Chapter 331

The people of Taunis gathered and collectively suggested to the council: the entire city-state should be completely merged into the Kingdom of Dionia, and the citizens of Taunis would become citizens of Dionia.

The council soon decided to convene an emergency citizens' assembly to vote on the issue of "whether to join Dionia."

Voting results: The resolution was passed with more than 90% of citizens in favor.

Taunis immediately sent messengers to Syracuse, showing Cypros the strong will of the Taunis people.

Cypros certainly welcomed it very much, but he said: This matter is of great importance, and he needs to ask King Davos for instructions and report to the Senate.

This matter was quickly learned by the people of Leotinian, who followed suit and sent messengers to Cypros soon after.

During this period, Davos's "Order of Leotidides to lead his troops to the north coast" and the subsequent arrival of the Third Fleet made Leotides and Zantiparis no longer have to worry about having nothing to do .

Cypros, Leotides, Zantiparis, and Midorades soon convened a military meeting.

"His Majesty has sent a letter asking us to carry out military operations on the north coast as soon as possible." As the host of this military meeting, Cypros was very modest: "I hope that at this meeting, a plan can be discussed and submitted to To Your Majesty. Of course, this plan is up to you to decide. Although your expedition will increase the consumption of military rations, and will also cause the cities and towns to lack labor during winter sowing, I will try my best to ensure the army's food and material supply. "

As soon as Cypros finished speaking, Leotidides said: "His Majesty asked us to choose a foothold on the north coast so that the Third Fleet can easily cruise the western waters of Sicily. My plan is to seize the here."

Leotides said, pointing to somewhere on the map.

Palermos! Zantiparis was startled, and quickly said: "Will it be too dangerous? Palermos is a big city-state, not far from the army of Carthage, in case we can't capture it in a short time. This city, and the army of Carthage will soon come to help, we will be in trouble!"

"Neither Seedium, Solus, nor the ruins of Himera have a large enough port to accommodate the Third Fleet, and they must spend manpower and time rebuilding. Only Palermus has the ability to make the Third Fleet work. Reluctance to settle in." Leotidides said this to Midorades, and then he turned to Zantiparis and said, "It's not long since you first arrived in Sicily, and the terrain of Palermos is very important. I don't know much yet, it is surrounded by tall mountains, and there are only three roads on land that lead to the outside world.

A relatively long narrow mountain road connects Eryx to the south, a rough seaside road connects Eryx, and a seaside road to the east leads to Solus. As long as we block the mountain pass and seaside path to the south, we can easily block the reinforcements of Carthage. As for Solus, if we send troops to rescue him, we can just annihilate him, and then take Solus along with him. "

"I heard you say that there are some indigenous warriors in the Carthaginian army who can climb over mountains," Zantiparis reminded.

"Yes, these natives are from Iberia. They once crossed the mountains in the battle of the Carthaginians against Seedium and attacked the rear of the defenders of Seedium, which led to the fall of this friendly city-state. . But as long as we raise our alert, the sudden attack of the Carthaginians is impossible, and the heights of the mountains around Palermos are above 500 or 600 meters, which is not so easy to climb, even if the Iberian natives can Come here, I believe that we are exhausted, we are waiting for the work, just in time to defeat them." Leotiqides said confidently.

"Prosusus, you convinced me." Zantiparis said seriously. The reason why he asked repeatedly just now was just out of caution and wanted to remind Leotizides to pay attention to these problems, although They are also mercenary generals in the expedition to Persia, but he is very different from Amyntas. He has a mild personality and puts his position in the right place. He did not have less seniority than himself because of Leotizides. , he refused to obey the young commander's orders. On the contrary, in the battle against Syracuse, he had been doing his best to implement the orders given by Leotidides, and earnestly assisting him in fighting, as a retired military officer. The veteran at home was able to get what he wanted and was promoted to the commander of the Dionysian Army, and he was very satisfied.

"I also agree with Lord Prosous's plan." Midorades nodded and said, being able to obtain the port of Palermos to dock the Third Fleet, of course he could not ask for it. He looked at Leotidides, then at Zantiparis, a little curious, he had never worked with Leotides before, but had heard something about the young commander , When I saw it today, it was just as rumored that he ignored the superiority and inferiority, liked to go his own way, and acted arbitrarily. Fortunately, he was a navy.

"You are going to attack Palermos, I agree! But don't you all take the soldiers away, don't forget that there are still enemies on Ortigia Island, the main city of Syracuse has just been occupied, not too Stable, there are thousands of prisoners in the city..." Cypros reminded.

"I'll take the seventh and eighth legions to the north coast." Leotizides said simply.

Just two armies? ! You have taken away all the regular troops in the Sicilian territory! ... Cypros murmured in his heart, but fortunately he knew Leotidides and had already prepared: "Can we keep the wounded soldiers in the two legions? On the one hand, it will help them recover, on the other hand, I think Let them temporarily serve as team officers, responsible for training and commanding the citizens of the port area of ​​Syracuse, and the citizens of Taunis and Leotine who will soon join the kingdom.

In addition, can you temporarily lend me the thousands of sets of Greek heavy infantry armor and weapons that you have acquired in previous battles, so as to arm these citizens of the port area, stabilize the order in the city, and guard against the enemies of Ortigia Island. "

Leotides thought for a moment, then nodded in agreement.

At this time, Midorades said: "Lord Cypros, regarding the prisoners in Syracuse, I have a suggestion... The Ninth Legion occupied the city of Saros in Sardinia. Your Majesty hopes that we can Control the production and trade of precious metals on Sardinia Island as soon as possible, which requires a lot of manpower. Can all the prisoners in Syracuse be transported to Saros, and the Ninth Legion can transport the prisoners of Saros to Tin Lacuza, be the labor you need to rebuild Syracuse..."

Cypros' eyes lit up: "This is a good idea! But we must first obtain the consent of His Majesty and the Senate."

The Syracuses never imagined: Decades ago, they took more than 6,000 captive Athenian soldiers to the quarry as labor, and none of them survived. Now the feng shui turns and they become slaves of Dionia. , will go to Sardinia as a mining labor, fate is cruel!

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The news that "the Carthaginian army began to siege the city of Serinus again" came back to Minoa, which attracted the attention of Davos. He ignored Thormid's dissuasion and decided to go to Serinus to check and accompany him. Also Alexis and Amintas.

Escorted by 40 warships, Davos arrived at the port of Serinus.

After receiving the news, the former 8th Corps First Brigade Captain and current Serinus interim military commander Karsidis hurried to the pier to greet him.

"Your Majesty, Salinus interim commander Karsidis salutes you!"

"Thank you, Karsidis! Although today you and I are meeting for the first time, I have been worried about you since I read Prosous's battle report! I am worried that you only rely on three or four thousand irregulars. Soldier, can you defend such an important city of Serinus. But you did, it's amazing!" Davos did not hesitate to praise him.

Karsidis was a little embarrassed, and he said quickly: "Your Majesty, in fact, after Commander Prosius led the army to leave, the city of Serinus was no longer attacked by the Carthaginian army. In addition, Sicily, The fleet has also helped us a lot."

"The Sicilian fleet should do something, and this is also their forward base." Davos said casually, looked around, saw the busy laborers on the pier trestle, and asked, "Are they slaves? Or Serinus?"

"Your Majesty, after we captured the city of Serinus, we gave freedom to the city-state slaves here. Many slaves and freedmen who voluntarily applied to become citizens of Dionia were left by us as laborers in the port, and some were Minoans. The people who escaped after the fall of Agrigento and Agrigento were unwilling to take refuge in Catane, and they were willing to come to Serinus to help defend against the Carthaginians. The real Serinus had long been killed Escorted to Katanai, Naxos... Become a slave of the kingdom, and now there are no Serinus people in the entire Serinus city..."

"Selinus is at the forefront of the war. It is very important to maintain the stability and security of the order in the city. I'm glad you did this." Davers said with approval.

Kalsidis led Davos and his party out of the port and into the city. Then, they were amazed to see that the city was dusty and some Dionian soldiers were demolishing houses near the city walls.

"What is this doing?" Amintas asked immediately.

"There are only nearly 4,000 soldiers living in the city, and most of the houses are vacant. We are going to dig trenches and arrange traps on the land where the houses were demolished. At the same time, we will use the obtained stones and bricks to build an inner wall, so that Even if the Carthaginians break through the city wall outside us, they will not be able to capture the city of Serinus." Karsidis said firmly.