Chapter 947 Slice of Zanzan (Part-1)

Chapter 947 Slice of Zanzan (Part-1)

(The following few chapters will focus on various people in Zanzan, leading their lives under Alexander, and their perspective on many of the events organized by their lord.)

"Come on son! Move the carts quickly. Or we are going to be late! The pasha's army is just behind us."

On a well lit, pristine warm morning, a tall, well built man in a well dressed tunic could be heard urging the young man sitting next to him so, wanting him to drive the horses faster.

"Relax father. The pasha is still at least two days march away. What are you getting so worked up about?

The son however seemed to not share the same urgency, and tried to make his old man restrain himself, reassuring him, "We will reach Zanzan today before nightfall.... don't worry! If I go any faster, all the wine jars will break!"

As it could be deduced from the conversation, the duo were wine merchants, transporting Thesalie's most famous specialty- wine, from the Tibian city to Zanzan, carried in tightly packed clay pots and jars, as well as wooden barrels and pulled by horses.

"Bah! The jars will break! What kind of imbecile are you?" The older man, named Jamiz, however, was not to be so easily placated by his son's excuse, as he quickly pointed to his mistake in a scolding tone,

"Look! Look at these roads! What does it look like to you? Does it look like we are in the loonies on some remote mountaintop where the horse will break their legs from one fall?"

And having his gaze diverted by his old man's gesture, the son, named Niloy did indeed turn to look at the path they were traversing.

And the entire thing looked creamy white, almost glimmering under the sunlight, flat like a mirror with few bumps, no potholes, and not even any puddles.

The entire thing appeared like it was one single flat slab of stone extending the entire. Visit no(v)eLb(i)n.com for the best novel reading experience

And so Jamiz quickly added in a snapping tone,

"This is so smooth and flat that it looks like it's made from marble. You could roll a ball from Thesalie and it could end up in Zanan no problem!"

"What were you saying the jars will break? The jars will not break even if the horses tripped and tipped the cart over! Hurry up!"

The elderly man here was clearly exaggerating and his son did find his nagging father a bit annoying, thinking that he talked too much and had gone senile.

But still, the son could not help but agree with at least half of what he said.

As it could be deduced from the duo's conversation, they were traveling along the road

connecting Thesalie to Zanzan that Alexander had finished building nearly two years ago, and the stone and concrete construct proved a marvelous spectacle for almost all.

The road was indeed one of a kind in the world.

So traveling on such a smooth tarmac, Niloy could not help but want to urge his horse a bit faster, just to see how fast they could go.

"I wonder how they built it?" And as he thought that, a look of admiration also dawned in his eyes regarding the path, as Niloy could not help but absent mindely muttered so under his breath.

"I heard it's all imported marble. A special kind. From outside!" The son's half rhetorical query was answered by by this, in a nasal and high pitched tone.

But it was not from his father beside him.

It came from his right, from another cart driver who was traveling with them.

Because he could the other three had already made up their minds.

So, instead, lowering his voice a bit, he very confidently relayed the following to his son,

"It's not marble. I have seen marble once. Real marble. It does not look like this," and then confided in him,

"This is made of something called 'white stone'. I heard it from your uncle He has a friend who worked on the road."

"According to him, they made this using a kind of stone produced from that place where the smoke is always coming out. Remember?"

The 'place where the smoke is always coming out' was of course referring to where the cement kilns were located.

And while cement was a white powder, the initial clinkers out of the kilns did look like white stones.

So it seemed somehow during the retelling, the crushing of the cement got omitted and cement became solid stones.

Ah, the magic of spreading through word of mouth.

As for the instance about the road being made of marble, this was actually a false information campaign launched by Alexander, designed to fool at least the visually less discernible people.

For he preferred the people did not know what cement was.

And to try and achieve that effect, Alexander did not even tell the workers at the cement kiln what they were making.

Just that they were making something the Pasha wanted.

And the same with the men working in the crushing mills.

Most did not what they were crushing or where it was all coming from and thought they were mined limestone from the nearby quarries.

Such a light smokescreen of course was not enough to fool nosy nobles, but it was at least enough to stop the general public from making the ingredient a common household term and drawing unnecessary attention to Alexander.

And it worked, as even when Jamiz revealed the truth to his son, the young man did not buy it, finding the 'special marble' explanation more reasonable.

But he did not also argue with his father, and instead only hummed and lightly nodded in an unconvincing manner.

Before quickly changing the subject, asking, "Father, why are you in such a hurry?"

"Do you brat know nothing!"

"The pasha has decided to hold a parade in celebration of his triumph over Tibias. What did he call.... Umm... a triumph. If we do not return soon, we will be too late to set up our shop."

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