Herald of Steel



As Alexander revealed his plan, there was of course no objection to it.

On the contrary, all the military leaders cheered at the approach.

It was not in any way subtle, but given their superiority in firepower, it certainly had a large chance of success. 

One noble even added that this was a very good idea because even if they failed, the casualties would be relatively low.

After all, it would be those camp followers doing all the dangerous work, while the soldiers would have the relatively safe job of shooting arrows.

Something that gained much approval from the other nobles as even Jamider (Earl) TIkba seemed to have shed his pessimistic outlook to put on a happy, expectant face.

Although he still did not believe they could take the city, at least the losses they were likely to suffer would be far less than he had anticipated.

Thus Alexander's plan was given the green light and things over the next week proceeded without much incident.

In that time the soldiers mostly worked to fully build up the camp and turn it from a makeshift abode to a sturdy, robust stronghold.

Thus all the nearby available timber was cut, processed, and made to serve in building the truly massive compound. 

The walled structure was shaped as a square with each side being twice the size of a football, giving the camp an astounding internal area of 40,000 sq meters or almost 10 acres! 

Once completed the camp, or perhaps it would be more appropriate to call it now a fort, had four central gates facing the four directions, with thick wooden gates controlling access to them.

And inside it, was housed everything an army could ever need.

The fort was mainly divided into three sections, the front, the center, and the back, each located in the position their name suggested.

Out of these three, the center section was the most important section, housing the army's brain and nervous system.

At the center midpoint of the squared fort, i.e.- smack down in the middle of the entire structure was the most important structure- The administrative building.

It was a two storied wooden structure, and it was from here where the entire war was conducted and coordinated by processing all the paperwork involved.

It was here where the records of all the available supplies were kept, all the soldiers' monthly payment receipts issued and all the orders given by different officers and commanders overseen and passed along through the appropriate chain of command.

All this was done by a large team of men working tirelessly to keep the cogs of his huge machine moving smoothly.

Next to this vital building, to the right was Alexander's tent, which was the second or first depending on how you see it, the most important place in the camp. 

The large tent belonged sorely to him, and it came furnished with everything he could want, multiple private rooms, an indoor shower, a small kitchen, and most important of all, his war council room, from where he could instruct the entire war effort.

There was even a large enough courtyard right in front of his tent where he could have a small assembly if he wanted to, such as to address his officers regarding something.

While Alexander lived 'right' next to the administrative building, to its left was an obvious structure everyone could guess there would be- The temple.

After all, how could you hope to win a war without the grace of the gods?

Following this on both sides were the various quarters of the high- level nobles and generals with each adobe usually shared by two or three people, along with a few servants.

After that were a few huge granaries, holding not only grains but all sorts of produce required for sustenance for both men and animals.

Multiple of these structures were created, and all were scheduled to be filled once Jamider (Earl) TIkba finished moving all the supplies from the depot in his territory to here.

In front of the granaries was the large medical clinic, which till now empty but would no doubt fill up soon, and lastly, beside it was the armory, storing all the weapons, but more importantly the huge stocks of arrows.

It of course went without saying this entire section was very heavily guarded. 

Adjacent to the central section were the front and back sections of the camp, both of which were mostly the same.

It was mostly filled with barracks for the soldiers to live in, and stables to house the animals.

Each squad of ten men shared one tent, while officers like sergeants (100 men leader) got a tent to share with the three other lesser officers of his unit.

While the close to 10,000 draft animals lived in large, wooden stables scattered throughout the camp, looked after by a small army of men.

In addition to just the tents were a few essential structures too, such as a few large public latrines to service the soldiers' bodily needs and numerous wells dug to meet the freshwater needs.

Furthermore there were also a few other utilitarian structures in the two sections, such as a smithy used to maintain the weapons, a barber shop, a leather armorer shop, various small depots that handed out rations to the soldiers, and even a large courtyard in the center for the soldiers to stretch their legs.

The construction of all this only took a week which might seem scarily fast, but Alexander had actually come here with all the plans already prepared.

All the blueprints were drawn up beforehand, and even the units responsible for each structure were already decided. 

So as soon as the camp's outer perimeter was established, everyone could use the perimeter as a reference to start on their own work without waiting for others to finish theirs.

In that way, as the camp's walls were being built, the buildings meant to be inside were also being completed.

This type of camp building was something completely new, as Alexander had only come up with this tactic this time.

And seeing the speed at which this was done, the nobles really felt their eyes being opened, and they very vividly praised Alexander's organizational ability.

So in this way, after only a week the army was ready to strike Thesalie with all its might.

As for what the Tibias's reaction was to this imminent attack, well when Alexander's army had all of a sudden manifested itself in front of them, they did panic a bit.

"That…this….this…Quick! Inform the commander quickly!" The bored defenders had suddenly felt jolted awake upon seeing a literal army show themselves right at their doorsteps.

How could they have imagined the shift they thought would have nothing more interesting to see than a few deers scuttling about would have such a surprise in store?

Such a nasty surprise!

They had gotten no prior warming.

Normally when armies moved anywhere, the nearby travelling merchants would leak this information.

But Alexander had come here with such speed that the other side did not even get the slightest chance to detect him.

Thus facing the unexpected 50,000 army, the garrison was initially very jittery.

"What's all the commotion? Calm down!" 

But this wave of unease did not last too long, as a pristine-looking, tall middle-aged man gruffly barked out while entering the scene.

He had silver white hair but a jet black beard, and his chiseled face had a large scar going over his left eye.

He walked with a strong confident gait, and his eyes blazed with strength, showing clearly he was a strong man with much fight left in him.

This was the overall commander of Thesalie's entire garrison, as well as the city's governor - Lord Commander Ponticus,

Com…commander!" The arrival of the general was like a giant stone had been placed over a raging river, calming it down, as the soldiers quickly got up to salute the highest authority around here.

Seeing the man himself be here made their hearts soothe themselves. 

"How many are there? When did they come? Did they send any messengers?" 

The strong military man skipped past the formalities as he asked the soldiers the real questions, while at the same time, he approached the walls to see the enemy for himself.

Being the city lord, of course he had gotten the report that a huge army was knocking on his doors as soon as possible and came as fast as he could.

"Our scouts are still trying to find the exact number. But we think at least 60,000 to 70,000 my lord." 

Regarding his question, the answer came from a slightly younger looking man, who was in charge of the everyday operations of the walls.

Named Lapitus, he stepped forward as soon as he could to answer the highest level of authority in the city.

"Bah! You imbecile….what 70,000! They don't even have enough 50,000! You made me come all the here just to see this!"

But hearing the answer, the city lord very quickly chided the man as such.

And then turning to face the soldiers he proclaimed, "The enemy is too few to pose any threat to us."

"This is probably that new lord of Zanzan attacking us without knowing the immensity of it."

"So keep calm and do as you are told and nothing will happen."

"Like nothing has happened for hundreds of years!"

And this was Tibias's response, to simply use the men at hand to repel off the attackers.

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