Herald of Steel



The way casualty calculations worked in Alexander's camp was quite simple.

Each of the ten squad captains would report his losses to his sergeant (100-man leader).

Then the tally of the 6 sergeants would be passed on to the captain (600-man leader).

The number of 10 such captains would reach the legion commander, until finally, each legion commander's number would reach Menes.

And according to the numbers submitted to him, Alexander had lost 394 dead, and 1193 really wounded.

The point of the use of the word 'Really wounded' was used because many more were shot and pierced by arrows but had no fatal or life-threatening injuries.

Such men were soon discharged from the medical clinic and so not calculated in the final tally.

So in total Alexander had actually lost around 1,500 men as dead and wounded, all who would not be available for combat any time soon, and many perhaps never.

1,500 out of 42,000 might sound like a small number, but it was actually huge.

This is because while the men were in formation, it was quite hard to kill a large number of people.

The reason for this was because for one, phalanxes were not designed to kill a lot of people, and for two when there were a lot of casualties formations needed to break.

Thus the numbers again reinforced to Alexander that his army had been really pushed to the edge of breaking and showed just how brutal the fighting had been.

"I see. Make sure they receive adequate compensation," Alexander lightly instructed, not harping on this matter too much.

After all, death and injury were part and parcel of any battle, and comparatively, his losses were minuscule compared to his opponents.

And it was these losses he wanted to inquire about next.

"Do you think the enemy has enough troops to launch an attack tomorrow?" Alexander asked about it in a roundabout way.

And for a while, none answered.

They did not want to say unambiguously say no because if there was indeed a battle tomorrow, then they would look very foolish.

And vice versa reason for saying yes.

So Menicus, being the leader, cleverly said this, "My lord, the enemy must have suffered around 20,000 casualties today. So an attack tomorrow is unlikely," as he then quickly advised a precautionary move, "But we can prepare for it."

"For instance, it has come to my notice that we are running low on crossbow bolts. Perhaps we could have our soldiers collect the many arrows laying strew across the battlefield."

"Most of them should be undamaged. And that will help replenish our arrow supply."

It was only with Menicus's mention that Alexander remembered that arrows were not like bullets, which were used up the moment it was fired.

In the case of arrows, it was perfectly possible to use already shot arrows, and it was even a legitimate strategy to simply pick up the arrows shot by one's enemy and shoot them back at him.

"Good, then have the 5,000 reinforcements scour the field for all undamaged crossbow bolts. Just make sure the torches don't attract the enemy," Alexander hence instructed.

And with this short address, Alexander finished the meeting.

Everybody was dead tired and wanted to go to bed after all.

And once they were alone Cambyses posed. "That 5,000 you took out, are you sure the enemy won't attack the city at night?"

It was certainly possible as a desperate move.

But Alexander did not seem to share these concerns, saying, "They are just as tired as us. So, the men stationed along the southern wall will hold. And even if they breach the city, we can reinforce it from here."

With this said, Alexander decided to turn in early, lastly saying to Cambyses, "You go back. The people will feel better knowing you are in the city."

"And keep the news of the victory a secret for now. We'll see what happens tomorrow."

"Okay," Cambyses gave a curl nod and then left the camp under the pitch black night.

While Alexander's camp slept soundly, Faruq's camp was in an uproar.

Or more specifically, the military tent housing all the nobles was.

And it was not because of them discussing whether tomorrow they would fight or not.

Because that had been discussed a long time ago.

No, they would not fight.

Almost all the nobles unanimously had said this to Faruq in as clear a way as possible.

This was because their losses were around 30%, crippling for any army.

Even for Faruq, his losses were no joke, as the Jahal mercenaries had lost around 800 men as dead and wounded, with 600 among them being dead, almost all from Grahtos's heavy cavalry charge.

And though such a number out of 10,000 might not seem like much, for such an elite unit it was heart-breaking, as being a mobile ranged unit, their casualties rarely crossed the hundred mark in any battle.

So for them to suffer eight times the usual casualty number was no joke and the mercenaries could not remember when was the last time they suffered so much dead.

Not to even mention that on top of all this, their leader had also died.

Then there were the slingers and archers suffering a total of around 1,000 dead and wounded.

Ural had lost around 900 men, which had also made the man feel faint at the realization that he had lost about half of his father's most elite fighting force.

And it even made Ural not want to return home because it was very much possible that his father would take off a few layers of skin from his back for this.

Then there was Lord Nibraz and his 6,000 horses and 6,000 men, almost the entirety of which had been claimed by Alexander, so much so that there was no one even in the military camp to represent that house.

In fact, in the short span of two months, that Jamider (Earl) house had lost all three of its incumbent, former and future lord, plus the great bulk of his most trained forces, leaving it virtually defense.

And it was to the point that it was even questioned whether that house might be able to exist at all some time into the future.

And lastly were the peasant levies acting as infantry that belonged to a group of nobles.

Aside from Lord Nibraz, they were the real losers of the battle, having lost about 11,000 as dead, wounded, or captured, amounting to more than one-third of the original 30,000 they started with.

These men had no appetite for another battle.

And some of the more vocal ones, like the Jamider (Earl) who had contributed the most men even heavily chastised Faruq, accusing him, "It is because of your greed that we lost so men. If you had only let us retreat earlier, we could have tried again tomorrow But noooo…"

He then mimicked and mocked Faruq, " 'Hold! Hold! Just hold on a bit longer!' Is that all you can say?"

Clearly the entire nobility was very upset with Faruq and would not hand over control of their forces over to him anytime soon.

While Faruq stayed silent and took the blame for now.

But that was not the case currently.

Because that was not what they were fighting over.

No, the reason for their bickering was much more primitive, and it involved money.

"What do you mean you will not pay unless we go to war tomorrow?" Lord Liakit shouted, banging his fist on the hard wooden table and glaring at Faruq menacingly.

And Fauq did not back an inch, repeating what he had said before, "Just as I've said before, the deal was that you help me win the battle, and I will give you five times the amount of your remuneration."

He then turned equally menacingly at the noble, snarling out his frustration, "But we did not win did we?"

"No! Because you chose to run in the middle of battle. Like cowards! No win, no pay." Faruq waved his hands dismissively, showing his stanch stand on the matter.

After the nobles decided the battle was over, and it had been lost, now was the time to find a scapegoat to dump all the fault on.

So they were now busy deflecting the blame, the foremost of who wanted to do was Faruq.

Because there was no way he was going to fess up it was his mistake if he wanted to have a shot at becoming a pasha.

And neither would Lord Liakit and Lord Nyantim, both of whom were outraged at being called cowards.

"What! You dare brat!" Lord Nyantim hence shouted, and then pointed his finger to Ural and snarked, "If your idiot brother-in-law had not run, leaving our flank open, our men would have held! If you want to blame someone, blame him."

"We only retreated because the Jahal mercenaries broke, and Alexander's reinforcements were coming our way. It's all their fault," Ural was prepared to defend himself the moment the acquisition came up, and even sneered, "Heh! To think the famed Jahal mercenaries amount to only that much. It seems like their fame is just that, filled with nothing but empty, hot air."

"We did not break. We withdrew to a safer place," Sunash immediately rebutted Ural, explaining, "That's why we returned to battle even after our losses. Even after we lost our commander. Where were you then, pretty boy?"

The finger-pointing had only begun.