Douluo: The Adventures of King Skin

“Pious Pyrrhus, descended from the Molossian kings, consecrated to the shrine of Aetonius the fine shield, / which he had won from the gallant Gauls, Antigonus and his partisans Fleeing to the shores of the sea, / the reputation of the Aiacides family as invincible became known throughout the world, and they were forever protected by the goddess Athena for all eternity.”

——Pyrrhus dedicated it to the temple of Athena after the Battle of Aeus

Pyrrhus decided to travel overland to Illyria. The journey back and forth could take several months, so he had to start early.

Before leaving, Pyrrhus summoned Pythias and Achilles from Thessaly. The former was going to take craftsmen to the port of Piraeus to learn shipbuilding technology, and the latter was going to take a group of young officers to participate. Demetrius's southern expedition.

Then Pyrrhus asked Dmitri for a letter, to the effect of "recommending" Lamia Construction Group to the Rhodes people for the construction of the Colossus of the Sun God.

Then they had some discussions with Manethos. After a bit of fooling around, the other party agreed to lead the academic exchange between Egypt's Dabo Academy and Lamia Academy. At the same time, Maria's master and apprentice would also be the first representatives. Hit the road with Pyrrhus to Lamia.

Finally, Pyrrhus gave Maribus a task in Athens, asking him to recruit soldiers and build a large-scale comprehensive entertainment city in Athens to train a team for the future "Lamian-style service" to the world.

After everything was settled, Pyrrhus set off.

The reason for not taking the land route is that, on the one hand, it is rare for Pyrrhus to have leisure time, so it is better to take your family and guests around the prosperous Central Greece, sightseeing mountains and rivers along the way, and also visit famous historical cities, just treat it like a vacation.

On the one hand, Iberia is to the west, and he has to go back to Lamia first, which is separated by the entire Balkan Peninsula. He has to go back and forth by sea, so he plans to simply investigate the surrounding situation of Lamia on the spot, maybe A land route to Epirus could also be opened.

Heading westward, passing the city of Megara, we left the territory of the Atticans and entered the Boeotian region.

The original center here was the famous Thebes, which has the same name as Thebes in Egypt, and probably has the same etymology.

The city was established in the Minoan period more than 2000 years ago, and was later destroyed in the Homeric era, on the eve of the Trojan War, more than 1000 years ago.

He became the leader of the Boeotians in about 300 years. After several ups and downs, he finally punched Athens and kicked Sparta under the leadership of Epaminondas, but was razed to the ground by Alexander 30 years ago.

It was last rebuilt 10 years ago under the leadership of Cassander and has now regained its independence.

This famous gay city is located on a high hill, facing a lake, and is located in the center of Central Greece. It does have unique advantages.

However, considering that this city-state has fierce party disputes in domestic affairs, is capricious in diplomacy, and has always adhered to the characteristic of dogs that cannot change, Pyrrhus and his party did not enter the city for safety reasons, but only took a look from a distance.

Walking along the Gulf of Corinth, leaving Boeotia, we entered Phocis.

This is the Great Neighbor Alliance centered on the holy land of Delphi, and its strength is below average in Greece.

The theory is that the Phocians should strictly maintain neutrality in Greece and defend the Holy Land, but in fact they have never been less troublesome. They even looted the Holy Land themselves, causing the Temple of Apollo to still not recover. When Luo Shi approached them to contract the project, they were also the most demanding in terms of money.

The etymology of Delphi is said to come from dolphins.

The Holy Land of Delphi, also known as the Temple of Apollo Epicurus, is located on the slopes of Mount Parnassos. Although it is only more than 300 meters above sea level, you can overlook the entire Central Greece from here.

In order to adapt to the narrow terrain, the temple did not adopt the traditional west-to-east layout, but faced north to south.

This place is famous for Apollo’s oracles and prophecies, leaving countless gossips in history.

——There are also theories that ancient Greek temples would exchange information through flying pigeons.Therefore, when the inquirer got the answer, it was possible that the staff of the oracle had already known the truth in advance through the carrier pigeon.

I don’t know whether this statement is true or not. Anyway, Pyrrhus saw that there were many pigeons here.

Unfortunately, Apollo only worked here for nine months a year, and Pyrrhus came at the wrong time.

Maria was a little disappointed when she saw that Pyrrhus had been pigeon-holed, so she opened her mouth and told a story:

"It is said that when Alexander was about to go to the east, he came here to ask for an oracle. It was also on vacation when the oracle came to him. He ignored it and grabbed the Pythia who was responsible for the prophecy to enter the temple. The Pythia had no choice but to say, 'Oh, You're such an irresistible boy,' and Alexander turned around and left, telling everyone that this was the oracle he had received."

After hearing this, everyone looked at Pyrrhus.

"..."

What's with that expectant expression on your faces?

"Stop thinking nonsense, how could I use force against a big customer...I just came here to discuss business."

In this era, Greek temples had a very important function, which was to serve as the treasury of the city-state. For example, the Temple of Athena where Demetrius lived has always been the treasury of Athens.

Although there is not much money in the Temple of Apollo now, there is still a lot of money from the city-states of Phokis stored here.

Pyrrhus has always had the idea to give these temples a push and let them start banking business!

If you just sit with so much money, it won't produce offspring. You might as well lend it out, like lending it to Pi Dawang, and he can pay the interest!And you, Apollo, are the god of crafts. Isn’t it your duty to spend money to promote industrial development?

If it goes well, maybe we can issue further banknotes. After all, the temple is guaranteed by the gods, so its credibility is very high!

Unfortunately, it would take half a month before the Oracle opened its doors. Pyrrhus could not wait for such a long time, so he could only take a look around and then leave full of disappointment.

…………

…………

During this period, another big event happened in the Mediterranean.

Tarantum in Italy initiated a citizens' assembly and unanimously decided to launch a war against Lucania and Rome.

Between the toe and heel of the Apennine Peninsula is the Bay of Taranto, named after this city-state, and the city of Tarantum is located on the west side of the top of the Bay of Taranto.

This city was founded 400 years ago. It was once the only colony of the Greek power Sparta, and now it has become the most powerful city-state among the colonial city-states in Magna Graecia except Syracuse, with a population of 30. This has surpassed all city-states in mainland Greece.

But this Tarantum is the kind of person who is strong on the outside and hard on the inside - or in other words, the entire city-state of Magna Graecia has this kind of virtue - indulged in pleasure and not well-prepared, the citizen soldiers have no combat effectiveness, and they rely entirely on mercenaries to fight.However, he has always regarded himself as the big brother of northern Magna Greece, and he is a typical example of people who are addicted to food.

The expansion of the Romans and Lucanians invaded their sphere of influence, and the Tarentum people unanimously decided to never tolerate, resolute sanctions, and strike hard.

But what if no one can fight?

At this time, they thought of their mother state, Sparta.

They sent envoys to Sparta to ask for help and "named a man named Cleonymus to be their general."

Who is this Cleonymus?

As we all know, Sparta has a dual-kingdom system, and he is the uncle and regent of Areus, the current king of the Archiad lineage of Sparta.

Sounds like a pretty high-ranking person, right?

However, Sparta not only had a dual-kingdom system, but the king only had sacrificial power and military command power. In daily affairs, he had to listen to the five consuls. The five consuls also listened to the 30-member council of elders, and the 30-member council of elders also listened to the citizens. To put it bluntly, the regent of the assembly - Cleonymus, is also the guardian of the eldest nephew.

But there is one thing here. When Aleus succeeded to the throne, his biological father was already dead. He inherited the throne directly from his grandfather, Cleomenes II, the father of Cleonymus, skipping His biological uncle Cleonymus was originally supposed to be in first place.

It is said that the Spartans thought he was tyrannical and arbitrary.

Can Cleonymus feel comfortable?

Sparta has gone from bad to worse after losing its Helots. Now it can be said that it is in twilight and is almost reduced to an ordinary city-state. Moreover, the power of the king is so small. If it is replaced by a successor like Demetrius, the capital will be free. don't want.

And Cleonymus is also an ambitious man, and has a lot in common with the Macedonians in mentality. He may also be a little disdainful of this small throne, so there is no place for him to stay, so I have a secret connection with the Tarantum people and want to go out and work hard.

The Lacedaemonians were willing to exert influence in their state and were happy to get rid of this scourge, so the three parties hit it off. Tarantum paid for the ship, Sparta allowed them to recruit troops, and Cleonymus personally led the team.

He gathered five thousand mercenaries at Cape Tinaron in Laconia and immediately set sail for Tarentum.