Chapter 533
Cheers erupted from the roadside and quickly spread throughout the Xbari Plain.
The people completely dispelled the last of their worries and began to sing and dance to celebrate the hard-won victory. Some devout believers even canceled their plans to go to the port and turned to the Temple of Hades in the city of Turií to thank Pluto for his protection …
When the news reached the Senate, it was equally joyous.
"It seems like our previous decision was correct! Ever since Master Devers became king, victories have been coming one after another. Hades has answered our prayers and has really protected the Alliance of Diónia! "Plesinas exclaimed, pretending to be excited.
"Yes, it's all thanks to our Senate making such a shocking decision that we have today's victory!" Marigi echoed.
Most of the senators were no longer as angry as they were when they were forced to elect the Devers as king. Instead, they were glad that they agreed with the two.
Cunogorata was no longer as disgusted with the two. He shifted his gaze away from them and said loudly, "According to the report brought back by the messengers, His Majesty Devers has led his army to trap the people of Syracuse in Siletina. The final victory is not far from us! However, the biggest problem for the Alliance now is food! "
"Master Cunogorata is right. Even though we have enough food to supply our army for two months, for the people of Diónia, especially the families of the freedmen and probationary citizens, their food reserves are almost depleted. Now that the port is open, the merchants who come to trade are raising the price of food. This will make the people who have selflessly donated food to the Alliance spend even more money to buy food! I'm afraid that before the war ends, the people of Diónia will use up all their savings. This is not good for our post-war recovery! "Cornelis said with a worried expression.
"These merchants are simply too despicable!" Strompoli said angrily, "The price of their grain has doubled, and it's still rising … Marigi, as the commercial officer, you should think of a way to punish these despicable merchants!"
Marigi smiled bitterly. "We've already taken some measures, and we've even negotiated with the merchants who come to Tuliyi to sell their food. That's why we've done our best to keep the price within three times the normal price. However, the Alliance is in dire need of food, and the people are in great demand for it. More and more people are buying food every day, so the price is unavoidable. We can't force the merchants to sell food at a fixed price, can we? "
"Why not?!" Strompoli said loudly, "We have to ensure the interests of the people first. We should immediately pass a plan to let these merchants sell their grain at fair prices. Otherwise, they will not be allowed to sell their goods in the Alliance!"
"You can't do that!" Before Marigi could speak, Merses shouted, "This is a foolish act that destroys the Greek tradition of free trade! In the future, who would dare to do business in Turín? If the port continues to decline, will we still be able to collect business taxes? "
"Our Diónia has such a large territory and population. I don't believe that those greedy foreign merchants won't come here to do business!" Strompoli sneered. As an Amendolan, he did not have a good impression of merchants.
"Even if we use force, those merchants can totally stop selling food in Turín and sail to Heraclea or Crotone," Marigi reminded the elders. Marigi reminded the elders, "When the time comes, our people will still rush there to buy grain, and they will also blame us for causing them so much trouble! Instead of that, it's better to keep them in Turín. At least we can take some measures to control the price. After all, the war is not over yet, and the Alliance's food shortage will continue. These merchants are risking their lives to transport food here. If they can't make a huge profit here, I'm afraid that no one will be willing to transport food here anymore! "
After saying that, the elders, including Strompoli, looked worried. That's right, Diónia has a shortage of food and has to rely on these merchants!
"I wonder how Ancitanos's trip to Afrika is going?" Cunogorata thought of Ancitanos, who had an important mission.
At this moment, the door of the meeting hall was pushed open, and the guards rushed in and whispered into the ears of the chairman on duty, Cunogorata.
Cunogorata immediately looked happy and said to the crowd loudly, "Everyone, rest in peace, Lord Ancitanos is back, and with him are ten large cargo ships of Carthage, fully loaded with grain!"
The originally quiet meeting hall burst into cheers again. "We have food! The people are saved! Ancitanos succeeded! … "
"I didn't expect that the 'enemy of Greece' that the Sicilians have criticized, Carthage, has helped us!"
"I told you, Hades will not let those who believe in him suffer. He has fulfilled his promise again!"
… …
Just as the elders of the Senate rushed to the port of Turií to welcome the arrival of Carthage's envoy, Hilos, Hieronymus, Fedun, and Ledes led the Diónia – Liguim coalition army of 15000 soldiers from Triene to Hibernian.
When they arrived at the city, they found that the city gate was wide open, and the Hibernians had voluntarily surrendered. Last night, the news of the defeat of Locri's army had frightened the Hibernians, and the fact that the Locri soldiers refused to enter the city to defend and fled straight back to Medma sent the Hibernians into a panic. The Hibernians, who only had about a thousand militiamen in the city, held an emergency meeting and finally made a painful decision. The next day, when they found out that "tens of thousands of Diónia soldiers were coming for Hibernian", they did not hesitate to surrender.
Before they split up, the Devers had discussed with Hilos how to deal with Locri's allies. So, Hilos accepted Hibernian's surrender, but demanded that every family in the city surrender their hostages to guarantee their loyalty.
Faced with the massive Dionysian Army, the Hibernians had no choice but to agree.
Under the low city wall, the Hibernians wept and reluctantly bid farewell to their children. The scene was sad and touching.
Hilos was unmoved. He sent a thousand troops to escort the few hundred children to Triene. At the same time, he made a new request to the Hibernians: collect as much food as possible in the city and provide it to the Diónia army. Otherwise, the Diónia soldiers would starve, and their children would be the first to go without food.
Now that they were meat on someone else's chopping block, the Hibernians had no choice but to submit again.
Daley's coalition army was stationed outside Hibernian, helping the Hibernians collect food while sending scouts south to scout the enemy's situation. At the same time, the engineering battalion led the soldiers to build siege equipment, fully prepared for the next step of the attack on Medma.
… …
At the same time, the Devers who learned that 'Correnia has returned to the Southern Alliance' wrote another letter and sent it to Correnia on horseback. The letter read, "… We are very happy that Correnia has made the right choice. Lucius, Cypross, and I are all very happy when we hear this news! Now, the Syracuse army is weakening under the brave attacks of the Diónia, Crotone, and Triene soldiers. I believe that the day of its defeat is not far away.
Therefore, we hope that Correnia, as a member of the Southern Alliance, will mobilize all the citizens in the city who can fight, pick up their shields and spears, and launch an attack on Rockley's territory. Let the culprit who started this cruel war taste the pain of being ravaged by the flames of war. Let it worry about your attack and not dare to send reinforcements to help the people of Syracuse besieged by us in Siletina, so that we can successfully recapture Siletina and annihilate these evil invaders! Diónia, Crotone, Triene, and Lijim look forward to your actions! … "
This letter caused the Correnia Council to hold an emergency meeting. It was clear that the Devers' main purpose in writing this letter was not to praise Correnia for making the correct choice, but to urge them to take action immediately. They could not just stand by and watch. The last sentence was more like a hidden threat.
Correnia, who was already on the verge of a war, knew the consequences of rejecting the Devers' request, so the Council quickly passed the resolution to attack Rockley.
Although Correnia had a thousand citizen soldiers trapped in Siletina, Correnia still suffered the least losses in this war among all the cities in the south. In the afternoon, Corunna quickly mobilized four thousand soldiers.
… …
Correnia's army had just set off to the south. Rockley, who had sent his main forces outside, had long been worried about Correnia, his enemy for decades. He had been paying close attention to Correnia's movements. The scouts quickly sent back news.
At this time, Rockley was shocked by the bad news that came one after another. The Syracuse army was defeated, Rockley's main forces were defeated, and Hibernian City was in danger … Now that Correnia's army had suddenly moved south, it was definitely not to help Rockley. Any rational citizen of Rockley would come to this conclusion.
The sudden change in the situation caused Rockley's chief general, Demodocas, to panic. He actually abandoned his almost autocratic style for the past half a year and held a rare meeting.
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