If we do a job over and over again, the work will become who we are. Pen ~ Fun ~ Pavilion www.biquge.info At that time, excellence is not an action, but a habit.

- Aristotle (one of the great philosophers, scientists, and educators in the ancient history of the world)

The Kingdom of Ankara paid the heaviest price for its own false tiger might, but it also put the Kingdom of Alexander in an extremely difficult predicament; When Alexander learned that Efestionas led his army to destroy the Kingdom of Ankara, he did not blame Efestionas in the slightest, after all, it was the Kingdom of Ankara that did not measure itself.

However, the military threat of the Pontus kingdom was a reality that Alexander could not ignore; So, on the day he received this information, Alexander left the forces of two legions to stay in the Phrygian region, which had just been annexed by Alexander's kingdom, and he himself personally led the troops of the two legions to the Galatia region to reinforce Ephestionas.

In fact, after receiving the news of the destruction of Ankara by Alexander, the Pontus Kingdom did not have much anger and no intention of avenging the Ankara Kingdom; In the eyes of the kings of the Kingdom of Pontus, the Kingdom of Ankara is just a newly attached wild dog, is the Kingdom of Pontus still fighting with the Kingdom of Alexander for this wild dog?

Although the Kingdom of Alexandria was only a new kingdom, it showed great momentum; What's more, Alexander's army came from the Seleucid Empire, and the Pontus Kingdom was not very sure of winning the war.

In the past, the four kingdoms were at war with the Seleucid Empire at the same time, and in the end, they were defeated by the Seleucid Empire one by one; If it weren't for the fact that the Seleucid Empire was really unable to launch a counterattack, there would be no Pontic Kingdom to say now, such a painful lesson is still fresh in the memory of the people of the Pontic Kingdom, how could they easily declare war on the Kingdom of Alexander, which split off from the Seleucid Empire.

Another factor that also made the Pontus Kingdom have a good impression of the Kingdom of Alexander, that is, the Kingdom of Alexandria was also a kingdom independent of the Seleucid Empire like the Pontus Kingdom; If you think about it from this perspective, the Kingdom of Alexander and the Kingdom of Pontus are natural allies at all, after all, everyone is an enemy of the Seleucid Empire, and the enemy of the enemy is a friend.

It's just that the Pontus Kingdom is the third largest kingdom on the Eastern continent after the Seleucid Empire and the Kingdom of Egypt; Even the current Seleucid Empire needs to give some face to the Pontus Kingdom in some aspects, and it won't be too ugly in things.

Not to mention the Kingdom of Armenia, which is connected to the Kingdom of Pontus, which is the most solid and reliable ally of the Kingdom of Pontus; With the exception of the self-righteous Parthian kingdom, the Pontus and Armenian kingdoms have maintained close alliances since independence, and the weaker Armenian kingdoms have always looked to the Pontus kingdom in everything.

is such a powerful kingdom of Pontus, in the case of the kingdom of Ankara, it was so slapped in the face by the kingdom of Alexander, and it is impossible for the kingdom to be silent about it; So, on the third day of the hanging of the Kingdom of Ankara, the 50,000-strong army of the Kingdom of Pontus marched towards the Galatia region with great vigour.

Sending troops to deter the Kingdom of Alexander was just a means for the Kingdom of Pontus to save its own face, in fact, the Kingdom of Pontus had no intention of going to war with the Kingdom of Alexander, and was not even interested in a military confrontation with the Kingdom of Alexander; All of this was done by the Kingdom of Pontus for a more important purpose.

Along with the 50,000 troops to the borders of Galatia, there was also an emissary personally sent by the king of Pontus, who would enter the territory of Alexandria to meet the king when Alexander's army appeared in the border area; As long as Alexander was willing to agree to the conditions proposed by the kingdom of Pontus, the matter of the kingdom of Ankara would immediately become history.

More importantly, as long as Alexander compromised on these two things proposed by the Kingdom of Pontus, the Kingdom of Pontus would become the most reliable ally of the Kingdom of Alexander; At that time, the kingdoms of Alexander, Pontus, and Armenia will form a strong anti-Seleucid front in the north of the Seleucid Empire, which will be beneficial to the three kingdoms.

In fact, long before the Kingdom of Alexandria launched an attack on the Kingdom of Halicarnassus, the Kingdom of Pontus had the intention of forming an alliance with the Kingdom of Alexander; It's just that they don't know the strength of Alexander's kingdom, and there is still the kingdom of Ankara between the two sides, so the princes and ministers of the Pontus kingdom decided to wait and see for a while.

No one could have imagined that this wait-and-see would lead to several major events that would affect the decision-making of the Kingdom of Pontus; First of all, it was the Kingdom of Alexander that launched an attack on the Kingdom of Halicarnassus and won an unprecedented victory, and secondly, the Kingdom of Ankara, which was between the Kingdom of Alexander and the Kingdom of Pontus, took the initiative to attach itself to the Kingdom of Pontus, and the Kingdom of Pontus could not refuse the vassals of other countries.

Last but not least, the Kingdom of Armenia, a staunch ally of the Kingdom of Pontus, succeeded in eliminating the Kingdom of Fraspa in the eastern part of the Kingdom and annexing the entire region of Atropane ruled by the Kingdom of Fraspa to the Kingdom of Armenia.

The strength of allies is naturally a good thing for the Pontus Kingdom, but it is not a good thing for allies to be too strong; The Kingdom of Armenia was originally an ally of the Pontus Kingdom, but now it has the potential to surpass the Pontus Kingdom, which makes the Pontus Kingdom feel uncomfortable.

The Parthian Kingdom, the Armenian Kingdom, and the Pontus Kingdom, all three kingdoms were originally independent of the Seleucid Empire; Among them, the Parthian kingdom had the right to rule three whole regions at the beginning of its independence, while the Armenian kingdom and the Pontus kingdom each had the right to rule two regions, which was the key to the Parthian kingdom's greater development potential.

However, these three regions of the Parthian Kingdom were not closely connected, especially the Seke region of the Kingdom, which was cut off from the mainland of the Kingdom by the Caspian Sea, and became a real enclave of the Parthian Kingdom.

In this way, the overall strength of the three kingdoms is about the same; However, the area ruled by everyone is about the same, but the area ruled by the Pontus Kingdom is the most prosperous and fertile, which directly leads to the fact that the Pontus Kingdom has a strength that surpasses the other two kingdoms.

However, after the Armenian kingdom annexed the Atropane region, as long as it developed over a certain period of time, the Armenian kingdom would definitely surpass the Pontus kingdom in overall strength, which was the last thing the Pontus kingdom wanted.

As an ally of the Kingdom of Armenia, it was naturally impossible for the Kingdom of Pontus to thwart the annexation of the Atropene region by the Kingdom of Armenia; Therefore, in order for the Pontus Kingdom to remain strong and above the Armenian Kingdom, it must have more power and a wider ruling area than the expanded Armenian Kingdom.

The Galatia region, where the Kingdom of Ankara is located, is the closest foreign power to the Kingdom of Pontus, but it is also an area that the Kingdom of Pontus does not look down upon at all; For the Pontus Kingdom, the poor and backward Galatia region is not even as prosperous and rich as a large city in the Pontus Kingdom, and such an area is of no meaning to the Pontus Kingdom at all.

Aside from the Kingdom of Ankara, the only object that the Pontus Kingdom could expand to was the Bithynia region ruled by the Kingdom of Nicomediaa; This Bithynia region is a good place that is countless times more prosperous than the Galatia region, surrounded by the sea on both sides and dominated by plains, not to mention the fertile land and abundant products, such a good place is naturally coveted by the Kingdom of Pontus.

In fact, it is not a matter of a day or two for the kingdom of Pontus to covet the region of Bithynia; However, the kingdom of Nicomedia, which ruled the Bithynia region, was an ally of the city-state of Pergamon, which in turn was a major member of the Greek city-state alliance.

The situation that affected the whole body made the Pontus Kingdom dare not act rashly at all, but it was the decisive expansion of the Kingdom of Alexander that made the Pontus Kingdom see the situation clearly; This time, the Kingdom of Pontus put forward two conditions for the Kingdom of Alexander, one of which was that the Kingdom of Alexander would fully support the Kingdom of Pontus in annexing the Bithynia region of the Kingdom of Nicomedia.

After the Kingdom of Alexandria successively annexed the Lycia region, the Phrygia region, and the Galatia region, what the Kingdom of Alexander needed to truly develop was no longer to expand outward, but to divide and stabilize its own stable ruling areas to promote its own development.

The princes of the kingdom of Pontus unanimously believed that as long as Alexander of the Kingdom of Alexandria was not a fool, he would not refuse the two conditions of the Kingdom of Pontus; Because the second condition of the Kingdom of Pontus was only trade between the Kingdom of Pontus and the Kingdom of Alexander, which was a condition that would be beneficial to both countries, and Alexander had no reason to refuse it.

After the Kingdom of Alexander agreed to these two conditions, the affairs of the Kingdom of Ankara naturally passed; Without the Ankara Kingdom, plus the Pontus Kingdom and the Alexander Kingdom already bordering on the land, and the Seleucid Empire, everyone's common enemy, is still eyeing the existence of the enemy, it is a matter of course for everyone to form an alliance.

As it turned out, the predictions of the princes of the Pontus kingdom were extremely accurate; As a pragmatist, Alexander agreed to the two conditions put forward by the envoy of the Kingdom of Pontus without thinking about it, and even after negotiating the relevant matters of the alliance, Alexander also expressed his willingness to send troops to help the Kingdom of Pontus attack the Kingdom of Nicomedia in the Bithynia region.

With the strong strength of the Pontus Kingdom, it naturally does not need the help of the Alexander Kingdom; Within half a month after the conclusion of the negotiations between the Pontus Kingdom and the Alexander Kingdom, the Pontus Kingdom eliminated the not weak Nicomedia Kingdom and incorporated the Bithynia region into the ruling area of the Pontus Kingdom. (To be continued.) )