I am the son of the traveler

Chapter 47 Expansion of the Army
After winning the battle, Antigonus did not choose to continue marching, but led the army back to Thermopylae Pass for repairs.

In this battle, although Macedonian losses were not heavy, there were still many soldiers unable to continue fighting due to their injuries, so Antigonus had no way to take advantage of the victory and pursue it. He could only let the army repair for a few days first, heal the wounded soldiers, and send troops to the pass. Announcing a war mobilization order to prepare for the exit.

Considering the sacrifices made by the Thracians in this battle, and their character of not retreating without authorization, Antigonus rewarded all the survivors and gave them the title of "Thrace Guards Battalion"—— Antigonus is going to replace them with armor and sharper long-handled counter-blade knives, making them the Macedonian version of the Varangian guards!

For the honor given to them by Antigonus, the Thracians were both surprised and delighted. As barbarians, they were already inferior in the Kingdom of Macedonia (although it was not clearly written, the low status of the Thracians and other barbarians has become an unreasonable written hidden rules), I thought that the new king would only give them some gold and silver as a symbolic reward, but he did not expect that he would distribute two slaves and a considerable drachma to each of them, and Grant them the designation of the Guards Battalion.

How could they not know the meaning of the word guard in the designation, which is enough to prove that the young king is going to reuse their Thracians!

What Antigon did not expect was that his actions without specific meaning would increase the support of the Thracians for him by a large amount—this meant that as long as he issued a mobilization order to all the tribes of the Thracians, , Immediately there will be many soldiers standing up to respond to the king's call.

……

The conscription envoys sent by Antigonus rode out from Hot Spring Pass on fast horses and galloped in all directions, leaving behind a long trail of dust.The young Macedonian king stood on the city wall and watched all this, with his hands folded on his chest, wondering if his exit plan was correct.

The main force of the barbarian coalition was indeed wiped out by him, and thousands of prisoners of war were reduced to slaves, but he was still a little worried that the barbarian tribes in the west still had the strength to resist his western expedition. The newly formed Outer Barbarian Battalion went deep into the enemy's rear to spy on intelligence. From the beginning of the bloodthirsty moon to the present, he has learned from the system that at least three spies behind the enemy have died.

In fact, compared to the fact that the barbarians had the power to gather an army to fight against him, Antigonus was more afraid that the barbarians would flee into the complex forest and start a guerrilla war with the Macedonian army when they realized that they could not defend against his army. The unpredictable tactics are more troublesome than any tactics. It is very likely that you have just passed a seemingly peaceful bush with your front feet, and you will pick out three big men from it with your back feet.

In history, there are countless examples of being dragged into the quagmire of war because of guerrilla warfare. Napoleon invaded Spain and was constantly harassed by Spanish guerrillas. Recently, the Vietnam War tortured the U.S. military. Although the U.S. military did not fail in this war However, the huge casualties of the US military in the war directly exacerbated domestic racial and civil rights issues, and ended the 25 years of economic prosperity in the United States after the war, causing its economic situation to take a sharp turn for the worse.

If you naively think that guerrilla warfare is only used in the era of hot weapons just because of the two examples mentioned above, then you are very wrong. Take the well-known Rome as an example. When the Roman legions conquered barbarians, they often encountered Seeing the attack of a small barbarian army, they attacked the Roman food collection team and the Roman stronghold, which annoyed the Romans.

Guerrilla warfare is so annoying, but Antigonus has a way to deal with it. He has two options. One is to recruit the barbarian troops in the pass, and use magic to deal with magic. Let the two sides fight in the forest, and he himself leads the main force to pass quickly , to directly attack the barbarian tribes; the second is the most extreme and he is the least willing to use the ruthless move, that is to set fire to the forest. As time goes by, the temperature is getting hotter and hotter. , will soon ignite a raging fire, forcing the barbarian army out of the forest, or directly killing them in the sea of ​​flames.

As a person with a modern soul, Antigonus is unwilling to use the method of setting fire to forests unless it is absolutely necessary. What he has received since childhood is to protect the environment and "green water and green mountains are golden mountains and silver mountains". , I sincerely resist this kind of move that will destroy the natural ecological environment on a large scale.

In addition, there is another reason. From the bottom of his heart, he believes that the entire Ogrell Peninsula will be the territory of the Kingdom of Macedonia, and this large forest will naturally be the property of the Kingdom. He does not want to accept a piece of land when he rules this area in the future. A rotten place full of devastation.

Therefore, Antigonus decided to enlist the barbarian tribes in the kingdom on a large scale and drive them to go out as the vanguard of the army. Compared with the Macedonian citizens, the lives of those who are counted as freemen are obviously cheaper-the former is an important part of the kingdom's army. The main source of infantry, the latter only provides the auxiliary army of light infantry or cavalry. In the Greek world, it is the heavy infantry composed of citizens who undertake the main battle tasks.

……

The news of the defeat of the barbarian coalition quickly spread throughout the entire kingdom of Macedonia with the pace of enlistment emissaries. Whether it was the Greek nobles or Macedonian citizens, or those free citizens and expatriate foreigners, they all marveled at the strength of the kingdom's army and the ability of the new king (in their view, most of the credit for the victory of this battle was due to the Tico's conductor).This victory also swept away the haze of King Philip's defeat half a year ago, and allowed the people to regain their confidence.

Some people say that this will be the harbinger of the rise of the Macedonian Kingdom. The former king Philip and the new king Antigonus are like King Philip and Alexander the Great. During their reign, they accumulated a strong national power and then died suddenly. Prosperity, relying on the national strength accumulated by the father's generation to expand abroad, made great achievements in the world.

Against the backdrop of national celebrations, the enlistment envoys sent by Antigonus received a lot of money. They didn't need to work hard to promote it. As long as they stood there and posted the king's mobilization order, there would be countless people eager to make an appointment. Young and middle-aged men who have won glory in military exploits gathered around to sign up.

So, within a short week, the conscription envoys pulled up several armies from all over the kingdom and brought them to Thermopylae Pass to report back to Antigonus.

　There are follow-up recommendations... It seems that there should be no eunuchs

　　


(End of this chapter)