Herald of Steel

Hearing Alexander's question, Menicus took the lead to express his viewpoint of the situation, "I too agree with Lady Cambyses. Even if we assume that the soldiers will be able to march twice as fast as those starving men burdened by women and children and the baggage train, it will still take us some time to finish this campaign."

"Or the campaign might not even happen." Melodias posited, cautioning many of the bellicose men, "We should not break the treaty so soon."

"Melodias is right to weary. We paid a lot to get this peace and to tear it up so soon will not only inconvenience us, but it will also cause our allies extreme displeasure." Alexander nodded approvingly at Melodias's warning.

But this had the side effect on many of the men, especially the military leaders becoming visibly deflated.

All of them save one were in their prime and so were eager to earn glory, booty. and land.

Not to mention it was the fasted way to rise through the ranks.

"But we must do it anyway," Just as the men were starting to feel a bit down, Alexander then, in many's eyes, suddenly u-turned on his announcement and declared that the campaign will occur regardless.

"My…my lord, that's…umm…" Menes went a bit slack-jawed at this mercurial response.

This was because though he would be a bit disappointed if this deployment could not occur, he certainly did not want to commence if it meant tearing up the treaty.

This was also the only real reason they were even debating about using the military and not simply going to greet the rebel with the men.

Without this restriction, Menes could confidently say his army could have curb-stomp any opposition the nobles of Zanzan might be able to pose, as the latter's men and material were severely depleted through the drought and the two years war with Tibias, whereas Alexander not only had five thousand elite warriors but also had the freed Cantagenan slaves, many of the Cantagenans that followed him to Zanzan and most of all the twenty thousand slaves he bought.

In all, Menes could wield close to forty thousand experienced men, enough to be more than a match for any army or even armies that the lords of Zanzan could throw at them.

As Menes and along with him the other men too, tried to figure out Alexander's angle, the eighteen-year-old gave the answer, "The answer is simple -Because we need more land."

'More land? But we are not even using the total of our existing farming land!' Menicus just barely stopped himself from blurting it out, telling himself that Alexander must have his reasons.

But even if he could do it, did not mean Cambyses could, who said the exact same thing.

"*Shake" Alexander produced a gentle shake of his head and then waving his palms said, "Let me show you the maths."

Alexander thus began, "Currently, we have around eighty thousand (80,000) men in Zanzan. And in the next two to three months, all the families of the men from Thesos, numbering around thirty to forty thousand (30,000 - 40,000) will be entering the city. And that will bring the total to roughly around one hundred and twenty thousand (120,000)."

He then paused to see if everyone was keeping up, as for many of these half-educated men, even such simple additions were considered hard.

But fortunately, finding that no one was just blankly staring at him, he decided to proceed, "Then there are the twenty thousand (20,000) slaves we purchased from Pasha Farzah. They will also arrive in around January, raising the total to one hundred and forty thousand (140,000)."

"And after that, comes the refugees. Though we do not know their exact numbers, let's be generous and assume a bit bigger number of sixty thousand (60,000) to make the total city's population a nice, whole two-hundred thousand (200,000)." Alexander pursed his lips as he said.

"And because all these people need to be fed, it nicely brings us to the issue of food," He sub-consciously frowned as he said it, finding the number that was produced in his head very distressing.

But one does not just hide the answer because the numbers are too inconvenient, and so he let the men know the situation they were in.

"The two hundred thousand (200,000) men will eat around seventy (70 kg) kilograms of wheat per year. For ease of calculation, we will assume that children and women eat the same amount as a grown man, though, in reality, they each eat half (½) and three-quarters (¾) of a man respectively. And so that comes to fourteen thousand (14,000 tons) tons of grain a year."

Alexander then glanced at the old man Menicus, "My agricultural minister informed me that the lands of Zanzan produce on average two-fifty to three hundred kilograms of wheat per hectare, (250-300 kg/ha). Now with the use of the heavy plow, and using the three-crop rotation, let us say that the yield will almost triple to around seven hundred kilograms per hectare, (700 kg/ha)."

"So to feed the two hundred thousand (200,000) men, we will need twenty thousand hectares (20,000 ha) or two hundred square kilometers (200 sq. km) of land."

This number strangely produced a light smile on many, which Alexander noticed and addressed, "I see many of you are very pleased with this number. After all, in many of your minds, we control around a thousand kilometers (1,000 sq. km) around Zanzan."

"But," Alexander tapped his index finger on the table wood, "Remember that one cannot live off just grain. A man also needs fruits, vegetables, meat, fish, and eggs."

"Thus, given that grain usually consists of a quarter (25%) to at most a third (33%) of one's diet, we can calculate that we will need to at least quadruple the calculated land."

"As a matter of fact, realistically we will need to make it five or six times because things like rearing sheep, goats, and cows, and husbandry of other animals like horses, mules, and donkeys will need more space than planting crops."

"So that brings us to around one thousand two hundred square kilometers (1,200 sq. km) of required land, that is, much more than the thousand we have now." Alexander at last finished, making everyone draw poignant looks.

"And not to mention we can't use every inch of land to just grow crops," Menicus spookily added.

This thought had not even crossed anyone's mind and so they could not even think how Alexander had managed to not only notice there might be a potential problem on the spot but also do such complex maths in his head to evaluate the extent, all while he was talking to them.

In fact, over the past few days, Alexander had displayed such competence and foresight, that the men here had gone from being surprised to amazed to finally numb to it all.

'Sigh, perhaps that's how a god's mind works,' Some came to peace with Alexander's abilities.

But just as they were about to go on another round of puffery, a familiar, feminine cough rang out, "Ahem," It was Cambyses, who said, "I'm afraid my lord's calculations might be a little off."

"....." This was a first for everyone in the room, as Alexander had yet to be proven wrong, and other than darting their nervously or in befuddlement, so one really knew how to react.

'Darn, I'm really out of form today,' Alexander cursed himself as after looking at Cambyses's sly, grinning face, he knew he had fucked up.

"My lady, perhaps you are mistaken. I don't usually do mistakes, hehe," Alexander playfully tried to dissuade Cambyses.

And if Alexander was seriously asking her not to embarrass him, she would have listened.

But as the girl knew that Alexander was just pulling per leg, she too mirthfully chuckled, "Hehe, well there is a first time for everything."

'Could you two couples stop flirting and take this seriously,' Seeing this playful exchange, the others had the urge to shout at them to take the situation seriously, but could only hold it off because it was their boss who was doing it.

And so with placid faces that they managed to keep with great effort, they patiently waited till the duo finished their little recreational teasing.

"Ahem," Finally done, Cambyses then signaled the return to the topic with a gentle cough, and began, "So, as I was saying, the twelve hundred square kilometers (1,200 sq. km) is a gross under evaluation. And there are several reasons why."

'I am gonna get my ass handed to me ain't I?' Given how confident Cambyses sounded, Alexander could smell that he likely had messed up majorly in his calculation, and Cambyses was going to give him a good thrashing.

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