Before AD [Babylonian Favorites]

His smile made me realize for a second, and when I reacted and planned to refuse, he had already disappeared.

After finishing my work in doubt, I went to the discussion tent.On the way, I happened to meet Amintas who was also going that way.This time he was wearing his armor in a serious manner, holding the sword at his waist in high spirits.As soon as he saw me, he posed a handsome pose and said, "Isn't my outfit very mighty?"

I looked it up and down, and nodded with difficulty.

This kid has pink skin and a round face. To put it bluntly, wearing such a man's clothes seems to have been stolen.

"Ha, thank you." He grinned, "Actually, this is my father's. I liked it very much when I was a child. I dreamed that one day I could wear it to fight against the enemy!"

"Your father was a general?" I asked.

Amyntas shook his head, took off his helmet and shook his hair: "No, he is a personal guard of His Majesty Philip, but for his old man, this is enough. He is 17 years old as His Majesty Philip. I heard that he was loyal, brave and fearless, and he was praised many times by His Majesty Philip himself. You know, besides Alexander, I admire my father the most people."

"Then why were you still a harpist in the first place?"

"Dad forced it," he shrugged, blinking his golden pupils and said, "For some reason, he doesn't seem to want us to get involved in these things. I have two brothers, one is a painter in Skopje and the other As apprentices under Aristotle, they are all honest and responsible, marry wives and have children, and live a comfortable life in Macedonia. But don’t you think this kind of life is too boring? Why can’t you find something new and exciting?”

I said, "So you followed Alexander?"

"That's right, as long as you follow him, you will have wealth and hope. Life is always full of passion and challenges." He stretched comfortably and narrowed his eyes, "—I like challenges."

Before I knew it, I had arrived at the tent for discussion. I opened the curtain, and he said thank you softly, and then went in.

Alexander propped his chin leisurely, staring at a piece of parchment on the table with several generals.The corners of the parchment were nailed with wooden strips. Looking carefully, there were thin lines and some Greek letters drawn inside. Seven points were specially circled, which should be a map.

"Five days? Five days is ridiculous!" Someone yelled loudly, "If you want to capture such an invincible city in five days, are you just pretending to be a soldier of Scythia?"

"Well," the one-eyed general Antigonus who stood beside him mused, "If you choose the appropriate method of siege, it's not impossible to take it within five days. It's just Alexander, which of the seven cities should we choose? "

"I think it's Gaza City." Krest pointed to the dot located in the westernmost part of the map, "Obviously Gaza City is the closest to us, and has the weakest military force. In addition, it is far away from other cities. Rescue troops will be delayed in arriving, and we are sure to win."

Ptolemy frowned and vetoed: "Why do we not eat the big and fat sheep in a flock, and insist on slaughtering the thinnest and smallest sheep? Let me say that Hiropoli is the largest city in central Scythia. , and is in a slightly easterly position. If we take it down, we can go straight east without detours.”

"There are high mountains on the east side of Hiropoli, Ptolemy, are you kidding me?" Kassander sneered, "You think the Caucasus Mountain is your backyard? Why don't you show us first?"

……

As usual, the pack of wolves in Alexander began to quarrel.Of course they never seem to agree.

I stood behind Alexander impassively, observing the map.

Suddenly Alexander leaned back, turned his head and whispered, "I want to build a city near here, do you have a good name?"

I froze for a moment, looked back at my sides, and made sure he was talking to me, before I said, "I don't know."

In fact, my first reaction was to say Valencia, my hometown in Spain.But I held back.

"I don't have any good ideas. It's really annoying to choose a name." He scratched his hair and muttered, "City of Dionysus? City of Heroes? City of Bullhead? Well, it can't be too outrageous, and it can't be too out of character for a city name..."

My face was a little tense: "Your Majesty must think carefully."

The sound of fingers tapping on the table resounded loudly.

"Alexander! Don't desert!" Ptolemy yelled angrily, "Tell me, what should I do? These damned guys are always arguing with me, it's annoying, I can't stand it!"

"Go to hell, I can't stand you!"

"I can't stand you!"

The others talked in a hurry, but their eyes looked at Alexander in unison.

Alexander got up, took two steps back and forth, and suddenly said, "I only need three days."

"What? Attacking a city in three days?!" Someone lost his voice.

"No," Alexander rolled his eyes, "I mean these seven."

"Why are you so sure?" After going out with Alexander, I still couldn't help asking him, "What do you think?"

"I don't know, but I feel that it must be correct." He gathered his clothes, his skin was a little transparent in the cold night, he smiled as if remembering something, "Do you think it's impossible? That's because of you I didn’t dare to think about it at all, as long as you dare to think about this step, it is within reach.”

I looked up at the sky, and the sky was full of stars like raindrops.Thinking of everyone's stunned expressions when they heard Alexander's words just now, I have to say that he is too conceited.

"But look, Your Majesty," I raised my arm and pointed to the North Star disapprovingly, "I have fantasized about taking this star off since I was a child, but until now, I still haven't even had the chance to touch it."

Alexander chuckled: "Really? Are you sure you really thought about how to pick it? I'm afraid in your heart, since the first time you saw it, you decided that you couldn't do it. Bagoss, many people are like this , how can you fly if you put shackles on your heart?"

I looked back at him, the star was in his clean and transparent eyes, bright as if it was still twinkling.

As if aware of it, he slowly looked sideways at me, pinned the broken hair on my forehead behind my ear, and opened the corner of his mouth: "If you still want it now, I can take it off and give it to you."

"No need." My heart thumped, and my mouth moved faster than my eyes.

Alexander paused, and continued to walk towards the other side of the camp.

According to his plan, since Silopoli is the largest city with the most troops, in order to prevent their support, Alexander decided to adopt a strategy of attacking east and west.The cavalry regiment originally led by Philotas was organized under Amyntas, and he led it to march towards Hiropoli on the road openly.Amintas only needs to dig ditches and repair fences around the city of Hiropoli, and then install enough stone breakers for siege.The enemy soldiers in the city will be tired of dealing with them and give up supporting other cities.

Seeing from afar that there was a line of cavalry ready to go, Amintas saw Alexander approaching, jumped out of the line, got off his horse, bowed solemnly, raised his head and said: "Your Majesty, everyone is already assembled. "

Alexander motioned him to get up, and kissed him back: "Be careful."

Amyntas nodded vigorously.

Alexander's eyes scanned every face carefully before he said loudly: "Iris bless you, my Macedonian cavalrymen, I am waiting for your triumphant return!"

As soon as his words fell, the strong soldiers shouted and followed Amyntas away.

The next day, except Krest and Ptolemy who led the remaining part of the troops stationed in the base camp, Alexander personally led the infantry, javeliners, archers and slingers to Gaza City, which bore the brunt.Hephaestion also followed and heard from Ptolemy that he was better at architecture.Alexander kept silent along the way, and the entire army was like a silent but invincible tank.

The morning glow was reflected in the sky, and not long after we walked, Alexander suddenly raised his chin, and I followed him to look around, and there appeared a Persian-style city wall not far away.

He raised his hand slightly, and the low and loud horn sounded immediately, and the whole team stopped immediately.

"Hephaestion." Alexander suddenly called out.

Hephaestion came out and rode his horse to follow.

Alexander ordered: "Send out your scouts, go around the city, rule out ambushes and clear obstacles, and find the most suitable breakthrough for me!"

Hephaistion didn't talk nonsense, and simply took the order to leave quickly.

Alexander turned his head, looked at the countless soldiers behind him, and raised his voice: "We already have too much experience in siege, so I won't say more. But I have to reiterate one point: encountering women and children You must not do anything, you must escort them to a safe place."

He tightened his grip on the horse's reins, with a serious expression on his face: "If you violate this rule, no matter how high your status in the army is, you will still die for your life!"