In the main guest room on the upper floor of the fortress in the center of Zhytomyr City, a middle-aged man with a wide forehead and a narrow chin and a full beard sat in front of the window in a loose coat, holding a wine glass containing an amber liquid in his hand, looking at the beautiful scenery of the city, his brow furrowed slightly from time to time, as if thinking about something.

A burst of military boots broke the quiet atmosphere of the room, and a slightly younger Pole, who looked eight points like him, dressed in traditional aristocratic attire, pushed the door open.

"Brother, we're in trouble."

The man who came in interrupted the middle-aged Polish nobleman on the main seat with a slightly anxious expression.

"Krysztoff, my brother, what happened to make you so in such a hurry? Is there anything else in Zhytomyr that can annoy the members of the great Koniecpolsky family? ”

The man named Krysztof Koniecpolsky pulled over a stool and sat down in front of his brother, picked up the wine bottle on the table, poured himself a glass, drank it all without grace, wiped his mouth and said:

"Brother, on the truce border between us and the Ukrainian Cossack rebels, there is a Tatar army of more than 1,000 men, who burn, kill, loot and use captured civilians as slaves and cannon fodder to attack towns.

This army of Tatar bandits snatched everything they had everywhere they went, and it was cleaner than the villages where the wolves had ravaged them, and the city of Zhytomyr had already been flooded with refugees, and I learned from them that the number of these Tatar bandits was growing all the time! ”

"Growth?!" General Stanisław Konecpolsky, who had always been calm, was finally moved, he put down his swaying glass, looked at his brother with a solemn face, and said, "How many of them exactly?" Are you sure that their numbers are growing, and not that they are being coerced by civilians? ”

"Brother, I have all learned information from refugees, and I only know that this group of Tatars has at least 1,000 troops, all of them have arquebuses, and dozens of villages in two towns have been poisoned by them.

Oh, by the way, this group of Tatars seems to have a common belief in a strange church, what it seems to be called the Taiping Church, according to the refugees, these Tatars are all fanatics, fighting fiercely and not afraid of death, shouting their own church slogans in battle, but their Tatar language is not understood by our people, and it is not clear what they are shouting.

Big brother, what should we do? This territory has been won by our family with great difficulty, and if this group of Tatar bandits is laundered, our family's income will be reduced by a large amount, and it will not be easy for the Council of Thams in Warsaw City to account for it. ”

General Stanisław Kniecpolsky's eyes flashed slightly, and he re-raised his glass and drank all the remaining amber liquid, staring calmly at his anxious brother-in-law.

"Krysztov, I don't think this is a bad thing for our family, His Majesty has always held a grudge against Khmelnitsky, the treacherous Ukrainian Cossack chief, and many members of the Sem Council are inclined to recover the city of Kiev.

The Crimean Khanate has always been an ally of Khmelnitsky, and the appearance of a Tatar 'regular army' of more than 1,000 men on the border to burn and loot is not a fair and honest reason?

As long as we push slightly, this matter will spread throughout the Polish-Lithuanian Kingdom, the new army has almost been raised, the great Polish-Lithuanian Kingdom will never let go of the traitors who rebel, and we, the Koniecpolsky family, will become the biggest beneficiaries of the counterinsurgency war. ”

General Stanisław Knestitspolsky smiled and patted Krysztof Knestpolsky on the shoulder: "You have made a lot of achievements in this battle, and when you take the city of Kyiv, your fief may be able to move places." ”

Krysztof Konetspolsky's face was overjoyed, and he poured a glass of wine for his eldest brother with a smile, and asked: "Shall we sit idly by and watch the Tatar bandit army, or wait for the kingdom's army to gather before we go on the expedition?" ”

General Stanisław Köniecpolski picked up the wine glass, pecked it lightly, pursed his lips and said: "Of course, this kind of executioner who slaughtered Polish civilians and destroyed the foundation of the Koniecpolsky family's fiefdom cannot be spared. ”

"Big brother, then I'll take my headquarters to wipe out this group of Tatar bandits."

The belligerent Krysztof Koniecpolsky introduced himself.

"It's just a gang of Tatar bandits, why do you want to do it? This gang of bandits is not famous, and there is no news from the Crimean Khanate that it is the men and horses led by the Mongol princes and nobles, and there will not be many merits if they are eliminated, and their size is more than a thousand, the number of them cannot be determined, everyone has muskets, which is obviously not comparable to ordinary bandits.

We, the Koniespolsky family, are not going to use their precious soldiers to fight the Tatar bandits, Krysztov, the place where you built your feats is in the city of Kiev, not the bandits, this thankless task for Samuel Vashchi to do. ”

After hearing this, Krysztof Konetspolsky's eyes lit up, and he clapped his hands and applauded: "Wonderful big brother, in this way, you can not only consume the strength of Samuel Vashchi's nail that was inserted into Zhytomyr City, but also eliminate the Tatar bandit army that is constantly making trouble, it is best for Samuel Vashchi to die outside, so that all Zhytomyr's troops will be yours, big brother!"

We, the Koniespolsky family, are in the Zhytomyr region, and no one dares to meddle provocatively anymore. ”

"Nonsense!" General Stanisław Koniecpolsky snorted coldly and glared fiercely at his younger brother.

"Don't you have a bad brain when you're in the Sym Council? Samuel Vashch is dead, they can be stuffed with other people, although Samuel Vashch is not dealing with us, but after all, he still understands the rules, and he didn't do what he shouldn't do in Zhytomyr, this time the bandits are just to consume the strength of Samuel Vashch's army that does not obey my orders, Samuel Vashch is better to let him live, if there is a nail that we don't know the root of, it will take a lot of effort. ”

Krysztof Konetspolsky shrunk his neck, laughed dryly twice and replied: "Big brother, I know, I won't deliberately neck Kasamuel Vashchi, this crackdown on bandits is beneficial to our family after all, and I will do my part." ”

"Well, I'll deal with the affairs of the Som Council, Krysztof, you are optimistic about this crackdown on bandits, I don't want any accidents!" General Stanisław Konecpolsky commanded in a deep tone.