In the last days of June, our hero was supposed to happen three important events: presentation to the emperor, the beginning of the cartographic campaign in the straits and the arrival of replenishment, which was collected by Theodore. The first was his emissary, who, strictly at the set time, was able to lead to the gates of the farmstead a group of young people numbering eighty people. Mindful of the pickiness of the gentleman in choosing people, he took more, just in case. Since he selected sensibly, the baron took to his service all, passing under the leadership of Rudolph, who distributed them into groups. Alas, to meet the maximum number of companies according to the statute did not work, so the second company was formed under the leadership of Antonio. In general, of all his old acquaintances, only these two had experience in managing people, including in combat conditions. Formally, they were equal, but in practice the leading commander was the old and wise experience of the late uncle's servant. No special excesses happened - the Slavs perfectly joined the team and began to work on par with the rest. Apparently, they were helped by anger and the hope that they could take revenge on those who sold them into slavery. The next stage was the deployment of a campaign to form accurate maps of both straits: the Bosporus and the Dardanelles. Immediately upon arrival in Constantinople, Eric sent Demeter's team to create a map in his usual ways, and the most accurate. Now, when they have coped, and jewelers could fulfill its order, it was possible to send them for specifying and correcting works. The fact is that local jewelers received a bunch of small orders on the same principle as blacksmiths. As a result, when he collected from them the results of painstaking works, assembling a telescope with a high-quality copper body and adjusting the focus, as well as a machine for turning it into a level, turned out to be a matter of a couple of hours. The direct task of this device will be to measure vertical angles from the marks, in order to then calculate the distance by means of the traditional Pythagorean theorem. The work is tedious, but someone will have to do it. In order that they do not measure everything, Eric, on their map drawn a grid and marked the measurement points. At the same time he gave them a compass, which was a primitive dish with water, with a small wooden plank floating there. On one side of this improvised arrow was attached a magnet oriented to the north. The primitive thing. But for the best he did not yet have the time and opportunities - it was necessary to make a drawing of details and place an order with jewelers, but those were already loaded with work for two more levels. In late July, came a batch of Chinese paper. He rejoiced like a child. Finally, he can not write on his clothes! At the end of August, the Grand Master returned, and the baron was introduced at the court. Considering the emperor Alexis III, our hero was perplexed because what is deceptive is the appearance - apparently he is quite a healthy person, but in fact the most damaged by the mind of the ruler of Byzantium. In general, after a long and extremely pathetic ceremony, he was finally able to get out of this crooked and thoroughly hypocritical place, holding the necessary papers in his hands. Now he is the prince of the emperor, who was complaining about the lands of the peninsula, which is in the east of the Crimea, including the cities of Kafa and Korchev. These lands were exempt from taxes and other duties and passed into hereditary possession. Who would have thought - so much noise because of the "six hundred"! Of course, all these possessions had to be taken away, since they were under temporary control of arrogant invaders. Having thus obtained a formal right and becoming a titular nobleman in Byzantium, Eric unfolded, through Theodore, a powerful intelligence-diplomatic campaign. Before his emissary set the following tasks. First, it was necessary to obtain a scheme of fortifications Kafa and Korchev, as well as detailed information on the garrisons and their combat capability. Secondly, he was interested in the Timariots - local feudal lords in the specified area. With them it was necessary to get in touch and find mutual understanding. Thirdly, it was necessary to feel the remnants of the Tmutarakan principality, in terms of its ability to join the struggle against the Kypchaks, that is, to find strong leaders and ways to influence them. Fourth, we needed materials on the Kypchaks themselves: who obeys whom, what forces they have, where they are located, how and where they roam. It was not superfluous to provide technical support for these children. Fifthly, Eric was interested in the Slavic principalities, in particular, in Kiev, Galicia, Pereyaslav and Novgorod-Severnoye. For the success of the whole operation the Polovtsians must be connected elsewhere. In the place, as far as the baron remembered, there was a very solid group of Lukomor Kypchaks, to which the children from Crimea also belonged. So, even if the princes' campaign is not planned closer to the winter of next year - it must be provoked. Or at least create the appearance of preparing for the campaign.