Herald of Steel

Alexander breaking down the situation for them set many of the military leaders' hearts ablaze.

They understood that abiding by the treaty will result in their slow death and knew attacking was the only option.

"Do we simply charge and kill the ruling nobles?" Menes wanted to know Alexander's strategy.

"No, not that," Came the reply.

But hearing this answer made some people almost jump in fright.

Not because of its contents.

But because of the owner of its utterance.

For this was not said by Alexander but by Cambyses!

'The brat needs a good spanking tonight.' Alexander getting his thunder stolen could barely keep the gentle smiling facade.

He had been worried that due to Cambyses being a woman she would be underestimated or shunned by her fellow council members.

But it seems he should have been worried about Cambyses making him feel irrelevant.

Cambyses did not pay attention to Alexander's wounded heart, and instead, after snatching the figurative microphone from Alexander, quickly said, "We have basically two options."

Then raising her thumb listed:

"One- We dress up the soldiers as civilians and portray the take cover as a popular rebellion to join us"

"Or two" With her index finger up, she said, "We take some of the refugees with us and have them take the lead, thus installing a puppet."

'...Aren't you too good at this,' Alexander felt like he was seeing Cambyses grow wings as she took charge of the planning and policy-making.

And the initial acridness, he was beginning to like this.

Having a competent underling to wipe your butt was a blessing to have.

If it was anyone else, Alexander might have been a little fearful that the person could try and usurp him.

But with Cambyses, his wife and student, he only felt impressed,...and relieved.

Yes, relieved because it meant that he would be able to dump a large amount of the work on her.

"Haha, well you heard the lady," Alexander chuckled, "So which one?"

Alexander's question generated a mixed response.

"I believe we should use the first option. Civilians will only get in the way," Menes presented himself as a staunch supporter of only using the military.

"I agree," And he was supported by Grahtos, who nodded and added, "The legion formation is already a very new tactic. To use civilians would only complicate the matter."

But they were opposed by Menicus, "I like the second option better. I believe we should try to preserve the treaty as much as possible, or at least the illusion of it."

Melodias too preferred the old man's approach, "I too want the civilians in this deployment. It's good to have scapegoats to help take the blame if anything goes wrong."

Melodias, the ever cautious, had a much darker reason.

"No, we should make the people see the army as reliable. So no civilians," Menes argued.

And was countered by Menicus, "The civilians should help the army achieve its goal."

The two groups had two very different philosophies regarding this matter.

And thus this fencing of words went on for some time, with both sides presenting good, robust points.

And then at last, understanding they were unlikely to reach a consensus within themselves, turned to Alexander to adjudicate.

But Alexander instead of picking and choosing a side, decided to do things differently.

"Hehe, well let's have a vote then," Alexander suggested with a light smile.

He did this because he did not want to show open support for either Menes or Menicus at the cost of the other and thus draw a wedge between the two.

So he chose the diplomatic route of letting the people decide.

"Vote?" Melodias asked raising an eyebrow.

The studious man had read quite extensively about Adhania's court culture while in Adhan and this suggestion was certainly an abnormality.

Usually, a lord would command and his retinues would obey.

"Yes. vote," Alexander repeated.

Then he turned to look at both his military and civilian leaders and said, "Well gentlemen, you have all heard what both sides have to say. Now vote for the group who think made more sense."

He then laid down the rules, "The voting will be unanimous, meaning you will just write your answer on a piece of papyrus and nothing else. No names or anything like that."

"After everyone is done writing in, you will drop the piece of papyrus on this bowl," Alexander showed a bowl that once contained some fruits as refreshment.

"And that you are done, I will tally the results and declare the winner."

Alexander then finished by saying, "As I'm the judge, I will not vote."

The instructions were quite easy and clear, and so after Menicus and Menes both agreed to it by saying, "We have no problem," the voting process began.

Alexander cut a few pieces of papyrus with a fruit cutter and all the people drew one or two lines, according to their answer.

And after a while, Alexander finished counting the ballots, and announced,

"The results are in! And the winner is…." He then paused for dramatic effect, "....Menes!"

The results were close, with Menes winning by just two votes, but it seemed that more people trusted the military to get the job than getting the civilians mixed up in all this.

Menicus was, of course, a bit deflated at losing, but he was gracious enough to have no intention of challenging the results.

Instead, he was more fearful of the consequences that option one might bring.

And he tried to make Alexander share theses as he asked, "My lord, will it be alright? If the treaty is…." He trailed off.

So Alexander soothed the old man's nerves, "My lord Menicus, I do understand your concern. You fear this rash military incursion so soon after signing the treaty will make all our efforts turn to water."

"*Nod*," Menicus felt exactly that way.

"But don't worry, that won't happen," Alexander very confidently stated.

And finding Menicus give him an inquisitive look, he explained, "Because I'm afraid you are looking at it all wrong."

He then posited, "You fear that the recentness of the treaty is what makes it so fragile. According to you, we should wait a while and let the treaty mature a bit, so as to make the other party less wary of whether we will keep our promise or not."

Until now, everything was as Alexander said.

Menicus felt exactly this way.

So Alexander attempted to show the place where he thought Menicus was wrong, "I believe in the opposite. I believe that the treaty is the strongest right one and will become more fragile as time goes by."

"Now why do I say this?" Alexander asked a rhetorical question.

"Because the demands Amenheraft made during the negotiations pointed to such." Alexander clenched his strong fist as he said it.

"He has demanded from His Majesty Ptolomy huge war reparations in the name of loan and various other goods."

"Why? Because he cannot afford it financially. His purse strings are too tight now."

"And that means that once he gets it, once he is sufficiently solvent enough, the former king will have no reason to keep his promise. And the annulment of the treaty will then only be a matter of time" Alexander warned.

So he again emphasized, "And that's why we must strike soon, The sooner the better. The sooner we attack, the more they will be unwilling to break the truce."

Alexander made his grand statement very forcefully and was quickly joined by Theocles,

"My lords, please remember that it was they that struck first. This was they who killed our priests!"

The archpriest had an indignant tone to his voice.

"That's right, that's right." Menes nodded heavily, "This is just retaliation."

And he was soon joined by many others, all playing along despite knowing the real story.

'Well, we did steal the nobles' houses when we entered Zanzan. And the soldiers will be wearing civilian clothes. So I guess we won't be tearing the facade too blatantly,' Menicus tried to reason with himself.

And given most were in support of option one, he nodded and consented, "The pasha is wise."

"Mmm, good, "Alexander lightly smiled at having resolved the disagreement.

And then turned to Grahtos, "Captain Graptos, you are to arrange and send fifty covert scout riders to the east and fifty to the north of Zanzan respectively."

"I want to know the terrain and defense around there. Who rules what piece of land there, and most importantly if there are any hidden roads we can use to launch a sneak attack" He instructed.

"At once my lord, " Grahtos had no problem with this practiced act.

"Mmmm, you will have one month," Alexander set a time frame.

And then turning to Menes, he said, "After Grahtos gets the information, you are to use that to plan an offensive plan. And submit it to me for evaluation before mid-December."

"And by the first week of January, we will march east." Alexander declared.

"Yes, my lord." Menes nodded.

And so the revised military campaign was set.