"Long live Pugatchev, leader of the peasants' revolution!"
"Long live Pugatchev, leader of the rebellious peasants!"
"Long live Pugatchev, long live Pugatchev!" screamed the thirty thousand peasants revolting against Empress Katharina II's policies, waving their guns behind Pugatchev, a military deserter who claimed to be the legitimate Emperor that the Empress had slain, promising his followers among the farmers to abolish the feudal system, to free all the serfs, and to give the peasants the land they work.
Pugatchev was leading the parade on his horse, heading towards the major cities, quite confident in his influence, in his followers’ loyalty, and in the blessings granted by the monks along the way, before he jumped off his horse, ran in panic towards the rocks and weeds in the valleys seeking shelter, pursued by his followers who had learned that Empress Katharina II was offering a legendary sum of money to whoever would deliver her Emelian Ivanovitch Pugatchev, dead or alive.
