a crawl across the Siberia landscape, and they did not even cross the Urals until the spring of 1584. In September 1583, a call for help from a Tatar leader named Karacha was delivered to Yermak begging for assistance against the Nogai Tatars. Yermak, wary of Karacha but nonetheless disposed to help, deployed Kolzo with a force of 40 Cossacks. Karacha, however, was not to be trusted, as Kolzo and his men walked into an ambush and were all killed. Now without Kolzo, Yermak was left with a little more than 300 men. Sensing Yermak's waning power, the tribes previously under his control revolted, and Qashliq soon came under siege by a collective army of Tatars, Voguls, and Ostyaks. Cleverly, they encircled the city with a line of wagons, both preventing passage to and from the city while protecting the attackers from the Russians’ firearms. Yermak, despite having limited supplies, was able to endure the blockade for three months. However, the Cossacks could not last forever, and on the cloudy night of June 12, 1584, Yermak decided to act. Stealthily penetrating the line of wagons, Yermak's men were able to surprise the gathered forces in their sleep, killing a large number. As Karacha's forces had been caught completely unaware, Yermak was able to recover a substantial amount of provisions from the barricade. Karacha, having failed in his mission, was punished by Kuchum, who sentenced Karacha's two sons to death. Karacha, fueled by the loss of his sons, regrouped the native tribes and returned to assault Yermak the next day. Karacha's forces, however, were soundly defeated, as the Cossacks were able to kill one hundred men with only two dozen deaths of their own. Defeated and disgraced, Karacha fled south to the steppes of the Ishim, where Kuchum waited. Freed from confinement, Yermak turned to the offensive, conquering many towns and forts to the east of Qashliq and extending the tsar's dominion. Having already regained the loyalty of the revolting tribes, Yermak continued sailing up the Irtysh throughout the summer of 1584 to subdue tribes and demand tribute. Although he attempted to search for Karacha, Yermak was ultimately unsuccessful in this venture. Also, while Yermak had succeeded in regaining the loyalty of the tribes, his men were now almost completely out of gunpowder. To make matters worse, while his reinforcements arrived, they did so utterly exhausted and depleted by scurvy. Indeed,