Текст книги "Eric (СИ)"

Автор книги: Марина Шпак

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So, the baron stormed the city of Cafu. One of the ships was immediately sent to the squadron, so that his servants would arrive immediately. Consolidated platoon of artillerymen remained in the courtyard at the magistrate – ten people guarded at the entrance, the rest took up collecting valuable items, carrying out corpses and in general – putting things in order. The second company was sent to patrol the streets to prevent confusion and robbery. The first company engaged in visiting the manors of members of the magistrate and sympathizers for the purpose of confiscating property, naturally posthumous. They worked smoothly and quickly, but because of special overlapping was not. Servants arrived by lunchtime, and things went much faster. Property collected in the port and, previously described, loaded on ships. Towards evening the patrols were fired from servants who moved in groups of ten. In the morning of the second day, a delegation of local residents came to Eric with completely ordinary things – complaints of harassment. It turned out that, under the cover of his name, a small group of local plundered the urban poor. The problem was solved very quickly, and by lunchtime the bodies of the unfortunate combinators were hanging out on the brother gallows. In general, life in the city was gradually improving, because the baron, having cut his head in the form of a magistrate, did not touch ordinary people. And they, in general, traditionally do not care who rules them. By the evening of the third day, the last ships with the prey to Constantinople departed, to go to the markets of Europe, and then in the form of silver marks to enter his account. According to preliminary calculations, he took in the city about three thousand marks, mostly jewelry and jewelry. In the city was about three hundred slaves. A little hesitating, he freed them and took away healthy ones. Among them were mostly young girls from the Slavic lands, so he identified them among servants – cooking, washing, cleaning, and so on. With the first ship the courier for the Templars departed, who waited in Constantinople for the signal to arrive and organize their representation. The main advantage of their arrival is the presence of an additional allied force, which will be able to hold the city during its campaign. It's time to sum up the storm. If it is rude, then fifteen people are wounded and one killed, for this price a city and three thousand marks were received by silver. A decent result. On the morning of the fourth day, he sent observers from among the servants to all the hills around the city and began a citywide meeting, which his patrols had warned the entire city since the evening. He planned to organize the election of the city head – at the same time to see who the city dwellers respect – he needed agents of influence, in order not only to maintain order in the city by force.

When the people gathered in the square, the baron ordered to strike at the brass bell, calling for silence:

" The people of Kafa! "I am your new master – Eric from the background of the Lenzburg family. These lands were presented to me by the Emperor of the Byzantine Empire as a token of gratitude for the victories in the Holy Land, where I achieved great success in fighting the infidels. You came to this square at my invitation. First of all, I want to inform you that this city is returned to its ancient name – Theodosius, which means – granted by God. I think this is a worthy name for such a wonderful city. Secondly, it is necessary to form a city guard instead of the deceased, because order and tranquility can not be achieved only by a kind word. Therefore, all those who wish to fill up its ranks immediately after the end of the meeting, let them approach the building of the magistrate. Thirdly, we need to resolve the issue of power. The magistrate refused to swear allegiance to me and attacked me with weapons. He is dead. All. I want to show you mercy and allow myself to choose those people who will rule you on my behalf. The ten people you will propose from your number will become the new leadership of the city. It can be absolutely any people. Their property status is unimportant, as they will come to my service and will receive salaries.

What started here! The crowd just gasped at the energy that was overflowing with it. Local fights were started on local fights, but they were quickly stopped by baron fighters. In the city there were thousands of thirty residents, but only adult men came to the meeting, so all six thousand people settled in a small square near the magistrate. True, with difficulty – some people were sitting on the roofs of houses. Half an hour later, the process of popular fermentation began to bear fruit – the crowd slowly ejected people from their womb. They were handed over neatly to a small pedestal. After three hours, this touching scene of the people's will finally ended, and next to Eric stood ten people – the new magistrate of the first city, which he captured. He once again ordered to strike the bell, in order to call for silence, and the people again obeyed.

– Residents of Theodosia! Before you is your new city council! He turned to them. – And now each of you in turn, loudly and distinctly, will name his name, his father's name and profession. After you take the oath before the people and God that you will be faithful to me, my master, to the last extremity and sparing no life and health, make every effort to ensure that my city – Theodosius flourished. – Then he turned to the crowd and continued, – the inhabitants of Theodosia! I want to achieve order and prosperity in this city, so that all my subjects could at least a little, but live better. Therefore, for attempting a bribe to any of these ten people, I will execute the whole family of one who will decide on this bad deed. If I find out that a bribe is accepted, then the whole family of the person who accepted it is also executed. If three or more members of the city council are caught in bribes, he will be executed in full, including the family of each.

In general, they made another noise with an hour. Caught up. People from the square broke up in an extremely good mood, as this crowd of small people suddenly felt their need and significance.

The rest of the day Eric was engaged in the organization of management in the city – he formed a typical city government. From among the council appointed city mayor. The others became his assistants in the areas of activity – comrades. But it was a trifle – before these people he posed tasks that they never solved. Actually, the baron did not decide either, but it was easier for him, since he knew what the result should be, from which he proceeded. The city has been established progressive income tax and trade and transport duty. The tax varied from zero to thirty percent, for calculation thresholds were established, raising the tax in steps of one percent. As a result, the bulk of the poor were generally exempt from taxes, which sharply increased stability in the city. The trade duty was of two kinds – on imported goods and on local goods, twenty and ten percent respectively. That is, peasants who in the district of the city grew a crop and brought it for sale to the city, paid ten percent, and merchants who came or came here from afar – twenty. For the transit of goods through the city, too, they paid. In general, the taxes were fairly moderate, but strict. On the incoming money it was necessary to deploy the construction of municipal sewerage and organize regular cleaning of the streets. Unexpected thing, but it was vital, because the city was a large cesspool. Actually, like all other medieval cities in Europe. Much was discussed on the priorities in the construction and organization of public works for the repair of the city wall and other things. Particular attention was paid to the formation of the city militia and city guard. The latter should become a regular, small army of the city, completely on maintenance and with unified equipment allocated from the city's arsenal. The police should become a form of the city militia, which once every three months must meet for training and receive training within a few days. Of course – it's all in the distant future. Now there were more pressing tasks – fighting crime, creating cleanliness and order in the city and resuming its commercial activity. By evening, it turned out that about one hundred and twenty people had registered in the custody. Of course – they had neither armor nor weapons, since the guys were representatives of the poorest part of the lumpen proletariat. Eric collected them in the big hall of the city council building.

Well then! Now I will explain the conditions on which you will work. After I offer you a choice – you can give up your intention. So – you are candidates for city guards. Your tasks will include round-the-clock patrolling of streets, suppression of riots, such as fights or looting. Also, acting as the hands of the city council, you will be engaged in collection of arrears on taxes from non-payers and other actions related to the maintenance of order and security in the city. To put on and equip you will be the city treasury. Eat – in the common dining room, live in the barracks. In addition to the service, you will be charged with physical training. Later, when your loyalty is verified, warriors will begin to teach you to effectively resist any gangsters, even well-trained ones. It's about your responsibilities. If you are caught on a bribe – you are publicly whipped with rods until unconscious, for the third time they are executed through public hanging. For disobeying the commander's order for the first time public flogging, for the second time – execution. Every week you will be paid silver denomination. After the end of the shift, put a jug of wine. The commanders will pay two denarii a week and ask, respectively, for the whole detachment. That is, he is responsible for breaking the subordinate with him. Is everyone clear? Any questions? – He looked around all those present, waiting, but there were no questions. – If there are no questions, then I suggest that everyone who is not satisfied with the conditions should retire.

Twenty people left. Very well done! " The remaining baron was divided into ten equal groups, appointing the commander immediately, and afterwards, handed them over to the comrade of the head of the city council, who was in charge of the city guard. On primary equipment Eric singled out three marks. On this money everyone should be dressed in clean, decent clothes and equipped with aketons. They were promptly sewed by local artisans on the same day. From the weapons they decided to issue old short spears that were available in the operationally equipped city Arsenal. They were found in a warehouse in one of the towers, but decided to leave, since it was not very profitable to transport for sale. Here also were useful. At the same time, he demanded that all the personnel be measured so that they could sew stitched cottages on them. For ordinary militia men, cottages of the same pattern as soldiers were introduced, only the red color was replaced with green. With the same method of organizing patches. The only organizational difference – the size of the group was increased to ten people. Collect those platoon of city guards in the company did not, putting the three sergeants in direct submission to the comrade of the city head.

On the fourth day, the Templars and the Morrigan arrived. This fidgeting could not sit in Constantinople, she could not abandon the child either. So she appeared with a two-month-old baby in her arms. A part of the servants arrived with her. The whole company was housed in a small, cozy estate, which once belonged to the late head of the city magistrate. Cleanliness, order and silence. The Templars were also very well placed – in a spacious manor, also recently deserted, near the port. True, there were few of them, five knights and three dozen servants. The head appointed the younger brother of Pierre de Chamond – Alexander. In general – everything was quiet enough. In the morning of the fifth day, a courier arrived from the observers – to the north of the city were seen a horse group in metal armor and with weapons. Well, – the Polovtsians came. Of his wounded warriors, five returned to service, the rest of them will join in a week or two. So, he can count on 180 people. We need reconnaissance data on enemy forces, preferably accurate. For these purposes, he directed Theodore to process the city's children, so that she combed all the neighborhoods of the city. By the evening it became not only known the number of Polovtsian forces, but also visible, as they arrived under the walls of the city and began to build manjanyk – a primitive throwing machine for shelling the gates of the city. In this traditional eastern gravitational machine, the projectile was shot at the expense of the general pull of people, which are pulled at the other end of the lever. Simply, effectively and very primitively. It is not even necessary to talk about sighting and long-range firing with the help of such units. The total strength of the troops was about five and a half hundred. And it was precisely the army, since it consisted of soldiers, not armed people. The throwing machine was built very slowly – it was immediately evident that the business for them was new, undeveloped. So, slowly, and waited for the evening. Camp Polovtsy smashed simply superb, also pleased with a completely sane military escort, which instead of sleeping honestly on duty. So – the guys experienced, beaten more than once. Of course, Eric did not waste time either. Over the past day, the street that adjoined the attacked gate was turned into a long tunnel. All the side passages and door barricaded, the windows were boarded, and the roofs were strengthened so that they could stand on their feet. At the end of a straight section of the street, a barricade of logs was erected, which was assembled neatly into a broad but shallow log structure that blocked the street. Landed in the frame, and on top made a flooring of the boards and installed massive shields. It was a platform for the ballista, who had to firing cores along the street. To the left and to the right of the gate there were standing logs, which should collapse when cutting off the fasteners and block the retreat. The length of the prepared street was about two hundred meters, so due to inertia, most of the troops must have time to break into. By lunchtime the sixth day the manjanik was ready and the Polovtsi immediately began shelling. Of the twelve shots that were fired, only two hit the gate, slightly injuring them. Decency was sustained, but because Eric ordered that between the shots replaced the locking girder of the doors to something symbolic. It took our snipers five more shots to get into the door for the third time. That, as expected, flung open – creating the effect of a broken shut-off beam. The Polovtsians, who were ready for such a turn, rushed quite vigorously toward the gates, but, to their credit, they were quite organized. Outside the gates there were criminals armed with shields and spears. These were suicide bombers, to whom the baron promised forgiveness, if they manifest themselves in defending the city. So they lasted a few minutes. The enemy was on foot, as riding on a city is very inconvenient. Having crumpled the duck, the Polovtsy rushed forward, with joyful cries, to the place where the second barrier from the criminals was waiting for them. It took less than a minute for all five-odd hundred people to get into the shot-chamber prepared for them. Eric signaled – immediately collapsed the passage at the gate, blocking it somehow with fallen logs. The obstruction turned out to be higher than human growth. After that, ballisticists and crossbows earned, and the second line of the screen went to the barricade. In general, everything was finished in half an hour. A dozen killed and thirty-two people wounded in the baron's army, against the completely overthrown army of Polovtsians. Without hesitation, he commanded all his able-bodied soldiers. It was necessary to immediately attack the convoy and the servicemen of the broken army. Charges took ten minutes, through which his squad of fifteen hundred trotted out in a column of three through the neighboring gates of the city wall. His standard was worn by Ostroneg, the sergeant of the first platoon of the first company, who accepted the Polovtsi blow when they rushed to break through the hastily dismantled barricade of the side passage, and in the melee, working halberds, stopped the enemy. It was he who managed to notice the demolition of the blockade before everyone, he led his people to close the breakthrough, it was he who stood in the front row and stood the onslaught. In the platoon – seventeen wounded and three killed, and he – the last remaining in the ranks, was awarded the honor to carry the banner of his master in the next attack. The detachment took it to the right and began to walk around the hill, in order to break into the camp's location from the rear, in case they were expected. And indeed, when they, having developed a broad front, flew to a position, they were expected by about two hundred servants, although they were in only quilts and almost without weapons. However, a barrage was made from the camps, which would seriously hamper their destruction. This time there was no loss, since, without waiting for a collision, the Polovtsians flinched and rushed to run. In general, it turned out an attraction – catch up and hack. We had to run a lot, we did not manage until an hour later. So – victory is achieved, you can send a pigeon to Ryurik to consolidate this victory. Those few Polovtsy that survive his raid, are unlikely to pose any threat in the region, and their neighbors and their problems are up to their necks.

Arranging the wounded in the caring hands of Morrigan and taking their victims to the local morgue – that is, the largest church, Eric took up the dismantling of trophies. All Polovtsy stripped naked, packed on carts and exported out of town, where they fell down in regular rows near the huge pit that the local people hired by the city council were digging. The mass grave, so as not to cause problems of hygienic plan, should be about four human growth. Towards evening, when the pit was ready, they began to carefully drop corpses, and some of the workers that remained there, lay them so that the layer was smoother. The darkness was finished. All the armor and weapons loaded on the wagons and went immediately to the building of the arsenal, where they were described and taken to the city balance. All the rest was taken to the building of the magistrate. The next morning Baron ordered to dismantle the barricades and repair the damaged gates. The first half of the case was taken – the city was taken and defeated in an enemy detachment. Now it was necessary to think whether he would be able to take the second key city of the Genoese, or he should advance to Korchev, who would already accept him with open arms. According to the latest information, there were about thirty ships with goods in the port of Sughd and about one thousand slaves in the city itself. True, the troops are about a thousand and the inhabitants are no less than in Feodosia. Difficult task.

– Theodore, I do not see something on the town's plan of the fortress. I heard there must be a fortress there.

Right? The old imperial fortress is in the eastern part of the city, on a cliff. But it is now in ruins.

– It's just wonderful! By the way, and in the baggage we did not have any arrows?

– It was very decent. The Kypchaks were preparing for a long siege of the city, and therefore brought with them a whole ten rifle with arrows.

Perfectly as expected. Rudolf! Are you listening to me?

– Yes, I can hear it perfectly.

" We speak tomorrow morning. "We take the ballista with the staff, all the soldiers who are not injured, as well as all the male servants. How many of them do we have now, by the way?

– I find it difficult to answer, about two hundred.

Ok. Take in the baggage of whole bows according to the number of servants, plus a top of a dozen or two, in order to replace the worthless ones. Well, all the carts of Polovtsian arrows. Take good food with you, as we are going to besiege. You, Theodore, remain an assistant with Morrigan, she will be in charge of everything. Your goal is peace and order in the city. Two days after our departure, send to Sugdeya a food train for a thousand people a week. Is everyone clear? Then obey.

The whole day Eric spent with his servants, who explained what they would do. A lot of them were not required. It was necessary only, guided by the commander's hand, to raise bows with the right elevation and be ready to shoot all together. Neither speed nor accuracy from them was required. Closer to the evening of the following day, Eric's troops approached Sugdeya and blocked it from the land. Now she was in a real siege. The remainder of the day the artillerymen and servants occupied a position on the ruins of the old Byzantine fortress. Beneath it, far below, lay the city. They also put the tent Eric. The main part of the army camped in the valley, blocking the only road that approached the besieged city. Of course, the camp was fortified with a palisade and a moat, although the soldiers fought badly about this, because they had to strengthen themselves. So, everything is ready for the siege, and in the courtyard was the morning of October 8, 1202.

Based on formal courtesy, Eric sent the parliamentarians, so they told the Genoese about who is besieging them and why. It turns out that the villagers, rascals, are not paying taxes to the emperor for many years, so he, his deputy, came to collect from them due. At the same time – to receive a fine as compensation for long delays in payments. The sum was called colossal. Well and further all in absolutely traditional style – the baron suggested them to surrender, all to pay and return to a fold of empire. As expected, the response was a wide variety of flowery expressions on a whole heap of diverse languages. He seriously miscalculated in terms of nationalities – in the city though set the tone of the Genoese merchants, but the bulk of the population was not homogeneous and was a terrible mix. In general, all this staging was needed, first of all, to amuse the baron himself. He had a good mood in the morning and a desire to play a big boy, who condescendingly shows mercy to bad enemies. So, after listening to the mat, Eric slowly, walking pace, returned to the position of the shooters and, having ordered Ostroneg to start shelling the city, he himself took command over the combined artillery battery in order to destroy the water tanks. At that time the city was small and quite compact under the cliff with an ancient fortress, and therefore the ballista and its bows shot through the whole. The first due to the initially large energy shot, the second due to the shape of the projectile, which could use the aerodynamic force. In a normal situation, this is very harmful, because it greatly reduces the accuracy, and now – just right, since no one needs accuracy. Even on the contrary. The shelling began from the furthest tank. They shot themselves quickly. Alas, but at this distance, many hits were needed to destroy this important social structure. I had to spend the whole day, but by the evening the walls collapsed and mixed the water with stones, dust and earth, making it impossible to use it. Next went better, as the second tank was located much closer to the cliff. A couple of hours of shelling and a neat collapse of the structure. The archers also did their job well. They worked slowly, with smoke breaks, warm-ups, lunch on positions and so on. Not war, but raspberry. And in the streets of Sugddei, the mass of corpses increased, because the arrow, even losing speed in a horizontal flight, dived from a height of more than three hundred meters. Although the spread was enormous, but the speed that the projectile picked up with such a dive allowed the roof to be pierced through the houses and any armor – even mail coats, even quilted robes. At night, along the city walls, Erika's people, hired as far back as Feodosia, were running, shouting in different languages that the greedy lords were doomed to die, and other agitational nonsense in order to heat up the situation in the city. The next morning they decided to drive out the slaves from the city, as there was very little water in their personal resources, and they did not dare to kill, since it was not clear where to put the bodies. How long the siege will last is unknown, and if they start to rot, then the city will begin to mourn. Even if they are thrown out into the sea, still most of the surf will return to the shore. Especially since there are enough dead bodies. Let it be better that they are fought with enemies. However, provoking such an act, Eric warned in advance, Theodore, so the convoy with food came up in time. True, he was embarrassed by the thought – but would not they cut them? But the risk is a noble business, and therefore the baron went to this adventure. The slaves were well received and immediately sent to swim in the Suuk-Su river upstream of that blockage with the bodies of dead cows, which the baron people built to deprive the besieged of the opportunity to use this water. The mass of slowly rotting bodies did its job, that is, it consistently maintained a good level of poison in running water. After washing they were given a simple clean clothes, watered and fed. Not very satisfying, but in any way better than they used to eat before. After the people of Theodore began to understand who was brought to their fate. Age, where the child comes from, profession, health status and the presence of relatives among the rest of the released. Arrows killed only a dozen or two people, so practically all came out of the city, that is, one thousand two hundred and forty-three people. The whole third day continued the fascinating shooting range, in which the ballista beat on the buildings, driving out people from there, and the archers gave volleys, covering the rushing crowds. On the night, from the third to the fourth day of the siege, an eerie and utterly irresistible uprising flared up in the city. Poor people have not slept for the fourth day, since even at night there was a shelling of the city. The massacre was terrible, as in the greater part of the population the sensation of horror and panic reached its apogee. Out of more than twenty thousand people, the night survived no more than two. And those – lost their mind. The result was even more spectacular and more terrible than Eric planned. Spiritually weak people were unable to withstand prolonged stress. At dawn, this crowd rushed from the city. Have you ever seen a young woman, completely naked, on the body a few cut wounds, all in the mud, eyes raging madly, and in the hands of a big knife? There were many, but they were waited and met. From a distance of one hundred and fifty paces they began to beat from crossbows. Then these crazy climbed on the palisade, where they died. And many themselves, slipping, ripped their stomachs on pointed stakes. The battle was very fast and became the final of the siege. The city is taken. Although you can call the city what is left of it? The city was destroyed, and it remained to quickly collect all the valuable, until it was no longer possible to breathe from the decaying corpses. Even the merchants, who huddled on their ships, were taken out at night and killed. Surprised that the city did not start a fire. A whole sea of corpses and blood. Yeah, the winner's burden is heavy, but it's much better than the loser's burden.

Chapter 7

" Eric, I've seen these madmen. "What did you do with them? What god raised the prayer to God?

" Oh, Rudolph, you're already an adult, where are these stupid things from? "Have you ever seen a prayer work in your life?

"I've heard of it. "

– Well, I'm talking about the fact that cows fly, I heard, but I did not have to see.

" Do not talk, tell me. "I do not find a place for myself.

– Yes, everything is simple. After an hour of shelling, I decided to divide the archers into two equal groups. Change of watch for three hours. While one is not in a hurry to give volleys, the second is resting or sleeping. The ballista was also organized. As a result, the bombardment was round the clock and evenly, without stopping for a minute. Just imagine – for four days nowhere in the city was not calm. You want to drink and you are scared, horror as terrible, as these fucking arrows pierce even the roofs. Only you begin to fall asleep – and then again somewhere near the core the wall of a house has been turned, only your eyes are closing, how you hear this terrible whistle and blows, hundreds of blows that surround you and drive you into a corner. These poor devils did not sleep for four days, they hardly drank the last day. In addition, they have been in a strong nervous strain since the advent of the ships of Demeter, that is, a week. They just were not ready for this tension and lost their mind. I spent the whole night watching what they did in the city. Women tore young children to pieces with their bare hands.

"A terrible siege. "Did everyone lose their mind there?

– Of course, no, but that huge crowd of simple and weak inhabitants dared the crumbs of those few that held on.

" It's creepy to think that someone will do something like this against us. "How did you learn about such tricks in the siege business?

– Yes, from nowhere. I improvised.

– What does the word "improvise" mean?

– Well, let's say, "composed". How to compose music. Inspiration came, and I used it. Rudolph's face suddenly turned completely pale.