1637_The Volga Rules Read online

  Sofia looked at Elena, trying not to show her irritation. Elena was the most depressing nun in the monastery. And even though Sofia understood the reasons for it, that didn’t make it pleasant. Besides, the most irritating thing about Elena was that she was mostly right.

  Russia was on the knife’s edge and Sheremetev running off like that wasn’t helping. If someone had killed Sheremetev—which was to Sofia’s mind a distinct possibility—Russia could collapse into a dozen warring parts. It still seemed almost beyond hope that Mikhail could hold it together. There really was no reason she could see for Salqam-Jangir Khan to join the United States of Russia.

  Dirigible Princess Anna, approaching the Swedish fortress in Nyen

  April 14, 1637

  Dimitry Ivanov cursed and sucked on his hand. The boiler on this dirigible was less protected, and burns from touching hot metal were quite a bit more common. Worse, the Little Princess as they called her, was only capable of carrying about a ton of useful load, or—if they overloaded with fuel to give them greater range—only a few hundred pounds. So Dimitry was captain and chief engineer, and he had two riggers for this trip. They had had to land in the hinterlands on the way here to chop trees to refuel. But they were carrying official messages from Ufa to the fortress, so it had to be done.

  Princess Anna had a radio, a good one with tubes, so they could inform the fort they were coming. Even before they landed, the fort wanted to know if the khan of the Kazakhs had really joined the United States of Russia. “Not when we left. He had just entered the city, and they had barely started negotiating.”

  “Where have you been?” the radioman asked in dots and dashes.

  “Crossing Russia. What’s been happening?”

  “The latest I have is the khan is new head of pro-slavery faction and they have moved on to voting rights. Oh, and the director-general has gone missing. Word is he flew off in a dirigible.”

  “I doubt it,” Dimitry Ivanov sent back. “I have it from a reliable source that Sheremetev is terrified of flying. Spent his whole trip from Moscow to Bor in a stateroom and then wouldn’t get back on the dirigible.”

  “You think he’s dead?”

  “Maybe. We can hope anyway.”

  Dimitry shook his head. The radios were fast. Much faster than the dirigible, and the network now reached all the way from Ufa to the Swedish fortress on the Baltic. Finally he sent, “I wonder if the world will have changed by the time I get back.”

  “Yes. China will have joined.”

  CHAPTER 31

  Voting Rights

  Ufa

  April 15, 1637

  “It’s all falling apart. Salqam-Jangir Khan is threatening to walk out if we don’t have slavery, and Fedov is threatening to walk out if we don’t outlaw it,” Natasha said.

  “I don’t think that he will, not with Sheremetev missing,” Anya said.

  “You don’t think who will?” asked Czar Mikhail.

  “Either of them, actually,” Anya said. “But I was thinking of Salqam-Jangir Khan. With Sheremetev missing, walking out might leave him facing all of Russia united under you.”

  “I wouldn’t count on that,” Czarina Evdokia said. “We don’t know where Sheremetev is. He might be out raising another army to attack us here.”

  “Put them in a room together,” Czar Mikhail interrupted. “Salqam-Jangir Khan and Yermak Fedov. Vladimir, I want you there too, as a referee. And Bernie, I think.”

  The ladies in the room looked at the czar expectantly, and he shook his head. “Neither man is comfortable with women in that sort of meeting, so leave it to Vladimir and Bernie. Besides, I don’t want it to seem like I’m trying to push the khan with a room full of abolitionists.”

  “What about Sheremetev?” asked Evdokia.

  “I’ll worry about that after we have a constitution,” Czar Mikhail said. “For right now, the constitution is all that matters.”

  Meeting room, Ufa kremlin

  “Thank you for coming, Salqam-Jangir Khan,” Vladimir said. “Czar Mikhail was hoping that a private meeting between you and Yermak Fedov might yield better results than arguments on the convention floor that always seem to end in threats to walk out on the convention.”

  Salqam-Jangir Khan smiled. “I hope so, but don’t expect miracles. My nobles depend on slavery. Slaves work the mines and the fields. Even many of the craftsmen are slaves. Were I to give Ambassador Fedov what he wants, I would face a revolution as soon as I got home. And rightly so. It would be the end of the Kazakh Khanate.”

  “And if I yield to Salqam-Jangir Khan,” Yermak Fedov said as he came into the room, “my friends and neighbors would gut me like a fish. Besides, slavery is not the only issue. The Cossacks have always been the defenders of Christendom. Now you want us to be part of a Muslim nation.”

  “Not at all,” Vladimir said. “The United States of Europe has shown us that individual states having different state religions can work. All it requires is religious toleration on everyone’s part.”

  “And Sharia law?”

  “That, I admit, is more of an issue,” Vladimir said.

  They talked about Sharia law and state law versus federal law and managed to come to a compromise. State law would be determined by the state, but respect for the laws of other states must hold sway. A Muslim with a harem must be allowed to bring his family from Kazakh to the Don lands without being arrested for bigamy. On the other hand, Kazakh would be a dry state, though those laws would be invoked by the state, not the church. And it was suggested that Kazakh should probably want to decrease the penalty, considering that a lot of Christians would be traveling through Kazakh, or even working and living there, and they must be allowed to practice their faith.

  Oddly enough, everyone had aired their differences on the subject of slavery, so that everyone was clear on what they could and couldn’t get. So slavery and serfdom would be left to the states. The question of whether a free state was obligated to return escaped slaves or serfs to the state they had escaped from would be left to the courts. It was a way of not having to take a stand on the issue while they were trying to form a new nation.

  “So, about voting rights?” Vladimir asked.

  “If they are slaves, they shouldn’t count,” Yermak Fedov said, more than a little smugly. “Since they won’t be allowed to vote, the representatives won’t represent them.”

  “But the representatives will represent them, just as they will represent the women and children who don’t vote either,” Salqam-Jangir Khan said. “Let’s not pretend this is not a matter of states’ advantage. Clearly, it will be in my state’s interest to have them counted, and against your state’s interest, since we have slaves and you don’t. Still, I don’t wish to be unreasonable and am willing to compromise. One of my clerks tells me that in the up-time world, slaves were counted as three-fifths of a man. Personally, I think that four-fifths would be more fair, but I will yield to history if Ambassador Fedov will do the same.” Then he looked over at Vladimir and smiled.

  This was just the compromise that Vladimir didn’t want.

  Vladimir tried to explain. “That particular compromise is considered one of the most corrupt in up-time history, and one of the greatest shames of the up-time United States of America.”

  “Perhaps,” Yermak Fedov said, sounding sad. “And perhaps history will condemn us for it, as well. But it worked, didn’t it? For as long as slavery and serfdom lasted in this America, it worked. Czar Mikhail is showing great wisdom in not seeking a perfect document, but a framework.”

  Bernie, who had been sitting quietly throughout the meeting, suddenly spoke up. “What ever the advantage or disadvantages to the free states, they can’t be as bad as declaring people three-fifths of a human.”

  Yermak Fedov looked at Bernie like he was a traitor. “So you want to make it so that people who aren’t allowed…” He stopped and held up a hand, then he scratched his sideburns. Then finally, he said, “If Salqam-Jangir Khan wants them to b
e counted, then let them vote. No, that’s not enough. They would be legally allowed to vote, then kept from voting. Make it by voting, not right to vote. The actual voting. If they don’t vote, they don’t count in terms of representatives.”

  “All that will mean is that they will herd their slaves into polling places and make them vote for their master’s choice,” Vladimir said.

  “No,” said Bernie. “We make the vote inviolate. Even if you own a man, you don’t own his vote.”

  “Do you really think we can enforce such a law?” Yermak Fedov asked.

  “Maybe not, at least at first. But it’s better than being declared three-fifths of a human by the cornerstone of your nation’s laws,” Bernie answered.

  “Mr. Zeppi is right,” Salqam-Jangir Khan said with a smile. “We can make this work. Perhaps not everywhere, but if I have to—and I know I probably will—I can put enough heads up on pikes for interfering with a slave’s right to vote to make the point.”

  “Would you do that?” Yermak asked, sounding both surprised and curious, but not doubting.

  “The notion of janissaries is an idea of Islam, Ambassador, and a slave that has a vote seems to me one less likely to revolt. Let even a slave have some say in the government. Given some input into the laws that govern them, even the slaves will be on our side. Let them find out that the khan puts the heads of masters that try to interfere with that right up on pikes and they will be twice loyal.” Besides, Jangir thought, I have several examples in mind who are just the sort to attempt to try it. And aside from the good example set, it will help me to solidify my control of the khanate.

  “Not that I doubt you, but what about the others? Shein and the pocket states.”

  The pocket states were established by Great Families—and not-so-great families—fleeing Sheremetev’s Muscovy. They were about as far east as they could get, which mostly meant the west side of the Ural Mountains. Some had sent delegates to the convention, others hadn’t. The ones that had were the ones who had input into the borders of states in the United States of Russia, so some of the people who didn’t send representatives to the convention were going to find themselves in other people’s states. Just like the Jungar Khanate is going to be a bit surprised at our border’s new location. “I can’t speak for them, but you certainly have a point. Some of the representatives to the new congress who are ‘elected’ by mostly serfs will be the most dedicated to keeping the serfs in chains.”

  Bernie’s usually pleasant, noncommittal face had a hardness in it as he said, “If necessary, I suspect the federal government will be able to find a gibbet. For this I would have no objection to heads on pikes, but Patriarch Matthew is probably going to go all soft-hearted on us and insist we just hang them.”

  Yermak nodded acceptance, then looked over at Bernie. “What happens when a bunch of slaves elect a slave?”

  “Then the slave comes to congress,” Bernie said.

  “So anyone who can vote may be elected? Slaves, serfs, women, babes in arms, if they are allowed to vote?” asked Yermak. “And should such a one be elected, will he vote his will against the will of his lord or master? Will she vote her will against the will of her husband?”

  “Some will, Ambassador,” said Vladimir “Certainly, my wife will. Though, as my wife, she is more likely to be appointed to the house of lords.”

  “And others won’t,” said Bernie. “Surely what we have seen here in these last days is clear proof that this sort of government is full of ‘sometimes.’ Sometimes the voters, especially slaves and serfs, will be coerced in their votes, sometimes not. Sometimes that coercion will work, and sometimes not. A slave will sometimes vote his master’s will in the congress, and sometimes his or her own conscience.”

  “I don’t like the idea of women in congress,” Salqam-Jangir Khan. “For that matter, I don’t like them being able to vote.”

  Bernie grinned evilly. “Then don’t let them. Don’t let them vote and lose their representation in congress. Or let them vote and hold office and all the rights and privileges that go with it. If two-year-olds are allowed to vote, a two-year-old may be elected. Man, woman, child, noble, free, serf or slave—if you would have the representation for them in congress, they must be given the rights that go with it.”

  Salqam-Jangir Khan looked at Bernie, then over at Yermak. “And can you live with that?”

  Vladimir spoke up. “It won’t be just the number of representatives that is affected. Up-time there were all sorts of things that were dependent on population. Government funding for projects, for instance. If those things are apportioned based on the number of voters who actually vote…”

  “Then you really will have infants voting,” Yermak said. “And their parents beheaded for putting their little hands on the ballot to select the candidate?”

  “It’s not perfect,” Bernie admitted, “but at least it pushes things in the right direction. Leave the minimum age for voting in the hands of the court, but the states will want it low. As long as only voters get counted, they will want all the voters they can get.”

  Convention Floor

  April 16, 1637

  Alexander banged his gavel and waited. There were a dozen copies of this new version of the constitution in the room, with all the delegates going over them and arguing. A lot. And loudly. With arm-waving and various other gestures, some not at all restrained.

  Fortunately, no one had come to blows. Yet.

  It was the voting rights for slaves that were causing the discussion. The free states objected in spite of Yermak Fedov’s support of the measure. But the representatives of the states that had slavery and serfdom were taking offense at their objection.

  “Are you calling me a liar?” Iakov Kudenetovich Cherakasky roared. He was the representative of his family and their new territory on the western edge of the Urals. “If we say there will be free elections, why do you doubt it?”

  There was, Alexander knew, no good answer to that, because the truth was that the free states, especially the Cossacks, didn’t trust the northern slave states. Or the Great Families and minor nobility that ran them. He banged his gavel again and Iakov turned back to him. Alexander knew Iakov moderately well. His family were clients of the Cherakasky after all, and Iakov wasn’t nearly as upset as he was sounding. “Quiet please, everyone.”

  Once the noise in the chamber was down to a dull—if rather sullen—roar, Alexander called on Salqam-Jangir Khan.

  Salqam-Jangir Khan rose with studied grace and bowed to the chamber. “I understand the concerns expressed by the Cossacks and the former serfs and slaves who represent Ufa in this chamber. I understand the concerns of my fellow Muslims from Kazan, and I do not task you for them. I can only give you my personal word that the laws against vote tampering will be enforced rigorously in the Kazakh Khanate, and that I, as the head of state for the Kazakh, will be signing that document and committing the Kazakh Khanate to statehood in the United States of Russia. I realize that most of you cannot make such a commitment at this time. You will have to consult with your governments and get their instructions. I understand that, and I respect it. But when you go home, taking the document before you and laying it before your leaders, take also this knowledge. There will be a United States of Russia and that nation will have at least two states, Ufa and the Kazakh Khanate. It will almost certainly have the Kazan Khanate as a state, as well. There is a nation forming here. A nation that will grow strong. Will you be a part of it?”

  That brought silence to the chamber. Then Yermak Fedov rose. “Will you then, Great Khan, give over your sovereignty to this new nation?”

  “No! The Kazakh Khanate will remain a sovereign state, but a sovereign state within a union of sovereign states. Still, your point, Gospodin Fedov, is well taken. I propose one more change that we should make in this constitution of ours. Make it the constitution of the United Sovereign States of Russia.”

  There was general applause to that, which died down quickly. The delegat
es looked around and nodded to each other. Up till now this had been “a maybe,” a possibility. They had been sent by their governments, just in case. The Kazakh Khanate, however, was a nation, and not a small or weak one. Combined with Ufa and the probable inclusion of Kazan, it was a real rival to Old Russia, that part of Russia that was still under the control of Director-General Sheremetev. But with Director-General Sheremetev missing on some unknown quest, who knew how long Old Russia would last? And the United Sovereign States of Russia would be much more powerful than any of the rest of them, even the Siberian states, safe behind the Urals. This young man, with his signature, would turn “maybe” into “is.”

  He also effectively ended the debate. This document would be the ruling document of the new nation, because this was the document he had just publicly committed to sign.

  General Izmailov signaled and Alexander recognized him. He rose and bowed respectfully to Salqam-Jangir Khan. “I cannot commit General Shein, but I tell you now that I will be recommending that he accept this constitution and join the union of Russian states.” Then he turned to Yermak Fedov. “I know that this was a difficult compromise to make, and I respect the sagacity you showed in making it. I hope you can convince your fellow Cossacks to agree to it as well.”

  Bernie leaned in to kiss Natasha…and the door burst open.

  “You didn’t!” said Tami Simmons.

  Every time. Every single time. Bernie turned with murder in his eye, but was interrupted by Gerry Simmons’ bass voice, singing loudly. “Back in the U.S.S.R.”

  CHAPTER 32

  The Relief of Kazan

  Kazan

  April 17, 1637

  “They’ve got it!” The radio man rushed into the room.