Chapter 493
Devers could sense the heavy expectations in their words. He smiled and said, "You don't have to worry about the people of Syracuse. What you should worry about is whether we have enough manpower to govern the lands in the south of Greece after we defeat Syracuse! "
While the elders were stunned, Devers turned his head and gazed deeply at the hills in the east of the city of Turín. He knew that his wife and children must be gazing in his direction, looking forward to his victorious return …
"Let's go." He coughed softly, turned his horse around, and stepped onto the wooden bridge with his guards.
… …
The soldiers of Syracuse burned, killed, and looted in Ciudad Crotone for a whole night. The ones who suffered the most were the free citizens and foreigners in the port area, as well as half of the citizens of Crotone who did not manage to escape to the citadel in time.
At noon the next day, most of the soldiers of Syracuse were still sleeping in the barracks or the residences in Ciudad Crotone, recovering their exhausted stamina from the day before.
Dionysius woke up early in the morning and led his subordinates to deal with the military affairs.
The first thing that needed to be solved was the problem of the wounded. Although the results of the battle yesterday were glorious, the losses were also great. According to the preliminary statistics from last night, the number of dead and heavily injured soldiers alone was more than five thousand. There were also more than four thousand soldiers with varying degrees of light injuries. After the battle, Syracuse had lost about one-eighth of its soldiers. A series of tedious tasks such as treating the wounded, replenishing soldiers, and reorganizing the troops had to be completed as soon as possible.
Cleaning up the battlefield and burying the corpses, which were the most time-consuming and laborious, was actually the easiest. All they needed to do was to use the tens of thousands of Crotone citizens who had become captives as laborers. Many of the captives cried as they carefully sorted out the corpses of the Crotone soldiers who had died inside and outside the citadel! Many of the captives secretly kicked and cursed as they dragged the corpses of the Syracuse soldiers, venting their anger in their hearts!
To Dionysius, these were not things that he cared about. The second thing he cared about was the citadel of Crotone. The citadel was located slightly south of the center of Ciudad Crotone, built on a hill. The citadel housed the largest Apollo temple complex in Greece, which was why the citadel of Apollo in Crotone was the largest in Greece.
Although retreating to defend the citadel was a common strategy adopted by the Greek city-states when the citadel was lost, Dionysius should have been prepared. But after they breached the city wall last night, the soldiers of Syracuse became more violent and started killing and looting in the city. Because of the darkness, Dionysius could not effectively command the troops, which resulted in the delay of the battle. Half of the Dokrotone people (including many soldiers) were organized by Myron and Lucias to escape into the citadel. This allowed the citadel to have sufficient manpower to defend.
At the same time, the citadel's terrain was high, and it was surrounded by residential areas. Large-scale siege weapons could not reach the citadel. Only by tearing down the surrounding residences and buildings and building a sturdy and wide causeway to fill up the hill would the siege towers and siege vehicles be able to reach the bottom of the city. Otherwise, if the soldiers were to attack from below, not only would they suffer heavy casualties, it would also be very difficult to succeed.
However, such a siege method required a long period of preparation, and what Dionysius lacked the most was time. He still had to lead his army to attack Diónia. He would not allow his greatest enemy to have more breathing space to stabilize his territory and build more troops.
Therefore, Dionysius sent messengers to threaten the lives of the Crotone citizens and soldiers in order to make the people of Crotone surrender in the citadel.
However, the people of Crotone hiding in the citadel had witnessed the atrocities committed by the people of Syracuse in the citadel last night. They had endured the heart-wrenching cries of their compatriots. They feared and hated the people of Syracuse. In addition to the tyrannical acts of Syracuse in Syracuse, they viewed Syracuse as "man-eating beasts." They did not believe the messenger's suggestion that as long as they became Syracuse's ally and sent troops to Syracuse's army, Dionysius would release all the captives of Crotone and return to Ciudad Crotone.
This was because in order to stop the people of Syracuse from raiding the citadel and protect the citizens who were fleeing to the citadel, Ascamas tried his best to regroup his defeated army. He fought with the enemies on the streets of the citadel and died in battle. The people of Crotone, who had lost their highest military commander, urgently elected Myron, who had saved them, as the Commander-in-Chief. Lysias and the others did not object. At this time, the higher-ups of Crotone, led by Lysias and Myron, not only rejected the request of the messenger, they also cut off the ears and nose of the messenger to show their courage and determination to fight to the death with the people of Syracuse, and chased him out of the citadel.
When the messenger covered his bloody wound and complained to Dionysius, he did not show much anger. He only laughed coldly and said, "Foolish people of Crotone, do you think that I can't do anything to you just because you hide on that hill?! Hiding tens of thousands of people in that small citadel can indeed improve the defense, but can it defend against hunger and thirst?! "
Indeed, the consumption of food for tens of thousands of people was a huge amount. The citizens who rushed up the mountain in a hurry could not carry a large amount of rations. Even if Myron had prepared beforehand, he could not last more than a few days. What worried the people of Crotone even more was that there was no water source on the hill. Usually, the water used by the priests in the temple came from the reservoir in the temple. Because of the storm a few days ago, the reservoir was full, but for the needs of tens of thousands of people, it was only a drop in the bucket.
Therefore, Dionysius ordered a small number of troops to surround the citadel of Crotone.
He believed that the people of Crotone would not last more than a few days without water and food. They would come down the hill and surrender.
He had originally wanted to order the ballistae to fire stone bullets at the citadel to increase the fear of the people of Crotone and force them to surrender earlier. However, on second thought, there was the Temple of Apollo in the citadel. If they deliberately destroyed it, it might affect the morale of the soldiers. Moreover, the sudden storm last time also made him, who had always been arrogant, feel worried. At this critical moment, he did not want any accidents to happen.
Dionysius understood that the people of Crotone were hiding in the citadel to struggle at death's door, hoping that the people of Diónia would come to their rescue. And Diónia was the target that Syracuse's army was about to attack. However, the soldiers who had just gone through a fierce siege needed to rest and reorganize, so he could only continue to send hired cavalry to the north to scout the enemy's situation.
The greedy Numibians and Celts vented their dissatisfaction at not being able to participate in the plundering of the city last night.
Surprisingly, Dionysius did not lose his temper. He even specially gave these foreigners a lot of spoils of war. This was because Phoebidas once said that these foreign cavalry were a sharp weapon against the people of Diónia in the wild.
… …
A fast ship sailed into the port of Crotone.
"General, the fleet of Diónia is here!" The captain hurriedly reported to Leptineus, who was inspecting the military port and commanding the docked warships.
The navy of Syracuse had just moved into the port of Crotone this morning. Compared to Syracuse, the port of Crotone was much larger and could accommodate more warships. Moreover, it was located closer to Diónia's territory, which made it easier for the navy of Syracuse to understand the movements of the Dionysian fleet, and better coordinate with the land forces.
However, they did not expect the fleet of Syracuse to attack just as the sailors had yet to fully disembark. Leptineus's heart was beating like a drum, but he still maintained his composure. "How many warships are there?"
Estimating the number of ships at sea was much more difficult than estimating the number of people on land. When a fleet of hundreds of warships sailed on the sea, they usually occupied an area of five to six nautical miles. After all, human vision was limited, and there was no place to hide in the endless sea. Hence, they had to observe closely, which was very risky.
"Hmm … It feels like the number from the last battle." The captain could only give a rough estimate.
He then emphasized, "Those Diónia warships all have drawbridges hanging from the foremast!"
Leptineus panicked when he heard this. The crushing defeat from a few days ago resurfaced in his mind.
To fight or not to fight? He could not make a decision at that moment. Instead, he ran into the city to ask for instructions from Dionysius.
When Dionysius learned that the Dionysian fleet was attacking, he pondered for a moment, before giving the order resolutely: Fight!
Regarding this, he had a few considerations.
Firstly, since the Dionysian fleet was similar in number to the last battle, and they were all equipped with drawbridges, it meant that his previous analysis was correct. Due to the number of sailors and the difficulty of modifying warships, the Diónia were still using the original warships. In terms of the number of triple-hulled warships, the navy of Syracuse still had the upper hand.
Secondly, as a commander-in-chief, Dionysius knew how much the morale of his soldiers affected their combat effectiveness. The navy of Syracuse had suffered a great defeat not long ago. If they did not make up for it with victory and chose to retreat instead, it would undoubtedly be "dampening their own morale while boosting the enemy's morale". If they encountered the Dionysian fleet in the future, the navy of Syracuse would undoubtedly be lacking in morale.
Furthermore, the main army of Syracuse was concentrated in Crotone. After a day of bitter battle yesterday, they were currently resting. If they allowed the Dionysian fleet to cross the sea of Crotone and sail towards the defenseless rear, such as the coast of Syracuse or Corunya that had never truly surrendered, it would cause the army of Syracuse to become passive. Hence, Dionysius would never allow such a situation to occur.
… …
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