Douluo: The Adventures of King Skin

"If you lose your right ball, you actually lose this piece of your left ball too."

——DidgeryDave21

It was quite a fuss.

As deceptive rumors spread throughout Thessaly, a rebellion broke out in Pharsalus at the end of the month.

News quickly reached Pella.

Cassander usually wore a simple and capable military uniform, but recently he wore a Persian-style robe decorated with gold and silver. Compared with his previous image, he looked quite bulky.

And what he wanted was bloat, and he wanted to cover up the swelling in his legs with this radiant look.

But as time went by, his subordinates inevitably discovered his strangeness. When such comments reached his ears, it inevitably made him even more anxious.

Cassander was basically a wise monarch for Macedonia.

Under his rule, the internal nobles, military leaders, and the arrogant soldiers did not make waves, and his rule was always as stable as Mount Tai; and all the wars and burdens were excluded from Macedonia itself, and this land enjoyed A rare moment of calm, allowing the population and economy to recover.

After defeating his biggest rival, Queen Olympias, he founded a new city named Cassandria on the Palerne Peninsula in eastern Macedonia, and gathered the survivors of Olynsus, which was destroyed by Alexander. Get up and settle in this new city.

Then on his way south, he rebuilt the city of Thebes, which was also destroyed by Alexander.

Then, Thessalonica, named after his wife, was built on the site of Therma, the ancient Macedonian capital.

Among these three cities, Cassandria and Thessalonica, together with the old capital Pella, became metropolises comparable to those of the southern Greek city-states, and were famous cities in the Eastern Mediterranean for thousands of years in subsequent history.

Outside Macedonia, however, he was accustomed to a tough and brutal attitude.

Logically speaking, this move should be unfavorable.

But at this time, he was holding a so-called "newspaper" sent by his confidant. He only read half a page, and the paper was covered with sweat stains and wrinkles.

He waved his hand, and all the servants knew that this meant that they should retreat - a habit newly developed by the Macedonian king - and they walked backwards out of the palace as if they had been granted amnesty.

As soon as the people left, Cassander's face began to distort instantly.

Ignoring the severe pain, he grasped his knee tightly with his right hand, trying to stop the tiny torturous creaking sound in his joints.Under the double burden of body and mind, he was like a drowning man, struggling to breathe and maintain rationality.

"Pyrrhus... why did Pyrrhus appear again? Do I have any grudge against him?" He scratched his scalp with difficulty, "It seems that he did. It seemed that Philip killed his father that time... This Damn poisonous snake! Why is it at this time... Philip... Pres..."

Cassander unknowingly thought of the various medical techniques he had seen recently. The various descriptions above corresponded to his current feelings, such as labor pain, dull pain, colic, annoying burning pain, annoying soreness, harmful pain, etc. Stinging pain, small swelling and pain like a knife wound...all kinds of things, a mess. Cassander tried hard to grasp the glimmer of clarity, but he couldn't do it.

Finally, he steeled himself, held on to the throne, and stood up with his swollen legs.There was only a "click" sound, which almost made him think he had broken a bone.

He gritted his teeth desperately, veins popped out on his face, and his robe was soaked with sweat...

When the tide of pain finally receded, he found that this masochistic method worked again - he could think again...

The next day, an order came from the palace:

Appointing the king's brother Prestarchos to stay in the royal capital, King Cassander will personally lead the main force south to suppress the rebellion in Thessaly.

…………

…………

After all, there are only a few fathers and sons like Antigonus and Demetrius who are kings at the same time.

Therefore, Prince Philip of Macedonia is now just a prince, not even a prince.Because Macedonia basically has no established inheritance system.

Judging from the changes in the throne of Macedonia in the past hundred years, it can be said that it is a fist system!As long as your fist is big enough, you can inherit even if you are a prince, or you can inherit if you are an uncle. Even if you are not a royal family, or simply a foreigner, it is not impossible.

But in Philip's case, few would doubt that he could take over the throne.

Because this person is so good as an heir.

Philip lost his mother when he was young, so he almost grew up in a military camp, and he seemed very independent from an early age.He was smart and eager to learn. Cassander taught him grammar and Antipater taught him horse riding, and he learned them quickly.

He entered the military camp early, gained both military morale and command, and when he was a teenager, he killed the King of Epirus, Aeacades, in a single battle.

——This is an incredible achievement. Even if you can fight, how many kings in the world can you kill?

He is handsome in appearance, kind to others, tall and strong in martial arts.He is cunning yet able to act in a royal way, steady yet quick-witted.

I would like to ask such a hexagonal warrior, who doesn't want him to be the king?Not to mention his biological father.

As a king, having such an heir is the greatest luck.

It's a pity that Philip, the heir whom Cassander was worried about and struggled to plan for in despair, was not actually close to him.

In other words, none of Cassander's family were close to him.

His father Antipater was an extremely conservative person who hated him for being too literary and for not killing wild beasts according to Macedonian tradition. In the end, when he was dying, he preferred to hand over the regent position to someone who had neither strength nor brains. Polyperchon;

His wife Thessalonia was forcibly married to him. Before that, he brutally executed all her living family members. After so many years, they have two children. It seems that this woman has given up her hatred. , but everyone understands that this is just a kind of hypocrisy, a helpless compromise with life;

Apart from this, other relatives were frightened by his iron fist and coldness and never got close to him.

Including his favorite eldest son Philip.

**

At this time Philip was leading an army of [-] men marching along the coast of Maris Bay.

Pyrrhus's three thousand cannot be compared with others' three thousand.

In the long line drawn, there were a full thousand pikemen, all from Macedonia, carrying shields on their chests and disassembled Sarissa spears on their shoulders;

There were also a thousand hoplites, some mercenaries, some Greek city-states under direct Macedonian control, who put their shields and breastplates on their chariots, and marched with only their javelins and daggers;

There were also six hundred hussars, all Thessalians, who were probably the best hussars in Greece at this age;

Finally, there are the four hundred companion cavalry. They are well-equipped and have high morale. This is Philip's most elite unit and is also his basic base. Cassander does not have his own companion cavalry. In fact, Macedonia's companion cavalry is all His son's friend.

In addition to these 3000 people, there were another 3000 people behind. They were the entourage of the real soldiers and the light infantry. They were responsible for escorting the civilian husbands and baggage, so they had to walk slowly behind.

Philip sat on his horse and read the message sent by the messenger.

The riot in Pharsalus meant that half of the way back was cut off.But he wasn't worried.

Because the most elite soldiers in Thessaly were either under his command or in the place where he was going, no matter how big the trouble was, it was just a temporary storm, and as soon as the sun came up, the ice would melt and the snow would melt.

The only thing he worried about was that he would not be able to pass Thermopylae before Dmitry's army arrived.