Alexander, though capable of becoming a tyrant, had no intention of becoming one.
He believed the maxim, ‘Absolute power corrupts absolutely,’ and had already gotten a bit of a taste of it when he killed the boy named Fatrak in haste.
And so he usually refrained from doing things with an authoritarian approach, preferring to get the consent of advisors before acting.
Usually.
But this time he had arbitrarily chosen to demolish the eastern district.
Why?
Why did he take such drastic measures?
Well, there were three main reasons.
One was simply because Alexander was petty and wanted to remove these establishments as a way of making a political statement to all the hostile nobles.
They owned a lot of the property there and it was his way of sending a very simple message- ‘I’m coming for you bitch.’
For if Alexander had even the modicum of the intention of making any kind of concessions with these nobles, he would have at least tried to use these properties as a bargaining chip for their loyalty.
Two was because Alexander’s advisors were not crying over him taking over the establishments, but that they would not be able to possess some of the expensive buildings they were drooling over.
And this was a way to teach them to keep their greed in check.
And third was because Alexander had plans to build similar establishments elsewhere and wanted no competition from these pre-existing, already-known places.
He feared, even if the management were to change, people might feel more comfortable coming around to the same place than go to his new establishments.
So the thing had to go.
The entirety of it.
Alexander did feel a twinge of regret tearing down most of the structures.
But consoled himself by saying that he would soon build buildings bigger, better, and stronger.
But then the question arose, ‘if Alexander planned to demolish the whole neighborhood, what did he plan to replace with?’
And the answer was surprising.
Because what he intended to do with the new district was perhaps quite the opposite of what it had been used for centuries.
Whereas previously this part was famous for its crime, lawlessness, and den for criminals, Alexander’s new role for the district would see it clean, safe, and a glowing example of a model society.
For he intended to turn it into the army barracks!
Alexander’s proposal naturally generated some talks, both of slight disagreements and of elations, the former from the civilian sides, and the latter from the military.
But Alexander squashed any dissent with the words, “The army will expand in the future. They will need a place to live, eat, and train. So the eastern district will go to them”
Thus, though currently the army was situated in the western district, their lodgings being in the barracks of the various empty noble houses, they were scheduled to be soon relocated to the opposite side of the town.
Alexander had planned to do it slowly and quietly, so as to not rattle the people who lived and worked there too much.
But the temple killing had inadvertently sped up that process exponentially.
This was not the plan at all, but after a large portion of the eastern part had been cleaned up by Cambyses by arresting the thousand men in a blitz operation, and after Alexander proclaimed that the eastern districts decadence and immorality had become a nesting ground for devils, the people were very eager to see it get demolished. 𝘯𝑜𝘷𝑙．𝑐𝘰𝘮
And so a few days after that incident, Alexander sent out his army to reclaim the land, who then started the extensive demolitions, transforming some of the large structures like warehouses into barracks, building new ones over the top of old ones, and tearing down large swaths of the land to make ground available for things like offices, stables, weapons storage, and training grounds.
The army also had its own team of engineers to do this and under Alexander’s directive, they even started on the roads, connecting the central district to them.
While the ordinary soldiers took residence in the newly constructed or refurbished barracks, many of the officers made some of the best buildings in the district their homes, making a few former inns, pleasure houses and residences of kingpins now grace many of the high-ranking leaders of Alexander’s military.
This was tacitly approved by Alexander himself, as a kind of remuneration for moving from the luxurious noble district to the kind of lower district, and now possessing these nice, spacious dwellings, these men’s little acridness towards Alexander had disappeared.
There were reasons why Alexander had chosen to drive out the army from the western district, away from his close proximity, to the opposite side of the city.
The first was due to future considerations of space.
Alexander knew that he would have to expand the civilian residential districts by magnitudes in the future, and he decided to get ahead of the problem by clearing space beforehand, before such a large number of soldiers could entrench themselves with their friends and families here, making future removals close to impossible.
And the army would not have just taken up living space, but training and storage space too.
Then there was his consideration of the fact that he did not want the soldiers to be in so close proximity to the civilians.
He feared that this could cause bullying by the former and information leak by the latter.
It would also cause the people to forget their fear of the military.
What did he mean by that?
Well, this phenomenon could be easily explained by citing the kind of dread and terror one felt hearing the phrase ‘the military has been deployed,’ as opposed to similar phrases for the police, SWAT, or even the national guard.
And one of the reasons for that was armies were generally, and intentionally, kept distant from the civilian, so that civilians did not get too chummy with them.
That was the police’s job, which was also why ‘militarizing the police force’ usually had a bad connotation.
And Alexander shared that mindset, for he wanted the army feared so that their presence would deter any thoughts of rebellion.
And the last reason was because he did not want the soldiers to get used to luxury.
The nobles’ houses were naturally very beautiful and lavish, and Alexander feared once these men got used to the sweet things of life, they would have difficulty adapting to the harsh conditions of a campaign.
This was the detailed in-depth view of the easter district, thorough which ran the eastern road, leaving only one artery of the city- The Northern road.
This great road came from the north of the city, which was the original residential or more aptly the slum area.
It was generally where the regular populace lived, in squalid, unhygienic conditions, the situation deteriorating as one moved closer to the gates, while the wealthier inhabitants such as merchants and artisans tended to live closer to the center.
It was, by and large, the least developed part of this ancient city, and the living conditions here were appalling.
There was a perpetual stink of rotting ammonia around the area and the people here were shabby and filthy, likely never taken a bath in their lifetime.
The houses, built of wood or mud, were close enough to touch each other, making the surroundings dark and damp even in broad daylight and there was virtually no road between them, just a thin spit of alleyway which was usually so tight that even just two people could not use the road side by side.
So if they encountered another person coming from the opposite side, they would have to turn sideways till their shoulders became parallel to the road and shuffled past each other with their chests rubbing against one another like playing some kind of vertical version of the Limbo- How long can you go, or in this case, Limbo- How thin can you go.
And the challenges for crossing these streets were not just 2D, just 3D, as many times the people from the top floors would simply dump their garbage onto the heads of the passersby, resulting in frequent exchange of hot and fiery words between the residents.
All these made living in the northern district not suitable for any human and Alexander’s plans were renovations were the most extensive here.
He planned to thoroughly demolish this part of the city, build roads, dig a proper sewage system and connect aqueducts to transform this part of the city into the commercial district, turning the dankest part of the city into its liveliest, it’s beating heart.
The entire district was planned replaced with rows and rows of two-three story buildings, which would serve as markets, stalls, bazaars, inns, and various other entertainment establishments.
These regular buildings would have eight-meter-wide roads running through both the back and front of the stores, with a small two-meter gap in between them, enabling them to withstand huge gatherings.
And they would have to be able to as Alexander did not just want to make the usual shops, markets, and malls, but also include the arts and dance into this part of the city, making a part of it into the theatre district with a large permanent stage, an amphitheater and shows to be held every night.
And last of all, Alexander planned to make a huge stadium, similar to the circus maximum, where various sports like horse and chariot racing and other athletic events like sprinting, pole vaulting, and javelin throwing would take place.