These elders didn't expect this either.
The Persians conquered Miletus.
They actually sent out the Immortal Army!
The Immortal Army was the Persian emperor's guard army, with a number of 10,000 people. They were handsome, strong, and experienced in combat, and were walking killing machines. Generally speaking, this army would not be easily dispatched unless it was a particularly cruel or important battle. However, the Immortal Army appeared in the city of Miletus, which meant that the Persian emperor should be nearby.
It turned out that the emperor led the army in person!
What on earth is happening.
The officer of the Changsheng Army walked quickly to the back and came to a large sedan chair.
The sedan chair was as big as half a house, and the soft gauze around it covered the person inside. At this time, a pair of slender legs gently opened the gauze curtain, and the wheat-colored skin was shining in the sun, and the exquisite feet made people marvel that there were such beautiful feet in the world. However, even with such a beautiful view, no one around dared to look up, because these legs were not the legs of an ordinary woman, but...
Xerxes II, Emperor of Persia
"Your Majesty, this is a map of Miletus."
The fifth tune, the fourth section, the person I’m searching for
"unnecessary."
At this time, a soft female voice came from inside the gauze tent.
"All the people in Miletus were reduced to slaves."
"Yes, Your Majesty."
At this time, the curtain was pulled open, and two maids walked out, then bowed their heads and stood very respectfully on both sides of the curtain. Then, a graceful woman slowly walked out of the curtain.
Her skin was a very beautiful wheat color, and her black curly hair reached her waist. She was wearing an exquisite and thin purple robe, which only covered her plump breasts and hips. Her tight and straight legs were adorned with leg rings made of gold and gemstones, and there were two gold rings on her ankles. At the same time, she also had extremely luxurious golden bracelets on her arms.
Her golden eyes shone brightly as if burning with flames.
No one could have imagined that the emperor of the Persian Empire, Xerxes II, was such a beautiful woman.
She walked out of the gauze tent, and the officer of the Immortal Army beside her immediately lay on the ground and walked down the stairs of the gauze tent as the queen. The other Immortal Army immediately covered the gauze tent with a carpet.
"Have you found Aspasia?"
At this time, Xerxes stepped on the Immortal Army officer and walked to the ground.
"Looking for it."
"My patience is limited. Don't keep me waiting too long."
Xerxes II said so.
The officers immediately went down to look for Aspasia.
Soon, Aspasia, who was hiding in Miletus, was captured by the soldiers of the Immortal Army and brought before Xerxes II. At this time, Aspasia obviously didn't know why the Persian emperor wanted to arrest her. She was brought before Xerxes II, and then the officer pressed her down and made her kneel on the ground.
"Aspasia."
At this time, Xerxes II walked up to Aspasia.
"Do you still remember me?"
"Remember...Princess Xerxes, huh, I didn't expect she would become the empress."
Aspasia raised her head and glared at Xerxes II.
"Militus... has never done anything to harm the interests of the Persians. Why are you going to war against us?"
"I think I need a reason to govern a country." At this time, Xerxes opened his arms and said intoxicatedly, "I am the Great Emperor of Persia, the King of Kings."
"you……"
Aspasia sighed helplessly.
"What do you want?"
"Aspasia, tell me, how is Hilde now?"
Hearing this, Aspasia looked at Xerxes in disbelief.
"What are you going to do to my daughter?"
"Hahaha, Aspasia, do you remember when my brother and I visited Athens on behalf of the Persian Empire? At that time, I was only ten years old, and Hilde was only seven. At that time, Hilde and I were playing in the squares and streets of Athens from day to night." At this point, the smile on Xerxes' face gradually disappeared, "But you said you didn't want to accept the charity of the Persians, so you rudely drove us away..."
"You are acting like a tyrant!"
Aspasia said excitedly:
"You have already been defeated, but you still want us to surrender!"
"What does that have to do with me! I was just an ignorant little girl at that time! Only Hilde was very kind to me. She never discriminated against my skin color, and never hated my blood. She was completely different from you!" At this time, Xerxes II said intoxicatedly, "She taught me a lot of new knowledge, and also said that she would remember me for the rest of her life. So, after I became the Queen of Persia, I have been waiting for this opportunity."
"you……"
Aspasia was helpless.
"Just for this reason?"
"Yes."
"You killed so many Milesians just for this reason!"
"Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha--"
At this time, Xerxes II suddenly laughed out loud towards the sky.
This laughter made Aspasia feel a little creepy.
"Your current Hilde is the Queen of Byzantium, I know this very well... What I want is not just to meet Hilde again, I want her to come back to me and become mine. However, she is very powerful, I have known this before... If she wants to escape, I will never be able to catch her. Therefore, I need some bait."
"So, your bait is me?"
Aspasia felt that this woman was completely unreasonable.
He actually made such a crazy decision for something like this.
"Yes... and that's not entirely true. Both you and Miletus are baits I use to make Hilde submit to me." At this point, a golden light suddenly shone in Xerxes II's eyes. The powerful pressure immediately made the people around him bow their heads. "Besides, this is only the first step of my conquest. I want to realize the long-cherished wish of my ancestors and bring all of Greece under the rule of my Persian Empire! Hahahahahahaha!"
The Fifth Tune, Section 5, Hilde's Small Reform
At this moment, Aspasia felt something.
"You...you are a hero?"
"hero?"
Xerxes II was slightly stunned, then he smiled and opened his hands.
At this time, a ball of fire suddenly appeared in her hand and began to burn fiercely. Although the flame was not big, the scorching temperature began to make the surrounding air become anxious. The terrifying heat wave could be felt by Aspasia who was one or two meters away. At this time, Xerxes II said proudly: "The great Ahura Mazda has given me a powerful fire power. Anyone who stands in my way will be burned to ashes by the holy fire of God."
"really……"
Aspasia closed her eyes in despair.
Xerxes II was blessed by the gods.
Ahura Mazda is the main god of Zoroastrianism, the state religion of Persia. He is the supreme god and god of wisdom of Persia, and is revered by the Persian people as "the universe that contains everything". His representative is the fire of truth that can distinguish between good and evil, and he is also the incarnation of the sun. Now, Xerxes' golden eyes are shining like the sun, and at the same time, the red flame in his hand represents the fire of truth of Ahura Mazda.
No wonder there was a female emperor in Persia.
It would not be surprising if it was blessed by Ahura Mazda.
"Your Majesty, I beg you."
At this time, Aspasia lowered her head and said:
"Please don't hurt Hilde, please don't hurt everyone."
"Hilde... I will never hurt her, but as for the others, as long as they don't resist me, I will let them live. But if... they resist stubbornly, I will let them know the price of angering me."
-------------------------------------
After Hilde returned to Byzantium.
So they began to make preparations and contact the Dacians in the north.
This alliance was a complete failure. Although they had established a relationship with the Kingdom of Macedonia and received support from them, Hilde was still a little worried about the Macedonians. He didn't know if they were reliable. So Hilde was quite upset. However, after learning that these guys were good-for-nothings, Hilde became more determined to conquer and expand.
Now, Hilde's next step.
It is Chalcedon across the sea.
If Chalcedon could be captured, the coastal plains on the northwest coast of Asia Minor could be obtained, providing sufficient food. At the same time, it could also be used to open up trade routes with the Lydians.
Moreover, Chalcedon now has a population of only 13,000 people and less than 1,000 soldiers. In addition, it has been lax in military preparations for a long time, so it may be easier to capture Chalcedon than Apollonia. Therefore, Hilde planned to attack the city of Chalcedon first. However, the slightly different thing now is that Chalcedon and the Kingdom of Byzantium have both participated in the alliance against the King of Thrace. Therefore, if Chalcedon is to be attacked, it may be feared by other forces.
So, Hilde needed a reason.
A casus belli.
Just as Hilde began to think about this matter.
Now, the blacksmith workshop in Byzantium City started new production.
Almost all weapons and equipment in the Byzantine city were upgraded to steel weapons. At the same time, Hilde also led the craftsmen to improve some special devices, such as the water-powered windmill, which made iron smelting more convenient. At the same time, they also used water power to build hydraulic hammers. In this way, the blacksmiths no longer needed to forge weapons by hand. The uniform force could also make the steel structure of the weapon more stable and have better performance.
And the extensive use of water power.
It also made Hilde think of something else.
That's steam.
There was coal around the city of Byzantium, although coal was not valued in this era. People would use it to write or make paint. Now that steel production was on the right track, if the prototype of the steam engine could be made, the steam engine could be promoted to process and produce some devices. However, Hilde felt that this idea was a bit too crazy and did not take into account the productivity of this era.
Let’s wait until later.
"His Majesty!"
Just when Hilde was daydreaming.
Amintas suddenly rushed into Hilde's office.
"Your Majesty, Mili is gone!"
"Millie is gone?"
"Yes... the Persians have invaded Miletus, Miletus is finished!"
When Amyntas said this, he looked obviously very sad.
Miletus was once occupied by the Persians. Later, after the Greco-Persian War, the city-states of Miletus and Ephesus regained their independence and were re-established. Now, only a few decades later, Miletus was occupied by the Persians again, which was a huge blow to the Greek world.
"Persian……"
At this time, Hilde stood up suddenly.
"What do the Persians want?"
The beginning of the attack plan
This news made Hilde nervous.
Because everyone knows it.
Almost no one can shake the power of the Persians.
If the Persians really intended to march west, there was no doubt that these forces in Thrace would be instantly wiped out under the powerful offensive of the Persians, with almost no ability to resist. The military and financial resources of Persia were not comparable to those of the Thracian king. Therefore, now that the Persians had directly captured Miletus, this would be a big change for Hilde's future plans.
"His Majesty."
At this time, Amyntas continued:
"After the Persians captured Miletus, they did not attack other Ionian city-states, but withdrew their troops."
"Withdraw? That's normal... Maybe Milidu caused some casualties to them."
Hilde had no specific information and could only make such a guess.
After careful consideration, Hilde realized that even if she knew that the Persians might move westward, it would not affect Hilde's plan. After all, if the Persians really moved westward, Hilde would not be able to resist them anyway. She would surrender if she could and wait for Persia to be defeated again. If the Persians defeated the Greek world, then... it would be an honor for Byzantium to be a dog of Persia.
Although it sounds spineless to say so.
But it is also true.
If you don't do this, you will die without knowing how you died.
