On 28 February 1600 Michael met with Polish envoys in Brașov. He was willing to recognise the Polish King as his sovereign in exchange for the crown of Moldavia and the recognition of his male heirs' hereditary right over the three principalities, Transylvania, Moldavia, and Wallachia. This did not significantly delay his attack, however; on 14 April 1600 Michael's troops entered Moldavia on multiple routes, the Prince himself leading the main thrust to Trotuș and Roman. He reached the capital of Iași on 6 May. The garrison surrendered the citadel the next day and Michael's forces caught up with the fleeing Ieremia Movilă, who was saved from being captured only by the sacrifice of his rear-guard. Movilă took refuge in the castle of Hotin together with his family, a handful of faithful boyars and the former Transylvanian Prince, Sigismund Báthory. The Moldavian soldiers in the castle deserted, leaving a small Polish contingent as sole defenders. Under the cover of dark, sometime before 11 June, Movilă managed to sneak out of the walls and across the Dniester to hetman Stanisław Żółkiewski's camp.