The three pieces were where he had placed them. Ryazan covered from two directions, the route north and the route south both sealed. He had answered the opening problem. What the board was showing him now was the next one.
He picked up the Jochid piece from Ryazan and held it above the Vladimir-Suzdal region's northern path.
After Ryazan fell, the Vladimir prince would face a choice. Two options, and neither of them worked.
If he sent his field army south to meet the Jochid force at Kolomna, that army marched toward the Jochid main body advancing from the south with the Toluid wing already positioned on the road behind it from the northeast.
The Vladimir force would find itself between two bodies of riders with nowhere to withdraw toward its own city.
If the Vladimir prince kept his army inside Vladimir's walls, Ryazan fell without a relief attempt and the Jochid force turned north at full strength against a city whose defenders had chosen to wait.
