Standing in front of the familiar and strange city of Larissa, Hilos couldn't help but sigh: More than 30 years ago, he lost his land and was struggling to survive and had to accept the employment of the Spartans who came to recruit soldiers and go out to fight. When he left here, his mood was dark, because the stories of the Thessalian mercenaries he heard made him feel that he might die in the battlefield like most of them and would never return to his hometown... He really didn't expect that he would return to his hometown as a conqueror.

Hilos rode his war horse and stood there in a daze. Most of the officials behind him already knew that Larissa was the hometown of the important minister of the kingdom, so no one came forward to disturb him. But Hilos quickly escaped from this feeling of sadness, took a deep breath, and turned to the officials and said, "Let's go, let's go into the city."

When the officer in charge of guarding the city gate saw Hilos and his group coming, he immediately stepped forward and saluted and said, "Sir Hilos, salute you! Commander Matonis and Commander Lizaru are waiting for your arrival in the mansion of the city lord!"

After saying that, he turned around and led the way.

Hilos slowly walked into the city on a war horse and looked around: the streets were clean and tidy, and obviously after careful cleaning, but occasionally you could see blood on the ground; there were no pedestrians on the road, only legion soldiers standing straight on the roadside; but through the gaps between the doors and windows of the houses on both sides of the street, you could see a pair of eyes intertwined with anger and fear...

The lord's mansion is near the square in the center of the city. This building existed when Hilos left. It was the residence of the tyrant at that time. Due to the age of time, he could no longer remember the name of the tyrant.

"Captain, I finally waited for you!" Seeing Hilos walking into the yard, Matonis came up with a smile on his face, his voice loudly: "Yesterday, Lizaru and I led our brothers to run more than 100 miles without rest, and then we launched an attack on Larissa. When we captured this city, the brothers were almost exhausted! I keep your instructions in mind and strictly enforce military laws with Lizaru. The brothers have never robbed or hurt the people of Larissa until now. How about it? Are you satisfied?!"

Although Matonis used his former title among mercenaries to show his closeness to Hilos, Hilos still said without hesitation: "What is the use of satisfying me? The key is whether he can satisfy His Majesty and the Kingdom! The expedition to Thessali is an important decision made by His Majesty and the Ministry of Military Affairs. Whether we can completely conquer Thessali and further control Greece depends on whether you can strictly implement the strategies formulated by the Ministry of Military Affairs!"

Speaking of this, his eyebrows stretched out: "Commander Lizalu, Commander Matonis, congratulations! From landing to now, you have led the army to successfully achieve the initial predetermined goals and set a good start for the next battle!"

As he said that, he clenched his right fist solemnly, pressed his left chest, lowered his head vigorously, and saluted Martonis and Lizaru.

Matonis and Lizalu quickly returned the greeting respectfully. Not only Matonis, Lizalu had also been under Hilos and was more respectful to the old commander. Otherwise, he would not have waited for his arrival with Matonis here.

After Shilos saluted, he said seriously: "But I still want to remind you that time is crucial to landing and raiding. Although we have gained some advantages, you should not be satisfied with it and stay here to continue to repair. Instead, you should seize the time to lead your army to continue attacking, not give the enemy a breather, occupy the entire territory of Thessali as soon as possible, and initially achieve the strategic goals set by the Ministry of Military Affairs!"

Martonis explained somewhat dissatisfiedly: "We don't want to seize the time to continue the attack, but the brothers fought continuously yesterday and consumed a lot of physical strength. They needed enough rest to continue the battle. After discussing with Lizalu, I decided to gather the army tomorrow morning and march towards Phila."

Lizaru then said: "Matonis is right. Many soldiers have not woken up until now. They are indeed tired. We have sent the baggage battalion to purchase cattle and sheep in Larissa, and are preparing to give the soldiers a good meal so that they can recover their strength as soon as possible..."

"Of course, we have solemnly reminded the logistics officer that we must not force ourselves to buy and sell. We will follow the seller's wishes and trade according to the market price." Martonis quickly added another sentence.

Hilos nodded, remembering what he was going to do next, and said, "Matness, since you will set out tomorrow, lend me your armor for a long time."

"Why are you wearing my armor?" Martonis was a little confused. He looked at Hilos and suddenly understood: "Oh... you are going to meet your former friends, wanting them to know that you are now a big figure in the Kingdom of Dionia!"

"It is to let them know that my status is valuable now, so that they will be willing to cooperate with us and stabilize the order of Larissa faster!" Hilos said with a serious face.

It was not unaware that he had withdrawn from the army, and it seemed a bit inappropriate to wear the armor of the Legion Commander. However, as the chief executive of the Senate, the pure white and black embroidered Borden he wore was a symbol of dignity in the eyes of the people of Dionia. However, in the eyes of the Larissa, it might just be of good texture and nothing special. The armor of the general directly showed the status, which could save a lot of talk. For this reason, he borrowed a team of guards from Martonis.

Martonis did not say anything, but when Hilos was about to leave the mansion, he finally couldn't help asking: "Captain, when His Majesty gave us the order to raid Thessali, he did not give any special instructions to Peleus... I wonder if he had any instructions to you about Peleus?"

Hilos stopped and replied without hesitation: "Yes!... Your Majesty told me not to have any special care for the city of Peleus, just manage it like other towns of Thessali."

Speaking of this, he sighed softly: "However, I sent someone to inquire yesterday... At that time, the Macedonians raided the village where His Majesty lived, killed all the villagers, and burned them. His parents' bodies were burned to the point of being unrecognizable, and finally they were buried together... Now there is a wasteland, with wild grass, and no one remembers the specific location of the burial place..."

"Damn Macedonian!" Matonis roared indignantly.

Shilos, wearing Matonis' armor and fully armed guards, headed to the civilian area of ​​Larissa, and attracted much attention all the way. He quickly found some of his former neighbors and friends.

They were very surprised when they learned that Hilos, who had been away from Larissa for more than 30 years, had become an important minister of the Kingdom of Dionia.

At that time, the young Hilos was helpful and good at defending the wrongs. He had a great reputation in civilian areas. Therefore, although he returned to his hometown as an invader, he did not arouse the disgust of his former friends. Instead, he believed what he said, "some policies that Dionia will implement against the occupied Thessali town" and was willing to promote it for him.

When Dionia conquered Rome more than 10 years ago, in order to win the trust of the Roman civilians, he specially selected Roman slaves and entrusted them with important tasks, so he gradually dispelled the doubts of the Roman civilians. Now Hilos was originally a Larissa native and had a considerable reputation in the place. Using similar methods to stabilize and govern Larissa would naturally achieve twice the result with half the effort.

……………………………………………………

Early on the morning of the third day, Matonis and Lizaru left 2,000 soldiers to assist Hilos in stabilizing the order in Larissa City, led the main force out of the city and marched eastward. Halfway through the arrival of Thessali army.

At first, Polyfron, who had just received the news, was excited because he didn't have to rush to Larissa to defeat the main force of the Dionian army nearby, but then he saw the black helmet in the distance and the black armored enemies kept rushing up, causing the Dionian army to continue to extend to the two wings... He suddenly realized that the number of Dionian soldiers might have far exceeded 20,000, and they were quickly deployed, obviously well-trained.

Polyfron was a little panicked. Although he had always fought bravely, he had never had the experience of independently commanding such a large-scale battle under the command of his elder brother Jason. At this moment, he could only constantly eliminate the messengers and urged the generals to arrange the military formation as soon as possible according to his deployment. He even rode a horse and galloped behind the military formation, shouting hysterically, "Let the soldiers speed up the array. If anyone is slow to execute, there will be many punishments after the war!"

Just as this army temporarily pieced together by the city-states of Thessari were unfolding its array in a mess, the Dionia's military formation changed. It suddenly broke from the center, and the distance became larger and larger, and it actually split into two parts, each corresponding to the left and right wings of the Thessalian military formation...

The reason why the Dionian army did this was, firstly, because Matonis and Lizaru were commanders of the same level. In order to facilitate command and avoid conflicts, they each commanded the troops under their command to fight; secondly, in order to disrupt the enemy's deployment, they deliberately put the two troops together at the beginning.

The sudden change in the Dionian army formation really confused Polyfron, who lacked experience. For a moment, he didn't know how to deal with it, and at this moment, the Dionian army launched an attack.

Not long after the battle went on, the two wings of the Thessali army were defeated and quickly spread to the entire army.
Chapter completed!