Upon hearing this, Aristotle's face turned red, and he felt quite embarrassed.
I can't believe that I, who claims to be the wisest man in Greece, was completely wrong this time!
King Stoby is definitely a formidable opponent!
Whoever treats him as a fool will pay the price in blood!
"Let's not talk about the past! The solution now is how to solve this dilemma! I think everything is clear. Our army must go all out to counterattack Thessaloniki! Only by opening up this lifeline can we ensure the safety of the main army in the East!" Aristotle replied.
Hearing this, Alexander smiled helplessly, but his heart was bleeding.
Alexander understood that Aristotle was right. With the soft underbelly of Thessalonica breached, Macedonia could only focus all its efforts on retaking it.
Otherwise, there will be endless troubles!
However, in this way, Macedonia could no longer send troops to recapture the territories in the northeast that had already been encroached upon.
With the governance skills of the occupier Odysseus, it will only take three to five months for the Macedonian mark in those cities to be removed forever!
"To be honest. Even if I want to recapture Thessaloniki, I can't send out many decent troops. Except for the 60,000 guards in Pella, all the legions that can fight in other cities have already been sent to Antigonus!" Alexander answered dejectedly.
Hearing this, Aristotle felt a chill in his heart.
This time, Aristotle was taking a gamble when he encouraged Alexander to take the risk of sending troops.
To this end, he even used the reputation he had accumulated over the years to bring in 200,000 volunteers from the south!
If all were lost in the East, it would be a fatal blow to his reputation!
"My king should still have enough troops to fight back, but he just lacks elite soldiers! Have you forgotten that an elite force of 100,000 will arrive at the city of Pella today?" The Siren on the side suddenly smiled and spoke.
One hundred thousand elite soldiers?
Alexander was stunned for a moment, then he understood.
The Sirens were referring to the troops withdrawn from the four cities of Stupora.
Stupala had been wrestling with Macedonia for many years. Although his army was not large, its combat effectiveness was still good.
And I heard that Siren's brother Seleucus was an outstanding general.
The arrival of this army is very timely as we need manpower at this time.
With the relationship with the Sirens, it would not be difficult to get Seleucus to lead his army into battle!
"My beauty treats me the best!"
Thinking of this, Alexander embraced Siren in his arms.
Without hesitation, Siren immediately proposed that after the victory of the counterattack in Thessalonica, she would help Stupala rebuild and give her brother a high position in the Macedonian army!
Alexander agreed to all of this.
Two days later, the attacking army heading east was assembled.
Alexander led the army personally, with more than 300,000 men under his command.
The most elite among them, apart from the 60,000 silver shield spearmen guarding the city of Pella, were the 100,000 Stupala Legions led by Seleucus.
Before setting out on the expedition, Alexander also received news from Antigonus.
Alexander was very satisfied when he learned that this capable general did not hesitate and was coming west with the main force with the intention of counterattacking Thessaloniki.
He believed that with Macedonia's unprecedented army of 800,000, they would be attacked from both sides.
The coalition forces of small city-states that successfully launched a surprise attack on Thessaloniki will be completely wiped out!
Then it would not be difficult to take advantage of the situation to counterattack and regain the lost territory in one fell swoop.
Even if we expand the territory a little more, it will be easy.
In Odysseus's camp.
Odysseus was very happy to receive the news of Achilles' victory.
The plan laid out before departure was successfully completed. Even though it wasn't him who conquered Thessaloniki, Odysseus felt a sense of accomplishment.
However, Odysseus soon became wary.
As an excellent politician, he put himself in Alexander's shoes and considered things from his perspective, judging that Macedonia would definitely concentrate all its efforts to retake Thessaloniki.
Of course, we can’t give up the famous city that we conquered with great difficulty so easily!
Odysseus did not hesitate and immediately issued the order to mobilize.
The vanguard of 200,000 troops must speed up and make sure to reach the city of Thessaloniki as soon as possible to reunite with Achilles.
The remaining troops will be drawn from the occupied cities to form a reinforcement corps. They must report to their headquarters within three days.
More than two days have passed since the order was issued.
Walking out of the tent, Odysseus felt quite nervous looking at the dark mass of more than 400,000 troops gathered at the foot of the mountain.
Eight hundred thousand!
When the reinforcements he leads arrive, the number of troops of the Great Northern Alliance that can participate in the Battle of Thessaloniki will reach a staggering 800,000!
I am good at internal affairs and concentrating manpower and material resources.
But in actual combat, he was not qualified to command such a large army and fight a decisive battle with the main force of Macedonia.
In view of this, Odysseus did not dare to be arrogant. He sent a letter by carrier pigeon to inform both Styx and Achilles of his decision.
Wang and Achilles were both geniuses in battlefield command.
The only correct choice is to hand over the command of this army to them!
With the reinforcement of Odysseus's 200,000 vanguards, Achilles now had more than 300,000 troops at his disposal.
He also judged that the Macedonian army would attack.
However, his decision was not based on his understanding of Alexander, but on his understanding of his old rival Antigonus.
In the Great North, Antigonus was very famous and could be considered the best general of Macedonia.
In the last Battle of Scintia, Antigonus was completely defeated by him and must be eager to take revenge.
Hearing that he was the one leading the army this time, Antigonus might have lost the city of Methoneum and launched a direct counterattack for a decisive battle!
At the same time, an army would surely come from Pella, the capital of Macedonia in the west, trying to repel him and recapture Thessaloniki.
Thessaloniki's defenses were so poor that they could not be significantly improved within a few days.
The key to resisting the pincer attack from two armies is whether we can concentrate our forces and defeat them one by one!
However, it is said that Antigonus' army had at least 400,000 men, and they were the elite Macedonian legion.
Even if I send out my entire army, I may not win!
Achilles was a mature commander and would never be blindly arrogant.
Although the Murmidon warriors on hand are strong, their number is too small. In a large-scale war like this, their effectiveness will be greatly reduced!
What's more, they are not much stronger than the Macedonian silver shield spearmen.
The exaggerated casualty ratio in the Battle of Sinthia was accidental and has no reference value.
"Report to the commander! Lord Odysseus has received an urgent letter!"
While Achilles was hesitating, a messenger arrived with a small folded letter.
After taking it and unfolding it, Achilles was overjoyed.
Very good!
Odysseus was so awesome! He actually gathered an army of over 400,000 and marched south.
It is estimated to arrive within three days!
In this way, with an army of 800,000 at his disposal, he would have at least a 90% chance of defeating Antigonus's counterattack from the east in one fell swoop!
I just don't know what the size and combat effectiveness of the other enemy army coming from Pella are.
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