Herald of Steel



Alexander's slight tirade was a calculated one, one meant to crush the last bit of resistance some of these nobles might have regarding Alexander's takeover.

And it worked to a degree, as the eloquent Takba replied to Alexander with a light smile,

"My lord, we are aware of our situation. And I also believe I speak for the majority of us when I say that we do not have any problem with most of the proposed demands."

"Indeed many of them will likely make us richer."

"So, please, let us turn the page and you can show us what you want to offer to those who side with you."

The man was an accomplished negotiator.

Hearing this Alexander gave an acknowledging nod to him, and then with a smile turned the page, saying,

"I'm sure all of you have noticed all the unique trinkets and baubles Zanzan has to offer. So join us and you can be also a part of that."

As he then pointed to the letters on the page,

"Here you can see that I have listed the various things Zanzan produces, its market value, and the price at which we are willing to sell a certain amount of it annually to you."

"And to aid you even more in that decision, I have even calculated the estimated profit you will be making from these commodities."

Alexander has a smooth, almost oily tone to his voice as he said this, and then simply paused to let the nobles read the offer and the quotes numbers.

The offer was written like this:

Iron - Market Price per kg- 50 ropals

Special price per kg- 25 ropals up to 20 tons for Shordars (Barons)

up to 30 tons for Talukders (Viscountss)

up to 50 tons for Jamiders (Earls)

Estimated profit: Shordars (Barons)- 500,000 ropals

Talukders (Viscounts)- 750,000 ropals

Jamiders (Earls) - 1,250,000 ropals.

The same list went for all the other goods, filling up the entire second page, and giving a detailed breakdown of almost all of Zanzan's 'delicacies.'

The nobles noticed that Alexander was offering a consistent discount of 50% to his retainers up to a certain quota based on their peerage.

Namely, iron, salt, paper, soaps, glassware, woven fabric, and sugar were all being offered to the nobles at a price where the nobles would be able to make money hand over fist if they were to re-export to other territories.

And at the end of the exhaustive list, the page simply concluded by totaling all the estimated profits together.

It read:

Shordars (Barons)- Around 2 million ropals

Talukders (Viscountss)- Around 3 million ropals

Jamiders (Earls) - Around 5 million ropals.

The numbers that were written there were huge and the nobles read and re-read the page to make sure everything was in good order and that Alexander was not trying to hoodwink them.

And the reason for this caution was strangely not out of doubt.

But incredulity.

For the profits that Alexander was promising them were truly out of this world.

For example, a shordar's (baron) annual income was only around 500,000 to 600,000 ropals and here Alexander was offering them 4 times the amount.

And such an offer similarly affected the talukdars (Viscounts) and Jamiders (Earls) who earned around 2 to 3 million and 10 to 15 million ropals a year.

As a matter of fact, just the first point, the iron sales would have been enough to make most nobles seriously consider jumping ship.

And so given the huge list of offers, the men there sat and read and re-read the terms until they could recite the numbers by heart.

But even after all that time, they could not find any blatant flaw with Alexander's assumptions.

In fact, some were even of the mind that Alexander was underpricing his goods and believed they would be able to fetch a bigger price.

Hence the allure of the large amount of money made many who had been on the fence before to strongly consider siding with Alexander, while those who had liked Alexander's offer had pretty much made up their minds.

And even those staunchly opposing nobles were kind of in flux, their greed and desire for potential economic prosperity strongly wrestling with their ethics and values.

But none of the three groups said anything yet.

Because there was still one more page left to go.

And who knew what kind of bizarre things would be written in there?

So after a while as the de-facto leader Lord Tikba raised his head up and addressed Alexander in a neutral voice, "We have no problem with the offers on this page."

"May we move on to the last page?"

Alexander on the other hand was actually expecting to see some of the nobles jump and join him by now.

But seeing no such luck, he nodded to Tikba's suggestion and then wordlessly flipped the page, before again starting.

"It is only natural since we are giving you so much in return, we also expect you to fulfill some additional obligations and duties."

"Here they are. Please let me read them around."

Alexander then began.

"The first point is what you have all guessed."

"If you join us you must pay 1% of your yearly harvest as military fees to help pay for the salaries of the men that will keep your lands safe if Amenheraft attacks you."

Alexander dressed the tax as a kind of military contribution.

And then tried to soothe that burn with the following words,

"But in exchange for that, you will not be obliged to host us or entertain us or send any annual gifts to us."

And then continued.

"The second point is that you cannot raise or lower any taxes you levy on your farmers or merchants without first notifying the Zanzan council."

"All tax increase or decrease must be prior approved by a two-thirds majority in the Zanzan council."

Alexander at this point raised his head to say, "Now, you all must be wondering what is the Zanzan council and who is its members."

"Well, that nicely brings us to our third point."

"The Zanzan council will be the ruling organization that will actually govern the province of Zanzan and all its settlements."

"You will get to know the details of how it works later, but basically it will consist of all the nobles who join us and they will get to collectively vote on issues regarding the future governance of the province"

"So the third point is that after you join us, you must keep a representative of yours here in Zanzan who will vote on your behalf, such as your brother, father, or successor."

Alexander discussed his demand for hostages under the guise of democracy.

"The fourth point is regarding the royal tithe." He then said, elaborating,

"Whereas the neutral nobles are free to give the 10% of their farmer's produce to whichever temple they like, you will not be allowed to do so."

"For you, the nobles of Zanzan, you must give 5% of the tithe to King Ptolomy's new temple and 3% to the new Gaia temple."

"That means the tithe will be 8% and not 10%."

"This is the grace of His Majesty Ptolomy, who does not want to burden his subjects with a load they cannot bear," Alexander managed to say this sounding quite pious.

Though it would be not the presents but the nobles who would be the ones really benefitting, as they would be able to nick that 2% from the peasants and make a 1% profit that paying Alexander his 1% land tax.

And Alexander had no problem with this.

Because it was really not the peasants who were with the power here, and they were not the ones he needed to keep happy.

No, for that were the nobles, and for now, in the initial stages of his empire building, Alexander knew he would have to throw out large incentives to motivate these men to switch sides.

So, with that said, Alexander moved to his penultimate point.

"The fifth point is that you must implement various infrastructure development and policies as demanded by the Pasha and his council."

"For now one of that is the most important is the building of roads connecting all the friendly noble territories with each other and with Zanzan, both to help boost trade between ourselves and also to allow the army to quickly reinforce any part of the frontlines."

"And to aid in that endeavor, we will demand that each shordar (baron) hand over 50 men, each talukdar (viscount) 200 men, and each Jamider (Earl) 500 men temporarily to that these roads can be built within the next year."

"And lastly, the sixth point is that whatever filthy practice you do, such as the kinds those traitors in Jabel confessed to before dying, killing, raping, and torturing, clean them up before they ever see the light of day. And swear to yourself to never do it again." Alxx had a very harsh tone to his voice as he said this, and then strongly warned,

"Because if I ever get even a whiff of such things being committed by you or your kin, you will be immediately kicked out of the group, and depending on the gravity of your crimes, the council may even decide to declare war on you."

With this said, Alxx then remembered an additional occurrence, and lightly added this as his very last point,

"Oh, and as for your various customs and traditions, I will join in some and absence in others."

"And I will understand if you choose to do the same."