Osman Pazvantoğlu 's '' krdžalije '' ( Ottoman brigands ) , who were deemed rebels by the Sultan , had fought the Imperial troops at Crna Reka , and then continued to attack local Turks loyal to the Sultan , and burned and devastated several villages in the region , including Lenovac . This prompted Veljko , only 15 years old , to leave his parents and brothers for Vidin . There he was hired as a shepherd by a Turk , and after some time he left for Požarevac , where he was hired by the Vojvoda of Požarevac to prepare food . As he had also spent some time there , at Easter time , he danced the '' kolo '' with his friends , forgetting to prepare the important dinner for his master . For this , his master chased to beat him , thus Veljko fled , ending up in the '' hajduk '' ( Serbian brigands ) bands of Stanoje Glavaš . In the winter time of 1803 , Glavaš had arranged for Veljko to stay at the house of a '' jatak '' ( " concealer " , civil hajduk supporter ) in Dubona , in the Smederevo nahija , where he would work as a shepherd . In the same village Veljko met Marija , a widow and relative of Glavaš , and married her , moving to her house . Not long after the wedding , the Slaughter of the Knezes took place ( January 1804 ) , in which prominent Serb leaders were executed by the Janissary military junta of the Sanjak of Smederevo ( these janissaries , under the leadership of Kučuk Alija , had murdered '' sanjak-bey '' Hadži Mustafa Pasha on 15 December 1801 and taken the rule of the sanjak ) . As a response to the executions , the Serbian population , without a central figure , took measures of self-defence , and spontaneously attacked the jannisaries
Slaughter of the Knezes
Slaughter of the Knezes
Hajduk-Veljko