Alexander barely slept all night, only took a nap. www.biquge.info It wasn't until dawn the next day that Alexander and his party arrived in Rhode Island. At this time, the sea of Rhodes Island is no longer a battlefield filled with gunpowder, everything is so calm, although the Cassander's fleet is long gone, but there are still soldiers on duty in the port as before, presumably to prevent Cassander's retaliatory sneak attack.

Since it was not yet dawn, the fluttering flags could not be seen at all, so Alexander's arrival caused a great commotion, and some of the warships were alerted, and soon the surrounding battleships immediately entered combat mode. Alexander was pleased to see how quickly they reacted, but it caused him a little trouble, so he had to send a small boat to report it. Soon the port of Rhodes was no longer quiet, the ships and the beach were brightly lit, and the dense crowd of people and ships made the port look so crowded, and with Alexander's entry into the port, the cheers did not stop, and all the officers and soldiers had risen to welcome the king's return. Alexander went ashore and was very touched to see many sleepy-eyed but enthusiastic faces. At this moment, Alexander's mother appeared in front of him, and without saying anything, she rushed over and picked Alexander up.

"My child, do you know how worried your mother is about you?"

"Mother rest assured, the child is destined for heaven, blessed and fateful, and will be fine. By the way, my grandmother didn't come! ”

"You little ghost, you don't come early or late, but come here at this time, your grandmother is resting, I didn't alarm her. Promise me you won't be able to scare me like this in the future. ”

"Don't you see I'm coming back unscathed?" Alexander looked at Roxana with a smile, and when he saw his mother's melancholy face, he immediately said: "Well, I promise you, the child will not be so desperate in the future." ”

"That's pretty much it."

At last Alexander felt really embarrassed, so he said, "Mother, I'll tell you what happened to me later, and I'll talk to the brothers first." ”

"Hmm."

"Alexander (King)!" The partners shouted.

"Hello, Alexander, I think you must have convinced a lot of people to surrender." Alexander said with a smile.

"Cassandros, I'm glad to see that you weren't fed sharks, and next time you will continue to command the ship!" Kassandro Khan, the commander of this fireship is not good at all, this time he almost froze to death, next time he must have his own flagship, this job is too dangerous.

"Ares, how many people did you kill this time?"

"I can't count it, if not a hundred, but eighty."

"Hehe, okay!"

"Hello, General Gretas and Ducarros, this victory is indispensable for your efforts!"

"We are deeply honored to serve His Majesty, and this is what we should do."

At this time, Polybecon and Manon also came over, and Polybocon took the lead and said: "Alexander, I am glad to see your safe return, Macedonia cannot do without you!" ”

"I don't want to lose this lovely friend of yours!

"Don't worry, my life is very hard, I won't die so easily, hehe!" Everyone looked at each other and smiled.

In this way, his days in Rhodes Island also came to an end, and Alexander missed his time in Rhodes very much, not only for the warm hospitality and sincere help he received here, but also for defeating Cassander and making himself proud. But he was even happier that he was surrounded by his subordinates such as Cassandros, Amintas, Attalus, Laomedon, and Polemon, as well as the prophet Aris Dangdra, and his aunt Cleopatra had returned to her grandmother.

Located more than 750 kilometers from Phoenicia and with the island of Cyprus in the middle, Rhodes is the third largest island in the Mediterranean. During the long Diadochi Wars, Ptolemy's first goal was to secure Egypt, and the second goal was to control Egypt's periphery, such as Cyrene, Cypriot Judea, and Syria. His first occupation of Syria was in 321 BC, when the governor Raometon was captured. At the same time, Menelaus was ordered by Ptolemy to lead an army to attack Cyprus and fight against the fleet led by Seleucus and King Nicocreon of Salamis, and Menelaus and others soon overwhelmed all the city-states of Cyprus except Kition and made them submit, which Gityon eventually surrendered. Menelaus remained on the island, where his rule was almost completely dictatorial, and many of the princes of the local city-states were deposed, imprisoned, assassinated, and so on at the slightest sign of disloyalty. In addition, he also issued some coins on the island. …,

In the cabin, there was a heated discussion about the future march route.

"Where exactly are we supposed to land?" Little Ptolemy asked.

"I think it should be in Sidon." Amintas said.

"Sidon is controlled by Ptolemy." Cassandres had a different opinion.

"The cities along the Phoenician coast were almost all under Ptolemy's control." Amintas retorted.

"So where are we supposed to land?" Ares had no idea about it.

"Tyre, it's a relatively free commercial city, and Ptolemy hasn't yet exercised effective rule over it."

"But your father once slaughtered Tyre, and I'm afraid they won't necessarily support us!" Polyburcon said worriedly.

"It doesn't matter if we don't support it, as long as we control it, it's fine."

When everyone heard this, they all looked at Alexander, who finally spoke.

"Ptolemy was a calculating and cautious man, and he wanted to annex some of the surrounding territories except for his dream of being the pharaoh of Egypt, and he was generally reluctant to go to war with the other Diadochi unless one of them was too powerful. It can be seen from his refusal to be the regent after defeating Padika that he just wants to be in a corner of peace, and does not like to provoke right and wrong, but just bullies the weak. And because of this, we can take advantage of his character and ask him to get out of the way and let us pass through Phoenicia and Syria safely. Of course, before that, we must first give him a dismount, let him see the power of our army, and not let him feel like we are like paper paste, and we will break it when we poke it. Alexander paused, pointed to Tyre on the map, and continued: "When we approach Tyre, with the developed commercial civilization in the local area, there are countless ships coming and going, our intentions will definitely be discovered, even if they don't know our specific attitude, they will be prepared, so I am ready to send people into Tyre in batches to ambush, and when our fleet is close to the shore, we will trumpet the strength of our army, break their determination to resist, and if the other side insists on resisting, the people who have laid an ambush in advance will cooperate with the attack of our army, Open the gates or sabotage and assassinate its head, so I need a shrewd and capable man who is not afraid of death to do this job. ”

"I'll go!" Amintas and Kassandro shouted in unison, as if they had fallen in love with working behind enemy lines.

"You two go together, with the ability of the two of you, I believe that you will be able to complete this task well, you can choose who to bring."

"Yes, King!"

"So who went to Egypt to present his credentials?"

Everyone, you look at me, I look at you, but none of them stood up, it's not that they don't dare, it's just that most of the people here are not doing diplomatic material, Raomodon is a good candidate, but the previous Ptolemy sent Nicanor to occupy Syria and capture him, this shame is unforgettable, I think the emperor was respectful to him, but he became a prisoner, which hit him too hard, so he is not a suitable candidate, he himself knows, in case he can't control his emotions when the time comes, It would be a great sin to mess things up. And the little Ptolemy on the side was motionless, looking like an ancient well.

"Why don't you let me go?" While everyone was talking, an old voice suddenly came from outside. Theophrastus came in from the outside, and because of his status, he could go in and out of any place without passing through.

"I think I can do you a favor, after all, I was a teacher to the king and his companions with Aristotle, and Ptolemy was one of the students. In other words, we still had a master-apprentice relationship, and Ptolemy was very civilized, and he would not be against me. ”

"It is undeniable that although he has a deep city and aspires to divide the empire and become king, he can indeed be called a generous man, and under his rule Egypt is not only rich, but the people live and work in peace and contentment, and he does have the potential to become a wise monarch. Aside from the fact that I am the king of the Macedonian Empire, I personally respect him. It's just that my fate has determined that I will sweep away all separatists, or at least make them submit to me. I'm more relieved to go teacher, I'm sure you will be able to do this well. With that, Alexander forgot to glance at little Ptolemy, who still had a deep look. …,

"I don't have a problem with that." Polybocon agreed.

"I don't have a problem with that, but I think I should send someone to protect my husband's safety." Arestonos voiced his concerns.

"Well, I'll leave it to little Ptolemy, and you'll arrange it later."

"Huh? What the! Suddenly named, little Ptolemy was a little unresponsive, originally when talking about his father, he just wanted to avoid suspicion, so he kept silent, but he did not expect to be named by the king to serve as the escort of Theophrastus.

"Don't you want to go back to see your father? You haven't seen your father for a few years, whether you go to see him, he has different political views but can't give up the blood relationship, he is your father anyway. ”

"Thank you, Your Majesty, my father and I are completely different people, he doesn't like me, and I don't like him, but Your Majesty is right, he is still my father after all, I'll accompany the teacher on a trip." Little Ptolemy said calmly, in his opinion, this return was just a routine, he and his father's values were different, and they were destined to not go together.

"However, there is one thing that we need to pay attention to, and that the island of Cyprus is now in Ptolemy's sphere of influence, and we must not get too close so as not to provoke the hostility of Menelaus. We tried to stay as far away as possible from the coast of Cyprus. But if the other side dares to provoke us, then there is nothing to say, just take advantage of the situation to drive Menelaus out of the island of Cyprus. But for the time being, I don't want to fight Ptolemy, because that would delay our arrival in the East, which would be very detrimental to the overall situation. Everything should be done in the big picture, and we are strong enough to occupy Cyprus, but these petty profits should not be coveted, which will only make us pick up the sesame seeds and lose the watermelon. ”

"Alexander is right, we can't delay too long, Antigonus may have already started a war with Eumenes' army at this time, if we can't catch up and let Antigonus win, then he will really become the king of Asia, and then it will be too late." Polybeccon agreed with Alexander's analysis, and the others nodded their heads.

"I believe that Menelaus is not an idiot, he should have been informed of the details of the naval battle of Rhodes, if he still insists on attacking us, it can only mean that he is crazy, and the Egyptian fleet does not necessarily add up to more than us, let alone a single island of Cyprus. Take Tyre now, wait until Ptolemy has signed an agreement with us, and open a passage, and then we will go east. Of course, Tyre was determined not to let it out, this was our only coastal gateway to the Mediterranean in the future, and Tyre was so developed in commerce that taxes alone were a lot of money. ”

Concentrate:

1Menelaus (Greek: meν?λao?; 4th century BC), also translated as Menelaus, son of Ragus and brother of Ptolemy I.