The Last Frontier of Fire and Sword

If King Jan Kazimierz advocated for the Cossacks from the perspective of the Polish king’s consistent containment of aristocratic power and strengthening of the royal power, then Stanislaw Potocki was out of his relationship with Bogdan He The friendship between Melnitsky.

The intersection of Stanislaw Potocki and Bogdan Khmelnitsky starts with the Battle of Sekola.

In that battle comparable to the losses in the Battle of Varna in 1444, Konnitz Polotsky, Potocki, and Khlimecki were captured and taken to Istanbul for imprisonment. It was redeemed by the king two years later. It was during Istanbul that Stanislaw Potocki and Bogdan Khmelnitsky, both prisoners, became friends from mutual hostility to mutual sympathy. This was unthinkable at the time, because in Poland, even the most desolate nobles looked down on the Cossacks, let alone Stanislaw, a great noble from the Potocki family.

Stanislaw certainly knew that his friendship with Bogdan would be ridiculed by other nobles, so after returning home, he carefully concealed this friendship, but the two never disconnected. After that, when Bogdan Khmelnitz had an argument with the local Polish nobleman in 1647, who took advantage of his going out to occupy his estate and killed his youngest son and went to Warsaw to file a court case. It was also Stanislas. Wav Potocki told this story through a personal relationship with Jan Kazimierz's brother, then King Władysław IV. It was only because Władysław IV had just lost his son and was depressed and was seriously ill at the time, and failed to get justice for Bogdan Khmelnitsky. This eventually led Bogdan Khmelnitsky to go to Zaporozhye angrily, disperse the Polish guards there, and agitated the Cossack riots there.

"His Majesty,"

Now that he understood the heart of King Jan Kazimierz, Stanislaw Potocki said, "This matter is not easy to handle."

This matter is not impossible, but difficult.

Then Stanislaw Potocki said: "The key is who the next Cossack chief is."

"Not bad." King Jan Kazimierz agreed.

Stanislaw Potocki deserves to be his confidant, and can think of everything with himself.

The Republic of Poland and the Cossack emirates are hostile, but King Jan Kazimierz and Stanislaw Potocki wanted to intervene in the candidate for the next great chief. This sounds absurd, but they both think This is not impossible.

There is a reason for this.

Because if it is in other countries, when the person in power dies, the successor will naturally be the heir of the person in power.

Bogdan Khmelnitsky certainly had a son, but the political system of the Zaporozhye Cossacks is different from that of other countries. The emirates established by the Cossacks were not hereditary (similar to the Republic of Poland, so Poland is not an ordinary country). Although Bogdan Khmelnitsky was a great chief, he did not designate his son as the heir. that power. When he passes away, the position of the chieftain will be re-elected. His subordinates, such as Bauhon, Wigowski, Shirko and other prominent company captains, will be popular candidates for the chieftain.

So what King Jan Kazimierz and Stanislaw Potocky have to do is to find ways to support a pro-Polish Cossack in the upper ranks, so as to end the war and re-incorporate Ukraine and the Zaporozhye Cossacks under their command. the goal of.

After King Jan Kazimierz said "not bad", the monarch and his subjects fell into silence for a while. The king and his chief adviser were thinking about who is most likely to inherit Bogdan Khmelnitsky's position after Bogdan Khmelnytsky's death, and whether this person will get close to Poland.

After a while, King Jan Kazimierz asked Stanislaw Potocki: "Who do you think is most likely to become a warchief after Bogdan Khmelnitsky's death?"

Stanislaw Potocki was thinking about this issue just now, and he thought three of them were the most likely.

The first was Ivan Wigowski, the clerk of Bogdan Khmelnitsky. Wigowski used to serve in the Polish army. He was captured by Khmelnitsky in the Battle of the Yellow River, but was released because of his good education. Bogdan Khmelnitz Ki took him in and made him a clerk. Wigowski can be regarded as one of the few pro-Polish sects among the Cossacks. He has repeatedly proposed peace talks with the Republic of Poland, turning conflicts into jade. And while Bogdan Khmelnitsky was seriously ill, it is said that Vygowski was actually dealing with the affairs of the Cossack Emirate.

The second place is Ivan Bauhon~www.wuxiaspot.com~ Ivan Bauhon was once a close assistant and friend of Bogdan Khmelnitsky. Bao Hong was born in a Ukrainian aristocratic family (this matter is doubtful). He joined the Polish army very early and started his military career. In his early years, Bao Hong participated in the raids against Russia and the Tatars. He was in Khmelnitsky. After the uprising, he joined the latter and became a Titan. He participated in most of the wars against the Bolivian Republic, and he was a staunch main combatant. Today, Bao Hong controls Bratslaw. Bao Hong participated in the Battle of Berestecko and successfully led the breakthrough. After that, Bao Hong had a stalemate with Bogdan Khmelnitsky because he opposed the Treaty of Peleyaslav and was at war with Tsarist Russia. The prestige is extremely high among the younger generation.

The third possible successor is Ivan Hilko. Ivan Hilko is a "legendary" Cossack. He wrote the reply, full of insults and blasphemy against the Ottoman Turkish sultan, that led to the declaration of war by the Crimean Khanate against the Zaporozhye Cossacks. This unwise or even crazy move in the eyes of any diplomat with diplomatic common sense and morality has earned Ivan Hilko a high reputation among Ukraine and the lower Cossacks. This person has no obvious inclinations, but it is said that he is currently fighting with the envoy of Tsarist Russia.

As for the other characters in the Cossacks, they are either attached to these three people, or they are less prestigious and powerful, and do not have the position to compete for the chief.

Yuri, the son of Bogdan Khmelnitsky, was not included in the possibility of Bogdan Khmelnitsky's successor at all. Because of Yuri's age and prestige, not only can't be compared with the three people just now, but even some other Cossack company captains are inferior.