Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece

Daphes could feel the heavy expectations in their words, he smiled and said: "For the Syracuses, you don’t have to worry. What you should worry about is that after defeating the Syracuses, do we have Enough manpower to manage the land in southern Greece!"

While the veterans were stunned, Davers turned his head and looked deeply at the river hills in the east of Turiyi. He knew that his wife and children must be staring here too, looking forward to his early return. ...

"Let's go." He coughed slightly, turned his horse's head, and took the guard to the wooden bridge.

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The soldiers of Syracuse burned and looted all night in the city of Crotone. The main victims of the heavy disaster were the free people and the Gentiles in the port area, and nearly half of the Crotone people who failed to escape into the Acropolis in time .

By noon the next day, most of the Syracuse soldiers were still sleeping in military camps or houses in Crotone to restore the excessive physical exertion yesterday.

Dionysius got up early in the morning and led his men to start military affairs.

The first thing that needs to be solved urgently is the wounded.Although the results of yesterday were brilliant, their losses were also great.According to preliminary statistics last night, more than 5,000 soldiers were killed and seriously injured in the war of war, and more than 4,000 soldiers were slightly injured in varying degrees. After this battle was defeated, Syracuse lost about 18 troops.A series of tedious tasks such as treating the wounded, replenishing the soldiers, and reorganizing the troops should be completed as soon as possible.

For the most time-consuming and laborious cleaning of the battlefield and burial of corpses, it is the easiest to complete.It is only necessary to use the tens of thousands of Crotone people who have become captives as labor.How many prisoners cried when they carefully sorted out the remains of the Crotone soldiers who died inside and outside the city walls!How many captives dragged the corpses of the Syracuse soldiers quietly kicked and scolded, venting their anger!

For Dionysius, this is not what he cares about too much. The second thing he cares about is the Acropolis of Crotone.This Acropolis is located in the south of the center of Crotone, built on a hill. The Acropolis has the largest Apollo temple group in Greater Greece, so the Acropolis of Crotone is also among the great Greek city-states. biggest.

Although the defensive and retreat of the city was the ultimate defensive strategy often adopted by the Greek city-states, Dionysius should have taken precautions. However, after the city wall was broken last night, the soldiers of Syracuse caused fierce fighting during the day. Sexuality, crazy killing and looting in the city, and because of the darkness, Dionysius could not effectively command the troops, resulting in delays in the fighter plane, resulting in more than half of Crotonians (including many soldiers) Fleeing into the Acropolis under the organization of Milon and Lucias, this made the Acropolis full of manpower defense.

At the same time, the Acropolis is high and surrounded by urban dwellings. Large siege equipment cannot reach under the city walls.Unless the surrounding houses and buildings are removed and a strong and wide causeway is built to fill up the hills, the siege towers and siege cars can reach the bottom of the city, otherwise the soldiers will attack from the bottom up, not only will be injured or killed It is heavy and difficult to succeed.

However, this kind of siege requires a long time to prepare, and Dionysius is now lacking the most time, because he has to lead the army to attack Dionysia, he will never allow his biggest enemy to have more Take a breather to stabilize the territory and form more troops.

As a result, Dionysius sent a messenger to threaten the lives of the captive Crotone people and soldiers and surrender the Crotone people in the Acropolis.

However, Crotonians hiding in the Acropolis came to a stand last night, witnessed all the atrocities committed by the Syracuses in the city, and spent the night in the heartbreaking wailing of their compatriots. The Syracuses were both fearful and hateful, plus the tyranny of the Syracuses in the Silitium, so they regarded the Syracuses as "cannibal beasts" and did not believe what the messengers said "as long as Become a Syracuse ally, send troops to join Syracuse’s army, and Dionysius will release all Crotone captives and return Crotone city.”

In order to prevent the Syracuse from invading and looting by the Siracusa, protect the people who are fleeing to the Acropolis, do their utmost to reorganize the defeated soldiers, fight with the enemy on the streets of the city, and eventually die.The Crotone who lost the highest military general, in grief, urgently elected Milon, who saved them, as the general general, and neither of them had any objection to Lucias.At this time, the high-level Crotone leaders headed by Lucias and Milon not only categorically rejected the request of the messenger, but also cut off the messenger's ears and courage to show their courage and determination to fight the Syracuse. Nose, drove him off the Acropolis.

When the messenger covered the bloody wound and cried to Dionysius, he did not show much anger, but only a deep sneer: "Stupid Crotone, you think you are hiding on that hill , I can’t take you anyway?! Hiding tens of thousands of people in that little acropolis, it is indeed possible to improve the defense, but can you defend against hunger and thirst!"

Indeed, the food consumption of tens of thousands of people is a huge amount. It is impossible for the people on the mountain to carry a lot of rations. Even if Milong is prepared in advance, it will not be guaranteed for a few days.What makes the Crotone people worry is that there is no water on the hill. Usually the water used by the priests of the temple comes from the reservoir in the temple. Because of the heavy rain a few days ago, the reservoir was full, but for tens of thousands of people Demand, it is nothing more than a salary.

Therefore, Dionysius ordered that a small number of troops be sent to surround the Acropolis of Crotone.

He believed that Crotonians would go down the mountain and surrender in the absence of water and food.

He also wanted to order the ballista to fire stone bombs at the Acropolis to increase the Crotonite's fear and force him to surrender as soon as possible.But thinking about it, there is the Temple of Apollo in the Acropolis. If you deliberately destroy it, it may affect the morale of the soldiers.Moreover, the last sudden rainstorm also made him always arrogant. At this critical moment, he did not want to make any more accidents.

Dionysius knew in his heart that the Crotonians hid in the Acropolis, and hoped for the rescue of the Dionysians.Dionysia was the target of the Siracusa army's upcoming attack, but the soldiers who had just undergone a tragic siege battle needed to take a break. He could only continue to send cavalry soldiers to the north to investigate the enemy.

The greedy Numisbians and Celtics vented their dissatisfaction because they were unable to participate in the looting of the city last night.

Dionysius didn't get angry, and he specially presented many spoils of these aliens.Because Pididas once said: against the Dionysians in the wild, these alien cavalry are a weapon.

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A clipper entered the port of Crotone.

"General, Dionia's fleet is here!" The captain hurriedly reported to Leptinis, who was inspecting the military port and commanding the moored ships.

The Syracuse Navy just moved into the Crotone Military Port this morning.Compared to the Silitium, Crotone’s military port is much larger and can accommodate more warships, and its location is closer to the Dionysian territory, allowing the Siracusa navy to understand Dioni quickly. The movement of the Asian Fleet is better coordinated with the land forces.

It was just that the fleet had just entered, and the sailors had not completely disembarked, and the fleet of Dionysian attacked.Leptinis is now drumming in his heart, still maintaining calm on the surface: "How many warships are coming?"

Judging the number of ships at sea is much more difficult than investigating the number of people on land, because a fleet of hundreds of warships often occupies a range of five or six nautical miles when sailing on the surface of the sea. After all, human sight is limited, and there is no limit to the endless sea. It is a hidden place for hiding, so it needs to be observed closely, which requires a lot of risk.

"Well... it feels about the same amount as in the last battle." The captain can only give a rough idea.

Then he emphasized again: "The suspension masts are hanging on the front masts of the Dionysian ships!"

Upon hearing this, Leptinis panicked, and the fiasco a few days ago came back to him.

Facing the battle or not?He could not decide for a while, but ran to the city to ask Dionysius.

Dionysius learned that the Dionyan Fleet was coming, pondered for a moment, and resolutely issued an order: fight!

In this regard, he has several considerations.

First of all, since the reconnaissance situation is that the Dionyan fleet is not much different from the previous number, and they are equipped with the so-called suspension bridge, it means that the previous analysis is correct. Due to the number of sailors and the difficulty of modifying the warship, Dai The Onyas also used the original warships. In terms of the number of three-layer plasma warships, the Siracusa navy still prevailed slightly.

Secondly, as a commander, Dionysius knew how much morale had affected the combat effectiveness of the soldiers. The Navy of Syracuse was defeated not long ago. If he did not make up for it with victory in time and chose to give in, It is undoubtedly "to extinguish your own prestige and increase the popularity of the enemy", then when you encounter the Dionysian fleet in the future, the Syracuse Navy will undoubtedly be a dwarf in fighting spirit.

In addition, the large army of Syracuse is concentrated in Crotone. After a hard day yesterday, it is under recuperation. If the Dionysian fleet is allowed to cross the sea of ​​Crotone and sail towards the empty rear of the force, For example, the landing near the coast near the city-states such as Silitian or Kaurnia, which was not sincere, will cause the Siracusa army to be very passive, so Dionysius will never allow such a situation.

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Although this was Secrian's second time to lead the fleet, but in his heart, this was the first time he had independently led the team. Without King Davis around, there was no sense of restraint.