Alexander certainly felt the difficulties he might encounter, so he had already written several letters asking Li Ning to send troops for reinforcements.
What is very interesting is that both sides organized their own fleets not long ago, and the attack on Tire requires fleet reinforcements.
However, Li Ning's fleet had obvious maritime advantages due to the advanced shipbuilding technology of the Song Dynasty. But he refused to send these fleets to fight south. The reason is that sailors have a serious lack of understanding of local water temperature conditions.
"Now we have managed to maintain our invincible reputation, but we cannot suffer setbacks due to various negative factors caused by the sailors' stupidity and lax training. In that case, the Persians will laugh to death on the way to escape. Really Our heroes don’t need them to die like this.”
This is what Li Ning told Alexander when he replied to the letter.
Aristotle believed that Li Ning's caution was very necessary, so he also adopted the most familiar method according to Li Ning's wishes. Continue to attack the city of Tire in front of you.
He had made some progress in the project before, but this was not enough, because the people in this city were experienced in many battles, and the war culture spread was enough to cause Alexander many problems.
The Tyrians knew they had to destroy these two siege towers. They converted an old brigantine with a wide deck that could accommodate a large amount of cargo into a fire ship. They filled it with a large amount of asphalt, dry firewood and other flammable materials. Braziers filled with sulfur, naphtha, and similar substances were also hung on the mast. On a windy day when the wind direction was inland, the Tyrians used two triremes to tow the fire ship to the end of the causeway. After leaving the fire starters to swim back to the city on their own, the two triremes retreated. to a safe distance and fired arrows to prevent the Macedonians from extinguishing the fire. In order to allow the fire ship to rush up and be fixed on the causeway, a counterweight was specially added to the stern to raise the bow. Siege towers, wicker bunkers, and Macedonian siege engines were set ablaze by the fireships, the fuel in the cauldrons was drained, and the wind fanned the fires. Although the Macedonians fought the fire heroically, all the works were burned to the ground. Because of the fierce northwest wind and the arrows fired by the Tyrians from warships and city walls, they were unable to extinguish the oncoming flames. The Tyrians also took boats from the city to land upwind of the causeway, using fire to knock down bunkers and burn down siege equipment. In the end, the fire not only destroyed the two siege towers, but also severely damaged the end of the causeway, which collapsed under the waves soon after. The work of countless workers for months was destroyed in just an hour.
This disaster did not discourage Alexander, a king whose nature was unwilling to accept any defeat. Curtis and Theodorus record that Alexander negotiated a temporary truce with Tyre at this time. But from any perspective, it is unlikely that he would take such action, and it is completely inconsistent with his personality. In fact, he immediately set about building a wider causeway on which to build more than two siege towers, and he also began building new siege engines to replace those that had been burned. The new causeway is said to be more aligned with the direction of the waves than the previous one. The old causeway was gradually destroyed due to the impact of large amounts of sea water on its front end. Alexander had a large number of engineers and excellent mechanics, and Diades and Charias, who were trained by Polysides, were the leaders of these engineers.
By the early spring of the following year, Alexander finally realized that he would never be able to capture the city as long as the Tyrians still controlled the sea. Leaving Perdiccas and Craterus to command the siege, Alexander himself went to Sidon with the shield-bearers and the Agyrian troops to raise a three-line train of warships, which was soon accomplished. Two kings who had served in Autophladatis's fleet, Grostratus, king of Aradas, and Aenelas, king of Bybulas, learned that their cities had surrendered to Alexander. He immediately left the Persian navy and handed over his ships to Alexander. Adding the fleets of the two and the three rows of battleships provided by Sidon, the total reached 80 battleships. At the same time, Rhode Island also sent the city-state's flagship and the remaining nine warships, and ships from other regions also joined the fleet one after another. After the Cypriots heard about Alexander's victory at the Battle of Issus, King Pnytagoras personally led 120 warships to join the Macedonian side. Among all these ships, many are large warships with four or even five tiers of oars. This was a decisive victory for Alexander's influence, and the conqueror was more than willing to let go of past enemies.
While his navy was preparing for battle and siege engines were being built, Alexander led a squadron of cavalry, shield bearers, Agyrians and archers on a ten-year campaign against the mountain tribes near Mount Lebanon. Battle of heaven. These tribes control the Orontis Valley and the roads leading to it, and have caused a lot of trouble. The outcome of this campaign was as complete as the suppression of the mountains of Silesia. Alexander conquered a series of mountain fortresses and swept through the mountains like a whirlwind. We can find no detailed record of this operation, but from other similar feats of arms by this indefatigable king, it can be inferred that the work was carried out with great thoroughness. The complexity of the terrain in this area also shows how difficult it is to complete this work in such a short time. In the eyes of others, the time it takes is only enough to march back and forth. Plutarch, relying on the records of Charis, mentions that the king displayed many personal prowess during this expedition. Heroic acts of prowess were but a customary thing in Alexander's case, and we shall not dwell upon them hereafter. When he returned to Sidon, Klind was already waiting there with reinforcements of 4,000 Greek mercenaries, and the preparations for the fleet were also proceeding smoothly.
At this point, Li Ning has fully understood that his fleet is no longer of use in this regard. However, this is exactly what he hopes to see. Although he wholeheartedly wants to participate in the Sun Battlefield, it is mainly to refresh his credit book.
He knew deeply what kind of hidden dangers were hidden between him and Arizona.
So he knew it too. What situation will he face when he dies under great pressure 10 years later?
So whether it is for the sake of preserving strength or hiding strength. Either as a friend of Alexander, he must personally lead the army to fight at Tire.
And this is bound to take a long time to prepare.
Especially when he still has the land on the northern coast of the Black Sea and the Caucasus Mountains in front of him, this time will undoubtedly increase countless times. Therefore, by the time he finishes the work at hand, it will be almost the same time that Alexander captured Tire in history. city time.
At that time he appeared in front of Alexander. It seems to be most beneficial to safeguarding the interests of those who have traveled through it, because that will cause the least change to history.
This is selfishness in his heart, because he knows that history will inevitably make him lose Alexander as a friend, although many of this is due to Alexander's own character. But Li Ning regarded himself more as a visitor, so he did not want to use his subjective consciousness to influence Alexander's thoughts and their glorious life, so he would inevitably lose this friend.
The sadness at that time stems from his love for history and historical figures, and from the desolation that history itself carries.
