Li Ning, who was far away in Quanzhou, did not know the emperor's thoughts.
Alexander, who was marching, didn't know what Li Ning was thinking.
After ending the battle off the coast of Miletus, Alexander was leading his army towards the next goal, Halicarnassus.
Halicarnassus is an extremely tough nut to crack. And the pressure is so great that it is not expected that it will surrender to itself like other cities.
Because in that city, a group of people who hate themselves the most have gathered.
For example, the exiles from Athens, Ephiates, and Orontobatis.
Even Arapias, who had participated in the murder of the previous king, Alexander's father Philip II, had a brother, Neoptolemus of Lynca, who was also hiding in the city.
As for Amyntas, the son of Antiochus, who fled because Alexander was angry with him, you can ignore it. This guy's behavior of fleeing is really incredible. A king who is not an Asian autocratic regime expresses anger to you, and then What's the big deal? You know, Greek mythology never takes gods seriously. What does a mere king mean?
Thrasibulos, who is at a similar level to him, can also be ignored.
These people are just like farts. If they let them go, they will pollute the air. If they don't let them go, they will waste the land.
So Alexander ordered to destroy them while doing another thing, such as attacking Halicassus in front of him.
The city was not like its inconsequential opponents, for it had three acropolis for security.
Although the design of the Acropolis is not conducive to protecting residential areas and commercial facilities, it fully guarantees the personal safety of residents and troops under the limited construction area.
As for why they got the wrong city and it seems that the building area is limited, it can only be blamed on their relatively backward related technology.
The three acropolis of Halicarnassus each bear his own name:
Acropolis is located on high ground to the north of the city.
Sarmakis is located in the southwest corner of the city near the coast and forms the western boundary of the port on the neck of the promontory.
The last royal acropolis is located at the entrance to the harbor.
In addition, the island of Aconissus not far away has also been fortified.
Garrisons were also deployed in villages and towns surrounding the city.
If someone dares to attack the city rashly, these peripheral armies can contain them.
Therefore, if you want to explain the siege, you must drive away these people.
It should be noted that the soldiers in the city still have some fighting spirit. Therefore, even if we are to drive away those forces deployed on the outside, we still need to beware of sudden attacks by soldiers within the city.
But Alexander didn't care about this, he just wanted to move forward.
Poor Li Ning had to stay in the Hellespont due to heavy accidents.
Even if he had foresight based on historical records, he would still have to waste enough time on the road.
Therefore, he did not have the fate to witness the first battle of Halicarnassus.
After seeing Alexander and his followers approaching the city, the defenders of Halicarnassus immediately sent 1,000 men to attack.
The timing of their attack was quite good. At that time, Alexander was almost 1,000 steps away from the city gate. This was a distance that was neither close nor far. Even if he turned around and ran away, he might not be overtaken by the enemy.
Of course, Alexander would not choose to escape. He was so passionate and sad that he immediately faced the counterattack of the soldiers, and then it turned into a big fight.
Countless stragglers were killed and wounded in confusion.
A soldier was aiming at the enemy's neck and slashing, but there was a bloody mark on his own neck.
It should be noted that not all weapons can be said to be sharp. It is not uncommon for people to be unable to completely cut off even their fingers. Even the executioner on the guillotine may not be able to successfully complete his task with one blow.
Therefore, the necks of some soldiers can still be saved, but such chaos is obviously not worth the gain for the phalanx infantry.
The reason why they formed a phalanx to fight was naturally to use their group advantages to ensure the killing effect and reduce their own losses.
With the exception of a few aggressive individuals, most people quickly realized the folly of this behavior.
However, compared to the enemy's weakness, the trouble caused by this stupidity can be ignored.
"Your Majesty, they retreated!"
"Retreating?" After hearing the report from his men, Alexander just responded softly, "Get ready to siege the city."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
Alexander sighed, he was very worried about the siege.
In fact, he has always been very grateful to Mithridates, the commander of Sardis City.
It was this brother's surrender that saved Alexander from losing his prestige.
As a result, his enemies chose to surrender one after another in the face of the overwhelming Greek army.
Even the small exception at Miletus could not stop Alexander.
Of course, this may give some people hope that Alexander is not invincible.
But all the cities on the road from Miletus to Halicarnassus were still choosing to surrender.
Only if preparations had been made in advance, Alexander also believed that a siege would be necessary.
But on the way, Alexander still held on to a trace of luck, but the enemy's surprise attack out of the city just now completely dispelled his luck. Although they won this small battle, they would face a more unpredictable future. .
"Cretus!" After thinking for a long time, Alexander finally decided that he needed a qualified counselor, just like the one he met outside Miletus. "I need you to make a trip in person. Go to Sardis. Go to the banks of the Granicus River, wherever you can find him. Go and tell him that I need his counsel."
"Your Majesty, please allow me to check. Are you talking about Li Ning?"
"Yes, my brother. We will not attack until you come back. You may need to bring us this victory!"
Cleitas' blood immediately boiled, and he patted his chest and promised: "It will be as you wish! My Majesty!"
Things like what you wish for are often a luxury for many people.
The world is so complex that many things are beyond our control.
Especially dangerous things like birth, old age, illness and death.
Pang Ji has been very anxious recently because his son is sick again.
Pang Zhidao is not yet 20 years old, which is said to be the strongest period in a person's life.
However, his health was not as good as that of Pang Ji, who was over fifty years old. The reputation of the medicine jar made his hair, Sima Guang, even more worried. From time to time, he had to write a letter or two to inquire about his recent health.
However, Pang Ji, who has been so busy with trivial matters recently, can't even care about his son's condition.
Before the Light Curtain Division was fully established, Li Ning asked surrounding states and counties to collect charcoal, sulfur and saltpeter in his name.
Charcoal is easy to find, and sulfur is not difficult to find. At most, it is imported from the Japanese country. This is Quanzhou anyway, and the Song Dynasty court often asked maritime merchants to purchase strategic resources on their behalf, so the relevant people were familiar with this matter.
But saltpeter is not easy to find.
"That little bastard said that there are saltpeter in some caves or caves in the nearby mountains. I asked you to look for them a few days ago. I wonder if there are any results?"
In front of many local officials, Pang Jigene's green voice repeatedly demonstrated his nervousness.
The officials present were not all rotten scholars, so they naturally knew the use of saltpeter at this time.
Compared to fighting with manpower and swords, the military equipment of the Imperial Song Dynasty has entered the age of firearms.
However, Huang Song's gunpowder can only bring explosive effects now, and even backward things like muskets will have to wait for decades to appear.
Therefore, putting it in a jar and throwing it where the enemies gathered was one of the few available thermal weapon tactics that the Imperial Song Army had.
But that alone is enough.
Those so-called horseback peoples, who could pose an important threat to the Song Dynasty, relied on their war horses that were afraid of fire and sound.
At this point, the confrontation between Chinese civilization and the northern nomadic tribes entered a new era.
Unfortunately, the time when gunpowder was used in military affairs coincided with the troubled times of the late Tang Dynasty.
Therefore, Dangxiang, who was one of the people in Fangzhen back then, was also very aware of the tricks involved.
Of course, no one in the officialdom of the Song Dynasty cares much about this.
But the officials on Fujian Road were an exception. Although they could not see the Dangxiang people, they were surrounded by the light curtain, and there were Greeks who were said to be even more barbaric than the Dangxiang people.
As their husbands become worried, some people's behavior becomes erratic, especially children in their 80s and 90s.
In Li Ning's usual office, a pair of small hands were quietly flipping through a thick stack of manuscripts.
This kind of thing has actually happened for a while, but this time it was even more extreme.
Several important manuscripts were quietly stuffed into an envelope. The envelope originally contained a few pages of paper, and this act made the entire envelope look bulging.
The inspired envelope looked a little weird, so much so that the word "Pang Ji" seemed a little out of shape.
But the child didn't care and jumped away with a smile.
