Herald of Steel



Ural estimated that they would face around ten thousand (10,000) Zanzan defenders atop the wall.

This halved number came because typically in a siege, about half the population would be children, the old and weak, and the women, who would be used in logistics like bringing stones and weapons up to the walls, distributing food and water, taking care of the injured, and many more things other than directly participating in the fighting.

And to deal with the ten thousand (10,000) men, a force of fifty-five thousand (55,000) had been gathered, showing the determination of the noble side, and particularly of Djose.

And this ten thousand (10,000) number was gathered primarily relying on Pasha Muazz's intelligence regarding the city, who initially asked for fifty thousand (50,000) but surprisingly got even more.

Pasha Muazz in turn had gotten his information from the nobles who fled Zanzan some three months ago, and by also extrapolating on the disastrous state he had left the city in, dirty, vacant and with no food or jobs.

This meant that Muazz had no idea of the twenty thousand (20,000) extra people Alexander had bought with him when he moved to Zanzan, or that the twenty thousand (20,000) Zanzanians he had lost in battle were recovered by Alexander and returned to their native land.

Neither did he deem it necessary to find out that about fifty thousand (50,000) refugees had moved to Zanzan after Alexander opened its gates the city gates to them.

This was mainly because of shoddy intelligence gathering on his part, thinking nothing significant could have changed in just three months.

Which was partly arrogant on his part, but also partly true for his time period.

Three months were really too short to do anything meaningful to a city, especially if that city was called Zanzan and stories about it were true.

The fleeing nobles had bought back with them horrifying tales of plague and disease, describing the city as a graveyard, a tomb, and the cursed plans, so much to the point that Muazz in some twisted way was actually glad that they had lost the battle with Alexander, for he did not want to go back to that city right now.

He imagined it to be a corpse-ridden, disease-filled, hell hole where men and women beggars roamed the streets like shambling zombies, fighting like animals, and sometimes with animals over scraps of food, not having anything to eat, not having anywhere to go in this biting cold, and not having any way to earn money.

A hell on earth.

And while he thought of it, most times while in his bed, instead of feeling sorry for his people, the sadist would smile in glee, saying 'Those garages deserve it. If they had served me properly, they would not be in this situation. Suffer! Suffer even more!'

After all, everything wrong in his life was always everyone else's fault except his.

And then he would drift into his sweet dreams, content in the image of that bimbo Alexander not even knowing where to begin fixing this city.

And truthfully, Muazz himself doubted he could fix the Zanzan of his imagination.

Even if he could get the required food, where would be the medicine, the jobs, the economy, or the housing?

Pasha Muazz had no answer for that.

But he did not need to.

At least not right now.

And when the time came, he planned to simply dump it into the defeated shoulders of Alexander, saying that it was all his fault.

And then claim that now that the city has returned to its rightful owner's hand, everything will be alright.

But when will it be alright you ask?

Well, be patient lost lamb, and let Pasha Muazz handle everything.

It was the perfect plan.

Hence, in a way, even if Muazz got the correct information, it would be almost impossible for him to believe it.

And he might even discard it thinking that the agent had been bought or capitulated.

For the transformation Zanzan had undergone in the short three months was truly extraordinary and had to be seen to be believed.

Due to Alexander's actions, it had recovered from its plague-ridden, filthy, smelly state to becoming a bustling city center, clean, vibrant, and with clean water running in almost the blink of an eye, where men did not simply have the time to stay idle begging and loitering as Muazz imagined, but had more work than they could complete.

And their biggest complaint was not about their basic necessities- food, medicine, housing, or clothing, but that though the new young lord paid a generous wage, he also sometimes set long hours.

Which was true to a degree.

But this complaint was more of the innocent grumbling of any worker rather than an actual grievance.

Muazz's information blindspot was further created when Alexander simply killed almost all his informants, i.e- the street rats and gang leaders, using the devil excuse, crushing his intelligence network almost overnight.

In fact, the speed and lethality with which this young man had acted made Muazz up until now still not appreciate the full gravity of it all, hence another reason for his gross blunder.

And lastly, there were the dead nobles who would have been more up-to-date with the ins and goings of Zanzan and could have helped them make a more informed decision.

They had certainly noticed the hustle and bustle of the city, and though even they did not have the full picture, they certainly knew that Zanzan was no ghost city, a concern Kyamin had raised with Jamider (Earl) Nibbar.

A concern that sadly went to the underworld without reaching its destination.

Hence came Muazz's famous saying regarding the city defense, "My lords, I've credible reports that most of the people in the city are ready to rebel. And they are being only kept in line only under the threat of sharp swords."

"So, all we will need to do is show up, and the city will be ours, hahaha."

The rotund Pasha laughed so gleefully that one would think he had already gotten his city back, the report being pulled out of his rear.

But though he was wrong to the point it would be hard to be more wrong, his confidence and re-telling of the conditions of Zanzan convinced almost all.

Even Faruq and Ulmek's son Ural were happy by this news.

While Nibraz, Nibbar's father showed off his military insight by asking, "If it is going to be a siege, why would we need cavalry? Horses use up five times the food, and last time I checked, they can't climb walls."

He was very correct in this.

Horses were pretty much useless in sieges, as charging against stone walls was generally ill-advised.

And so, during such an event, the rider would have to ditch his companion and climb up the wall all by himself.

Which made the horse useless baggage.

"That's right. I believe that I'm correct in saying that the current strategy is to impose a naval blockade and then have the walls scaled using our infantry. So why do we need so many horses?" Amenheraft too posed.

"....." Faruq and Ural could only exchange glances.

Because they knew the simple reason behind this course of action was not militaristic but purely political.

Because Djose simply wanted to use his elite cavalry to crush his son's murderer.

And when Djose sent his Jahal mercenaries, Matbar (Marquiss) Ulmek went with the flow and sent some of his cavalries, which could act as scouts and foil ambushes, while seeing this trend Jamider (Earl) Nibbar gave his chariots which were his family tradition.

Thus posed with the query from the king, these two clever two people quickly racked their brains to come up with an answer.

An answer they quickly found out when they cast their minds to the tragedy of Jabel.

"My lords, from the speed at which Jabel was taken, we can be reasonably certain that Alexander has some good forces under him. He was a mercenary leader after all. These horses are there to deal with such uncertainties. After all, who knows, god willing, that young fool might be brash enough to attack us head-on, hahaha," Faruq really hoped that was the case.

Then he would not have to worry about the casualty heavy ladder rush.

While the gathered nobles focused on how Faruq addressed Alexander, not with disdain and mockery, but with neutral respect.

This was because the Pasha's son had no quarrel with Alexander.

As a matter of fact, he was even thankful for all the help he had provided, intentionally or not.

But such observations of the nobles were quickly cut short by Ural, who also joined on this made-up excuse, "That's right. Also remember my lords, since our plans have been leaked, reinforcements from Adhan or Matrak might be there. We should best prepare ourselves for any type of surprise."

This was very unlikely given the short time window, but the possibility was there.

"Hmmm, now that you mention it, has there been any official letter from the other side regarding this? If the news got out, we should at least expect a letter deterring us…" Another Jamider (Earl) present there asked.

"That's right. If I was in such a position, that's what I would have done," A second voice supported the inquiry.

"No. Not last time I checked," But Ameneheraft denied receiving any such communique.

Which immediately raised the hopeful voice, "So, does that mean our offensive is a secret? That nobody talked?"

The amount of hope in that question was palpable.