Herald of Steel

Chapter 691 Camp Followers

With the pristine road connecting Zanzan to the footsteps of Thesalie, it took Alxs only three days to complete the journey, arriving at his destination early noon, as the huge army faced no sort of hindrance from the other party.

The place they chose to make camp was on a relatively flat plain a few kilometers away from the formidable walled city, the specific location chosen due to a myriad of reasons.

It had a favorable flat terrain making it easier to deploy large scale infantry and cavalry.

It had a large lake nearby as well as numerous small creeks and springs for easy access to fresh drinking water.

And lastly, the surrounding was mostly forested and covered with lush vegetation, useful for both obtaining lumber as well as getting feed for the draft animals.

With all these advantages, as well as the place being close enough to their target, Alexander did not need to think too hard about where to set up camp.

Hence the order to do exactly so came pretty quickly, and the soldiers after a short rest quickly got to work setting the place that was going to be their main place to stay for the foreseeable next few months, their effort coordinated under the direction of the few hundred military engineers that Alexander brought with him.

So with tens of thousands of men working together, and with much of the initial materials such as the logs and lumbers already being carried with them, it took the huge army only a couple of hours to get the main features of the camp up, which were the high wooden walls built on a rampart, and the ditches filled with sharpened stakes.

And once this rudimentary barricade was built, all squad quickly began to set up their tent inside, then started to prepare their evening meal.

Over the following days, the camp would be turned into a much more sophisticated structure, but since they just arrived today, that was all the time for, as the men hungry from their march, concentrated more of their efforts on filling their growling stomach.

Thus, eager to have some grub, each member of the squad divided all the tasks among themselves, with some grinding the grains, some preparing the vegetables, some collecting firewood, some setting up the stove, and others doing the actual cooking.

Alexander too was among these hungry people, though he did not have to do the cooking for him.

Instead, he, along with all the high ranking officers were currently in a luxurious tent at the center of the camp having that food served to him.

And it had to be noted it was the same food the soldiers got, bread with a porridge like vegetable soup.

".....Lord Alexander is a man of ….frugal taste it seems," And seeing the food served to them, the nobleman Jamider (Earl) Tikba could not help but comment this.

It was very apparent that he was not pleased.

After all, being a bona fide noble, he expected his meals to meet his status.

But Alexander very coolly shut the complaint down, saying.

"I know in your armies nobles eat as they do at home, gorging themselves with extravagant feasts." 

"But that is not how we do things here."

"Here is my army, everyone eats the same when in the campaign. Be it the regular grunt, the officer, or even the general himself," 

And following this Alexander then patiently explained his reasoning, something he had already done a few times before even before the start of the campaign, 

"We do this because the quality of food a soldier got was very important. Men on the march tend to get tired and hungry."

"And if they do not get their proper food they easily turn angry."

"And a large group of angry men with swords are a dangerous foe."

"Armies have literally torn themselves apart over this."

"So I made to show the soldiers that in a war, there are no differences in treatment when it comes to food."

"Everyone eats the same, fights the same, and even dies the same." Alexander firmly declared in a convincing tone.

Though it seemed this rhetoric only caused the Jamider (Earl) to lightly bark, "Heh! Die the same? I never knew you were such a jester."

Lord Tikba of course said this because Alexander's chance of really dying in battle was negligible compared to the average sodlier.

Though he certainly put it in a very rude way.

One which caused his colleague siting right next to him to quickly intervene and explain to Alexander in a slightly panicked voice, 

"Your Grace, Lord Tikba meant nothing by this! His head is simply muddled after traveling so long in the heat! Please pay no heed to him!" 

The one to come the defense was of course Talkuder (Viscount) Prantik and the man instantly went into full damage control mode after his counterpart made this offensive comment.

No matter what they thought of Alexander in private, this was no way to talk in front of him. 

And the evidence of it was how many of his retainers produced scowled looks immediately hearing the comment.

"Hahaha, no, no, Lord Tikba made quite the shrewd comment. It was indeed funny for me to say that we were as likely to die as the regular soldiers," But the man himself, Alexander seemed to take the words very lightly, giving a gentle smile as he said so.

But then suddenly his tone turned didactical, 

"And that is all the more reason why we need to keep up that facade."

"To make the soldiers think we share the same hardships as well."

"Because the thing that made people angry is not always their own state, but their state relative to others."

"Even if the entire army is starving, soldiers will not rebel if they know everyone is starving equally."

"And conversely, even if the army has enough food, even if the regular soldiers get their fill, if the officers indulge in better food, there will always be resentment within the grassroots until they get the same quality food."

At this point Alexander's voice had lost all that smooth soothing undertone, as he turned to look squarely at the indulgent nobles, and in a hard tone said, 

"We generals have huge tents all to ourselves."

"We ride on horses when marching." 

"And we have an entourage of servanting slaving away to fulfill all our requests, even bringing our food delivered right to our feet."

"So the least we can do is have the same food as the soldiers to at least pretend to have that veneer!"

By this point Jamider (Earl) Tikba had lowered his head to stare at only the bowl of soup, gazing at it with such concentration that one could be forgiven if he mistakenly thought that the world's most interesting drama was playing out in it.

Clearly this harsh admonishment was Alexander's way of getting back at him for the comment.

And facing the reasonable words, the older noble found no retort and had to take the hits with muted silence.

"Hahaha, yes, yes, lord Alexander is most erudite. It is because he thinks like this that we will finally take the city this time."

"The army we wield is nothing like the ones before!"

As soon as Alexander finished bashing the noble adjacent to him, Talkuder (Viscount) Prantik quickly launched an rescue attack to save his partner, speaking in an almost oily tone as he flattered Alexander.

It had to be known another reason for Jamider (Earl) Tikba's cranky reply was because he really did not want to come in this campaign because he thought there was no point.

And before Alexander could nitpick on that, Lord Prantik quickly changed the topic by saying, 

"I still cannot believe we were able to make such progress so quickly! Truly astounding!" as he then turned to Alexander to grin, 

"This is surely validation of all the training you put the men through, my lord. With so many well trained men, our victory is all but certain!"

Here the noble was of course referring to how the soldiers were able to achieve more than thirty five kilometers of distance per day even while carrying the heavy supplies they were expected to transport.

And to be honest, Alexander too was pleased with the result.

Though it was his general Menicus to was much more vocal regarding the praise, 

"Yes, even though the road was good, still the men did well. If it was so easy, the camp followers would have been here too."

"But it seems they were unable to keep pace." He cleverly pointed out.

But here Alexander chimed in to add, 

"Well, that is also because all our food was carried by our soldiers. Our supply train was much lighter."

He did not want his army to grow complacent with just one successful march hence the nitpicking, as he reminded that individual men carried the required three days of marching food with them, shedding a lot of their baggage train. 

And as soon as the matter of food, Lord Prantik quickly interjected to add, 

"Ah, regarding the food my lord, I remember, Lord Prantik saying that he has already asked his men to start delivering the food stored in his depot."

"They will be here by tonight."

It seemed he was trying to embellish his partner in front of Alexander. 

And hearing so the young lord did feel his acridness fade a bit, as he turned to give a soft nod of approval to the sullen lord.