Herald of Steel

Let’s come to one very important conclusion, That this new weapon, I call it the ‘Instant bow’ is not gonna be usable en-mass on the battlefield. Not logistically possible,” Alexander gave the answer that made Menes and Hemicus quite downcast.

They already knew that there was no way the men could carry the number of arrowheads required to produce a high sustainable fire rate.

And if they could not, they were just regular bowmen.

But Alexander’s confirmation still hit them in the gut and feel like it was such a huge missed opportunity.

So, though Alexander had cowed Menes with his words, another was not.

“Ahem, my lord, how about using horses to carry the arrows?” Melodias, after Menes wanted to champion his idea, and proposed, “We could make the arrow boys ride horses to carry the arrows. Or better yet, give each of the archers an individual mule carrying a thousand arrows! That should work!”

Melodias clenched his fist and widened his eyes as he said this.

He was desperately hoping for Alexander’s approval.

“….” But Alexander did not respond to this foolish idea.

The first point was idiotic as using horses to transport arrows instead of using them to form cavalry was moronic.

And besides, archers many times were placed on hills and ramparts, which pack animals could not access.

So that part was not viable.

And the latter part of using mules was also stupid because these mules would be sitting ducks for enemy counterfire.

Not to mention such an arrangement would spread the formation too thin.

And if one wanted to use horses to carry the arrows, why not just become horse-archers?

Why let a perfectly good horse stay empty and idle?

This last point was quickly caught by Grahtos who excitedly said, “My lord, we can use this new bow with cavalry. Much like the crossbowmen!”

He was ecstatic at having found a use.

“Yes, it can.” And Alexander seemed to agree, and then asked, “Where else?”

“.Hmmm….” The men took some to think about the bow’s other possible uses, and Menes was the first to speak up,

“Since the limit is logistics, they can be used in fortifications! On the walls and ramparts! There won’t be any long supply lines then!” Menes said each sentence with a greater amount of force than the preceding one, as if he was discovering each successive sentence.

He seemed excited when answering.

“Yes, they can be used as such. Using to defend forts and stationary positions where the archers will be able to keep a large stockpile of arrowheads close to them. The weapon will let one man do the job of many, making the assault that much difficult.” Alexander again nodded in agreement.

And then implicitly turned to Melodia and asked, “Where else?”

“…” This time the silence lasted a bit longer, as the men struggled to find other uses.

And many began to cross eyes with one another as if to say, ‘Maybe that’s it.”

“I can think of another two,” But Alexander shattered that thought.

And so the ruminating silence continued for longer, each man eager to show off their pedigree in front of their liege.

They knew being able to answer Alexander’s question was the way to earn promotions.

They might be all shordars (barons), but not all of them will become talukdars (Viscounts), or Jamidars (Earls).

And out of them, Melodias was the one most under pressure because his colleague and friend, Menes had already given one answer.

Meaning the score was 1-0 in Menes’s favor.

And the score soon became 2-0, when Menes said, “Perhaps Lady Cambyses can use them with the city guards…I mean the police. The rapid firing will be useful to kill rats running through the streets.” He crassly added.

This thought occurred to Menes because he subconsciously remembered how Cambyses had poached men from him, and then somehow he imagined a running con man and how good it would be to have a bow that would not need to be reloaded after each fire.

Policemen in Zanzan were allowed to fire at a fleeing target, albeit with the instruction to take care not to hit innocent civilians and so this seemed a perfectly legit tactic.

“Yes, the bow will be quite effective for the police.” Alexander nodded.

And then silently looked around for any other answer. 𝐞𝐨𝘃𝐞𝐥.

“….” But none came and after a long time of waiting, it appeared that they had given up.

They could not think of any more uses.

And so Alexander gave his two answers.

“Firstly, I think this weapon can be used in siege attacks, like when assaulting walls,” He hypothesized raising his index finger, detailing, “So, when the men are rushing up the wall, a quick volley of intense arrow fire could make the defenders move away or duck behind the wall, giving our men long enough to scale the wall and make a small.”

Alexander then added, “And in that same vein, it can be used to clear tight spaces, like the corridors of a manor, or similar choke points. Basically, it could be used to kill lightly armored men huddled together.”

Then he raised his third finger, and said with a smile, “And secondly, you all forgot about the navy. This weapon is the perfect tool to use in ships.”

Alexander enjoyed with a smug satisfaction seeing the realization only dawn on the men only now.

Though they were no naval commanders, they could still imagine that this burst weapon could be a game changer in the right hands, capable of stopping most enemies from boarding ships through a hail of arrow fires.

And this would make the initial boarding similarly risky as modern-day beach landings and it had to be remembered that boarding an enemy vessel and cutting through its defenders was the main way naval warfare was conducted in this time period.

While the other way ramming the other vessels and sinking them.

“Hahaha, as expected of the lord. You can see things we just seem to miss,” Grahtos chuckled an almost defeated reply.

He could not believe he missed such an obvious answer.

And his fellow commanders shared the sentiment, drawing rueful shakes of the head all over.

Alexander politely smiled at this frank praise as he began, “So, we agree can that for now, the instant bow will be used during sieges, by the cavalry, and by the navy when we build one, right?”

“Yes, my lord,” Was the chorus reply, followed by Grahots’s question, “But then will the cavalry use the crossbow then?”

“Yes, we will,” Alexander confirmed and then detailed what various weapons the cavalry will use and how.

“The regular cavalry will use the lance, spear, and crossbow in battle as we have discussed, while the instant bow will be used by an elite cavalry unit I intend to create.”

“They will be our scouts, and light skirmishers, lightly armored and engaging at the very vanguard of the army to soften targets for the main force.”

“This force, I’m thinking for the moment a hundred men, will also sometimes even act inside enemy territory in raiding and assassination missions.”

“They could also be used to cause as much chaos and mayhem as possible behind enemy positions, and being able to rapidly fire so many arrows will certainly add to the confusion and give the false impression of a presence of a large force.”

“And lastly, this elite unit can be used to covertly infiltrate a city, through secret tunnels or such, and using this bow, they will be able to engage five targets in rapid succession, and likely stopping the enemy from sounding the alarm.”

Alexander gave the very basic blueprint of a special forces or commando team.

And then finished by asking”Well, that’s all I could think of at the moment. Do you guys have any ideas to share?”

“Hahaha, no, I think those will be enough, for now,” Grahtos gave a forced smile at Alexander’s huge list of possible ways of using the weapon, feeling both glad at having such a competent master but also a bit defeated for their so outclassed by a teenager.

While Melodias had the urge to ask if such a weapon was used by the goddess and that was how Alexander knew so much about it.

“Good, then I leave it up to you Grahtos to choose the hundred men,” Alexander then decided. as he stated his requirements for the recruits.

“These men naturally must be great riders, young, strong, and preferably good trackers or hunters.”

“And of course, they should be good shots. It takes skills to use those bows on horseback after all.”

“And above all, they should be loyal.” Alexander declared.

He had determined that the instant bow was not a weapon of mass use.

If he handed this weapon to a peasant, the poor man would likely have no idea how this strange contraption worked.

‘Do I pull the mechanism forward or backward first?’

‘What’s a trigger?’

All these questions would haunt the poor man.

And if jammed for some reason, which any magazine-loaded weapon was universally prone to doing due to a whole host of things like dirt getting in, or the arrow breaking using operation or the sting getting stuck to a splinter, or some other malfunction, then these inexperienced men would have no idea what to do.

So Alexander planned to let only very trained and very experienced men use this in the front line.

Men who would not for example hit the horse’s head with the bow when switching from right to left.

“Yes, my lord. I will personally see to it.” Grahtos promised with a thud on the chest.

And with this the instant bow’s use was determined.