Chapter 376 We'll Get Married when the War Is Over

Corinth is located on the west side of the Isthmus of Corinth, with two ports in the north and south.

The southern port faces the Aegean Sea, and the northern port faces the Gulf of Corinth.

At this time, the Corinth Canal connecting the Aegean Sea and the Gulf of Corinth was still being excavated. If ships wanted to transfer from the southern port of Corinth to the northern port, they could only use manpower to move the ships across the 6,000-meter-long Isthmus of Corinth.

When the time entered August, Roy came to Corinth with 3,000 Pyrrhic soldiers and 2,000 Spartan soldiers.

The reason for bringing these 5,000 troops to Corinth was that Roy decided to gather manpower and materials in Corinth to launch the next war.

The target of the next war was the Apennine Peninsula [Italian Peninsula] across the sea from the Balkan Peninsula.

The Apennine Peninsula [Italian Peninsula] is one of the three major peninsulas in southern Europe, with an area of ​​250,000 square kilometers.

Because the Apennine Mountains run through the entire peninsula from the northern Po Plain to the south to the central Mediterranean, it is called the Apennine Peninsula.

Roy chose the Apennine Peninsula as his next war target because the Alps in the north and the Velebit Mountains in the east were like two natural fortresses protecting the Apennine Peninsula, preventing the northern nomads from invading the Apennine Peninsula on a large scale.

If Roy conquered the entire Apennine Peninsula, he could use the now sparsely populated Apennine Peninsula as a grain-producing area for the Kingdom of Athens, without having to worry about the threat of the northern nomads.

At the same time, he could also use the location of the Apennine Peninsula to control the central Mediterranean Sea.

In the history of another world, the Roman Empire was able to accomplish the feat of dominating the Mediterranean because of the unique location of the Apennine Peninsula, turning the entire Mediterranean into an inner lake of the Roman Empire.

If it were not the central hub of Mediterranean trade, the Roman Empire would not have enough wealth to dominate the Mediterranean.

The Carthaginian Empire, which competed with the Roman Empire for hegemony, also developed from the Tunisian region in the central Mediterranean, which was obviously not accidental.

The war between the Roman Empire and the Carthaginian Empire was like a battle for the central hub of the Mediterranean trade.

Eventually, the Roman Empire gained more wealth from the Mediterranean trade, defeated the Carthaginian Empire three times in the long war for hegemony, and made the Carthaginian Empire disappear in history.

While a large number of ships and supplies from the Kingdom of Athens gathered in Corinth, Roy went to Thebes alone.

Thebes.

The magnificent palace decorated with a large number of gold ornaments.

Upon learning of Roy's arrival, Harmonia took Iole, Helle, Alcestis, and Laodamia out of the palace hall to greet Roy.

After entering the palace hall hand in hand with Harmonia, Roy sat on the throne with Harmonia in his arms, showing a guilty expression and said.

"Harmonia! I was going to marry you this month, but now I want to start a very important war."

"The war you said is more important than marrying me?"

Harmonia said with a smile.

"And the fact that you can come to me now means that you have time to marry me."

"I do have time to hold a small wedding with you."

Roy said with a guilty look.

"But your position in my heart is as important as Procne and Philomela. I want to hold a grand wedding for you that is not inferior to Procne and Philomela, which requires a lot of time to prepare. I came to you to tell you that after I finish the next war, I will hold a wedding with you and let you truly become my wife."

"What if I want to be your wife now?"

"Then we can only hold a small wedding with few guests."

After Roy finished speaking, Harmonia fell into silence.

After a moment.

Harmonia smiled bitterly.

"Are you letting me make my own choice? If I choose to marry you now, I can only have a small wedding in a hurry. If I want a grand wedding, I have to wait patiently for you to finish the next war."

"I'm sorry..."

Roy hugged Harmonia's slender waist tightly with both hands, holding her in his arms and said.

"I know you have sacrificed a lot for me, so I promise you - although Procne and Philomela married me first, you will become the Queen of Athens with the same status as them."

"Roy..."

Harmonia lowered her head and said.

"I am willing to wait for you! I can wait for you to end the war before holding our wedding."

Roy immediately suppressed the excitement in his heart and said.

"Harmonia! I promise you that I will end the next war soon. I will definitely marry you before the end of this year."

Hearing Roy's promise, Harmonia's little face forced a smile.

Three days later.

All the ships and supplies that Roy mobilized to conquer the Apennine Peninsula gathered in Corinth, and Roy himself returned to Corinth from Thebes.

In order to conquer the Apennine Peninsula, Roy prepared to take a 6,000-strong army consisting of 1,000 Corinthian soldiers, 3,000 Pyrrhic soldiers, and 2,000 Spartan soldiers, and boarded 150 warships to the Apennine Peninsula.

Although among the 6,000 troops, except for 1,000 Corinthian soldiers, the remaining 5,000 troops were all new soldiers, Roy was confident in conquering the millions of people on the Apennine Peninsula.

Because Roy's expeditionary army would all use iron spears as weapons.

At this time, the indigenous people of the Apennine Peninsula were still in the tribal civilization period before entering the Bronze Civilization.

Even new soldiers could conquer the local indigenous people who used wooden and stone weapons with iron weapons.

The northern port of Corinth.

After Roy boarded the flagship, a fleet of 150 warships set out from the port of Corinth.

This large fleet will sail out of the Gulf of Corinth into the Ionian Sea, and then head west to the southern part of the Apennine Peninsula.

Aetolia.

Now Perseus and Pelops have conquered the Illyrians in this area with the Mycenaeans.

When Roy's fleet entered the southern waters of the Aetolia region, Perseus thought that Roy was going to break the agreement between the two parties and take away his victory again.

In order to prevent Roy's army from invading the Aetolia region, Perseus personally drove a chariot to the southern coast of the Aetolia region.

As a result, Roy's fleet did not land on the southern coast of the Aetolia region.

Seeing Roy's fleet sail out of the Gulf of Corinth and head west into the Ionian Sea, Perseus realized that his worries were unnecessary.

Looking at Roy's fleet on the coast, Perseus gritted his teeth and said.

"Roy, your unintentional actions can also make me a frightened bird, this is my fear of you. But I will soon change this situation, because conquering the Illyrians is too easy. In a year, I will establish a powerful kingdom in the north that is larger and more populous than your Athenian Kingdom. Although your Athenian soldiers use powerful iron weapons, I can arm more soldiers with bronze weapons. If my soldiers are three or even five times as many as yours, my soldiers will definitely be able to defeat the Athenian soldiers who use black iron weapons with bronze weapons."