Herald of Steel

Chapter 690 The March Forward

At Alexander common, the army slowly turned around to face the road, and filing themselves into a three columned line, with each soldier standing one to two meters apart, slowly started their march, their steps sure and heavy, as they made their way to wrought doom to the country of Tibias.

The entire procession stretched a few kilometers, and from the above, it looked like a giant ant trail.

At the very front of this procession, leading the pack so to speak was one part of the cavalry, which acted both a scout and a rapid reaction force if any unforeseen event were to occur.

Now, granted they were squarely in their own territory and there was no singular fool who would attack an army of 50,000 on his own.

But this was the military doctrine of the time and officers had to follow it, hence the specific order.

Following the 1,000 cavalrymen were the real meat of the army, the infantry, and given how long they stretched, their massive numbers were apparent for any to see.

The heavily armored men moved in a loss formation, their wooden shields swinging with their arms, while their strong bodies and faces covered by their Corinthian helmets made them look very menacing.

Behind them, guarding the flanks were the remaining cavalry, while lastly, the slow moving supply wagons made up the tail.

As for officers like Alexander and the other nobles, they were all placed dead center of the army as was the custom.

It was done so to enable them to give direction to either end if the need arose, while also being easily defensible from both sides if attacked.

And this was the make up of the military convoy. 

But it was not the end of the procession.

Because as if following the pied piper, the tens of thousands of camp followers also closely tailed the marching army, which was in fact a fairly common sight in any campaign of conquest.

Marching soldiers needed a lot of things to keep them going, and knowing death might come at any time, they tended to be loose with their purses, which were always the ideal candidate for a host of different people.

Peddlers could easily sell their wares to these people, providing them with the choice of all kinds of everyday essentials such as shoes, cloth, pots and pans, and even jewelry, as well as various personal tools such as razors, grinding stones to sharpen weapons, sewing needles, and yarn to name only a few. 

Aside from simply selling goods, this group also provided everyday services such as shaving beards, cutting hair, mending shoes, patching up amor, sharpening weapons, selling medicine, and many more.

Aside from the peddlers, there was another group that sold their product and those were the farmers and hawkers.

Seasonal fruits and vegetables, various spices, salt, homemade wine, freshly cooked snacks, and even wholesale grain, all and many more delicious things could be found in and around an army camp.

And trade would be usually very good for these small businesses.

Because most soldiers would soon get tired of the monotone foods provided at the camp and look to add a bit of spice to their palates.

Thus going out to get a small snack of meat skewers, fried fish, or even buttered vegetables were common. 

And if the men wanted something more substantial, well since each squad was responsible for their own cooking, it was easy for each of the guys to chip in a bit to add some more flavor to their overall meal, adding new ingredients to the ones already provided to them.

As for the selling of wine, well although Alexander did strictly forbade drinking, the wine being sold did not violate that.

Because wine here was not like the one of modern times.

Here. it was heavily diluted with water, and sometimes even had seawater mixed to add flavor to it, and was generally preferred over water as it was safer to drink.

And lastly, there were the grain sellers, who carried large stocks of not only human food but animal feed too, oats and barley particularly, in the hopes of selling to individual customers such as the soldiers or even other camp followers.

Or if they were really lucky, even to the army itself if it ever ran out of food.

And as a side note, there were many times where officials in charge of the army's food would sell grain meant for the soldiers to these merchants for a profit.

And this led to various consequences, ranging from an army losing a battle due to lack of supplies to the culprits getting caught and being hanged or something worse, or simply the regular soldiers being forced to buy from these merchants out of their own pocket at exorbitant prices just to survive. 

But whatever the morality of these grain merchants were, they looked like straight lace goody two shoes compared to the next group that usually accompanied an army- Working girls. 

These girls of course had one very similar desire, earn coin by pleasring men weary from the long march and deadly battles.

And it would come as no surprise to anyone that such a practice was strictly forbidden in the army.

The chaos in discipline such truancy would cause was obvious.

Though that did not stop men from engaging in these acts anyway.

After all, knowing these might be your last few days on earth, tended to make men wild and jumpy.

And they all wanted an outlet.

It was also because of that that many offices turned a blind eye to these practices, just very nominally punishing the caught men, such as with few more chores or extra guard duty, but nothing too serious.

While the working girls earned money by showing their love, the next group was the opposite.

Because they were the slavers who chose to tag along.

They were of course there to capture any vulnerable prey if the opportunity provided itself.

Particularly they wished to aid their side in rounding up fleeing soldiers after a win, for a fee of course.

And to do that, they carried with their carts of rope, to bind their slaves with.

And then there was the group with the fewest numbers.

These followed the army just because they had nothing better to do, being beggars, vagabonds, and other neglected parts of the society.

Going by experience, Alexander knew these drifters were almost always a major cause of trouble, doing nothing useful; but always there at the wrong place at the right time.

Most of these kinds of people only came along just because they saw others going along, and seemingly they wanted to go on an adventure and see the world for themselves.

After all, the means of entertainment in this world were too limited.

And if they could also loot and plunder the lands while doing so, it was just the icing on the cake.

Though this favorable event would be particularly applicable if their side was especially cruel, where it destroyed the lands they passed through, looting, plundering, and burning it.

But though irksome to Alexander, the group was still not as troublesome as the last group, for those were the real bad eggs- criminals and thugs who slipped through the net to fish for opportunities, looking to get their hands on any gold or silver, no matter the unscrupulous ways they would have to employ to get it,

After all, with so many people gathered here, there was bound to be one or two careless ones who were susceptible to getting their pockets picked.

Or maybe have a few stuff stolen here and there.

With so many people around and everyone on the march constantly moving about, it was quite natural to forget and lose track of one or two things right?

Or better yet, perhaps a soldier would be distracted enough to enable them to even steal his weapon!

Ah! Stealing something like a steel sword!

Now that would be a wet dream come true for any thief.

Now, there would always be such bad eggs when any group became large enough, so their presence was not completely unexpected.

But still, it had always impressed Alexander that there were people daring enough to try and steal from no other than the army.

I mean, come on, there had to be other easier fish in the sea.

Because getting caught stealing from the army was no light matter.

If it is an outsider, he would be hanged then with little other consideration.

While if you were found to have been stealing from your fellow soldiers, well then a much crueler fate awaited,

The gully soldier would be beaten to death with a stick by their own squad mate.

But despite all the obvious risks and the brutal punishments that lay in store if caught, there seemed to never be a shortage of volunteers willing to take that risk.

They particularly loved targeting the time window an army would be engaged in a battle to try and sneak into the camp and attempt to steal stuff, which was another reason why it was another important reason to leave some guards behind to look after the camp's belongings when most was away fighting.

But whatever the reasons for these thieves' persistence, be it they were that stupid or that desperate, they existed.

And so in this way, for better or worse, all these people attached themselves to Alexander as he made his way to the gates of Thesalie.