Herald of Steel

"Only one point remains," Menes gleefully thought about the end nearing.

The huge, detailed manual that Alexander had written had made Menes feel his energy getting sapped out of him the more he read, and to finally find that the finish line of this vast bundle of instructions was very near was something the tall giant very much looked forward to, a sentiment shared by the rest of the military as well.

And so he quickly turned his eyes to the last point.

* Mock Combats Conditioning:

This will be the final phase of the training and will take place during the last month.

The trainees will be required to perform mock combats with wooden equipment that weighs as much as their real equipment, in an attempt to simulate real-life battles and give the men some experience in real fighting.

Every alternative day, they will be required to march twenty miles in five hours, immediately fight a pitched battle and after finishing, should be able to set up a fortified camp, equipped with wooden walls, embankments, ditches, sentries and watch towers.

In these mock drills, the soldiers will be tested on everything they learned until now and the tests should be designed to make the soldiers face a variety of situations, such as pitched battles with an outnumbering enemy, ambushes, flanking attacks, night raids, and many more.

And once the four-month training is over, they are to swear an oath of loyalty to Pasha Alexander and after that, they will be proclaimed Zanzan soldiers.

Finally finishing reading the, in Menes's opinion, booklet, the general let out a small, almost imperceptible sigh of relief, 'Ohh…at last it's over.'

Though, the others were far less tactful, drawing large sighs as they slowly digested the huge info dump.

Of course, they were not expressing their displeasure towards Alexander, they would not dare.

Instead, it was more like they were making these sighs towards themselves, as the magnitude of the difference in skill level between Alexander and them was once again laid bare in front of them.

"The Pasha is so great that any praise seems perfunctory," Menicus slightly ruefully said this as he laid down the parchment on the table, the light animal skin feeling heavier than lead to the aged mercenary.

To him, the information contained in the small, rolled-up parchment seemed to be from the gods, because he could think of no other way that Alexander could have made up a detailed and meticulous list without trying the new, theoretical formation first.

Menicus even had the urge to kiss and bow, not towards Alexander, but at just the mere parchment his lord wrote on.

And if this was the reaction of the most experienced, stoic man, naturally the others were much more expressive of their praise.

"Haha, lord Menicus is not overstating. The lord's capabilities seem almost divine," Melodias lightly chuckled and such similar praises soon sprouted off the mouth of all others, primarily true and genuine, with only a few embellishments hung to them for illustrative purposes.

"So, are there any problems you can think of with this training manual?" Sometime later, Alexander asked the thing that really mattered.

"Not at the moment," This rapid reply came from Menes, who was hawkishly scanning the parchment again, explaining, "We will need to conduct some battle drills to see if some things need adding or subtracting, or if the time period for each of the training steps needs to be adjusted."

Menes's very short, almost cutthroat professional answer pleased Alexander and produced a nod of approval from the eighteen-year-old, who said, "Yes, those are my thoughts too. The time periods I stated are only ballpark numbers and they can be molded to the instructor's wish to fit the training regime."

"I will give you the report regarding this as soon as possible," Menes suggested this by himself, promising to let Alexander evaluate the training schedule for himself.

"Okay, give it at your leisure," Alexander lightly replied.

It was at that point, one person raised the issue of time.

"But will the brand new formation be ready by the end of December?" Heliptos asked concerned.

Alexander himself gave the training timeline to be four months and so naturally this former merchant was skeptical about Menes's two months claim.

"No problem." Menes decisively waved his large hand to brush off these worries, pointing, "The four months of training is designed for new legions, for turning raw recruits into soldiers."

"Mmmn, I too agree with Menes," Melodias, who was also in charge of overseeing the implementation of the legion system alongside Menes, supported the latter, reasoning, "We can skip the first and second point, the mental conditioning and the weapons training and even many of the formation training."

"From what I read we need to only really develop the new legion formations and mostly the stamina." Menicus gave his own opinion, emphasizing, "Marching with thirty 35 kilograms of weight is no joke."

"Hmmm…." The reminder about the weight produced a bit of a headache for Menes.

"My lord, ….about the…" Menes attempted to raise the issue.

But was promptly shot down by Alexander who had already guessed what his top genital wanted to say, "The requirements for the army will not be lowered."

"If anyone thinks it's too hard, they can quit no problem. We have lots of vacancies in the civilian department and they will be more than welcomed in any of those departments." He then added.

Though this might appear as Alexander providing an alternative, in reality for any soldier to switch from a military career to a civilian sector was generally seen as shameful, barring impediments such as injuries and sickness.

"...As you command, pasha," Menes reluctantly nodded the reply, knowing that with the staunch stance displayed by Alexander, there was little point in arguing.

This hidden unwillingness did not escape Alexander's notice and so he addressed, "I understand the reservations you have, Menes. You fear that the soldiers might find the training too demanding."

And this produced a slight nod from the general.

It was such a case with Menes, and even other military officers, though they never said it aloud.

So Alexander instructed, "But you only need to implement these reforms as I stated in the manual. I will visit the army around the next month and I will address the soldiers directly about any hidden resentment they might have, as well as announce new benefits for them."

"Hahaha, the pasha is wise and just," Hearing the soldiers will be getting new financial support, Menes instantly grinned.

Menes being a former mercenary himself, knew that as long as enough money was dangled in front of them, the men under him could walk through hellfire, no problem.

And Alexander did too.

And hence the scheduled announcement.

After Alexander fInished placating the slightly frayed nerves of Menes, another rose to take his place, though for completely different reasons.

"My lord, I had a few questions regarding the manual," Grahtos politely started, and then he pointed to the first page, "In the weapons training part here, it says the words crossbow and instant bow. What are these?" He looked in askance at Alexander.

Naturally, these things were brand new weapons to be developed in this world, and so outside the manufacturers, only a few of Alexander's bodyguards had seen them.

Grahtos's reasonable question also made many others think about what these could be.

They were familiar with the concept of the bow and after reading the manual about how a soldier was supposed to be a decent shot, these smart people could roughly figure out that these were some kind of handheld weapons that shot projectiles much like the bow.

'But then why was it called a crossbow?'

'Where does the word cross fit?'

'Is it two bows stuck to one another?'

These questions were asked by some of the people present.

While in others' heads, they asked questions regarding the instant bow.

'What is an instant bow?'

'Is it something like an instant death now? A kind of bow that kills instantly and hence the name?'

'How is it different from the crossbow?'

All kinds of weird questions and hypotheses swam inside the heads of the military leaders.

"Haha, the crossbow and instant bow are different types of bows." Alexander succinctly replied.

And then quickly reassured, "Don't worry, all the different types of new weapons that are mentioned in the manual will be revealed to the army when I visit them next month. They are being manufactured in secret now and once they are ready, not only the new types of bows but also the other new things like the plumbata and caltrops will be introduced to the men."

Everyone, including Cambyses, was surprised that new weapons were being developed without their knowledge.

Some were even a bit peeved that they were told nothing about them.

But not Menicus, who as the representative of the collective military leaders quickly praised, "As expected of the lord! We very much look forward to seeing them."

"Mmm, I too am confident you will like them," Alexander replied with an enigmatic smile.