He picked up the first piece and held it over the map's eastern section.
Volga Bulgaria. The Bulgar state had been there for centuries, a Turkic-Muslim trading civilization built on the middle Volga's commerce. Their capital at Bulgar city, on the river's left bank south of the Kama confluence. Secondary cities at Suvar, at Bilyar.
A professional standing force somewhere between ten and fifteen thousand men, with perhaps thirty thousand total they could put in the field if they raised their full levy. They were capable defenders on prepared positions, and had no cavalry force that could engage on open ground without being cut apart.
They had beaten a Mongol raiding force in more than a decade ago. They probably considered it as evidence they can resist further.
It was not evidence of anything that would help them.
