Many people gathered at the ByFloy Church; Some detachments themselves formed corrals, and the merciless extermination of Jews and gentry began. Manor estates, Catholic churches, monasteries were burned and destroyed. The Russian people wiped out a lot from the lords and Jews, and therefore dealt with them terribly and inhumanely. It is difficult to convey what the Cossacks and the khlops did: they tortured the nobles, dishonored the ladies, then brutally killed them, hanged and burned the priests, took the dead out of their coffins, stripped them and walked around in these clothes. They cut, hung, sawed in half, cut out pieces of meat, tore off the skin of the living, gouged out eyes and committed other furies and atrocities. The Jews especially suffered; in a short time from Starodub (Cherniga province) to the Dnipro there was not a single Jew or nobleman left. Cities and estates lay in ruins, corpses littered the streets, producing evil, which is why mortal diseases appeared.
Suddenly the news spread about the death of King Vladislav: he was a good king, disposed towards the Cossacks, who himself encouraged them to take up arms against the lords. Khmelnitsyu, as if not knowing about the death of the king, sent him a letter in which he said that he had raised this war for him against the arbitrariness of the lords, and that if he wanted to ensure the fate of the Russian people, the war would stop. The lords received this letter and decided to begin negotiations on the conclusion of peace, but Khmelnitsky deliberately delayed the matter so that the Tatars from the Crimea could join him, as well as corrals. While negotiations were going on, the Poles tried to gather up to 40 thousand troops, not counting the master's servants. Khmelnitsky had 80 thousand. The enemies converged near Konstantinov. The Poles boasted that they were using whips to disperse this Cossack bastard. “Don’t help, God, neither us nor the Cossacks, but watch how we deal with this filthy peasant.” The Poles spoke.
The Poles were pampered from birth, most of them had never been in battle before, and they gathered on the campaign as if for a festival, bringing with them a lot of different goods: gold and silver dishes, soft beds, rich harness, clothes, etc. However, at first they fought well, when suddenly word spread that the Tatars had come. Very few Tatars came, but nevertheless the lords became afraid and at night began to leave the camp one by one.
The Polish army, noticing that the commander was not there, was confused, and although the next day they defended themselves for some time, they soon threw down their weapons and rushed to run in disorder. Many Polish youth died on this day. The defeat of the Poles was complete. The Cossacks marveled for a long time at the rich booty they received.
The described battle took place near the Pilyava river and is therefore called the Pilyava defeat. Khmelnitsky went after the fleeing gentlemen to Zbarazh, but found no one there. The Cossacks stopped and gathered the Rada to decide what to do. The Cossacks wanted Khmelnytsky to accept the title of hetman, but he again refused this, saying that he was fighting against the lords, and not against the king, and that if this last day was desired, he himself would reward him with this title.
“Lead on the Poles, finish the Poles!” shouted glad. Khmelnytsky, an obedient ox, again sent out corrals throughout the Ukraine and, taking a ransom from Lvov, besieged the fortress of Zamosc in Poland itself. During the siege
E AYA
A new king, Kazimru, was chosen to take Vladislav. This choice was desirable for Khmelnitsky, and therefore, when the king ordered him to return to Ukraine and wait for ambassadors to conclude peace, he lifted the siege and moved back. It was $161 in November.
People everywhere greeted Khmelnitsky as their deliverer from captivity. Even before the arrival of the Polish ambassadors, ambassadors from other lands came to Khmelnitsky: the Russian Tsar, the Turkish Sultan, the rulers of Moldova and Valakhmi and the Hungarian prince. The glory of the exploits of Kh\Melnitsky and the Cossack forces spread everywhere.