Chapter 198 Target: Sicily

Feidun rushed to Taurina, preparing to bring the remaining Lijim army stationed there to Medmar to take part in the siege.

In order to prevent the Lokrie army from attacking from the rear again while the coalition forces were sieging the city, Hiros also sent a brigade to build a simple wooden village to block the mountain road leading to Lokrie, and sent a reconnaissance team to monitor the movements of the Lokrie people at all times.

Hiros, who has some experience in siege, led the army to implement his siege plan in a leisurely and methodical manner, but the citizens who returned to Lokri did not immediately go to the northern border to repel the invading Corenians. .

Due to the capture of Diopantos, the Lockley army needed a new commander-in-chief, but Demodocus appointed one of his confidants to serve, but was opposed by the council, on the grounds that Lockley In a time of crisis, there is an urgent need for a person with military talent to lead the civic army to defend Lochry, but the candidate of Demodocus lacks war experience, has no prestige in the army, and it is difficult to command the soldiers. You will lose your only troop, so be careful!

It was the second time in two days that the council had rebutted Demodocus' proposal, something that had never happened before. Demodocus held back his anger and watched as the MPs unanimously elected McGarries. The old man McGarries had led his army to fight against Crotone many times a decade ago, and he had many victories. In recent years, he has been squeezed by Demodocus and had to stand aside.

At this time, in the face of the strong demands of everyone, Demodocas had to agree to this appointment and let his political enemy be the army coach, but he felt deeply cold.

McGaris immediately reorganized the team, leading more than 6,000 men to attack the enemy.

After burning down a village, the Colonia army did not face the enemy head-on, but quickly retreated to the border of their city-state territory, but did not move away, but instead set up camp and continued to maintain a deterrent against Lokrie.

The cautious McGarys was worried about the conspiracy of the Coulonia people. He was afraid of ambush and did not attack. He also stood firmly at the border, and the two sides formed a confrontation.

…………………………

In the early morning, the people of Lijim flocked to the port, not only to say goodbye to the Dionysian Fleet and the First Army, but also to say goodbye to the nearly 1,000 soldiers and their families who had just joined the cross-sea expedition to Sicily.

Most of them were fugitives from the Sicilian city-states that were sacked by Syracuse, such as Catane and Naxos. Previously, Lijim built a city for them on the Mile Peninsula in order to compete with Syracuse's two new city-states (Messina and Tindarius) on the other side of the strait. However, the Syracuse army moved quickly and quickly broke through the new city. Some people were arrested and killed, some people fled into the mountains, and some people were rescued by the Lijim people and took boats back to the city.

Now the Lijim people are praying that this troop goes to Sicily and everything goes well,

Don't make the same mistakes again.

The Dionysian fleet and dozens of Lijim ships sailed out of the port together. In front of the fleet was Sekelian's ship. The young Admiral of Dionia stood on the side of the ship, looking out at the other side. Showing a trace of regret, he pointed ahead of his finger and said to Antonios, the commander of the First Army who was on his warship: "Messina is not far ahead, why don't we capture him first! It's very close to Lijim, very close to Lijim. It is easy to get the support of Lijim, and after the capture of Messina, we can block the strait and completely eliminate the warships in the port!"

Antonios squinted at Sekelian with a look of scolding Fang Qiu. He had already known that this young man was aggressive and arrogant. If Amintas was here, he would definitely criticize him: "What right does your Navy have to point fingers at the Legion!"

But Antonios wouldn't do it. In fact, when Davos asked him for his opinion, his initial consideration was to land on the Mile Peninsula between Tyndares and Messina, both of which were newly built. The strength is not too strong, and it is far away from Syracuse, and it is easy to be taken as their forward base in Sicily (the original city of Messina was captured when the army led by the Carthaginian commander Himilco attacked Syracuse. and destruction, and the city was rebuilt two years ago when Dionysius led his army northward to drive out the Carthaginians on the north coast).

"I thought about it like this before, but I was opposed by His Majesty." Antonios said politely.

"Oh, why?" The dissatisfied expression on Cykrian's face disappeared as soon as he heard the word "Your Majesty".

"Time." A word came out of Antonio's mouth: "'It will probably take a few days to attack Messina, and in these days, the Siracusa people had already received the news that 'we attacked Sicily' , we will definitely make defensive preparations, and when we attack south again, the difficulties we will encounter will increase. Messina is too far away from Syracuse, and its fall will not cause too much damage to Syracuse's sphere of influence. Great influence, we must take advantage of Syracuse's unprepared opportunity to raid the nearby city-states, causing panic and chaos in the area he controls, and more opportunities will be born in the chaos...' This is His Majesty's original words ."

After listening carefully, Sekelian sighed: "Your Majesty has considered it comprehensively! But in this way, our risk will increase.

Antonios smiled: "Are you afraid of these difficulties?"

Sekelian immediately said arrogantly: "I just hope that the fleet in the port of Syracuse can be attracted, so that my fleet can defeat them, and let the Dionysian Navy completely become the master of this sea area!"

The two laughed confidently.

The fleet traveled south along the east coast of Sicily, and they met many merchant ships along the way. They saw this large-scale mixed fleet, especially when they found the "jewels, black hair, and double forks" painted on the sails. The signs were all shocked and had a premonition that something big would happen. Some hurriedly retreated, while others turned around to speed up their return to the south, apparently preparing to go back to report.

Sekelian sits on the flagship, unmoved, his fleet is already sailing at the fastest speed, and it is not far from the destination.

And Antonios has been looking at the coast from the side of the ship. He has never been to Sicily before. What he sees on the map is completely different from being there.

Davos once told him that from Messina south to Tauromenian, the only way to go by land is a narrow passage close to the coast, and this road is thirty or forty miles long. "

It seems to be true now, because he has been sailing for almost three hours since he left the port of Lijim. In his eyes, the mountains on the other side have never been broken, overlapping and continuous, looking soothing and green Pleasant to the eye, like a picture. But Antonios knew that this was because it was five or six miles away from him. Judging from experience, these peaks were not less than a thousand meters high, and it was indeed difficult to climb.

"Lord Antonios, that is Tauromenian." A middle-aged man next to him pointed to the other side and said.

This person is called Laodician. He was originally a Naxos noble. After the fall of Naxos, he led his family to flee to the interior of Sicily. Near Agilion, he gathered with other city-state exiles and gradually formed a larger village. Due to the constant intrusion of Syracuse's allies and the hatred of the Sikelians, their life was quite difficult. Later, when he heard that Lijim was going to build a new city for them, the exiles, he went there happily. Unexpectedly, the rapid response of the Syracuses destroyed the newly built new city of Millais, and some of his relatives died in the fighting. He fled to Lijim.

Despite the ups and downs, his determination to rebuild his homeland has not changed, but has grown stronger. Therefore, as soon as he heard that Dionysus was going to attack Sicily, he took the initiative to find Antonios with the remaining relatives and asked to join.

At this time, Antonios heard the words and looked intently: I saw a city standing on the high ground near the coast. The most strange thing was that it was a twin city. It is easy to defend and difficult to attack and hold this long and narrow coastal channel.

"I heard that this is a city built by the Carthaginians for the Sikel people?" Antonios asked uncertainly, recalling some brief information he had learned about the city.

"Yes, the Carthaginian general Similko built the Tauromenion for the Sikaers in order to win over the Sikaers and let these natives join his side when Carthage attacked Syracuse. "..." Laodisian said with some schadenfreude: "Later, when the tyrant of Syracuse attacked Tauromenion, because of the steep terrain, he couldn't use siege equipment, and he was unable to attack it. Finally, it was Sikel. It was obtained only by surrendering. Now the masters of this city are those hateful Campania mercenaries!"

Antonios listened to his explanation and looked at Tauromenion in a daze: if he had chosen to attack Messina first, even if he succeeded, he would not have been able to break Tauromenion by land and enter Syracuse. The core area of ​​control, and can only travel by sea...and the Sikelians are a force that King Davos suggested he could contact...

"...When attacking Sicily, you have to remember, 'Three points depend on military affairs, and seven points depend on diplomacy.'..." Antonios recalled what Davos solemnly reminded before leaving.

The fleet continued to move forward, and Antonios's field of vision suddenly opened up: the drowsy mountains had disappeared, and rolling hills appeared, and the terrain became more and more flat as you went south...

Antonios's eyes were attracted by the scene farther on the land: it was a majestic mountain, even though it was nearly 20 miles away, its majestic mountain was still so clear, showing a huge trapezoid, straight into the sky, as if standing on the ground. of a pillar. What is even more bizarre is that the other peaks are all emerald green, but it is gray, and it looks ancient and mysterious. This is the legendary furnace of Hevestus forging magic weapons - Mount Etna in Sicily. .