122 Narrenturm

Three weeks have passed since Galina became my new lover and she was slowly getting used to this role... yesterday the invited guests came to the castle. Tomasz Zamoyski, Graf Ferber, Hetman Potocki, Aleksander Gosiewski, Prince Wiśniowiecki and Bishop Mohyła, unfortunately Hetman Sapieha died and no one from his family came.

"Unfortunately, we do not meet at a good hour, as you probably already know Hetman Sapieha abiit ad plures... sit tibi terra levis!" (MC)

I heard a collective "amen" and each of my guests raised their goblets and we silently toasted the soul of Lew Sapieha.

"Vulnerant omnes, ultima necat... He was a good friend and a brave soldier, now someone else has to bear his burden. I have invited you here to discuss certain matters... there are also new faces here today, Prince Wiśniowiecki and Bishop Piotr Mohyła. I hope that we will see each other more." (MC)

"Wilkomir, usually when you invite us it doesn't mean anything good..." (Tomasz Zamoyski)

"Someone has to bring bad news. Another war is coming... this time with the Ottoman Empire. They intend to attack us, in a little more than a month, but everything is ready to receive them. However, it is good practice to pay them back with the same coin, but not until next year. We must regain strength after the war with Moscow." (MC)

"I always wonder where you get such good information from." (Hetman Potocki)

"It is my duty as a Hetman, but also a passion. Some people collect paintings, works of art ... and I prefer to collect people. There are many traitors in the world who will sell their homeland for a handful of gold... and we have plenty of them in our country to." (MC)

"Prince, now I understand why you invited me... my brother and Moldavia?" (Bishop Piotr Mohyła)

"Yes, but that's not the only reason. If I could ask the Bishop for help. I need to write a letter to your brother to gather people who are faithful to him, and when the time comes, let him get rid of the traitors... this time we're not just stopping in Moldova, we will go further, to Constantinople itself." (MC)

"I will write such a letter to my brother, but Prince you said it was not the only reason you invited me." (Bishop Piotr Mohyła)

"Unfortunately, there are conflicts between Catholics and the Orthodox all the time, now they are not on the same scale as the conflicts between Protestants and Catholics in empire, but gangrene can get into an untreated wound..." (MC)

It has always been a sensitive topic that was very hard to find a solution to.

"I know that in your actions you strive for reconciliation between Uniates and Dizunites... and that you want Orthodoxy to become in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth a religion equal to Catholicism... you have my full support. " (MC)

This surprised the other guests a bit, Zamoyski, Potocki, Gosiewski were Catholics, Ferber was Calvinist, and Wiśniowiecki, although brought up in Orthodoxy, was a Catholic... but one thing was freedom of religion, another was promoting the equality of religion.

"Prince is unexpected..." (Bishop Piotr Mohyła)

"My support has a price, I will do my best to support your activities, but in return I expect more priestly ordinations of people like you... who want reconciliation. Another thing I expect is that services and masses be celebrated in Polish. The third and last thing. We now have many lands under our control in the East, the population is mostly Orthodox. We need someone to ensure that they are loyal to the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Before you answer, dear Bishop, consider my offer." (MC)

A few minutes later Kowalski entered the room.

"Lord, everything has been prepared." (Secretary Kowalski)

"Well." (MC)

I signaled him to leave us alone. I looked at the faces of the guests, everyone wondered what other madness I would come up with... I could not disappoint my guests.

"Another thing that we must discuss is the lands conquered in the east... At the moment there is chaos, confusion and uncertainty there. There are no Tsar or Boyars there anymore... our administration must fill this gap. We need starosts, castellans, voivodes, we need people who will rule over this chaos and bring order. Therefore, if Prince Wiśniowiecki agrees, I would like us to support his candidacy for the position of the Moscow voivode... he has adequate experience, and Moscow is too important a city to fall into someone's random hands." (MC)

This caused less surprise than my support for the Bishop, I had already talked about this topic with Tomasz Zamoyski in Warsaw, and the rest did not mind.

"Why me? Prince, we don't know each other very well, we're not friends..." (Jaremi Wiśniowiecki)

"As I said, you have adequate military experience and administration. You can use force when necessary. I don't need to be friends to appreciate their merits. This is a responsible task, an important trading post and a strategically important place... I don't want the King to appoint some fool as voivode." (MC)

Prince Wiśniowiecki began to consider my offer... it was a great promotion for him and an opportunity, but also a responsibility, and not a small one.

"Aleksander, if the Prince agrees and we convince the King, all the cannons we have acquired near Smolensk will return to Moscow..." (MC)

Gosiewski nodded. He himself had about 160 cannons in Smolensk and did not even have as many cannoneers and fire positions on the walls to set up another 160 captured cannons.

"The last topic I want to discuss with you is the mace of Hetman Sapieha. He saw Aleksander as his successor. This is another thing to which we must convince the King, but it will be so much easier. Aleksander defended Smolensk so he has merits, and his opponent Radziwiłł fell out of favor... Think through each of the topics that I have touched upon, and if you have any problems or ideas, we will also be happy to hear them." (MC)