Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece

But can the Carthaginians desecrate the souls of our warriors by doing this? ! No, their sins show the glory of the warriors! The holy souls of the warriors will go to the holy Elysee, and will accompany the great Hades to swim in the beautiful paradise that is like spring in all seasons! And here, Davos said forcefully and word by word with his fingers and feet: Everything here will be preserved forever, for the people of the kingdom to come and pay their respects, let them know how heroic our soldiers are, and let them know How cruel is our enemy! And this tower will be demolished, and then a statue will be built, and the name of every warrior who died here will be engraved on it, and then engraved in the history of the kingdom, so that future generations will pass it on forever!

There was a clamor around the tower again, but this time it was the envy of the soldiers.

Citizens of Dionia! Soldiers of Dionia! Davos raised his voice again, raising his arms and shouting: You have fought for a year, victorious in Campania, victorious in Downey. , victorious in Latium, victorious in the mountains of Samona, victorious in western Sicily, and now it is finally your turn to fight the mightiest and most murderous of the Carthaginians! I hope you will die here for your sake The brave warriors took revenge, attacked the Carthaginians bravely and fearlessly, created one glorious victory after another, and became a hero in the mouth of the people. Exalted! Only in this way can we Dionia win the final battle against Carthage! We Dionia will also win!!”

Wan Sheng!!! Wan Sheng!!! Wan Sheng!!!... Hearing Davos's words, the soldiers were overwhelmed with emotions, and they couldn't help but beat the long shield with their short swords, and shouted passionately.

The roars of these tens of thousands of people were like rolling thunder, resounding through the desolate valley, and even reaching Syracuse...

……………………………………

At night, the city of Syracuse was silent, but a house was still flickering with candles, and the chief general Te Argenis sat alone in his study and did not fall asleep, in fact he could not sleep either.

Some time ago, he defied all opinions and insisted that the council pass a resolution to send troops to capture Camarina, and then forced Pachinus to surrender, making Syracuse expand his sphere of influence for the first time since the South Italian War. , for a time his prestige in Syracuse soared. Afterwards, he also personally went out to talk with Marco, the commander of Carthage. Although the Syracuses were at a disadvantage in the talks and suffered some losses in the signed covenant, the democrats still portrayed him as a tin man. Rakuza's image as a political leader who is not afraid of any threat, and dares to fight against powerful countries, was warmly welcomed by the people after the negotiation and returned to the city.

According to the newly signed covenant with Carthage, Syracuse had to send troops to attack Taunis, but under the instructions of Teagenes, the Syracuse army played tricks, they just assumed an offensive posture, and The covenant was not taken seriously.

However, the next battle was beyond the expectations of Theagenis. He originally thought that with such a large army of Carthage, and the combat effectiveness was not weak (the ability to defeat the Dionysian army in the Battle of Gera), he should be able to It swept through Dionysian's territory in Sicily. However, although the Carthaginian cavalry ravaged the Catania plain, and the Carthaginian infantry broke through Agilion, its main force even failed to storm a small village in Dionia many times, and was blocked for more than 20 days. Let him begin to doubt the combat effectiveness of the Carthaginian army, but fortunately in the end Palagonia was finally captured.

After Te Argenis got the news,

He breathed a sigh of relief and prepared to continue playing soy sauce to watch the development of the battle, but suddenly got news: the Carthaginian army began to retreat south!

Theagenis was startled, and hurriedly climbed out of the messenger and rushed to inquire, only to be told that the Carthaginians had received the exact news that Dionia's main force had conquered the northern enemy Rome, and was coming to reinforce Sicily. On the way, the Carthaginian army must return to western Sicily and prepare for a full-scale battle.

When the messenger brought the news back to the city of Syracuse, the entire council was instantly blown up.

During the reign of Dionysius, Syracuse was closely related to the Campania alliance in Italy, so he still knew a little about the situation in north-central Italy. The Dionysian alliance, and Syracuse's communication with Syracuse drastically reduced, and the Syracuse people's commerce with north-central Italy was even less. Especially after Dionia launched the war against Rome, the Third Fleet deliberately blocked the southern coast route of Italy. Syracuse did not have Sardinia and Corsica like the Carthaginians, they obtained The news of The Dionysian army landed in Ladrum was also learned from the mouth of the Carthaginian messenger.

However, the Syracuse people know that Rome is a strong state in central Italy, with many allies, and its status there is similar to that of Syracuse in Sicily more than 10 years ago, and the Dionians are fighting far away from the mainland. It is impossible to conquer Rome easily, it must be a long war, and some people even expect the Dionysians to suffer a fiasco in the Latinum area, which is why they later agreed to form an alliance with Carthage and attack Dio. A major reason for nia.

However, now suddenly came the news that the Dionysians have conquered Rome, and their main force is about to reinforce Sicily, and the councilors of Syracuse, if they were hit hard, were very panic, because if the Carthaginian army returned to the west, the tin Rakuza will bear the wrath of Dionia's army alone!

Theagenis had to rush to persuade the Carthaginians himself, and when he caught up with the retreating army of Carthage, he was already at Gera.

No matter how he requested, Margo did not come out to see him in person, only Pomirka came out and told him: Since the next battle with the main force of Dionia is related to the rise and fall of Carthage, the army must withdraw to the west and do a good job Fully prepared, this is not something that anyone can dissuade.

But at the same time, he also comforted Theagenis: Even if the Dionysian reinforcements landed in Sicily, their main target of attack would still be our Carthage, while the city of Syracuse had thick walls, sufficient food, and a large number of soldiers, as long as they were fully defended , the Dionysians have nothing to do with you. Wait until we have defeated the main Dionysian force and come to the east to join you in Syracuse. At that time, not only can the Dionians be driven out of Sicily, but also can further advance to Greater Greece, which has always been the territory of your Greeks, and it is more appropriate to take the towns and hand them over to you... …

At this time, Theagenis was slightly attracted by the bright prospects drawn by the Carthaginians. At the same time, he also knew in his heart that the matter was irreversible. Now that the matter has come to this, he can only say: Syracuse will defend Dio with all his strength. The Nians were about to attack and expected the Carthaginian army to return to the east as soon as possible.

On the way back to Syracuse, Te Argenis has been living through the ambivalence of anticipation of the future and fear of reality.

When he rushed back to Syracuse, he got bad news: Dionysian reinforcements had begun to land at the port of Catania and the naval base of Catania.

Due to the sudden incident, the Syracuse army did not completely evacuate from the camp outside the city of Taunis. The Catania naval base was only a dozen miles away from them. The cargo ship that was transporting supplies from the camp to the port of Syracuse Sailors were amazed to see dozens of Dionysian warships in full force on the northern seas, and behind them, outside the Dionysian naval base, were many more ships, and many more ships from further north. sailing from the sea...

The Syracuse fleet was so frightened that it hurriedly turned around and sailed back to the port. The Syracuse Navy, which received the news, hurriedly dispatched several clippers to investigate. It was found that those Dionian ships were either troop carriers full of soldiers, or full of loads. The cargo ships of supplies, they continued to enter and leave the Dionysian Naval Base, until the evening...

On the second day, such military operations were still being carried out in the waters where the Dionysian Naval Base was located.

How many reinforcements did the Dionians send? ! The people of Syracuse were all panicked when they heard the news, and of course Theagenis, who had just returned to the city, was no exception.

Especially after learning that the Carthaginian army was determined to return to the west, many people in the council were even more mourning.

Even the general Hiktas of the port civilian faction shouted: Since the Carthaginians have abandoned us, then we don't need to abide by the covenant anymore, just make peace with Dionia.

Hiktas’ words really moved a small number of people, but no one dared to take the initiative to agree. After all, the reason why Syracuse united with Carthage and declared war on Dionia was to restore its former hegemony. As a result, it took the initiative to seek peace before it actually fought against the Dionysians. Most of the deputies could not Accept it, and neither can the vast majority of the citizens of Syracuse.

Everyone argued in the evening, except for quickly withdrawing all the troops besieging Taunis and making preparations for the defense of the city, they could not think of any other specific and effective plan to solve the current predicament.

On the third day, the council continued to discuss yesterday's issues, and by noon received an urgent report from the spies: some 50,000 well-equipped Dionian soldiers had left the city of Katanai and were marching south.

The deputies suddenly panicked and immediately demanded that the citizens of the whole city be urgently mobilized to prepare to meet the enemy.

But soon another spies came to report, saying: The Dionian army turned to the southwest and stopped before the ruins of Paragonia.