The names, dates, and signatures all left the Queen mother without any doubt that these were no forgery.
And as she read and re-read the papers, she grew increasingly incensed not only at the nobles but that Alexander had killed them.
"If you knew about all these, why did you not capture them? We could have gotten so much from them!" She asked with clenched teeth.
What use was blackmail if there was no person to blackmail with?
"....Like I said, a sudden fire killed them," Alexander played that same broken record, much to the royal lady's exasperation, before backtracking to his previous question,
"Your Highness, you haven't answered my inquiry, 'Are all or even many nobles like that?' I'm curious to know how I should behave in the future."
Alexander's future policies would very much depend on the answer.
"Of course not. We would never so such things," Seelima vehemently spat out, indignant at the accusation, adding, "If we were all like that, the rebellion would have never happened. Alozmer and his father went too far!"
"That's right Alex. Remember that Zanzan has always been a stronghold of Alozmer. And his rotten behavior most spread to here," And Mikaya was there to help The Queen mother.
It seemed that the girl was surprisingly protective of her family's name as she did not mind one bit bad-mouthing the former king, which was also according to them a god.
And her maids joined in too, as Nafia in a rare moment of occurrence spoke up around the dinner, reasoning, "Your Grace, if Master did such horrible things, then he would not have been worried so much about Miss."
"That's right, that's right. Father would also never tolerate this. I'm sure they are doing this behind his back," Even the twins spoke up to defend their rarely-mentioned father.
It appeared that Alexander had stepped on a proverbial tail when he expressed doubt about the integrity of the three men.
"I see. Then I apologize," Alexander only lightly smiled at this, only he knowing how much of this he bought.
Because talk was cheap.
And although it was true both Ptolomy and Amenheraft were relatively clean, it remained to be seen by how much.
After all, everyone had their dark sides.
Alexander then moved on to asking the women how they had been, and other small talk, with the feast ending as such, on a somewhat mercurial note, with happiness, satisfaction, and merriment mixed with equal parts of anger, fear, and trepidation.
For a victory had been achieved but a war was soon over the horizon.
A topic that Alexander again bought up when he met his military and civilian leaders the next morning.
First, Melodias gave a tally of the loot they had collected, which was not much, only about two million ropals.
And that was counting the various stuff looted from the various households.
This was mainly because those poor seven souls really not too well off.
But hey, even mosquito meat was meat, and Alexander's earnings did exceed his cost of the campaign, which was less than fifty thousand (50,000) ropals.
After Melodias, Menes then informed the group of the fate of the killed and casualty.
"The families of the seventeen who have been killed have been paid the appropriate rumination. Those who have families in Zanzan have already received it. And those whose families are in Thesos or are on their way on the ships will be paid when they reach Zanzan."
Alexander's heart shook a bit when he thought about that excited family landing on Zanzan, eager to meet their husband, father, or brother, only to find that he was dead.
He could not imagine that feeling.
"Remember to make sure the widow gets the money. I'm putting you in charge Menes," Alexander thus instructed specifically.
The money of 5,000 ropals, or two year's salary was not much, but would at least help.
"Yes, my lord," Menes very passionately replied, before continuing his report, this time, reporting the casualties.
"Furthermore, twenty-eight men have received various degrees of injuries. Most are expected to rejoin the army with no problem."
"But those who are really crippled will be given a pension, and if possible, a job in the military, such as a logistician, armorer, blacksmith, etc, circumstance permitting.." Menes thus finished his report.
And then the topic made its way to the upcoming war, which the members already knew about beforehand and so the discussion went about the same way as it had done around the dining table.
With a few exceptions of course.
"My lord, as you have asked, we have transferred most of the armorers and swordsmiths into crossbows and arrow makers," Menicus reported as they sat across the table.
This instruction had come in the form of a note which Alexander had sent via a messenger on the very day he had learned of the imminent attack.
The note began with the word, 'Recent discoveries in Jabel have made me decide to that,' before laying out the instructions.
And it was sent to Menicus because he was the most senior council member, as well as being a military veteran.
"Mmm, good. We will need to use the crossbows to counter the camel archers," Alexander flatly laid out.
For the upcoming battle, chainmail or 'super' swords would not be the wonder weapon, but the game-changing crossbows.
The reason for this included ease of use, ease of training on it, comparatively inexpensive ammunition, and the ability to hold a bow at full span for a sustained period, waiting to seize the optimal moment for a shot, while also being much more accurate at the same time as one's arm would not be shaking unlike when drawing a traditional bow.
"We are also preparing the ground outside the city to train ten thousand (10,000) men on the crossbow. The recruits will be mainly from the former Cantagenan slaves and the Adhanian who had fought Amenheraft." Melodias then reported his part.
He was followed up by Diagosis, who happily informed, "We are also strengthening and thickening the southern wall had leads to the harbor. Most of the cement is being diverted to add height and width to the walls there. And we are confident of doubling the thickness before February."
The southern walls were Zanzan's weak spot, and so Alexander decide that this portion should be especially thickened in case of an amphibious assault.
And at last Uzak informed confidently, "The wooden northern, eastern, and southern gates are all being replaced with solid wrought iron gates, which will be further reinforced with thick steel bars in the back. Nothing will break them!"
The man genuinely seemed to believe that as in this time period steel was considered the strongest metal.
These were the main four directives Alexander had laid out to be completed, and hearing them going smoothly, Alexander let out a smile and an approving nod.
But amongst all this good news, there was one not-so-agreeable, which was uttered by Heliptos, "My lord, some of the city folk are weary of war and destruction. They have been plagued by it for years now. And have gone weary. Some are even grumbling that the peace you promised them was a …not true,"
The finance minister avoided the strongly negative word lie.
"They dare!" Menes was the one to raise his voice.
He was incensed that even after all they had done, these people were still not grateful.
While Alexander was much more calm, and took the opportunity to say, "Hmmm, indeed the people have suffered. Perhaps a siege might be out of the consideration then."
Alexander had no appetite to sit inside the city with a rumbling stomach, hoping that the enemy starved before him, and so this plan had always been his least favorite one.
And now that the people's morales were low, it was the perfect time to suggest that this tactic would be unviable even before anyone else could suggest it.
For it was very much possible for a starving, angry populace to simply rebel and open the gates to let in the enemy if things got dire enough.
"I agree. We have too little food stockpiled anyway. A siege will not be good for us," Menicus too buttressed Alexander, as the agriculture minister tacitly informed Alexander that Cambyses's estimate of six months was too optimistic.
A fact that she missed as she was not present currently due to a sudden cold.
"Then it will have to be a pitched battle! And I have already sent scouts to map out the area," Grahtos very excitedly said this, eager to find out how his new heavy cavalry would match up against the camel archers.
By Alexander's instruction, he had sent horse riders to the nearby lands, armed with the maps they got from the nobles, and a clear picture of the terrain was expected soon.
Only after that would Alexander then decide exactly what tactic to follow.
And thus, with these preliminary preparations going on, Alexander then spent some more time discussing the upcoming campaign and agreeing on the framework of the upcoming battle, such as asking "How many men can we get in total for total?"
"....About thirty-five to forty thousand (35,000- 40,000) max." Menes had thought about this fact for some time, hence the quick answer.
And he even helped break it down, "We have around sixty thousand (60,000) men. But not all can fight. And some will have to stay behind to guard the city as garrisons, keep order, run the basic things like food distribution, sanitation, and various other things. So 40,000 is our limit."
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