Chapter 539
Aristiras had actually sent his own brother to Sicily. It was clear that he had indeed put in a lot of effort into this place! Antonius's spirit was roused, and he immediately asked, "Where is he now?"
"Katanai or Syracuse? I'm not too sure. " Xenophanes shrugged and said, "But since you have come to Sicily, he should soon receive the news and immediately send someone to contact us."
Antonius nodded and asked seriously, "Now that the First Legion has occupied Mejalo, what should we do next? Do you have any suggestions?"
"Sir, I don't know much about military matters, but I can tell you what I know about the situation here for your reference." Xenophanes' modesty won Antonius' favor. He hurriedly placed the map of Sicily that he had taken from the Devers when he left the Siridean camp on the table. "Please speak!"
Xenophanes did not decline. He walked forward and carefully studied the map. Then he pointed at it and said, "Sir, look at Mejalo's location. It's actually very good. To the east is the ocean, to the west is the huge Mount Etna, and to the north is Tauromenian. Although it's only ten miles away from us, its population is too small. I'm afraid it can't even send 500 soldiers. Sekuli was more than 20 miles to the south, and it was also a small city. Now that Mejaro was occupied by us and we had captured so many Sekuli citizens, it was hard to say if the tyrant of Sekuli would be able to gather 3000 soldiers. Another 40 miles to the south is Katanai — "
At this point, Xenophanes' expression became pained. He sighed softly and said, "Originally, Katanai was a large city with 50,000 to 60,000 citizens. The fertile Katanai Plains provided the people there with sufficient grain and could easily organize an army of tens of thousands … But … after Katanai was destroyed by Dionysius, he let the Campanian mercenaries occupy the city. Katanai … is no longer Katanai! … "
"You are a Katanai?" Antonius suddenly asked.
"Yes, like Aristiras, I used to be a Katanai!" Xenophanes said in a low voice. "But now I am a citizen of Diónia!"
"When Syracuse is defeated, His Majesty will definitely let the Katanai rebuild your home!" Antonius comforted him and then asked, "How many citizen soldiers does Katanai have now?" At the mention of the Campanian mercenaries, Antonius raised his guard. He had just fought with them during the battle of Crotone and knew that these mercenaries were not to be trifled with.
"… Maybe four to five thousand people. I haven't been to the Katanai Plains since I returned to Sicily this time. I only heard it from the people in Mejalo. " Xenophanes speculated hesitantly, then suggested, "Sir, if you want to know more details, you need to wait for the arrival of the people of Antrapolis."
Antonios nodded and pointed at Leontini's icon between Katanai and Syracuse on the map. "Is this city also occupied by the Campanian mercenaries?" he asked.
"No. It used to be a subsidiary state of Syracuse. After Dionysius usurped power, he formed an alliance with Katanai to fight against Syracuse. But after Katanai was defeated, he could only surrender to Syracuse. In order to punish him for his betrayal, Dionysius forcibly moved most of the citizens of Katanai to Syracuse. In terms of population, Katanai is only a small city … "Xenophanes said with a sad look in his eyes.
"Then how many soldiers are there in Syracuse?" Antonius asked seriously.
Xenophanes could not help but speculate again. "This … I'm not too sure. But a few months ago, Dionysius led his army to invade Greece. His general, Marsyas, also led about seven to eight thousand Syracuse soldiers to destroy the new city built by the exiles of Naxos and Katanai. I think there must be tens of thousands of soldiers in Syracuse … "
Tens of thousands! Antonius's face turned gloomy. He stared at the circle of city-states surrounding Syracuse on the map: Taunis, Barclays, Herbesus, Paccinus … These were all loyal subordinates of Syracuse. He estimated that Syracuse could easily organize an army of twenty thousand soldiers! No matter how strong the 1st Legion was, after a series of battles, there were only about five thousand soldiers left … Antonius admitted that he was not as magical as the Devers, who could defeat so many enemies with such a small number of soldiers.
Xenophanes saw Antonius's worry. He thought for a moment and said, "Sir, Syracuse has so many subordinate city-states in Sicily. It seems powerful, but the people of these city-states have been dissatisfied with Syracuse for a long time. Even the people of Syracuse are dissatisfied with Dionysius's dictatorship!"
"Oh?" Antonius's interest was piqued. "Tell me more about this in detail."
"In the past few years, Syracuse has been fighting outside. The scale of the war is very large, and the amount of money and resources consumed is also very large. Therefore, Dionysius has demanded high tribute from the various city-states, and he has not shown mercy to the people of Syracuse. The special war tax has already risen to 25%. In addition, he not only wants money but also people. Before every war, he wants the city-states to provide a large number of soldiers. At the end of the war, these citizen soldiers are either dead or injured, but their families do not get anything. He also supports tyrants in the various city-states and attacks the citizens who resist the tyranny. Therefore, not only are the people of the various city-states resentful of him, even the nobles are very dissatisfied with him. They are only afraid of his powerful force and do not dare to resist …
Dionysius's subordinates must be very clear about this situation. I don't think they dare to mobilize all their troops to deal with you … After Dionysius led his army to attack Greece, the Siculi people of Mejalo often secretly cursed him for the failure of this expedition. A few days ago, when the news of 'our fleet defeating the navy of Syracuse' spread to Mejalo, not only the free people and slaves, but even the citizens of Siculi seemed to be a little excited. Therefore, the people in the town have been talking about it for the past few days. The topic of discussion is mostly about Diónia. Even my mission has become much smoother. For example, the two organizers of the riot just now have been indifferent to me, but they have taken the initiative to contact me these few days …
If this is the case in Mejalo, the situation in the other city-states should be similar. It gives me the feeling that the city-states in Sicily are now like a pile of dry firewood. With just a torch, they can burn into a raging fire! Now, the news of 'His Majesty defeating the army of Dionysius in battle' has spread to Sicily. I believe it will have a greater impact on the citizens of the various city-states! As long as you can defeat the army of Syracuse in Sicily, Sicily will definitely be in chaos! "Xenophanes said passionately, his eyes shining with excitement.
"It's not that easy to defeat the people of Syracuse in Sicily," Antonio said with a bitter smile. Even so, after listening to Xenophanes' detailed introduction of the situation in Sicily, he felt a little more confident. "We have too few soldiers now! Before coming here, His Majesty mentioned the Sikells to me. Do you think we can work with them to deal with the people of Syracuse? "
Xenophanes thought for a moment and shook his head. "Although the Sikells are natives of Sicily, they are different from the Lucanians and the Bruti of Greece. They are not as barbaric … Oh, no, they are fierce and ferocious." Xenophanes remembered that the two races were already citizens of the Alliance, so he quickly changed his words. "The Sikells' lives are no different from us Greeks, but they prefer to live in the mountainous interior of Sicily. They are a race without credibility. When Carthage attacked, they surrendered to Carthage. When Syracuse was strong, they allied with Syracuse.
However, their fickleness was met with retribution from the gods. Dionysius pretended to ally with them. After defeating Carthage, he murdered the Sikells' king, Agilas, and sent his army to take down the central town of Agillion, completely destroying it. His atrocities terrified the Sikells, and the other towns of Sikells quickly submitted to Syracuse.
This time, when Dionysius invaded Magna Graecia, the Sikells even sent some soldiers to him. That's why I think the cowardly Sikells will not ally with us to attack Syracuse, but they might not attack us either. They might remain neutral. However, if Syracuse loses to us, they will join the winning side … "
Antonio understood. This was a race that bullied the weak and feared the strong.
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