Widened. Aide babbled on.
Perfect, I tell you! Everyone of them—most of the men, anyway—will be expert camel drivers. There’s already food, and plenty of water. Before Tamerlane destroyed the area—in the future that would have been, I mean, and we need a new tense for that because that’s such a stupid way of saying it—the Sistân was famous for its irrigation works—well, not exactly “famous,” but it had them even if almost nobody knew about them—dams and qanats, everything!
Then, perhaps a bit aggrieved: I already told you that, which is why you came up with your original plan. You must have forgotten the specifics, though, or you’d understand right off why Khusrau’s scheme is so much better.
Belisarius made a wry smile. Et tu, Aide?
There came the image of a crystalline snort, as impossible as such a thing was to describe in words. Belisarius was reminded of a mirror, splintering in pieces and reforming in an instant.
Don’t be petty. It’s beneath your dignity. It is a better plan. All you hoped to do was drive some of the population south. Khusrau, with—with—
“How many dehgans, Emperor?” asked Belisarius, on behalf of Aide.
“I am confident I can marshal twenty thousand heavy cavalry. Not all of them dehgan lancers, of course. A third, perhaps—but the rest will be armored archers, and you of all people know how ferocious—”
Belisarius waved his hand. “Please! An army of twenty thousand Persian lancers and archers, with another ten thousand infantry, is heavy enough to punch through any Malwa force that will be available in the mid-Indus. Especially—”
More than enough! For a moment, Aide’s enthusiasm waned a bit. Of course, the Persians won’t be able to besiege any real citadels or fortifications . . .
“Don’t need to,” said Belisarius aloud, forgetting in the excitement of the moment that neither Khusrau nor Antonina could have followed his mental exchange with Aide. Then, remembering, he began to explain—but Khusrau interrupted him.
“No need to,” he concurred. “With twenty thousand heavy cavalry I can break any Malwa force in the field. So what if they retreat into their fortresses along the river? I can quickly establish military rule and bring almost the entire population under my control. Keep them working in the fields, providing us with food and billeting while we protect them against Malwa sallies.”
“You’ll wind up saving the lives of a lot more peasants this way,” added Antonina quietly. She understood fully, even if Khusrau did not, how heavily the thought of those peasants slaughtered at Malwa hands had weighed upon her husband. Belisarius had hoped to save perhaps a few tens of thousands with his light cavalry expedition. No more than that.
But now—with such a powerful force in the mid-valley . . .
“We could save almost all of them,” he murmured. Then, giving Khusrau a somewhat stony eye: “Not that their lives will be all that splendid, under Aryan martial law.”
“Better than being butchered,” retorted Khusrau. “As for the rest . . .” He shrugged. “I can keep the dehgans from committing any real atrocities. The first few days will be rough, of course. No way to keep such soldiers from pilfering what little treasure there might be and pestering the local women.”
” ‘Pestering’!” snorted Antonina.
Again, Khusrau shrugged. “And so a number of Indian peasants find themselves with bastards soon thereafter. Not even many of those, truth to tell, because my dehgans will be looking for concubines anyway. So they will formalize the relationships, more often than not, and see to the well-being of their new offspring.”
“The peasant men won’t like that much,” pointed out Belisarius. He cut off Khusrau’s rebuttal with his own. “But that’s neither here nor there. They’ve doubtless been suffering worse under the Malwa as it is. They’ll adjust, soon enough. Especially since Indian peasants are even less inclined than most of the world’s peasantry to care two figs who happens to rule their area. As long as their new masters don’t tax them dry—you will extend your new tax system to the Indus, yes?—”
Khusrau nodded. “I’ll do more than that. I’ll use the Indus as the testing ground. Along with much else.” The emperor began pacing about slowly. “I’m sure, by now, you have deduced my plans for transforming Aryan society. I’ve had enough of these damned squabbling noblemen. As much as possible, I intend to duplicate Rome’s more efficient and intelligent system. Advancement by merit, not birth, with the new aristocracy tied with ropes to the imperial dynasty.”