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Chapter 1002

While the soldiers were building a camp outside the city of Palemos, engineers and carpenters were assembling and building siege equipment.

When Leotychides piled up the corpses of the Lusitanian soldiers outside the city and asked them to surrender, the people of Palemos held an emergency meeting to discuss this matter.

However, when Leotychides saw that the people of Palemos did not give a clear answer for the whole morning, he immediately launched an attack. Tens of thousands of heavily armed soldiers lined up in front of the city, pushing all kinds of siege equipment and began to attack the city.

The people of Palemos hurriedly organized themselves and went up to the city to resist. The battle began in the afternoon and lasted for more than four hours. The Dionysian Army did not attack the city with full force. It was just a test of force, so there were not many casualties, and they were calm when they retreated.

However, for the people of Palemos, the more than four hours of defensive battle was like a nightmare: the Diónia soldiers attacked the defenders on the city from a distance from the towering mobile towers; the archers and javelin throwers directly approached the city under the cover of the arrow carriage, covering the top of the city with a rain of arrows; the stone bullets fired by the ballista constantly fell into the city, destroying houses and injuring people; the iron arrows shot by the bowmen could kill the defending soldiers on the top of the city … Not to mention, every time the heavy infantry of Diónia used ladders and ants to attack the city, the defenders of Palemos had to pay a large number of casualties before they could drive them down.

Therefore, when the Dionysian Army retreated, the people of Palemos did not feel happy about their victory. They suffered more than a thousand casualties, and more than half of them were young and strong citizen soldiers who were the main force of the city defense.

The sea was blocked by the Dionysian fleet, the land was surrounded, and Carthage's reinforcements were annihilated. The people of Palemos had lost the confidence to defend the city. They quickly held an emergency meeting at night and quickly passed a resolution: surrender to the Dionysian Army!

All the citizens present deceived themselves that this was only a temporary surrender to protect Palemos, just like how they surrendered to Dionysius when Syracuse attacked the west more than 20 years ago. When Carthage's army regained the upper hand, they could return to the West Phoenician family centered around Carthage.

So early the next morning, the messengers of Palemos went to the Diónia barracks and formally proposed to Leotychides that Palemos was willing to surrender!

When Leotychides, Cypross, Zantiparis, and the Midolades discussed attacking Palemos, of course, they also discussed what to do if Palemos surrendered.

In this war, so far, Diónia had basically adopted the method of "reducing the people in the town to slaves, and the whole town would be completely integrated into the Kingdom of Diónia". This was the case for Alenia, Saros, and Serinus. The only difference was Saint Iberia.

After the Ninth Legion captured Saint Iberia, Strompoli personally comforted the captive Saint Iberians and made a promise: as long as they did their best to smelt and cast precious metals for the kingdom, when the war ended, not only would they be given freedom, but they would also be supported to apply to become citizens of the Kingdom of Diónia.

Cypross, who had rich political and administrative experience, believed that Palemos was different from the Phoenician city-states in Sardinia and Corsica. It was not under the control of Carthage, and it was just an ally of Carthage. It was an independent city-state, just like the Phoenician city-states in Sicily and Afrika. As for its surrender, of course, the treatment would be different from the treatment of the Phoenician city-states on the two small islands.

Cypross proposed that Palemos be integrated into the Diónia Alliance. This way, both sides could accept it, and it could achieve the purpose of quickly recruiting the other's forces to surrender, saving time, and weakening the other's strength when both Diónia and Carthage's armies were gathered at the frontlines. This would also set an example for the other Phoenician city-states to avoid future battles.

His proposal was approved by the three high-ranking generals, so when the messenger of Palemos came to discuss the surrender, Leotychides proposed that Palemos be integrated into the Diónia Alliance, which was indeed a surprise to the people of Palemos.

Moreover, Leotychides also proposed that in this war, they would not collect food from Palemos, and they would not recruit as many Palemos militia as possible. However, the people of Palemos must find an opportunity to persuade the Palemos militia in Carthage's army to surrender.

The messenger of Palemos agreed, but the next request of Leotychides made him hesitate: the Dionysian Army must be stationed in the city of Palemos!

The messenger objected to this, but Leotychides's attitude was firm. The Dionysian Army needed Palemos as the forward base of the Seventh and Eighth Legions, and its port as the base of the Third Fleet. Therefore, it was necessary for the army to be stationed there. If the people of Palemos could not agree, then the surrender would not be achieved, and the Dionysian Army would immediately launch an attack, capture the city, and completely control it.

Faced with Leotychides's strong stance, the messenger of Palemos backed down.

Of course, Leotychides also made a promise in the name of Hades: the Dionysian Army would not interfere with the internal affairs of Palemos, violate the laws of Palemos, forcibly occupy the houses, and harass the people …

The messenger of Palemos brought Leotychides's negotiation conditions back to the city. The Citizen's Assembly had no objection to the condition of "making Palemos an ally of the Kingdom of Diónia", but there was a heated debate on the issue of "letting the Dionysian Army station in the city of Palemos".

But at this time, the Dionysian Army once again gathered their troops in front of Palemos, threatening that the people of Palemos must make a decision within half an hour, or they would attack the city.

The people of Palemos had no choice but to agree to surrender under the heavy pressure, and they hoped that the people of Diónia would keep their promise.

Leotychides asked Zantiparis to lead the Seventh Legion to guard the camp and guard the Carthage Army to the south of the mountain, while he led the Eighth Legion into Palemos.

As soon as the army entered the city, they quickly took over the defense of the entire city wall, the entrance and exit of the city gate, and the management of the port. More than 8,000 troops were divided into two places: one was in the square of the city, and the other was in the port.

The people of Palemos hid in their houses, peeking anxiously at the orderly formation of Diónia soldiers who entered the city with their heads held high. Although the reputation of the people of Diónia was well-known in the Western Mediterranean for keeping their promises, the city of Palemos was now like a woman who had taken off all her clothes. Even in the face of a strong man with a kind look, she would tremble in fear.

But what they feared did not happen. The soldiers of Diónia focused on setting up tents, building new camps, and taking over the key points in the city. There was not a single incident of looting or violence. More than a decade of military training had made the people of Diónia accustomed to obeying the military law, not to mention that their commander was notoriously strict. How could they, who had just won a battle, destroy their bright future in Diónia for a little indulgence?

Even a small number of Catanaeans complained, "Previously, Carthage's army destroyed their homes and destroyed the Catania Plain. We should not be so lenient to these accomplices!"

The officers would comfort them, "There are no Palemosians among these accomplices. They did not follow Carthage's army to the east, but stayed in the camp outside Serinus. (Of course, this was what the messenger of Palemos said, and Leotychides was willing to believe him at this time.) It can be seen that the people of Palemos and Diónia have no grudge against each other … "

The good performance of the soldiers of Diónia in the city slowly dispelled the fear in the hearts of the people of Palemos. Gradually, people tried to walk out of their homes and met the soldiers of Diónia on the streets. Nothing happened, and some Diónia soldiers even smiled at them. This made more people let down their guard and walked on the streets. Throughout the day, the city of Palemos remained calm. The soldiers of Diónia and the people of Palemos did not interfere with each other and went their own way.

In the evening, Leotychides, who lived in the camp in the square, was woken up by the officer stationed at the port. He learned that Carthage's people had brought reinforcements by sea and wanted to enter the port.

Leotychides immediately had an idea. He sent someone to summon several high-ranking officials of Palemos and asked them to help lure the reinforcements into the port.

The leaders of the city may have regretted surrendering too early when they received the news, but what was done could not be undone. The citizens of the city were under the control of the Dionysian army, and they had no choice but to obey. However, when they learned that most of the reinforcements were citizens of their own city, their actions became much more proactive.

So when the reinforcements landed at the port and were surrounded by the Eighth Legion, they hurried forward to persuade them to surrender.

Of course, the reinforcements had no other choice.

The fleet of reinforcements realized that they had been tricked and immediately wanted to escape from the port, but the people of Diónia stationed at the port had already closed the water gates and pulled up the chains to block the sea. The entire fleet was trapped.

Not only did they gain 4,000 soldiers, but they also captured a fleet of Carthage ships. The Eighth Legion could be said to have gained a lot that night.

However, after questioning the reinforcements of Palemos and interrogating the sailors of Carthage, Leotychides suddenly came up with a very bold and crazy idea. He immediately issued an order: the whole city was under martial law and no one was allowed to go out.

Then he sent someone to summon Zantiparis, who was outside the city, as well as the commander of half of the Mountain Reconnaissance Brigade, Tegetus, who was the hero of the conquest of Syracuse. The three of them discussed in the big tent in the city until dawn. During this time, they repeatedly interrogated the sailors of Carthage.