Chapter 203 Kerethorpes' Advice

"Now, the vicinity of the ruins of Aguirion has become the largest gathering place for the exiles of Katanai, Naxos and other city-states. Since the death of Aguilas, the Sikelians have been suppressed by Dionysius. No new king was elected, and the towns of Sikel could no longer be united, so there was not much threat to the settlement of Aguirion. It was the Siculi, Tauromenion, and Kata who came to sweep from time to time. Nye's mercenaries are a great threat to them." Serofenice continued, "If these exiles can come to Meyaro, then your lord, you can add four or five thousand soldiers!"

A mob of untrained men from various city-states could not fight as a group of slaves. Antonios thought, but did not say it, he looked at the location of Aguirion, which Xenofannis pointed to: it was on the west side of Mount Etna, starting from Meyaro and following the Alcantara Valley to the Go west to get there. But in this way, the location of Tauromenion poses a threat to this passage. Will only 200 soldiers be sent to defend against the harassment of the Tauromenion people?

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

Serofannis shook his head and said, "I'm afraid it will be difficult. Dionysius handed over Tauromenian to Campania mercenaries to occupy at that time. Although their number was not large, Tauromenian was not a big city. They do not need too many slaves, and they often sell captured exiles to Catanay and Sikuli, and the freedmen will not go to Tauromenian, where both With no ports and no arable land, how do they live?"

Serofannis recalled something, with a look of fear on his face: "I once went to see the city of Tauromenion. It is on the top of the mountain, the terrain is steep, and there is only a winding path to reach it. Our soldiers are going to storm it, I am afraid It will pay a great price, and also—" He didn't finish his sentence, but he was obviously not optimistic that the First Army would be able to capture that mountain city.

Antonios was slightly disappointed.

Serofenes continued: "However, if you attack Sikuli, my lord, the slaves and free people there will certainly be able to help! Dionysius destroyed several city-states, and now the entire southeastern Sicily, except for Thera Kuza and the surrounding city-states, other places have a small population and a small population. As far as I know, not only most of the slaves in many city-states are exiles, but even many free people are exiles, just like the situation in Mayaro , they are always eager to overthrow the rule of Dionysius and rebuild their homeland. The citizens of these city-states also know this situation, but do not take effective measures to prevent it, because their newly acquired lands and ports require Lots of people to take care of…”

As tempting as the situation Serophanes said was, Antonios was not prepared to do so. The reason why he wanted to capture Taolomenion was because he had to do his best to deal with the attack of the Syracuses, and at the same time, it was best to ensure the safety of Meyaro to the north, otherwise the Syracuses would attack from the south, and Tauros would attack from the south. The mercenaries of Meignan attacked from the north, and even the colonists of Locri and Medema in Messina sent reinforcements, and Meyaro was in danger of being completely surrounded.

As for taking the city of Sikuli, it seems very beautiful, but when the enemy is about to come, dispersing one's own forces will lead to a possible two-sided battle. This is a taboo stipulated in the "Dionysian Military Law", Antonios Certainly not making such a mistake.

Antonios thought silently: It seems that the only way is to strengthen the defense against Mayaro, wait for the arrival of those exiles, and decide the next step as the situation develops.

………………………………

When the Spartan messenger Kerisopes returned to Sparta, Mr. Agassi had already received an order from the council of elders to go to Corinth to replace Praxitas and command the Spartan alliance army to continue to attack the city of Corinth.

Kerethorpes reported to the council of elders about the mission.

The Spartan elders who are over 60 years old were surprised by the stubborn attitude of the Dionysians in the face of such predicament, but they still delusionally defeated Syracuse, and what surprised them even more was that Dionia actually defeated the tin Rakuza's navy, this unexpected result made the elders look at each other in dismay.

After a while, the elder Diopetis asked in a deep voice, "Cleethorpes, the Dionysians arrogantly rejected our Spartan friendly proposal, so that the war in Great Greece will continue. Keep it up. You just got back from Greater Greece, looking at what's going on there, what advice do you have?"

"Dear elders, Dionysius is determined to conquer Greater Greece, and Davos is determined to avenge the people. The two sides are like a pair of rams with red eyes. Words alone cannot make them stop fighting. And we Sparta are now in addition to words, if there is no other way to mediate this war, the war in Great Greece will continue until one side falls..." Clethorpes answered truthfully, saying In other words, the prestige of Sparta is not enough to subdue the two major forces in the Western Mediterranean, and they must come up with practical things to make them obey, such as the army.

The elders were silent for a while: most of Sparta's energy is now devoted to this war in Corinth, and a small number of troops are still in Asia Minor, where there is still room to open up another battlefield.

After a long time, the elder Lysipus sighed: It seems that the Syracuses can't help us in the short term! "

Praxitas, as the regent of the Spartan King Agesypolis, attended the council of elders in place of Agesypolis. Who will win this war, Za or Dionia?"

As soon as this question came up, the other elders looked at him in surprise, and the meaning expressed in their eyes was obvious: Do you need to say it! Although Dionia won the naval battle, the final victory still has to be resolved on land, but the gap between the two sides is obvious. The final winner is Syracuse. With an army of 80,000 people, Sparta has never had such a powerful army!

But Kerethopus' expression was hesitant. He thought for a while before saying: "Although Dionysius has an obvious advantage in terms of strength, Dionysus has Davos. Before, Every war in Dionia, looking at the situation before the war, we think they can't win, but in the end they all win, so in a few years Dionia will become a force that we have to do. The important city-state alliance. And now, Davos has repelled the Samone people in central Italy and returned to Turii. It is said that it was under his command that the Dionysian fleet miraculously defeated the far greater Their mighty Syracuse navy. Now he's leading Dionysius' army against the Syracuse army of Dionysius, and it's really hard to judge!"

"Dionysius is not comparable to the stupid generals that Dionysius encountered before!" an elder retorted: "He defeated Carthage!"

"Davos!..." Diopetis sighed: "Kelethorpes, I remember that you suggested to the council to accept him as a guest of Sparta."

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

"I didn't expect that a young man who was inconspicuous a few years ago has now become a figure that gives us a headache in Sparta!" Diopetis turned to face the elders, and said solemnly: "We need to seriously consider Kerisope. Spartan's inference, and we have to consider how we Sparta should respond if Dionia really defeated Syracuse?"

The elders were surprised when they heard this, but they also fell into contemplation. As a result, they found out that although Sparta had little contact with the Dionysian Alliance, the relationship was not very good. On the contrary, they heard that Dioni Asia signed a friendly agreement with Athens, Sparta's mortal enemy. Once Dionia won the Great Greek War, Sparta used to think that the safe rear - the Western Mediterranean was stabbed by it. Da will not only deal with the challenges of its hegemony from traditional powers such as Athens, Thebes, and Corinth, but also guard against the hostility of this powerful city-state alliance in the west. The pressure on Sparta will undoubtedly increase sharply!

Many elders thought of this, and their faces became gloomy.

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

"Let's just let Dionia have no chance of winning!" Another elder said aggressively.

"Then what can we do? Send troops to Greater Greece to support Syracuse?! Now that most of the warriors are concentrated in Corinth, we can still send troops there! Can other allies help? Unfortunately, we used to The attention and support of the Western Mediterranean is on Syracuse, so we know less of Greater Greece than Athens!" Praxitas was annoyed that the elders had removed him from the command of his Spartan Confederate army. The official position of the official, so he mocked: "Oh, yes, there is another Tarantum, our sub-state, but unfortunately Dionia won the naval battle of Syracuse at the same time, it was easily defeated. Get them! Look, this is the Western Mediterranean plan you've been working on for decades, a bunch of shit!"

The elders were speechless for a while.

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

Everyone's eyes immediately converged on Kerethorpes.