Chapter 564
Masias could not care less. He led the soldiers to forcibly occupy the village and ordered the villagers to prepare food.
The exhausted soldiers barely filled their stomachs and fell into a deep sleep. Only Masias tossed and turned, unable to sleep. The news of the riots in Syracuse made him very worried about the situation of the former mercenary villages outside Syracuse. After all, the tragic state of the Katanai Mercenary Village made him secretly vigilant. He hoped that the hundreds of mercenaries who stayed behind in the village could protect their homes! By the time he led the army back to Syracuse tomorrow, the riots would have been over for more than a day. Many things could have happened in this period of time. If the rioters really took over the city, then the mercenaries who had a close relationship with Dionysius would probably be expelled and become homeless. Hopefully, Sir Felistos could quell the riots. Even if he could not, he had to control and hold on to part of the city and wait for his reinforcements!
After worrying about Syracuse, he was worried about how he would lead the army back to Syracuse safely. When he went to Mejaro, he led the army along the flat coast to the north, passing through Taunis, then took a detour to Leotini to recruit troops, then passed through Katanai and finally arrived at Syracuse. It could be said that it was because he had drawn away the defensive forces of these cities along the way that the rebels had the opportunity to attack, leading to the large-scale riots.
But now was not the time to regret this. Judging from the situation today, Katanai was probably completely occupied by the rioters. Otherwise, why would they have the strength to send troops out of the city to attack them? Even if Syracuse was not completely occupied, the people of Diónia were so close to it. It was only a matter of time before it fell. Half of the Leotini population had been forcibly moved away by Dionysius, and the people left behind were probably already resentful towards Syracuse. Under such a trend, there was no need for the freedmen and slaves to rebel. The citizens would automatically rise up and overthrow the tyrant supported by Sir Dionysius. Therefore, Masias was not optimistic that the pro-Syracuse Leotini people would be able to resist this riot.
However, Masias had some confidence in Taunis, because Taunis had always been a subsidiary of Syracuse and had never betrayed them. Even if it was dissatisfied with the tyrant it supported, it would not rashly attack the army of Syracuse. Moreover, Syracuse's fleet that had retreated from the Naxos Bay was still anchored in the port of Taunis. With their help, even if there was a riot in Taunis, the chances of success would not be too high.
Therefore, Masias finally made a decision: after they set off tomorrow, the team would go around Katanai and avoid the possible attack of the Leotini people. Then, they would walk along the coast, pass through Taunis, and finally arrive at Syracuse … This was a long journey of hundreds of miles, full of unknown risks, but in order to get back to Syracuse as soon as possible, he could only take this risk. Otherwise, for safety's sake, he could completely avoid the coast and take a detour to the almost uninhabited mountains on the west side of Leotini. Although the mountains there were not too high, the road was rugged and difficult to traverse, which would undoubtedly slow down the journey. Moreover, food was also a big problem …
Masias thought a lot, and finally could not resist the sleepiness and fell asleep …
… …
The next day, when the sun was high up in the sky, he was still sleeping soundly when he was woken up by the guards. Only then did he know that something big had happened while he was asleep. When he woke up in the morning, the soldiers found that they had lost dozens of horses, and more than half of the villagers were gone. Of course, the soldiers suspected that the villagers were the culprit. Furious, they immediately arrested the villagers who had not escaped and interrogated them. In the process, the former mercenaries, who had recovered their energy, reverted to their old ways. They robbed, raped, killed … In the process of following Dionysius to conquer Sicily, some of the most common evil deeds that they had done in this village had reappeared.
This aroused the dissatisfaction and anger of a small number of Katanai mercenaries, because this was a village that was under their jurisdiction. A conflict broke out between the two sides, and finally, the angry Katanai mercenaries left the team, and the entire army was reduced to 3,000 people.
Faced with such a tricky situation, Masias could do nothing about it. He even thought that without the Katanaeans dragging them down, their march would be faster and their food consumption would be reduced, not to mention the other annoying problems they had to worry about. Although they were all compatriots from Campania, and before today, they had been comrades who had fought side by side with a deep friendship. Now that a disaster had befallen them, they could only look after each other.
Masias ordered the soldiers to loot all the food in the village, and then immediately set off.
Under Masias's supervision, this team of more than 3,000 people, who were almost all former mercenaries of Syracuse, set off in a hurry with the hope of returning to Syracuse as soon as possible to protect their homeland.
As they marched towards the southeast, they occasionally encountered groups of defeated soldiers, and Masias took the opportunity to take them into his team.
At the same time, this team was also spied on by many cavalry squads. While Masias sent out his cavalry to drive them away, he urged the soldiers to increase their marching speed.
His premonition was right. Soon, a team of 700 to 800 people came from the northeast. They were not wearing armor, and they were armed with bows and javelins. They moved quickly and launched long-range attacks on Masias's team.
Masias was almost certain that the enemy was from Katanai, and he quickly ordered the soldiers to attack.
However, when the Syracuse soldiers spread out their formation and began to attack, the light infantry from Katanai retreated. However, when the Syracuse soldiers returned to their column formation and continued to march, they reappeared.
After repeating this a few times, Masias understood that the Katanai rebels only wanted to attack him, and they did not really want to engage in a direct battle.
However, it was impossible for Masias to ignore them. Otherwise, the javelins and arrows would continue to take the lives of the soldiers and destroy their already low morale. Therefore, he arranged the remaining 50 cavalrymen and 500 light infantrymen to stay at the back of the formation so that they could defend against the enemy's attacks. However, he did not allow the soldiers to pursue too much, because it would not only exhaust their stamina, but they would also be separated from the main force, and it would be easy for them to be ambushed. Now, the entire army only had one goal — to go home.
The Syracuse army only walked out of the Katanai Plains in the afternoon. The terrain in front of them began to narrow. The sea was to the east, and the mountains to the west. In the middle was a flat corridor by the sea that was less than five miles wide.
Masias was originally worried about the appearance of Leontini's rebels, but fortunately, they did not. Perhaps because the narrow terrain limited the mobility of the Katanai rebels, they did not continue to harass the rear of the army. This allowed the Syracuse soldiers to finally breathe a sigh of relief.
The Syracuse army quickened their pace, because the city of Taunis was just ten miles away.
When the city of Taunis came into view, the defeated Syracuse soldiers who thought that they had escaped from the disaster were shocked to see that not far from the north of Taunis, there was a neat phalanx of four to five thousand soldiers in front of them, blocking the corridor by the sea. Most of the soldiers were wearing black armor, and the excitement that they had just felt a moment ago suddenly fell to the bottom. It's the Diónia! It's the Diónia Legion! How did they get ahead of us?! …
… …
The bitter battle yesterday ended with the retreat of the Syracuse army.
While the First Legion of Diónia was in pursuit, Antonios finally saw the messenger sent by Antraporis. After receiving the news that Katanai had been captured and Syracuse's rebellion was a success, Antonios finally breathed a sigh of relief. The First Legion had paid a price and finally gained a foothold in Sicily.
But even though he was happy, he could not relax, because Antraporis hoped that the First Legion could intercept the Syracuse army to prevent them from returning to Syracuse and bringing great uncertainty to Syracuse's rebellion.
To be honest, Antonios really didn't want to listen to this secret chief's suggestion. Although the First Corp had won this battle in the end, nearly a thousand people had died or been injured. Quite a few high ranking officers had sacrificed their lives, and even his close comrade Cespeter had fallen unconscious. The First Corp had eight thousand people before the outbreak of the war (not including the auxiliary troops), but now only four thousand people remained. Their numbers had been reduced by more than half, and they had paid a huge sacrifice. Logically speaking, it was time for them to rest and reorganize, but the current environment didn't allow it. Moreover, the danger hadn't completely passed.
Antonios certainly did not want the First Legion's expedition to fail because of the defeated army's escape back to Syracuse. The habit of the "Legion of Dionysia" of pursuing the enemy after a victory forced him to reluctantly agree to Antraporis's suggestion: to join forces with Katanai and completely annihilate the Syracuse army on their way back!
After sending off the messenger, Antonios pondered for a while and then rushed to the port. The sailors of the Dionysian fleet were sending the families of the exiles off the warships.
Antonios soon met Flarios, who had replaced Therian as the commander of the fleet. After some discussion, Flarios agreed that the fleet would not return to Lijim, but would spend the night in Mejaro so that they could participate in the military operation earlier the next day.
There was no military port in Mejaro port, and there was no dry dock to dock the warships. This meant that the warships of the Dionysian fleet could only be pushed onto the beach, which was a great risk. One of the main reasons why the Athens fleet was completely annihilated by Lysander in the Battle of Sheep River was that the warships of the Athens fleet were all parked on the beach, and had no time to go into the sea when they were ambushed …
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