Chapter 912
Teagenis replied confidently, "The war between Diónia and Carthage in Sicily has involved all the cities in Sicily. Can we, Syracuse, be an exception? Of course not! Carthage's army is approaching Gela, and Diónia's army is stationed in Leotini. We must make a choice, or we will be crushed by the power of both sides.
However, we will not become true allies with Carthage, who have been our mortal enemy for decades, nor will we challenge Diónia, who have taken away our hegemony. What we need to do is seize every opportunity in this fierce war and regain the glory of Syracuse! "
That was what Teagenis said, and what he did.
When Cypross of Catanai sent an envoy to the Syracuse council, he questioned angrily, "The Syracuse fleet attacked the fleet of Paccinus and led troops to attack Kamanlina. This is a provocation to Diónia! You must immediately stop this dangerous act and withdraw from Kamanlina. At the same time, you must compensate Paccinus and promise not to do anything similar in the future. Otherwise, Diónia will not sit idly by and do nothing! "
Teagenis replied calmly, "May I ask if Diónia, Paccinus, and Kamanlina are allies? Of course not. You do not have an alliance with these two cities, not even an agreement. But we do, and it is a full-fledged military alliance. "
As Kamanlina spoke, he had someone bring over the newly signed alliance agreement and showed it to the envoy of Diónia. He said with a hint of mockery, "I am grateful for Diónia's concern about the recent events, but this is an internal matter between us and our allies. We can resolve it ourselves. There is no need for an outsider like you, Diónia, to worry about it."
The envoy of Diónia was speechless. After a moment, he said with hatred, "Is Syracuse preparing to ally with Carthage?!"
"How could we, the people of Syracuse, ally with our mortal enemy, the people of Carthage!" "We just want to protect ourselves on this war-torn island," Teagenis said with a serious look on his face.
The messenger of Diónia understood. He said coldly, "So you people of Syracuse want to be crows and eat the corpses of the beasts after the battle. But no matter how much carrion a crow eats, it's still a crow. May the peace and tranquility of Syracuse, which the heroes who resisted Dionysius' tyranny exchanged with their blood a dozen years ago, not be lost in your hands! "
The conversation between Teagenis and the messenger of Diónia was spread throughout the council. Many people praised their chief general for his toughness and wit in speaking to the messenger of Diónia. A few people were worried about the warning given by the messenger of Diónia.
Just as the messenger of Diónia left the city of Syracuse, many people of Syracuse heard the news and came to scold and humiliate him, venting their dissatisfaction with Diónia.
Teagenis had expected this. He did not want to openly offend Diónia for the time being, so he specially sent a patrol to escort the messenger.
The messenger of Diónia left Syracuse with a swollen face and torn clothes. He saw it as a great humiliation.
… …
When Sequerian led the fleet to Gela, Leotychides already knew that Camanlina and Paccinus had belonged to Syracuse. This forced him to cancel his original plan. At the same time, the successive changes had shaken his confidence in continuing to defend the south coast.
So, as soon as he saw Sequerian, who had just arrived, he said directly, "Camanlina and Paccinus have already surrendered to Syracuse. I don't think Minoa will be able to hold out for long. Now, we are at a complete disadvantage, but my army is scattered between Salinus and here, and can't do anything about the overall situation. So, I have decided to withdraw all the troops in the cities of the south coast. If Minoa and the people of Gela are willing to follow us, then we will return to Catania and rendezvous with the Seventh Army. We will rebuild our strength and look for opportunities to continue defending against the attacks of the people of Carthage, and even Syracuse."
Sequerian looked at Leotychides' serious expression and thought about it seriously. He said in a low voice, "We can evacuate the other places, but we must keep Salinus!"
"The troops in other places have all been evacuated. Salinus has become a completely isolated city. How many days can Calsidis hold out?" Leotychides did not seem to have much confidence in this.
Sequerian was very confident. "These days, the people of Carthage have launched several attacks on Salinus, but they were all repelled. Furthermore, our losses in defending the city are not too great. I think Calsidis has the bearing of a great general. He is not anxious and has a good way of defending the city. Salinus should be able to hold out."
"Of course, Calsidis is very capable." Leotychides shook his head lightly. "Unfortunately, he has too few troops. Once we leave, Salinus will become the focus of the people of Carthage's attack. It won't be able to hold out for long."
Sequerian said anxiously, "With the help of our navy, how can Calsidis's troops be few? As long as he holds out for a few more days, after September, when the farmlands of Catania are harvested, I will transport thousands or even tens of thousands of sailors from the naval base who don't have warships there. Although these sailors don't have the ability to fight against Carthage's soldiers head-on, they can still assist in defending the city.
Salinus is too important! As long as it is in our hands, our warships and sailors will have a foothold in western Sicily. Our fleet will be able to hunt in the western sea without worry, and the ships of Carthage won't dare to easily transport soldiers and supplies to the south coast … "
"Alright, we'll do as you say. Your Sicilian fleet will provide reinforcements to defend Selinus. The other cities and armies will all evacuate from the south coast." While Cecilian was talking excitedly, Leotizides interrupted him and said, "Alright, we'll do as you say.
Sequerian was stunned, but he immediately reacted. "Did you already have this plan in mind? Did you want to trick me into helping you defend the city?!"
Leotychides said expressionlessly, "Now, I'm going to persuade the generals of Gjera to leave here and seek refuge in Catania. As for persuading the Minoans, I'll leave it to you, Sir Sequerian. Gjera is guarded by the Eighth Legion, so there won't be any big problems for the time being. However, the Minoans are in imminent danger, so I hope you can hurry up."
"Uh … I say, Prososus, you're not His Majesty the Devers. What right do you have to assign tasks to me? We should discuss this matter before making a decision … "Sequerian loudly expressed his dissatisfaction, but Leotychides had already strode out of the hall …
A day later, the fleet full of Minoan civilians sailed eastward along the south coast under the escort of the Dionysian fleet. As they passed through the southeast corner of Sicily, Sequerian was both nervous and excited. He sent out all the speedboats and ordered all the lookouts on the warships to open their eyes wide and carefully observe the abnormalities in the sea.
However, to his disappointment, the Syracuse fleet did not appear. The entire fleet arrived at the port of Catania without a hitch.
At the same time, the Minoan city was conquered by Pomilka's army, and all the Minoan soldiers who stayed behind were killed in battle.
The Jelans also agreed to evacuate to Catania. It was not because Leotychides was persuasive, but because they had the same idea as the Minoans. If they were surrounded by the Syracuse people, the people who were reluctant to leave their homeland might consider surrendering. However, outside the city were the Carthage people and the ferocious-looking natives. The Agrizen people had been brutally slaughtered, and the Jelans did not want to follow in their footsteps.
The Sicilian fleet quickly returned to the south coast from the Catania naval base, escorting this large fleet of ships. Not only were the ships carrying food supplies, but there were also 16,000 sailors. He was here to fulfill his promise with Leotizides.
Originally, Sequerian planned to do this after the autumn harvest, but after a conversation with Cyprosus, Cyprosus suggested, "After all of you evacuate from the south coast, the garrison of Serinus will inevitably face greater pressure. Since this city is so important, don't delay it any longer. Send the sailors over as soon as possible. You don't have to worry about the harvesting of their farmland. I'll help them solve it."
Sequerian accepted Cyprosus's suggestion.
The fleet arrived at Serinus without a hitch.
First, Cecelian unloaded the food and weapons from the fleet at the pier. Then, he stationed 10,000 sailors at the port to manage and defend the port while assisting Calsidis in defending the city. This was to make up for the lack of defensive power.
After a night's rest, he ordered the remaining 6,000 sailors to drive more than 30 Phoenician warships (captured during the battle with the East Phoenician fleet from Persia) that had been simply repaired. They followed the Sicilian fleet and other fleets to Jelah.
According to the notice given by the clippers, Leotychides led the soldiers of the 8th Legion, the 4th Cavalry Legion, a large number of Jelans, and the people of Agrizen who had previously fled to Jelah. They lined up in an orderly manner and waited at the various ports.
So as soon as the fleet docked at the port, everyone quickly boarded the ships.
When Carthage's scouts told Hasdrubal that a large fleet had arrived at the port of Jelah, he did not realize at first that the entire city of Jelah was preparing to retreat. After the victory in the battle, Carthage's army had failed several times to attack the city. Even the day before yesterday, the Diónia soldiers had come out of the city to attack Carthage, which caught Hasdrubal off guard and led to the crushing defeat of Carthage's siege force. This showed that the morale of the garrison in the city was very high. Hasdrubal had to let the defeated soldiers rest for the past two days.
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