Chapter Twenty-Five: Fireside Night Talk
At night, in the harbor of Rhodes, there was a bonfire on the beach in the middle of the night, and Alexander set up a shelf, placed a large cauldron, and feasted his companions with the game and some vegetables, in fact, like a hot pot. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 InfoAlthough his friends are much older than him, they are already some of the youngest people in the army. They were also Alexander's closest and most trusted people, and ordinary soldiers were generally not invited to participate. In addition to this, Alexander invited Theophrastus and his student Stratus, as well as Epirus, who became Alexander's secretary. Cassander's fleet had blockaded the area, but it was slow to attack. And Alexander is thinking about how to deal with Cassander's fleet, and he hopes that defeating Cassander this time will not only establish a higher prestige for himself, but also deplete the strength of the Diadochi. He thought of the "crow hanging" of the Romans, but his troops were not Roman infantry who were good at hand-to-hand combat, basically all spearmen, Alexander suddenly felt that his troop configuration was still quite problematic, thinking of the Roman legions rampant in Europe, he was very unwilling, determined to establish a hand-to-hand combat infantry team.
"Ares, you're good at martial arts, right?"
"King, why do you suddenly ask this?" Ares was very puzzled, his brave king did not know, but the king still asked knowingly.
"But can your bravery be put to good use in naval battles?"
"It's-this, it seems to be a bit of a hero useless."
"What if we could get on the enemy's ship?"
"Then I'll kill them without a single piece of armor."
"But how many of our troops are as brave as you? How can you defeat them alone? ”
"That's right, teacher." Alexander turned to Theophrastus.
"How can we help? Alexander. The old man said lazily, for he was lying on the beach, without the slightest scholarly demeanor.
"Be careful of catching a cold, you think you're still a young man in your twenties and thirties!"
"With the sky as the cover and the earth as the seat, I am absorbing the essence of heaven and earth."
"You're so interested! Indeed, carefree and optimistic life can be more comfortable. I would like to ask you how much oil you brought with you last time?
"There are about a dozen barrels, and I put them all on the ship when you said that this thing might be useful in the future, and it was used for research purposes in the past. This thing is very dangerous, it will have a foul smell if it is accidentally leaked, it will burn as soon as it touches the slightest open flame, and it will emit a suffocating smoke. It is said that a masseur from Athens named Atenofarne actually had his assistant sprinkle oil on his body and set it on fire in order to prove that crude oil could not catch fire. ”
"I've heard this story, stupid man! I don't know anything, but I just use my own assumptions to do experiments with my body, which is too reckless. ”
"It is said that Helmipos, the wise man, the teacher of Atenofarne, made this view, so they had no doubt that he believed that fire was a pure element, which carried light and heat in the air, and that oil came out of the earth, and that it could only be ignited in a completely dry earth like sand, or in extremely moist and fertile land, and that it could not be ignited if it were an intermediary substance, such as the human body."
"Hehe, nature is wonderful, we can never explore the nature of everything, but they dogmatically believe that what famous people say must be true. In fact, when we explore any kind of thing or phenomenon, we should have a critical spirit, and we must not listen to hearsay and follow the crowd. ”
"You're right, Alexander."
"Your speech in Greece has made you known to many people, and your knowledge and fame are worthy of the title of Wise Man." Strato wasted no time in patting Alexander's ass.
"It's far away, let's talk about the key points, I want you to contribute that oil to the military, although the amount is a little less, it's better than nothing." Alexander was a little embarrassed and hurried back to business.
"Okay, no problem, this thing also takes up space on the ship, and it's not safe, just give it to you." I believe that when you get to the East, you will give me more, right? Theophrastus said with a smile. …,
"Haha, of course." Alexander also hoped that he could refine gasoline, there are so many types of petroleum products, it would be great if they were all out, but Alexander did not say that these special products that deviated from the historical period, the current technology and the level of the industrial age in the 19th century are worlds apart!
"Alexander, do you want to fight Cassander?" Alexander vaguely guessed Alexander's thoughts.
"Yes, but I won't attack rashly, I can't afford to lose, I won't attack without complete certainty."
"But we are clearly inferior in terms of the strength of our two sides, how can you turn things around?"
"I'm thinking."
The beach is calm again.
"By the way, don't we have trebuchets?" Alexander suddenly stood up and exclaimed, "We can get more flammable materials, such as dry wood, dead grass, and the like, and sprinkle sulfur on them, which can be used not only as an insecticide, but also as a fuel for combustion." It was then sprinkled with oil and ignited before being thrown onto enemy ships. After the combustion of oil, it is difficult to extinguish it with water, but it will spread its burning area. ”
"What!?" Everyone seemed to be amazed, their mindset made them not understand the truth that fire meets water and is not extinguished, only Theophrastus and his apprentice were calmer, but in fact their knowledge of oil was only scratching the surface.
"Kassandris, you will be in charge of the logistics first, give you two days to prepare, collect as many supplies as I want, and then go to General Manon and say that I want it, and he will help you.
"Okay, don't worry, I'll do my best to collect the necessary supplies."
"In addition, we can also load flammable materials on some small boats, and directly hit the enemy ship in the case of a tailwind, and die with it, but to try to pick a big collision, the key is that there must be wind, because it is impossible to arrange oarsmen to row on small boats, so at most one person is arranged to take the helm, and the rest is to rely on the power of the sails to move forward, as long as the wind is enough, those clumsy big ships, especially five-oared warships, are difficult to escape. On our five-oared ships, trebuchets are placed to throw fire, and then stone throws after they are done. The three-row galleys were responsible for protecting the five-oared ships from the bow of the enemy ships, as they could stop at any time to shoot in order to ensure accuracy during the stone-throwing process. Finally, Ares, you will select a number of soldiers who are good at hand-to-hand combat in the army tomorrow, and the number of them should not be less than 8,000 people, and tomorrow we will wait for my review. Remember, you have to have a certain amount of water, at least not afraid of water. ”
"Eight thousand!"
"Yes, eight thousand. Okay, it's not too early, everyone go back and rest early, get up early tomorrow, there are still a lot of things to do. ”
"Hey, you haven't told us what the 8,000 people are going to do!" Ares shouted like a lion provoked to lust.
"You'll find out tomorrow." Alexander walked away without looking back. At this time, Alexander's mind was already much clearer, and the plan of action to defeat Cassander had been perfected.