On August 8, 1863, the insurgent squad headed by Michał Heydenreich-Kruk fought a victorious battle with the tsar army. The Poles set up an ambush at the road near Żyrzyn for the postal convoy carrying large sums of money. After a three-hour fight, 140,000 roubles, 400 rifles and two cannons, which unfortunately were spiked, went into the hands of the Poles. As a result of the fight, the Polish insurgent side suffered the loss of 10 killed and 50 wounded, while the losses of the Russian side were much more severe: 84 killed, 140 wounded, and 108 captured. The head of the Russian army, Lieutenant Laudański got out of the ambush with about 90 soldiers. Ensuing the defeat at Żyrzyn, Grand Duke Konstantin was stripped off his position in Warsaw and was replaced by Field Marshall Friedrich Wilhelm Rembert von Berg. The success of the insurgents, who managed to obtain the arms and money indispensable for the subsequent fight, had a widespread impact in Western Europe and contributed to the increased assistance for the uprising, as more and more people began talking about it openly. The rallies of support were held in many countries and the European governments were pressed by their citizens to support the fighting Poles.

According to the data, the Russians carried at least 200,000 roubles in gold in that postal convoy. Allegedly, the missing 60,000 roubles were seized by two insurgents who hid the money somewhere in the vicinity. It is worth looking around; perhaps, the insurgents’ treasure waits just for you.