[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
.His family was another matter.Kaiphranos had two sons, Philesteus andSelestros.Prince Philesteus, the elder, was a soldier with a reputation forcourage, which would be more important than competence in the here-and-nowarmy he was leading.Princes and barons loyal to Kaiphranos or wanting to getrich off the loot of Hos-Hostigos would follow him, and so would enoughmercenary captains to make a useful difference.According to Skranga's spies, Selestros was morally destitute and called thePrince of Whoremongers in the wine shops of Harphax City.No one took himseriously, including his father, who'd even stopped paying-off the mothers ofhis bastard spawn.The only people who loved Selestros were the pimps andtavern owners who depended upon him and his cronies for much of their income.King Kaiphranos also had a younger half-brother, Grand Duke Lysandros, who wasthat fortunately rare thing, a publicly devout worshipper of Styphon.IfStyphon's house sent gold and men to aidKaiphranos, Lysandros would do his best to see that neither was wasted.Thatmade it far more likely that Styphon's House would send the money and men, andmake Hos-Harphax a far more formidable opponent.Kalvan stood up and started pacing up and down the room beside the maps.Rylla, who'd been putting her long blond hair up in a nightcap, looked at himin silence.Then she sighed, handed him his fur-lined slippers, and stood upto join him.He stopped long enough to hold her briefly and kiss her.His listPage 48 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlofReasons Why I Love Rylla would now fill a long parchment scroll.High on thelist was the fact that with her he didn't have to pretend to be thesent-by-the-gods Great King Kalvan with answers to everything.He didn't have to be afraid to admit it when he was scared, too tired to sleepor with no idea at all of what to do next."Dralm-damnit! Everything the survival of Hos-Hostigos, you, the baby it's allgoing to depend on whether Styphon's House sends King Kaiphranos against us byhimself, or waits to get help fromHos-Ktemnos and Hos-Agrys.If they wait, we could be outnumbered three toone.""We could be," Rylla said."On the other hand, time lets us find new allies,too.Also, if what one hears of Prince Philesteus' is true, he will be as hardto hold back as a yearling colt.He will attack for the honor of Hos-Harphax,even if he had no hope of victory.""So it will be a race between Prince Philesteus' sense of honor and Styphon'sHouse offering him enough to make it worth holding back?""That's a good way of putting it."That also should mean a spring campaign against nothing more than aStyphon-reinforced Hos-Harphax.Say, forty-five thousand enemies against forty thousand Hostigi, totalstrength.Allow five thousandHostigi left behind in garrisons to defend the Trygathi border, key towns,castles and depots, assume theGenerated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.htmlStyphoni-Harphaxi alliance would risk throwing all their men forward, and thetwo field armies came out at forty-five thousand enemies against thirty-fiveto thirty-six thousand Hostigi.Not hopeless, but not good either.If all the Hostigi troops were up to thestandard of the regiments of the Royal Army of Hos-Hostigos or Ptosphes' Armyof Hostigos, and all the artillery were the new mobile guns, Kalvan wouldcheerfully have faced two-to-one odds.They weren't, they weren't going to be,and there was nothing to be done about it.He could hire more mercenaries, of course.But Styphon's House could easilyoutbid him, and even if they didn't, the money would be better spent onimproving the Royal Army or his Prince's troops.That was another mistake theItalian city-states had made: spending all their money on mercenaries and noneon arming and training their own troops.The condottieri not only hadn't beenreliable, but they hadn't learned how to fight anybody except one another.When the French invaded in 1494, they rolled up Italy like a rug from the Alpsto Naples in a single campaign.So he had thirty-six thousand men, some of them twice as good as anybodythey'd be facing, against possibly as many as fifty thousand of unpredictablequality.Definitely not good.Kalvan doubted he could afford a single majordefeat, or even more than a couple of drawn battles or expensive victories.Hehad to destroy his enemies without losing the ability to protect his friendsand allies from the vengeance ofKing Kaiphranos and Styphon's House.Otherwise those friends and allies woulddry up and blow away.He could afford to hire many mercenaries, either.Much of the Royal Treasurywould have to go to repairing winter damage, purchasing supplies for thecoming campaign and buying more horses and arms [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
zanotowane.pl doc.pisz.pl pdf.pisz.pl przylepto3.keep.pl
.His family was another matter.Kaiphranos had two sons, Philesteus andSelestros.Prince Philesteus, the elder, was a soldier with a reputation forcourage, which would be more important than competence in the here-and-nowarmy he was leading.Princes and barons loyal to Kaiphranos or wanting to getrich off the loot of Hos-Hostigos would follow him, and so would enoughmercenary captains to make a useful difference.According to Skranga's spies, Selestros was morally destitute and called thePrince of Whoremongers in the wine shops of Harphax City.No one took himseriously, including his father, who'd even stopped paying-off the mothers ofhis bastard spawn.The only people who loved Selestros were the pimps andtavern owners who depended upon him and his cronies for much of their income.King Kaiphranos also had a younger half-brother, Grand Duke Lysandros, who wasthat fortunately rare thing, a publicly devout worshipper of Styphon.IfStyphon's house sent gold and men to aidKaiphranos, Lysandros would do his best to see that neither was wasted.Thatmade it far more likely that Styphon's House would send the money and men, andmake Hos-Harphax a far more formidable opponent.Kalvan stood up and started pacing up and down the room beside the maps.Rylla, who'd been putting her long blond hair up in a nightcap, looked at himin silence.Then she sighed, handed him his fur-lined slippers, and stood upto join him.He stopped long enough to hold her briefly and kiss her.His listPage 48 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlofReasons Why I Love Rylla would now fill a long parchment scroll.High on thelist was the fact that with her he didn't have to pretend to be thesent-by-the-gods Great King Kalvan with answers to everything.He didn't have to be afraid to admit it when he was scared, too tired to sleepor with no idea at all of what to do next."Dralm-damnit! Everything the survival of Hos-Hostigos, you, the baby it's allgoing to depend on whether Styphon's House sends King Kaiphranos against us byhimself, or waits to get help fromHos-Ktemnos and Hos-Agrys.If they wait, we could be outnumbered three toone.""We could be," Rylla said."On the other hand, time lets us find new allies,too.Also, if what one hears of Prince Philesteus' is true, he will be as hardto hold back as a yearling colt.He will attack for the honor of Hos-Harphax,even if he had no hope of victory.""So it will be a race between Prince Philesteus' sense of honor and Styphon'sHouse offering him enough to make it worth holding back?""That's a good way of putting it."That also should mean a spring campaign against nothing more than aStyphon-reinforced Hos-Harphax.Say, forty-five thousand enemies against forty thousand Hostigi, totalstrength.Allow five thousandHostigi left behind in garrisons to defend the Trygathi border, key towns,castles and depots, assume theGenerated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.htmlStyphoni-Harphaxi alliance would risk throwing all their men forward, and thetwo field armies came out at forty-five thousand enemies against thirty-fiveto thirty-six thousand Hostigi.Not hopeless, but not good either.If all the Hostigi troops were up to thestandard of the regiments of the Royal Army of Hos-Hostigos or Ptosphes' Armyof Hostigos, and all the artillery were the new mobile guns, Kalvan wouldcheerfully have faced two-to-one odds.They weren't, they weren't going to be,and there was nothing to be done about it.He could hire more mercenaries, of course.But Styphon's House could easilyoutbid him, and even if they didn't, the money would be better spent onimproving the Royal Army or his Prince's troops.That was another mistake theItalian city-states had made: spending all their money on mercenaries and noneon arming and training their own troops.The condottieri not only hadn't beenreliable, but they hadn't learned how to fight anybody except one another.When the French invaded in 1494, they rolled up Italy like a rug from the Alpsto Naples in a single campaign.So he had thirty-six thousand men, some of them twice as good as anybodythey'd be facing, against possibly as many as fifty thousand of unpredictablequality.Definitely not good.Kalvan doubted he could afford a single majordefeat, or even more than a couple of drawn battles or expensive victories.Hehad to destroy his enemies without losing the ability to protect his friendsand allies from the vengeance ofKing Kaiphranos and Styphon's House.Otherwise those friends and allies woulddry up and blow away.He could afford to hire many mercenaries, either.Much of the Royal Treasurywould have to go to repairing winter damage, purchasing supplies for thecoming campaign and buying more horses and arms [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]