Date: Fri, 03 Nov 2006 10:05:42 +0100
From: A.K. <andrej@andrejkoymasky.com>
Subject: The Vanished Empire 5/8 (Historical)

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THE VANISHED EMPIRE
by Andrej Koymasky (C) 2006
written on February 11, 1995
translated by the author
English text kindly revised
by John

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USUAL DISCLAIMER

"THE VANISHED EMPIRE" is a gay story, with some parts containing graphic
scenes of sex between males. So, if in your land, religion, family,
opinion and so on this is not good for you, it will be better not to
read this story. But if you really want, or because YOU don't care, or
because you think you really want to read it, please be my welcomed
guest.

-----------------------------


FIFTH - USAE AND YUDE'S STRATEGIES

5.1 - Usae and the barbarians' territory

Duke Pess asked to be received by Yude and declared himself his vassal.
Yude confirmed him a Duke but assigned him to one of his generals. In
spring 1483, Kimi conquered the remaining parts of Chui Territory and
the Count Stan, whose territory was then situated between the
territories controlled by Kimi on the west border and by Yude on the
east border, behind the mountains, submitted to Kimi.

But meanwhile Keta and Soka had gathered a strong fleet and attacked
Seko, landing a force of about 30,000 cavalrymen and 120,000 infantrymen
there. Kimi and Yude at once gathered all their troops and hastened by
forced march to Seko, where Usae was valiantly trying to stem the
invasion. Wild battles were fought, with ups ad downs. Keta was a
skilled strategist and understood that he had to abandon traditional
tactics to face the great mobility of Usae's troops. After one year of
struggle, the allied armies of Keta and Soka were still firmly
controlling almost all Seko territory.

Meanwhile on the south Prince Dera allied with Duke Yaha, Count Siie and
Duke Ikie forming a coalition to be feared. In the north, the pirates
had settled on a great part of the coastal strip of Rone island and the
two Counts had to take refuge in the highlands. To worsen the situation,
the barbarians from the north started to make incursions in the mountain
provinces, crossing the mountains with fast, surprise raids.

In the third month of 1484, Meta succeeded in blocking an offensive by
the south coalition at the borders of Suna. From Ikoi the first new
ships that were sent to Usae, together with some pirates' ships, skirted
the peninsula in the south and headed for Jeran port, destroying Soka's
ships that were still there. It was not a great disaster, but for the
first time the two princes became aware that at sea too, they were no
longer the absolute rulers. This made their operations on Seko territory
more insecure, so after a set of violent pitched battles, in the
eleventh month they withdrew from Seko territory which was again in
Usae's hands.

On 1485 the Octagon castle, renamed the Sword castle, had been completed
and Usae settled in, throwing a great party attended by the Emperor with
his family and all the aristocracy in the part of the Empire already
unified. In this occasion Yude, who was then 42 years old, met the son
of Noma's regent, the duke Buga, a twenty-years old refined, elegant and
handsome young man.

Yude, fascinated, started discretely to court him. After Gano had
presented him, years before, with the six dancers and the six musicians,
Yude carried on replacing them from time to time with younger ones, so
he could always take with him the dozen easy boys with whom he often
took his pleasure.  As a result, he never felt the need for a lover. But
now he wanted Buga.

First of all he had to discover if the young man liked his own or the
opposite sex. In fact, unlike Gano who used to just take what he liked,
regardless of whether the other agreed or not, at times taking young
married men too, Yude always preferred to unite only with consenting
partners. Therefore, inviting Buga to the rooms reserved to him, he
called the twelve boys asking them to perform one of their erotic dances
for his guest.

Buga was engrossed in observing the movements of the six dancers and
when the boys mimed the scene of an intercourse, clearly between men,
Buga murmured it was arousing. Yude then asked him if he liked one of
the boys in particular. Buga blushed slightly and answered that all of
them were beautiful. Then Yude told him that all the boys were fully
available - if he wanted to choose one of them, or even more than one...

Buga blushed again and asked, "You... which one would you recommend for
me?"

"It depends... I don't know your tastes. I tried all of them, and they
all are more than agreeable."

"All of them?" Buga asked, amazed.

"Yes, the musicians too. What type do you like?" the man asked him,
lightly caressing his back while the youth was continuing to look at the
performance, which was becoming more and more explicitely erotic.

Buga didn't answer.

Yude started to caress his thigh and the youth quivered and finally
answered, "Well... all of them..."

"Do you mean that you would like having an orgy with them all?" Yude
asked with a smile.

The young man blushed once more, "No, I didn't mean that. I meant that I
would not be able to make a choice." He murmured.

Yude's hand reached his lap and outlined Buga's erection and he
shuddered. Then Yude took him in his arms, tightly, and kissed him on
his mouth, intimately, deeply.

"So then, Buga, do you want one of them, all of them... or me?" Yude
asked continuing to caress him between his legs.

The youth looked at the dancers, pointed at one of them and said,
"Him... and you."

"Do you like making love in a threesome?" Yude asked, amused.

"I don't know, I never made it in a threesome."

"So, then?"

"I feel attracted to him and you propositioned me, so..."

"You don't have to feel compelled doing it with me just because I would
like it."

"No, I don't feel obliged at all. You are a fascinating man and I'm glad
to try it with you."

"But you like young ones better."

"No... I still don't know, I only recently understood that I like..."

"Recently?"

Buga was not yet nineteen when he made love with a man for the first
time. Before that, he flirted here and there with some girls and had
complete sex with only two of them - he enjoyed it well enough but his
partners enjoyed it very much. His first man had been a cousin of his
age. During a party they both flirted with two girls, they drank, were
merry and full of yen to get to the point. They managed to take the two
girls to a secluded place, continuing to caress them, to drink, and they
were gradually undressing, eager to conclude. But at the most
interesting moment the two girls fled laughing, leaving them alone, half
undressed, and aroused. His cousin drawing nearer him, started to caress
him, without uttering a word. They finished undressing each other and
made love, taking each other in turn. His cousin enjoyed it sufficiently
but he enjoyed it a lot.

Aferwards his cousin said that he only did it because he was drunk. He
liked it doing it with women better. Buga, on the contrary, understood
that he liked men better. After that first time, he had sex a few times
with a soldier older than him, and with a servant, younger, at his
father's castle, and he had enjoyed doing it with both of them.
Therefore, he said, he now felt ready to try it again and, why not, in a
threesome.

Yude asked the boy choosen by Buga to stay and took both of them to his
bedroom. All three naked on the wide bed, they intertwined in a
passionate search for pleasure. The beautiful Buga was awkward at first
but he gradually became aroused and Yude liked making love with him very
much. While the young man was dressing, Yude asked him if he wanted to
meet again. The young duke answered "yes" with some enthusiasm.

The day after, it was Buga who approached Yude and asked him if he had
some spare time. Yude asked him if he wanted one of the boys as well,
but the youth answered that this time he would rather do it just the two
of them. It was even better than the previous day. After they made love,
they remained on the bed for a long time, caressing each other and
talking. The youth asked him to tell him about his first time, about his
first lover, about the first time with Gano... Yude narrated and the
youth became aroused again and asked him to make love once more and Yude
met his wishes with pleasure.

When the days of celebration were over, Yude and Buga said good-bye.
Yude told him that he would like to meet again and that it was a pity
they lived so far away from each other. Buga said he had felt very
gratified with him and that he too hoped to be able meet him again soon.
Yude felt tempted to ask the youth to go with him, but restrained
himself. He watched Noma's convoy leaving but he had to stay at Sword
castle for some more days to confer with Usae.

Usae intended to hold a general census of the population, of their
activities and of the lands, in order to totally reorganize the taxation
system. He also decided to expand Seko port and to build two new ports,
one on the small strip of land in Suna territory and another in Misaga.
But first they had to quickly equip a good fleet in order to control the
Empire better and to oppose the pirates.

But above all, Usae had in mind an expedition to conquer the barbarians'
territories. Some of his generals said it was better to first finish
conquering all the Empire territory, but Usae answered that they had
time for that enterprise - it was enough, for the moment to hold their
opponents at bay. But if they conquered the northern territories, beyond
the mountains, taking it away from the barbarians, they would get very
good tillable land and in the meantime they could reduce the demographic
pressure of the interior, thus trebling the Empire land.

During 1486, Kimi got hold of Yaha duchy using the old technique of the
"castle after castle", uselessly opposed by the weak southern league -
weak also because, as it was bordered on the opposite side by Suga, they
could not totally abandon the eastern defences to fight on the western
borders. Duke Yaha with his family and the best of his men took refuge
in the territories of Prince Dera. Meanwhile Kimi also started a
campaign of intensive reforestation at Misaga.

What was becoming a problem was Rone island. Pirates made it their base
and they gradually conquered all of it, up to the mainland, slaughtering
the two counts. Even though the incursions on the mainland, along the
western coasts of the Empire were scanty, and from Rone they mainly
sailed north, towards the continent, where the trade routes of the great
continental powers were, in order to seize the big merchant ships, Usae
was worried - when the Empire could possess his fleet as well, the
pirates presence would become a great hindrance, even more so if they
grew stronger and settled so close to the Empire.

One of the reasons why Usae wanted to conquer all the barbarians' north,
was his desire to become part of the great game of the continental
powers. Some merchants and shipwrecked seamen rescued by the fishermen
of Imperial territories, narrated about the great nations of the
continent, about their wealth and power. Usae had hosted these
shipwrecked seamen in a luxurious way and asked them to teach a team of
his men all they knew about their original lands - language, usages and
customs, history, geography... He was feeling that the encounter with
the continent could be close at hand and he wanted to be prepared.

What, up to then, kept the Empire separated from the continent had been
mainly three factors - distance, the presence between the Empire and the
continent of numerous pirates' gangs, and the ships that were still too
fragile to run on the wide expanse of open sea. But from the shipwrecked
navigators he came to know that on the continent they were building huge
ships, able to defy the open sea, then he understood that soon the
mysterious continent would become aware of them. He sent the navigators
to Ikoi port to start building one of the huge ships they were talking
about - he wanted to see one, to experiment with one. In Chui territory
he had installed spacious factories to make the sails for the ships.

In 1487 the first Imperial fleet was rigged out. A test cruise was done
in the western part of the Empire, to properly train the sailors in the
ships manoeuvres; on board there were some ex-pirates as well the
shipwrecked navigators as instructors.

In the third month of 1488, Kimi and Yude's troops, from the two
opposite fronts, launched an attack against the southern league. Around
the end of the fifth month, prince Dera found his death on the
battle-field at the hand of Kimi, meanwhile Yude occupied half of Siie
county and of Ikie duchy, and Rapod on his side of river. Just during
this campaign, Buga showed up at Yude's camp.

**************************

5.2 - Yude's military strategy

The young Duke Buga received permission from his father to go and fight
with Yude - he really wanted to be with him as, he told his father, he
felt he was in love with him. Yude was extremely pleased. He celebrated
his arrival with a great party. While outside, in the camp, the soldiers
were still celebrating, Yude took Buga to his tent and they made love.
Yude became incredibly fond of the youth, and always wanted him at his
side - the young man's love was infusing in him new vigor and
enthusiasm.

Buga was a clever youth and in him Yude not only found a devoted and
trustworthy companion, but also a valuable adviser and a very good
warrior. They became so inseparable that amongst Yude's men the saying
was born - "if you're searching for the prince, look where the duke is
going". He was also an extremely sensual youth and Yude was totally
captivated by him.

On the tenth month of 1488, Yude was able to inform Usae that the
southern league didn't exist any more. Now only the islands were to be
conquered. The imperial fleet, even though not yet large, started to
exist. One year of manoeuvres developed good navigators, both for the
small and fast feluccas and for the big new ships, and in Ikoi port they
were building more of them.

In spring 1489 the Imperial fleet made its first appearance along the
channel dividing the Empire from the main islands. The princes' fleet on
the islands tried to fight, but the small ships were too fast and easily
maneageable and the big ships too strong to be seriously confronted by
the princes' ships that were, even though numerous, of traditional
build. Thus the channel was controlled by the Imperial fleet and the
princes had to barricade themselves in their islands.

Anyway, in those years the princes had fortified the islands in a
formidable way, mainly on the side facing the Empire lands - on the side
facing the open sea they felt sufficiently protected by the sea and
their fleet. Usae issued the order to build a new port also in the
southern part of the Empire, at the estuary of the river dividing Sera
territory by Siie and Ikie.

Usae decided it was time to move against Rosti island. Of the three
great islands belonging to the two princes it was the most open to
attack, as it was wedged between the land going from Enshi to Ikie,
moreover Suna port could already be used in part, notwitstanding it was
still under construction. Because in that part of the island there were
landing places that were not deep enough, three big ships were used to
block the two ends of the channel running north and south of Rosti. The
feluccas were crowded with infantrymen and cavalrymen and started an
uninterrupted coming and going between the two shores of the channel
putting ashore the occupation force - a formidable army, formed by no
fewer than 200,000 infantrymen and 20,000 cavalrymen. Usae, Yude and
Kimi in person participated in the operations.

The princes, not being able to enter the channel with their ships,
landed as many troops as possible at the port in the east of Rosti. They
meanwhile were trying to oppose the imperials' landings but,
establishing three beachheads, Usae, Kimi and Yude's forces seized one
third of the island on its west side. The population took refuge in the
interior, abandoning their villages and fields. The castles standing in
that part of the island were also conquered by the imperial forces. The
princes managed to send some 120,000 infanrtymen and 22,000 cavalrymen
onto the island - the whole island was literally swarming with soldiers.
In summer, the imperial army controlled about half of the island, but
the resistence of the princes' forces was fierce, so that for months the
positions changed very little and not always in the same direction.

Yude had an idea - all the battles were fought mainly along the shores
on the north and south side of the island. The mountains were crowded
with refugees and no military actions were taken there. He then asked to
be allowed to choose from the imperial army all the most vigorous and
young soldiers who were originally from the mountain provinces of the
Empire. With them he would form a task force that would occupy all the
mountains, trying to persuade the farmers who took refuge here to go
back to the fields and to work them - otherwise they risked losing their
harvest. Of all their harvest the countryen could keep half and had to
give the other half to the imperial army. Yude's men, on the other hand,
would spend all the winter in the mountains, ready to swoop upon the
port at the start of spring, so splitting the princes' army in two parts
and also making the supplying of food, weapons and men more difficult.

Usae, being of aristocratic origin and more tied to the tradition, at
first did not fully agree - the army had always been formed by groups of
homogeneous origins, born in the same lands. Splitting the army would
unsettle the formations and make it more difficult to keep discipline
and to coordinate the groups. But Kimi totally agreed with Yude, so Usae
yielded. Therefore Yude started his work - he choose amongst his men the
fitter ones and sent them to recruit more men in Usae and Kimi's armies.
In meantime he sent his remaining men to the two armies to be
temporarily included with them. His new contingent would be constituted
only of infantry, lightly armed but well equipped in order to pass the
winter under the snow.

At the end of the eighth month the restructuring of the Imperial army
was completed. Yude with Buga left with their 60,000 infantrymen. They
quickly climbed the mountains from two sides, to prevent the farmers
fleeing towards the part controlled by the princes. Then they started to
gather up the farmers, inviting them to go to work the fields in the
part under the imperial control. As any escape route was barred and as
winter was nearing, the farmers could only agree and go down to the
plain. Yude then started the building of their refuges, before the snow
came.

When the first snow fell, they all were sheltered in huts built with
branches and earth between the trees, in an almost uninterrupted line
cutting the mountain practically in two parts. Soon the snow was falling
and then the men gathered it against the external walls of their huts
covering them with a compact snow wall that they watered in order to
make it ice. Inside the huts there was a small fire, sufficient to
maintain some warmth so as not to freeze, on which in small groups they
took turns to cook their meals. The food supply had been divided in
daily rations so that they could last for all the winter, and had been
buried in the snow the better to preserve it.

To be more comfortable during the night, when the fires were out, Yude
ordered the men to sleep together in couples under their blankets. Buga
pointed out that in that way not a  few relationships would start, and
Yude answered laughing that this was possibly his real aim. Each hut
hosted ten men with their ten-chief. Each ten huts had a post-chief,
each ten posts had a thousands-chief and finally came the six
section-chiefs with Yude and Buga constituting the headquarters. At the
center of the long array they had a bigger hut, which was divided in two
parts - the smaller one for themselves and the wider one for meetings.

The men, used to mountain life, set traps for fresh meat, did water and
wood fatigues, kept their weapons in good order and each day performed
physical training to keep in good shape. They were on sentry-duty in
turns to avoid any possible surprise, even though it was highly
unlikely. To keep the men's morale high, Buga organized a set of
contests, about who carved the most beautiful object, or made the most
comfortable equipment, or narrated the most amusing story, besides
physical contests.

Winter passed without problems and the men, though coming from different
parts of the Empire, came together very well. This gave Yude the idea of
an army comprising only specialised corps, men coming from different
provinces but used to fraternizing - a totally professional army and
not, how it had been up to then, where the only professionals were the
horse-mounted aristocrats while the infantrymen were almost all
peasant-soldiers or artisan-soldiers.

Yude was proud of this contingent so that, with Buga, he often went to
inspect them, to ascertain their morale while winter was slipping by.
They stopped to talk and to eat with the men and were alsways received
with a perfect style. Noticing how some soldiers had decorated the
doorway of their huts with snow bas-reliefs, Buga also organized a
contest for the finest entrance, and this was a great success too.

The relationship between Yude and Buga was becoming more and more
intense and profound. The long nights spent holding each other tightly,
when they made love, then talked for a long while before falling asleep,
were cementing their union more and more.

Buga admired Yude, who was proud of his young lover. More and more
soldiers followed their example, uniting in harmonious couples and also
promising each other to remain together once the war was over.

As soon as the thaw set in and the ground became workable, they gathered
the few supplies still remaining, rolled their blankets, and then
assembled to start the fast descent from the mountains - their morale
was very high, they felt they were accomplishing a remarkable exploit.

They came within sight of the port, which didn't expect an assault from
inland, and attacked it throwing the inhabitants into confusion. From
the port, the troops of the few princes tried to organize some
resistance, but the 60,000 infantrymen swarmed in tightly united groups
through the streets, heading for the ships. The commander ordered the
ships to sail and barricated himself in the castle, defended by a
contingent of only 6,000 men, and sent a rescue request to the two
remnants of the princes' army that were located north and south.

The town was totally in Yude's hands and, even though he had not been
able to capture any of the ships, as these were no longer mooring at the
port fearing to be boarded. They besieged the port castle but didn't
attack it - they would have too many losses. The castle had a pentagon
shape, with two sides jutting out into the sea and three on the land.

The townsmen, past their first moments of fear, went back, amazed by the
discipline of the imperial soldiers, who didn't boss the city around.
One evening an aged man asked to be taken in front of Yude. He said that
when a youth he had been a soldier of Count Jeran, who was dispossessed
by the princes. He said that he was in active service inside the castle
and that he knew two access ways that possibly the princes' soldiers
didn't know.

Yude made the man explain them in great detail - one was a long
underground aqueduct gallery bringing the water from a spring to the
castle cistern. The other one was the drainage tunnel for the dirty
water from the castle that led to the sea. The first one could be
entered by the side of the  spring where the water ran into the canal;
the second one, at low tide, was less than two meters below the sea
level.

Yude asked him how could he know these two ways and why he was revealing
their existence to him. The man said that he knew them because his
father, sixty years before, worked on the building of the castle and
that he was now revealing them to Yude because, observing the respect
for the population that the imperial soldiers showed, and having the
princes dethroned the real lord of that land, the Count Jeran, he
preferred his land to be ruled by the Emperor.

Buga said that it could be a trap; he imagined thousand of their men
entrapped in the long and narrow galleries, easy prey of the enemy
soldiers. But Yude felt he could trust that man. In any case, he said,
at least concerning the aqueduct gallery, they could control one
extremity anyway. Therefore he decided to choose two groups amongst his
men - those who were able to swim skillfully would try to penetrate from
the sea side, the others by the aqueduct gallery.

Buga then suggested they could do one more thing - once they had
explored the two galleries and then sent in the two groups, all the
other men had to raise the siege of the castle and behave as if they
were leaving the city, but hiding nearby. The besieged men, almost
surely, would go out of the castle to reopen the port. At that point
Yude's men in the galleries would find a reduced number of soldiers
inside the castle - they could go out and engage in battle giving a sign
to those hidden outside by knocking down the central pennon with the
princes' standard. Yude's toops would then go back and attack the city
and the castle.

Yude approved the plan. After having the two galleries explored, they
found that the sewer one was blocked at its middle by crossed heavy iron
bars. Yude then sent some men into it armed with saws for iron to cut
them. They plunged at the beginning of the night and worked all the
night long, going back before dawn.

At least a thousand and five hndred men could be contained in the clean
water gallery and about five hundred in the sewer, once the bars were
cut. The work to shear the iron bars took almost six days - it had to be
carried out very slowly, so that no noise would be heard inside the
castle. But at last it yielded. Then Yude made all the chosen men enter
the two galleries and raised the siege to the castle, as if heading
towards the north.

>From the castle the departure of the enemy contingent was greeted with
joyous yells and, as anticipated, the castle opened its gates and the
soldiers went to control the port. Inside the castle only five hundred
men remained. Yude's men who were in the cistern and in the sewer
started to move inside the castle, with two aims before engaging battle
- closing the castle gates again and knocking down the the princes'
standard.

When the castle defenders became aware that the enemy was inside, half
of the men were already out of the galleries. They engaged a furious
battle trying to launch the alarm. First the central pennon fell, then
the two gates were closed while Yude's men were continuing to move
inside the castle and all resistance was overcome.

>From the port, when they heard the alarm and then saw the central pennon
fall, the fall-in was sounded and they ran to the castle. They were
raising the assault ladders when Yude's troops reappeared and attacked
them from their back. They outnumbered the princes' soldiers and in the
open field they rapidly had the winning hand. In a few hours the six
thousand men of the princes were dead or prisoneer or in flight. While
confining the prisoners to the castle, Yude had a new pennon raised,
with his own flag and then took possession of the port.

**************************

5.3 - The expedition to the barbarians' lands

In the meantime Kimi was pushing the princes' troops from the north and
Usae was pressing them from the south. On the fourth month of 1490 Rost
was totally in the hands of the imperial forces. Usae went back to the
capital in triumph, Yude and Buga went to the Pick castle and let Kimi
reorganize and defend the island. A big problem were the approximately
30,000 prisoners. It was decided to transport all of them, a few at a
time, onto the Empire mainland and once there to propose that they
either enroll in the imperial army or to go to prison. Those enrolling
in the imperial army were dispersed to the various provinces where they
were mixed with soldiers known to be loyal.

The imperial fleet was becoming stronger. Usae was uncertain about what
he should give priority to - the final battle against the princes, the
conquest of the barbaric north or the reconquest of Rone island that was
in pirates' hands. The new imperial fleet didn't yet face real battles,
where the princes, althought having old-fashioned ships, were skilled.
On the other hand the pirates, on open sea, were certainly very strong
and had a lifelong experience in the manoeuvre of their small and quick
ships.

Eventually, Usae decided to start the long projected expedition to the
barbarians' lands. On spring 1491 the fleet transported onto the
nort-east coast a contingent of 100,000 infantrymen and 30,000
cavalrymen. To transport all these men Usae also ordered the use of all
the fishing boats. The landing didn't meet any practical opposition,
even though it engaged the boats for almost one full month.

The army, consolidating their bridgehead at the landing point, was first
engaged in the building of two fortresses defending the landingplace on
both sides. The two fortresses were then linked by a long wall with a
communication trench enclosing the area where they would later build the
town of the first settlement in the new lands. Usae promised to allot
land in the new territories to all the soldiers who had been taken
prisoneer in Rosti battle, as well as to all the imperial soldiers who
wanted to settle there to colonize the conquered regions.

After the building of the two fortresses and the wall was completed, the
conquest of the territory started. The barbarians were organized in
territorial tribes, which were coordinated. All the able men were
fighting with primitive, but nonetheless fearful weapons. Above all,
their fighting tactics varied greatly from one group to another and for
the imperial soldiers it was not easy to foresee which weapons they
would have to face and how  they would be used

The strength of the imperial army consisted mainly of their coordination
and of their great number, and also the fact that the barbarian groups
acted each for itself. A technique widely used by the barbarians was
fast attacks followed by just as fast retreats. This greatly reduced
their losses. A last point was that almost all the barbarians were horse
mounted - they rode their horses bareback and with a surprising agility.

The imperial troops ineluctably advanced, taking possession of the
territories and setting up a set of blockhouses on them. When the
barbarians had to abandon their villages at the hands of the imperial
troops, they burned everything. None of them let himself be taken alive,
none of them surrendered, not even when surrounded by many enemies.

At the end of autumn the minimum of soldiers needed to hold places,
stayed in the blockhouses and in the port that was called Ganer in honor
of the deceased leader, then the fleet took the main part of the army
back. Almost all the knights remained on the conquered territory.

When, in the following spring, the fleet took back the army to the
barbarians' lands, the princes' fleet moved trying to reconquer Rosti.
But Kimi had anticipated this move and was prepared. On the princes'
ships powerful catapults had been placed with which they hurled
incendiary shells onto the port and the castle. They were ready to burn
everything just to take back the port. Kimi distributed his soldiers in
the town to help its inhabitants to extinguish the fires that were
started. The assault lasted for three days, but the damage was limited.

The imperial fleet, having disembarked the soldiers onto the barbarians'
lands, received the order to go back quickly to oppose the princes'
fleet. The clash happened in the Internal Sea. It was the baptism of
fire for the imperial fleet. The battle was long and difficult and with
many losses on both sides. But at the end the princes had to abandon
taking back Rosti island.

Meanwhile, on the barbarians' lands, the imperial troops had conquered
all the eastern coast, so that now the new territories were connected
with Sote territory through the mountain passes, that were improved by
building earthworks, new roads and bridges. Meta asked for the
authorization to go to the new territories. Yude was unhappy to lose a
friend and collaborator of years, but could not deny him his
authorization.

Meta obtained the rank of general from Usae and the command of a
contingent of 10,000 infantrymen and on summer 1492 he embarked for
Ganer with his men. Once there, he first consulted with the generals who
headed the main expediton. As he saw their expansion plans, which were
mainly along the coasts, he decided instead to go to the mountains, to a
point connected by an adequate pass with the land already conquered, and
in a valley on the other side.

In fact Meta had chosen his infantrymen from amongst the men who had
spent the winter in the mountains during the campaign on Rosti island.
Stipulating that they would live on the mountains for years, alone, that
is without women, he asked of those men who were prepared to follow him.
Amongst the 25,000 who applied, he choose only the youngest and
strongest. Then he asked them to freely divide themselves into couples -
several had already formed, and others formed in that occasion. Then he
asked the couples to combine forming tens and choose a chief. He asked
the ten-chiefs to form hundreds and choose the post-chief and amongst
the hundred post-chiefs he chose ten section-chiefs who would be his
direct collaborators.

The only person who didn't have a lover in that peculiar contingent was
Meta, but the real reason why he wanted to go far away from Suna was a
bitter disappointment in love - his lover, with whom he lived for eight
years, had left him to go with another man. Meta suffered very much for
that. He swore he would never again tie himself to another and left
Suna. At that point he was fifty-years old.

Going beyond the pass with his men, he found a pleasant valley in the
shape of an "S", crossed by a small and fast river that originated near
the pass. Rapidly exploring the valley they saw that downhill there were
three barbarian villages. They decided then to settle up near the pass.
Their plan was to herd small animals and to cultivate plants appropriate
to the mountain heights.

They started to build the shelters for the winter- using tree trunks to
make low huts that at a later time would be used as shelter for their
animals in winter time and as store-rooms for supplies and tools. They
formed two wide squares connected on one side, with seven huts on each
side. Each hut could accommodate ten couples, so they had enough
sheltered space for winter. On the external walls the huts were totally
enclosed, with neither windows nor doors. On the top of the external
walls there was a parapet which formed a walkway where sentries could
patrol and be on guard. It formed a kind of blockhouse spanning about
fifty by a hundred meters overall.

One of the two squares also enclosed the source of the small river, so
that their water supply was assured. They finished building the complex
just before winter, then took inside all their supplies, weapons,
blankets and the few furnishings they brought with them. While one half
of the contingent was staying to occupy the huts, the other half went
back to Ganer to bring the rest of their goods - more tools, pots, pans,
clothes and supplies. By the time they were back, all the huts had been
completed.

Winter was rapidly approaching. A first light snowfall had just occurred
when a group of barbarians, who were going uphill for some reason, saw
their settlement. The soldiers on guard saw them and launched the alarm,
but the small group did an about-turn running down the hillside.

"Well, they now know we're here - we shall have to keep our eyes open,
they can try to outflank us. We have to double the guard shifts on all
the fronts and always have our weapons ready and at hand. Even though I
presume there will be heavy snowfalls, they could be men used to the
snow, even if they live downhill. Men, our adventure is really
starting!" Meta said to his troops.

For almost one month they didn't see any barbarians. Snow was now
falling every day and the men were engaged in keeping it clear from it
the internal spaces and the immediate surroundings of the external
perimeter of their settlement. This kept the men busy and was also a
good physical exercise. For some months they would have to live closed
in a limited space, therefore Meta asked his men to devote part of their
time to small entertainments and to handicraft works. Each hut always
had to have a brazier alight, not only to cook and to warm the hut, but
also to warm the sentries at the end of their duty shifts.

A second group of barbarians was sighted - this time they came expressly
to discover what that new wide building was. In fact they stopped at
some distance away and it was clear they were discussing amongst
themselves, making wide gestures. Meta had an idea - he went out with a
group of armed men, carrying their standard. He slowly advanced towards
the barbarians, to make them understand they didn't have hostile
intentions and stopped when he got the impression that they were about
to step back. Aloud, asking himself if they could understand, he asked
who their chief was.

The barbarians were looking at them, still, without saying or doing
anything. Meta repeated his question then, taking a basket he had
prepared previously, where there were fruits and a length of brocade, he
slowly advanced a few steps, carrying the basket, then stopped, put it
on the ground, then stepped back. The barbarians still were motionless,
in silence. Then Meta ordered his men to step back several paces,
pointed to the basket and told the barbarians to take it, it was a
present for them. Nothing happened.

Meta decided to go back and to see what happened from the glacis of
their blockhouse. When they got back, they just had time to climb onto
the roof, when one of the barbarians went to the basket, examined it,
took it and went back to his companions showing them the contents. Then
the barbarians disappeared downhill.

All winter long they saw no more barbarians. Meta, when he had seen them
clearly from nearby, received a good impression - they were strong men,
well clothed, and with a well groomed aspect from what he could see.
They were armed with a spear and a sword, and one of them had a kind of
staff with a chain slipped under his belt. Meta asked himself how it
could be used and tried to make one - it was like a heavy whip,
difficult to manoeuvre. One could make the chain whirl and then cast it
down on a possible enemy. But it didn't seem to be a particularly
efficient weapon.

One of the soldiers, seeing Meta's attempts, asked him to let him try.
He made it whirl and then cast it down horizontally against a pole - the
chain rolled up tightly around it.

The soldier remarked, "I wouldn't like having it rolled around my neck!"

To Meta it was like an flash of inspiration - a neck, legs, an arm
holding a sword... He devoted himself to making more of the new weapon,
using chains of different size and length and then made his men use them
until they saw which one was the best. Then he had some more made and
ordered a few men to learn how to use them and at the same time,
discover how was it possible to counteract their effect.

The best idea came to a soldier who made a thin chain with a weight and
a triple barbed point at its end - making it whirl rapidly for a length
of about fifty centimeters, then launching it against an opponent's
whirling chain which he caught, and with a strong pull found it was
possible to yank it out of the opponent's hand. By the end of the winter
they had tuned up the two new weapons. The small chain with the barbs
could also be used to snaffle a man's clothes and pull him to the ground
if he was riding, or anyway pull him towards oneself. Meta formed a
small group armed in that new way, intending, as soon as he could have
contact with Graner again, to take a prototype there to have a number of
them made.

When spring came and the snow melted, Meta ordered the building of the
downhill wall of the castle to start, with a part of the permanent
lodgings. Meanwhile they also tilled the land they intended to
cultivate, taking away stones and roots, and levelling the ground in
terraces. The men were working with full enthusiasm without sparing
their energy.

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CONTINUES IN CHAPTER 6

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In my home page I've put some more of my stories. If someone wants to
read them, the URL is

http://andrejkoymasky.com

If you want to send me feed-back, or desire to help revising my English
translations, so that I can put on-line more of my  stories in English
please e-mail at

andrej@andrejkoymasky.com

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