"But they went out to defend their house? "
" They came with a weapon against me. "You are warriors, it is your job and duty, it would be strange if people like you were hiding at home in difficult days. And they are peasants who think they know what. Such nonsense should be beaten out of bad heads, so that it was not enviable to repeat. These idiots came here to die ingloriously and throwing their families out of elemental stupidity and greed. Do you seriously believe that this is it, - he again showed in the direction of the militia, - is able to at least something to protect?
" You're right, I did not think about this state of affairs. "Indeed, it was silly to collect them at all. A bloody magistrate, he did not even give them weapons.
" You see, you understand everything yourself. "Try to remember the last successful use of the militia in battles. Eric smiled. - They have already Charlemagne tried not to collect, considering a bad army.
" They are freakish, greedy. "And what about the Thebes themselves? If we retreat, the city will be at your disposal. What are your plans for it?
"If my conditions are met exactly, and the city itself does not resist me, I will take the tribute and leave it, not taking the destruction and not killing the murders. "
" And what will be the tribute? "Do you count on a specific amount of silver?
- It will be rather modest. Specific sums, I do not call, because I do not know in what state the city is and whether it has the cash I need. Why put unrealistic conditions? In total, I want a third of all the cash and valuables, the third part of all the goods, all the iron, except that on your knights, all the books and all the ancient statues, if they can be taken away.
- Solid. Do I have time to consider and agree on your proposal?
Of course. How much time do you need?
"I think until tomorrow morning. "
Ok. So we will proceed. I expect you tomorrow at dawn. I'll be placed in that compound. I liked its massive walls and the fragrance of olives. But, you, I think, you know, I will not give you a second chance. If you try to cheat me, or give a battle, then I will not save anyone's life, either you or the townspeople. Athens is an example of this is a very colorful example, only this time I will not allow the most intelligent people to leave the city. Eric smiled cunningly. "The baron until morning. " Good night to you.
Eric settled on a very extensive farmstead, which served as a small workshop for the production of olive oil. Its two-meter stone walls allowed, if necessary, to conduct an effective defensive battle against a greatly superior enemy. A decent sized sheds - to hide horses for the night. Immediately after occupying the territory, positions were set up and the order of changing the guard was established so as not to miss the attack. But everything turned out. In the morning, with the first rays of the sun, a delegation approached the gates of the courtyard. Overnight Baron was able to contact the city magistrate and discuss the situation with them. Of course, they did not like it, but the offer offered by the prince quite satisfied them, since it was the lesser evil. Not only that, the baron brought a very pleasant news that almost all the knights are ready to swear allegiance to the ruler of the Bosporus. They, in general, were not very satisfied with the service as mercenaries of the Byzantine feudal lords, as they were very stingy to their people. Such employers, as practice shows, at all times did not like. Since the knights were all from poor or very poor houses, and even the younger ones in the family, the equipment was very poor for them. Haubeck was only with Harald, the others wore chainmail of different size and quality. The poorest were in absolutely terrible homemade crafts, which were pieces of old mail, sewn on a quilted aketon. In general, a very motley company value, which, incidentally, was very high, as people possessed very high psychological stability and good fighting qualities. Excellent material for replenishment. The delegation went into the courtyard, where for an hour they discussed the details and ate fresh fried meat for a snack with fresh juicy vegetables and greens, as well as dried fruits for dessert. After the negotiations on the coordination of actions were completed, Eric, accompanied by part of the delegation, left for the field, where everything was ready for the execution of the selected militia group. Near the edge of the forest, the graves were neatly opened by long, neat rows of four lines deep. Near each of them was a company of three people. One was kneeling with his hands tied behind his back, the other holding hands and the back of his head, the third was standing next to a knife in his hand. Eric went ahead and loudly said that before his death, each of those destined to die called his name, so as not to die nameless sheep in the eyes of the noble prince. After that, he moved from one end and, meeting his eyes with the first militiaman, asked: "What is your name as a soldier? " Hearing the answer, he nodded to the executioner next to him and watched him clumsily cut the poor man's throat, as his eyes widen with horror as blood gushes from his throat. And so on, until his life subsides. After that, he nods once more, the executed person is pushed into the grave and begins to dig in, and he goes to the next. Behind this action, all the other troops that Harald showed on this field were lined up along the place of execution. After the execution of the execution over the graves, the priests conducted a service, and the militia, giving up all the weapons that they had, began to disperse to their homes. Even wooden truncheons and those handed over. When it was finally over, accompanied by Harald's retinue and their companies, the prince went to Thebes, where the magistrate prepared the wing of the magistrate's building for his placement. The process of collecting trophies and taking them out took about a week. Almost certainly would have turned out more, but the city's leadership promoted all available ways to speed up the process, since Eric was afraid to the horror. At the end of the designated week, the parallel process of taking vassal oaths from the knights of Harald ended. Of course, the conditions of service, questions of discipline, recovery and extraction were stipulated with them. The knight poor were more than happy to act for the full maintenance of the prince and not to receive a share of the prey in the campaign. The feud was also replaced by maintenance and equipment at the expense of the suzerain. At the end of this procedure, Eric stepped in the direction of Corinth, having under his command about three and a half hundred mounted and armored warriors and four convenient and mobile ballistae on horsepower.
With Corinth, everything went perfectly smoothly - the experience of Athens and Thebes affected. A delegation of the magistrate even came forward to greet him, in order to greet him. Doing the groundwork for the future, Eric took not the third part, but the fourth from money, jewelry and goods, in order to indicate his attitude to reasonable behavior. But the campaign must once end, so on May 22, he, along with his grown up to four hundred squads, returned to the city of Piraeus, where Demeter was firmly entrenched, at the expense of the poor knights who had moved to Corinth from all over the Moray. She, you see, found a common language with the local elite, so now this small town actually went under her care. The next stage will be turning it into an actual seaside company's trading base. Located in the very spacious residence of his priestess, the prince had a long conversation with her about the new financial receipts - how many of them, how to distribute them and what to do with a very impressive cash. The result of the robberies in central Greece was the replenishment of the budget of the Bosporus Bank for two hundred thousand denarii, although not all in cash, but still - the amount is simply colossal - the equivalent of ten tons of silver! These funds should be enough to continue the deployment of the production campaign and technology industry in his principality with the pace taken. In addition, up to ten thousand scrolls of various manuscripts were collected for the creation of the Bosporus Library and up to two hundred different statues in quite good condition, with which he wanted to decorate the city. In particular, to break in the Bosporus large and beautiful park, which decorate the most valuable, statue of Athena, the work of Phidias, which in addition to purely artistic value had a very decent commercial value, because there was not a lot of gold and ivory. In the evening he went out into the courtyard with a jug of cool milk and, settling on an open-air bench, decided to consider the events that had taken place. Somewhere there, the black sky was crawling far away all covered with small lights, and below, at the bottom of this vast ocean, he sat and analyzed everything that had happened to him in the last month. This was his second military campaign. Compared with the first, in general, a rather bloodless campaign, since only a little more than a thousand people died, and tens of thousands could die. As a result of the events that occurred, Demeter's view became even more enthusiastic. And not only her. People on the streets of Piraeus looked at him as something incredibly majestic and very dangerous. In their eyes, fear was mixed with respect and admiration. This was especially true after Feodor had successfully dissolved rumors that the prince deliberately delayed to enter Athens, giving people the opportunity to escape and avoid stupid deaths. On the other hand, Theodore recounted that Demetra had already repeatedly spoken about the essence of Ares in the presence of strangers. After taking a sip of milk, he put the jug on the ground and stretched himself. How wonderful that there are no liberals and humanists now! How great it is that people understand simple things and do not build piled up illusions and romantic hoaxes! Yes, these guys, seeing the actions of Eric, now would have simply gushed with accusations of inhumanity, cruelty and other horror stories. We would try to make our hero justify himself, feel guilty, give way to their delirium. Although no, sorry, very sorry that they are not with him now. It would be very nice to watch how they, with their extraterrestrial convictions, would survive here - in a world of concrete, cynical and extremely pragmatic people, though not educated. I wonder if it would survive at least one person per thousand of such characters during the year? By the way, yes, he was always tormented by the question - do they really believe in what they say or is it just a pose? Here, some feudal lord will press a young lady a feminist and a lesbian in the hayloft, confesses to her in genital love a couple of times. What will she do? Or put some liberal human rights activist in the skin of some feudal lord, and into the very midst of dynastic disagreements, so that he can feel the beauty of natural competition when your brother can be slaughtered for the right of inheritance. Yes, he likes the world more than the one in which he lived. Less hypocrisy, less artificiality. He is some kind of natural, naked makeup. In it, oh horror, white is called white, and black is black. Behind these thoughts, Feodor found him.