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Chapter 74

Forward Transylvania

Koloszvár


Gretchen tore open the envelope and extracted the sheet of paper within.

“Finally!” she grumbled. “It took them long enough.”

Her husband was sitting on the divan in her office. “It’s hardly surprising, my dear wife. This proposal is a lot more complicated than the deal Morris Roth made with Prince Rákóczi, in just about any way you look at it. The stakes are higher, the risk is greater—so are the rewards, of course, if it works—and it’s quite a bit more expensive both financially and in terms of the troops required. You can bet the emperor consulted with everybody involved more than once before he made his final decision. So what does it say?”

Gretchen had already started reading the message. Although it had been transmitted by radio, it had much the same appearance as a telegram. Except, thankfully, without the constant irritation of plastering STOP throughout.


PROPOSAL IS APPROVED. MUCH STILL NEEDS TO BE ARRANGED IN TERMS OF THE FINANCES INVOLVED, BUT WE HAVE PLENTY OF TIME TO TAKE CARE OF THAT. GIVEN THE EVENTS IN THE ADRIATIC, MURAD WILL HAVE NEITHER THE TIME NOR THE READY RESOURCES TO DEAL WITH A REBELLIOUS BALKAN PRINCIPALITY.


YOU WILL NEED AT LEAST ONE FULL DIVISION EITHER OF REGULAR ARMY TROOPS OR TOP OF THE LINE PROVINCIAL FORCES LIKE THE SILESIAN GUARD. TORSTENSSON CAN SEND A BRIGADE FROM THE SIEGE OF POZNAŃ WITHIN THREE MONTHS. WE CAN ALSO FILL MOST OF YOUR AIRCRAFT REQUESTS FAIRLY SOON.


WILL BEGIN THE RAIL LINE SHORTLY, CONCENTRATING

FIRST ON THE STRETCH BETWEEN KASSA AND KOLOSZVÁR. SHOULD BE FINISHED WITHIN A YEAR.


She looked up at Jeff. “Is that realistic?”

“If they put enough teams on it, sure. The straight line distance involved is about one hundred and seventy miles, but for a rail route you’d need to figure two hundred and fifty. About half of that stretch, from Kassa to Szatmár, is in the Great Hungarian Plain. They could easily lay a mile a day. From Szatmár down to Koloszvár, the terrain isn’t as flat but it’s still not particularly difficult. So figure half a mile a day. That comes to… ”

His eyes got a bit unfocussed as he did the arithmetic in his head. “Figure about a year, like he says, but it could be less.”

She looked back down at the message.


MORE TO FOLLOW.


What remained was only one line.

“Oh, damnation! I was afraid he was going to do that,” she said.

“Do what?” asked Jeff.

She handed him the message. “Look at the last line.”

A moment later, her husband was laughing.

“It’s not funny!”

“Sure it is. Pure Gustavus Adolphus. CONGRATULATIONS ON YOUR NEW TITLE, LADY PROTECTOR OF TRANSYLVANIA.”


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Framed