Ragusa 1326
"He's £"$%£$ing what!!!??"
The messenger from Lord Zirn blanched sheet white, much to the amusement of Arnold's retinue.
The news was not good. The separatist Becker had ordered his merchants to confiscate as much wealth as possible to support his cause, what had happened as a result was a number of merchant wares and crops from Vienna had been taken.
While Duke Arnold ripped the message into tiny fragments, Grom turned to the assembled captain's and Arnold's Polish Swordbearer Szcepanski.
"Right you filthy whoreson's get your men ready!! The Venetian's could not have come at a better time, we are going to war this afternoon and there's going to be more merchant bloody on the ground than you've ever seen in your short insignificant lives!!
Szcepanski get the Duke's sword ready...and make it sharp, really $%£"$ing sharp."
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Behind Arnold stood the massive walls of the Ragusa fortress, in front was the entire 2nd Austrian House Army in close order.
The Duke sat astride his Jet black Stallion encased from neck to foot in his Black Obsidian Armour. The massive twenty one hand beast was a gift from Lord Zirn and had been shipped all the way from Spain. It was clearly agitated, it's nostrils faired as it stamped the ground while biting large chunks of wood out of the catapult frame near it.
The Dread Duke was brought out of his revere by the horses actions.
Turn in his saddle:
“For $E%^£$ sake Grom I thought you said you fed this thing...it's eat $%ing wood man...what on earth has Zirn given me...”
Turning his attention back to the beast he yanked it's head away from the catapult frame. The horse was not pleased, turning it's head, it attempted to bite it's master. An open hand slap of considerable force from Arnold's black gauntlet hand seemed to convince it that any further action would be painful.
In response the stallion began pacing across the front ranks of it's own accord. Giving up on controlling the beast for the moment Arnold stood in his stirrups and addressed the troops.
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“Men,
You are not all going to die today, in fact only twenty percent of you, right here today, will be killed in a major battle.”
A murmur of shock ran through the thousand strong 2nd Austria Army
“My point is death must not be feared!!”
Arnold's voice smashed across the plain in which every available regiment was assembled for the coming assualt.
“Death, in time, comes to all of us!
Every man is scared in his first action. If he says he's not, he's a $£%ing liar. Some men are cowards, yes, but they fight just the same, or get the seven shades of shiet smashed out of them!!
The real hero is the man who fights even though he's scared. Some get over their fright in a minute, under fire; others take an hour; for some it takes days; but a real man will never let the fear of death overpower his honour, his sense of duty, to his country and to his family.
All through your Army careers, you've been bitching about what you call "chicken-sheit drills." That, like everything else in the Army, has a definite purpose. That purpose is instant obedience to orders and to create and maintain constant alertness! This must be bred into every soldier. A man must be alert all the time if he expects to stay alive. If not, some Venetian or Hungarian son-of-a-bitch will sneak up behind him with a sock full of sheit!
An Army is a team, lives, sleeps, fights, and eats as a team. This individual hero stuff is a lot of horse shit! The £%$£ers who say that kind of stuff don't know any more about real fighting under fire than they know about %$^£ing whores!
Every single man in this Army plays a vital role. Every man has his job to do and must do it. What if every archer decided that he didn't like the whine of a canon shell overhead, turned yellow and jumped headlong into a ditch? Where in Hell would we be now? Where would our Reich, our loved ones, our homes, even this world, be?
No, thank $%!$ing God, German's don't think like that. Every man does his job, serves the whole. Every last man has a job to do, even the men who boils the water to keep us from getting the sheits!
Remember men, the Venetian's know I'm here!! I want them to look up and howl, "Ach, it's the goddamn 2nd Austria Army and that Dread Duke “son-of-a-bitch” Arnold ...again!"
We want to get this thing over and get the hell out of here, and get at those purple-pissin' Byzantines!!! The shortest road home is through Constantinople!
We'll win this war, but we'll win it only by showing the enemy we have more guts than they have or ever will have!
There's one great thing you men can say when it's all over and you're home once more. You can thank God that twenty years from now, when you're sitting around the fireside with your grandson on your knee and he asks you what you did in the war, you won't have to shift him to the other knee, cough, and say, "I shoveled shit in Prague".
Instead you can proudly shout; "I fought like Lion with that murderous bastard Arnold!!"
The roar of the men washed over Arnold and his retinue like a wave.
The Duke raised his hand, silencing the army.
“A NEW POWER IS RISING AND IT'S VICTORY IS AT HAND MEN.
ON THIS DAY THE LAND WILL BE STAINED WITH THE BLOOD OF VENETIAN'S."
The roaring began again.
"MARCH INTO HELL AND LEAVE NONE ALIVE."
The Duke drew his sword and raised it above his head.
"TO WAR MEN...TO WAR!!!!”
The roaring increased sending shivers down the spine of each one of Arnold retinue arrayed behind him.
Set back from the others Arnold's priest whispered to no one.
“May god save our souls.”
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNNqc4pdbNA
The first army.
https://i184.photobucket.com/albums/...0-35-00-50.jpg
https://i184.photobucket.com/albums/...0-37-06-89.jpg
https://i184.photobucket.com/albums/...0-39-45-64.jpg
The second arrives:
https://i184.photobucket.com/albums/...0-40-57-26.jpg
https://i184.photobucket.com/albums/...1-22-38-84.jpg
It's over:
https://i184.photobucket.com/albums/...1-30-25-62.jpg
https://i184.photobucket.com/albums/...1-30-29-84.jpg
The money is not worth it:
https://i184.photobucket.com/albums/...1-30-54-31.jpg
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