The Commonwealth's decentralized financial system (all taxes…

The Commonwealth's decentralized financial system (all taxes have to be agreed upon by all the nobility at the Sejm and the regional Sejmiks) means that the Commonwealth treasury is almost always empty.

This flaw is to plague the Commonwealth for centuries.

Chodkiewicz had been appointed acting commander in chief of Lithuania forces after Zamoyski's return south in 1602 (Zamoyski will never return to lead the armies; his health deteriorating, he will die in 1605).

Despite inadequate supplies and little support from the Commonwealth Sejm (parliament) and King Sigismund, Chodkiewicz has brilliantly distinguished himself, capturing fortress after fortress and repulsing the duke of Södermanland, afterwards Charles IX, from Riga, however Reval, Pernau, and Narwa (Narva, Narew) remain under Swedish control.

However, the war has been neglected by the Commonwealth's parliament, which has turned a deaf ear to all Chodkiewicz’s requests for reinforcements and for supplies and money to pay his soldiers.