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Chapter 35: The idea without a plan

Both Andarzaghar and Bahman stared at him, with obvious puzzlement in their faces. He wanted what?

"My Shahanshah, I don\'t think I quite understand your intentions." said Bahman, still thinking that he had maybe misheard. Andarzaghar nodded in agreement.

"What is so hard to understand? I said I want to evacuate Hira."

Bahman sighed when the possibility of him mishearing diminished.

"My Shahanshah, may he be immortal, evacuating a city with thousands of inhabitants is no easy task."

"I know. That\'s why I\'m telling you now, so you can get to work. Evacuate the whole city, so when the Arabs come, they won\'t see anything but a ghost town. I don\'t want them getting supplies and possibly reinforcements from the local populace."

Bahman understood his intentions. Were the Arabs, eager to pillage and resupply come into a city that wouldn\'t give them that opportunity, not only their morale, but also will to fight and fighting capability would significantly lower. Also, there was a risk of the local population favouring the Arabs over the Persian Shah and of them converting to Islam, meaning high possibility of such converts pledging their sword to Arabian cause. Yazdegerd couldn\'t let that happen.

"I understand, my Shahanshah. But where do you intend to house them? You can\'t just bring thousands of people out of nowhere. And what about the time? Arabs reinforcements are surely on their way now and we won\'t have much time to execute your orders."

These were all feasible and answers that should truly be answered. But maybe another time. It wasn\'t because Yazdegerd didn\'t want to answer them. He didn\'t know the answer. He didn\'t think that far about the matter and only gave the order impulsively. That meant he didn\'t really plan it, as he came up with it not long ago. But who was Bahman to question his Shahanshah\'s decision?

"That is why I\'m telling you now, general Bahman. So you can act as quicky as possible. Bring the people here to Ctesiphon. We will decide what to do with them then. Now go. You are allowed to speak on my behalf and to use whatever means necessary to make sure the citizens are evacuated."

Bahman had nothing to say anymore, so he just gave up on trying to talk his Shahanshah out of it.

"Yes, my Shahanshah, may he be immortal."

Bahman then left, leaving Shahanshah and Andarzaghar alone. Andarzaghar was hesitating on what to do next. Luckily for him, Yazdegerd broke the ice.

"General, what do you think of this?"

Andarzaghar was confused and scared a bit. He still feared for his wellbeing.

"My Shahanshah, what could you mean?"

"I mean this. All of this. This war, this circumstance, this world. The situation we\'re in.

Andarzaghar was confused. Why did his Shahanshah ask him and not Bahman? They met for the first time in their life now. But maybe that was it. Yazdegerd clearly saw that Andarzaghar is confused very much.

"We met for the first time, yet you instantly treated me as your Shahanshah and not as a child. Not many would do that. In fact, you\'re one of the few. You were obviously aware of your and mine positions, regardless of age. And I wonder if you are that well aware even in other fields. Like politics, for example."

It was all very confusing for Andarzaghar. Being told something like this. But it was true. He constantly thought about his own life that he never really bothered with the fact that his Shahanshah is a child, with whom should be easier to negotiate and discuss with. This came as a surprise for him, but he intended to grab this opportunity.

"My Shahanshah, may he be immortal, if I were to give my opinion on the current matter, I\'d say we are actually doing pretty well."

"That\'s surprising, given you lost me good ten thousand soldiers by a simple trick. But go on. Tell your reasoning."

"I don\'t mean to be rude, but given your Empires condition..."

"It\'s in a state of disarray, yes, I know. Don\'t bother with that. Continue."

"Well, given your Empire\'s condition, our progress in the war isn\'t that bad. We have managed to halt their advance and got ourselves the precious time to regroup, and, well, evacuate Hira. Things could be much worse for us as we are now, so I think it\'s not as bad as it looks."

Yazdegerd was pleased with that answer. All he ever heard were talks like "If we don\'t defeat them, it\'s over." and such. But this was the first time he heard a positive response. He appreciated it. If the Arabian campaign was going really well, they\'d be at Ctesiphon by now. But it was obvious they struggled with something. Maybe it really was the manpower that they lacked.

"Very well. I like that. Yes, I see. Well, thank you for your time, general. Now, if you\'ll excuse me, I have to go and find someplace to put those poor souls from Hira.

---

"Herat sure is huge." murmured Rostam as the city came into his sight. After defeating the rebel army, they let the captive soldiers go, but only after they stripped them of their weapons. The enemy actually broke down under the pressure and fled, rather than being killed. Not many died in that battle, most fled or were captured. Rostam then marched on Herat, hoping the siege won\'t take long. The garrison shouldn\'t have much will to fight, as the cause they fought for weren\'t even theirs, but of somebody else. They didn\'t have anything to gain from it. Or so Rostam thought.

They set up the siege camp and started scavenging the surroundings for trees to cut to build siege engines. Rostam ordered they build two trebuchets, a battering ram and few siege towers. It would take a lot of time to do that. But that was exactly what he wanted, as he didn\'t want to assault the city walls. Although he\'d most likely win, the losses would be great and soldiers would most likely pillage the city in the process. And so he ordered a lot of siege equipment to be built in order to prolong the siege period, but still look to the enemy as if they were preparing for the siege in order to break their morale. Once they see the numerous siege towers, firing trebuchets and battering ram rolling onto them, they\'ll quickly evaluate whether they\'ll surrender or not. The siege has begun.