Herald of Steel - Chapter 1614: Pasha Farzah’s Method (Part-2)
Chapter 1614: Pasha Farzah’s Method (Part-2)
“But my lord, how will Kayvan get credit then?”
Pasha Farzah was quite pleased with his plan until the ruminative Alexander suddenly bashed him with this question.
“..!!!..” And it instantly snapped him out of his smugness.
Indeed, one of the main reasons for attacking Bahu originally was this- to show off Kayvan’s military skills and thus put him in the same contending bracket as his elder brother Mirzah.
The plan was to let Mirzah attack Bahu and get bogged down by its defending forces while Kayvan led the men from Ankoot on a flanking attack.
However now, with the positions switched,
“That….” Pasha Farzah felt like he had just been thrown off the cloud he was swimming on, crashing into the ground with a giant headache. The elder man thus could be seen rapidly pressing his temple with his thick fingers, fighting to keep away the rapidly encroaching headache.
It appeared like everything they had talked about till now was about to become mute and irrelevant.
“Why doesn’t my lord send your eldest son to the north?” Until that is Alexander spoke up, the tone laced with mysterious intent.
And this voice sounded like a soothing lullaby to the struggling Pasha Farzah. So he immediately stopped gritting his teeth and quickly turned to give the young lad a good, expectant look.
Alexander obliged with a soft chuckle, “I once heard from Lady Mikaya that you have some relations with the barbarians up north. Why don’t you use some excuse to send him there? Perhaps for some kind of new trade agreement with them? Or to hire a few of them as mercenaries against Amenheraft? Maybe convince some of the tribes to simultaneously attack Bahu from the north? Or some other diplomatic reasons… it can really be anything… as long as it takes some time.”
“…..” Pasha Farzah’s eyes once again flashed with a chilly light at the idea- but this time it was not out of a complex emotion, rather out of pure amazement and admiration.
They had been presented with the same problem at the same time, yet… the winner of the battle of wits was crystal clear.
The pasha could indeed do as Alexander asked with only some effort.
’Sigh! Is this what they call talent!’ The old man repeated his earlier phrase, this time inside his heart, almost struggling to come to terms with how quickly the young boy was able to improve on his idea.
“Fine! We will do as you say, Lord Alexander.” The elder lord then firmly clapped Alexander by the shoulders, looking into his eyes full of sobriety and respect, “However, Kayvan lacks the military experience or prestige to lead such a large army on his own. I will need to be here to make sure Mirzah’s lackeys do not cause any trouble for him.”
“That…” Alexander instantly got an inkling of the hidden meaning of what Pasha Farzah was trying to say right then. And he was about to vehemently protest as he did not want to deal with all the mess here alone.
However…
“Don’t worry… you are grown up now!” Pasha Farzah shut the man down even before he could get past the first word, grabbing his shoulders tighter and sincerely noting, “Even if I leave, there won’t be much problem for now. Assazd is dead, his faction is in turmoil and Amenheraft’s rats are all busy scrambling just to survive. They do not have energy for anything else. Just make sure you don’t… do anything… troublesome.”
“….” Alexander lightly smirked at the way Pasha Farzah said the last line, with frowning bushy eyebrows and a difficult face. Remembering the way Alexander tended to go on his own despite repeated warnings, Pasha Farzah even began to suddenly half doubt the wisdom of leaving him alone here.
Perhaps he would take a sword straight to the problem this time and use his army to simply muscle through it.
However given that the young Pasha had already eliminated most of his rivals and there was already a bigger plan set in motion- the elder pasha thought that was reasonably unlikely.
While Alexander obediently nodded to the Pasha Farzah’s instructions for now, although deep inside, he wondered if it would truly be as easy as the experienced prime minister was making it out to be. At least Lord Assazd’s faction, or at minimum a part of it, would surely hate him, and thus try and make things as difficult as possible.
’Sigh! And they are not even the greatest obstacle. That distinction would go to…’
“… And what about Ptolomy? His Majesty… clearly hates me, right? How do I…” Alexander trailed off, curling his lips into a helpless smirk.
“Bah! I said it already… these happen at court every day. Do not make an anthill out of a mole!” Pasha Farzah on the other hand, brushed off the concerns with a casual wave of his sturdy palms.
And it was not out of simple carelessness or ignorance.
Rather, as someone who held the post of prime minister for the better part of his career, these spats were actually nothing to be alarmed about. To Alexander Ptolomy’s behaviour might have appeared clearly treasonous, but for Pasha Farzah, kings blatantly moving against their retainer was not that surprising.
During Alozmer’s time, many nobles had even lost their head simply because the madman was in a bad mood. Yet, even that only caused a backlash behind the scenes. Outwardly, all nobles worked as normal like nothing had happened.
Such was the prestige of the royal family.
However although Pasha Farzah was able to swallow these bitter pills and saw them as just simply part and parcel of the job, Alexander, coming from modern times could not. He had a very high sense of self respect and found it too beneath him to willingly ingratiate with someone who had tried to harm such openly.
For instance, imagine what would have happened if the plump man had managed to somehow pin the poisoning on him! Alexander shuddered at the thought- genuinely unsure if his region would be enough to let him escape the gallows.
As already said, harming the divine lineage was not a light accusation- even for a Pasha.
Hence, unhappy at Pasha Farzah’s option of simply bearing through it, he turned his give his in law a pursed lip. He wanted a better guarantee.
“Fine!” So seeing it, the powerful lord too relented, slightly massaging his temples, and musing,
“You talk to Seelima tonight and have her try and placate him. Maybe put in some good words before bed. Ahh… you only need to stick here for a few months here. Don’t tell you can’t even do it, brat?” The lord sounded a bit frustrated as he said so, for he thought Alexander was being a bit of a worrywart here.
“….” And sensing this, as well as finding the arrangements adequate enough, Alexander accepted silently with a cheerful nod. Then, suddenly changed topic,
“I also heard Lord Assazd’s daughter is one of His Majesty’s favorite concubines. Now that her father is dead….”
There was no need to finish the sentence as Alexander trailed off, implying the meaning with a cold glint in his eyes.
“Tsk!” But contrary to his expectations Pasha Farzah did not seem at all interested, and even clicked his tongue disdainfully at the suggestion. “You go talk to Seeliam about this. I had had enough of killing women. He breezily waved his palms as he swept away the topic, seemingly finding it not worth his time.
In Pasha Farzah’s mind, Lord Assazd was the real throne, and now with him gone… the rest appeared destined to topple over on its own.
Hearing the answer, Alexander too did not push, but simply noted to bring this topic of the haram with the Queen Mother later. She indeed was the more appropriate person to scheme with.
“What about Rusti? How have they reacted to the poisoning of their son?” Alexander then subsequently moved on to his next topic of conversation, asking such with a terrifying innocence in his voice. It was like he did not even imagine such a plan was in the works.
“….” Pasha Farzah however only pursed his lips in anger, moving his head away and appearing too irritated to comment. But Alexander for some reason seemed to have missed this clue. Thus, with a prodding chime, he continued to blabber,
“What are your plans for Lady Mikaya and… her child now? And how is Pasha Ozman taking the whole thing? I did not notice him in the court. Is he….”
“Shut up!” The bear like man, suddenly, in a rare occurrence burst like a volcano midway, turning to Alexander with a deathly glare. Raising his stubby finger right up to his aquiline nose, he then snarled,
“Darned brat! I am warning you! Stay away from Rusti and Ozman from now on. They do not matter to you… whatsoever. They could go to kingdom come for all you care.”
“Snort! You think just because I have not said anything about…’that’… that I simply let it go? After what you did, I… Snort! If it were not for youwere already to Azura and Azira, I would have… ”
“….” Alexander was caught a bit surprised by the elder lord’s vigorous reply. However it also did not take long for him to make a connection- Farzah and Ozman were best friends. It naturally went that they knew each other’s children.
Thus to find one to be responsible, even if partially with the other’s death…it was understanable Pasha Farzah did not want to talk about it.
