Road to the Crown

Chapter 210: What's in store for now

12th July 1574

"Wait, who?"

It came to me as a no surprise that this man who would write his name with golden letters in the history books of the Polish nation has yet to be known to Elia. After all, with how divided Hungary was right now between Ottoman and Austrian spheres of influence despite their constant drive to regain their freedom, it wasn't all that strange that some kind of major figure of the Ottoman Kingdom of Transylvania, formerly known as the Eastern Hungarian Kingdom.

Yet that wouldn't change the fact that this militaristic figure, a man who took over after the death of the last man from the previous ruling house of the Transylvania, was one of those Kings that kids would remember even after finishing their history classes and going back home.

"Stephan Bathory. For now, he is a leader of the princedom of Transylvania and is doing his best to recover the rest of his kingdom form some minor uprising. If I remember correctly, it would still take him nearly a year to finish pacifying the entire kingdom, which would nicely correspond with the time when our noble brothers would finally put aside their differences and start looking for a new king."

Thinking about this, I wasn't willing to wait an entire year only for the King that I could wholeheartedly support to take the throne. If such need would appear, I would have to use my own resources to help Bathory put down all the last bits of the unrest in Hungarian lands. But if I were to think about it, maybe even uniting the Hungarian crown with the rest of the Commonwealth would be possible?

After all, the commonwealth itself wasn't a single state consisting of a single, dominant force like most of the other empire-likes countries did through the continent. Rather than that, it was a mix of two, if not three completely different cultures, that turned friendly enough towards each other to create a joint community aimed to empower everyone by joining hands with everyone!

"If I never heard about him, do you really think he has any chance Or nevermind. After all, in a sense he already won the election, didn't he?"

Stopping herself in the middle of her own sentence, Elia covered her mouth with her hand. 

"Not exactly Or rather, not before the conflicted faction would solve their differences with an ample amount of blood. In the end, it would be Stephan's willingness to act fast that would result with him taking the crown."

If my memory served me right, after crushing the current pro-Austrian revolution and becoming the king of Poland, Stephan would actually forgive the leader of the uprising, allowing him to be one of the commanders that distinguished themselves during his later campaigns in the east. That meant that as long as I could manage to convince the two of them to stop fighting needless wars and focus on actually freeing themselves from both Austrian and Ottoman influence, not only entire Hungary but Commonwealth as well stood to profit from it!

"I don't think I like the way you tensed up Normally, it meant that you had some kind of genius idea popping up in your head, but as we are talking about politics right now"

Truth be told, Elia managed to nail the point of my trouble right now. While I could dream about being capable of influencing such important matters, when it all came to the boiling point, all it would take for others to destroy my entire wealth and power base would be a single, swift strike at the mining town.

Without the resources stored and constantly produced there, I would have no way of supplying the troops that I was just thinking about deploying. And in order to protect my lands from the attack, I had to keep the troops within the area that had to be defended!

"Yeah, I don't think I will be able to meddle that much in the Hungarian affairs. At least, for now!"

There was no way I would give up on the opportunity of turning Stephan into Commonwealth's king sooner than it would happen without my interference. To be honest, I didn't believe in my own ability to manage the Kingdom better than he did!

Starting with his peaceful approach to the Ottomans, as someone who was placed on the throne with their support, he was the key to keep the south of the nation stable. And with this stability, a lot of opportunities to the trade with the far east would open, allowing me to fix the constant shortage of several exotic goods that could be only procured from the distant lands. 

Additionally, the fact that he was one of the most brilliant tacticians and reformer of both the military and economical aspects of the commonwealth couldn't be undermined. If I could use my own assets to support the rein of such a great King, I would be down for it any time in the year and my life!

"I will leave that remark alone for now But what are we going to do next? While what you told me is insane, it won't change the fact that right now, instead of focusing on the elections and the affairs of the royals, we need to find a way to deal with Ostros!"

Just like several times before, Elia managed to put me back on the ground with just a single sentence of hers. Without a doubt, dealing with Ostros was one of the main problems that I had to deal with right now, but in light of the fact that they were a major pillar of power for the commonwealth, by dealing with them too harshly, I would only undermine my own efforts to strengthen the country!

"Let's drop this topic for now. We should go back to sleep. After all, I want to be mistaken but I think I can hear the crowing of a roaster!"

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