Herald of Steel

The claim that Harun had overseen the mines in Adhan was a bit of a misnomer as although he did do all the work, it was under a noble, who took all the glory.

This was one of the reasons behind Alexander’s decision to choose Harun as coupled with the man’s vast experience, he was also clean, and unconnected to any nobility.

This was a crucial factor for Alexander as he had enormous, super projects in mind, particularly the blast furnace, and secrecy regarding them was paramount.

Thus he needed a man who was both competent and reliable to spearhead them and Harun seemed to fit the bill.

A second reason for choosing Harun was because he hoped that this would encourage others to work even harder, using Harun’s status as a precedent to set their goals as they desperately worked to emulate him.

“Mister Harun, I will leave the mines to you. Work hard and soon Adhania will have a new shordar (baron).” Alexander’s enticement drew another round of flattery and puffery.

His declaration of the possibility that even Harun could become a noble also made others understand something very important.

They understood that even civilians would be appreciated by the new lord as long as they could prove their worth.

This lit a flame of ambition in the hearts of the other two artisans, while the tiny dissatisfaction held by some of the military commanders for being moved to civilian matters was wiped away.

Alexander then turned to Harun and like the others proceeded to give him some advice, “Mister Harun, your job will be the supervision and maintenance of the smooth operation of the mines. Primarily this will involve overseeing the slaves and ensuring…”

“Rest assured, Pasha, I will get those slaves to complete their daily quotas no matter what.” Harun quickly added himself to Alexander’s sentence, thinking himself to be very clever.

“No, you won’t,” But Alexander’s rebuttal immediately shattered this thought.

Harun went a bit wide-eyed and his mouth gaped by a small amount at Alexander’s curt dismissal and for a while, he didn’t know what to say.

`Don’t all nobles want their mines to produce more things?’ Harun was visibly confused.

Alexander then helped the man rectify his mistake, “Those slaves have been promised freedom and land after five years of service. And I want to give them that. So, I don’t want any deaths,” Alexander warned.

“That…as you wish.” Harun obediently nodded though he was no less confused than before.

Even the military commanders were confused as they heard of no land gifting before.

Seeing this Alexander elucidated, “I know that you are all used to driving slaves to death. But this is not how we do things in Zanzan. In Zanzan slaves will have a lot of the rights that a freedman has.”

“Pasha, what rights are you thinking about?” This question was asked by the most appropriate person in the room, Menes, who was a slave once, as was Alexander. 𝙚𝙙𝙤𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝒎

Hence he was interested to know how a fellow sufferer wished to reduce the hardship of people once like him.

“I will give you the details later, but basically a slave will have to be given adequate food, cloth, and rest to sustain himself. Slave masters will be fined if they are found to have beaten or killed their slaves without cause and in serious cases, such as torturing slaves for entertainment, they can even be imprisoned.” Alexander laid out some very ‘harsh’ conditions.

At least harsh in the people’s eyes, because in their worldview. what Alexander was proposing was akin to threatening to punish them for destroying their furniture.

The modern equivalent of such an order would be like the government threatening to prosecute someone if he is careless with his cell phone.

Utterly absurd.

But all the people here were aware of Alexander’s past and coupled with likely Menes’s support, there saw no point in objecting to the decree.

Save one.

Harun.

Although the man did not outright object to Alexander’s plan, the man didn’t have the guts to, he told Alexander about the problems of such an order, “Pasha Alexander, the mines are inherently a dangerous place to work in, There are frequent cave-ins, the heat is sometimes blistering and injury from falling rocks and debris are comman and expected. I’m afraid some slaves will die no matter what.”

“I’m not blind to reality. I just want you to do your level best to ensure the safety of as many as you can. As long as you are not found to be negligent of your duty, there will be no blame on you,” Alexander gestured using palms to reassure the man.

Mines were a dangerous place to work even in the twentieth century, with heat, dust, and cave-ins an everyday occurrence.

So, in such backward times, deaths were part and parcel of the mining trade.

Alexander’s frank flexibility relieved Harun and he was becoming very pleased with his new boss, who was generous and understanding, not at all like the boorish snobs he had been forced to serve before.

‘I made the best decision of my life coming to Zanzan,’ Harun remarked in his.

While many shared Harun’s relief towards Alexander’s flexibility, there was one thing that Alexander said that bothered someone.

Heliptos asked Alexander, “Pasha, are we really going to give land to slaves?”

To him, this seemed the pinnacle of foolishness.

But Heliptos was Heliptos and not Alexander because he thought like that.

So, first Alexander corrected him, “No slave will be given land. The land will be given to those freedmen that are the citizens of Zanzan.”

Then Alexander explained, “The reason for this is simple. Because men work far harder when there is a reward at the end, rather than to escape the lashing of a whip.”

Alexander turned to gaze directly at the people sitting around the table and then asked, “Tell me, which motivates you more, ‘Me threatening you and your family with death if you don’t win the next war.’ or ‘Me promising you land and riches if you win the next war’?”

The answer was obvious and everyone’s faces lit up in enlightenment when Alexander presented them with such a clear example.

Alexander himself found this out during his high school years when he realized that he would study really hard if his parents promised him a reward like a vacation or a new game if he did well, as compared to just avoid getting scolded.

“The pasha is sagacious,” Harun said with a heavy breath, somber and serious.

This example by Alexander resonated especially deeply within him as similar to the slaves, Alexander had promised him a reward too, a title. if he worked hard enough.

Also as a blacksmith and a mine overseer, he could appreciate more than anyone how much different a willing slave was from a disobedient or lazy one.

And he believed with Alexander’s enticement of not just freedom but also land, these slaves would be glad twice as hard and still feel nothing.

‘I too need to work hard,’ Harun reminded himself.

And then Harun suddenly remembered something important.

“Pasha, where will I get my men?” He asked as the mines were currently empty, with zero production.

“Within the next week, I will transfer ten of the twenty thousand slaves that are farming the fields to the mines. You will get them then,” Alexander promised.

And then turned to Menicus to ask, “Will that be a problem?”

“No problem. The legumes and oats can be planted in time by the ten thousand alone,” Menicus assured Alexander.

“Good.” Alexander nodded pleased.

And then further instructed Harun, “All slaves must be fed three times a day, morning, noon, and night. And any injured slave is to be moved immediately to the medical clinic that I will set up there.”

He added, “Also all slaves will be required to wear helmets, and leg and arm greaves and must cover their faces when they work. We have a lot of surplus military gear in the barracks, so I will have some of them transferred.” Alexander finished.

He had scavenged a lot of spare equipment off of Amenheraft’s defeated forces which he had bought to Zanzan as an emergency reserve and now decided to use some of them elsewhere.

“As you command,” Harun did not object to Alexander’s instructions.

In his mind, since the pasha had said they needed it, then they needed it.

The reason for the helmet was obvious and the cloth was intended to reduce the damage to the lungs from all the dust over the years, the results would bear testament to the sagacious move.

The mines operated by Alexander would have the record of being very productive but also being relatively safe, an almost paradoxical combination in many’s eyes.

Done with securing his ore supply, for now, Alexander switched to the next topic of the day, construction.

“How goes the kilns and brick making?” Alexander asked the man left to Harun, who was thin and tall with no facial hair- Jazum.