The map board was on the table where Batu had placed it the night before, the carved pieces arranged at the edge. Spring light came through the felt on the east wall.

The commanders were already in their positions when Batu came through the entrance. Subutai was near the left end, Torghul stood behind his seat, Dorbei was with his arms across the table, Orda was at the right, and the brothers were distributed across the remaining positions, with Berke in his customary slight remove.

Batu stood at the head of the board and looked at the pieces. "We have two main objectives."

He said. "In order. First, the forest cavalry in the east. They’ll be there again, approximately a thousand riders, less well-supplied than in autumn. They need to be pushed back before we go deep into their lands. An active cavalry army at the army’s rear isn’t something we can ignore."

He looked at the board. "Second, Bulgar and the remaining cities need to fall in this campaign season. All of them."

He looked at Dorbei. "The forest."

Dorbei nodded, "They know the terrain and they will repeat what happened at Suvar, harassment from cover, no direct skirmish in the open. They won’t come out of the trees on their own."

He looked at where the forest zone was marked. "We press the forest outskirts from multiple directions at once. Anything that comes out gets pushed back. Anything that retreats further in gets watched."

He paused. "Essentially, we will set up a siege."

At that, Subutai forwarded the discussion to the next topic, "Bulgar’s defenses are different from Suvar. The earthworks will be in better condition and the palisade’s heavier. The garrison behind those walls is made up of veterans."

He looked at Torghul. "The assault is going to cost more than Suvar did."

Torghul was already reaching for the small sketch Batu had placed near the board, the projector in basic lines, the nozzle and frame.

"We don’t let the assault pile up losses."

He said, and set the sketch in front of Subutai. "This is a new weapon. It can fire incendiary projectile outside arrow range. We hold the assault back until the gate is already breached."

Subutai picked up the sketch. He looked at it the way he looked at terrain maps, reading it for what it changed about the engagement. Then he set it down.

"That changes their towers influence on the battlefield."

He said. "If the assault riders aren’t under fire until the gate is breached, the tower archers won’t do nearly as much damage to the army composition." He looked at Torghul. "How many do you need on the projector while the assaults holds back."

"Four," Torghul said. "We’ll have two weapons hitting the gate simultaneously."

Subutai acknowledged it and said nothing further. It was a strategic fact. He had absorbed it.

"When does the White Horde move," Orda said.

He was asking about his wing’s timing in the broader sequence, the Kama river, the northern blocking position, the question of whether the Bulgar garrison would have somewhere to retreat if his riders cut down their path.

Batu was the one that replied, "You move when Dorbei starts the forest siege. The two operations happen at the same time. You seal the north while he presses the east. Then you push to Bulgar and join the siege."

Orda took this and said nothing further.

Tangqut had been looking at the board’s southern section. "My riders go south," he said. "Close the steppe routes below the agricultural zone. Anything trying to move out that way finds us already there." He looked across the board. "Does my perimeter put me across Berke’s eastern riders."

"It doesn’t," Batu said. "Yours runs west of where his riders will be."

Tangqut accepted it.

Berke looked at Batu from his position. "The Volga river is mine," he said. "Anything moving east finds us there." He didn’t add to it.

Toqa-Timur had been watching the board throughout. He looked at Batu when the others had confirmed their positions. "And Bilyar."

"Yours."

Batu said. "Your riders and a detachment from the pool. You move on Bilyar when the main force crosses for Bulgar. The city must fall in this season."

Toqa-Timur considered this. Bilyar was a large city by several accounts. A simultaneous operation against it while the main force was committed to Bulgar was a real command.

"What does my detachment look like," he said.

"You will have it before we march," Batu said. "What the siege requires."

Toqa-Timur nodded.

"The Toluid and Ogedeid armies."

Orda said. He named it the way he named things that were already clear in outline but needed to be on the table precisely. "They will reach the western steppes this year."

"We will done before they arrive."

Batu confirmed. "The Jochid army will take Volga Bulgaria by its own. The intention is for the allied armies to find the western base set up and the campaign ready to move on the Rus territories."

Batu looked at the board and laid the plan out once. Dorbei’s siege operation and Orda’s northern wing move together.

When the forest cavalry is dispersed and the north is sealed, the main force crosses at the ford and moves on Bulgar itself, their capital city.

Toqa-Timur’s force separates for Bilyar at the crossing. The engineer corps moves with the vanguard for the ford. Tangqut closes the south. Berke holds the east.

He looked around the table.

"We depart in two days." he said.

They went in the order their positions required. Toqa-Timur and Tangqut left together through the entrance, already talking in the low voice of men with something to coordinate before the march.

Dorbei went with the unhurried certainty of who had solved the problem in his head and needed only to execute it. Torghul collected the projector sketch from near the board and went. Subutai went without looking back. Berke went next.

Orda was last. He moved through the entrance and stopped with one foot past the threshold, his back to the room. He stood there for a breath. Then he went.

Batu stood at the table. The map board was in front of him and the spring light through the felt was on the camp outside.