The king gave a sour look. "I don't like calling the Sabor Naroda. They want to have too much authority."
The chancellor said "Your always wanting more revenue. You need to call them to get it no matter what you do. I think you have squeezed the populace too hard. Also I think much more you will foment the disorders the increasing soldiers will have to put down. The population is quiet. The last pretender was put down quickly. Getting more soldiers might be seen as a sign of weakness, and might cause more rebellions, rather than fewer."
The king looked at him hard. 'I am willing to take that risk, I am not willing to take the risk of not having enough of them. I still feel uneasy.'
He said 'I have told you enough of my plan for the treasonous abbots. Why aren't you willing to listen? They could be causing more problems. And you need the money for more than just soldiers.'
The King sat and brooded for a bit. 'Fine. Tell me your plan. I am going to say no, but you insist on wasting your breath.'
Milenka came into the room and sat down. The king gave her as sour look too. 'What are you doing'
She smiled sweetly 'I my prerogative am exercising. You a helpmate promised I would be. What wonderful plan he us is going to tell?'
The king said 'Tell her your wonderful plan. It is for the hens to laugh at, so when you explain it to her and she laughs at it you will see how ridiculous it is.'
He said 'Very well.' He faced the kings fiancee 'The late pretender was put up by a conspiracy of abbots in the south. Most of the treasonous abbots are of small monasteries, some of which only have two or three monks. The monasteries own huge tracts of land with huge rent rolls'
She nodded. 'This I know. A huge monastery with 70 tenants was a neighbor. The Abbey but 12 monks had.
He continued 'well your neighboring abbey was loyal. '
She laughed. 'Only because a large number of soldiers sure of that made. I his sermons in the weeks before remember.'
He looked at the king significantly and continued.
'Monasteries are supposedly living poor are supposed to give to charity. Most of them live very rich, and their closed fists, especially where their tenants are concerned, are legendary.'
She nodded. 'My late husband substantial charity gave, which the clerics supposed to were, but didn't.'
He continued 'So I propose calling the Naroda together and attaining the monasteries in the south for treason. Only the most egregious monasteries, which will be the most notorious and obnoxious ones.'
She said 'In theory the people do not the rapacious ones like. Six days a week the monks and abbots are laughed at or abused or cursed. On the rest day dutifully they into the sanctuary file as quiet as mice'
He said 'True. The priests they don't care for either, at least not much. I propose giving two farms a piece to the priests.'
She shook her head. 'You will infuriate them more. They know if you can give them farms because of monastery corruption, you can them take away. Far far better their feudal dues remit. Since the dues are owed to the abbots it us cost nothing, and the dues much 3 times are enraging more than a new farm will them benefit.'
'The king said incredulously 'You think this is a good idea?'
She turned to him 'You have said you corruption in the church need to eradicate because it to the state is dangerous. This is a very horrible evil. And you from selling the abbeys the money desperately need'
The king sat mulishly as she waved her finger as she continued. 'And forget at your peril ' she raised her finger and then pointed it at the king 'these men all treason committed, and they treason again will commit. They like the rats they are in their holes will their time abide, ready to pounce.'
'They are churchmen!' The king said.
'They are men' she said very carefully, watching her grammer. 'What they have done, they will do again. More circumspectly, but the moment they see a ghost of a chance, they will grab it.'
The King sat quietly for a bit while everyone in the room respected his thinking. Finally captain Grubo cleared his throat. 'These aren't really churchmen are they? They sound like a thieves kitchen to me. The main goal as I understand it isn't to get more revenue, but to clean up the church so that the plain folk respect the church more, isn't it?'
'Of course they are churchmen!' The king yelled.
'Well, are they?' Grubo enquired. 'Her neighbor is a sample of this lot. He doesn't do charity, he lives of the fat of 70 farms, he has a small retinue of, how many, 15 monks?
'12 monks' she corrected him.
'12 monks' Grubo said. 'They are supposed to live quiet lives of contemplation...
' He was interrupted by her laughter. 'Quiet contemplation ! His parties! Such a riot of dissipation they were!'
'Enough!' The king growled. He looked around the room. 'Standly! You were always saying we shouldn't mess with the Church. Tell me why we shouldn't do this ' he pleaded.
Standly shook his head. 'We have gone in for reforming the church. We can't stop now. If you chuck rocks at a hornets nest, you can't suddenly make peace with the insects when they come at you angrily.'
'Pirogi! What say you'. The king asked
'I told you that fighting the church was a bad idea. But since the battle is joined, you must fight it till it is dust'
The king leaned back in his chair and thought for a while. He then got up angrily and paced the floor. Everyone knew what his decision had to be, and they waited for it to come. Finally he stopped and said 'Fine! Lets see your plan! '
The cleric gave the king a sheaf of papers. 'First, this is a list of those who need to be attained. There are three groups. The abbots and the bishops who are dirty and treasonous, second are the treasonous but clean, this is the smallest group, the third are the dirty but not treasonous. We will have to include some of these to make the attainments have the veneer of not being totally vindictive. This is the largest group' The king examined the lists while he continued. 'The cathedrals will just elect their bishops in the usual manner. We will 'guide' the elections of the new bishops. The lower clergy who have been most dirty and treasonous will be attained as well. The Abbies will have their lands confiscated. The lands closest to the capital will just have the new landlord, which is you. I suggest dropping rents by 5%. Those furthest away and in the Marches we will sell to the younger sons of the nobility. We will have a maximum of forty farms in each sale. We want to have an increase in nobles who can vote our bidding in the Naroda. Thirty five farms is the minimum to support a noble.'
The king grunted. 'I support having nobles with small estates. I don't really want them to show me up in the Naroda. I don't want to call that into session any more than I have to. Do we have to attain all these men? We can exile them to the Marches can't we?'
'You yourself told me that people are willing to forgive the loss of a relative easily, the loss of property, never.'
The king took the papers over to captain Pirogi. 'I appoint you to put this into effect now. Come back one our before sunset and detail me ways and means. Tell me who else you will need, how many men, and so on. I want this done one week from now'
Captain Pirogi saluted and called his lieutenants and marched off.
'So, what other bit of deviltry have you come up with?' The king continued.
The cleric passed over another sheaf of papers. 'In order to have them attained we will have to have more votes in the Naroda. I have six towns that would qualify as free town status. Nozhikgorod defiantly would qualify, however they were not receptive to your taking over. However, they would create troubles if other towns got free status, and they were passed over. Loncharstvo has been a problem for the late king. They are just always troublesome. Izvantrydan is a new town that grows because of the nearby coal trade. They have lots of citizens, but few who qualify as electors. Putavsii is growing rich on sea trade, despite the high tariffs. It has the most men who qualify as electors. They would have 12 men in the new Naroda. It is relatively small and just barely qualifies as a free town despite its wealth. Stariuchebnitsa is the headquarters of the university. They like Nozhikgorod have been passed over for free town status. Kukuraz just grew as it is the furthest up barges can reach the river. All the towns will return 20 men to the Naroda if you give them free town status. Perhaps as many as 25. This will give us the votes we need.'
The king took out his seal and called for his wax taper. The king sat down heavily. The servant lit the taper and handed to the king. The king looked at the taper and said 'I think this a bad idea, calling the Naroda. I like even less the attainders. I detest giving free status to the towns. I remember being oh so sanguine about trying to give the church a brief cleansing and chastising that fool of a bishop. Oh how glib I was! Oh so free with jokes! Now I don't have any more japes and fun.' The king took the papers and applied the wax and stamped his seal to 24 sheets documents that gave the towns their free city status.