Chapter 85: Ptolemy's March

At this time, Ptolemy did not know about the Battle of Babylon, and his army was marching on Tyre. Why does this happen when pen & fun & pavilion www.biquge.info? This goes back long before Antigonus attacked Babylon. In order to pull Ptolemy into the water and let him contain Alexander's army, Antigonus sent Philotas to Egypt to lobby Ptolemy and meet together to fight Alexander. Philotas is a complete wall-to-wall grass, whoever is strong will follow whomever he wants, and he has no shame at all, and he will take refuge in Padica, and then he will take refuge in Antigonus. However, he still had his strengths in diplomacy, and he painted a beautiful blueprint to Ptolemy, just like the outline of Ptolemy's kingdom that Ptolemy had built in his mind, from Egypt to Cyrenaica, from Sinai to Syria, from Cyprus to the Greek islands, all of which would most likely become Ptolemy's domains. But the most important thing is that once Antigonus is defeated, it will be difficult for Ptolemy to stand alone, and as the king of the Macedonian Empire, he will not allow a secessionist regime to exist. However, as a colleague, Antigonus could acquiesce in Ptolemy's existence and his conquest and domination of the land, which was enough to make Ptolemy fall to Antigonus's side. Therefore, although Ptolemy was disgusted with Philotas's face and knew that the other party was using him, he still agreed to the request to send troops, and also gave Alexander an excuse to attack Ptolemy later.

Ptolemy was a thoughtful man, and in order to preserve his strength, he was generally reluctant to participate in wars between the Diadochi, and when Alexander marched eastward, he made decisive concessions in order to avoid his advance, and also to lead the way to the east. Now, Antigonus wants to fight Alexander, and Antigonus is powerful, so he chooses to cooperate with Antigonus, so that he can not only destroy the nominal king with Antigonus's hand, but also prevent Antigonus from violating Ptolemy's territory after the war under the pretext of refusing to send troops, so as to consolidate his secessionist regime, and in the future there will be a big enough excuse to deal with Antigonus - killing the king, this crime is serious enough and smelly enough. However, Ptolemy miscalculated, and the final decision led him to give Alexander an excuse to eliminate him, burying his hard-won and long-standing Egyptian regime.

However, at this time, Ptolemy was still full of ambition and led 20,000 elite soldiers to the city of Tyre. In his opinion, the great Tyre could not stop his soldiers at all. The defender Attalus is not a famous general, and compared to him, he is a few levels lower. But he had not seen Alexander's new army, which was formidable enough for him.

Attalus did not stick to the old city, and Padica's army did not defeat Ptolemy, did not even cross a river, and finally died in a mutiny. Attalus was more self-aware, and he had a small army, and it would be even worse to split the army into two cities. As a result, all the armies retreated into the new city, and relying on the fortifications of the new city, supported by Polybecom's powerful fleet, Ptolemy could spend at least a month or two. At this time, both sides were waiting for the situation to change on the Eastern Front, and everyone knew that the outcome of the contest between Alexandria and Eumenes and Antigonus directly determined the final outcome of the Western Front. If Alexander is defeated, it is only a matter of time before Tyre is lost; When Antigonus was defeated, Ptolemy had to face the king's punishment, and it was not just a matter of retreating.

Ptolemy was still confident, but he believed in Antigonus's force, and during Alexander's crusade, it was the veteran who successfully resisted the attack from the Armenian Orontes family, ensuring the stability of Alexander's northern front, and thus smoothly marching into Syria. In the Diadochi War, from the moment Antigonus returned from Macedonia to Asia Minor, Antigonus defeated the armies of Eumenes and Arcetas, and forced Eumenes to withdraw from Anatolia and go east, and Eumenes had just defeated the Macedonian general Kraterus. Ptolemy asked himself to excel in military talent, but compared to this veteran, he was still willing to bow down. Today, Alexander was only a seven-year-old child, and there were no well-known generals around him, and the king's descendants had long since become a little weak in the age of the great powers.

Ptolemy was overjoyed to see an undefended city unfold before his eyes, and immediately had his army take over the old city. But then things went wrong, because Tyre New City was notoriously the most fortified city in the world, and although Alexander had captured it overnight, it was impossible for him to get the same opportunity now, Attalus would not be stupid enough to give the other side a chance to attack, and the cross-sea embankment had been destroyed by Attalus for a long time. Therefore, Ptolemy had to follow the example of Alexander the Great, cut down some cedars from the nearby mountains and carry them over, and began to build siege engines, while mobilizing the navy to blockade the new city. Ptolemy did not want to concentrate on attacking the city, he waited for news of Antigonus's victory and then persuaded Attalus to surrender. It was certainly the best outcome for him, and he didn't have anyone to confront him on land.

However, it was different at sea, Polybocon's fleet was so strong that shortly after Tyre was trapped, Polybocon sent Alexandre to lead a fleet to support. Although he did not have the naval command skills of Christus, or even command a naval battle alone, Alexander's improved fleet was more powerful than the other fleets, not only for ramming, but also for capturing enemy ships using flexible broadside tactics, as well as warships equipped with a considerable number of catapults. Of course, the battle was not well played due to the limited number of soldiers. Even so, Alexandre's fleet was somewhat stronger than Ptolemy's.

The young Alexandre had never commanded such a large fleet, which was a severe test, but also an advantage, because Ptolemy would have somewhat relaxed his vigilance in the face of Alexandre, who was a generation younger than himself, and Ptolemy did not know Alexander, but Alexandre knew Ptolemy very well. The Egyptian navy was commanded by Ptolemy's brother Menelaus, and because he did not want to fight Alexander's decisive battle too early, Menelaus led the fleet to withdraw to Cyprus after Alexander's fleet arrived, and Alexander was not busy chasing, scaring away the soldiers who were building the embankment and went straight to the port of Tyre. Ptolemy also stopped working, and stayed in the old town of Tyre, waiting for the good news of Antigonus's victory. The war just went on and on, it was a sit-down war, both sides were waiting for the outcome of the Eastern Theater, and each was very confident in their side. In this way, the two sides remained at a stalemate for a whole month, until the winter of 317 BC approached, when the results of the decisive battle between Antigonus and Alexander reached Tyre. Of course, this result is a huge blow to one side and a joy of victory for the other.