- Hello, dear. So we came to talk. What can you tell us interesting?
" Do not come near me! "The descent of hell!
- No, well, it's completely uninteresting. Eric smiled and hit the poor fellow crawling on the floor, over the genitals. He howled in pain, and our hero continued. "Every time you tell me stupid things or lie, I'll beat you, for a start. " Then the kind lady will invite the executioner here, who will start to cut you off in a hurry, and in other ways deliver a paradise pleasure. Do you understand me?
" Yes, yes, sir, I understand. "I do not want an executioner, please do not kill me. I'll tell you everything, just do not kill.
"Well, if you tell me about who you are, why you are here, and who sent you, I promise - I will not kill you. "
" Sir, my name is Tikhon, I'm from Thessalonica, where I was hired by a gentleman who introduced myself as Melety, the attorney of the Abbot Esfigmen. "He gave me a whole brand with the instruction to discredit the name of the prince in every way, trying to expose it as a pagan and atheist.
"And who told you to tell those funny tales about the execution under Thebes? "
" Meletius, sir. "Three days after the execution, he sent me a man with a letter, where he recommended that this event be presented in such a way.
" Eric, what's with the bikes? "I have not heard anything about them yet.
- Yes there is generally a rare humor, you just imagine, this man said that I brought a sacrifice to Ares in that field.
What?
Yes yes "I, too, was deeply surprised at such stupidity.
" Dear Tikhon," Demetra choked with laughter, but tried to hold on, "I'll tell you a little secret, the gods do not sacrifice themselves to themselves. "So it is not accepted.
- Mistress, I do not understand you.
- What are you unthinking. Eric is his only name. She pointed to the prince with her hand. "It's one of many. " The ancients called him Ares. And I, Demeter, are his supreme priestess. "She smiled with a completely sincere and very kind smile, and Eric looked at the poor fellow with an icy cold and calm look, completely devoid of emotion. So, like that little flea, to which an immense huge and utterly incomprehensible someone descended. Poor Tikhon turned pale to the last extreme and, soundlessly opening his mouth, trying to scream in horror, a few seconds later lost consciousness and fell into a puddle of his own urine.
" What a squishy little peasant. "What do you think of him? "
- Garbage. Waste. Even without resisting, he surrendered his master.
Right?
"Will you let him go? "
"How did you get this? "
"Well, you promised not to kill him. "
" You really did not listen well. "I said that "I" will not kill him. Erik broke into a smile. - There was not a word about the others. So take it and do with it as you wish. If you want, slowly take off your skin, if you want, take it apart in pieces, but if you want, just dig it in - it's up to you. He's your toy now. But I advise him to torment him for a while, maybe he will tell something else interesting.
Very good, sir. My younger brother is just a fan of such entertainment, he will be happy to serve you. And how do you deal with Meleti, because you can not just forgive him, but Esfigmen is the Monastery of Athos.
- Having started to act against me, he signed himself a death sentence. And if for him the community of the Holy Mountain intervenes, then so will they. Although, of course, I, as a kind gentleman, will give them a chance, since I do not want to shed the blood of the weak and the poor. - After these words, Eric turned and went to his apartment to continue to do business, this campaign brought a lot of benefits, not only material, but also technological, so there was a lot of analytical work and work on the mistakes.
The clash with the large militias required an adjustment in the development of his army. Yes, these strange crowds of people did not, to a large extent, have any fighting value, but there were always a lot of them. A small group of armed, albeit the most advanced weapon, it was very difficult to suppress large crowds. In the Battle of Piraeus, the horses had to be changed from a good half of the men. Warriors are warriors, but you need to form good and fairly large groups of less skilled, and, accordingly, cheap, comrades to clash with the herds of militias. Honestly, Erik did not understand the meaning of gathering such groups of people, but since there was a precedent and not one, it was necessary to react to it. While he was confronted with practically unarmed crowds, what will happen next is unknown. That is, it was decided to form an infantry battalion as an auxiliary to his squad. The reform also affected the organizational structure. Now the deputy commander of the company and the battalion relied, who was named as a junior and a senior lieutenant, respectively. And the commander of the battalion had two assistants. In addition, with each company, a working group was formed for the conduct of the army economy. They commanded a company sergeant-major, at his disposal were ten people - lieutenants. Their cottages were not red and white, but the green and white coloring, all the other insignia (belonging to the company and rank) was preserved as in the troops, the sergeant-major had the status equivalent to the drill sergeant, the lieutenant was promulgated. Their duty was to include a farm, food and supplies. The company commander subordinated directly to the lieutenant, that is, to the company commander. Especially worth noting is the project, which will be implemented upon return to Bospora, called "company kitchen". It was a large copper pot installed on a small stove-heater with an iron pipe, which, in turn, was located on an oak platform standing on a four-wheelbase from the cart. Wheels were used as in ballistic machines, that is, wooden with a bushing and spokes, reinforced with an iron hoop. One field kitchen was intended for cooking porridge for a standard company, that is, up to two hundred people. In the front of the wheelbase, a stock of firewood for the stove was transported for 3 days of use. For the transportation of the kitchen, a pair of horses, harnessed as if in a van, stood out. The cook was in charge of the kitchen, who was one of the lieutenants of the sergeant-major. All the waggons were in four-wheeled waggons covered with waxed cloth, and four waggons were drawn to each company. In addition, each company introduced a medical support squad of three people - a paramedic and two of his assistant - a lieutenant. They wore white cottages, a paramedic was equivalent to a sergeant, and his assistants - to promises. Their task included treatment, prevention and other, related medical duties in relation to the company. The standard standard-bearer was also introduced - the signifier at the company, the rank equal to the sergeant, at the battalion - the equalizer, equal to the lieutenant. Changes have also affected the structure of the direct combat troops. First of all, groups and platoons. It was decided to increase the maximum number of the group from 5 to 10 people, that is, it could now contain from four to nine miles (warriors) and one promile (corporal). In the same way, the order of manning a platoon was changed, which now could include from two to six groups. Thus, the number of the company now ranged from 35 to 368 men only by combatant forces. As a standard, the following ratio was established: 4 groups of maximum strength in the platoon, 4 platoons in the company and 4 companies in the battalion. Thus, now the standard infantry of the company had 166 men of combat personnel and 181 full-strength personnel, and the battalion, respectively 667 and 728 men. A separate artillery platoon was to be deployed to an artillery company and to increase the number of ballisticists. In artillery remained the minimum number of the group, which performed the function of ballistic service. Thus, the artillery company, having four groups per platoon and four platoons, could serve sixteen ballistaes, its total strength reached 101 people. Of course, it was planned to gradually transfer all the artillery personnel to the squad itself, and to recruit new members from the graduates of the academic center of Bosporus. The fact is that there were no specific combat skills and qualities for the artillerymen, so they could be recruited from ordinary people, not warriors. The introduction of separate auxiliary cavalry units has not been relevant so far, since the squad is still coping with its tasks, so it was premature to consider the structure for them. At the end of his thinking, Eric came to the conclusion that his industrial capacity was clearly not enough to equip the army, since his manufactory produced only 250-260 first-class crossbows of a new design a year. This was extremely small, so it was decided to deploy a workshop for the production of composite horn arcs and a lightweight modification of the block crossbow. This will allow at least somehow to compensate for the shortage of high-quality small arms for the first time.