The ancient Rus' towns of Yam, Koporye, Derpt (Yuryev), and Narva (Rugodiv) were recaptured.
Every spring, a Swedish squadron under Admiral Numers came from Vyborg to the mouth of the Neva. It sailed up the river to Lake Ladoga and all summer until late autumn ravaged Russian villages and monasteries along its shores. Now the sea approach to the Neva was blocked by the new fortress of Kronshlot (Kronstadt), founded on Kotlin Island. On Lust-Eiland (today the Petrograd Side), construction of a new city was unfolding. Appointed its governor, A. D. Menshikov reported to the tsar: "The city work is being managed as it should. Working people from the towns have already come in great numbers and are constantly increasing."
In November 1703, the first foreign ship docked, carrying salt and wine. At the same time, in Lodeynoye Pole on the Svir, ships for the Baltic Fleet were already being built. B. P. Sheremetev with his army took Koporye and Yamburg.
In the spring of the next year, 1704, Peter's order again hurried the general field marshal into a campaign: "...At once, please proceed to besiege Derpt (Yuryev)." On July 4 the advance detachments approached the fortress. "The town is large and the stone-built buildings are large," "...their guns are more than ours," "...as long as I have lived, I have never heard such cannon fire," B. P. Sheremetev reported to Peter. Indeed, the Swedes had more powerful artillery and in number "exceeded the Russian by 2.5 times."
Derpt could be taken only after a "fiery feast" on the night of July 12-13. Peter is in a hurry. Narva has been under siege since May 30 by Russian troops under the command of another general field marshal, Ogilvie. They need help.
On July 23, the tsar for the fourth time since the fall of Derpt instructs the slow but thorough B. P. Sheremetev: "march (to Narva) day and night." "And if you do not do so, do not blame me afterward."
And so, Narva again! The numbness from that "Narva disgrace" of 1700 lingered for a long time. But now the soldiers were battle-hardened, had great military experience and high morale thanks to the successes of recent years. Heavy siege artillery was brought from Derpt and Petersburg.
To the proposal of an honorable surrender, the old commandant Horn responded with mockery, reminding the Russians of the "first" Narva. Peter decided to teach him a lesson and resorted to a military ruse. He dressed part of his troops in blue Swedish uniforms and sent them toward the fortress from the direction from which the Swedes expected relief. A battle between the Swedish force and the Russians was staged. This is how Peter described this masquerade in his "Daily Journal": "And so the feigned... began to draw near to our army... our men deliberately began to give way... and the army itself likewise deliberately acted as if in confusion. And by this the Narva garrison was so flattered that... Commandant Horn... sent out from Narva... several hundred infantry and cavalry, and so... they rode straight into the very hands of the imaginary army. ...Dragoons set in ambush, springing out, attacked them and... cutting and beating, drove them off, and several hundred they killed, and many took prisoner..."
Now the Russians laughed at the Swedes. Peter was pleased: "a very fine nose was set for the most honorable gentlemen."
The second part of the battle turned into a drama that occurred after a 45-minute assault on the fortress. The senseless, brutal resistance of the Swedes enraged the Russian soldiers to the utmost. Bursting into the fortress, they spared no one. Only the intervention of Peter himself stopped the slaughter.
The fortress was taken on August 9, 1704. Now all the Izhora land was returned to Russia. An exultant Peter writes: "I can write nothing else, only that Narva, which for 4 years had been festering, has now, thank God, burst."