Herald of Steel

Alexander giving his soldiers an effective salary of 50 ropals a month might sound like sowing the seeds for rebellion.

After all, 50 ropal might not even be enough to feed one's wife, let alone the many extra mouths that would also be there.

And it was not like food was only the cost of living.

People needed other goods as well.

Essentials like food, clothing, and medicine, needs such as potteries and furniture and wants such as jewelry and luxury wine.

So on the face of it, this paltry salary might seem unsustainable for Alexander.

But there were several caveats to that argument.

Firstly, the 150 ropal wage was the starting wage, i.e for new, green recruits, and so naturally their pay would be low.

These men also would usually be in their mid to late teens, young and juvenile, and normally be not married.

And so for them, 50 ropals a month of essential savings was a lot.

For comparison, the greatest military in earth's history, the US military paid its newest soldiers E1 privates a base pay of 1800 dollars, which was less than a third of the median average of 6000 dollars, though they would supplement the teenage recruits with some other benefits.

And this was the case for the best-funded military in the world.

Whereas for cash-strapped militaries like Russia, which had a gdp per capita of around a 1000 dollars a month, regular recruits earned around 300-400 dollars of base pay, while conscripts did not get even 30 dollars.

And this was the situation for industrialized nations.

In this light, Alexander giving his recruit proportionally around the same pay- a third of the national average was pretty generous.

And if one thought about it, this could see as a comparatively great deal by the men because a boy in his teens could earn the same amount as an experienced farmer would and more importantly save five times the money as the latter.

Thus the military had a great allure, albeit with a small chance of losing a limb or death.

The second caveat to the pay grade was that this 50 ropal limitation did not apply to most of the men in the current legion.

Most of them had much more than five years of combat experience under them and hence earned the minimum base pay of 200 ropals.

And even for the few who did not, such as the former Cantagenan slaves, they had earned enough loot from the previous two victories to make them quite well off.

And here came the third caveat- The loot.

"We will go on a lot of expeditions. And we will collect loot, booty, and women to our heart's content," Alexander had flared the men up.

He did not plan to let the men plunder and pillage the lands but decided that the nobles would be fair game.

He planned to give the men a portion of the income and he even made plans to gift some of the captured noblewomen from his future conquest to his military commanders as rewards, though he had not made up his mind about that as he was still wary of any potential backlash.

So in this way, Alexander believed that the soldiers would be able to supplement their income with the occasional windfall, and might even make them eager for future campaigns.

Hence the pay strategy.

Alexander then also made descriptions of the new weapons and armor being made and their efficacy in his speech, claiming, "Goddess Gaia has gifted you new armor so that you will protect her flock. And graced you with her sword to slaughter the devils."

Alexander hence paraded the chainmail and new sword as heavenly weapons.

And penultimately in his speech, he addressed the issue of heavy drilling and training ordained by him.

Though there had been only little grumbling as they were all veteran mercenaries, Alexander wanted to let the soldiers know the reason for their increased work.

First, he told them of the limitations of the phalanx using the example of their latest battle and how it matched their surrounding topography.

And then finished by saying, "The phalanx can only be used in flat grounds and so we will never be able to win a battle fought on a hill. That's why we need a new infantry formation, and this is the 'Legion' formation."

Alexander afterward proceeded to describe the basics of the formation, how it would work, and why it needed such strict training, with a highlight of his points being, 'Defeating the enemy by simply outmarching and outflanking the enemy'.

Alexander then at last finished the speech with the words, "Soldiers, the Goddess has informed me that Zanzan is surrounded by devils whose armies outnumber and outsize it."

"And so has tasked me to produce a group of warriors who are equipped with the best weapons in the world, who are fed the best food money can buy, and who are given the best training possible, all so they might defend us."

"Are you those warriors?" Alexander raised his fists into the air as he asked, and got an ear-deafening roar in return.

The soldiers were dismissed after this speech save for two companies who moved outside the city to show off the various tactical maneuvers and formations.

Here they fought a mock battle with one another, where one was the legion and the other a phalanx, as all the military leaders gave commentary.

"The new formation is weaker than the phalanx in pure frontal attacks. And when in situations like this its commander needs to be agile and try to outflank the enemy." The black general remarked.

"That's right. Also, the spear range is a problem." Melodias said as he pointed his finger at the ongoing exhibition, commenting, "Our soldiers will not be as easily penetrate the dense bristle of spears as they are seen doing now. Real spears don't have the metal tip removed."

"Hmmm, then soldiers at the front will need to be aggressive. They need to use their shields to bash away the spears and get past the tips. Remove the spear's range advantage," Grahtos quickly offered an offer.

One which the usual taciturn Hemicus upped one, "Or grab and snap the spears."

This too was a viable technique.

Though very risky and usually a desperate one.

But this type of combat also seemed to perfectly embody Hemicus's character.

He was a simple man, who preferred the simple way of fighting, which was using raw, savage power to burst through the enemy's tactics.

Hearing such analysis, Alexander decided to give his own two cents.

"In a real battle, the soldiers will be armored with chainmail and linen thorax. So they will be able to take spear thrusts a lot better." He reminded them.

And then pointed out, "Also like Lord Melodias pointed out about the spear, let me remind you that the soldiers will use real pilums and plumbatas (huge darts with a steel spike). This will make the enemy front lines significantly weaker, making the spear bristles not as dense as seen here."

But Melodias appeared slightly skeptical of this theory, "Hmmm, maybe my lord." he appeared unconvinced and explained his own thought process, "But I think the majority of those javelins will be deflected by the spears held up high at an angle by the back ranks."

As the cautious man then hypothesized, "Also the soldiers will likely aim for the middle of the group to make sure their pilums hit. So the front few rows might be intact, making breaking them hard."

In this way, the five military leaders discussed the various aspects of the formation and theorized its strengths and weaknesses.

Also, from this exchange, Alexander understood that mock battles could only get him so far.

Battle drills had their limitations and could never replace real combat.

But it still could act as a guiding stick, as the military leaders discussed topics that ranged from how to deploy the legion, how many to deploy, and their daily training procedures to name a few.

The drill ended after about two hours, and then Alexander personally thanked the men, talked to the captains of the two companies, and heard their opinions about the new infantry formation and what they felt could be done to make it better and other related topics.

But finally, with all these 'extra' activities, done, it was at last time to move on to the main reason why Alexander was there.

The thing Grahtos was most looking forward to and something that Alexander had promised way back at the end of October- The new cavalry tactics.

To showcase this, Alexander first moved the group to a kind of horse racing track a bit further away from the place where the mock battle had taken place.

This ground outside the city had been built on Alexander's order, and as the group entered the cordoned off-premises, they saw the tracks had many targets and obstacles dotted around them.

"Grahtos, I know you have been waiting for this," Alexander turned to the cavalryman in a teasing tone as Grahtos surveyed the surroundings, while, he also sent a signal to the military commander in charge of the area.

And with the permission received, soon the show military parade began, with the first display being a few of Alexander's bodyguards riding on horseback.

They were clad in full body armor, carrying a lance, and strikingly holding a bow on their back.

But that was not the most eye-catching part of their kit, it was that their horses were also armored.

This was revolutionary for the time being.

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