Chapter 288
Cypros said sincerely: "Lord Prosous, don't worry, I will not interfere with your military command!"
Since it had been a pleasure working with Cypros over the years, Leotizides nodded in agreement.
Davos smiled and encouraged them: "I hope to attack Syracuse this time, Prosous, you can continue to cooperate well with Cypros, capture Syracuse as soon as possible, and solve this hidden danger in the rear of the army. , and then lead the army to the west to join me."
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After the conversation, Davers left Cypros alone again.
When Cypros thought that Davos was going to give a face-to-face interview on the political plan of Syracuse just now, Davos asked in a deep voice, "How is the mood of the people in the city now?"
"Huh?" Cypros froze for a moment.
"From the outbreak of the war to this day, the territory of Sicily has suffered a lot of losses, especially Catanay. Not only have the houses and fields been damaged, property has been looted, but also the citizens have suffered the most casualties. They must have a lot of complaints against the kingdom. Right?!" Davos asked again with a heavy expression.
Cypros has come to his senses and understood what Davos was worried about, he said truthfully: "Your Majesty, if the war with Carthage broke out a few years ago, the territory of Sicily would likely be turbulent and chaotic, but After the 'Laodisian Incident' broke out, Your Majesty decisively dealt with a group of illegal officials and old nobles in the Sicilian territory, readjusted the land policy, strengthened the governance of the cities in Sicily, and let the Eighth Legion conquer again. The rebellious Sikelians, the Sicilian territory has become more stable. After several years of development, the Sicilian people have also become more loyal to the kingdom.
However, even so, when the war broke out and the people learned that the Carthaginian army had landed in Sicily, and the kingdom had not sent reinforcements, there were still some complaints, believing that the kingdom did not pay enough attention to this place and ignored their safety. Fortunately, Lord Prossius severely damaged the Carthaginian army in Minoa, and the 3rd fleet defeated the Carthaginian fleet on the north coast, giving the people some confidence in this war.
But then a storm devastated the Sicilian fleet, causing grief for the people of Catane as more than 5,000 sailors from Catane died at sea. After that, Prosusus failed in the battle of Gera, and the Carthaginian army invaded the Catania plain and caused massive destruction. The people were extremely angry and lost their minds. They gathered at the city hall to protest and demanded that Prosus lead the The team went out of the city and drove away the Carthaginian cavalry who were raging on the plains. Fortunately, Xenofannis quietly let his subordinates guide public opinion secretly, and the officials tried their best to appease them, and the situation was brought under control.
Later, Palagonia was burned,
While the people of Qartane were mourning for the 2,000 citizens of Qartane who died in battle, many people also realized that if Prosus hadn't been holding on to the city, Qartane might have suffered the same tragic fate, so there are Some people even went to the city hall to apologize.
Your Majesty, I'm so sorry! Since you arrived in Katanai a day earlier, when most of the people in Katanai were paying homage to their relatives who died in battle, it was too late to organize, so the scene to greet you at the port was a bit cold. But that doesn't mean the people of Qatanai have something against you.
As far as I know, they are very excited to hear the news of your arrival with your army, because it means that they can finally get rid of the threat of the Carthaginians and start rebuilding their homeland, and they are eager to avenge them. You must know that the people of the whole city hate the Carthaginians very much! "
After listening to Davos, he was silent for a while, and then asked softly, "How many people have been killed by Catane's citizens so far?"
"Including the crew members who drowned in the two naval battles, there are about 10,000 people, and more than 2,000 people are injured and unable to fight again."
Davos sighed: "For this war, the people of Catane have paid a lot of sacrifices! But now the treasury is too tight, I'm afraid it won't be able to give enough compensation to the families of the deceased in a short time, so...you Give me a list of dead citizens, and try to get the families of dead and wounded soldiers and sailors to the local council meeting where I will be there to express condolences and thanks."
"Your Majesty, you condolences to them in person, they will definitely feel very comforted! But—" Cypros looked embarrassed: "The venue of the local council can only accommodate 400 people at most, and the number of dead and injured family members far exceeds 10,000. Man, I'm afraid—"
"Then let them enter the venue in batches, and I will offer my condolences in batches."
"But then, Your Majesty, you—" Cypros said worriedly.
Davos understood what he was worried about, and said firmly: "Don't worry about me, they lost their relatives for the sake of the kingdom, there is nothing more sad than this! As long as they can get some comfort, I'm not tired at all. What kind of."
"I understand, Your Majesty, I will make arrangements." Cypros stood up and gave a respectful salute.
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Day 2 at noon, Dionysian 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 6th, 7th, 8th, Lucania Reserve, 1st, 2nd, Most of the soldiers of the Fourth Cavalry Corps, the Roman Reserve Brigade, and the Mountain Scout Brigade arrived in front of the city of Paragonia, and then according to the instructions, the troops spread out and surrounded it, and began to enter the city cautiously.
A month ago Palagonia was a new fortress with complete defenses, but now it has become a ruin: traps cleared, deer villages pulled, trenches filled, and arrows still visible from time to time Arrows, javelins, stone bullets, swords and spears, the soil under the city even turned blood red, dried up and caked, and the sturdy outer city walls turned into ruins. Soldiers did not need to go through the city gates to enter the city. But they have to be careful, because the broken walls are still dropping stones and dust from time to time...
After entering the city, the soldiers were stunned: there were no houses, no streets, everything was turned to ashes, and the eyes were black.
Max followed his comrades, carefully bypassing the piles of ruins that had turned into coke, and the lamenting words of his comrades sounded in his ears. After the frequent interaction and language stimulation in the past few days, he could roughly understand "fire, battle" and so on. The Greek words, combined with the scene seen outside the city, he was also shocked in his heart: what a tragic battle took place here!
Not long after, they came to the inner city wall, which was also a ruined wall, and the wall was charred black. Passing through the gap and entering the inner city, the ground turned from black to blood red again.
In the center of the inner city, stands a half-collapsed tower. On the ground around the tower, there are many criss-crossing wooden pillars. The sharp-eyed soldiers can clearly see the blood on the wooden pillars and the iron residues at both ends. Nails and ropes, a terrible image suddenly appeared in my mind, and there was a commotion in the team.
At this moment, Davos, dressed in military uniform, climbed to the top of the emergency repaired tower, followed by more than a dozen voice transmitters.
Each team gradually quieted down. Under the command of the team officers, the soldiers formed a denser queue with the tower as the center.
Max looked up at the tower like the rest of the soldiers. This was the second time he had seen King Dionia, but unlike at the bonfire, he looked majestic.
"Citizens of Dionia!" Davos's voice was loud and full of energy, but his speech rate was slow, this was to ensure that the voice transmitter could accurately help him speak: "The land you are standing on now , In the place that was guarded by the first brigade of the Seventh Legion and the two reserve brigade of Catanay a month ago, there were only 3,000 soldiers in total, but the enemy they faced was the 100,000 army of Carthage.
However, these warriors were not afraid. They repelled the fierce attacks of the enemy many times and resisted the Carthaginian army for more than 20 days! At the most dangerous time, they even risked their lives to ignite a fire in the city, inflicting heavy damage on the Carthaginians. In the end, because of the huge disparity in their strength, Carthage used human sea tactics to capture the small city. ... But these warriors fought to the end, and none of them surrendered, pouring all their blood on the land! "
Hearing these words, the soldiers lowered their heads subconsciously and stared at the reddish-brown ground.
In fact, not all the defenders of Palagonia were killed. When the inner city was broken and the Carthaginians rushed into the tower, there were not many left, and the extremely tired and scarred Dionian soldiers chose Surrender, but after the Carthaginians captured them, they carried out cruel punishment, and Davos beautified them all here.
"Carthaginians! Fierce and cruel Carthaginians!" Davos said angrily: "They actually committed heinous acts! They even nailed the remains of the warriors to the cross! Yes, those wooden stakes erected in front of you! When the reinforcements came to clean up the battlefield, their remains were already appalling!"
There was a commotion among the soldiers under the tower, and the sound of indignation broke out.
Davos waited deliberately for a while, and then shouted impassively: "The Carthaginians who claim to have the most splendid culture in the Western Mediterranean, why did they do such evil deeds that even barbarians would not do?! It's because Our warriors blocked the Carthaginian army here for more than 20 days with their flesh and blood, sabotaging the plan of the Carthaginians to capture Catane and expel the people of the kingdom from Sicily! Because our warriors only rely on this This small city caused casualties to the Carthaginian army that far exceeded their numbers! It is because our warriors stationed here only have 3,000 people. Facing the storm of 100,000 people, they have created such a brilliant record. This made the Carthaginians panic!