- Dear Rudolph, I understand that such a conversation has long been ripe, but it will be long, and therefore it is necessary to finish the case, which does not tolerate urgent. The city is full of corpses, if we want to take a prize from it, we need to act as quickly as possible - many bodies are already over four days old. They have already begun to decompose. I promise, after we talk.
Ok.
This event involved all the forces that could be found. All took off their armor and excess clothing. More than twenty thousand people were to be buried in less than a day. All the liberated slaves were organized into brigades and set off to dig the foundation pits with shock rates. The shovel was not enough for everyone, so many worked with improvised means - who planks, who are helmets. The servants and warriors of the baron entered the city and began hastily to load bodies onto carts and take them closer to digging pits. Of course - previously the bodies were undressed, since Eric needed a lot of old rags to set up a small handicraft paper production, and not write it out for huge money from China. In addition to people on the streets and in the houses of the city, there was a mass of dead creatures, from chickens to horses and cows. One and a half thousand people worked hard not only until the sunset, but also at night. Towards morning the city was liberated from rotting flesh, and the common graves were filled. It remains to make the last jerk and you can relax. All fell asleep together. But it was not the worst thing - the Baron did not let them all fall down and fall asleep right over the loose ground - he drove them all into the river and forced them to strip naked. Women and men from former slaves were unaccustomed to this, but so tired that they did not resist. Those people who had already washed themselves, approached the carts, took a clean piece of cloth and, using it as a sheet, went to sleep in the camp that a week ago they beat Eric's soldiers. It was already cool, but everyone did not care, as it was terribly like to sleep. Going around the camp, the baron smiled, looking at the way these people slept in the field, almost without clothes, and still huddled, like little kittens, to each other to keep warm. It was impossible to remain without protection, but he did not wake up those exhausted people and personally circumvented the perimeter and supported the fire in the bonfires. At nightfall, people slowly began to wake up. To disperse the chilled body, he forced them to jump and run a little. When a man had already accumulated a hundred, he sent them to wash the laundry, which they threw directly on the beach during bathing. The morning of October 14 was quite warm, although it was different. Around the fortified field camp, a whole crowd of naked people of both sexes slowly ran around. Well warmed up, they put on the already dried over the bonfires and began to breakfast.
" You see, Rudolph, there were too many of them involved in this business. When in places where there are so many rotting corpses, crowds gather, then wait for misfortunes. We were lucky that we were alive - they could have provoked some kind of sea. Rotting flesh is very dangerous for all living things. By the way, you need to send people to analyze the dam on the river. Troupes of cows need to be lowered into the sea, and preferably away.
Ok.
In the morning it was reported to the ships of the squadron about the successful end of the assault, and therefore a significant part of them was returned to their trade communications. In the port of Sugdey there were only five large naves that were supposed to provide transportation as part of the continuation of the military campaign of Eric. Demeter also departed with her fleet. She had new instructions - it was necessary to deploy a campaign to seize old antique statues and begin to transfer them to the domain of her master in the Crimea. In parallel, the process of methodical liberation of the taken city from everything valuable began. All the rags that were found in the city, were taken to the river, where they washed and dried. After drying, bales were formed from it, preparing for further transportation. The ships that remained from the Genoese merchants were in a very poor state. Almost all were deprived of a mast and rigging, and some lay at the bottom, pulled out by the crowd on that terrible night. A significant part of the goods on the ships was fur and amber. They could and had to be resold in Europe, because for the life purposes of Eric's possessions, neither of these was absolutely necessary. The city collected everything that represented at least some value - even clay pots and construction timber. To these tasks, he singled out all the servants and a significant part of the freed slaves, as well as military escort in the form of a second company. The case turned out to be quite inexpensive, and it was impossible to pull. Therefore, with the first company, he marched forward to Korchev. Rumors fled ahead of Eric, and therefore, when his people were in direct line of sight from the ancient city, they not only did not begin to obstruct, but also came out to meet. The news of the death of the Genoese Sugdei was the last straw, after which the limit of their cordiality towards the baron became inexhaustible. First of all, the new ruler of the eastern Crimea began to prepare warehouses for taking trophies from the ravaged city - like covered barracks for rags, grains and other, and aligned areas for the stone. He decided to disassemble the city wall and take it to Korchev to get a quick mass of building material. Disassemble is much easier than breaking in the quarries. In parallel, in one of the vacant estates of the city, his temporary residence began to be prepared, that is, everything should be washed and cleaned up. The empty estates were pretty decent, as the old town was in decline for 150 years. The inhabitants were very few - from around the city to the general meeting, which Eric organized, no more than seven thousand people gathered. Including women and children. At the general meeting, he said that the city returns to its ancient name - Bosporus, and made the capital of his vicegerency. While there was work to transport the property of the Genoese from the defeated city, and also created an elementary working atmosphere in the Bosporus, Eric began to draw together local feudal lords and village elders. Unfortunately, local feudal lords, unlike the mountainous part of the Crimea, were not. By the end of November 1202, there were twenty-four villages and three Tymariots. At the same time there are a lot of interesting events. First, the head of the Templar order, Monsieur de Plesier, arrives. Secondly, a delegation from the Kiev Prince Rurik II arrived. Thirdly, they finally finished eviscerating the ruins of Sugdeyi, there is now practically nothing left - even a stone suitable for construction.
Philip brought simply excellent news. Emperor Alexei, when he learned about his successes in the eastern Crimea, decided to make him a prince's dignity, and declare the lands that he had beaten to the glory of Byzantium for the principality of Bosporus. To this end, Eric was invited to Constantinople to conduct a rite of production for the princes in the cathedral of Hagia Sophia, in the face of the people and God, who certainly helped him in his affairs. Of course, such an idea did not arise in the Emperor's head. The great master and prince of Antioch, mindful of the baron's contribution to their prosperity, made every effort to ensure that the right thoughts were not only at the right time in the right place, but also at the right person. The emperor as a whole was and is not against such a step. But his surroundings resisted with all his might. Entering not only an outsider, but also a heterodox in the upper light of the empire was completely unacceptable for them. But de Plesier showed himself as a very flexible politician and was able to convince the emperor of the correctness of such an act. His move was very simple - or Alexei gives him this title, or Eric himself takes it, proclaiming his land as a county or principality. In the first case, the emperor retains the vassalage of an active baron, in the second case - no. The last straw was the disinformation launched by Philip, that the Tsar of Bulgaria is going to offer the title and allegiance to the famous German. Ambitions and common sense won a victory over prejudices, our hero was too interesting and active figure. Also, Philip brought a detailed report on financial receipts. After the sale of property stolen in Feodosia and Sugdey, the baron's account was estimated at twenty thousand marks in silver. This is the fourth part of all the means that the Order had! And this is even taking into account the fact that a significant part of the property did not go on sale, and crossed to Bosporus. All these funds were a dead weight, since they could be demanded at any time for presentation. It was completely wrong. Therefore, it was necessary to discuss the participation of Eric's means in the financial operations of the bank, that is, speaking in a simple way, de Plesier offered the baron a share and, accordingly, a change in the terms of the contract. Discussion of this issue was decided to continue after the construction of our hero in the dignity of the prince, as it was necessary to develop a general scheme of equity participation, which would prove to be not only mutually beneficial, but also effective, that is, bring in revenues. From the Slavs also the news came the most rosy. Princes Rurik and Vladimir, having collected a squad of seven hundred soldiers, and even up to two thousand armed husbands, attacked the winter camps of the Lukomorye Polovtsians, who, like Erik, warned, were left without protection. There was an ordinary carnage. Only young girls aged 12-14 years were left alive. You ask why? Yes, everything is very simple. In the Middle Ages, women very often died during childbirth, and therefore men often remained widowers in their reproductive years. Such polonnyanki were understood on hurray not only in the Slavic lands. It was a common tradition not only for Europe, but also for Asia. Corpses, of course, turned out a lot, but the extraction was colossal. In total, two Lukomorsky winter huts and one North Crimean were killed. Herds of cows, horses, fur, weapons, fabrics, crafts of masters, coins. And now the princes Rurik and Vladimir not only offered expensive gifts to their friend, but also offered to strengthen friendship. In particular - to exchange embassies and repair trade.