in 1853, the crimean war began. the emperor nikolai i had to keep the expeditional corpus of the russian army in the difficult conditions of the crimean peninsula, which was in the hands of the sultan. tsar knew that the russian soldiers were badly prepared for a combat on mountainous terrain, where it was easily to be ambushed. being aware of the reputation of artemy tereshchenko and knowing him as of stubborn and strong-willed old cossack, who also knew very well the routes in the south of the state, the tsar instructs "chumak" tereshchenko to supply crimean contingent of russian troops with bread and firewood. it was known, that no matter how complex the weather conditions would be, the russian army, wherever it was, has never been left without food and warmth during these three years of war, including heavy days of the siege of sevastopol.