Текст книги "Eric (СИ)"

Автор книги: Марина Шпак

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Текущая страница: 20 (всего у книги 21 страниц)

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.

The situation with Athos was very unpleasant. It was very desirable to arrange a slaughter there, but this meant breaking with the Orthodox church apparatus. Therefore, it was necessary that there was some adequate character, for example, the patriarch. Actually, it could easily be arranged by the forces of Theodore, John was thrown information that the Holy Mountain had attracted the wrath of the secular prince and was greatly at risk. Knowing Eric's peace-loving reputation for business in Edessa, the patriarch immediately left Adrianople to the Great Lavra in order to meet our hero and dissuade him from hasty decisions. Having received confirmation of the arrival of the desired character at the desired address, our hero slowly began to meet for a meeting. How long, shortly, but on the tenth June on the horizon appeared the shore of the holy peninsula, just the one from which no more than half an hour walk to the laurels. His ships waited – from a small rock, just leaving the sea, some figure jumped off briskly and ran towards the monastery. Everything turned out as it should have turned out. Landed with all his strength, he did not, he collected only officers from the first two mouths that were in new armor plates, and with them went ashore. There he was already waiting for a small delegation headed by John.

" Good day to you, good man. "I am glad that you immediately arrived in these lands for their salvation and admonishment. Judging by our correspondence, you are very wise and it will be pleasant to talk with you.

" And you have a good day, Prince Eric. "If you wanted to talk with me, why all these passions?

" I need Brother Meletius. "The community, most likely, will not give it up. I do not want to ruin the Holy Mountain, but I can not forgive him. This man hired agitators to spread rumors about me, as if I were making sacrifices to the ancient gods. And also another hula. Is this possible to forgive? The same exudation smells.

" Do not get excited, prince. How do you know that?

– I took several agitators, under torture they independently confessed that Melety sent them. Who sent my brother, I do not know.

Ok. What do you want to do with it?

" Interrogate and execute. "I want to know who my enemy is, who told him to spread blasphemy about me.

"What will you do if the brothers oppose your wish? "

" For me, their act will mean that they sold the soul to the devil and are overwhelmed by worldly passions, instead of doing spiritual things. "In other words, death is waiting for them all. I'm not going to run after them, but I'll find anyone I'll die.

– And me?

– No, you are here present as a respected person and an intermediary, and therefore can not be killed in any way.

" Do you only need Meletius's brother or something? "I feel you did not just come. Otherwise, he would have caught it quietly, no one would have known.

Right? In the Bosporus, I'm going to open a large library, and so I would like to receive from the monks a ransom of old books. It is desirable, of course, the work of the times of Aristotle, since theological works in me now in abundance.

– What could be more useful than a good book about God?

– A good book about the case.

– Dangerous words.

" No more dangerous than a sword. "Father, I hope for you and your wisdom, for it will be unpleasant for me to kill so many innocent people, all the more so busy with such an important matter as serving our Lord.

– I have to give up. I'll board the ship. I need room for maneuver in case you refuse. Till tomorrow. Good luck in your good work. And yet, you do not need to hide from people, they are hoping for you. Here and now, and not somewhere in a better world. Running and hiding in a corner is not an option. And there are defeats at all, and they need only be stubbornly accepted and held.

"You have not had them yet. "

– I'm special. – Eric turned and slowly went to the boats, which brought him with his entourage to shore. It was necessary to wait. He was completely confident in John, who will do everything right.

The rest of the day the prince spent in thought about how to develop him in the future the armament of his army. He was afraid of introducing firearms, because if it were to be introduced with a low technological level, it would not be able to outdo its new block crossbows, which is not only useless, it is also harmful, because the rest of European figures can copy the primitive guns. The result of the premature introduction of firearms is extremely pitiable – it is possible to give the enemy a good weapon, which, when used massively, will create a serious threat to his army. Therefore, it is necessary to improve and further crossbows. Of course, he does not have the ability to do this alone, on his knee, therefore – at the academic center it is necessary to create a research group. And it will need to be equipped not only with a room for exercises in writing and drafting, but also with an experimental production workshop. This creates new, very complex problems. First, you need to master the production of sheets of large paper for drawings. Secondly, it is necessary to introduce a single system of measurements in order to avoid confusion. Thirdly, it was necessary to establish the production of pencils with a slate bar, rulers, compasses, erasers and other things. Given that the rubber is still unavailable, then the erasers full ambush. Fourthly, it was necessary to put people in the digestible kind of work of Euclid, Archimedes and other basic things, making them available for operational practical application. That is, you need to create normal methodological aids, at least in geometry and mathematics, otherwise it will be of little use. As for physics, then, in fact, it does not exist at all and it will be necessary to create everything from scratch. Writing textbooks and manuals – it was the limit of his dreams, so rosy that from one thought Eric jerked as he was something extremely inedible. Fifthly, it is necessary to engage seriously in raising the technological level of production. In particular – we need new, high-quality machines, albeit almost gold at their price. Turning, drilling, pressing, rolling, drawing is only a small list of machines that need to be made. And not as he now has, but good, high quality, so that with their help it was possible to improve the quality of production and quietly seek to improve the standards of tolerances, as well as the speed, accuracy and complexity of processing the parts. Sixth, it was necessary to found the chemical industry, since now it is absent as a category, in principle. It is needed primarily to improve the quality of materials. For these purposes, you can assemble alchemists in Europe and Asia. The prince had knowledge in the field of chemistry very, very mediocre, and therefore he himself could not train and train people even at the level of good alchemists. Of course, he could ask them a vector of research, set up an experimental base and stop hopeless research, but no more. Seventh, it was necessary to do something with the population. The appearance of technological curiosities can have an unpredictable effect on the minds of medieval inhabitants. Consequently, he needed to create mass media for informing the people about what was happening in the state and creating public opinion. However, for this purpose it was simply necessary that the citizens of his country could read. In principle, this is solvable, but there is a big problem – an educated population is much more difficult to manage. That is, to control the population of religion and power is not enough, you need to create an ideology in the modern understanding of this word. This is necessary to keep the population at all levels of intellectual development within the framework of a certain common vector of development, which he himself sets. Or the one who will be after him. A dangerous, extremely dangerous toy, but if it is not done, we will eventually get mass riots led by "smart" citizens who have gone a little further than reading the syllables, and already want to remake the world in accordance with their idealistic beliefs. Here are just stupid things like "Freedom! Equality! Brotherhood! " he did not have enough here. You can not let the financial aristocracy come to power, otherwise we will get an accelerated version of the horror that was going on in the world of his past life. When the traders are in power, this is very bad, because much more important and global goals merge and are replaced by a mere uncontrollable desire for profit. They, alas, like ducks, who reached the grain – only eat and shit, no good. This is a very serious problem, since it will have to be solved not only within the framework of its now small piece of land, but with the right to build a large state with strong, centralized management. Eighth, it was necessary to begin the development of the fleet, as these terrible barrels with the sail, which make up the merchant fleet of his priestess, have absolutely poor speed and seaworthiness. It is necessary to develop three directions at once: a merchant ship, a warship, a raider. The first, of course, will carry out trade, transportation and amphibious operations. An extremely important task, since the state budget of the Bosporus and, hence, the possibility of financing research activities directly depends on trade. The latter are designed to destroy enemy fleets and siege operations, which is just as important as financial ones, because they often require power support. The latter are needed for patrol duty service on their communications and raider operations on enemy communications, whaling campaigns, messenger service, cartographic and research works and, finally, for establishing communication with the territory of America, since in ten to fifteen years they will become important to him rubber and potatoes. This is not counting silver mines and other delights. Too not an easy job. He missed technological vessels such as fishing or coastal, but he does not want to touch on this trifle – it is not necessary, since the available means make it possible to supply the population quite normally with seafood. Ninth, you need to decide something with the church, since the pope will not rest. Especially in the light of the rapid technological growth that the prince has outlined. Eric was absolutely sure that the provocation, which occurred because of Meletios, the work of the Pope, who wants to quarrel with the Orthodox clergy. Most likely, John was of the same opinion. There was no clarity on this issue at all, so it only remained to wait and balance between two dangerous predators. And finally, Demeter and her brothers. Further this could not continue, because they too obviously compromised it in the eyes of the population. But then the solution of the problem was obvious, simple and elegant – it was necessary to create a secret society of the elected, like Masons. To create a charter for them with a clear productive purpose, a distinctive sign, for example, a ring and accept all outstanding people of the state there, creating a sort of elite club. Actually, it will be a wonderful mechanism that can continue the vector of the state's development even after his death or temporary incapacity. In general, the further the case comes, the more problems there are. And the main problem is to rely on no one, as there are a lot of followers, but there are practically no like-minded people. Well, although Morrigan, having become involved in solving the problems of the Academic Center, stopped talking all sorts of nonsense, not typical for his level of intelligence and status. But even she is not like-minded. One, he is all alone, surrounded by a crowd of people who want something from him. Ooh, and with every step, with a new step, Monomakh's hat.

In the morning, Eric went ashore tired and not slept, because, carried away, worked on the development projects of his offspring all night. He was met by John in the company of his entourage.

"Good morning to you, prince. "

" And good morning to you, holy fathers. "What will please a poor person in such a beautiful morning?

" We have nothing to please you. "Because everything is very bad. Meletios was only a small piece of the cobweb that the Roman spider spread out on our land.

– Tell me, maybe I will help you in your sorrow.

" Only you can help. "The fact is that the Abbot of Esfigmen, together with the whole brotherhood, secretly accepted the Latin faith and even received the title of abbot of the monastery from the hands of Innocent himself at a personal meeting. So he tried hard to set strong and powerful people against us so that we would suffer losses.

"How did you find this out? "

– When we practically all Twenty sentenced to extradite Meletios, he first tried to dissuade us, calling you bad words, but as he saw our inflexibility, he also gave birth to the speech that we are all heretics who turned away from the true God, and similar triads. The rector of Esfigmen issued himself with a head of his own pride and incontinence. And when he realized what he had done, he hastily retired to his monastery and locked himself there with his brothers, who also retreated from the faith for the sake of worldly vanity, and prepared for the siege.

It is clear. What are we going to do now? I understand that the monastery is a tough nut to take it is not easy.

"First, we decided to untie your hands, so that no one in the Orthodox clergy considers Prince Bosporsky for the villain, we officially excommunicated the entire monastery brotherhood from the church, and we give you our blessing for a military feat against the apostates.

"Thank you, holy fathers, for your wisdom and foresight. "

" That's not all. "We know that you have few warriors, because we decided to collect the militia from all the monasteries and put you under command. You just look there, do not ruin so much, do not ruin, then we'll live there.

Excellent! Then let's get to the point: can a monastery be taken as a siege? Is there a large volume of food? Is there a source of drinking water? Are there serf crossbows or other protective mechanisms? Are there many people inside? What are they qualities like warriors?

– It stands on the seashore itself, and there is no river nearby, so water is brought there. However, own stocks in the basement tanks should be enough for a couple of months. Food is enough for about two months, according to our information, although what is really going on there is known to God alone. Siege, if you can take, then a long, many months. According to our data, there are no strong crossbows, no, no, powerful fortresses. We can not tell on hand weapons, since he stands on the outskirts and that they bought on the sly not knowingly. There are about a hundred people there, none of them had previously fought.

It is clear. And what will be the militia from the monasteries? How much number, how armed, in what armor? Do you provide them with food?

" We can set up hundreds of four strong monks. "Of weapons – spears and shields. We do not have armor, so there will not be any. We will not only supply them with food, but also you, as you do a good deed.

Ok. You understand, these people to send to the storm – it means destroying destiny. Therefore, their task will include siege work, in particular, the cordon of all approaches to the monastery. Just work on the forces, and the risk of dying a little with this outfit. Now a very important question is – do you have a plan for the monastery, the location of walls, towers, rooms and other things?

– There is, quite detailed, made up at the last repair, but why do you need it?

" In order to break down the walls less. "By the way, what kind of doors are there in the interior?

– Pine, because the lungs and rot are bad.

– Excellent. Will you help me with a dozen oak trunks? It is necessary to make small rams, so as not to interfere in the assault. I think the guys after breaking through the fortifications of the wall will start to keep the defenses in the inner chambers, where the ballista will not be able to use.

– Sound idea. There will be rams for you, we'll do it ourselves. How many people do?

– Six do small, four, three for eight, one for sixteen people.

CopyThen you can go to the port of Daphne, where they will place your ships with ship crews, and start the siege. Tomorrow we will receive the hegumen, whom we will appoint to command the militia. And get a card in the port, now it is not with you, and you can deliver it to your arrival.

Ok. Thank you for your help, Father. And, John, I'm glad that I have taken away my grief and come back to life. Eric smiled.

– Well, cunning. – The patriarch slapped him lightly on the shoulder and smiled with a kind look.

" And what, you want to watch how you dropped your hands after the fall of Constantinople? "No, it's beyond my strength. – Having said this, the prince again smiled with the most kind smile and, turning around, went towards the ships. There was a big deal to do – taking a fortified monastery.

In the evening, after Eric was placed in the courtyard, which the monks had allotted him, a patriarch, hegumen, and another clergyman arrived, who was well informed about the structure of the monastery, as he supervised repairs there. We settled for the map. It was necessary to plan the work of assault detachments – from the breakdown of the outer perimeter, to the sequential seizure of premises. Monks for the first time faced such a scrupulous elaboration of the details, and so they were surprised, but they did their best to help. They worked all night, at dawn, went to the site in order to assess the heights and compare the plan with the realities of the area. The prince spent about ten minutes silently examining the monastery in the telescope, after passing the pipe to the patriarch and offered to assess the level of equipment of the monks. John only groaned and gasped as he inspected the posts and patrols.

FROMEric, where did they get all this from?

– Apparently from the same place, where the instructions come from. Innocent has a very solid budget. Probably, it was supposed that I was going to crash here and start everything. Something tells me about the presence of even more curious surprises in this monastery.

"Do you think he's well prepared for the siege? "

'Certainly. Therefore, it must be taken by storm. Because if we delay, our beloved person from Rome can easily declare them illuminated by the light of the martyrs of God who are heroically dying from heretics. As a countermeasure, it is necessary to start distributing in the parishes a version that comrades blaspheme not only the patriarch, but also the pope and come up with some believable bike. But you need to invent something that will come Innocent on the callus and he will not be able to speak in their support.

" That's a good idea. "We will immediately proceed to implement it. When will you begin the assault?

" In two or three days. "We need to process these comrades. I heard that you have a vast farm in the monasteries, are there any leaves there last year, straw and chicken droppings?

– Of course, but why do you need it? The guys feel too sure of these strong walls. We need to remind them that their way to the infernal brazier will soon come to the finale. Why are you looking at me with such surprise? Eric smiled. – Chicken droppings are diluted with water, adding three servings of water to one portion of the litter. From last year's fallen leaves and straw we make here such balls. True they will have to be dragged down, so that they are more or less stable form. In the center of each ball we put a stone so that it can be thrown. After soaking the balls in a prepared solution and drying. You can dry it on a clay oven. Prepared in this way the balls are ignited and we throw on the territory of the monastery in large numbers.

And what will it do?

– The smoke. A lot of smoke. If you maintain a certain rate of shelling with such shells, then you can envelop the whole monastery with thick smoke and keep it at a level for a couple of days. This will greatly weaken the guys who have settled there. I almost forgot – in these balls still need to add a little wool for a puffing flavor.

– And how will you throw them there?

– Let's make a few small trebuches. Incidentally, Ignatius, "he said to the abbot leading over the militia of the monks," take me one hundred and twenty people, more fat. " You see that rock with a small plateau. They will be accommodated there, today bows will be delivered from ships, so that they can immediately begin shelling the monastery.

"But they do not know how to shoot! "

" They will not go to the monastery? "They will be divided into three shifts for forty people. Each shift will shoot at the monastery on schedule – a third shoots, two-thirds rest. This will allow them to shoot around the clock. How much time do you need to recruit people?

"I think I manage for two hours. "

Excellent! As you gather people, push them to the port, they will be armed and loaded with ammunition. And we can only wait and continue to conduct preparatory siege events.

At midnight on the same day, monks with bows began a systematic and unhurried bombardment of the monastery. The distant cordon and external patrols were made by their brethren assigned to the hegumen Ignatius, and the immediate military shields were organized by the forces of the prince in the immediate vicinity of the monastery. And not just barriers, but fortified ones, with a palisade and observation towers, which were made of wood. On the morning of the third day, a couple of miniature trebuches were built, however, they could not prepare the smoke ammunition for them yet. Only in the evening of the fourth day they began firing smoke bombs. By morning the whole monastery was hidden in thick smoke. On the sixth day of this very simple and tedious methodological activity, disinfecting the territory, stopped casting smoke bombs. On the early morning of the seventh day, an assault was scheduled. All the troops of the prince were defeated in assault columns and knew not only all their tasks and the route, but also the plan of the monastery. And now, with the first rays of the sun on the gate earned ballista. On the fourth shot one of the doors lost contact with the hinges and collapsed into the yard. Immediately after that, the artillery moved the point of fire to a well-located tower outside the gate, where, most likely, there was a well-targeted fortress crossbow. And then not one. After the second volley through the tower, the soldiers moved into the gate, forming a dense column and shields. Neither on the walls, nor in the courtyard, no one resisted them, so they decided to proceed further according to plan. They acted quite simply. A group of warriors in brigantines took a hand ram and started to beat the gate. The remaining soldiers stood to the right and left of the gate. After knocking out this improvised obstacle, the battering ram group retreated back, giving way to the shield guardians, who covered themselves with large shields – the pavis first entered the interior of the room. They were followed by arrows with crossbows. In the inner chambers, resistance was nevertheless met, but very sluggish. These monks were absolutely awful – greenish faces, big black circles under the eyes, eyes yellow. Until the hand-to hand they did not finish, they had accurate and accurate shots from crossbows. At such a distance, they were not rescued by chain mail, helmets, or shields. The bolt that hit the face came out from the back of the helmet. The progress was slow enough, as literally every door was not only locked, but also backed from the back with a log. Often I had to resort to a large ram. However, by lunchtime the whole of the ground part of the monastery was taken, and the remaining defenders took shelter in the basements. There was organized the last line of defense with several heavy cross-country crossbows, which almost at point-blank punched for the flight of the armor that stood at the end of a small corridor. Having lost one sergeant, Eric decided to go the other way. From the trebuchet they brought clay camp vessels with alcohol. Having knocked down one of them and found that there remained a gram of two hundred, he stuffed a few dilapidated rags into it and, after waiting for the matter to soak up alcohol, set fire to it, and flung a hand from around the corner toward the crossbows that had settled. Judging by the cries, he achieved the desired effect. Therefore, he ordered three more sergeants to roll into the corridor with a roll and shoot from the floor in the calculation of the fortress crossbows. But it was unnecessary. Those who were dressed in their cassocks flamed like torches and did not pay attention to the enemy. They did not even spend bolts on them – breaking through their swords. Discharging dangerous toys, the troops began to move forward. Before them was, judging by the plan of the monastery, the last room, which has not yet been taken. Big hall. How many people there are unknown, like the presence of heavy crossbows. The door turned out to be very strong, we had to carry a large battering ram, however, it still succumbed. Behind her was a man of fifteen with spears, standing so that any incoming came under attack from several fighters. Among them were two men in expensive armor. After giving the necessary instructions, Eric watched as one after another fell monks, struck in the face of powerful crossbow from a short distance, in the end there were only these two. The prince himself came out to them and, catching their hands a synchronous blow to the chest, pressed their spears under their armpits. His people did not lose their heads and very quickly fell in and twisted these comrades. As expected – it was the rector Savvas and his assistant Meletios. They were awaited by the very terrible and fascinating fate of a long torture interrogation.