Freedom is the right to do what is permitted by law.

- Marcus Tulius Cicero (Roman statesman, orator, orator, jurist, and philosopher)

At a time when all sides were preparing for war, a small, forgotten nation began its largest mobilization in history; That is the kingdom of Epirus, that is, the province of Epirus in the eyes of the world, the city-state of Apollonia. When everyone thought that this small country with only one province was a soft persimmon, this small country that was constantly striving for self-improvement did not choose to give up on itself; On the contrary, under the leadership of the king, he worked harder.

Long before the Roman Republic prepared to launch a decisive battle against Hannibal, the king of Epirus sensed the awkwardness of his country's position. If Rome had won, the next step for the Romans would have been to expand into the Greek peninsula; If the Romans were defeated, the Macedonian kingdom on the Greek peninsula would not have missed the opportunity to attack Rome. However, whoever fights must pass through their own kingdom of Epirus!

Could it be that his kingdom could only be reduced to ants in the eyes of those powerful countries? No, this is absolutely not! Pyrrhus, the king of the kingdom of Epirus, who had been far more self-respecting than ordinary people since childhood, decided to make a decision for his country and people not to insult his ancestors: that is, not to allow the armies of any country to enter his kingdom of Epirus, whether it was the mighty Roman Republic or the mighty Macedonian kingdom; Unless all the men of the Epirus Kingdom have been killed in battle, it will never be possible!

But if you say no, you have to have the strength to say no, what can you do with the thousands of militia and light infantry in the Kingdom of Epirus alone? Not enough for a Roman legion or a Macedonian legion! Therefore, the plan of the Epirus Kingdom to strengthen the army was put on the agenda of King Pyrus; In addition, King Pyrrhus also received the full support of his younger brother Pyrrhus. The two brothers decide to fight for their kingdom!

The next step is the implementation of the Epirus Kingdom's plan to strengthen the army; First of all, Pyrrhus and his younger brother Pyros took out all the wealth accumulated by the royal family of the Kingdom of Epirus for hundreds of years. But don't underestimate the wealth accumulated by the royal family of the Kingdom of Epirus over hundreds of years; Although the Kingdom of Epirus was a small kingdom with a single province, its position was very important, and it was the closest link between the countries of the Greek Peninsula and the Roman Republic and the West.

Therefore, for hundreds of years, the Kingdom of Epirus relied on its strategic location to serve as a trade transit point between the Roman Republic and the countries of the Greek Peninsula; And with this advantage, a lot of wealth has been accumulated. Not only the royal family of the Kingdom of Epirus has accumulated a huge amount of wealth, but also the common people have accumulated a certain amount of wealth; The entire kingdom of Epirus was a very wealthy kingdom.

And. The huge population base is also the basis for King Pyrrhus to implement a plan to strengthen the army; The province of Epirus alone has a population of more than half a million, which is rare in the entire Greek peninsula. Don't compare it to the Roman Republic, which was able to endure defeat after defeat and win the final victory each time; Relying on its own perverted population base.

In fact, King Pyrrhus and his younger brother Pyrrhus did not know how much wealth their ancestors had left behind; After all, no one has ever opened the treasury of the royal family. When the two brothers opened the treasure house, they were shocked. The vault was stacked with chests full of gold coins; At least estimated at tens of millions of gold coins! With this huge amount of money, the brothers are even more confident; So Pyrrhus and Pyrrhus began to divide their armies.

Because Pyrrhus was the king of the kingdom of Epirus, he sat in the kingdom of Epirus; It ordered the recruitment of 30,000 young men throughout the country, and stated that each applicant would receive a one-time subsidy of 50 gold coins, and that all weapons and equipment would be provided by the state. Pylos, on the other hand, was responsible for carrying two million gold coins to the East to recruit mercenaries. The main thing is to go to the powerful Seleucid Empire to recruit ironclad cavalry and war elephant troops, as well as other elite troops.

Originally, before the conscription order was issued, Pirus thought that no one would want to enlist; After all, the kingdom of Epirus has not been at war for hundreds of years, and the people are used to a rich and comfortable life, who wants to go to war? Therefore, Pirust intended to state a high subsidy fee on the conscription notice, in order to encourage his countrymen to join the army; But the reality is very different from what Pyrrhus imagined.

The people of the Kingdom of Epirus not only did not reject Pyrrhus's conscription notice in the slightest, but actively signed up to join the army; No one even wanted to receive the subsidy of 50 gold coins. If this has already moved Pyrrhus, then what happened next has made Pyrrhus secretly determined to defend the kingdom of Epirus to the death; It turned out that many nobles and wealthy merchants of the Kingdom of Epirus felt that their homeland needed money after seeing the conscription notice, so they only donated generously and gave their family property to the royal family of Epirus desperately.

When Pyrus asks why the rich merchant did this. Here's how he replied to Pyrrhus: My whole life has been spent making money, but I don't take pleasure in making money; For me, my happiness stems from the prosperity of my country. When I was young, I was just an ordinary civilian, and it was the motherland that gave me the opportunity to survive, and it was the motherland that gave me the opportunity to live a good life; Now that the motherland is in crisis, shouldn't I give everything I have to the motherland?

Later, when Pyrrhus asked a young nobleman why he had given up his privileged life to join the army, he replied to Pyrrhus: Although I am a nobleman, my ancestors were not nobles; My ancestors became a glorious nobleman of the kingdom through their own efforts. I also want my children and grandchildren to be nobles of the kingdom all the time. But before that, I should also fight for the kingdom; Otherwise, how can my children and grandchildren become glorious nobles of the kingdom?

Finally, Pyrrhus asks why a poor young man would give up his quiet life and warm family to join the army. And no subsidies are charged; His answer was this: I don't have any lofty ideals, I don't have any family background to show off, I just want to live a life with my family; But now there are enemies who want to destroy our homes and plunder our wealth, wives and daughters. As a man, I should have stood up to protect my family at this time; Even if I die on the battlefield. As long as our country and family are there, it's nothing.

Three people, three classes, three answers; But each answer made Pyrrhus feel like he was in tears. This unpretentious country. This simple people; With their support, no matter how strong the enemy is, Pyrus believes that the final victory must belong to the kingdom of Epirus! In just six days, 30,000 young people were recruited; But Pyrrhus insisted on sending all the subsidy money of 1.5 million gold coins. And it is expressly forbidden to refuse.

It's a pity that Pyrrhus still underestimated the persistence of his countrymen; Just three days after the subsidy was issued, a huge sum of three million gold coins was placed outside the palace of the Kingdom of Epirus. These included not only the subsidies sent by Pyrrhus, but also the gratuitous contributions of the merchants to the motherland; And no one left their names, so Pyrrhus had no choice but to accept the gift of the people.

Take it from the people. Pyrrhus also understood the principle of applying it to the people; So all the three million gold coins were used by Pyrus to build and buy sophisticated weapons and equipment. Build 30,000 people's weapons and equipment with 3 million gold coins, and the average weapon and equipment for each person will be worth 100 gold coins; This is probably already the most luxuriously equipped army in the world, and there is absolutely no one in the case of cavalry horses not being counted.

Because the Kingdom of Epirus was also located on the Greek Peninsula, the use of spears was more common; So of the 30,000 young men: 20,000 were heavy pikemen and 10,000 were hoplites. Why are only two arms still heavily armed? In fact, it was Pyrrhus who valued the young people of these kingdoms very much, and only formed two main armies for them; And everyone was equipped with a well-made set of full-body armor.

Of course, Pyrrhus is also a talented commander, and he naturally understands the principle of coordination between the arms; So, the cavalry and other heavy troops he had sent his brother Pyrrhus to the Seleucid Empire for hire. The rest of the light infantry would have been better dealt with, whether it was the mercenary javelinmen of Illyria in the north. or a slinger in Rhodes, or an archer in Crete; These are very good hired light infantry.

By the time of October, when the results of the Battle of Lilib had reached the Greek peninsula; The Macedonian kingdom and the Greek city-states were starting to stir, and Pyrrhus knew that they were running out of patience to make a move on the Roman Republic. The Greek city-states were okay, they could march on the Roman mainland through the ports of Aetoria; However, the Macedonian kingdom could only attack Rome through the kingdom of Epirus.

As a result, tensions began to arise between the entire kingdom of Epirus and the kingdom of Macedonia; Even the Kingdom of Macedonia had begun to move its troops to the borders of the Kingdom of Epirus. Originally, the news of the sudden recruitment of 30,000 troops by Pirus of the Epirus Kingdom had spread throughout the Greek peninsula, but Antigones, the king of Macedon, did not take these 30,000 recruits to heart. In this delicate situation, Pyrrhus's brother finally returned from the Seleucid Empire in the East; He was joined by more than 25,000 elite mercenaries!

This elite mercenary army was also recruited by Pylos through several regions, including three thousand ironclad cavalry from the Seleucid Empire. Two thousand archers in Crete, five hundred slingers in Rhodes, twenty thousand pikemen in the Seleucid Empire, and nineteen war elephants from a tribe that trained elephants! A legion of 25,500 elites. plus nineteen war elephants; and thirty thousand heavily armed legions in the territory of the kingdom of Epirus.

In an instant, the Kingdom of Epirus went from a small country with an army of only a few thousand to a military power with nearly 60,000 troops; Even the mighty kingdom of Macedonia could no longer be an enemy of the kingdom of Epirus for a while. So, on the second day after Pylos returned to the kingdom of Epirus; The Macedonian kingdom that received the news began to withdraw its troops, and there was no way, who called the military strength of the Epirus Kingdom suddenly skyrocketed.

After the Macedonian army withdrew from the borders of the Kingdom of Epirus, Pyrrhus and his brother Pyrrhus reunited; Pyrrhos confessed to his brother. Although he gathered 25,500 elite troops to come back this time, only 5,500 of them were long-term mercenaries who had been loyal to the Kingdom of Epirus for ten years, and the remaining 20,000 pikemen of the Seleucid Empire were only short-term mercenaries for half a year. As for the nineteen war elephants, they already belonged to the kingdom of Epirus.

Pyrrhus didn't expect two million gold coins to hire many troops to come back, and it was good that Pyrrhus could do this; As long as the 20,000 phalanx pikemen returned to Seleucus to train their kingdom's 30,000 heavy infantry, the kingdom of Epirus would no longer be afraid of any challenge. After deciding on a rough training plan, Pyrrhus and Pyrrhus threw themselves into the passionate training of the army. (To be continued.) )