Adonis Diaries

Iskandaranian Mafias,(fiction, continue 21)

Artax learned the whereabouts and business of the three Macedonian trained divisions.  The divisions have taken hold of the strategic passages between Afghanistan and current Pakistan. They started on the business of brigandage, kidnapping, and all sorts of highway robberies. By and by, their business units stabilized on legitimate transactions.  The natural process cut in half the number of shareholders through a series of inner civil wars.  The two officers Seleucus and Ptolemy emerged winner and alive.  Seleucus and his band took control of the entrances fro Pakistan and had the monopoly on silk, spices and incense imported from India and China. Ptolemy controlled the entrances from Afghanistan and monopolized opium, furs and the slaves’ trades.

Through costly trial and error procedures, Seleucus and Ptolemy learned to respect the spirit of free market and free passage to the Afghanis tribes. Thus, the Afghans were not charged any entrance or exit fees and their caravans not inspected or intercepted.  The non-Afghanis caravans were taxed by adult heads over 10 year-old.  The task time measurement science proved that inspecting the belongings and ballots and bags and sacs were discouraging the soldiers and the return on minute inspection was not beneficial.  They opted for a straightforward head count and the appropriate rate to cover monthly expenses.  Thus, the entrance charges fluctuated but were decided on both entrances at the beginning of every month.  There were extra fees when caravans needed guides in the passages, and they learned to need it, for safety and security was within the business philosophy.