In the evening Eric gathered in the big and spacious hall of the town council two dozen residents. Before them stood the most talkative poor, burdened by large families and minimal diligence, carefully collected from all over the city.
" Citizens of Piraeus! "You have a very important and responsible task on which the welfare of your entire city and your families depends in particular. After the end of this meeting every hour one of you will go to the side of Athens. On arrival, your task will be to get as many people as possible about what atrocities I am creating in this city. It is especially worth emphasizing that my warriors, drunk heavily, roam the groups around the city and rape everything that is female. Embellish this version with references to the violence against young nuns right in the church or something else in the same spirit.
" Sir, why should we lie? "You are very kind to the townspeople.
- This is necessary for the implementation of my plan. I can not tell you the details yet. The main goal of my idea is to minimize losses among the civilians of Athens, whom I promised to cut out all. So you try and paint my atrocities in the brightest colors. Of course - do not name any names so that there is no specifics and you could not be caught in lies. Before you go out, you get two dozen denarii to be uncoated in the city. In addition, your family will receive as much for food and, if it burns out, then on the Bosporan ruble from above. And whether you survive or not - it does not matter, money will reach your families in any case. Do you understand everything?
- Yes, sir. - The men answered in chorus.
" In that case, I need the bravest of you, take two steps forward. " - Five people came out of the crowd, to whom the prince came and personally made them several cosmetic cuts of the skin. - So it will be more realistic. By the way, do not forget to dress in slightly torn and dirty clothes, for a fugitive in clean and new clothes will arouse suspicion. So, if everyone understands everything, then you are at the disposal of Theodore. "Eric nodded at the calm man standing by the window with attentive cold eyes. Then he turned and left. His next task was to install observers on all possible routes from Athens to his bet. As well as creating the illusion of fires in the city, for which he ordered at every intersection to lay a large fire, in which to burn raw firewood and wet old rags to more smoke. Residents reacted with understanding - let them burn old rags better than their homes. In the morning of the fourth day, a breathless messenger galloped around, who reported that the enemy had advanced with all his strength towards the city. The detachment led a detachment of five dozen knights on horseback, followed by a column - to a thousand militia with spears. The key task of this battle was the need to destroy the enemy and prevent the retreat of large forces into the city. A real, serious assault on his plans was not included. Therefore, he did so. On a small hill, overgrown with shrubbery, he ambushed personnel of artillerymen who, from one or two volleys, were to cover the knights, shooting from twenty to thirty paces. The rest of the forces must go in the equestrian order from the rear and be accelerated in the meadow to strike at the infantry. The strength for a horse-drawn attack was not small - up to two with half a hundred heavy cavalrymen, capable of moving in a dense formation. No sooner said than done. Already by lunchtime heading the cavalry detachment, going by a line at sixty with a penny man and depth of four horses, he flew into the orders of a frightened mob of militiamen. The horses were so fast that the first few meters people did not slow them down, bouncing like rag dolls. After, having slowed down enough for melee, the riders began to work with sabers along the people who were rapidly disappearing into a deep panic. Some ten minutes and on the battlefield lies a bloody mess instead of an army that tried to threaten the prince. Immediately advance in Athens did not, because it was necessary to give time to as many residents as possible to flee. Therefore, they took up trophies and funerals. In general, the entire remaining day was spent and only on the morning of the fifth day did they leave for the city.
As expected, most of the residents left the city and retired to Thebes, the formal capital of Achaea at that time. Nobody defended the city gates. Entering the city, Eric gave the order to kill everyone he met. Rudolph was alarmed, because he did not know that the agitators and scouts were instructed to leave the city on the morning of the fifth day, so as not to get into the meat grinder. The next few days everything was very methodical and measured - the prince's troops stormed the courtyard beyond the backyard without fuss and haste. Breaking in, they killed everyone who resisted, the rest were driven out into the yard and forced to dig a grave for the dead. When the foundation pit turned out to be ready, the bodies of those killed were staked in the assault, after cutting the remaining ones and also pushed down. We had to fall asleep ourselves. This approach helped avoid the collapse of the streets with corpses and the likely spread of some contamination, as well as emergency excavations, as in Sughd. In total, according to rough estimates, on the morning of April 19th, about six hundred people were killed, and only his soldiers and servants remained in the city. The promise was fulfilled - the inhabitants obeyed him and he cut out all those found inside the city walls. At the same time, Eric was doubly pleased, as he was able to avoid a really serious slaughter, because by the time of his arrival in Greece, up to twenty thousand people lived in Athens. The main goal he pursued, allowing the residents to leave and not allowing their total annihilation, was the massive PR of his methods. The more people learn that those who do not obey him will die, the fewer cities in the future he will have to storm. Everything was collected in the city, in general everything that had value. At the collection of trophies worked and representatives of Piraeus by order of the magistrate. Part he decided to leave to the residents of the port, in order to reward them for sobriety and adequacy of actions. The rest were loaded on ships and exported - either to Corfu, which was the transshipment base of the trading company of Demeter, or to Bosporus. On the morning of the first of May, the prince, at the head of his army of two mouths with a total number of about two and a half hundred advanced to the side of Thebes. In the evening he approached the frontier where he was met - in a small field near the apartment houses stood a large militia of several thousand people, which was led by a detachment of about a hundred knights. The militia, of course, was ridiculous, because it represented people in simple clothes, even without quilted armor, armed, than horrible - from just wooden clubs, to copies and working axes. But there were a lot of them, very many. It would be too troublesome to kill them. The guys, apparently, also understood that this battle does not threaten anything good, that's why they were the first to come to the talks.
- Good evening. My name is Eric Bosporsky. I'm surprised at such attention to my humble person or are you still waiting for someone else on this field? It's amazing where you found such a crowd of peasants?
" And good evening to you. "I'm Harald, Baron von Laneck. You are right, we are waiting for you.
Yes! But! Kind, is such an escort in vogue? - The prince had a very sweet smile on his face.
"What do you want from us? " Harald looked at him calmly, his eyes narrowing slightly.
- Oh, well, do not pretend to be naive. You know perfectly well why I came. But I have a good mood and spoil it with the death cries of this herd of sheep I do not want. Eric nodded at the militia.
