For the two-month siege of Gaza City. It fully demonstrates the signs of division caused by different plans between Li Ning and Alexander.
After encountering another difficult siege, Alexander also chose to seek help from Li Ning as soon as possible, but Li Ning once again found an excuse this time and refused to send troops to attack Gaza immediately.
This incident is actually famous in history because Zhao Yuanhao, a frontier vassal of the Song Empire, rebelled.
After Zhao Yuanhao rebelled, he gave up the national character given to him by the Song Dynasty and restored his ancestral surname Li. In fact, this surname is not inherent in their family, but was given to them by the Tang Dynasty. As for what their family is, it is a pity that even they themselves cannot figure it out. Therefore, he connected his ancestors with his ancestors. At the same time, people in the Song Dynasty quickly recognized another surname, Wei Ming.
This surname is not common in Chinese history, and is not even known to many people, but Li Yuanhao seems to prefer this and likes to come up with weird things.
The response from the Song Dynasty was very great. Emperor Zhao Zhen immediately announced the change to Yuan Baoyuan, which means he is the only monarch between heaven and earth. In accordance with Li Ning's previous suggestions, a large number of troops stationed in Asia Minor were recalled, and Li Ning was asked to return to Beijing as soon as possible.
Li Ning used the excuse of receiving the emperor's imperial decree to hand over most of the main force to his deputies to lead the army, leaving only 7 troops to continue fighting. 3,500 people are really a drop in the bucket for the vast North African continent. Even if Rommel is reincarnated. Nor may we have absolute certainty of pacifying North Africa.
Moreover, Li Ning's logistics troops were unable to attack this expedition, so he had to reduce the number of main forces as much as possible. So his second explanation for Alexander was that it would cause a burden on Alexander's soldiers, because they needed to provide logistical supplies.
But now, without the delay of a siege, Li Ning can sweep fallen leaves into the autumn wind. In other words, nomads feed war with war and rely on robbery to make a living.
Although this was very inhumane, the robbery efficiency shown by the soldiers convinced Li Ning that the superior Chinese nobles were still very pragmatic at certain times.
Events are unfolding step by step. The expedition to Egypt will be Li Ning's final deployment on the Eastern Mediterranean coast.
So he advanced towards Egypt as quickly as possible.
At the end of November, exactly one year after the Battle of Issus, Li Ning began an expedition to Egypt and arrived at Pelusium seven days later. He had previously ordered Puiana to lead a fleet to meet him here. Egypt had only recently been reconquered by Persia and had no intention of being loyal to its Persian masters, let alone resisting the Macedonians with force. The Egyptians were considered pacifists and showed no concern for the replacement of conquerors. The local Persian governor Machases could have mobilized the Greek mercenaries brought by the traitor Amyntas from the battlefield of Issus to defend Egypt, and these mercenaries also hoped that the governor would resist. Instead, Machases attacked and dispersed the force, killing most of them. As a result, the governor lost his means of resistance. In addition, he was unpopular in Egypt. Li Ning was quickly accepted into the city by all Egyptian cities, and he also received about 800 talons of gold. After leaving a garrison at Pelusium, Li Ning ordered the fleet to go to Memphis along the eastern branch of the Nile River. He himself led the army along the east bank of the river through the desert toward Heliopolis, watching all the towns along the way. Surrender. After that, the Song army also marched to Memphis, where they crossed the Nile River and sacrificed to the sacred cow Apis according to local customs. They also held Greek-style banquets and sports competitions.
Li Ning continued Alexander's style in dealing with religious issues in the conquered places, that is, he was very careful to show respect and never insulted or blasphemed indiscriminately. In Egypt, he also won the favor of both old and new subjects by fusing Egyptian and Macedonian religious traditions.
After that, Li Ning led the army towards the coast along the Nile River. Some people sailed along the western branch of the Nile River in boats and turned west at Canopus. He himself, while sailing along the shores of Lake Mareotis, discovered that if a city were built here, it would likely become an important trading port.
So he marked it on the map, but later he remembered that Alexander must have thought the same way, so this should be another Alexandria city, the only Egyptian Alexandria that survived among dozens or even dozens of Alexandria cities.
There will be a great library here in the future. Although it was destroyed in the fire, it is still missed by future generations, so he decided to name it with its original name, nominally to express the friendship and mutual respect between the two. Thanks to Alexander.
He personally selected the site for the city of Alexandria and established its famous marketplace. Initially he wanted to build the city on the island of Pharos, but because the island was too small, he finally decided to build the city on the mainland. Alexandria's harbor later became one of the best in the world.
I have to admire that Alexander's vision in history has always been fulfilled, and this has been the case since he established the first city of Alexandria in the Hellespont region.
What’s even more interesting is that in the original history, when the soldiers needed to determine the scope of the city wall, but the soldiers had nothing to refer to, Alexander had to sprinkle the barley distributed to the soldiers on the land as a mark. The barley attracted large numbers of birds, and Aristander and other priests predicted that the area would prosper.
Of course, this scene would not happen here in Li Ning, because the soldiers of the Song Dynasty who were good at civil engineering quickly marked the scope of this place with trenches.
At about this time, the Battle of Gaza finally ended, and Alexander himself also began an expedition to Egypt. At the same time, because the maritime operation began first, some people got the news in advance and asked him for instructions, so there was an army in Li Ning's army. Fleet from the Aegean Sea.
The commander of the Aegean fleet, Hegrochus, has now come to Egypt and reported to Li Ning that due to the tyrannical rule of the Persians, Tenedos has rebelled and has fallen to the Macedonian side, and Chios has also Already following in its footsteps. In addition, the Macedonian fleet also captured Mytilene, causing the remaining cities on Lesbos to surrender voluntarily. Amfortrus, the lieutenant of Hegrocas, also occupied the island of Kos. Hegrochus also captured a large number of leaders who opposed Alexander from the above places. The king sent the prisoners back to their respective cities, leaving the citizens to judge them among themselves. Now that these cities are under his own command, he can see more clearly what is right and what is wrong. With these victories, and the fact that he had closed all the seaports commonly used by the Persians, Persian sea power was completely paralyzed, and Alexander occupied the entire Mediterranean coastline.
However, what the general did not know was that based on the previous joke, Li Ning believed that it was necessary for Alexander to give him a share of all the cities and land on the coastline. However, such extravagant wishes have not yet received a positive response from Alexander, but according to both parties According to the previous Treaty of Cappadocia, if he successfully captured Egypt, Egypt would become the territory of the Song Dynasty.
Therefore, its attack speed is much faster than expected, but his actions are all along the coastline in Alexandria, and some of the things he is preparing to do are completely different.
What is Alexander going to do? Go and worship at a temple.
Alexander now wished to visit the temple of Amun in the Libyan desert, where his ancestors Perseus and Hercules were said to have received oracles. Alexander not only hopes to follow in the footsteps of these heroes, but also wants to know his own origin and future, or at least, as Arrian puts it, "pretend to know everything." Both Plutarch and Arrian believed that Alexander claimed to be a descendant of Zeus solely to have greater influence over the people he conquered. According to Curtis, the reason why Alexander was like this was "either because he really believed that Zeus was his biological father, or he wanted others to think so, instead of just thinking that he was just a great mortal." While there were certainly many things that could be faulted about the king, "stupidity" was not one of them. His intelligence was far superior to that of the wisest men of his time, and was more than adequate for the ploy of pretending to believe in his divine origins for political effect. Unless Alexander wanted vain satisfaction, he would never have believed these stories.
Accompanied by a considerable number of infantry and cavalry, Alexander followed the coastline to Palatonium, nearly 200 miles away from Alexandria, and then walked south from there for almost the same distance before reaching the location of the temple. Aristobulus said that when Alexander arrived, rare rain fell in this dry land to show the favor of the gods to Alexander. Curtis also said that two flocks of ravens (Ptolemy, son of Lagus, said in his memoirs that they were two talking snakes) guided the troops throughout the march. No matter what the facts are, Alexander's journey must have been smooth.
The oasis where the temple is located is 5 miles long and 3 miles wide. Many residents work here, and the land itself also has a large number of olive trees and palm trees growing there. The rain here and the fertility of the land are in sharp contrast to the surrounding sand sea. Justin said that Alexander had told the priests in advance how to answer his questions, and also specifically ordered them to respect him as the son of Zeus. Curtis commented: "Anyone who wants to question the sanctity and credibility of this oracle can easily conclude that the oracle is completely forged." Although historical materials do not record Alexander's problem and the content of the oracle , but Alexander now had a completely satisfactory answer. According to Aristobulus, Alexander first returned to Alexandria along the same route before heading to Memphis, while Ptolemy said that Alexander went directly to Memphis. In fact, Alexander may have sent some of his troops back the way they came, while he himself took the stronger portion of his troops directly across the desert to Memphis. Had Alexander not heard that Darius had raised a new army, Alexander might have been heading all the way down the coast to Carthage, but this momentous news forced him to march in the opposite direction. Carthage was now isolated and posed no threat to Alexander, so he left Carthage to be conquered in the future.
A large number of Greek envoys came to Memphis to meet Alexander, each with their own city-state's requirements. Alexander, who was good at politics, made all these envoys feel satisfied when they left. In addition, he also received a small reinforcement here from Antipater, including 400 Greek mercenaries commanded by Menidas and 500 Thracian cavalry led by Asclepiodoras. and several thousand phalanx infantry.
As the governor who stayed in Macedonia, Antipater obviously did not forget to send more troops to the king. And since he was not on the frontline battlefield, he was very curious about Li Ning, a person from the so-called Celestial Dynasty. Amytas even believed that some of the contents and texts of his correspondence with Alexander hinted at his hostility towards Li Ning. Of course, this hostility was based on speculation. For the open-minded Alexander, there was no need to explain it. , but Li Ning asked early to take precautions, after all, there were several pieces of land in the Song Dynasty. All very close to mainland Macedonia.
But most of these specific measures were implemented quietly by Pang Ji, and now most of his troops have been transferred to the new battlefield, and even he himself may go there. Therefore, it is impossible for Alexander to see Li Ning's handiwork in a short time, and even Li Ning does not think that he will be obviously aware of those things.
What makes people feel obvious is that there seems to be a small crack in the relationship between the two of them. Especially in Alexander, after that temple in the middle of the night, something seemed even stranger.
Amyntas once quietly told Li Ning about some of Alexander's words. It turned out that Alexander went to that temple not only because of the original records in history, but also because he once explained to the soldiers that Li Ning was sent by the two ancestors to help them in their expedition.
Therefore, he hopes to use the gods of those two ancestors to re-consolidate, which will also allow possible cracks to be repaired as soon as possible.
But Alexander couldn't realize what happened in the meantime. He only remembered that after the siege of Tire, some noble generals more resolutely proposed that when allocating strategic groups, the number of people from the Song Dynasty should be minimized. Income, because they came too late, did not help much.
Fortunately, according to the relevant provisions of the Islamic League. Since Alexander lost more, his men deserved a majority share of half of the spoils. So the nobles soon had no more dissatisfaction.
However, during the siege of Gaza City, the waiting room was not much less than the wealthy city of Tire due to the loot in the city. Therefore, the worries of some nobles burst out again, but Li Ning did not go to Gaza at all, but rushed directly into Egypt, which made Alexander feel abandoned. But he couldn't say much. Firstly, Li Ning did have too few troops to maintain a stable logistics system. Therefore, it was the right choice not to cause him any trouble. Secondly, under such hostility, who would be willing to fight with him? He fights together.
Therefore, he was also somewhat dissatisfied with those nobles. Based on this situation, he even hoped that the gods in the temple would really show his figure and then clearly indicate the direction he should go in. It was a pity that he did not have his Our ancestors were so lucky that they did not get any imaginary oracle.
After having no time to return to Memphis, he could only send someone to invite Li Ning, and asked him seriously during a dinner party: "I really want to know if there is any problem in our friendship."
"I swear to God, absolutely not!"
Alexander asked confused as Christianity had not yet appeared at this time.
"Who is God?"
Li Ning was helpless for two seconds, and then suddenly wanted to make a joke with the other party, so he replied solemnly: "It's the Haotian God of our heaven, also called the Jade Emperor."
Alexander had heard the relevant myths and legends before, so he suddenly realized it. However, Li Ning snickered at this time. Of course, he tried his best to pretend not to be seen through by the other party.
But Alexander soon realized that the other person's awkward expression seemed to be teasing, but that was how it should be between friends, so he couldn't help but laugh, and later said: "I knew you were kidding at the time, But our friendship really needs such joy. I have a great fear in this regard. Although I am not afraid of going to war with the Kingdom of Heaven, it will mean that we have to fight back to the starting point and start this expedition again. I I found that I had also made a huge mistake. Maybe those nobles were right. I shouldn't be so nice to Li Ning, let alone lie and say that he was sent by our ancestors to help us? Maybe I really should go to that god again Go to the temple and ask the gods there if this kind of thing happens?"
But by then they had already stopped in Babylonia, and there were countless wars to fight in front of them. Moreover, Li Ning's interest seemed to have stopped in Asia Minor, so even if Alexander realized something, the rift between their friendship did not widen again. .
But now everything looks very good, with no trace of change. Alexander is also preparing to transfer the land that was originally supposed to be captured by him but was occupied by Li Ning to the Song Dynasty court in accordance with the Treaty of Cappadocia.
Li Ning was very satisfied with this, and promised Alexander that during his subsequent advance into Babylonia, he would send a sufficient number of reinforcements to support his operations, and at the same time, he could conduct tests in the north. Although both actions were It is a military operation, but it will not require additional land. You help Alexander quell the dissatisfaction of the Macedonian nobles.
