Russka - Edward Rutherfurd [119]
The boyar had had some dealings with this Baskak, and had found him a shrewd but quiet fellow.
‘The question is,’ he remarked to his sons, ‘how can we turn this Christian Tatar to our advantage?’
For some months he had assiduously courted Peter. He had discovered quite a lot about him. Peter had taken the Orthodox faith, Milei discovered, at the suggestion of the official in Rostov.
‘Apparently there is a small group of these officials who have converted. They’re mostly below the top grades in the Khan’s service but not without influence; and the Tatar authorities think it is good that some of their people follow the religion of the country where they operate. So I think this fellow could be useful,’ he announced to his family.
The first idea had crystallized in his mind when he discovered that the Tatar had an unmarried daughter.
His own eldest son was married, with two daughters so far. His younger son, David, a handsome boy of nineteen, was not.
‘What about it?’ he asked the boy. ‘I’ve seen the girl. She’s not bad-looking. And this Baskak Peter seems to have a considerable fortune. They say he has some good connections too.’
There had been a few marriages between Russian princes and Tatar princesses already.
‘Our family has married everything from Saxon to Cuman,’ Milei added with a grin. ‘So why not a Tatar this time?’
There was another consideration too. Milei had heard talk of a future Tatar campaign in the Caucasus Mountains in the southeast.
‘They intend to attack the territory of Azerbaidjan down there,’ he told the boy. ‘I know you’re keen to go on a raid like that, and the pickings could be huge. It’s got to help you get a good position if you’re connected with a Tatar.’
The boy had no objection; and to Milei’s surprise, the Tatar Peter was agreeable as well. The marriage had taken place. The Tatar had been generous. Things were looking up.
But nothing, nothing in the world, had prepared Milei for what came next. For two months before, at the start of summer, Peter had approached him and announced: ‘It is my intention to endow a small religious house, a church and some monks. Can you advise me where I could find a good site?’ A monastery! Even he had not realized the Tatar was so rich, nor that he took his religion so seriously.
‘Give me two weeks,’ he had said. ‘I may have just the place for you.’ Surely it was a gift from heaven. He calculated swiftly and worked feverishly.
This was just what he needed for Russka.
Over the years, he had done what he could to build the place up, but it had been difficult. There was a simple wooden church there now; the population had doubled. But the troubles with the Tatars in the last ten years had made it harder than ever to find reliable settlers, and he had not been especially successful. The presence of a monastery would bring people to the place and, sooner or later, trade.
He had acquired much of the vast land – the uncultivated forest – in the area and derived some income from the furs and honey in that. His first thought had been to sell Peter some of this.
‘But it won’t do,’ he said to David. ‘He tells me he wants good land, and the only good land at Russka is the chernozem on the east bank.’
It was then that Milei the boyar had his stroke of genius. A messenger was sent hurriedly to Alexander Nevsky himself. The monastery’s needs were explained, so were Milei’s, and a dutiful reminder of past services to Alexander’s cause was added.
The reply came back. His request was granted, though with one proviso. ‘The Grand Prince has other matters to think about. Ask no more,’ the message had added. It was enough.
‘You see,’ Milei told David, ‘for a very favourable price, he’ll sell me a tract of his chernozem land just north of Dirty Place, and that tract is twice the size of what we have at Russka.’ He rubbed his hands. ‘If I can sell the Tatar my land at a good price for his monastery, then I’ll receive enough to buy what the Grand Prince is offering