Road To The Crown 89 Early Guests

9th April 1574

Looking down from the city walls, I could see the almost endless string of carriages, heading out to the city gates. Despite still almost an entire week before the wedding would take place, not only the invited n.o.bles were gathering in and around the town, but countless small merchants, sensing the opportunity, aimed to make the most of the drunken state of the rich n.o.bles that were bound to roam the city in their not-so-sober adventures.

The last three weeks turned out to be way calmer than I expected. After sending out the invites and taking care for preparations for the feasts both in Pilzno and Tarnow, increasing the housing for the guests and figuring out some additional attractions for everyone, I found enough time for myself to go back to Tarnow, double the production rate of my brewery and even bring an entire three carriages full of my own beer to the Pilzno myself!

While some might think that the wedding itself was nothing but a huge strain of my treasure, the reality turned out to be far different than what I imagined. Counting only the increased flow of money in my lands propelled by all the people arriving here, the growth of taxes was already enough to cover half of the wedding costs. As for all the additional small bonuses to my own pocket in form of various merchants forced by the warehousing law to put their products on sale in every city they pa.s.sed, both those travelling through Pilzno to Tarnow and those doing the same route but in the opposite direction brough more than twice the wedding costs!

At this point, I couldn't help but wonder how the heck did those people manage to stay afloat, with all the taxes, tariffs and fees burdening them. While it was nice to see such a huge increase in my income, it also got me thinking about the entire matter.

What would happen if after finis.h.i.+ng building the road between Tarnow and Pilzno, or in future, extending it to the Ropian town that I already counted as my own at this point, I were to simply abolish all the tariffs between those places? What kind of insane growth would spring up in the area, if people caught the news of such a great opportunity?

Shaking my head, I hoped that the addition of the air brus.h.i.+ng my hair due to this sudden movement would be enough to clear my mind from all the exhaustion caused by the residual alcohol slowing my brain capabilities down. No matter what kind of ideas were now popping inside my mind, I was in no state to consider them seriously.

Just like with abolis.h.i.+ng the tariffs alone, while it might work wonders for my territory alone, I never considered the reaction of the neighbours that would be affected by the sudden loss of income, when most of the trade would move to the region under my control. While most of the n.o.bles didn't bother themselves with the monetary affairs as long as their coffers were continuously filled by the revenue from their lands, if I dared to make them lose what they considered their own, I would be in for quite a bit of trouble!

But wasn't that why I wanted to make friends with the Governor? As long as I continued to bribe him with all sorts of developments, at reaper guns starting, through building the roads at the new brands of beer ending, I could simply show the middle finger to all those who would dare to oppose me, as long as I kept my influence from affecting the real powers of the country!

"What are you thinking so hard about?"

Suddenly appearing beside me, Kalen didn't forget to bring two cups filled with my own beer with him. Being the greatest cause behind my current hangover in a time when I should be in my top-notch condition to make the most of this once-in-lifetime opportunity, he always knew how to push my b.u.t.tons to get me to drink with him.

Quite timid and closed at first, after sharing enough drinks with me, he turned out to be quite a vivid talker, with an imagination capable of catching up to most of the concepts that I was talking about while drunk. Maybe because of the stern training he went through back at the camp, or maybe because his natural talent, no matter how hard I tried to make him drunk while retaining the senses myself, I always tragically failed, paying for my attempts with more and more information about my ideas, instead of learning about how his camp looked like.

"Some really dangerous stuff."

Accepting the mug from his hands, I once again stared at the long line of the carts, taking my d.a.m.ned time to notice the crests flying on the wind over some of the carriages. Yet no matter how hard I tried, my knowledge about history was simply too general to recognise more than a literally two or three of them, and even then, I could only recall that I saw it somewhere back in my school days!

But then, I saw the single coat of arms I would never forget, not after many years of being a fan of this single, historical figure that has yet to be born!

A Polish-Lithuanian Union crest, held by the sides by a pair of two angels, all on the background made by the interior of the royal coat!

It seemed that the esteemed Cherrie family (Wiśniowieccy, From Wiśniowiec (city) meaning Cherry-like? Cherry-ish? Not exactly sure) came to my wedding as well! It seemed that I could get acquaintances with the grandfather of the future Polish King, and the father to the most well-known great n.o.ble in the entire Polish history!

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Just saw my novel already pirated on dozen or more sites, lost motivation to write. Maybe will publish something later. (Keeping it inside the chapter to make sure those who read FREE novel on pirate site, know what the heck they are doing)