A few days later, Kowalski went to Lviv to cover the skull with gold, and was also supposed to hire two accountants. One will watch over the other ... if it turns out that both of them are robbing me, it means I'm just unlucky.
I was looking through the documentation for the last six months and it gave me a headache. New refugees from Bohemia, production and trade reports, taxes, payouts. Matters that I have to deal with as a voivode, some of them may be profitable for me ... it is too much for one person. They say that power corrupts, maybe it's true ... but looking at the number of documents, I felt like I was dying inside... I was at home for a few days and I was already beginning to miss the life on the road and the war, I was hoping that Ilya would soon come back from Zaporizhia and I would be able to go to Vienna.
Sveta slowly returned to form, gained weight quickly, she was not so pale anymore. Our daughter was too young for Sveta's absence to affect her, but our son was already over three years old and he endured his mother's absence rather hard, now he did not step away from her... Piotr, although it was too early to hire a teacher for him, it does not mean that he could not learn.
I decided to hire a nanny for him who can read, write and count ... I didn't have to look for a long time, in Jazlowiec there was a suitable candidate for this position that meets my requirements. I also ordered from one of the carpenters two sets of wooden blocks, one with the alphabet and the other similar with numbers. As I chose a church career for Piotr, I also chose the appropriate reading for him, it was the Bible, "Quo Vadis", and as additional reading I chose "Teutonic Knights" and two collections of my legends and fairy tales. Of course, he is too young to read alone, so this responsibility fell on the nanny.
Ten days later, Kowalski returned from Lviv and my collection became fuller. I was wondering who else to put in my collection, the head of Christian IV or Oliver Cromwell would certainly be a beautiful addition, but it was unreal or the head of the Emperor and the Tsar, a tempting perspective... I placed the Count's skull next to Khan Temir's skull, the golden glow only added to their charm.
"Just don't argue ... I like to have peace when I work." (MC)
The following months I dealt with the management of my property and the province, which gave me the opportunity to gain some benefits. Thanks to my former position as castellan, and now voivode, my land increased to 3,800 square kilometers, which was 20% of the entire province. I stopped there so as not to arouse suspicions. I also knew that I can't be too greedy, many people in history have lost everything because of a lack of moderation. I had documents on everything and everything looked legal, but the methods I used would suit the Italian mafia more than the Polish nobleman... Sometimes a farm burned down or house, I bought debts from Jews. Not always, but in some cases a few people had accidents and widows were very eager to sell their property.
At the beginning of December, Stefan Czarniecki came to Jazłowiec, he was appointed the new starost of Podole and he wanted to thank me for my help in obtaining this position. I treated him kindly, held a small feast on his arrival ... I was going to recruit him in the future. However, I was still waiting for Ilya's return from Sich ... which happened at the end of February 1627... and he was leading 2000 Cossacks, I did not have to wait any longer for my army and if it were not for the fact that preparations are needed, and they are tired, I would immediately give the order to march.
Instead, I immediately gave orders to prepare provisions for people and horses, muskets obtained in Piława, bullets, gunpowder and grenades, which I did not even have the opportunity to use in the fight against the Swedes. I gave up taking the carts with me so that they would not delay us. I was going to focus on the mobility and speed of my troops, I also did not intend to worry about the losses among my soldiers, I could only recruit these 2,000 Cossacks for two years, then they were to return to Sich, so they might as well not come back at all.
I also had to plan my entire participation in the war. I know what I wanted from the Emperor, I knew how to achieve it, but my main goal was to weaken the Empire.
Two years ago, with the help of France, the Kingdom of Denmark joined the war on the side of the Protestant Union and it was now the greatest threat in the war. In France, there was currently a civil war with the Huguenots, Sweden did not have an army thanks to me. However, the Emperor did not have a fleet to enter the Danish islands and his troops only occupied the mainland... I had a few ships, but they were nothing compared to the Danish-Norwegian fleet, an open attack would be suicide. Therefore, I had to focus on the Electors and their lands.
Bavaria was on the side of the Emperor, the Palatinate of the Rhine was now under the occupation of the imperial troops. Saxony would not enter the war until 1631, and Brandenburg was constantly being robbed by both sides of the conflict ... so many enemies, so little time.
I decided that we would go on the first day of spring, on March 21, to reach Vienna we had to cover 700 kilometers, which should take us no longer than a month, if the weather is favorable.