ancient greece mediterranean ruler

Chapter 416 The decision of the Southern Italian Alliance

Arcesias coughed a few times and continued: "...about 24 miles east of the Syracuse camp is the city of Xiliting. There are more hills in this direction, but overall the terrain is fairly flat. Therefore, although the people of Syracuse stayed in the camp today, their mercenary cavalry were in the territory of Xiliting, destroying farmland and orchards, burning down villages and houses, and killing and wounding dozens of our scouts..."

"How many soldiers are there in the Syracuse camp?" Askamas asked.

"According to observations in the past two days, there are probably more than 5 people!" Acesias replied.

5 people!Askamas thought for a while, turned around and asked: "Lord Felicius, how many enemies did you encounter in Coronia?"

"No less than 4 people." Felicius answered truthfully.

"If you include the troops of Medema and Hibernian, the number of Syracusan troops attacking our South Italian Alliance this time should exceed -" Askamas spit out a number with a serious expression: " 10 people!”

Everyone present looked solemn when they heard this number: This is the largest army that has appeared so far, not only in Magna Graecia, but also in the Western Mediterranean, and in the entire history of the Greek world! "

"And the number of coalition forces we have here, if you add Trina's citizen soldiers, is only nearly 6." Pletinis sighed: "It's a pity that Lijim is separated in the south and cannot join us, Cullen Nia is now under siege again, and most importantly—"

Pletinis looked at Felicius and Ansitanos, and said regretfully: "Lord Daves led the main force of Dionia in the Lucania area. If they all gathered in Siliting, we would not be able to do anything at all. There is no need to fear the Syracuseans, even if there are 10 of them!"

"We thought about things simply before. When we made plans, we always thought too much about the good things. Once we implemented them, we discovered that there were so many problems." Ansitanos is not only preparing for Dionia's own He was taking responsibility, and was trying to relieve the senior leaders of the allies who participated in the discussion at the time: "Some things happened suddenly, which caught people off guard! For example, the invasion of the Samnites was unexpected! It can only be said that Dionysius prepared for this incident I’m afraid we have already been preparing for the invasion.”

Ansitanos's words obviously seemed a bit like adding to others' prestige and destroying his own ambition. Askamas snorted softly and was about to speak.

Asopias asked first: "When will Lord Davos lead his army back?"

"We haven't received any news yet. But Lord Davos has never failed in the military. I believe he will soon be able to repel the barbaric and backward Samnites and come quickly to join us." Ansitano Si comforted.

Felicius took the opportunity to take over his words and continued: "So now we should strengthen our camp outside the city of Silitium, at the angles of each other with the city, based on defense, holding back the army of Syracuse, and waiting for Dai Lord Firth leads his army back and has a decisive battle with the people of Syracuse!"

Askamas sneered twice: "Listen, 'Lord Davos, Lord Davos,' without Davos, wouldn't all the generals of our South Italian Alliance be able to command the war?! "

When Felicius heard this, his expression changed slightly.Ancitanos frowned.Acesias looked a little worried.

Askamas looked at Felicius with contempt: "Let me ask you, how many days does it take to get from Thurii to Potentia?"

"It takes about five or six days by the most convenient way." Although Felicius was angry at what he just said, he still answered truthfully.

"That is to say, in terms of days, maybe Davos has just led his army to Potentia. So how many days does it take to get here from Potentia?"

"About nine or ten days."

"Well, ten days, which does not include the number of days needed to defeat the Samnites. We Crotones have never dealt with the Samnites, but since they are indigenous people living in the mountains, their fighting methods are very It may be similar to the Bruti people. They rarely fight head-on in the mountains. Instead, like wolves, they like to hide and attack. This means that it is difficult to defeat them through a decisive battle. If you want to end it quickly, War is simply impossible! General Felicius, I know there are many Brutians in your team, you should know this better than me!" Askamas's tone became more sarcastic: "Even if Davos has strong commanding ability and can return to Xiliting within 20 days... This is the shortest time I can give! But in these 20 days, do you think that the more than 4 enemies who fought with you before Is it possible to capture Coronia?! I heard that the Syracuseans had a siege weapon called a ballista. In the previous war with Carthage, they used it to capture several Carthage castles. City……"

Felicius's expression changed again.After defeating the Syracuse attack force, they had captured the Syracuse ballista. According to the ballista captain, it was very similar to the Dionia ballista, although the angle of the gun sight was different from that of the Dionia ballista. It is not as accurate as Dionia, but it is much more powerful than Dionia. After all, its size is larger than Dionia's siege ballista, and the stone bullets used are naturally larger.Thinking of Phryniris, who was confident in defending the city before leaving, Felicius was so anxious that he had to remain silent.

Askamas saw this and continued: "If that mixed army of Syracuse and Locri captured Coronia with ballistae, and then came to meet at Siliting, they would only need to separate With less than half the force to besiege Trina, we have no way to stop it, so how many days can Trina resist?"

Asopia suddenly turned pale.

"When Lord Davos really leads his army here, I'm afraid even the outside of Xiliting City will be in ruins." The next words of Askamas made Pletinis and Aser Sias couldn't sit still either.

After Pretinis and Acesias looked at each other and reached an agreement, Acesias slapped the wooden table hard, stood up, and said loudly: "My lords, we can't wait any longer!We should take advantage of the fact that the two armies of Syracuse have not yet converged, and we should launch an attack on the Syracuse army here first! "

Felicius frowned and asked: "Attack? How to attack?! Are we going to storm the Syracuse camp?!"

"Gauntlet! According to the soldiers who retreated from the Corta River, 'They saw the Syracusans crossing the river with a large Syracuse flag raised behind them.' Tyrant of Syracuse , that Dionysius should be in this army. According to the ancient tradition, we gave him a letter of challenge and invited him to a battle between the two armies. This tyrannical and arrogant dictator claimed to be the 'Master of Sicily'... He should not...should not allow himself to show fear in front of his men and not dare to fight. Then, the Greek people under his tyrannical rule will see through his cowardice and weakness!" Sesias said not very confidently.

"This is a good idea! We Trina will also do our best to send more soldiers to join you. In this way, the number of our coalition soldiers will greatly exceed the number of Syracuse soldiers here!" At this moment! , Asopias also took the initiative to make a promise.

"But Dionysius is likely to refuse to fight when there is a gap in military strength." Felicius reminded cautiously.

"The people of Syracuse dare not come out to fight, then we will attack their camp!" Askamas took over and added: "I have observed the camp of the people of Syracuse, and the camp they built is far from beautiful. You Dionians are strong, aren't your teams also equipped with ballistae! Then, keep throwing stones at the Syracuse camp until these timid Syracuseans are forced to come out to fight. !" As a neighbor of Dionia, Crotone is quite concerned about the Dionia army.

"That's right, Lord Ascamas, that's what we'll do!" Acesias responded excitedly.

"Lord Felicius, what do you think?" Pletinis' question made everyone focus on Felicius.

Facing everyone's expectant eyes, Felicius was on pins and needles, but he was unable to reply.

Seeing everyone's expressions gradually becoming impatient, Ansitanos stood up and said: "My lords, please let me have a few words with Lord Felicius alone."

The two walked out of the venue.

Ansitanus brushed the dust off the steps, sat down, and asked Felicius to sit down as well.

Felicius was actually a little flattered.He has been in a high position in the Dionysian League for several years, but facing a scholar like Ansitanos alone, the inferiority complex in Felicius, a former mercenary, couldn't help but emerge.

"Lord Felicius." Ancitanos didn't notice his expression, looked at the square in front of him, and asked in a calm tone: "Are you going to stick to the defensive tactics formulated by Lord Davos?"

Felicius hesitated for a moment and replied: "Yes. Ascamas and Acesias's battle plan is too risky. Once it fails, the consequences are unimaginable! As long as we hold on to the camp and wait for Dai Lord Voss led his army back to Magna Graecia and fought a decisive battle with the Syracuseans. No matter the number and ability of the soldiers, or the commanding ability of the generals, he could definitely defeat the Syracuseans. This is the safest tactic!"

"The safest tactic? I'm afraid no one in the room thinks so." Ansitanos sighed: "People, when danger comes, they always want to eliminate the danger as soon as possible instead of calming down. Think about longer-term plans... Now the war is burning on the land of the allies, and their homes are facing great danger. Our delaying tactics will only make them suspicious and angry. They will think that we Dionians are selfish and laissez-faire. Their homes were invaded, the people were killed without taking any action!... If this delay continues, the image that Dionia has been working hard to establish in the Southern Italian League for the past few years will be destroyed, and we will lose these city-state people trust, which is very detrimental to the future development of Dionia!"

"Are we putting our soldiers in danger just to win their trust?!" Felicius asked.

"Is there no possibility of victory according to their plan?" Ansitanos looked at him.

　Thanks to the big fan of Fengyu, LV695312834 for the reward!Your support is my biggest motivation for writing! !

　　
　
(End of this chapter)