"Emerson, Ru - Night Threads 01 - The Calling of the Three UC" - читать интересную книгу автора (Emerson Ralph Waldo)

ArfONG the lands east of the Herdyun Sea, the greatest in size
s Rhadaz; so vast the distances between its borders that a
man astride the swiftest mare could not cross from the coastal
marshes of Dro Pent to the mountain-locked dells of Fahlia in
the southeast in fewer than six days. So vast and unwieldy
Rhadaz, with all its varied lands and peoples, that the great-
great-great-grandfather of the present Emperor, Shesseran IX,
divided Rhadaz into nine Duchies and gave control of these
smaller kingdoms to his nine nearest friends, who founded the
Nine Households from which the Dukedoms all descend to this
day. Shesseran IX of course continued to take his taxes and such
other levies of goods and men as necessary; the Dukes were
accountable to him for following Rhadazi customs, for keeping
the fests and holy days, for maintaining the standards set by the
Emperor. But Shesseran left actual governing in the hands of his
friends. He sent no special auditors, observers or spies to watch
openly or in secret. He kept strict control thereafter of only his
own massive estates and the surrounding game preserves com-
posing the Duchy of Andar PerighaЧand, of course, his capital
city and chief port, Podhru.

Shesseran IX was widely criticized for having entrusted so
much of Rhadaz to mere friends and not kindredЧbut he was a
shrewd man and knew not only who was most loyal to him, but
how to secure that loyalty: All Rhadaz prospered under the
Duchy system, from the merchants of Sikkre to the Zeiharri
woodcrafters, even to the meanest herders and nomad tribes of
outermost Dro Pent and Holmaddan and Genna.

In Shesseran XI's time, the Duchies were reconfirmed to the
descendants of the original nine friends, and the inheritance con-

2 RU EM6RSON

firmed bloodline. The Emperor preserved his right to interfere
in the internal workings of those Duchies but the grandson of
Shesseran IX interfered even less in Duchy business than had
his grandsire. He had, after all, more than enough matters to
occupy his time and talents just managing his estates and pre-
serves. And Podhru had become the richest and greatest trading
port anywhere on the eastern seaboard.

Shesseran XTVЧ Shesseran the GoldenЧinherited wealth and
power greater than that of all his forebears together. More im-
portantly, he had his forefathers' shrewd understanding of trade
and the increasingly complex politics inherent to the Herdyun
Sea trade routes, and the patience to deal with them.

It is held that Shesseran XIV made only two serious errors in
judgment during his long reign, and those were near its end,