ancient greece mediterranean ruler

Chapter 536 Chrysops’ Suggestions
"Now the ruins of Agilion have become the largest gathering place for exiles from Catanai, Naxos and other city-states. Since the death of Agillus, the Sikelians have been suppressed by Dionysius. No new king has been elected, and the various Sikel towns can no longer unite, so the threat to the settlement of Agilion is not great. On the contrary, the Sikurians, Tauromenian, and Kata who come from time to time to sweep away Nai's mercenaries pose a great threat to them." Serofanis continued to add: "If these exiles can come to Mayaro, then you can add four to five thousand soldiers, my lord!"

A group of untrained rabble from various city-states is no better than a group of slaves in fighting.Antonios thought in his heart, but did not say it, he looked at the location of Aguillion pointed by Xenophones: it is located on the west side of Mount Etna, starting from Meialo, following the Alcantara Valley to Go west to get there.But in this way, the location of Tauromenan is a threat to this passage. Would it be less to send only two hundred soldiers to defend against the harassment of the Tauromenans?

So Antonios asked: "If I lead an army against Tauromenion, will the slaves and free people there cooperate with us?"

Serofanis shook his head and said: "I'm afraid this is difficult. Dionysius handed Taoromenion over to Campania mercenaries to occupy. Although their number was not large, the city of Taoromenion was not They are large and have very little arable land. They don’t need many slaves. They often sell the captured exiles to Catanai and Sikuli. The free people will not go to Tauromenion, where both There is no port and no farmland, how do they live?”

Serofanis recalled something with a look of fear on his face: "I once visited the city of Tauromenion. It is on a high mountain with steep terrain and can only be reached by a winding path. Our soldiers will attack it, I'm afraid It will cost a lot, and also-" He didn't finish his words, but he obviously didn't expect the First Army to capture the mountain city.

Antonios was slightly disappointed after hearing this.

Serofanis then said: "However, my lord, if you attack Sikuli, the slaves and free people there will definitely be able to help! Dionysius destroyed several city-states, and now the entire southeastern Sicily, except Scylla, Kuza and its surrounding city-states, other places have a small population and a small population. As far as I know, not only are most of the slaves in many city-states exiles, but also many free people are exiles, the same situation as in Mayaro , they were always eager to overthrow the rule of Dionysius and rebuild their homes. The citizens of these city-states also knew about this situation, but did not take effective measures to stop it, because their newly acquired land and ports needed A lot of people take care of it..."

Although the situation presented by Serofanis was tempting, Antonios was not prepared to do so.The reason why he wanted to capture Tauromenion was because while he had to deal with the attack of the Syracuseans with all his strength, it was best to ensure the safety of the north of Mearo, otherwise the Syracuseans would attack from the south and Tauro Meignan's mercenaries attacked from the north, and even the colonists from Locri and Medema in Messina sent reinforcements. Mayaro was in danger of being completely surrounded.As for taking the city of Sikuli, it seems very good, but when the enemy is about to arrive, spreading one's own forces will lead to possible two-sided fighting. This is a taboo stipulated in the "Dionysian Military Law", Antonios Of course no such mistake would be made.

Antonios thought silently: It seems that the only way is to strengthen the defense of Mayaro, wait for the arrival of the exiles, and then decide on the next plan depending on how the situation develops.

..........................................

When the Spartan envoy Chrysops returned to Sparta, Teacher Agassiz had received an order from the Council of Elders to go to Corinth, take over from Praxitas, command the Spartan alliance army, and continue to attack the city of Corinth.

Chrysops reported the proceedings of his mission to the Council of Elders.

These Spartan elders who are over 60 years old were surprised by the stubborn attitude of the Dionians in facing such a difficult situation and actually wanted to defeat Syracuse. What surprised them even more was that Dionia actually defeated Syracuse. Rakuza's navy, this unexpected result made the elders look at each other.

After a while, the elder Diopetis asked in a deep voice: "Chrysops, the Dionysians arrogantly rejected our Spartan friendly proposal. As a result, the war in Magna Graecia will continue." Keep going. You have just returned from Magna Graecia and know the situation there. What suggestions do you have?"

"Dear elders, Dionysius is determined to conquer Magna Graecia, and Davos is determined to avenge the people. The two sides are like a pair of red-eyed rams. Words alone cannot make them stop fighting. And if we, Spartans, can't find any other way to mediate this war except words, the war in Magna Graecia will continue until one side falls..." Chrysops answered truthfully. I mean, Sparta's prestige was not enough to subdue the two major forces in the Western Mediterranean. It had to come up with something practical to make them obey, such as an army.

The elders were silent for a while: now most of Sparta's energy is devoted to the war in Corinth, and there is still a small number of troops in Asia Minor. Where is there any spare power to open another battlefield?

After a long time, Elder Lysipus sighed: It seems that the people of Syracuse will not be able to assist us in the short term! "

Praxitas, as the regent of King Agesipolis of Sparta, attended the Council of Elders on behalf of Agesipolis. At this time, he asked: "Chrysops, what do you think of Syracuse?" Who will win this war, Zha and Dionia?"

As soon as this question came up, the other elders looked at him in surprise, the meaning expressed in their eyes was obvious: Needless to say!Although Dionia won the naval battle, the final victory still had to be resolved on land, but the strength gap between the two sides was obvious. There was a high possibility that the final winner would be Syracuse. You must know that Dionysius led With an army of 8, Sparta has never had such a strong military force!

But Chelithorpes's expression showed hesitation. He thought for a while before saying: "Although Dionysius has a clear advantage in terms of strength, Dionysius has Davos. Before, In every war that occurred in Dionia, looking at the situation before the war, we would think that they could not win, but in the end they won, so Dionia will become a war that we have to do within a few years. The alliance of city-states that attaches great importance to. And now, Davos has repelled the Samnites in central Italy and returned to Thurii. It is said that it was under his command that the Dionian fleet miraculously defeated the Far Than Their powerful Syracuse navy. Now he leads the army of Dionia to face Dionysius’s army of Syracuse. It is really difficult to judge the outcome! "

"Dionysius is not comparable to the stupid generals Dionia has encountered before!" An elder retorted: "He defeated Carthage!"

"Davos!..." Dioptis sighed: "Chrysops, I remember that you suggested to the council that he should be accepted as a distinguished guest of Sparta."

"Yes, I have made this proposal to the council." Crithorpes answered truthfully.

"I didn't expect that a young man who was inconspicuous a few years ago would now become a headache for us Sparta!" Dioptis turned to face the elders and said solemnly: "We need to seriously consider Cleithorpe Si’s inference, and we have to consider what if Dionia really defeats Syracuse, how should we Sparta respond?”

When the elders heard this, they were surprised and fell into deep thought. As a result, they suddenly discovered that although Sparta had not had much contact with the Dionysian Alliance, the relationship was not very good. On the contrary, they heard that the Dionysian Alliance Asia signed a friendly agreement with Athens, Sparta's mortal enemy. Once Dionia won the Magna Graecia War, a big hole was opened in the western Mediterranean, the rear area that Sparta used to think was safe. While facing the challenges to its hegemony from traditional powers such as Athens, Thebes, and Corinth, Sparta will also have to guard against the hostility of this powerful alliance of city-states to the west. The pressure on Sparta will undoubtedly increase dramatically!

Many elders began to look gloomy when they thought of this.

An elder pretended to be relaxed and said: "This is just a hypothesis, the possibility of Dionia winning is very small!"

"Let's simply give Dionia no chance of winning!" Another elder said aggressively.

"Then what can we do? Send troops to Magna Graecia to support Syracuse?! Now that most of the soldiers have gathered in Corinth, we can still send troops there! Can other allies help? It's a pity that we used to The attention and support of the Western Mediterranean is devoted to Syracuse, so we know less about Magna Graecia than we do about Athens!" Praxitas was angry that the elders removed him from the command of his Spartan allies. As an official, he ridiculed: "Oh, by the way, there is also Tarantum, our sub-state. Unfortunately, when Dionia won the naval battle against Syracuse, it was easily defeated. Kill them! Look, this is the Western Mediterranean plan you have formulated over the past few decades, a piece of shit!"

All the elders were speechless by him for a moment.

At this time, a voice sounded in the quiet venue: "Maybe... we can have friendly discussions with Dionia."

Everyone's eyes immediately focused on Chelly Thorpes.

　Thanks to Zhan Billy and Joan of Arc Darhk for the rewards!Your support is my biggest motivation for writing! !

　　
　
(End of this chapter)