15th July 1574"So let me get this straight, you don"t want any money for those generous… gifts?"
After finally ditching all the unnecessary attention of the servants and the lesser n.o.bles living in Zamoyski court, we could finally sit down in one of the chambers and have an open discussion.
"Those are gifts. Who do you take me to expect me to call a price on them? Rather than that, I want those items to serve as the proof of the words that I have for you and your family."
Relaxing in a comfortable chair that most likely was worth its weight in gold, I looked at the middle-aged woman sitting across the table. With her features putting her at most in the middle tier in terms of female beauty, one could wonder how the heck one of the most powerful n.o.bles in the entire country ended up marrying her.
Yet the family that she came from, Radilis (Radziwiłowie, attempt to p.r.o.nounce it b.i.a.t.c.h) was the one powerhouse that in the history I knew, held the seat of the absolutely most powerful family in the entire eastern part of the Commonwealth! They were so great that despite never reaching the seat of a king, they were called the princes of Lithuania!
"Oh? And what kind of important news are you bringing, for them to warrant your personal presence?"
Hearing my reply, Kristina leaned forward over the table. Just as she pointed out indirectly, it wasn"t common for the head of the house to go through the lengths of personally visiting another household just to share the news or pa.s.s some information!
"While most of my words will make sense only after I would explain how do my gifts work, let me fix one of your misunderstandings. I didn"t come here to pa.s.s some news, as in the current state of the country, what was important yesterday, is already worthless and outdated today. I came here with all those gifts, to propose an alliance."
Rather than beating around the bush, I decided that being frank would be the best approach. Even though I knew that the country wouldn"t suffer from any invasion during the interregnum as all the neighbours with the exception to the Ottomans attempted to place their heir on Commonwealth throne, the internal situation would quickly deteriorate to the point of the quasi-civil war. In my original timeline, only due to the quick wits of the Zamoyski family and the Batory himself did Commonwealth manage to avoid spilling brotherly blood, yet just like my inventions and actions could influence its future in a positive way, I couldn"t be certain that it wouldn"t do so negatively just as well!
"Alliance, huh? That"s quite a bit proposition to be discussed over a simple tea with just a wife of the house head!"
While it didn"t surprise me, seeing Kristina so exasperated by my words still wasn"t a nice feeling. Yet as regretful as it might be, I didn"t really have any option to meet with the Jan Zamoyski himself. Even though being the crown chancellor was both a great honour and a profitable position to hold, in the current situation, it bound him to the capital city, putting all his actions under the constant scrutiny of the fellow senators and n.o.bles.
"I know that. That"s why, rather than insisting on you deciding for the entire family right away, I just want to present the stance of the Tarnowski family over three topics, so that when sir Jan would finally return, you could provide him with a full explanation of my intention."
Putting my hands on the table with their palms directed towards the table, I signalled that the time for the empty words was over. Now, the talks would enter the real stage.
"That"s fair. Tell me then, what would you like to propose, and what are you expecting in return?"
Seeing that the female across the table didn"t oppose my idea, I tightened my grip on Elia"s hand. What I was going to say, could easily be considered a thought bordering treason, so attempting to coax a huge family into supporting it was rather dangerous. Yet while I was sure that no matter what, no one could singlehandedly defeat me in the battle, I more than required their help in order to ender the next step of industrialization along with fully improving and nearly automating the production of the gunpowder!
"Let"s start with the most important part. As you most likely know, the lands of your family are rich with a certain type of black rocks. While I don"t want to rent your land or anything like that, as long as your family find it… profitable to create mines specialised in producing this kind of rocks, I would be sure to provide all the tools that allowed me to decrease the price of iron by a factor of nearly five."
Reaching to the inner pocket of my kontus, I pulled out a paper containing the list of tools that I was willing to rent to the Zamoyski family along with their respective prices and the entire agreement signed on paper with my signature already on it.
"For the next part, it"s the expansion of what I just said. If we could reach the agreement with those mines, I would invest by myself into creating two kinds of roads connecting the mines, this city, Sandomir and the mining town that is nearing the end of its construction. Obviously, to speed up the matters regarding the trade or the price of those black rocks, I"m willing to offer your family a sizeable mansion in the said city free of charge. And that leaves us with the last and most important topic."
Putting another batch of paper filled with the details regarding the topic I just spoke about, I swallowed my saliva before taking a deep breath and looking at the n.o.ble female in front of me.
"I do honestly believe that by leaving the country, King Henry abandoned his duty. With not even a single promise of his fulfilled so far, we only saw him waste away the royal funds at wh.o.r.es and feasts. In this situation, I believe that for the good of our country and ourselves, we need to find a more suited candidate, someone who could from one side help to reform this poor country, while on the other side, wouldn"t use its power for his own interests alone. I do believe we should invite Stephan Bathory from the princedom of Transylvania and crown him as our new king!"