Chapter 207 The Courtiers of Dionysius

Under the control of slaves, the carriage slowly drove away from the fishing pier.

Micalisus watched the fishermen and laborers on both sides of the road watching him leave indifferently, and then he realized the reason why he felt a little strange when he came to the pier before: usually when he came to the pier, the fishermen would fight him more or less. Greetings and greetings, but today, except for the few fishermen he hired, everyone else was silent, and the whole pier was shrouded in a strange silence...

It made him uneasy.

………………………………

In fact, just as Mycalesus was rushing to the port, the news of "the fiasco of the army of Syracuse in Greater Greece" had already begun to spread in the city.

The people of Syracuse who learned this amazing news rushed to the city hall near the square with suspicion and panic, and wanted to question the interim supreme chief Felistos who was in Syracuse at this time to confirm the news. Authenticity.

Compared to the more and more people gathered outside the city hall and the increasingly noisy noise, the city hall is unusually quiet. There are only a few people in the chief executive's meeting room, but all of them are solemn, because they get not only The news of the disastrous defeat of the army of Syracuse, and the order of the plenipotentiary general Dionysius for "Syracuse to send reinforcements."

"It's unbelievable! 80,000 troops, more than 400 warships... Such a powerful force was actually defeated by Dionia, who is not as strong as us!" Herolis sighed, breaking the silence in the room.

"No one can win without defeat, especially in such a difficult cross-sea expedition. As long as the final victory belongs to Syracuse, with the wealth and population of Greater Greece, all sacrifices are worth it. Hero. Lord Lis, are you right?" Chief Intelligence Officer Hiparinus looked at him and said coldly.

"Yes, if we can win!" Haroris said in a serious tone without avoiding his threatening gaze: "But it's only if! The current situation is our Lord Dionysius and Syracuse. Our citizens are besieged in Silitin, which is a two- or three-day voyage away from us, waiting for us to send reinforcements!"

"My lords, I have never had any doubts about winning the final victory in this war!" Philistos spoke loudly to dilute the possible conflict between the two: "Dionia's performance really surprised me. , but I think they tried their best to win the battle. And we in Syracuse still have enough manpower and financial resources. As long as we can organize another army and put it into the war in Great Greece, it is not a problem. What the Dionians can resist!"

"You are right, Philistos." Herolis softened his tone: "But it is not easy to build an army of 20,000 people and hundreds of warships in a very short period of time. arrive."

"It's not easy.

"Philistos said in a firm tone: "But we must do it, this is a major matter related to the life and death of Syracuse!" "

Having said this, he turned his attention to Marcias, the former Campania mercenary leader who was appointed by Dionysius as the remaining general: "General, how many citizens do you think we can recruit in Syracuse? ?"

Marcias thought for a while, and then replied: "At least tens of thousands of people. More than 5,000 people can be mobilized outside the light city, but inside the city—" Speaking of which, Marcias looked out of the hall unconsciously, showing that Concern: "With the current situation, it may not be easy to mobilize for war again."

By "outside the city" he meant not the ports and bays, but the mercenaries that Dionysius had placed on the outskirts of the city, and he had given them citizenship and land, which made them more interested in Dionysius. loyalty is high. Dionysius relocated the population of conquered city-states many times, and also placed mercenaries, mainly Campania, on many occasions, allowing them to occupy lands that neighboring city-states had been forced to abandon. In the past few years, Syracuse has newly established dozens of villages outside the city, which has caused the territory actually controlled by Syracuse to expand rapidly, and it has become the well-deserved first powerful state in Sicily and even the Western Mediterranean. But this also makes the contradiction between the people inside the city, the people outside the city, and the people in the port more and more serious.

Philistos rubbed his brows, obviously feeling a headache from the growing public grievances, and said, "Herolis, it's up to you to recruit troops in the city."

"Let me go?" The passenger flow looked at Philistos in surprise.

"I can't help it either. Who tells the people to like you better? Only you can succeed if you go." Philistos said half-jokingly, but his expression was very serious.

Haroris hesitated a few times, wanted to argue several times, but hesitated, finally he helplessly spread his hands and said, "Okay, leave this to me."

With his promise, Philistos let go of half of his heart, and he continued: "Last time we did not recruit from Gera, Camerina, Agrigento... these city-states on the south coast, and now there are leftovers. The vacancies of the soldiers will be taken from them. Lord Kalidmus, the task of 'sending out these city-states and sending troops' will be left to you."

Callidmus, who had been silent all the time, peeked at Hiparinus, and when he saw him nodding slightly, he said, "I will immediately rush to ask these city-states for the troops to go on the expedition!"

As a relative of Hyparinus and a confidant of Dionysius, Calidemus served as a courtier second only to Philistos in power. When Dionysius was not in the city, he actually had a The secret mission is to check and balance Philistos, so he will not leave Syracuse easily without the consent of Hiparinus.

Philistos didn't seem to see the silent communication between the two, and continued: "The land troops are fine, but the warships are much more troublesome, we don't have time to build new warships, but there is no powerful Fleet, even if we have more troops, we can't send them to Greater Greece, so when you go to these city-states to the south to recruit soldiers, you must also ask them for warships, I think plus these 50 in the port Multiple triple oars, barely enough to form a fleet of a hundred warships. But this is not enough, we need more triple oars to be able to defeat the Dionysian fleet, so I will send The messengers go to Cyrenaica to buy or lease their existing triple oars..."

Haroris couldn't help but said, "We have not repaid the large sum of gold and silver we borrowed from Cyrenaica. How could Cyrenaica be lending us warships?!"

"It is because we didn't pay back that it was possible to get their warships." Philistos laughed.

Herolis immediately understood what he meant: if Cyrenaica wanted to get back the capital and interest lent to Syracuse, it was best to help Syracuse win the war, otherwise Syracuse would be finished. Cyrenaica will only lose everything.

"Okay, my lords, please go and carry out your mission immediately. I hope that in five days, we will be able to form the reinforcements and fleet that Lord Dionysius needs!" Soft, but the order is quite firm.

Everyone said goodbye and left, but Philistos stopped Herolis again: "The people who are making trouble at the door still need you to persuade."

Haroris smiled helplessly again: "Okay, I'll try. But even if I can persuade them this time, they will come again next time."

"The situation will change next time!" Philistos said confidently.

"I hope so." Haroris replied expressionlessly.

After these people had all left, Hiparinus said dissatisfiedly: "Lord Philistos, I reminded you that during the time Lord Dionysius led his army to leave Sicily, Harori He had close contacts with those of Philothanus, and he even declared at a banquet, 'The kingship is nothing but a fancy shroud!', publicly expressing his dissatisfaction with Lord Dionysius. I I hope you can keep him imprisoned for a while until Lord Dionysius returns. But you not only object, but you give him power, in case--"

"Herolis said something drunk at the banquet, so there's no need to take it seriously. Besides, I know the people of Philosanus very well, except for drinking, chatting, and saying something dissatisfied, they can't do anything big..." Felisto As a scholar, he had a good understanding of that group, and considering the identity of Hiparinus, he patiently persuaded: "Herolis has some minor flaws, but he has outstanding abilities, like calming the grievances of the people outside. , What's more important is the recruitment of civilian soldiers... In addition to him, who else can do these things well! In such a bad situation, he is my best helper!"

"He has so much influence among the civilians, and once he wants to make trouble, the harm will be even greater!" said Hiparinus coldly.

"Have you found anything?" Philistos asked.

"Not yet. However, his slaves have entered and exited the port more frequently than usual during this time. Now the port is in chaos and there are many rumors. I am afraid that Dionia's spies are making troubles in it!"

The words of Hiparinus made Philistos' expression become solemn: "It is your responsibility to monitor the abnormality of the people and ensure the safety of the city-state. I have no right to stop it. Kuza's unusual actions, I will not take into account the friendship with him, he will definitely be imprisoned! After all, once there is a riot in Syracuse, it will threaten the safety of all of us!" Philistos looked cold and severe, and at the same time It is also vaguely reminding Hyparinus: as Dionysius' most loyal follower and relative, Hyparinus' impression among the people is not much better than that of Dionysius. on board.

"Lord Hiparinus, I decided to send 200 mercenaries to the port, and I hope you can find out Dionia's spy hidden in the port as soon as possible, and restore order in the port as soon as possible!"

"I'll try my best!"