143 141 Meeting

A few days later we reached Constantinople and crossed the Bosphorus, from the information obtained from the Grand Vizier I knew that the army of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and our allies camped less than five kilometers from the city, and of course I directed my first steps there. I still did not understand the Ottomans' decision and hoped that perhaps I would get some information from Hetman Potocki.

"Do you know what's going on here?" (MC)

"Interesting greeting..." (Hetman Potocki)

I heard a slight rebuke in the voice of Hetman Potocki, maybe we were friends, but technically he was my supervisor, and in the presence of strangers a certain etiquette is required even among friends.

"Greetings. Do you know what's going on? Constantinople is not conquered, the Ottoman army has retained its strength, the Sultan suddenly dies, and they surrender without condition, they even agreed to lay down their arms." (MC)

"We know as much as you do, but I won't complain that this war was too easy, winning is winning. Now we have to think about peace, but first I will introduce our allies to you..." (Hetman Potocki)

In the tent there were hospodar Moldavian, Mojżesz Mohyla, hospodar of Wallachia, Mateusz Basarab, Prince of Transylvania, Jerzy Rakoczy and Moscow boyars.

I was surprised by the presence of Hospodar of Wallachia and the Prince of Transylvania, but after a second thought it was logical they both wanted to free themselves from the Ottoman influence, but they did not have the strength to do so alone... however, more surprisingly, there was no one in the tent from Austria, Spain, and most strangely Prussia... It was the first war in which I had no control over it... and I didn't like that feeling.

"I see more things happened here than I expected... but more on that later. Tell me how it was in the north." (MC)

From Potocki's words, I learned about the Moldavian campaign, about the joining of Transylvania and Wallachia in the fight... They encountered no major resistance as the main Ottoman forces were in Anatolia and not in the Balkans... I suggested to Potocki that we should stay alone, I had nothing against the presence of the Moldavian hospodar, but I preferred not to say certain things in the presence of Rakoczy.

A few minutes later we were left alone, I poured myself some wine, sat down on a chair and put my legs on the table...

"Stanisław, I need an explanation... I understand you don't know anything about Turks, but where are the Spaniards, Austrians and Prussians?" (MC)

"After you left for Crimea, a letter came from the Spaniards that they wish us good luck, but for fear of France and problems with the colonies, they cannot support us with their fleet." (Hetman Potocki)

I was not happy with it, but I could understand it, I would probably do the same in the King of Spain's place, France was a force that had to be reckoned with.

"What about the emperor? He was scared of the French too?" (MC)

I was hoping that the Austrians would join the fight, especially since the Balkans was the gate to Vienna, and Vienna was the gate to the Empire.

"No, the imperial troops fought the war on their own. After we crossed the Balkans, they came there later and took some Serbian and Bosnian territories from Ottoman hands." (Hetman Potocki)

So they acted like a vulture, waited for the victim to be dead, and then sat down to eat... Clever, but conquering territory and keeping it are two very different things... and I was going to make it harder for them.

"Prussians?" (MC)

"Here the matter is more complicated after Brandenburg was ravaged during the war..."

Potocki looked at me coldly.

"Don't look at me like that, I only burned down a few cities. It's not my fault they supported the wrong side." (MC)

"Yes, a few cities. Wilkomir they were neutral... Hohenzollern changed sides and returned to the emperor's wing, and our king gave him a dispensation to participate in the war." (Hetman Potocki)

"Neutral? It is the Prussian duty to support the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, they remained neutral when we fought against the Swedes, so they deserved the punishment... but now it's not important. You want to tell me that the King agreed to make further concessions?" (MC)

"First he agreed that Hohenzollern did not have to submit the homage in person, and could do so through an ambassador or emissary. Then he obtained the right of a prince's court, now Prussian nobility and townspeople cannot appeal to the royal court in Warsaw and..." (Hetman Potocki)

"Don't even tell me... I know we choose the king, but why do we always choose so badly?" (MC)

I didn't even have the strength to be pissed off, no matter how much I did and what I did, it's always somebody's going to screw it up. It's like every day life showed me the middle finger and it said "Fuck you".

"There is one more thing. Boyars are asking where is their 40,000 army that was returning from Smolensk." (Hetman Potocki)

Fuck.

"Tell them we don't know, but if it's a ploy not to support us in the war, or if they hide their strength to rebel, they will be punished." (MC)

Of course I knew their army was on vacation in Egypt, but I'm not stupid enough to admit it... but if the boyars continue to cause problems, the Tatars can visit them, and maybe they will go to Persia for vacation or even further east, maybe even to China... where slaves are always needed.

We talked for a few more hours, I also learned from Potocki that the Papal State helped our fight against the Ottoman Empire with an amount equivalent to 150,000 ducats... I did not know whether to laugh or cry. I spent more on the war out of my own pocket.

We won the war, but none of my plans came true.