The third day began the most interesting - his future warriors came to the brink, after which it became clear what kind of person really is before you. They from time to time spontaneously passed into a state of combat rage. And all the most secret strings came out, they did not restrain themselves and were not limited in their sacred thirst for blood, which arose from the mere sight of the other person that gets in his way. The surprising quality of this state is that consciousness is not in doubt, it is crystal clear and works at the level of ancient instincts. From them emanated such an aura that the sailors avoided them with a frightened look on the side of the ship, afraid to attract their attention. Fortunately, everyone was able to learn how to achieve combat fury, no one broke down and turned into a kvashnya. Further training became less intense, and instead of eight hours a day, which were originally, by the sixth day of the journey reached a couple of hours in the morning. The main time was more and more given to more complex psychological forms of processing, transferring the output into a state of combat rage to a more manageable form. The seventh day rested, slept almost full day, as psychologically and physically were exhausted to the last extreme. The children's chests were a bruise, which it was painful to touch, but this training did its work, and confidence in themselves and their forces awakened in them. Then it had to be tempered with battles. By lunchtime eighth day on the horizon, the port of Saint-Semion appeared - the sea gate of Antioch. Disembarked on the pier and a bit on the sidelines settled with horses and property. After Eric, accompanied by Morrigan and Ostrolega went to the Templars, and Rudolph with the rest remained in place, keep an eye out for the property and prepare it for the equestrian crossing to Antioch. All the members of our baron's group were in beautiful red and white cottages, which were made of quality wool and decorated with embroidered coat of arms, its coat of arms. In general, it turned out quite spectacular. In the port, the Templars had only a small representation for a dozen people. Their head - the sergeant - was aware of the arrival of our hero, he accepted it normally and was able to answer questions on the operational situation in the region. The conversation turned out to be rather short, since it was necessary to get to the city before dawn and to find a lodging for the night. From the port they were already traveling by the column. Eric was riding ahead in his black Gothic armor, over which were wearing red and white colors with a coat of arms. Behind him moved the girl, who in armor was perceived rather as a squire. She was also in the colors of the baron, but the armor was already ringed. In her hands she held a standard, fixed on a horizontal shaft, which, in turn, was fixed to the main shaft with one end. The top of the main shaft was decorated with an elegant spearhead, framed by white horsehair. In a pair with her rode Rudolph. And behind them were mounted mounted soldiers in a column of two, also with armor and in red and white coat of arms. Each warrior had one horsehorse with a luggage, which was tied to his saddle. At the very end, a creative family was riding in the colors of the baron. Total - in the caravan were 13 richly and brightly equipped riders of 23 horses, including 10 winding. Before Antioch reached quite quickly and without adventure. Their processions strictly followed the place on the road and did not put any obstacles at all. Arriving at the city, he ordered Rudolph to take the children and begin to look for a place to stay overnight, and himself, accompanied by Morrigan and Ostro-nega, advanced to the place where the Templars were quartered in order to inform about his arrival and to probe the ground in the current political situation. Our hero did not want to become the cause of some unexpected war.
The Compound, which was filmed a year ahead for Eric's interests, was just a few minutes' walk from the base of the order, which was very convenient. After a polite conversation with the commander, which is only of a formal nature, our hero went headlong into the preparation of logistical support. To begin with, the huge building that Rudolph found was cleaned of debris and repaired. In particular, new plank floors were laid, doors, shutters were hung, trunks were made. In addition, a clean, spacious and well-ventilated food storage was installed in the basement. The kitchen and the sanitary unit were placed next to the room, in which clean fresh water was stored in large quantities, it was passed through a small homemade filter system before use. The filter system was extremely primitive and consisted of three kegs connected in series to the cascade. In the middle of the first, the largest keg, a filter was installed in the form of a spatial grid of silver wire, which was occasionally bought from local jewelers. It produced the primary settling of water. In the second keg, of medium size, the water passed through a rather massive carbon filter, seeping through it. In the third keg, water passed through a multilayer filter made of silk fabric, which prevented the passage of grains of coal. Thus, relatively pure water was obtained. Of course, before getting into such a filter, water was stored in a closed, ventilated room in clay jugs. Filtered water was used to wash food and drink. For washing, water was used without filtration. In the courtyard was set a small shed, in which were installed five large earthenware jars with leaven for braga. The guard post was equipped, preparations for the stables and the guest room were in full swing, the territory near the house was cleared, the fence was fixed and new strong gates were hung. And after a week and a half, in the midst of a stormy activity, Raul de Combron peeped to visit the baron.
- Good day, dear baron.
"And you have a good day, my dear Commander," Eric said, and smiled in the most amiable way.
"I see, I'm distracting you from your business, but I'd like to talk to you. "
- Well, let's talk. C What questions have brought you to me?
- I was brought to you by my curiosity, more precisely, by his determined reluctance to endure more. Let's speak directly. You have something in mind and want to entangle the order. I know what rumors are about you, and I also read letters of recommendation about you. And if you impose the information known to you on the scale of your preparations, then I can be completely sure that the forthcoming enterprise will be grandiose. In short - tell me, do not tire me.
" I knew that you would not sit still. "But these things need to be talked about without outside ears. Let's go into my room, where in silence and peace I will tell you in general terms the draft campaign. And afterwards, if you are satisfied with the interest that I will offer you, let's move on to working issues that may be less secret.
Chapter 5
So, the project. The key place in it is the city of Edessa, which was about a day's equestrian crossing from Antioch. The peculiarity of this city was that it was a hub in the trade and transport communications of the Middle East. First, there was a land branch to Africa from the Great Silk Road. Secondly, through it was a land transportation highway that connected Transcaucasia and Central Asia with the Middle East coast of the Mediterranean Sea and Egypt. On this trading artery there was a huge quantity of the most various caravans which brought quite good income to the most "beloved" neighbor of the Antiochian princedom - to Egypt, possession of which were impudently stretched under Yusuf Salah-ad-Din to the limits of modern Turkey. Monthly there were thousands of brands of silver, and it would be unreasonable to miss them. The most popular goods that could be found on this trade route were silk and cotton fabrics, glassware, weapons and armor. Slightly less popular were slaves and carpets. Strangely enough, neither Muslims nor Christians conducted systematic raider trading operations on trade communications. Few of this, such operations were not carried out even on supply lines. In general - nice such a sandbox with frightened kids, who enthusiastically sculpted kulichiki, sticking out with pleasure tongue. Than should, of course, take advantage. To ensure effective raids it is necessary, in addition to a well-equipped main base, to have strong points in the enemy's territory or near it. These are some analogues of "hopping aerodromes" where you can always get fresh horses, food, water, clean clothes and relax after a hard night of work. And from where it was relatively safe to transfer the looted property to the main base. For example, through independent caravans under the protection of the Crusaders. Raoul suggested that there were seventeen potential sites for such bases. All of them were fairly evenly distributed along the border of the Antiochian principality, which was an undoubted plus. In parallel, it was necessary to deploy a network for espionage and gathering information about the caravans that are passing through Edessa. It was extremely important to know who was going where, where and how much, what forces he was protecting. The next very important link in the unfolding project was the system of operational sale of property, which will rapidly accumulate at the head base. For this task, we needed a direct channel with Europe and its most developed trade center, which would be able to swallow all the good that was delivered - by Venice. Then came Demeter with her unfolding trading enterprise. According to the reports received before sailing, there were already eight naves in the hands of this young girl. And this was not the limit, since the manager paid almost all of the debt, and therefore five more new ships were built for the company's trading affairs at the shipyards of the island city and there were funds for building another twenty. Well, the last stage was a cover - a force was needed, which, if necessary, could cover the retreat of the detachment or help with the catch of a "large fish". De Combron designated the strength of his command in 43 knights and 387 armed servants of different levels of training and armament. A little, of course, but if you do not face the feudal militia of Muslims, you can quite seriously declare yourself. After describing the whole picture of the upcoming campaign, Eric offered the order a third of all the revenues that his squad would receive, provided that Raoul's people would participate in all the background processes and carefully observe the bank account agreement that was signed in Venice.