Douluo: The Adventures of King Skin

"I never saw the ancients before me,/I never saw the coming ones after me./Thinking about the long journey of heaven and earth,/I shed tears with sadness."

——Chen Zi'ang's "Song of Dengyouzhou"

If you exclude Demetrius and Alexander, the son of Polyperchon, who has been completely marginalized, Cassander should be the youngest among all the successors; if you count from his father, the old regent Antipater, he And it is true that he belongs to the second generation of successors like the previous two.

When he was young, he had been taught by Aristotle in the Garden of Midas with Alexander, and then stayed in Macedonia with his father. He had never experienced a battle, so he always presented himself as a literary man.

Later, his ambition gradually emerged.

After Antipater's death, he united with Antigonus, Ptolemy and Lysimachus to defeat his father's old comrade-in-arms and the successor regent Polyperchon, and then briefly conquered from the Macedonian mainland south to the Peloponnese. Huge territory in the north.Then he competed with Queen Mother Olympias and finally won.

After he killed almost all of Alexander's relatives for whatever reason, even then, in the eyes of the world, he was still a cold but rational ruler.

Only in recent days, rumors have begun to circulate in the court of Pella, the capital of Macedonia, that this careerist has gradually revealed his irritable side.

——He frequently executes slaves who make mistakes, beats subordinates who do not do their job well, and directly scolds nobles who do not like him with graceless words...

This abnormal behavior finally alerted Queen Thessalonia, who came to ask Cassander in person what had happened.

Cassander is ill.

He suffered from gout, and the uric acid crystals that continued to condense and grow in his joints caused him to endure severe and bone-piercing pain.

Although the famous doctor Hippocrates two centuries ago called gout "the rich man's arthritis," in this era, this so-called "rich man's arthritis" is a terminal disease that makes people look bad.

First of all, in this era, it has not been discovered that the extract of colchicum can relieve gout; secondly, the living habits of these Greek upper-class people have almost trampled all the taboos against gout - eating meat, eating fermented bread and cheese, and then drinking alcohol. Plenty of wine, high-grade wine called 'pure wine', light wine mixed with water and honey, beer and various other alcoholic beverages, wine was considered a nutritious food and among the Greeks Water has almost taken its place in life, and even slaves have bad wine to drink!

Without realizing the connection between lifestyle habits and gout attacks, patients almost have a dead end.In the eyes of the people of the world, gout is a disease in which people gradually die in cruel pain.

——Patients can die quickly from complications only if they are lucky enough.

Cassander could not say that he had gout without admitting that he was dying.

He had just sent his eldest son Philip to Thessaly to gather troops to aid Greece. His younger brother Prestarchos, who held military power, was in the royal capital of Pella, while his other two sons Antipater and Alexander were still very young. Young.

How could he reveal his condition under such circumstances?

He could not even speak to his queen Thessalonians and then ask her to keep it a secret.Because he knew that Thessalonian preferred his two younger sons, he was also afraid that this woman would do something stupid!

Cassander held his wife's hand tightly in fear and despair, but could not get any comfort from it.

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Unexpected!Pyrrhus did not expect that Deciachus and Stratton would be willing to go with him.

Deciacus's reasons are blunt and hurtful:

"I'm afraid that if you die on the battlefield, then I will never be able to understand the knowledge you have about cartography."

The consolation was that Deciachus, proving that he was not entirely a liability, was able to help Pyrrhus draw a battle map.

Stratton’s statement is much more palatable:

"I heard about your ambition from Zinas. Although I don't completely believe it, I think I can observe it for a while. If I find that what you say and what you do are inconsistent, I will personally kill you because you are against The threat to civilization will be greater than all other successors and tyrants combined!”

Then he said that he had received a complete military education and could help Pyrrhus design and make fortification machinery.

It’s so tiring!Thank you for your exhaustion!

Democharles would not follow Pyrrhus; he had his own responsibilities and career in Athens.

He just told Pyrrhus that he would continue to support Pyrrhus in public opinion and help him wave the flag; and asked him not to worry about the weapons on credit - if the new machinery was successfully put into operation, he would send him armor and shields as soon as possible.

What else could Pyrrhus say?

The happiest thing in the world is to be friends with rich people!

**

After agreeing on a time for departure, Pyrrhus said goodbye to his friends and walked back with Achilles.

Zenas and Metilas first went to Larissa, the largest central city-state in Thessaly, to set up a front station there; then Hippias also set off back to Pharsalus to mobilize the royal family's power there.

Then Pyrrhus suddenly discovered that the people around him had returned to the time when they left Passaron for the Olympic Games.

Thinking back on everything that had happened in the past month and now having to leave Athens, where he had left many memories, Pyrrhus couldn't help but feel a little melancholy.

No matter how high your ambition is, you will feel lonely after your enthusiasm fades.

——After all, he is just a giant baby in his 30s, still a young boy.

Facing an unknown future, he deeply felt a kind of loneliness at this time.

"I kind of miss the virgin sisters."

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"Goodbye!

"Carthaginian!"

Pythias leaned on the high-raised stern of the ship and waved his hands gracefully, watching several pursuing enemy ships leave dejectedly.

"Father, what should we do next?" Aminsta asked with an expression of admiration.

Pythias turned around and regained his serious expression: "Restore the course first, or head towards Cape Laconia. I will tell you the angle that should be corrected later."

Aminstad responded loudly and excitedly, and then ran to the amidships to command the sailors.

At this time, Malibus staggered out of the cabin, and as soon as he touched the side of the ship, he couldn't wait to start vomiting.

When he finally emptied his stomach, he turned around and saw Pythias, and he started complaining:

"Why is the wine on the ship so bad? You're not short of money, so can't you prepare some good wine?"

It's just like the one used to entertain guests before.

"It would be too wasteful to brew so much wine and not be able to sell it. It is perfect for use in navigation." Pythias replied, completely ignoring the faces of the sailors tying the cables next to him who immediately raised their eyebrows after hearing this.

Are you serious?Malibus wanted to complain.

Pythias patted him on the shoulder and went directly into the cabin, leaving Malibus behind and slowly recovering his health on the deck.

The elevated poop has windows on all sides, and sunlight shines on a table in the middle.There lay spread charts and various tools.

Pythias adjusted the position of the sundial and compass, compared it repeatedly on the chart with a ruler, and drew on the wax tablet.

After busying for a long time, I finally couldn't help but raise my head and glanced at the tin boat next to me.