- I just do not understand this. Why do you need this?

- I need a strong bank, to which I can entrust my business.

- It's amazing! Philip waved his hands in surprise.

- And what is the point of twisting, in order to explain the earthly goals with higher powers?

- Yeah, you totally embarrassed me. Before our conversation, my path was clear and straight. Now I am completely at a loss.

- And why get lost? It is necessary, after realizing the details of the emerging situation, to act in such a way that it is no longer a shame. Although these are all small things that do not yet play a serious role. Let's talk about the matter.

Chapter 6

Then they spent about two hours discussing plans for Eric's future campaign and ways of interacting. The Grand Master offered a way to obtain a formal right to the land that our hero wanted to take to himself. The Baron will be represented at court to the emperor, and his merits against the enemies of Byzantium will be painted with the most vivid colors. In short, they will arrange a small variety show. After that, Alex will be forced to repay such a faithful servant, but since he does not have land for a present or some solid post, he can offer only something formal. For example, a title without a land, of course, it will be prompted in advance by our wise autocrat. And this is exactly what Eric wants. After that, he will swear allegiance to the emperor. Of course, no one from him will not demand anything, since the title is formal. But the right to land will be, it will only be left for her. In general, a curious adventure. From Constantinople, the Grand Master was going to go to the Principality of Antioch in order to take a lively part in what was developing there. Therefore, much of the time in the conversation was devoted exclusively to applied issues. In particular, the issue of Raymund, which remained a serious guarantor of instability, was especially carefully studied. It was necessary to solve two issues: the power in Antioch and the loyalty of the Cilician kingdom. Eric proposed a very simple scheme. The prince, together with the commander, should act as initiators for the release of Rupen. Officially, they must pay 200 gold marks to the Treasury of the Moslem emir. Of course, only 30 marks will be paid, in order for the emir to endow his people, so as not to cause suspicion. After, not far from Edessa, an escort with the grandson of Levon II should be attacked by a group of iconic Turks, naturally hired through a figurehead, which quite by chance, will be missed by several people. Raimund, of course, will be killed in this skirmish. The escort is recruited honestly, from suicide bombers, that is, people who have already baked, but there is no formal reason to execute or expel them. This intrigue should embitter Levon on the Seljuks of Iconium, and also bring them closer to the principality and the Templars proper, as people who selflessly tried to save his grandson. The Grand Master fully supported the idea, since he was most concerned about the situation in the principality. Finally, Eric discussed the possibility of prompt deployment of the bank's branch in the conquered land, said goodbye and left for his compound, where he intended to meet with Demeter and inspect the replenishment. With his priestess, he solved all the issues very quickly, and so in the evening she left for Athens to the ship. The only thing that amused her is a slight shaking, when communicating with him. This woman firmly believed that he was the god Ares, the last doubts were dispelled when all of Europe flew all about his tremendous victory under Edessa. Although the better, there is less chance that she will betray him. Worse case was with the replenishment. Hand on heart, these people could be called a maximum of garbage, albeit armed. Therefore, the younger brother of Demeter departed with her, for he did not live up to his hope. In general, after selecting after ten minutes of inspection of fifty people, the rest he handed in five denarii and ordered to go to all four sides. Pre-surrendering armor, weapons and coats of arms. He really wanted to drive everyone out, but changed his mind, because these, although they were completely unprepared, but had the potential, and therefore transferred the miserable man to the tender care of Rudolph. Toward evening, cooled down, he spoke with Theodore, entrusting him with a new task, which was to contact the Genoese from Sugdeya, and redeem the captive Slavic soldiers from slavery at the age of 20 to 25 years. Of course, not all in a row, but physically healthy, not broken and ready to fight with those who enslaved them. It was necessary to have about fifty to sixty people. The goods are not running, but sometimes it happens. After buying the guys wash, feed and deliver here. He has two months to complete the assignment.

So. What did he have at the moment from human resources? One hundred well-armed soldiers and ten neophytes. Not much. True, he had another hundred and fifty servants, among whom more than half were artisans. But letting servants into battle is stupid, although it is often practiced. In the war that he wants to start, he obviously lacks resources, quantitatively. And this needs to be somehow compensated, first of all by improving the quality of general training and equipment. Therefore, within a week he, with the forces of his servants, unfolded a very decent sports ground, on which he drove all his soldiers. The guys were at least experienced, but they did not follow very much themselves, and therefore they needed to be brought into tonus. And in general - the training has not prevented anyone. In addition to a complex of general developing and strengthening exercises on the bar and bars, the guys ran, and decently - every day for five miles, and once in five days - fifteen miles. This 15-mile race took place in the equipment, that is, in armor, with weapons and some supply of provisions. An important gap in the preparation of his detachment was that they were able to fight normally only in equestrian order. Therefore, with them the drill was begun - the development of the column and square. This in our time, drill training has a practical purpose, close to zero, for its real useful use is limited to parades. During the same contact battle from the ability of fighters to keep the construction depended on their lives. So, in addition to the development of personal physical qualities, his fighters developed in terms of traditional drill. In truth, it is not quite traditional, because our hero seriously diversified it by the fact that when working off the column he divided people into two equal parts, built them against each other and set the task to push opponents off the site. Thus, he developed the pressure of the column as the main attacking infantry formation. It must crush the enemy's constructions, break them, like a hammer blow breaks the shell. The training was so intense that the guys just fell from their feet after the lights out, and therefore slept soundly, happy sleep. He began to prepare his army, and therefore needed a charter. In his army there were already officers who ruled the spontaneous groups. This is wrong, because if the number of troops increases even more, it will be very difficult to deal with management. For his troops, he installed a uniform in the form of a cotta that was long in the middle of the thigh and without sleeves, standard colors. The composition of the cottages was simple - in front and behind it was cut into four sections with a vertical and horizontal line exactly in the center. In front of the painting of the squares was the following - white, red, white, red, in order from top to bottom and from left to right, from the back - inverted. Red was chosen a bright scarlet shade. At the intersection of these four sections, the Baron's coat of arms, both from the front and from behind, was sewn. In the left upper section of the chest, on a white field, an improvised badge in the form of a white diamond with a black border was sewn. The rhombus was divided by a horizontal line in half. Above it was a Latin number denoting the number of the company, from the bottom - a Latin letter denoting the rank. In the statute, he envisaged the following system of organization and ranks for the army. The basis of the organization was miles, that is, a warrior. His badge on the chase is the letter "m". From three to six such comrades were united in a group headed by a millet with the designation "p". The four groups were united in a platoon headed by a sergeant, marked with the rank "s". Three to six platoons were united in a company, she was commanded by a lieutenant, on the patch of which the letter "l" flaunted. From three to six mouths was reduced to a battalion under the captain's cap, bearing the letter "k". There were no plans for larger units in his army, but it was easy to deploy further. The scheme was equivalent to any kind of troops, be it infantry or cavalry. From his people, he formed a company, the head of which was Rudolph. The next step in streamlining his military improvisation was the regulation of the patrol and guard service. As in the campaign, and on vacation, his army must have round-the-clock security in order to reduce the chance of occurrence of excesses to a minimum. In addition to replenishing the letters of the charter, a schedule was drawn up, according to which the platoons of his company were on duty. At the gate of the courtyard was installed a booth with a permanent post, there was also placed a room for a resting part of the guard. On the territory of his possessions were laid routes and established the regularity of their passage. Therefore, every new day, with dawn, a new platoon was on duty, which provided protection of the perimeter from strangers. The rest of the units were completely focused on training.