"David Drake - Belisarius 3 - Destiny's Shield" - читать интересную книгу автора (Drake David)

"Will be dealt with by the Theodoran Cohort," stated Belisarius.
The announcement brought dead silence to the room. All eyes turned to
Antonina.
The little Egyptian woman shrugged. "I'm all we've got, I'm afraid."
"Not quite," said Belisarius. He looked at Hermogenes. "I think we can spare
one of your legions, to give Antonina's grenadiers an infantry bulwark. And
I'm going to give her five hundred of my cataphracts for a cavalry force."
Hermogenes nodded. Frowning, Germanicus looked back and forth between
Belisarius and Antonina.
"I would have thought you'd want to use the grenadiers in Persia," he
commented.
Before Belisarius could reply, Theodora spoke up. "Absolutely not. Other than
Belisarius' small unit of rocketeers, Antonina's cohort is our only military
force equipped with gunpowder weapons. They've never been in a real battle.
I'm not going to risk them in Persia. Not this early in the war."
Germanicus' frown deepened. "Then who -- ?"
"Me," said Belisarius. "Me, and whatever troops we can scrape up." He
scratched his chin. "I think we can spare five or six thousand men from the
Army of Syria, along with my own bucellarii."
"I can give you two thousand cataphracts," interjected Sittas. He glanced at
Germanicus.
The Illyrian army commander winced. "I can probably spare five hundred. No
more than that, I'm afraid. There's bound to be trouble with the northern
barbarians within the next year. The Malwa will be spreading their gold with a
lavish hand."
Hermogenes finished counting on his fingers and looked up.
"That doesn't give you much of an army, Belisarius. You've got, what -- a
thousand cataphracts, after you give five hundred to Antonina?"
Belisarius nodded.
Hermogenes blew out his cheeks. "Plus two thousand from Sittas and five
hundred from Germanicus. That's three and a half thousand heavy cavalry. The
Army of Syria can probably give you three or four thousand infantry and a
couple of thousand cavalry. But the cavalry will be light horse archers, not
cataphract lancers."
"Ten thousand men, at the most," concluded Germanicus. "As he says, that's not
much of an army."
Belisarius shrugged. "It's what we've got."
"I'm not happy at the idea of Belisarius personally leading this army," stated
Chrysopolis. "He's the Empire's strategos. He should really stay here in the
capital."
"Nonsense!" barked Justinian. For the first time since the meeting began, he
too broke into a grin. And, like that of his wife's, the expression was
utterly humorless.
"You want an alliance with Persia, don't you?" he demanded. "They won't be
happy at our counter-offer of ten thousand men. But Belisarius' reputation
will make up the difference." Now, a bit of humor crept into that ravaged
face. "Stop frowning, Chrysopolis. I can see your sour face as if I still had
eyes."
He leaned forward, gripping the armrests of his chair. His head scanned the
entire circle of advisers. For just a fleeting moment, everyone would have