Лео Франковски - Conrad's Last Campaign

Much of our profits supported a free school system that covered all of Europe now, from elementary schools to universities. We had a growing system of clinics, medical centers, and hospitals as well.

But for now, I had a serious problem. I had a major portion of our military might up here in the south on this Crusade , when they were soon to be badly needed thousands of miles down north of here!

For good and sufficient reasons, our maps had south at the top. Polack jokes are not permitted .

I went up to my office, telling my chief bodyguard, Terry, to have a cup of coffee sent to me ASAP, and whole pots of the stuff sent in at quarter-hour intervals.

“Yes, wake all the girls up. We have an emergency going on! The Mongol Horde is going to attack Europe in three months time, and we’re all up here in the Middle East and Africa! Damn the pope and his silly Crusade!”

There wasn’t any need for secrecy. The enemy already knew what they were going to do, and I wanted all of my men to know about it, too. A very old joke had it that there were three ways to spread the news quickly. Telegraph, telephone, and tell-a-woman. The last was the most efficient. Gossip travels faster than radio waves, I swear it!

I started writing up tentative orders.

All non-army fighting men were encouraged to leave for Eastern Europe. The army would pay for their travel expenses.

All garrison troops would be reduced by half, or down to one twelfth of the population of the city that they were guarding, whichever required fewer men. The rest of our warriors had to get to Eastern Europe to bolster our defenses there.

Work on army construction projects, including bridges, the railroads, the Suez project, and the Kuwait installation were to continue at the best possible speed.

Supplies were to be inventoried and reduced down to a reasonable minimum. The rest were to be sent back down north to Eastern Europe.

We would not have sufficient shipping to get everyone to the probable Mongol attack point in time. Therefore, many troops would have to take the North African and Middle East railroads as far as the Straits of the Dardanelles. The railroad should be completed to there within a few weeks. Ships, lighters and barges would be made available to ferry our forces across, from which point they could travel overland to their destinations.

It was a start, but it wasn’t enough. I looked at the pot of coffee to my right and the girl waiting on me.

“Melissa, run down and get me a glass and a pitcher of that Shangri-La brandy I brought up from Africa. And Terry, go wake up Sir Wladyclaw and Sir Vladimir, and tell them that I want them both here in a quarter of an hour. Somebody have some hot coffee ready for them. Vanessa, go to the radio room, and have them get Baron Piotr out of bed. I want to talk to him soonest.”

The three of them scampered out, leaving me alone except for the other five nude girls up there.

I took a drink of brandy and pondered the problem. We needed more time. If we could somehow delay the Mongols, it would be a Godsend .

Slowly, a plan started to emerge in my head. The Mongols had to travel on horseback. The average Mongol needed at least two spare horses, and some took along a string of six or eight. If we could kill enough of their horses, they wouldn’t be able to attack Europe. Maybe not for years.

I didn’t like the idea of killing all of those dumb animals, but it was better than having the Mongols kill millions of Christians.

We needed to organize a raid, a large, fast-moving group all mounted on Big People, with an awful lot of small arms ammunition along. We’d have to carry all of our food along with us, too, and we’d be living off of iron rations for several months, because we wouldn’t have time to waste on cooking.

Carrying all of these supplies might need all of the pneumatic tired carts the army had, and about as many Big People pulling them as we had human troops along.

I would take the remainder of my African Corps with me. They were not mixing well with the rest of the army, but they were very good fighters and fiercely loyal to me. The Jews would want to stay here in Jerusalem, and the Blacks were already well on their way back to Timbuktu, but the rest of them, Christians and a few Arabs, were almost a battalion strong. We’d fill in with warriors from the regular Mobile Infantry.

A battalion of Wolves was needed, as was a battalion of mounted infantry. Add to that three komands of artillery, because we wouldn’t have time to be delayed by obstacles in our path. We’d have to just blow them out of the way.

And that meant more Big People to haul the cannons and ammo along.

And six companies of engineers would be a very good thing to have along, along with plenty of bridging equipment. From what I’d heard, many of the roads down there were passable by caravans only. Taking our carts through would be a challenge.

Word came that Baron Piotr was waiting for me.

In the radio room, I said, “Piotr, what I was afraid of will soon come to pass. The Mongol Horde will attack Europe in about three months. We have to get much of our supplies and more than half of our warriors back to Eastern Europe as quickly as possible.”

“Yes, sir. Has the pope been informed?”

“No one has been informed yet, except you. Don’t keep this a secret. Let everybody in on the news,” I said. “I’ll let you inform the pope and King Henryk. I might be rude to them at this point.”

I could hear the grimace in his voice when he said, “Oh, thank you, sir.”

“Hey! This Crusade was not my idea!”

Then I read my tentative orders to him .

Sir Piotr said, “Very good, sir. I’ll have all of our ships at sea return to Europe by the quickest routes, unload their passengers and cargo, and head to Africa as fast as possible under ballast.”

I said, “I still want the construction machinery and supplies to get here. I want work on the railroads and the Suez project to continue at full speed.”

“Yes, sir. We’ll get it sorted out. How good do you think your chances are of delaying the Mongols with this raid of yours?”

“I have no idea. All I can say is that we’ll try our best. You should proceed with defending Europe as if I had no chance of accomplishing anything at all, and that they will be hitting you with all of their forces. If I can’t stop the Mongols, I’ll be following behind them, harassing their rear.”

“Yes, sir. I’ll have all of the land-based aircraft brought back home, too.”

“Good. And until the enemy actually attacks, I want those planes disarmed. We need them for observation, with the longest range possible. If they have guns, they won’t be able to resist making a few strafing runs, and they will get pin cushioned with arrows.”

“The Eagles won’t like that, sir.”

“To hell with what they’d like. There’s a war on. Conrad out.”

I got back to my office to find Sir Vladimir and Sir Wladyclaw waiting for me.

Sir Vladimir was one of my oldest friends, and been with me for eight years before we defeated the Mongols the first time. For many years, he had been in command of our Reserve Forces, until we had time to build enough snowflake forts to house them all in. About the same time, we finally had enough Big People to mount them all. Sir Vladimir now commanded the Mounted Infantry, the biggest unit in the Christian Army.

Sir Wladyclaw was the son of my old friend Sir Miesko, and his wife, Lady Richeza. He had once taken two reductions in rank so that he could take command the Wolves, a cavalry unit made up of the scions of the old nobility. These men were too proud to do honest work, so they had become one of our few full-time fighting units. Most of our warriors spent most of their time being productive. But that political move on Sir Wladyclaw’s part had made him one of the most powerful men in my army.