Eric (СИ)

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.