"We should be ready to assault Zanzan the day after tomorrow," As dusk fell, Faruq grandly stated to his council, indicating for them to prepare themselves.
Because they were just 15 km from their target.
"We were already behind when we set off. And we are now even more behind. Almost a month behind. *Sigh*, when will this end," But many of the nobles did not seem to share Faruq's enthusiasm and grumbled about the timetable.
After they had landed and met up, Faruq had declared, "My camels and riders are seasick. I will need a week to treat them."
And Faruq's stanch was so ironclad that no amount of cajoling and reasoning worked.
And since the offensive could not begin without him, the army could only set up camp near Hatamum, and simply wait.
In the meantime, the soldiers spent idle time as they had nothing to do in the cold, whirling it away gambling, and playing various dice games.
While the officers and nobles enjoyed themselves with the wine and women they bought with themselves.
"The siege of the city will not take…." Faruq attempted to placate many of the discontent voices, but did not get to finish for a scout shouted from outside the tent, "My lords, I bear great news! May I enter?"
He seemed both excited and a bit fearful.
The voice made all the commanders inside the tent instinctively turn their heads at the tent flaps to locate the source of the noise, before Faruq answered in a deep voice, "Come in."
He wondered what could it be.
'Has Alexander come to surrender?' He smirked at the thought, thinking it would be far better for the man to commit suicide than fall under his captivity.
For Djose planned to not let Alexander off so easily.
While the other lords had more realistic expectations.
'Has the city rebelled?' They hoped such so that their campaigns could be cut short.
And this was not too far-fetched an idea.
Many times a city, when faced with a huge opposing army and the prospect of a lengthy siege and starvation, would choose to simply surrender or even rebel against their masters.
But it appeared that was not the case.
"My lords, we have noticed ongoing earthworks close to Zanzan. It seems the Zanzans have sallied out to meet us in the open!" The scout blurted out the moment he entered the tent.
"What!" And hearing this, a noble not good with keeping his emotions in check immediately shot back.
But his voice did not show shock.
But joy.
Surprise and joy.
Because this likely meant they could a lengthy siege.
"Give us the details," Compared to this noble's outburst, Jamider (Earl) Nibraz appeared much more reserved, much more cool.
It appeared the closer this old man was coming to his son's murderer, the more cool headed he was becoming.
"Yes," The scouts responded to the order before taking out a scroll and reading it aloud, "Our cavalry scouts have observed a camp set being up about 5 kilometres from Zanzan city. Initial observation places the enemy forces at around 30,000. But it might be more given that we had to return quickly because it was getting dark."
"30,000? Weren't we said their entire population was less than that?" Ural raised his eyebrow at the report.
"They must have gathered some more from the surrounding villages. Remember how we found all the villages and manor deserted?" And Faruq helped him come up with a plausible reason.
And it was a pretty good guess.
"Then they must have had also some time to train them… given that we are a month late," Ural sent a glancing look and did not forget to poke at Faruq with a sour note.
A jab that the young man ignored with a straight face.
Instead Faruq addressed the scout, "Okay, you can go now. We will conduct a thorough reconnaissance tomorrow morning to see what Alexander is really planning."
The prudent commander did not want to jump to conclusions and wanted to get a better look at the enemy's composition during prime daylight hours to determine if it was a trap, a feint, or a genuine threat.
And he urged his military council to do the same before he decided to dismiss his war council.
But just as he was about to, another herald came to him with the report, "My lord, a messenger from Zanzan is here bearing news from Lord Alexander and wants to meet you. Shall I let him in?"
"Me? Did he ask for me by name?" Faruq asked specifically.
He wanted to figure out how much the opposite side knew about them.
"No, he just said he wanted to meet the commander. Didn't say why either. Said it was a message from his lord to my lord." The messenger answered.
"..." Faruq then turned to give an inquisitive look at his retainers, seeking their advice but only received curious looks himself.
It seemed they wanted to see how Faruq would handle this.
Because to many, Faruq seemed unusually respectful to Alexander during their conversation.
Which they did not like.
Getting no answer from any of his advisers, Faruq hence made the decision himself, and said to the messenger., "Okay, let him in."
And soon a military officer to the Zanzan army entered the tent.
"Greetings great lords, I am Vespay," The tall man appeared polite but not subservient as he bowed to the lords.
He was a clever and intelligent man, and someone favored by Menes.
"What does the great lord of Zanzan have to say to us?" Faruq got straight to the point, adding a heavy dose of sarcasm with it.
"...My lord wonders why is there such a large army marching towards his city when all of you signed the treaty? Are you not afraid of the gods?" Seeing his reception, Vespay did not sugarcoat anything.
"Your lord exactly knows why we are here. Leave!" Faruq curtly shot back, thus ending possibly the shortest negotiation.
And this trip also proved to be the last for Vespay, as when he was leaving the camp, he was captured by the soldiers under Faruq's orders and tortured the whole night for information regarding Alexander's battle plans.
It appeared the 'messenger immunity' did not work on Vespay as Faruq did not see Alexander as a noble.
But Vespay was not an easy man to make talk, and given the short time window they had, the Jahal mercenaries had to report to some pretty brutal tactics to make him talk and make him talk fast.
But even then they only managed to get some pretty basic information from him before he died from his injuries, and his head was placed on a pike.
Still the next morning Faruq did learn what he wanted to know the most, that Alexander was indeed planning to have a showdown in the open fields.
And he even got to know his enemy's force composition- 30,000 infantrymen, 10,000 archers, and 1,000 cavalry.
Of course, the word archer was a mistranslation because crossbow was a new word.
The mercenaries had also asked Vespay for additional intel such as Alexander's battle plans, the commander's names, and most importantly the city's defenses, and garrison strength.
But the man had gritted his teeth even when he was being flayed alive.
But Faruq did not care what happened to that mongrel.
Because Alexander and all his followers would soon follow, he was sure of that.
Instead, he said, "To think that he could have gotten so many men," as he praised the numbers.
Faruq had been skeptical of the number 30,000 thinking it was too large.
But it appeared the actual army was much larger.
Because this was not a small army in any conflict.
In fact, it was quite a respectable number regardless of the context.
And for one city to manage this, it was in fact a gigantic army.
Of course, Faruq did not swallow Vespay's number just like that.
He had also sent his scouts to verify the situation and the two reports seemed to match.
"There must be not one man manning the walls, haha," When Faruq gave this report, this was the first thing one of the nobles smirked.
And made Ural even nod and say, "Yes, you may be right." before suggesting, "How about attacking the port? We are already blockading it May we can try an attack there?"
And as soon as he said this, the idea seemed to gain some traction from even Lord Nibraz, who joined the young lord, "Hmm. we could try that. Leave the camp with a skeleton crew to Fool the Zanzans we are still. But actually board the ships to back through the back. That's not a bad idea actually."
The old lord repeatedly nodded his head to show his approval.
But though the plan sounded very good on paper, Faruq could not believe there were idiots this big with him.
"Who said the port was undefended?" He simply asked, reminding all of them that this was simply a conjecture said by a jubilant noble in the heat of the moment.
A claim the man had nothing to back him up with.
And this realization caused many to flush in shame and the entire room to become silent as a coffin
An opportunity that Faruq decided to seize to cement his leadership, "The heavens have given us a prime opportunity here. Alexander, for whatever misguided reason has chosen to meet us head on, instead of a siege. Let us not waste that. We march tomorrow at dawn!"
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