Herald of Steel

Alexander's detailed reasoning displayed that he had given the decision far greater thought than the detractors, causing Menes and Meniscus to nod in defeat.

"The pasha is always ten steps ahead of this old man," Menicus exaggeratedly praised.

"Haha, senior flatters me," Alexander humbly smiled, though didn't outright dismiss the claim.

Instead, Melodias chimed in with an even bigger claim, "My lords, I believe the pasha is even more intelligent than that!"

And as the men turned to look at him, Melodias explained, "I say this because these five hundred soldiers can also be used as instructors to raise, train, and send reinforcements to the front lines if the need ever arises. So, I believe these soldiers must stay in the new police force."

Melodias expressed his support for Alexander.

Though hearing Melodias praise him, Alexander had half a mind to say this out aloud, 'You are giving me too much credit here, man. That thought never crossed my mind.'

But since Melodias was so graciously offering, and feeling that saying this would embarrass the man, Alexander just shut up, smiled, and nodded.

Melodias and Alexander's reasoning convinced the tall general for the necessity for the transfer, but that gave another problem for Menes, "Pasha, where should I find thirteen hundred good, strong, men? Everyone is working on something or the other?"

"Hmmm," Humming a bit, Alexander tried to think of a solution and finding one answered, "I will sell the military one thousand of my slaves. And if they fight for us for four years, they will be set free. Is that okay?"

Using slaves as armies were not without risk as giving the oppressed the weapons one would need to free themselves was not a good idea.

But examples of such did exist in Alexander's past life, the most famous being the Ottoman Janissaries and this life, and because the number Alexander proposed was relatively very small, only one-fifth of the total army, with even the promise of emancipation in a short time, the chances of rebellion was quite small.

"The pasha is wise. With the slaves outnumbered and given an easier way out, they can be trusted not to revolt," Menicus said out loud Alexander's thoughts, showing the old man's deep grasp on human phycology.

"Yes, that's right. Rebellion occurs either when one is placed in an abject situation with one hope of salvation or when the governing body is perceived as being too weak. We must be neither." Alexander advised his retainers, which drew understanding looks from them.

With the manpower problems solved for now, Alexander then raised a topic that had come to him yesterday night while discussing the business with Ophenia.

"My lords, it has come to my attention that there are a lot of widows and orphans in the city, their male relatives dead or missing. How do you plan to rectify this imbalance?" Alexander tested his advisors.

Because women were traditionally not allowed to work and because one needed to stay in the house to cook, clean, and take care of the children, it was imperative for these women to find a partner.

"You are very correct that this is a problem, pasha. Many of these girls you mentioned have as such turned to prostitution. They even shamelessly show their bodies off in broad daylight." Heliptos, a traditionally conservative man found such open displays of promiscuity scandalous as he exclaimed to Alexander.

"My lord pasha, they even try to entice my men during work hours. It is affecting their speed," Diagnosis, who was in charge of making the houses complained.

"Many in the army also visit these girls. It's affecting army cohesion," Melodias gravely warned.

"Hmm, I have also noticed these problems mentioned by everyone." Menicus had a worried frown on his voice as he said so, adding, "And the situation is not just bad for us. It is in fact even worse for the girls. With no one to take care of them, they have nothing and are desperate."

"Indeed." Menes nodded in agreement, saying "And such a situation makes them quite vulnerable to opportunistic men. Without a man's protection and having no will of their previous husband or guardian to go with it, any man has the legal right to snatch their property or worse the women themselves."

Menes rightly pointed out how dangerous the situation was for many women, as many slave traders operated in such ways, kidnapping innocent, defenseless women and selling them elsewhere.

In fact, Menes and his mother, who died shortly after capture, were made slaves like that.

And the reason why women were particularly so vulnerable, besides being physically weaker, was because by law women had no real right to inherit land, money, or property.

They could do it if a male guardian left it to them in an explicit will, but unlike the sons, who would by default inherit their father's possession upon the latter's death, the mothers and daughters could not.

As a matter of fact, a woman's existence was barely acknowledged in the eyes of the law, which allowed such tragedies, along with much more horrific ones to occur.

Alexander thought about the legal aspect of it when Menes bought it up, making a mental note, 'I should make a law about that.'

But immediately afterward, the next musing that came to him was, 'But will anyone follow it?'

Alexander felt that due to the cultural norm of such practices in Adhanian, trying to bind people with the law might be similar to the US's prohibition law, utterly ineffective and so he intended to first raise the female standing in the society through employment and education before passing, according to many males in the society, such harsh property laws.

"The army should have a lot of bachelors. We can encourage them." Grahtos joined the conversation and gave the same, easy answer that Alexander had thought of.

"Also many of the freed Cantagenan slaves are looking for a girl," Jazum, who employed a lot of them in brick making, informed Alexander.

"Hmm, good. Then how should we encourage them?" Alexander asked his second question.

"Perhaps the pasha can lead by example," Menicus half teased, half seriously commented, his lips curling up at the playful jest.

"Haha, yes, yes. We are all very eager to meet the young pasha as soon as possible," Melodias too supported Menicus with a loud laugh.

And soon the others too chuckled and teased Alexander using the joke.

Alexander could only purse his lips and gave a shy smile at these fun-hearted banters while thinking, 'I should set up a date for my marriage with Cam.'

"My lords, thank you for your well-wishes. It touches the deepest part of my heart that you express such enthusiasm for my unborn son," Alexander did a small bow.

"But, now is not the right time to marry a native. Maybe sometime later."

Nobody realistically expected a pasha like Alexander to marry a commoner, it was all some light fun, and so Heliptos gave the serious answer, "My lord, I don't think they need any encouragement. Only the fact that they can inherit all the woman's property should be enough to entice the men. What more can they want?"

As usual, the penny-pinching Heliptos gave a way to avoid spending any money.

And this time Alexander agreed with him.

And the others seem to too as Menicus voiced, "I think so too. The only reason the men have not done so is probably because they have not yet thought about it."

"Hmmm, so is that what all my advisors propose? To make it an official announcement, urging the men to marry Adhanian women?" Alexander gave a flat, exaggerated wide smile as he asked.

"Yes...unless the pasha has anything to add?" After confirming Alexander's statement with a nod, Menicus sent him another cautionary inquiry.

Usually, such a question by Alexander would be succeeded by him pointing out a fact the others had missed.

But this time, something different happened.

This time, Alexander decided not to spoon-feed the problem he had noticed.

.Instead, he smiled and said, "There is a tiny problem with the policy proposed by the lords. But it is nothing major and will likely manifest only after a few years. So, it will be a good lesson for us all then, reminding us that even we are fallible in our decision-making."

Although Alexader used 'us', everyone understood he was just being polite and it meant 'you'.

This statement, indicating Alexandre would not tell them the fault surprised many and so, all the leaders, both military and civilian racked their brains to find the so-called flaw in their seemingly flawless plan.

And it would be four years later that this issue would rear its ugly, where many instances of women being married for their money and then being prompted divorced by their new husbands, with all their wealth being transferred to their ex-husbands and thus them becoming penniless in the process, would come to light, prompting Alexander to pass a new law decreeing, 'All marriages must last eight years for such wealth transfers to take place.'

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