Before AD [Babylonian Favorites]

I didn't want to pay attention to it at first, but the noise continued for a while, and I didn't feel sleepy at all.Opening the curtain, I was about to ask the guard at the door, but I happened to meet a familiar face.The young man's dark eyes glanced at me, and he wanted to lead the horse away with no expression on his face. I quickly stopped him: "Lord Lucien Marcus."

He turned around, put the helmet hanging on his waist on the saddle, and shook the sweat from his forehead, as if he knew what I was going to ask, he said in a hoarse voice: "The capture of Mount Sogdiana was successful."

I looked at him blankly.

Lucien Marcus rubbed his nose with his linen cuff, and said succinctly, "Alexander won again."

"Win again." I was stunned for a while, and repeated it as if talking to myself, not knowing how to react for a while.

I don't have much contact with Luxin Marcus. I just think he doesn't like to talk but sleeps, and he has no expression on his face.I know he is not a Macedonian, but a Greek mercenary leader from Athens or Sparta.When I chatted with Ptolemy before, I learned a thing or two from his words. Although this young man is not yet 25, he already has quite a lot of experience.He has been a slave, a fighter, and was exiled, but he inadvertently showed extremely fierce skills that did not match his appearance in battle, and was appreciated by his superiors.

The cheers were still ringing not far away, and many soldiers were happily talking about this matter.Lucien Marcus glanced at me, and suddenly said something rare: "You look neither happy nor surprised."

I asked him back, "Are you happy?"

He shrugged: "I don't know."

I didn't speak any more, just looked into the distance silently.

In the evening I went to Hephaestion, who was reading the letter and saw a rare smile on my tired face.

"I was going to find you, and I think you should know the news. Zeus, the terrible mountain full of cliffs and snow-covered Sogdiana was successfully occupied by Alexander. The good news is finally It can stabilize the turbulent military spirit."

I nodded: "Then can we move on again?"

"Alexander sent an order, Antigonus was appointed governor, and led his troops to stay in the city of Hiropoli, and the rest of the army will advance to the Sogdiana mountain at full speed tomorrow."

I frowned: "Antigonus stayed behind? You mean he sent Antigonus back? This is too strange, many generals here are on standby, Seleucus, Lucinmarcus and the others... ...Why didn't you just send them to stay, and insisted that Antigonus come back specially?"

Hephaestion put down the letter, rubbed his brows, and the originally relieved smile turned into a wry smile: "What do you think?"

This decision is really elusive.It is not hard to guess what Alexander was thinking about doing this, there are only two possibilities, one is that he thinks that Antigonus is no longer suitable to go forward with him, that is, he no longer believes in Antigonus, and suspects that Antigonus has If you have a different heart, you may bite yourself back at any time if you keep it by your side.The second is that he thinks that it might be better for Antigonus to manage the city of Hiiropolis than to continue the Eastern Expedition by his side, which means that he does not distrust Antigonus, on the contrary, he may trust him more than others, He's loyal enough that he doesn't need to be around to be on guard at all times.

My heart is heavy, Antigonus is doomed to rebellion.If it is the first type, it is easy to handle, which means that Alexander is already prepared for his betrayal, but if it is the second type, then Antigonus will probably hold a grudge against Alexander because of this incident.Because staying behind meant that he could neither move forward nor return to his hometown privately. Without Alexander's permission, to put it more extreme, Antigonus might have to spend the rest of his life in this small town in Central Asia.

"Is Antigonus reliable?" Hephaestion's hesitant voice finally came.

I raised my head and looked at him, and found that the eyes of this young and gentle man were full of struggle and pain, so I didn't answer him directly, but asked instead: "Besides the dispatch of these generals, you know that there is a fatal hidden danger in your Majesty's Eastern Expedition." What is it?"

Hephaistion stroked his chin with his slender fingers, thought for a long time, and then said: "The morale of the army? But Alexander just won the battle, and the news spread, or..."

He seemed to think of something, and slowly stopped talking.After a while, he suddenly sighed: "You are right. The honor of Iris is only given to the most steadfast heroes...but the hope Alexander gave them is too vague."

Yes, this is the hidden danger that has been lurking in the depths.It is a problem that the generals have their own minds, but the most important thing is the military spirit!Wealth has accumulated to a certain extent and land has expanded to a certain extent. For those ordinary soldiers, what better thing than family reunion and enjoying life?

Nearly two years have passed, how long can the enthusiasm of these Macedonian soldiers last?Winning a battle is a good thing, and everyone will rejoice for it, but it is too much, once winning too many battles, victorious in every battle, or invincible, once such things become the norm, there will still be people who are simply satisfied with fighting Victory and March to the East?

Just like a machine with the best performance, it can last a day and a month in a good state, but if it is required to run for ten years, 20 years, or even endlessly, this machine will collapse one day .Machines can break down, let alone living people.It's good to be motivated, but that's a sprint, not a marathon.People need stimulation, but if this stimulation is too frequent, people will become numb and slack off.

Just like the Luxin Marcus he met just now, he could no longer feel the joy of defeating the enemy and capturing the mountains.From the perspective of Alexander's Eastern Expedition so far, there is no doubt that it is a long-term and unsurpassed stimulus to everyone's psychology, and this stimulus will only become less and less effective as time goes on.

Rugged mountain trails are not necessarily dead ends, even flat avenues will lead to deep abysses. The more victorious you are, the more miserable you will be when you lose the last battle.

I was so frightened by the thought that I couldn't help but ask, "Is there any way to slow down the progress of His Majesty's Eastern Expedition?"

"No one can stop him from advancing towards his dream."

"It's easy to be ambitious, but too ambitious will lead to a bad end!" I was anxious, and a strong desire surged up in my heart, and then blurted out without thinking, "If there is a chance, would you like to change his fate with me? ?”

Hephaestion was shocked when he heard the words, and he stood up abruptly, some light flashed in his blue eyes: "Why do you say that?"

"what?"

"You said you want to change his fate, do you mean his fate will be miserable?" He grabbed my shoulder hastily, "Tell me, did he fail to fulfill his dream, did someone kill him? When did he die? How did he die?"

Only then did I realize what I said: "Don't worry, calm down..."

He suddenly punched me without saying a word.

"Bagoss, you actually hid this from me," Hephaestion's lips were pale, and he seemed to be trembling, and there was only anger and fear in his big blue eyes, "You won't tell me until he's about to die The truth! I thought you really cared about Alexander, but you turned a blind eye to his death! Why should I be so polite to you? If it wasn’t because Alexander regarded you as someone he could trust, who do you think you are? You don’t Save him, I will save him myself, tell me what danger he is in, or I will kill you bastard!"

He strangled my neck with his backhand.

These few words were like a pair of slender needles piercing my heart.For a moment, all the anxiety, all the tension and uneasiness, all the torment and torment that lasted like years, all the unspeakable sorrow that knew the end swept through my mind like a storm.

"The truth, the truth! You know the fucking truth! But do you have the courage to bear the truth, you coward!" I roared, twisting my body to resist, "What can I tell you! Can you tell me what to do? Alexander, you can knock him out with a sap and imprison him in a house for the rest of his life, do you think he will accept it? Do you think this is really less cruel to him than death?"

His hand was getting stronger and stronger, and I pulled out a fist and slammed it on his shoulder: "I know you want to protect him, but Hephaestion, let me ask you, how many 30 years are there in life, Alexander How many can you get, and how many can you get? What about me? Do you fucking understand how pathetic I am?"

"No one asks you to bear anything, you ask for everything!"

Hephaistion took my blow with his left hand, resisted me and slammed into the pillar hard.

There was a horrible groan from the tent, and the right hand that was holding my neck tightened even more.

His eyes were red, and he gritted his teeth and said, "Don't lie to me, tell me the truth. Bagoss, you don't need to bear his fate. Zeus is my witness, and I will guard him until death."

"I don't need to bear it? Then respectful Lord Hephaestion, tell me why I am still here?" I spit out a mouthful of blood and laughed loudly, "You are dreaming, I will not tell a word about this You! Without me, even if you die, you will never know his end!"

Hephaistion's arm trembled, but suddenly he smiled lightly.

"So, I will die earlier than him?"

As if struck by lightning, I froze in place.

"Lord Hephaestion, His Majesty Alexander has sent another letter, saying it is very urgent, and I request you to reply immediately after reading it." A guard's voice suddenly sounded at the door.

Hephaestion let me go, straightened his clothes, and said nonchalantly, "Come in."

I sat blankly by the side, and looked at the brown-haired man in front of me again.He actually lied to me, and I was hooked, Hephaistion's scheming is so deep.But why didn't he react as he should when he heard such a result?Alexander died young, he died earlier than Alexander, wasn't he afraid?

However, before I asked these messy thoughts, Hephaestion's gentle expression suddenly became very ugly.Then he turned his eyes away from the letter and stared at the ruby ​​ring on his hand quietly.

A gust of wind slipped in through the curtain, and the letter in his hand fell silently to the ground.

"Lord Hephaistion?" I walked over, trying to pick up the blown paper for him.As soon as he bent down, he heard Hephaistion's blank voice.

"We don't need to slow down Alexander's marching plan. Alexander has already figured out a way."

"what?"

"He told me to bring another person." Hephaestion said in a low voice.