" Do not be silly, I do not have any army yet, those two hundred soldiers are the maximum of a good squad. "In addition to the core of eight or nine hundred perfectly armed soldiers, I need auxiliary parts. And they all need to be well equipped, otherwise the losses will be very impressive. Honey, very difficult times are approaching, when we will have to fight a lot, relying only on our own strength. And the enemy will often not only be a great number, but also strong.
" Where did you get all this from? "Who will attack us?
- Everyone has their little secrets. I can not answer this question. From the east will come a mighty force, which will be very difficult to stop.
- Well, let's assume all this for granted, but I'm not iron. Give us at least an hour a day for me.
- One hour before lunch I will send a courier who will inform you about where I have dinner, so you can drive up and we could talk. Lunch plus a short walk after. Will this satisfy you?
Excellent! Then let's sleep, and that time is later.
Eric somewhat cunning. The fact is that he dined usually if not on the go, then in the field. So his kind wife was waiting for a kind of surprise, devoid of any aesthetic. So much the better - at least he will see where her husband is disappearing and what she does. Control the beginning of production was very costly in time and effort, but it was necessary. After all, as you know, without a good kick, even hedgehogs do not fly, but people even more - just started, they are already messing around. Of course, walks were mainly on the workshops of the manufactory. Occasionally on construction sites and other less important places of mandatory presence. Within a couple of weeks, Morrigan howled with such happiness and received the Academic Center in her charge to fill her leisure with useful things. And since he was in a rather deplorable state, the work there was - no end. By February, there was preparation of the existing squad, which was slowly brought to two full mouths at the expense of additionally recruiting for the contest, to active actions. Their order was brought in order, and Demeter provided good naves with teams. It remained only to give the order and to advance on the march. The equipment was the same as in the military campaign of 1202 - chain armor, brigantines, sweatpans and crossbows. Yes, the manufactory has already mastered the production of armor plates from the new steel, but they were produced very slowly - 5 sets a week and were completed with them, first of all, officers. Plate armor was made by hot stamping of steel sheets on a manual press with subsequent cementation of the outer side for 1/10 of the thickness. At the same time, the development of the cold stamping of the "mountain" -shaped plates for flaky armor, which was intended to be equipped with auxiliary troops, was in progress, and only one set was made, which was subjected to test tests. With arms, things were even worse - crossbow arcs were made by forge welding from a set of long, thin and narrow steel plates, which were pre-forged, saturated with carbon on one side, and collected in a bag. The result was a kind of welded spring, which after finishing the forging molding came to the machining - it made grooves for fastening and a cutout for the block of eccentrics. The arc was not made entirely, but in halves, in the same form it was attached to the bed, which was partially made of steel, partly of oak. Blocks of eccentrics were made of steel by a set of cut plates in a bag. In general, on February 1, 1204, at the Bosporus military depot, there were only five such crossbows and about 500 all-metal bolts to them. They were put up with a goat's leg, having a tension of about 250 kg, and since the working stroke was large enough, the cocking did not cause any problems and was rather mild. The crossbow sent a fifty-gram steel bolt for a distance of 300 meters, and with 120 punched chain mail, put on aketon. In general - a solid apparatus, only one minus - very expensive and extremely difficult to produce, for a year its manufacture can only make 250-260 pieces. In general, with the new crossbows there were a lot of misunderstandings, beginning with attempts at theft on the test site and ending with misunderstanding, for which the warriors need to be armed with expensive items that have only a cost of about three Bosporan denarii apiece.
Especially worth noting is the attempted theft. In the course of the investigation, interesting details emerged. Pope Innocent III did not forgive Eric's desire to maneuver, not allowing a split in the state. The fact is that he could not choose the full side of Rome and begin to plant Catholicism on his land, as virtually all the Christians that he lived in were Orthodox. The Turkic Jews - Khazars stood in a special way, but they were clever enough not to get into such disassembly. Bishop Honorius, who ran the affairs of Catholicism in the Bosporus, made some fantastic efforts, but his flock grew mainly due to visiting European artisans. Which only confirmed the correctness of Eric's position. Artisans traveled for a reason - through the trading house of Demetra was an active campaign to find talented people in those lands that visit its ships. Of particular value were all sorts of unrecognized "kulibinas," which were not so many, but even in such numbers they were absolutely not in demand. The brook, of course, was slim, but he gave the growth of the flock. However, its size was so insignificant that the maintenance of Catholicism on an official level, albeit formally, looked strange. In this connection, there was an active correspondence with the Patriarch of Constantinople John X Kamatir, who was making no less effort than Honorius, but already in favor of Orthodoxy. This action was a kind of bargaining for a small, but tasty slice. So, in the midst of these events, during the testing in December 1203 of the first crossbow of a new design, an unknown person who secretly penetrated the range of the factory seized the sample and tried to hide with him. All would be nothing, but, firstly, the guy was quick, and secondly, someone helped him very much - the horses in the right places were standing, the doors needed were open and so on. As a result, when trying to leave on the road to the north-west of Feodosia, it was decided to bring it down, since the probability of avoiding the chase was very high, especially if an ambush detachment was waiting for him. Inspection of the corpse did not give anything particularly interesting - no personal belongings and special signs. Began to draw up a map of events. It turned out that all the "accidental" participants were Catholics who had recently arrived on different grounds to the territory of the principality. No evidence, but indirect evidence clearly indicated the involvement of Honorius and, it is not impossible, Innocent. According to the letters de Plesier, the current pope was a rare intriguer and as his informers in the Vatican testify, he is very concerned about the state of affairs in the Bosporus. The fact is that the Templars reported to him about the unique German baron during the incident in Vienna. Innocent appreciated the beautiful improvisation and approved the support of the Catholic order. After the events in the Holy Land, where Erik literally gave a miraculous reviving kick to the Principality of Antioch and the local Templars, he closely followed his activities and contributed to her in every possible way. However, after the establishment of the poly-confessional, he became enraged. It is rumored that he smashed a lot of furniture and utensils, while in a fit. A noble warrior, who bears a high reputation for Catholic weapons, refused to distribute Catholicism to his subjects. Innokenty considered this a personal insult and began to actively monitor his activities. Of course, he was very interested in the manufactory, and indeed the high activity that took place in the area of the Bosporus. And so, having learned about the experiments with some kind of strange crossbow, he gave the order to steal it, in order to study. In general, his emissary allowed only one puncture - he did not set an ambush on the road leading from Bosporus to Feodosia. All these details became known not at once, as the intelligence activity went on neatly. However, already in January it became clear where the wind was blowing, so we decided to take a small step aimed at stabilizing the relationship. Eric invited Honorius to him and in confidential conversation informed that Catholics wanted to discredit in his eyes, but he, like a true Christian, disassembled the insidiousness of the plan and decided to share with the good bishop so that he could take action. That is, they transparently hinted that we understood who did, but do not want to inflame the relationship. This action was favorably received by Innocent, and he began a long written dialogue with Eric.