their boats acted as shields. When crossing the Urals, the Cossacks had to carry their possessions on their backs because they did not have horses. After two months, Yermak's army had finally crossed the Urals. They followed the river Tura and found themselves at the outskirts of Kuchum Khan's empire. Soon they reached the kingdom's capital city of Qashliq. On October 23, 1582, Yermak's army fought the Battle of Chuvash Cape, which initiated three days of fighting against Kuchum's nephew, Mehmet-kul, and the Tatar army. Yermak's infantry blocked the Tatar charge with mass musket fire, which wounded Mahmet-kul and prevented the Tatars from scoring a single Russian casualty. Yermak succeeded in capturing Qashliq and the battle came to mark the “conquest of Siberia.” The Stroganov Chronicle provides an account of Kuchum Khan's reaction to the attack on Qashliq and Yermak's success: Khan Kuchyum, seeing his ruin and the loss of his kingdom and riches, said to all his men with bitter lamentation: ‘O murzas and princes, let us flee without delaying…The Stroganovs sent men of the common people against me from their forts to avenge on me the evil I had inflicted; they sent the atamans and Cossacks, Yermak and his comrades, with not many of their men. He came upon us, defeated us and did us such great harm.’ While Yermak had succeeded in taking Qashliq, the battle had reduced his Cossack force to 500 men. Yermak also now faced a supply problem. While the army had found treasures such as fur, silk, and gold in the Tatar city, no food or provisions had been left behind. The inhabitants had also fled the city, preventing their enlistment for aid. However, four days after Yermak claimed Qashliq the people returned, and Yermak soon befriended the Ostyak people. The Ostyaks would formally declare their allegiance to Yermak on October 30, complementing their pledge by delivering offerings of food to the city. Yermak used the Ostyak tributes to feed his band of Cossacks throughout the winter. However, these supplies proved to be insufficient, and the Cossacks soon ventured into the wilderness to fish and hunt. The Cossacks’ task was not without trouble, as although Yermak had defeated the Tatars they continued to harass the Cossacks, preventing Yermak from establishing complete control over the region. The Tatars struck a decisive blow on December 20, when a Cossack party of twenty men were discovered