Herald of Steel



Alexander's estimate for the cost of the campaign was nothing to scoff at.

For the entire duration of the offensive, he promised to give the 10,000 professional soldiers 150 ropals per month on top of their free food and equipment, which was 50 ropals more than they received in peace times.

And the levies were promised the same supplies, but 5onlt 0 ropals a month.

After all, they were neither as skilled nor disciplined as their counterpart.

And although only 50 ropals might sound very low, this was actually much more than the standard rate.

Typically levies were paid mostly in loot and booty, with just enough food and supplies given to them so that they could keep fighting.

So Alexander giving them this much money of which the men were saving every penny was really generous.

As for context, a farmer with a family typically needed 6 months to save that much.

Now Alexander did not do it only out of altruistic reasons,

He also partly did it because of the harsh conditions these levies would be made to face during the assault, especially the backbreaking work Alexander had in mind for them in order to make his siege work.

It was also because of that they were scheduled to get warm winter clothing too, as Alexander did not want to end up like Napoleon, caught naked smack down in winter.

That was why Gelene got that request from Alexander, which was one part of a much larger total order.

And as a side note, the 40,000 thick coats that Alexander wanted were still to be delivered in full, as the acquisition seemed too large to complete in just a year.

In fact, some of the shops asked him for lead times of as much as another year.

It seemed Zanzan lacked a large enough tailor industry to meet Alexander's voracious demand.

And that was also another reason for Alexander to skip this winter campaign.

But perhaps not the critical one, as winter here was really not like the ones in Russia, and judging from the weather, it even promised to be a mild one this year.

No, the much larger problem still remained as the cost, which for the soldiers and supplies came at about 40 million ropals for the six months of fighting Alexander was planning to have.

Alexander had also asked about 5,000 mercenaries to join him, at the cost of 1 million ropals a month in food, rent, wages, and other equipment such as the consumable pilla and the better chainmail.

These veteran men were not from Zanzan, but specifically sent by Pasha Farzah all the way from Matrak, when Alexander asked for some more muscle.

And these men had been here since the start of summer, receiving training on the new legionary formation.

Which also meant Alexander was spending 1 million ropals a month on a force that was doing nothing useful until now, which was for four months.

And given the campaign was going to be pushed by perhaps up to a year, he had the choice of either paying them to stay and burn through his treasury, or asking them to go back, even paying for their ship fare, only to have them back here again in another nine to twelve months.

Both were a great hassle.

And depending on his choice, Alexander would burn anywhere between 10 to 20 million ropals after them at the end of the campaign. 

And lastly, there was the cost of training the 30,000 levies for 4 months, where they were paid 100 ropals in food and wages.

So all in total Alexander estimated to run a tab of around 70 to 75 million on this war, which was something quite significant.

And it went to show why a few lost wars could destroy a country and its ruling dynasty. 

That was also why he wanted the nobles to chip in a bit, and spread the risk a bit.

Specifically, he asked them to cover half of the cost as a whole, while he covered the rest.

And he knew these rich lords had that amount of capital.

After all, they were able to fatten their coffers by a lot through the preferential trade agreements they had with Alexander, buying Alexander's unique products for cheap and selling to outside clients for massive profits.

Their treasuries were certainly stacked. 

And even if it wasn't, even if a lot was spent recovering from the drought resulting in not having the gold to contribute in cash, they could still easily contribute through grain and other food produce.

After all, feeding the massive army was Alexander's greatest expense in this expedition.

But of course this demand did not at all sit well with that faction.

'We are already giving you 20,000 men. Why are you asking for more?' Seemed to be the general undertone of their various excuses.

And a large reason for it was not any dislike for Alexander, but they simply thought it was a waste of money to attack Thesalie, for deep down they were quite pessimistic about the results.

And after hankering for a while on this but still ending up with nothing, Alexander got the message and decided to bear the costs for himself.

He would make them pay another way.

Thus with all the following challenges still needing to be overcome, from the men to the material, to the strategy, Alexander gave the following speech to the parliament in late September in front of all his retainers.

"Due to unforeseen challenges and immense external challenges, the offensive that was planned against Tibias this winter will be delayed by six months." As Alexander made this decision he felt it was a great shame, as this year's winter seemed to promise to be a very mild one, just like last year's.

He thought it was a missed opportunity.

But in life many times things panned out in ways you had no control over.

So given they had already gotten here, Alexander chose to do the next best thing.

Alexander decided to  push the date back to the very next available slot, continuing, 

"Instead we will do it right after the spring planting. Specifically, we will start our the first of April."

"That will give us ample time to put the 20,000 levies through the 4 months training as well as gather the necessary supplies." 

Saying this Alexander's tone then turned hard, as he coldly looked around the room, specifically targeting the nobles, addressing them,

"And this will be the final date. I will not hear of any delays or problems. So whatever obstacles you have solve them by then."

"Or I will find someone who can!" Alexander very clearly threatened.

Following this Alexander tone turned once again soft and official, as he began,

"Now, regarding the issue of money."

"It seems one of you wishes to contribute in any meaningful way to his campaign."

"And that is okay." Alexander sounded very understanding, before quickly adding, 

"But be aware that it also means you will not have any claims to the land we capture." 

"After all that is only fair right!" Alexander then posed, clarifying, 

"As per the tradition, since you are giving the men, you will be entitled to a share of the loot, don't worry."

"But I want to make it clear right here, right now so there is no confusion later on - if you do not contribute to the cost of the campaign, you will not get any claims to the land."

"All the land will belong to me personally, Alexander."

"So do not come to me later asking otherwise."

"Do you have any objections?" 

Alexander repeated many of his sentences to make the point again and again to make it as unequivocal as possible because he knew just how slippery nobles could be, as he then turned his head around, looking around to spot any dissenters.

And unsurprisingly everyone was silent, which served as a tacit nod of approval.

They thought Alexander was simply young and brash, having no idea of the challenges conquering Thesalie posed.

After all, over the past few centuries, the amount of new and ways that were tried to breach the city was not insignificant.

The Adhanians might be technologically backward, but they were not stupid.

So over such a long time, the number of creative and out of the box thinking commanders was numerous and plenty.

And if all these people were able to do it over a few centuries, the nobles had little reason to be optimistic that Alexander could.

It was not as if he was their one and only savior, their true lord. 

Thus none of the nobles had any real optimism towards this attack and were only going through it because their oath obliged them to. 

They simply thought Alexander was going through a phase, and once he suffered the inevitable defeat here, his zeal would clash against reality and wake him up from his delusions.

Many of the older nobles even saw this as a coming of age ceremony for the young man, one where he would transform from a boy to a mature, prudent adult after the rose tinted glasses were smashed against the walls of Thesalie.

Only time would tell who was right.

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