H6

Agathocles sailed home shortly after we had reached an accord. He would continue to stall the Labeatae, hemming, hawing, sending a pound of silver here and there as a preliminary tactic to keep them on the hook until I could mount my campaign in late September. Meanwhile, preparations in Epirus continued at a frantic pace. At the end of June, I called the shipbuilders of Amphipolis together to show my plans for a new ship type.

The dromon had several improvements over the quadriremes and triremes currently in use by the navy, the adoption of a full deck, the abandonment of the below water ram for an above water spur, and the introduction of a second, lateen, sail all combined to make for a faster, more maneuverable, ship that could not only fight with typical boarding and ramming tactics but also mount ballistae or catapults to fight at range. The shipwrights hemmed and hawed about tradition, but that did not last beyond the discussion of payment. In the end, they agreed to work on the design at a spare dock, but warned that if it were viable at all, it would not be ready before next year. Over the course of July and into August, they experimented with several designs, noting what worked for future iterations and discarding what didn't. By the first week of September, they began construction on a final prototype to try at sea. If that worked, they would finalize the design and begin building the real thing, which likely would be finished in November or December, at which point, the seas would be too rough with winter storms to sail.

Beyond that, I continued efforts to re-equip the cavalry with hard tree saddles and stirrups, and the army as a whole with steel equipment. The blast furnace that had been set up by Epimenides and Menon was working overtime and still needed extra capacity to fully re-equip the army. It was just a touch too small to fully equip my forces on schedule. It was then that I gave Menon funds to establish a second blast furnace at the old capital of Passaron and promoted Epimenides' most senior apprentice to run it. Aristobaltes was close to being promoted to journeyman smith anyway and this would only hasten his preparations. Together Menon and Aristobaltes headed out for Passaron with royal writs and funds from the treasury in the middle of June. The second blast furnace would be up and running by the start of the last week of August and would produce equipment for the army non-stop for 3 weeks to fill out the rest of the needed gear for re-equipment.

They were not the only ones to have a busy August. 5,000 men had been training as thureophorai since April, and the lighter equipped spearmen, armed in steel linothorax and with lighter theuros shields, dory spears, and falcata swords were busy drilling in anticipation of the upcoming campaign that would be launched in the last week of September. At the same time, the Phalangites, Hypaspists, and Peltasts all drilled to familiarize themselves with the steel equipment, while the cavalry drilled to get used to the new hard tree saddles and stirrups. August was a busy month for my army as troops drilled, officers planned, and quartermasters laid in supplies.

When September rolled around and the time came to plant crops for the new year, I stood down half my army from drills for 2 weeks in order to plant the fields. On Royal lands, heavy plows and horse collars were used to till more stubborn, stony, earth in foothills that ordinarily would only be good for grazing sheep. In this manner, I expanded the amount of farmland directly under my control. When others saw how that had worked, they too would adopt the heavy plow and horse collar, leading to even more stubborn soil given over to farmland. Olives and grapes were also grown and cared for, sheep fattened up for the winter, which would not bite hard enough in these times to kill the growing wheat crop, but would still result in sparser grass for grazing at times.

By the last week of September, my forces and kingdom were as ready as they could be for a campaign into Illyria. Rows of Infantry in Steel Linothorax stood at attention, cavalry in squadrons stood at the ready, standing up in their new stirrups to see and hear their king. 20,000 infantry and 2,000 cavalry stood ready to hear my words as I rode out in burnished steel chased in bronze, with a steel helmet chased in silver, adorned with ram's horns and a crimson horsehair crest.

"Men of Epirus! You all know me, you know my deeds! You know the friendship I bore towards the Taulantii of Illyria, the Hellenization they pursued under Glaukias, who was an ally of Epirus. While Neoptolemus plunged Epirus into civil war, it was Glaukias who aided me in setting things right, so that I might bring the prosperity we are currently enjoying! Now Glaukias' son seeks to continue that friendship, only to face the wrath of Bardyllis, Tyrant of the Dardanii! He has asked me to aid him, and I could not spit on the memory of Glaukias by turning away from his son in a time of need! Would you have us abandon our ally? Leave a Hellenizing state to the mercy of their Barbarian attackers? What would you have me do, men of Epirus?" I exclaimed, playing up aspects of Pyrrhus' alliance with Glaucias and downplaying other, more fraught aspects.

"Fight the Tyrant Bardyllis!" Called one man from the crowd.

"Help our allies!" Called another.

A general tumult began amongst the ranks, as various exclamations for intervention and against Bardyllis rang out. I basked in the sensation of the chorus calling out for intervention for a brief moment before raising my hands and calling for silence. Eventually, the tumult died down and I continued.

"That is not all the ill news out of Illyria, I'm afraid. The sole surviving son of Agathocles, ruler of Syracuse has been overtaken by Labeatae Pirates out of Lissos! They are threatening to sell the lad into slavery if Agathocles does not bankrupt himself for their greed! Agathocles' son is the only son he has left! His heir! A Greek, the same as you or I! Agathocles has made promises of friendship, trade, of ceding territories, and his daughter's hand in marriage, if only we save his son! Should I spurn the open hand of a pleading father? Turn my back on an alliance that could only bring further prosperity to Epirus?"

"Save the boy!" Called out one man.

"Death to the Pirates!" Cried another.

Again a tumult began, and again I had to wait a few moments for it to calm down. When it did, I began speaking again, this time of something more tangible than oaths of alliance or a father's grief.

"Then we shall march north and crush these Illyrians! Make good on oaths of alliance and hands offered in friendship, and yes profit as well! Bardyllis' lands are rich in copper and iron, he trades for the gold of the Ardaiaii further north to enrich himself and build his army! I promise each man a plot of land and gold from defeated Dardanii and Labeatae at the end of the campaign! When we return to Epirus, every man still alive will have coin in his purse and land waiting for him at the end of his service!"

This caused spears to be thumped against shields and shouts of approval to ring out. This time the tumult did not die out after a few moments and carried on for a full minute. I knew the army was motivated now, not just with an emotional plea, but with promises of land and coin. It was how Alexander had done it, how Caesar would do it 240 years down the line. It worked just as well for me. Finally, the tumult died down and I finished my speech with orders.

"Fall in by file! Let's go kill some barbarians!" I ordered. Officers began to order their forces into a marching column and we were soon underway to the north.

My conquest of parts of Illyria had begun. . .

XXXX

AN: here we go, the first bit of the first campaign the SI is going on in Pyrrhus' body. If this were a strategy game, the Illyrians would basically be the prologue boss. If he can't beat them, he has no hope against Macedon, let alone Rome or Carthage.