Douluo: The Adventures of King Skin

“The first trireme of the Greeks was built at Corinth.”

——Thucydides, "History of the Peloponnesian War"

Hippias and others brought troops from the Pharsalus area, a considerable part of which were the private army of the Pyrrhus family, as well as the forces mobilized by the locals in Pharsalus. These people were also better than other Thessalonians. Benefiting people is more reliable.

Pyrrhus placed these relatively more credible troops in various ministries to strengthen his control over the army.The Independent Army of Thessaly has grown to 7500 troops.

The marching column will move all the way to the southwest, cross Mount Othrys, and reach the city of Lamia.

When passing the south side of Pharsalus, everyone looked at the city not far away in silence.

This is a city that is still in a semi-abandoned state.

In the Lamian War more than a decade ago, Antipater escaped from the city of Lamia and then defeated the Greek allies at the Battle of Crenon. Then he destroyed the hometown of Memnon, the leader of Thessaly. , the Thessalians were frightened and left the battle order, and the Allied Forces collapsed.

Pharsalus, which had become one of the most prosperous cities in the Thessalian Commonwealth since the time of Jason, was completely destroyed in this disaster.The scars of the war have not faded to this day, and large areas of the city are still covered by the ruins of temples and houses.

And atrocities sow the seeds of hatred.

In the first Diadochi War that broke out the following year, Memnon led the Pharsalus to revolt again. The entire Thessaly responded and formed a coalition with the Aetolian League to fight against Macedonia until Memnon was defeated by Polyperchon. Kill.

**

As the huge team entered Mount Othrys one after another, Zenas rode on a fast horse and chased from behind.

"Zinas, why are you back so soon?" Pyrrhus greeted him, "Didn't you go to contact Dmitri?"

Zenas gasped: "Your Majesty, I arrived at the seaside of Philae, and the sea has been blocked by Cassander's fleet."

"Cassander's fleet only has more than 100 ships. Why can he block the sea?" As soon as Pyrrhus finished speaking, he knew that he had asked nonsense. There could only be one reason why Cassander's fleet dared to appear:

"Dmitri has withdrawn his troops!"

"I'm afraid so."

Pyrrhus suddenly felt pain in his balls.

Why did they withdraw their troops at this time?

There is still one month left for winter camp. With this time being withdrawn, there is nothing we can do except taking an early holiday for the New Year!It's better to seize the opportunity to deal with Philip's army. Even if you don't want to fight, you can just stand aside!

Does he want to sit on a mountain and watch tigers fight?What good would it do him if he watched me die?

Pyrrhus couldn't figure it out.

How could he have imagined that Dmitry withdrew his troops so early just to celebrate the New Year in advance.

Every family has its own problems. Pyrrhus thought it would be good to work overtime during the New Year and get more salary; but Dmitri's subordinates wanted to make up for last year's leave...

Overthinking is useless.

As soon as Demetrius withdrew, Philip would certainly not follow him southward to attack the hinterland of Greece, but because he had gained control of the sea, he had already escaped from the city of Lamia.

Theoretically, the entire long coastline to the east and south of Thessaly was now exposed to the Macedonian front.

But that's theoretically possible.

Pyrrhus didn't know how much people of this era, especially Cassander and Philip, knew about sea power, but in his opinion, given the current level of technology, land power was not incapable of confronting sea power.

Even if the Cassander army has gained limited mobility through its current maritime troop transport, the Thessalian army can offset it through the internal advantage of mobile warfare.

But where should we go now?Are you going to Lamia as planned?

…………

…………

Cassander's fleet was not only smaller in number than Demetrius, but also had smaller ships.

The main force of Dmitry's fleet was triremes and quadruple-remesers, as well as a heavy fleet composed of five-remellers, seven-remembrance warships, and even eight-remembrance siege warships.

Cassander's fleet was still dominated by triremes, with a few quadruple-remesers, and only a few quintremes for show.

In addition, small communication ships and reconnaissance ships also mainly use thirty oars, which are very shabby compared to the fifty-oar clippers that Dmitri is equipped with in large quantities.

At this time, a Cassander army five-row battleship was parked on the sea outside Lamia City.The exterior of the battleship is magnificently decorated, but behind the deck, there is a simple stern canopy made of canvas.

Cassander's angry roar echoed in the stern canopy:

"There are dozens of warships, large and small, but they can't stop a single ship?"

The officers of the navy and land forces lowered their heads fearfully on the lower deck, not daring to breathe loudly for fear of being regarded as the one who stood out.Fortunately, a guard boarded the deck at this time, walked all the way to the throne, and whispered to Cassander.

"Oh? Philip is here? Where is he?" Cassander's anger disappeared.He looked at everyone in the tent and waved his hand tiredly to tell everyone to leave.

A group of people filed out as if they had been granted amnesty.

Not long after, a young man walked into the tent.He has a handsome face, with neat short hair, and a clean face that has not yet begun to grow a beard.

Cassander saw his eldest son's eyes light up, and he was about to stand up from the throne, but the severe pain in his joints stopped him; he waved his hand again to call Philip forward, but his outstretched hand stopped in mid-air, and saw that Expressive face.

"King Cassander."

Hearing this business-like title, Cassander felt sad.

He regretted that he had not discovered earlier that family ties were so important to him.

But it's useless to regret now.

His days are numbered.The top priority is to remove all obstacles to the eldest son's succession.

Philip explained the causes and consequences of the defeat of the Athenian front one by one, and reported some of the military information he currently had. He lowered his head and waited for the verdict.

Cassander also regained his composure. He looked at his son who had high hopes:

"I sent envoys to negotiate with Antigonus, but most of them were fruitless. So I have also sent letters to Ptolemy and Seleucus. But it will take time to convince them, and it will take time for them to join the war.

"Fortunately, Demetrius will not launch another attack for the time being. Our first priority now is to deal with Pyrrhus as soon as possible and stabilize Thessaly."

Philip was a little surprised. In the past, the relationship between father and son had always been unilaterally reported by Philip. Cassander never explained any decision to his subordinates, including him.

From the moment he came in until now, my father's behavior has been very wrong.

But he remained silent.

That's none of my business.He just thought so.

Cassander continued:

“We don’t know what the connection between Pyrrhus and the Bright Eyes Times is, but obviously continuing to allow this Athenian newspaper to spread rumors and cause trouble in Thessaly is very detrimental to our restoration of rule, so I have ordered people to block the sea.

"Now let's deal with Lamia's matter first."

Lamia?

Philip looked up in surprise.