With the arrival of the new year, I had to deal with accounting matters again. I withdrew the order to build new cannons, I now had over 300 of them, my pocket was mainly drained by metal prices... this and partly Spanish Inflation, the influx of large amounts of gold from the colonies had an impact on product prices all over Europe, however, it was impossible to accurately measure the level of inflation, the prices of the products differed depending on the availability of a given commodity... in Krakow a barrel of Hungarian wine cost several ducats, the same barrel in Gdańsk could cost several times more due to transport costs.
My expenses also included the newspaper, training soldiers, gunpowder costs, building a pillar, preparations for building a race track, and maintaining schools. There were also the investments in Moldova, the construction of the port and the supply of weapons for the army of the Moldavian hospodar... and I had two trading companies in Vienna, but although they did not bring me profits, they did not bring any losses.
Grain prices remained low, but fortunately the new settlement and early diversification of production, plus a private fleet and casino have allowed me to end this year with quite a good income.
In mid-January, despite the winter, Saddata, Ilya and Iwana, together with a small group of Cossacks, set off to the East to recruit the Nogai Tatars, I also provided them with 20,000 arguments... When in February the weather improved and it was possible to travel without fear, Elisabeth Stuart with her children left my home... her destination was Gdańsk from which she was supposed to go to London, in order to finalize the recruitment of Scottish mercenaries... that was what they needed a loan for. Unfortunately, my happiness did not last long, not a whole month later my wife informed me that she was pregnant... well, heaven is bound to turn into hell.
"Do you think it will be a boy or a girl?" (Elisabeth)
I don't know, in the time I lived the child would sometimes decide his own gender... which was quite sensible, you could immediately separate these normal children from retarded.
"Probably twins, or triplets..." (MC)
As soon as I realized what I said, I felt like crying... it could happen, and knowing my luck it is highly probable... fuck. Now I couldn't help it... the only option was to push Elisabeth down the stairs, but even this method is not 100% sure.
"Michał, what do you think about?" (Elisabeth)
"About our future... I will send you to Warsaw for pregnancy and childbirth. Maybe there is not much difference, but you will have more entertainment until the birth, and I still have to focus my attention on Bohemia." (MC)
I bent over her and kissed her forehead, then went to my office to get drunk from the sadness... her pregnancy did not make me happy, or rather the pregnancy itself made me happy, because I hoped that my wife's tits would grow. At the moment, Elisabeth had a big B... but I was counting on C. As they say, the size of the breasts is A-almost boobs. B-barely boobs. C-cant complain. I was also counting on access to free milk, unfortunately I didn't like what followed... the children.
In April, I sent Elisabeth to the capital, and not long after she left Jazłowiec, Saddat and the rest of my officers returned.
"Greetings can wait, how were the negotiations with the Tatars?" (MC)
"They agreed, but 20,000 ducats is not enough. According to orders and instructions, I agreed that they could keep the spoils of war and some slaves, but they had to agree that I would command them." (Saddat)
"This is good news when they arrive?" (MC)
"In two months, almost 6,000 people. From Podolia we will go to Moldova, and from Moldova further west." (Saddat)
In my plans I assumed that there will be only 5,000 tartars, but a few hundred more do not make much difference.
"How big is their horde?" (MC)
"12,000 to 14,000 people, most of the warriors go to war, only old people, women and children will remain in the settlement." (Saddat)
That leaves 6,000 or 8,000 civilians, a pretty good harvest... I looked at Ivan.
"When the Tatars reach Podolia, you will go with my army and attack the remnants of the horde. You will bring small children to Jazłowiec, take women and old men prisoner and send them to Moscow to Prince Wiśniowiecki." (MC)
"Lord?" (Iwan)
"My wife wants to open an orphanage, and for that, orphans are needed, and the children of these Tatars are ideally suited for it... The second thing is Prince Wiśniowiecki needs people, the supplies of prisoners from Poland and Moldova are too small for his needs. The third thing is, nobody controls them, these Tatars are a threat, and the threats must be eliminated." (MC)
"I understand, Lord, but once these warriors return from Bohemia..." (Iwan)
"Nobody from will come back. When my brother-in-law conquers Prague, the Tatars will attack his army... and then we will attack the Tatars, officially it will look like everyone has been defeated by the imperial army... Maybe there will be a letter about some French spy, maybe something about Italian mercenaries." (MC)
"Italian mercenaries?" (Iwan)
But I didn't answer Ivan's question anymore, that part of the plan didn't concern him, so he didn't need to know anything else... This task belonged to Wroński, on the occasion of visiting Piotr and Cardinal Barberini, he would hire about a hundred Italian mercenaries using the forged seal of the Emperor.
"You do not know the latest news. My wife is pregnant in a few months I will be a father..." (MC)
Congratulations from my people immediately followed.