Chapter 540
"Now, the ruins of Agillion have become the largest gathering place for the exiles of Catanai, Naxos, and other cities. Since the death of Agilas, the Sikael people have not elected a new king because of Dionysius's suppression. The various Sikael towns can no longer unite, so they are not much of a threat to the settlement of Agillion. Instead, the Siculi, Tauromenan, and Catanai mercenaries who come to sweep from time to time are a great threat to them. " Shero Finnis added, "If these exiles can come to Mejalo, then you can add four or five thousand soldiers, my lord!"
A group of untrained mobs from various city-states would be inferior to a group of slaves in battle. Antonios thought to himself but did not say it out loud. He looked at the location of Agillion that Shero Finnis pointed at. It was on the west side of Mount Etna, and from Mejalo, they could reach it by following the Alcántara Valley to the west. However, this meant that Tauromenian's position posed a threat to the tunnel. Wouldn't it be too little to send only 200 soldiers to defend against Tauromenian's invasion?
Antonios asked, "If I lead my troops to attack Tauromenan, will the slaves and free people there cooperate with us?"
Shero Finnis shook his head. "I'm afraid it will be difficult. At that time, Dionysius gave Tauromegnan to the Campanian mercenaries to occupy. Although there were not many of them, the city of Tauromegnan was not big, and there was little arable land. They did not need too many slaves, so they often sold the exiles they captured to Catanai and Siculi. The free people would not go to Tauromegnan either. There was neither a port nor arable land there, so how could they live? "
Shero Finnis recalled something, and fear appeared on his face. "I've seen Tauromenan before. It is on a high mountain, steep, and can only be reached by a winding path. If our soldiers attack it, I'm afraid we will have to pay a great price, and — "He did not finish, but it was obvious that he did not think the First Legion could take the mountain city.
Hearing this, Antonios was slightly disappointed.
"However, if you attack Sekuley, my lord, the slaves and freedmen there will definitely be able to provide help! Dionysius had destroyed quite a few city-states. Now, apart from Syracuse and its surrounding city-states, the entire southeast of Sicily had more land than people. As far as I knew, not only were most of the slaves in the cities exiled, but many of the free citizens were exiled as well. Just like Mejalo, they constantly desired to overthrow Dionysius's rule and rebuild their homes. The citizens of these cities also knew about this situation, but they did not take effective measures to stop it, because their newly acquired land and port needed a large number of people to take care of it … "
Although the situation described by Shelo Finnis was tempting, Antonios was not prepared to do so. The reason why he wanted to take Tauromenan was because he had to deal with the attack of Syracuse while ensuring the safety of Mejalo in the north. Otherwise, if the people of Syracuse attacked from the south, the mercenaries of Tauromenan attacked from the north, and even the colonists of Messina and Medma would send reinforcements, Mejalo would be in danger of being completely surrounded. As for taking down Siculi City, it seemed perfect, but when a great enemy was about to arrive, splitting his forces would lead to the possibility of fighting on two sides. This was a great taboo stipulated in the Law of Dionysus, and Antonios would certainly not make such a mistake.
Antonios thought silently, 'It seems like I can only strengthen the defense of Mejalo, wait for the arrival of those exiles, and decide on the next step of the plan according to the situation.'
… …
When the envoy of Sparta, Chalisopus, returned to Sparta, Teacher Agesi had already received an order from the Council of Elders to go to Corinth and replace Praxitas to command the army of the Sparta Alliance and continue to attack the city of Corinth.
Chalisopus reported the process of the envoy to the Council of Elders.
These elders of Sparta, who were over 60 years old, were surprised by the stubborn attitude of the people of Diónia, who still wanted to defeat Syracuse in the face of such a difficult situation. What surprised them even more was that Diónia actually defeated the navy of Syracuse. This unexpected result made the elders look at each other.
After a while, Elder Diopetius asked in a deep voice, "Chalisopus, the people of Diónia have arrogantly rejected our friendly proposal of Sparta. This way, the war in Greater Greece will continue. You have just returned from Greater Greece, and you know the situation there. Do you have any suggestions? "
"Dear elders, Dionysius is determined to conquer Greater Greece, and the Devers are determined to avenge the people. Both sides are like a pair of red-eyed rams, and words alone cannot make them stop fighting. If we, Sparta, can't come up with any other way to mediate this war, the war in Greater Greece will continue until one side falls …" Chalisopus answered truthfully. In other words, Sparta's reputation was not enough to subdue the two major forces in the western Mediterranean. They had to come up with something practical to make them obey, such as an army.
The elders fell silent. Right now, most of Sparta's energy was focused on the war in Corinth. A small part of their army was still in Asia Minor. They had no spare energy to open up another battlefield.
After a long while, Elder Lysipos sighed. "It seems that Syracuse will not be able to help us in the short term!"
As the regent of Sparta's King Agesiopolis, Praxitas represented Agesiopolis in the council of elders. At this moment, he asked, "Chalisopus, who do you think will win this war, Syracuse or Diónia?"
As soon as this question was asked, the other elders looked at him in surprise. The meaning in their eyes was obvious: Of course! Although Diónia won the naval battle, the final victory would still be settled on land. However, the difference in strength between the two sides was obvious. The possibility of Syracuse winning was very high. After all, Dionysius was leading an army of 80,000. Sparta had never had such a powerful army before!
However, Chalisopus was hesitant. He thought for a while and said, "Although Dionysius has an obvious advantage in terms of strength, Diónia has the Devers. In the past, every war that happened in Dionia, based on the situation before the war, we always thought that they couldn't win. But in the end, they always won. That was why Dionia became a city-state alliance that we couldn't help but pay attention to in just a few years. Now, the Devers have defeated the Samonians in central Italy and returned to Turií. It's said that under his command, the Dionysian fleet miraculously defeated the navy of Syracuse, which was far stronger than them. Now, he's leading Diónia's army to face Dionysius's Syracuse army. It's really hard to tell who will win! "
"Dionysius is not like those stupid generals that Diónia has faced before!" One of the elders retorted, "He defeated Carthage!"
"The Devers!" Diopetius sighed, "Chalisopus, I remember that you once suggested to the council to accept him as Sparta's VIP."
"Yes, I have proposed it to the council," answered Charlesthorpes truthfully.
"I didn't expect that the insignificant young man a few years ago would become a headache for us, Sparta!" Diopetius turned to the elders and said with a solemn expression, "We need to seriously consider Chalisopus's deduction, and consider how Sparta should respond if Diónia really defeats Syracuse."
The elders were shocked and fell into deep thought when they heard this. They suddenly realized that although Sparta did not have much contact with the Diónia alliance, their relationship was not very good. On the contrary, they heard that Diónia had signed a friendly agreement with Sparta's mortal enemy, Athens. Once Diónia won the Great Greek War, Sparta's previously considered safe rear — the Western Mediterranean Sea — would become a huge hole. While Sparta would have to deal with the challenges from Athens, Thebes, Corinth, and other traditional powers, they would also have to guard against the hostility of the powerful city-state alliance in the west. The pressure that Sparta would face would undoubtedly increase dramatically!
Many of the elders' faces turned gloomy when they thought of this.
One of the elders pretended to be relaxed and said, "This is just a hypothesis. The possibility of Diónia winning is very small!"
"We might as well make it so that Diónia has no chance of winning at all!" Another elder said fiercely.
"What can we do then? Send troops to support Syracuse in Greece?! Most of the warriors are now concentrated in Corinth. How can we still send troops? Ask for help from other allies? Unfortunately, our attention and support for the Western Mediterranean Sea has always been invested in Syracuse. Our understanding of Greece is not as good as Athens! " Praxitas was angry that the elders had removed him from his position as the commander of the Sparta alliance army. He mocked them to his heart's content, "Oh, right, there's also Tarantum. Unfortunately, when Diónia won the naval war against Syracuse, they were easily defeated! Look, this is the Western Mediterranean plan that you've been working on for decades. What a pile of sh * t! "
All the elders were rendered speechless by his words for a moment.
At this moment, a voice rang in the quiet hall, "Perhaps … we can have a friendly discussion with Diónia."
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