The night was exceptionally successful, Sveta did her best to thank me for what I had done.
I was sitting in my office, going over paperwork for the past year and I was not happy with what I saw. My income has decreased significantly, this year after deducting all costs and expenses, my pure profit did not exceed 150,000 ducats. Fortunately, the proceeds of the robbery in Brandenburg, Mecklenburg and Denmark have not yet been accounted for, which may improve the overall picture... but the downtrend was worrying.
After digging into more detailed reports, I discovered several reasons for this.
My furniture production ceased to be profitable due to competition which started to produce similar products. Podolia was not a rich province. Most of my production went to Lviv, Kiev, Vilnius, Krakow, Warsaw, Poznań and Gdańsk. However, when similar products appeared in the vicinity of these cities, there was no point in transporting them across half the country.
Another reason was the plague of fertility, my land was yielding a lot, the harvest was good every year, which caused the prices to fall. The fact that almost every nobleman who owned land lived off the sale of grain did not help either ... the local and European market was saturated... It was a bit surprising, especially since there was a war in Europe and countries like Sweden imported more food than they produced... but taking into account the Principality of Moscow, the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of France they could fill a niche in the market. Especially that each of these countries supported Protestants ... according to the principle that it is better to buy from an ally than to let the enemy earn.
Another nail in the coffin of my income was the increase in the prices of metals, ores and finished alloys, especially lead, bronze and cast iron. From which cannons, muskets and cannonballs were made. This branch of production has always been my achiles' heel, I produced everything for myself, not for sale. While my arsenal grew each year, so did its costs.
Payments for soldiers, property maintenance, investments in roads, bridges, construction of two steel factories, schools ... it all cost money... I put all my balance sheets and books aside, I leaned back comfortably in my armchair ... I wasn't sure what to do next, I had many plans, I also had gold and silver inherited from my grandfather and what I earned later, my income was smaller, but I was still earning.
I don't know how long I was sitting like that, the voice of Sveta who brought me food broke me out of my thoughts ... I looked at the silver plate and the golden goblet and started laughing at myself silently, all the time I was forgetting that money was just a means to help me achieve my goal, nothing more... I have no wife or heir to whom I would bequeath all my property. I do not have and I am not going to have.
As soon as Sveta left my office, I began writing letters and invitations. The first on the list was Lew Sapieha, then Aleksander Gosiewski, Graf Ferber and Stanisław "Ravera" Potocki. I asked everyone to come to Jazłowiec in three months.
The following months passed rather without major events, I allocated 30,000 ducats for the construction of three Jesuit colleges, I also started creating study books, it was pure propaganda. Some patriotic poems and songs that I remembered from my previous life, a slightly modified version of the history and, of course, a textbook for the Polish language. I tried to use all the tricks and techniques that Austria, Prussia and Russia used during the partitions of Poland, with the difference that instead of Germanization and Russification, my goal was Polonization.
I was also taking care of my duties as the Voivode of Podolia, thanks to which I could again obtain some land for myself, but in rather unethical ways. I also looked at my son's education, I wanted to make sure that he wasn't retarded, it was enough that we had such kings. If the future Primate of Poland turned out to be an idiot, nothing would save the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
There was a knock on the door of my office, Secretary Smith walked in ... did not even wait until I would let him in. It is getting harder and harder to find good servants.
"Lord, a messenger has arrived with a letter." (Secretary Kowalski)
"No ... now. I'm ... I'm busy." (MC)
"It's a letter from Warsaw ..." (Secretary Kowalski)
"In 10 ... minutes. Leave me alone." (MC)
Kowalski looked dissatisfied, turned and left the office. I waited a few seconds.
"You can come out from under the desk, we'll finish it tonight." (MC)
"Yes, Lord." (Sveta)
"... or wait, we have a few more minutes." (MC)
Sveta under the desk was one of my ways to relieve stress while I was working. Maybe my job wasn't the most stressful, but people used to say that stress was a silent killer, so I didn't want to take any chances... Maybe Sveta did not have the best skills in this field, but she made up for it with her enthusiasm.
A few minutes later, Kowalski ushered the messenger into the office. It turned out that he had two letters, one from the King, with an invitation to Warsaw. The author of the second letter was Stefan Czarniecki, he thanked me in the letter for help in obtaining the position of Podole starost.
And it was important enough to disturb me at work? ... I have to start looking for a replacement for the position of Kowalski, he is not getting younger and has too many habits that irritate me, he deserved a retirement.
The letter from the King was unexpected, I spent the last year in the Empire and nothing happened in the country that would make my presence in Warsaw particularly necessary. Whether I like it or not, I will have to go there.