Chapter 534
For a moment, everyone remained silent, and no one responded.
Demodocas was secretly shocked. He knew that during this period of time, under Dionysius's instigation, he had relied on Syracuse's powerful army as support to eliminate dissidents and attack political enemies in Rockley City. Many of the laws had not been passed by the council or the Citizen Assembly before they were directly implemented. He could almost be considered to have sole control over Rockley. But now it seemed that many people held grudges in their hearts and were ready to find an opportunity to embarrass him!
Just when he was secretly regretting that he should not have held such a meeting, his confidant Panticapace finally stood up and said, "This is actually very simple. We can transfer the troops stationed in Medma back and defeat the Corrennians!"
"You make it sound so easy. What about Medma?!" Metalofenis asked.
"It is reported that Medma has more than two thousand citizen soldiers. They can defend against the enemy's attack. We don't have to worry for now," Panticapace replied, pretending to be relaxed.
"Don't have to worry?!" Metalofenis sneered. "Medma's messenger once reported that the Diónia army that defeated our army had more than ten thousand soldiers. Including Taurina's Lijim, I'm afraid the enemy has more than twenty thousand soldiers! More than two thousand Medma citizen soldiers want to defend against the attack of twenty thousand people?! The Diónia army is not an ordinary Greek army. They have powerful ballistae! … "
Metalofenis anxiously reminded everyone in a loud voice, "Once Medma falls, the large army of Diónia and Lijim will be able to attack from the west. Then, they will join the Corrennians' army. Rockley will be in danger!"
Metalofenis' words made everyone in the council nervous. Someone could not help but shout, "I think … we should negotiate peace with Diónia in Rockley!"
As soon as this was said, many people actually agreed.
"Idiots!" "Crotone, Trena, and Corunna of the Southern Alliance have been our mortal enemies for decades, and they've suffered great losses in this war. Use your pig brains and think about it. What price do we have to pay to appease their anger?!" Demodocas finally couldn't hold it in any longer and cursed, "Crotone, Trena, and Corunna of the Southern Alliance have been our enemies for decades.
"Then the smart Chief General must have a way to defeat the allied forces of Corunna, Diónia, and Liguim!" someone said in a sarcastic tone. Many people snickered.
Demodocas's face was ashen. In the past, no one would dare to speak to him like this! The defeat of Syracuse had changed the minds of the councilors of the Rockley Council.
Demodocas felt a chill in his heart. He reminded them loudly, "Syracuse suffered an even worse defeat in the war against Carthage, but the final victory still belonged to Syracuse! Now, Syracuse owns half of Sicily. Even if it lost the war, it still has abundant resources, wealth, and a sufficient population. This is far beyond the city-states like Diónia, Crotone, and Triene. The final winner will definitely be Syracuse! And we are here negotiating peace with the enemy alone. Think about it, will Dionysius forgive the traitors after the victory? "
Demodocas glared at the crowd. It was precisely because of the close relationship between Lockley and Syracuse that Lockley knew how terrifying Dionysius was. Even if the 'victory of Syracuse' that Demodocas mentioned was only a hypothesis, they did not dare to take the risk because of it. Hence, they all avoided Demodocas's gaze.
Demodocas was temporarily relieved by the crowd's reaction. He looked at Metlo Fenix a few more times and said firmly, "What we have to do now is to defend! Defend Lockley City! Until the final victory arrives! By then, the land of Corunna and even Sileten will belong to Lockley! "
In the end, the Lockley Council made the decision to 'withdraw Medma's army and defend the territory'. It achieved Demodocas's goal of convening a council to share the responsibility. He avoided the possibility of being blamed for 'abandoning the alliance' because he made a decision alone. However, the uncertain future of the war made Demodocas feel uneasy. As a relative of Dionysius, he had to make more preparations.
… …
Just as Hilos led the army to Hibernian, the First Legion had already set foot on Therian's fleet and sailed south.
In the afternoon, the warship entered the port of Lijim and was once again warmly welcomed by the people of Lijim.
At the same time, the commander of the First Legion, Antonios, met the ruler of Lijim and the father-in-law of Devers, Attilikus. He brought the good news that 'the main force of Lockley in Hibernian was ambushed by the allied forces of Lijim and Diónia and suffered heavy losses'. This made Attilikus and the council members present very excited.
Many people praised, "Good job, Fedun!" However, they completely forgot that last night, when they found out that Fedun had taken most of Taurina's troops and sailed north, they panicked and angrily complained, "Fedun mobilized his troops without authorization, causing Lijim to be in danger. He must be brought back to Lijim to receive a harsh trial!"
Following that, Antonios presented the letter that Devers wrote to Attilikus. After he finished reading it, his face lit up with joy, and he actually read it in front of everyone in the council. The beginning of the letter was the Devers' respectful greetings to his father-in-law and talked about Aegnis's pregnancy.
Hearing this, the council members began to congratulate Attilikus and compliment him, "You've found a good son-in-law!" In fact, as the war continued, the two great powers of Greece, Crotone and Lockley, were greatly weakened. Even Syracuse's invasion army and navy suffered heavy losses. The people of Lijim suddenly realized that if there were no major accidents, Diónia's power would definitely expand even more after the war. They heard that Devers had now become the king of Diónia, so Attilikus's status as a father-in-law was even more precious!
Because of this, how could the people of Lijim let go of the opportunity to flatter him?
Attilikus was grinning from ear to ear. He was glad that he had made the right decision to marry his daughter to the lowly 'nouveau riche' Devers.
In the letter, the Devers mentioned that although Diónia had defeated Syracuse, the war was far from over. Syracuse had the rich resources of Sicily, and could send reinforcements at any time. Therefore, in order to end the war as soon as possible, they had to draw the flames of war to Sicily, disrupt the order there, destroy Syracuse's territory, and capture Syracuse's allies. Only then could they weaken Syracuse's power and force it to surrender! For this, Diónia hoped to receive the full support of Lijim, their ally.
When the councilors who were rushing to congratulate the chief general heard this, they were speechless. They admitted that what the Devers said made sense. Attacking Sicily was the best way to defeat Syracuse. However, they needed Lijim's full support. Their haggling merchant habits forced them to consider it carefully. Full support meant providing fleets, troops, supplies, and food supplies. For Lijim, who was also supporting his troops in the war against Rockley, this would be another huge investment! Moreover, who knew when the upcoming war in Sicily would end! …
Attilikus looked at the contrasting expressions of the people and laughed in his heart. He continued to read aloud, "After the war with Syracuse, Diónia will seize Messina and jointly manage it with Lijim! Diónia does not have the experience to manage an important checkpoint city in the straits. They still need to rely on Lijim's help … "
"Did I hear it wrong?! Diónia wants to jointly own Messina with us! "
"Did you not hear it?! The main thing is that we will manage Messina. We can finally get it and completely monopolize the straits! "
…
The councilors discussed excitedly.
"Everyone, regarding the alliance Diónia needs our help …" When Attilikus mentioned this again, the people did not hesitate anymore and expressed their support.
"As long as Sir Devers fulfills the promise in his letter after the war, Lijim should fully support Diónia's attack on Sicily!"
"To get Messina, Syracuse must be defeated! Therefore, we will support Diónia! "
"Now that the port is open and the sea route is open, as long as Diónia does not send too many soldiers to Sicily, I think we should be able to supply rations for two to three months …"
…
Attilikus could not help but sigh when he saw this scene. At first, he was persuaded by his son to give up the idea of monopolizing Messina and wrote to persuade the Devers to take Messina from Syracuse. He did not expect the Devers to have a bigger appetite and use Messina to exchange for Lijim's support for Diónia in Sicily!
… …
The next day, Dionysius of Sirium was angry at the unreasonable request made by the Devers. While urging the craftsmen to speed up the forging of ironware, he secretly sent people to quietly dig up the bodies of the Numibians who had died due to serious injuries and died in the past two days. He put down the severed heads and let the messengers bring them to the Diónia camp to placate the Devers perfunctorily. Then, he continued to negotiate with the Devers about the peace talks.
In Hibernian, the Diónia – Lijim coalition army assembled and set off to march towards Medmar.
The Medmarans, on the other hand, were angry and uneasy because of the withdrawal of Locri's army. However, Locri's reminder and warning made them have illusions about Syracuse, so they decided to hold their ground and wait for reinforcements.
After failing to persuade them to surrender, Hilos discussed with Fedun, Hieronymus, and Ledes and decided to attack the city of Medmar.
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