Chapter 5

In the morning, I realized just how crowded the bed had been all night and realized that I would have to have a much larger and sturdier bed made when we got back.

Everyone could see the positive change in the way Chelsea looked in the morning. The wan, drawn look was gone from her face and she smiled nearly all day. I spent much of the day detailing my Barony and the mines I had. My dad was amazed at the way my miners prospected and realized there were probably untapped mines in his territory and decided to try their method. I also showed him and my brother the Mongol bow and explained how it was made. Considering the shortage of yew wood for making bows, and the inferior quality of much of what they did find, they decided to try making and using these bows, too, especially after I significantly outdistanced both of their longbows with the Mongol bow.

Chelsea didn’t even bother going to her own room after dinner, bringing seven-month-old Blake to my room again. Today had been the first time he wasn’t clutched to her tightly, and I could finally see him. She even let me hold him for a while. I gave him back when the smell let me know he needed more attention than I knew how to provide. Laughing at me, Matilda and Chelsea took him out of the room and cleaned him up. My mother thanked me for taking her in, commenting on how much better she looked after just one night of sleep, knowing that I would care for her and protect her and Blake.

Saturday was a long and tedious day, but well worth it by day’s end. The large cathedral was filled with those the Duke had invited to the lengthy wedding. That evening, Matilda followed me proudly as we walked to our bedroom together. The small retinue following us had already been there with us at night.

After tearful farewells on Monday, we headed for what would be our home. The women were extremely excited. I made sure to thank the Duke for everything, especially the gift he made us of a Roman-style carriage even larger than the big one we used last time. The two main differences were that this carriage held my wife, along with her sizeable dowry, the money from Earl Daubry’s estate, and the belongings I had left behind in England. I had to buy a wagon and a second team of horses to carry my collection of arms and armor. We also had the seven new destriers following the carriage.

Even though the carriage slowed us down, the roads were dry all the way home and we made it back in the same eighteen days that the soggy trip to Cologne had taken.

Everyone was happy to see us, and to meet or see Matilda again. After explaining about my sister and Rowena, I learned that the Mongols had ridden into Galicia and King Daniel met them where I suggested and soundly defeated them.

Everyone showed up Monday to tell me what had happened while I was gone. For now, the miners were concentrating on the gold, silver, and coal mines, as well as the first iron mine. Revenue from the gold and silver mines should help us open any new mines and increase production at the other mines we already had. The main thing we needed to increase production at the other mines was more miners.

I was anxious to talk to the High Duke, and to visit King Daniel as well. I was positive the Mongols would be back with a vengeance next winter, but the midwife told Hilda she was due any day, so I hung around. She had a baby boy Tuesday, one we named Charles after my father. Matilda held him almost as much as Hilda did, but so did the other women in my life.

I waited a week to make sure Matilda was feeling at home and to be sure that both Hilda and my son were doing well. I also spent the time showing Ymma, Inga, and Mildrith that I had missed them.

When I left for Krakow, I took two hundred troops with me because I also took a lot of gold and silver hoping to find more slaves in Chelm to work in the mines. My meeting with the High Duke went better than I expected. After my prediction that the Mongols would return to Galicia proved correct, he agreed they would probably return in force this winter. I made several suggestions regarding defensive preparations. The roads should be lined with short split-rail fences to demarcate areas covered with caltrops. The caltrops should extend at least five hundred yards from the castle walls. That would give our archers an advantage, since they would be atop the walls shooting down.

He should have his combat engineers point out the spots they would choose to locate siege engines to attack the city, and then see if they could sabotage those spots. For example, the top of a hill could be dug out so it was concave and would hold water, making the top of the hill a quagmire after the winter’s rain and snow. He should begin building his own siege engines hoping he could use them to destroy the Mongol siege engines as they were being built.

He should also gather large stacks of firewood and let it dry this summer. If they knew in advance that the Mongols were coming, the firewood could be stacked on the ice covering the river and burned, melting the ice. Hopefully, the ice would quickly begin re-freezing. If so, snow should be thrown over it to make it appear normal. When the Mongols rode over the thin ice, they would fall into the freezing water of the river. Who knew how long it would take the riders in the back to see the danger and turn away? Right into the caltrops.

As I was leaving, he reminded me about working with the commanders in his other cities. I promised that I would, but first, I wanted to talk to King Daniel.

A week later, I was hurried in to meet privately with King Daniel. He gushed about how easy it had been to defeat two tumens (twenty thousand) of the Mongol soldiers. I warned him that they would return this winter, but he was confident that his defeat of the twenty thousand soldiers hurt them enough that they wouldn’t be back. I remembered his similar assurance last year that they wouldn’t return any time soon but didn’t bother to remind him.

The good thing about the defeat was that King Daniel had thousands of slaves to sell, all former Mongol warriors. I asked about the wisdom of keeping so many Mongol warriors, but he assured me they were honorable. Once they gave their word, they kept it.

When I bought a thousand Mongol slaves, I also bought twenty slaves capable of translating from Mongol into Eastern Slavic, and an equal number who could translate from Eastern Slavic to the Slavic dialect spoken in the region we were returning to. To speed up our return trip, I purchased enough of the small Mongolian horses for everyone to ride. Those had been captured at the battle, too. The horses were exceedingly cheap since they were smaller than European horse breeds and were not popular. The saddles were also practically free since they were too small for other horses, and the tall saddles were uncomfortable to riders used to European saddles. King Daniel presented me with another twenty slaves who could translate, complete with horses and saddles, to thank me for my help and suggestions about how to defeat the Mongol army. I wasn’t sure that my suggestion wouldn’t end up costing me much more than the value of his gift if the Mongol army returned this winter.

The troops headed the new slaves towards home while I began visiting the main cities in the High Duke’s territory. I spent three or four days in each city explaining how the Mongols fought. I stressed that they would attack and pretend to withdraw, hoping to divide their opposition into two groups, or to ambush part of them. Every city already had one or more of the men Piotr trained making Mongol bows for them, and those men had trained many more men in each city. I warned each city that the biggest concern King Daniel had was that his men would run out of arrows before the Mongol troops had been defeated.

Two months passed while I fulfilled my obligation of training the commanders of most of the troops in the area. I missed the birth of Ymma’s baby by a week, a girl she named Saegyth after her mother. We had already discussed names for the babies in case I wasn’t back in time. Matilda was beaming, announcing that she was pregnant. She thought she got pregnant before we left Cologne as she missed the period that should have started shortly before I left on my trip.

I was amazed with how much had been accomplished in the time I was gone. With the influx of new slaves, all thirteen of our mines were operating at full capacity. Seven more had been discovered. Work to build housing, a mill to crush ore, and a smelter was underway at a new iron mine. When it was operational, they would do the same to the next mine on the list if they had enough men. The newest mines included a salt mine, one more copper mine, and a second silver mine. After the iron mine they were opening, they would work on a lead mine, another iron mine, and two more coal mines. Wagons from at least one of the mines came to town nearly every day, and even more wagons went to other nearby cities selling coal and ingots of various ores. Two miles of the river had been panned clear of gold.

The number of farms in the area had quadrupled this year over last. Nearly every arable acre for four miles west of the river had been planted. Hilda, Matilda, and Rowena had coalesced into an efficient unit to oversee everything from the mines to the annual taxes we received and paid out ourselves, to the slaves and servants in the Manor House. Hilda oversaw military matters, including the production of bows, arrows, crossbows, bolts, caltrops, pikes, saddles, and swords. To date, we had more than seven thousand Mongol bows available and every archer in every city in the High Duke’s territory had access to at least one to begin practicing. There still weren’t nearly enough to arm all of them, but another five thousand would be finished before the first of the year. Other cities were also turning out bows. It was entirely possible that we might have more than twenty thousand Mongol bows available by January.

I laughed, commenting that I should leave more often. I was immediately imprisoned in the bedroom and not released until I recanted my threat and made it up to the women.

Still worried about a Mongol attack this winter, I sent messengers to Cologne asking the Duke if he felt I should send his daughter back before the heavy snows. Five weeks later, his reply surprised me. “I have absolute faith in your ability to keep her and your country safe from the Mongols. I will be sending troops to assist you in mid-February, as you indicated that was when they usually began their attacks.”

Well, shit.

My thank you present to the Duke headed for Cologne. Four men, each of whom was now well versed in Mongol military strategy were intended to teach the Duke’s men. They would also show them how to make the Mongol-style bows. I wanted the Duke’s men to understand what they would be getting involved in, especially given the Mongol tendency to know about the movement of reinforcements and to attack them before they could join up with other troops. I also kept the news that the Duke intended to send reinforcements to myself. Not even Matilda knew.

The harvest was huge. Knowing that we would need to feed an unknown number of Saxon troops this winter, I again bought and stored as much extra grain as I could without explaining why. I even had four new stone silos built to hold the grain.

Inga’s baby, another girl, was born August 21. Since she couldn’t name it after her mother, she named it after her other grandmother, Leofrun.

I sent several of my troops out in my stead to check on the progress of the military training and preparations being done by the other nobles. Surprisingly, each of them was taking the threat and the training seriously.

My prospectors reported that, evidently, the High Duke heard about how we were finding so many mines. I breathed again when he congratulated them on their ingenuity and let them continue. He had explained to them that a working mine he could collect taxes from helped improve the economy of the local villages. It also made the local noble wealthier and provided more taxes to him. To help prevent someone else from taking advantage of the situation by claiming they represented me, each of my prospectors now carried a document identifying them as my personal representative, and detailed my offer to anyone who showed us an ore, coal, or salt deposit. The document bore my signature, as well as my seal.

The prospectors also wore blue capes with my new Coat-of-Arms, a replica of the one I used at the tourney in Cologne. Each of them also had an insignia sewn on their cape of a pick and a sword crossing each other. It seemed that they were finding a new mine every week or so, although the areas they were searching were increasingly farther away. The latest mines they discovered were iron and coal near Krakow.

Aebbe and Draca’s daughter was born in early October. Mildrith’s and my son was born on October 21. Throughout the fall, preparations continued. Arrows were turned out by the thousands, and even the common citizens were drilled in military tactics. Every able-bodied man and even a few women practiced with the old-style bows. The rest of the women practiced with pikes, learning how to use them to take down a horse or its rider. We all knew they would be no match for the Mongol cavalry if they showed up in force when the troops were gone, but unlike last time, they intended to die fighting and not while screaming and running away. That knowledge seemed to stiffen their resolve to learn to defend themselves to the best of their ability.

Jute bags filled with caltrops were stacked where they could quickly be loaded onto wagons. The wagons would spread them around town to slow the advancing Mongols. Wagons loaded with caltrops, arrows, and grain were sent to Krakow, the obvious target. The fact that it was the obvious target concerned me, wondering if the Mongols might strike elsewhere, first. Would the Mongols go there first, or take a circuitous route and attack other cities first? More grain was bagged in jute bags to be loaded on wagons to go accompany us to feed troops in the field if it got to that point. That would mean we were following a retreating Mongol army. I could only hope.

A messenger arrived January 20 with news that a Mongol force of sixty thousand had attacked Kyiv three weeks earlier. He had no details on the outcome of the battle as messengers had been dispatched immediately towards Chelm calling for reinforcements. From there, other messengers had been dispatched to rally their troops. One had been sent to Krakow to warn us. There was no word from our sentries guarding the border. If they saw the Mongols, they would provide us with some warning. We even had sentries all along the southern border in case they returned along the route they had used when they left Poland and invaded Hungary last time. The fact they had sixty thousand troops worried me. Our nobles would be hard-pressed to put forty thousand troops into the field.

A week later, another messenger arrived from Krakow with news that King Daniel left for Kyiv with forty thousand troops. Our southern sentries had gone into Hungary to warn them and find out if there had been any Mongol troops spotted there. So far, none had been seen, although Hungary began rallying their forces, just in case.

Reasonably sure no attack would come from the south, our troops headed for Krakow. After kissing each of my women and children farewell, I led the troops east. Knowing I was leaving behind, unguarded, that which was most precious to me, left me on edge. Following us were the wagons of grain. They would travel slower and arrive in their own time. We rode hard, reaching Krakow in four days.

Once we arrived, our previously agreed upon plan was put into action. I led half of our forces towards Chelm to guard the route from there to Krakow. The remainder stayed in Krakow. Riders were stationed such that messages could be quickly delivered between Krakow and me. Ten days later, word from our border sentries arrived. The Mongol army, now reduced somewhat in size by the battle with King Daniel, was headed for Krakow. We would learn later that King Daniel had been captured in the battle. While being tortured, he told the Mongols of my involvement. Only the fact that he mistakenly thought I was from Krakow saved Zlotoryja and the people there as the Mongols headed directly for Krakow.

As per our pre-arranged plan, my troops headed for Krakow, but first traveled south instead of southwest. A day later, we found the route the Mongols had used, and followed in their wake. Our scouts reported that the Mongols were camped a mile from Krakow, along the south bank of the river. With that news, I dispatched a contingent of troops who would light a pre-arranged signal fire tonight--provided that the night was clear.

I sent scouts out and posted sentries while we tried to get some sleep before dark. I didn’t get any sleep, but at least I got some rest.

When darkness fell, we only had to wait half an hour to see our signal fire, and the answering signal fire from the walls of Krakow. Despite not sleeping, I was now wide-awake, the excitement starting to flow through my veins. Half of my troops rode even farther south. They would flank the Mongols and set up an ambush along their most probable escape route.

The rest of my men and I began a cold trek through the snow. Knowing how many rabbits were sacrificed this last summer and fall to provide warm foot coverings and leggings for our troops, I doubted there was a rabbit alive within fifty miles of one of our cities. We stopped a mile short of the Mongol encampment, waiting for dawn. I’m sure all the men with me were as glad as I was to set down the huge bundles of arrows we carried with us. Every man had at least ten sheaves of arrows with him in addition to his shield, sword, and two wooden pikes.

In Krakow, the mood was exuberant when they saw the signal fire. The last two days had been interesting. When the alarm was first sounded, the firewood on the rivers had been set ablaze which melted the ice. The cold weather had allowed a very thin layer to reform overnight. Citizens had shoveled snow over the thin layer and used ropes to drag light evergreen boughs across it to smooth it out somewhat.

When the Mongols rode to attack the city, hundreds perished in the icy water of the river. More were impaled on the pikes hidden under the snow. Twenty-foot sections looking like sections of picket fence lay flat on the ground, buried under the shallow blanket of snow. Ropes attached to the leading edge of each section of pickets ran back to the city walls, up the walls, and into the city. The back edge of the sections were firmly held down using hinge-like devices consisting of leather staked down on both sides of the trailing edge. Hundreds of citizens inside the city pulled the well camouflaged ropes, raising the sections of pikes when the Mongol riders reached the area.

Removing the pikes and their dead comrades-in-arms and/or their horses had delayed the Mongol attack half a day. The devastating rain of arrows from the city walls added to the growing Mongol casualties. One more attack led to the Mongols discovering the caltrops littering the ground around the city and added another three thousand casualties among their troops. Realizing that they were facing an ingenious and well-organized enemy, one whose bows were unlike other European bows and were able to match the range of his own, the Mongol general withdrew out of range and began preparations to build siege engines. He was livid when the city used their own siege engines to attack the locations where he was collecting the necessary materials, killing, and severely wounding many of his siege engineers.