas.

Read them, it's all the same now.

Our most gracious Tsar and father Pyotr Alexeyevich.

May you be healthy and prosper, my dear father,

Tsar Pyotr Alexeyevich, for many years to come.

l, your son Alyoshka,

am asking for a blessing from you who is the light of my life.

Please come here, our most loved Tsar, without delay.

l'm asking this favour from you

because l'm seeing my grandmother, Tsaritsa, in great grief.

Don't be angry, my dear Tsar, that the letter is badly written:

l haven't learned it yet, Sire.

With whose hand is it written?

With the Tsaritsa Natalya Kirillovna's

trembling hand, incomprehensibly.

Well, write something to them.

That l'm waiting for Hamburg ships.

That l'm healthy, don't go to the sea, so she may not worry.

And they better not expect me soon.

The Tsarevich Alexei Petrovich

applied his inked finger to the letter.

All right, his finger...

His finger...

The End