Sometimes the horde does establish itself, in my russian campaign i was waiting for the horde when it arrived but boy did i underestimate it, after several crushing defeats they started taking my cities and castles. After putting up as much as a fight as possible (against the horde and my not so helpful neighbours) i decided the only thing left was for a mass relocation.

I gathered all my family members into ships with as much tattered reminants of my army as i could find as 2 stacks of horde sieged Novogrod and sailed over to the Danes to say hello and ask for some new territory hoping that Poland and Hungary have more luck than i did, or that if they dont it will give me some more time to prepare.

(even my 8 Kazaks and 4 Boyar Sons of maxed out experience with my top star general didnt do very well against the horde, they're tough!)