Chapter 38
Constantin Şerban, Prince of Wallachia, stood before the Sejm. He was a handsome man in his middle years with wavy light brown hair and a fine, full moustache.
"I wanted to thank you all for freeing Moldavia, and to ask whether the Commonwealth would support Wallachia and Transylvania against the Ottoman Empire," he said. "And also in deposing the current prince of Moldavia, one Minhea Radu. He was raised in Constantinople, and his loyalty is to it. He is opposing the rule ceded to your Jan Zamoyski. I have a better claim as Prince of Moldavia, and I have concluded a treaty with Rákóczi György."
"Who?" muttered Jurko.
"Jerzy Rakoczy," whispered Radziwiłł.
"Thank you," said Jurko.
"I will not interfere in the affairs of other countries, but I will not prevent any members of the Commonwealth who have any ties with either Wallachia or Transylvania from joining you as mercenaries," said Jeremi. "I will grant six months' leave of absence, so long as they return if their own land is threatened. You must negotiate with Zamoyski with regards to a pro-Ottoman government in Moldavia as I have given him full power to be sure that a prince who is acceptable to the people is chosen." He smiled, thinly. "I expect you will find volunteers from amongst his troops."
The Wallachian bowed, and left.
He had not gained as much as he might have hoped, but nor had he gained as little as he feared. Tacit support was better than no support.
"Aren't we going to help?" demanded Lubomirski.
"Not our bear; not our bearskin," said Jeremi. "We've already given them an opportunity to throw off the Ottoman yoke. What they do with the opportunity is not Commonwealth business. I don't think we really want to get involved so quickly in a foreign war with an antagonist with whom we have already signed a peace treaty? No? I thought not. I'll be sending a message to Sobiepan that any of his men who want to go do not take their wings or armour. If they go it is as private individuals not distinctive Commonwealth troops."
There was a murmur of approval from the Sejm.
oOoOo
News came that Queen Krystyna of Sweden had given birth to a daughter, who had been declared Crown Prince Adolfina of Sweden.
"I'll be damned if I go through that, again," Krystyna wrote to Gryzelda. "She can be a king as I was, and she can marry young Władysław if he doesn't marry in the meantime, and they get on well enough. I'll send him on a number of diplomatic missions when she's about eleven, and keep him away until she turns fifteen or even sixteen, depending on how quickly she matures. And then he will see a change when he returns, and she will be new in his eyes, but he will also know her, and more to the point, she will know him as dependable."
Gryzelda laughed and showed the letter to Jeremi.
"At least she has learned to be more cunning," he said.
oOoOo
Helena's tile maker had set up business, and was producing beautiful tiles which were readily snapped up by his new customers. Jeremi had levelled some land outside the city walls as a pleasure garden for all, and the planting of the exotic plants began. Some gardeners who were not marines, who had been slaves, had come with the plants, and were now employed to keep the public pleasure garden neat and tidy, and promote the growth of the plants. Those which were too delicate for Warszawa's climate were housed in a large pavilion with walls and roof of glass, to ensure enough light to them, since large sheets of glass were now readily available.
Even more, the City of Light glowed, with the glass gazebo lit up in the evenings for visitors. And glass gazebos were suddenly fashionable, filled with exotic plants, and Jurko's friend, Tobiáš Dušek, was getting even richer. He took in several Jewish ex-slaves as apprentices and servants, and his business now filled half a street. Visitors poured in, staying in the rooming houses Jurko had caused to be built on what was now Bridge Street, Ulica Mostowa, ranging from the grand 'The Mermaid' and 'The Prince's Arms' which offered suites of rooms and servants to hire in them, to establishments where a traveller took a single room, and any servant he had must sleep across his door or on a truckle bed.
And the coffee shops on the bridge thrived.
Meanwhile, Jurko had a team of monks working on copying books, paying the monastery well for their services, and Bobowski, his translator, was providing running translation into Polish and Latin for those books which were in Arabic, or Greek, or some other language.
"I'll have them all transcribed before Christmas," Jurko told Jeremi.
"I'm still in negotiations through Gonzaga with Ferdynand," said Jeremi. "I made an outrageous demand for your kindness in preserving his originals from fire when you sacked Constantinople."
"We never set it on fire," said Jurko.
"No, but I am sure a few fires started, from musket sparks, and he doesn't have to know they were accidental," said Jeremi.
Jurko chuckled.
"What, have you built this picture of me, hurling priceless manuscripts from a window as the flames licked at my back?" he said.
"Not in so many words," said Jeremi. "But you could have fired the city. You could have burned the books. Many a Cossack would have done, and you know it."
"Alas, yes, I do," said Jurko.
oOoOo
The welcoming of Brandenburg-Prussia to the Rzeczpospolita involved a grand parade, as indeed there had been for Red Ruthenia. People lined the streets, and were inclined to be kind to the poor foreigner their King Remi was inviting in. A red eagle was added to the flag, and there were feasts in the streets. Jeremi travelled to both Potsdam and Brandenburg, where he was cheered by many people in both, on the grounds that he provided feasts there as well, and was shot at in Brandenburg.
"It happens," said Jeremi, who had heard the click of the firing mechanism and had ducked, dragging Friedrich Wilhelm down with him.
The culprit was dragged forward.
"Well, now!" said Jeremi. "You don't look like a bad lad; what is it that you have against me?"
"You are a Catholic, and you will make us all be Catholics!"
"I am a Catholic, but I don't want to make you change the way you worship any more than I want you to make me change how I worship," said Jeremi. "Can you read and write?"
"Yes... sir."
"Then I sentence you to go home, and look in your Bible, and write out the passage in Matthew, chapter 10, which begins, 'Are not two sparrows bought for a pfennig? Yet one shall not fall but that our Father knows it.' And I want you to think about the great love of God, that he loves us whatever way we worship."
"And then you will execute me?"
"No; I forgive you, for you believed me capable of a heinous crime," said Jeremi.
He was cheered with real fervour.
oOoOo
"The hell they have!" Ferdynand III, Holy Roman Emperor, Archduke of Austria, King of Hungary, Bohemia, Croatia and variously otherwise endowed with minor titles, stared at a message brought to him, aghast.
"Sire?" the equerry who had carried the message was moved to query.
"Prussia-Brandenburg has willingly joined the Polish Commonwealth! Now I know why Jeremi wanted his tool, whoever it is, given Silesia. And with my grip on Bohemia weakened... he knows he could easily take it anyway."
"Is that from my brother?" asked Eleanora Gonzaga, the Archduke's third wife.
"It is," said Ferdynand. "But Silesia is rich, I know the library is valuable..."
"Ask for copies of other books taken from the Turks to add to it," said Eleanora.
"As always, my dear, your sweet reason gives me good council," said Ferdyand.
oOoOo
Jeremi arrived home as the leaves were turning in shade and the first frosts had made their bitter appearance on the land. Jurko was reading a letter, perched on a window embrasure, and he looked up, grinning savagely.
"Papa, do you own land near Kursk?" he asked.
"Not really, it's into Russia," said Jeremi.
"Time to increase your holdings," said Jurko.
"It's nice to be home, and hello to you too," said Jeremi.
Jurko leaped up, knelt briefly and then embraced his father. He was sniggering.
"Oh, Papa! Read this!" he said. "Symeon is driving a road for Aleksej from Kharków through Kursk to Moskwa."
"Jurko, we're having some trouble at the moment, because the compasses all appear to have broken; I can't get a bearing at all around Kursk, for miles in any direction. Do you suppose this is some new weapon by Boyars who do not want closer ties? Whatever it is, the crops are weak, stunted and yellowish as well. We have had to navigate purely by the sun and stars, as if we were ruddy sailors.
Symeon."
"That means..." said Jeremi, thoughtfully.
"Exactly," said Jurko.
"It would be courteous to give Aleksej an option on it as well," said Jeremi.
"Yes, and I want to cut Symeon in, he's worked really hard," said Jurko.
"Send him gold in great store and tell him to quietly purchase all land with stunted crops and that adjacent to it," said Jeremi. "Tell him that if we own it all, we can do something about it. I'll write to Aleksej. Then we can sell some of it back to Aleksej, gift some to Symeon, and split the rest."
"Oh, do you need the ready cash as a loan, Papa?" asked Jurko.
"No, I think that the ownership should not be a monopoly," said Jeremi.
"Perhaps you are wise, there," said Jurko. "I have purchased the land for the road, so I have right to ask tolls, so it should not be entirely unexpected. I'll tell Simeon that having infertile land is useful for training engineers."
"Good idea," said Jeremi. He went to write his own letter. He marked it 'Personal' and wrote in English, a language which the Tsar had learned, for the sake of the refugees he had taken from England's civil war, and which few at court would know.
"My dear Leka,
Further to the friendship which I fondly believe we managed to forge, one of Jurko's men has made a startling discovery around Kursk. The compasses go wild, which occurred to both Jurij and myself to indicate massive iron ore deposits. We are taking a gamble on purchasing all the land on which crops do less well, sharing it, and with Helena's cousin who made the discovery. I thought you might like to personally buy into it as well; for a king to have his own sources of wealth and to be independent of any council means that you can hold your own without have to go cap in hand to beg for taxes.
Hoping this finds you well,
Remi."
oOoOo
"So, Ferdynand wants his deal sweetened," said Jurko, when Gonzago had apprised Jeremi of the Holy Roman Emperor's request. "He's a noted musician, isn't he?"
"Yes, he is," said Jeremi.
"Offer him a copy of Wojan Bobowski's notation of Ottoman music, including the folk music," said Jurko. "Also a sex-manual from India."
"You said what?"
Jurko sniggered.
"One of my poor monks came upon it in the pile he was transcribing, and almost passed out," he said. "He had to take the day off to go and pray, so I gave it to Wojan to translate, and it was out of his ken, but he found an Indian who could do it, and I'm having all the illustrations copied lovingly on woodblocks. It's a manual to make any normal man half as accomplished in the bedroom as any Korybut."
"Arrogant little swine that you are," said Jeremi, affectionately.
"Oink," said Jurko.
"Is it very...?" said Jeremi.
"Explicit? Oh hell, yes," said Jurko. "Should be very profitable."
"I'm not sure I want to know," said Jeremi, hastily.
"Well, I didn't want to know all of it," said Jurko, frankly. "Some of it... Oh, I'll give you a copy when they're printed, you and Gryzelda will have a good giggle. Helena and I did."
"Now I think I'm scared..."
oOoOo
Dear Remi, and also Jurko when you see him,
Thank you very much for the heads-up on the you know what, you know where. Very clever of you to pick a language which is singularly ill studied. I caught a secretary ignoring the word 'personal' and lifting the seal with a hot knife.
I will not be respected if I do not make harsh punishments fitting for the crime, so I had his fingernails removed with the same knife he was using on my seals, heated of course, and had him branded as a thief.
When the road is complete, I will open it with all due ceremonial and we might then meet up and discuss shares. I would like to have it operated by displaced ex-serfs, if you are amenable, who can also profit from it thereby, and to set aside a percentage of the profits in an extra share which is a relief fund for any accidents. It cannot be an easy life.
I have a treaty with Sweden, now, negotiated over the summer, in which Novgorod is a buffer state between us, its neutrality guaranteed by both, and trade concessions from Novgorod to both signatories. For some reason they worry about becoming involuntarily Lithuanian. Ha, you old fox! We stole a march on you there!
I look forward to seeing you again in joyful circumstances.
Leka.
"I wouldn't have done it that way, myself," said Jurko.
"Nor would I; but you don't use a hot knife on a seal unless you have intent to deceive," said Jeremi. "I'd probably have had his hand cut off; or all but his thumb and one of his fingers so he could look after himself but not scribe."
"I'd have wanted to know if he was spying for himself or someone else," said Jurko.
"I expect he talked," said Jeremi. "Most people would under those circumstances. Russians are barbarians, I'm afraid, and it'll take a lot to change that. How would you have got him to talk?"
"Well, you know I consider that the imagination is a better form of torture than actual torture," said Jurko. "I'd have wandered in, taken the letter, without apparently noticing the affront to the seal, and then I would have piled work on him, enough to make him tired out, and then I would slip him a note which said 'all is known, pass it on,' and had him followed."
"Ingeniously simple and it might even have worked."
"That's why I'd want him overworked, so his brain was too tired to be analytical. With luck, he'd go straight to his principal."
"I'll remember that, if I think I have a spy."
"Apart from Venetian and French diplomats, for whom the position is a given," said Jurko.
"I'd like to accuse you of cynicism, but it's true enough. Jurij! Have you been playing with the Venetian ambassador again?"
"I might have been. A little bit," said Jurko. "He winds up so beautifully. I might just have used the press to print up a false signal book, and let a signals officer lose part of it. I made the ambassador work hard for it, and work out progressions for the meanings."
"We don't use progressions, just to stop people working it out," said Jeremi.
"Exactly. So he didn't get 'Send-Map-New-Canals' he got 'Send – Gelding Irons – Venetian – Ambassador."
"Jurij!"
"Well, that'll teach him to try to read our signals," said Jurko. "As for Gonzaga, Marysieńka can't stand him, and she spends all her time chattering in Polish in front of him and pretending not to understand French very well."
Jeremi laughed, and sighed.
"Well, if you send a child away as young as five years old without explanation, you will get their resentment," he said. "I fully intend for Aleksej's children to go home after a couple of years, and perhaps come to us in their teens for education."
"It should be safe by then," agreed Jurko.
