Herald of Steel

Chapter 819 War Casualties for Menes

The value of the gift Menes had given Manuk was truly immense.

Just a normal horse in Adhania was worth 800 to 1,000 ropals, a good, strong workhorse like the one given to Manuk went for 3,00 to 5,000 while a specialized war horse could go as far as 10,000 ropals.

So when Manuk stole all of them, they not only managed to recoup all their losses but even made a healthy profit.

Forget counting the lesser boons like the supplies and the free boat ride.

Menes lost all of that.

As for feeling even a tab bit sorry for doing all this, well of course they weren’t.

If Manuk could have gotten away with it, he would have very much liked to kill even Menes, knowing that he must be a capable retainer under Alexander.

As for qualities of virtue, sincerity, and honesty that a priest should have, never mind the Archpriest-

Joke! These infidels deserved nothing but to be burnt at the stake.

It was with such xenophobic thoughts that Manuk crossed Tibias into the Zanzan province and was able to quickly enter friendly allied territories.

While back at the Sissillpond Ridge, Menes, never even having such a thought cross his mind, was instead busy preparing his men to finally attack the capital.

And to that endeavor, currently, he was inside his tent listening to Remus’s report.

“In this battle, we lost around nine hundred, 900 dead! Almost all on the side, you commanded.”

“With around seven hundred 700 more wounded.” The young captain had a grim undertone to his voice as he pronounced these numbers from a paper, for they were truly large given they were the victors!

Casualties during combat in formations rarely exceeded two to three percent, whereas here, given there were 30,000 men, that number reached more than five percent!

About double!

And understanding this, Menes first revealed shock and then a somber countenance, while Remus continued,

“We found around 700 bodies right where the battle lines you commanded were, all with clear spear wounds on them.”

“They had been killed in battle.”

“But another two hundred, 200 men were found scattered all across the ridge, particularly the left side. They were likely killed when the men broke rank and started to chase the running enemy and were counterattacked by the rear guard. *Sigh*, what a waste!” Remus sounded very bitter at the needless loss as evidenced by the shaking of his head, and then quickly finished that page of the report by saying,

“The number of deaths around General Melodias’s side was almost negligible. But he did suffer a few wounded during his own chase and quite more so while breaching the enemy camp.”

“The good news is that the doctors at the clinic said that most of the wounded will be able to rejoin the army. At most 200 will be lost, with most losing their thumbs.”

“…..” Hearing Remus finish and then stand quietly in attention, Menes took the time to think about the numbers, and as time passed, his somber, placid face slowly started to frown and turn angry.

“Those 700 men fought bravely and deserve to be heroes. They fought for hours and never took a step back. I praise them” Menes began with a deep voice but then his voice turned enraged,

“But those 200!”

“Idiots! It’s good that they died. Or else I would have hung them for insubordination.”

Perhaps more than the number lost, what really stunk Menes was how they were lost and at how quick of a pace.

It had taken hours for the 700 men to be killed, while the 200 were lost in less than one third of that.

All because they refused to follow simple orders.

Thus, following this venting, Menes’s voice then turned serious as he decreed,

“This is the second time the soldiers have disobeyed direct orders from their officers to go after loot.”

The first was?of course during the fight with Lord Ponticus, as he then continued,

“This cannot be allowed to continue. We must show there will be consequences for disobeying military commands.”

Saying so Menes’s eyes flashed dangerously causing Remus to become cautious.

“What would you like to do?” He probed.

“Confiscate all the loot the soldiers have taken in this battle. All the gold, jewelry, wine, and slaves. Everything! That will teach them.” Menes loudly proclaimed.

“What!” And hearing such a drastic move, Remus cried out in alarm, instinctively blurting out, “Menes, that’s too extreme! We can’t punish the entire army! The soldiers will surely rebel!”

Such was his shock that Remus forgot to address Menes by his title and indeed, his objection was justified.

For almost the entire army had engaged in that looting, and as the saying went- ‘It’s not a crime if everyone is doing it.’

So Remus tried to reason with Menes,

“General, if a small group is punished, it sets an example for others to follow. But if everyone is punished, well then it just makes everybody angry.” Remus recited philosophically, and then pleaded,

“Please think of another disciplinary method.” 𝘪𝑎.𝒸𝘰

And being reminded of this, the tall general indeed felt a bit taken aback.

Remus was right, he could not do that.

Punishing every single armed to the teeth men was very dangerous.

He had heard the large number of troops he had lost and let his emotions get the better of him.

“Okay, then make it one tenth!” So Menes immediately decreased the punishment by ten times.

But this number had the opposite problem, as Remus felt it was too low.

And he could sense that Menes was having trouble coming up with the optimum level of punishment that delivered enough spice to remain fresh in the soldiers’ psyche even during the frantic frenzy of a battle, but not so much that they held permanent resentment for the high command till they died.

There had to be a delicate balance and Remus let Menes know this.

“If we only take that little, it will not be too effective. The men will mourn for a while, but when the opportunity comes, they will forget it altogether.” Remus claimed by pointing his finger, reasoning,

“Because even if they lose the one tenth, they will still have nine tenths left. To be able to commit insubordination by simply giving such a palty sum, everyone will find it completely worth it.”

“And such a thing will continue to happen.” Remus hypotheised in a sure tone.

So, to that, in a furrowed tone, Menes then posed, “So how much should we take? Half?”

Shake, shake.

Placing a knowing smile on his face, Remus shook his head to the query, and then in an almost lecturing tone replied,

“Recall that I told just a few moments ago, General- ‘If a small group is punished, it sets an example for others to follow. But if everyone is punished, well then it just makes everybody angry’.”

“So instead of punishing everybody equally, I propose that we make examples out of a few scapegoats.” Remus’s voice by now sounded very pleased with himself, delineating,

“We should choose one random soldier from each of the eight men squad ( Squad- 8 soldiers, 2 servants) and take three fourth of his loot.”

“So in essence only punish one tenth of the army.”

“That way, there will be much much resentment.”

“And we should also supplement this by clearly explaining to the whole army why we are punishing them.”

“The 200 deaths should be made to look irreplaceable like we lost 2,000… no 20,000 men!”

“If we do it that way, the men will not only feel the material loss but also remember the loss of life that they inadvertently caused.”

“That! I believe will be a good punishment!”

As Remus finished by clenching his fist, he sounded joyous.

While Menes first of all was surprised and shocked as he whispered, “That…” before trailing off.

He certainly did not disapprove of the method.

In fact he was very impressed by it.

It was just that he was overwhelmed by how Remus was able to come up with this great method on the spot, when he, the far more experienced of the two could not.

It wounded his pride a bit.

“Also…” While, Remus, seeing Menes’s look of appreciation, decided to add more, as he was not yet done.

“When we attack the capital, we can punish some of the squad leaders and sergeants (100 man team leader) by ordering them to guard the camp and thus not let them take part in the looting.”

“This will certainly stay with them far more than any beating or whatnot and remind them to drill much more discipline into their subordinates.”

“Great!” As soon as Remus finished, Menes let out his great cheer, as he then delegated with a large, happy smile blooming on his face.

“Then I will leave it to you. And do not worry, I will be sure Alexander knows about your contribution.” Menes further added in a reassuring tone, placating any worries that Remus might have about Menes stealing credit.

“Hahaha,” And Remus did not reject only proudly chuckling.

While as a throwaway comment Menes frankly added this, “Mmmnn, I can see you truly live up to being Alexander’s student. I really am no match, haha.”

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