Once upon a time, the Seleucid kingdom was a powerful force in the East, from Asia Minor to Phoenicia, and from Assyria to Elemes. It is a country of Greek civilization, and its king is a Macedonian.

Seleucus I, the founder of the Seleucid Kingdom, was a general under Alexander the Great as a young man, but the Emperor fell ill and died and the empire was divided. With his strong strength, Seleucid occupied a large territory in West Asia and the Middle East, and established his own state.

By this time it was already 248 BC, and the incompetence of the successive Seleucid kings led to the rapid decline of the kingdom. The king is happy to listen to slander, favors treacherous villains, and those with virtue and ability are either hiding or doing nothing. The country's diplomacy was in shambles, offending the pharaoh of Egypt and the king of Pontus. The state system is rotten and cumbersome, some people are recklessly amassing wealth just for profit, and some people are bankrupt and in debt. Inside and outside the government and the opposition, the country is full of copper stench. The power of the Seleucid nation was declining.

Under the mediation of Egypt, the traditional countries of the East were united. Parthia and Armenia took the opportunity to revolt, and after restoring their original kingdoms, they retaliated against Seleucus. Pontic and Greece in Asia Minor also saw the opportunity, and got involved in the affairs of the East, asking for a piece of the pie with confidence.

As a result, they attacked them in groups and joined forces to deal with a strong enemy. Although Seleucus maintained a relatively strong army, it was easy to find a general among the three armies, and good generals were squeezed out, and only those who did nothing mobilized the army arbitrarily.

King Antioch was overwhelmed, and the army on the battlefield was stretched thin. With the thick family foundation accumulated over the years, it has struggled with many ferocious wolves.

Years of war attrition left the treasury empty, and the Seleucids became more and more passive militarily, and finally lost their cities due to being outnumbered.

Today's Seleucus is left with only two large cities, Antioch and Tarsus, with armies guarding the borders of Syria and Silesia, ready to fight. Of course, Seleucus will not be able to die for a while, and Antiochus subjectively thinks that they are now strong and brave, and they can hold out for a long time no matter what. And what about the objective situation?

On the one hand, Antiochus had concentrated the most elite armies of the empire in Syria and Silesia, with hundreds of elephants guarding the kingdom's gates. The Seleucid warriors no longer retreated in front of their home country, and the fighting on the front line was fierce and extremely cruel. The soldiers seemed to be crawling in purgatory on earth, and the sky was dark.

On the other hand, Seleucus is no matter how much he exerts the initiative of his supervisor and fights, he is only a remnant of the party. The main reason why it has survived to this day is that the enemy has changed the direction of the spearhead; It is the political environment that has changed in a new way.

Egypt and Pontus led the battlefield wars in the south and north. And the two of them have always been at odds, and dealing with Seleucus together is only a temporary political need. When the two sides are directed at Syria, the question of the demarcation of the boundaries between the two powers arises, which is very tricky.

Armenia got the Assyrian plain it wanted, and had long since withdrawn from the Union. Parthia also fulfilled its initial intention of expansion by declaring an armistice. I wonder if they had the heart to guard against the Egyptians. But judging by the situation, having defeated the old hegemon, a new eastern hegemon has emerged.

Since the forcible occupation of Ponticus by Sardis, the Greeks have lost trust in this ally. They found themselves as if they had become vassals of Pontus. The arrogant Greeks never bowed to tyranny, and they withdrew from the war. Trade with Seleucids was also secretly resumed, trading on the sea and on the coastal routes of Lycia and the people of Silesia. What's even more interesting is that many Greek merchants who love money regardless of borders also intervened in the trade between Macedonia and Seleucid, and everyone made money together.

So now only Pontus and Egypt are threatening the survival of Seleucus. But these two giants are full of contradictions, and it is difficult to say whether they will fight each other now.

The hedgehog has a chubby belly, soft and vulnerable, and once it shrinks into a ball, it becomes a ball of thorns and becomes invulnerable. The key is to hide weak points and reduce the size. Seleucus was the same, the land area was too large to defend in the past; Now the problem is simpler.

Silesia, bordering Syria, is a fertile land on the northwest coast of the Eastern Mediterranean. The city of Antioch is separated by rivers to the north and south, the sea to the west, and the desert bordering Assyria to the east. It is a developed city with good natural defense conditions. And the possession of Antioch could easily control the entire Syrian region. Silesia is blocked by mountain ranges, and there is a momentum to defend the mountain pass. The central city of Tarsus has high walls and fortified fortifications.

Seleucus's current position is easy to defend and difficult to attack, the city is strong, and elite troops are gathered. It's really not to be underestimated. The vanguard forces of Pontus and Egypt were thwarted in their attacks and encountered a hard bone to gnaw. Definitely one of the reasons why they put on the offensive. Maybe they should really keep a neutral country on both sides, or maybe they are waiting for reinforcements and heavy weapons to arrive.

In order to boost morale, the king fought to the death. Let all three of his sons go into battle to supervise the battle. At this critical moment, it's time to throw your head and spill your blood to do it. Sadly, his eldest son, Alitak, died in the defense of the capital; The second son, Alexander Antiochus, was stabbed to death in the Battle of Silesia, and the body recovered after the victory was already bloody and fleshy. But they withstood the enemy's attack with their chests.

Antioch was so distressed when he found out that he didn't eat a bite of food for two days in a row, and immediately recalled his third son, Dmitrik, who was still in the barracks. He regretted that he had not heeded the advice of his loyal retainer Phiotas and had set out his heart to conquer Egypt. In a fit of rage, Philotas resigned and returned to his hometown, no longer bothering with worldly affairs.

The mediocre king finally woke up from a great dream and saw everything in front of him, but it was too late. Antiochus did not dare to hope for the revival of the empire now, but in his own words, he had a selfish request that a righteous man stand up for him and help him defeat his enemies, Egypt and Pontus. He wants to avenge his two children. Antioch was frowning all day, how could he make a comeback in such a bad situation? Dmitry had an idea.

It turned out that he remembered the Macedonians who were far away in his homeland. Speaking of Seleucus and Macedonia, the two are indeed inextricably linked, first of all, they are of the same language, the same faction of the Greek world, and they were both Macedonians.

After the division of the empire, everyone settled in each other's corner and was the first to recognize each other's legitimacy and exchange trade. Be friendly.

Antiochus always felt that the current king of Macedonia, Garas, was particularly kind to him. He had heard that the Kingdom of Macedonia was rich and powerful, and that the Macedonians were upright and had a great sense of justice.

King Antioch seemed to see hope, and he was going to make a desperate gamble.