Herald of Steel



Alexander returned from his visit to the mint with a few pre-made dies and even a ropal gifted to him as a souvenir.

And as he held up the coin which had a hole in the middle, and noticed the various markings along its borders, he felt he had learned many new things today.

First of all, it finally became clear to him why the ropal, and for that instance, many other ancient coins in his previous life too, had a hole in the middle.

This was done so that the coin's size was large and convenient enough to hold in one's hold without having to add too many precious metals and hence make the coin's value too big for everyday use.

Then, aside from the usual engraving on the coin, came the small markings along one side of the side.

These were actually codes, detailing the coin's origin and production details, including the mintmark, which identified the mint where the coin was produced, and the control marks, which indicated the responsible authorities overseeing the minting process.

Alexander was actually impressed very by this small detail, understanding that whoever had designed the process put a lot of thought into making it.

He then also remembered that he had not actually got to see that process, because that was done in the administrative office, where mint officials and administrators oversaw the entire mint, managed records, and handled the distribution of coins to various regions within the empire.

Ptolomy had bluntly told him that it was a royal family secret, and Alexander could easily understand this.

It was likely the royal family was afraid if other powers got to know the personnel involved in overseeing the mint, they could be targeted and influenced.

Hence the veil of secrecy.

Alexander also was not allowed to see the storage vaults for the same reason, where the raw materials, finished coins, and perhaps the most precious of, the valuable dies were kept under lock and key.

And truth be told Alexander had indeed been interested in viewing it, as he was interested in what kind of vault these ancient people would have been able to devise.

But alas, it seemed he would need to hold his curiosity for a little while longer.

With Alexander's return from the mint, he also got Ptolomy to promise to lend him some of the expert engravers and artists for some time once the battle with Tibias was over so that they could teach the new workers at Zanzan about the techniques and also ensure the quality of the new mints.

And as Alexander took his preparations, soon the day of departure for him had arrived.

"Brat! We careful." This was Pasha Farzah's curt way of saying good, while the Queen Mother's was a bit more formal and informative.

"We have made sure to communicate with the nobles through whom you will be going. They will not give you trouble."

"And we have also discouraged AM in trying to do anything during the journey."

"So it should be safe." The Queen Mother reassured him.

It appeared that though Seelima was not able to help Alexander militarily, she strived hard to do so diplomatically.

And for that Alexander was grateful.

"Thank you, Your Highness. May the gods protect us all." He put his hand over his right chest as he said so.

"Mmm, may the gods protect us all!" And the Queen Mother did the same, adding, "And I will return to Zanzan sometime after this is all over."

With this said, and all preparations complete, on one cold but thankfully clear morning, Alexander's entourage which consisted of some dozen nobles, and about 3,000 men that made up the combined bodyguards and wagon crew made their way slowly towards Zanzan through the snow-filled road.

And while on their way, Alexander made some small talk with his traveling companions, paying particular attention to getting to know some of the newer, more neutral nobles who had decided to come with him.

Additionally, he was given this particular piece of good news, when Lord Prantik, who Alexander had appointed to be the intermediary between him and the nobles informed him,

"My lord, we have already sent word to start our levies. Thankfully given it is winter and most men have nothing to do, we will be able to complete it within three months!"

The shordar (baron) seemed very pleased about the reported time frame, and seeing such, Alexander, at least outwardly put on a pleased face.

"Good," He nodded enthusiastically.

Inwardly though, Alexander could only lampoon, calculating that since this was November, he would need to wait at least until February to launch any meaningful attack.

Meaning Cambyses would need to hold on at least till then.

This long time certainly made Alexander very uncomfortable.

But actually for the task at hand, the three-month lead time was not really anything surprising if one thought about it.

After all, it took time to issue the levy notices, then for officials to receive that order, and ultimately carry it out, where they had to go out to each and every individual village and settlement one by one, locate and draft all the available men and then sometimes even lead them to the nearby barracks or city garrisons, before at last shipping them off to the main collection point, likely their lord's personal land or manor.

While in the meantime, others had to busy themselves with the task of arranging weapons and armor for them, and lastly, and perhaps most crucially, procuring enough food for them.

Now, a noble could get away with asking his peasants to bring his own weapon, and the serf would be still present with a spear, or if he did not have that, whatever farm took he had in his shed, a pitchfork, axe, sickle, whatever.

And most peasants were expected to bring their own armor anyway, so on the battlefield you could usually find a range of protective gear being donned by the enemy soldier, going anywhere from being just many layers of clothes they wore over one another for the truly destitute, to sometimes a kind of boiled leather breastplate, to in some very rare occasions some kind of bronze metal piece their ancestor might have left behind, or something they might have even looted from a nearby battlefield.

But even though a noble could get away without properly equipping and arming his men, and sometimes even get away with paying them a pittance, the thing he could not get away from was feeding them.

And he had to feed them well so that they marched, and fought properly without rebelling.

And in this time period when agricultural techniques were so backward, and food was relatively scarce, it meant cost!

A lot of costs.

So when levies were called, Alexander also had to coordinate with all the nobles about this cost.

And it was a set of negotiations that continued even while they were on their way.

So almost every day, after dusk, once they had set up camp and had dinner, Alexander would sit with some of the nobles and get to know their lands, the number of men they could give, and how much food they produced.

And if they produced surplus food, he would even then ask them to bring extra, so that they could spare some for the nobles who did not have enough.

But naturally, such discussions were very hard, as nobles had every incentive to underreport their own stocks while accusing others of doing the same.

And so for Alexander who had to navigate through all this finger-pointing, sometimes felt like tearing his hair out.

But still, in the interest of rescuing his city, he tried to act as best as a mediator as he could.

So he proposed various financial incentives to the wealthier nobles to supply his army with enough food, and even high-level posts within the army.

In this way, their journey proceeded, which thankfully, though was internally certainly very colorful, at least externally was very peaceful, with little outside disturbance or harassment.

Though it was a given, since few people would want to needlessly mess with 3,000 armed men.

So along the way, Alexander got the chance to fully enjoy the cold, winter scenery of Zanzan, and for a modern man whose adobe was in the urban concrete jungles, it was certainly very beautiful.

The road they traveled on was surrounded by forests that seemed to have transformed into a magical realm where the skeletal branches of ancient trees coated with frost, glistening like diamonds under the soft winter sun, the snow underfoot made a sweet, crisp sound, and the eerily silent wood sometimes chimed with the occasional melodious chirping of a bird or the rustling of a small animal in the underbrush, bringing life to the otherwise tranquil atmosphere.

This was not Alexander's first winter in this world for this, this was the first time he got to enjoy it being a bone a fide noble, with most of his other memories of the winter being him shaking and shivering in the cold and many times wet weather as he slaved away at his work.

So it seemed that his increased status had somehow put a new pair of glasses on his eyes, which appeared to make the same scenery appear much nicer.

And in this way, Alexander made his journey across the relatively good road, only experiencing a single delay when the group got caught up in a snowstorm and had to stop for a week, ultimately completing the journey in one and a half months.