Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece

Fidun hurried to Taorina, preparing to take the remaining Lijim troops stationed there to Medema to participate in the siege.

In order to prevent the Lockley army from attacking from the rear again while the coalition forces were attacking the city, Hilos also sent a large team to build a simple wooden cottage to block the mountain road leading to Lockley, and sent a reconnaissance team to monitor the movement of the Lockley people at all times.

Hilos, who had some siege experience, led the army slowly and methodically to implement his siege plan, but the civic soldiers who returned to Lockley did not immediately go to the northern border to repel the invading Coronian .

Due to the capture of Diopantos, Lockley’s army needed a new general, but Demodokas appointed one of his confidantes, but was opposed by everyone in the council. The reason was: Lockley In a period of crisis, a person with military abilities is desperately needed to lead a civilian soldier to defend Lokri, but Demodokas's candidate lacks war experience, has no prestige in the army, and is difficult to order soldiers. Once the battle fails, Locke The only unit will be lost, so be careful!

This is the second time in two days that the council has refuted Demodokas’ proposal, which has never happened before.Demodokas endured the anger and saw the MPs unanimously elected Macaris.The old man of McGarris led the army to fight Crotone many times more than ten years ago, with many victories.In recent years, he has been squeezed by Demodokas and has to stand aside.

At this time, in the face of the strong demands of the crowd, Demodokas had to agree to this appointment and let his political enemy serve as the army coach, but he was deeply cold.

McGarris immediately rectified the team and led more than 6,000 people to attack the enemy.

After burning down a village, the Coronian army did not meet the enemy directly, but quickly retreated back to the border of their city-state territory, but did not stay away. Instead, they camped and continued to deter Lockley.

The cautious McGarris worried about the conspiracy of the Coronians, afraid of ambush in the middle, not attacking, and also standing on the border, the two sides formed a confrontation.

………………………………

In the early morning, the people of Lijim flocked to the port, not only to bid farewell to the Dionysian Fleet and the First Army, but also to the nearly 1,000 soldiers and family members who had just joined the Sicilian cross-sea team.

Most of them were the fugitives of the Sicilian city-states that were broken by Syracuse, such as Katana and Naxos.In the past, in order to contend with Syracuse's two new city-states (Messina and Tindarris) across the strait, Lijim built cities for them on the Mile Peninsula.But unexpectedly, the Siracusa army moved quickly, and soon it broke through the new city. Some people were arrested, some fled into the mountains, and some were rescued by the Ligis, and were taken back to the city by boat.

Now the Lijims have prayed that this unit will go well in Sicily, and do not repeat the same mistakes.

The Dionysian Fleet and dozens of Ligem ships sailed out of the port together. In front of the fleet was the Sekerian’s ship. The young Dionysian naval commander stood on the side of the ship, looking out across the shore. There was a trace of regret in front of his finger, and he said to Antonios, the chief of the First Army who was riding his warship: "Messina is not far in front, why don't we take him first! It's very close to Lijim, very With easy access to Lijim’s support, after capturing Messina, we can block the strait and completely destroy the warships in the port!"

Antonius squinted at Sekelian's appearance of scolding Fang Qi. He knew the young man was aggressive and arrogant.If it is Amintas here, he will definitely be criticized: "What right does your navy have to point fingers at the legion!"

But Antonios will not do this. In fact, when Daveus asked his opinion, his initial consideration was to land on the Mile Peninsula between Tindaris and Messina. Both of these city-states were newly built. Not too strong, and far away from Syracuse, it is easy to be taken down as their forward base in Sicily (the original city of Messina was captured when the army led by Carthage Commander Simirko attacked Syracuse. And destroyed, Dionysius rebuilt the city two years ago when he led his army north and expelled the Carthaginians from the north coast).

"I also considered this before, but it was opposed by His Majesty." Antonios said softly.

"Oh, why?" When Seckrian heard the word "His Majesty", the expression of dissatisfaction on his face disappeared for the most part.

"Time." Antonios spit out a word: "'It takes about a few days to attack Messina, and in these few days, the Syracuse people got the news that we are attacking Sicily' , We will definitely prepare for defense, and when we go south to attack, the difficulties we will encounter will increase. Messina is too far from Syracuse, and its fall will not cause too much to Syracuse’s sphere of influence. Great influence, we must take advantage of Siracusa’s lack of preparedness to attack the nearby city-states, causing panic and chaos to the area he controls, and chaos will give rise to more opportunities...'This is His Majesty's original words ."

Seckrian listened carefully and sighed, "Your Majesty has considered everything! But in this way, our risk becomes greater.

Antonios smiled: "Are you afraid of these difficulties?"

Seckrian immediately said arrogantly: "I was hoping that the fleet in the port of Syracuse would be attracted, so that my fleet could defeat them, and let the Dionysian navy be the master of this sea area!"

The two laughed confidently.

The fleet traveled south along the east coast of Sicily, and they encountered many merchant ships along the way. They saw this large-scale mixed fleet, especially the "gems, black hair, double forks" painted on the sails. The signs were shocked one after another, foreboding that something big happened, some hurriedly retreated, and some turned around to speed up the return south, apparently preparing to go back and report.

Sekelian was sitting in the flagship, unmoved, his fleet was already sailing at the fastest speed, not far from the destination.

And Antonios has been looking at the coast from the side of the ship. He has never been to Sicily before, and what he sees on the map is completely different from being on the ground.

Daveus once told him: from Messina south to Taormone, the land road can only take the narrow path near the coast, and this road is as long as thirty or forty miles."

Now it seems to be true, because the voyage from Lijim port has been for three hours in a row. In his eyes, the mountains on the other side have not been broken, overlapping and continuous, and it looks soothing and clear. Pleasing to the eye, like a picture.But Antonios knows this is because it is five or six miles away from him. According to experience, these peaks are not less than a thousand meters high, and it is indeed difficult to climb.

"Sir Antonios, that's Tauro Menion." A middle-aged man next to him pointed to the opposite bank.

This man was called Laodisian. He was originally a noble of Naxos. After Naxos fell, he led his family to flee to the Sicilian inland, and near Aguilian, gathered with other city-state exiles and gradually formed A larger village.Due to the constant harassment of the Syracuse allies and the hatred of the Sikels, their lives have been quite difficult.Later, when he heard that Li Jim was going to build a new city for these exiles, he happily went.Unexpectedly, the rapid reaction of the Syracuse people destroyed the newly built Milai New Town. Some of his relatives also died in the war, and he fled to Lijim.

Despite the twists and turns, his determination to rebuild his homeland has not changed, but has become stronger.So when he heard that Dionia was about to attack Sicily, he took the remaining relatives to find Antonios and asked to join.

At this time, Antonios heard the words and looked at him: I saw a city standing on the highland near the coast. The most strange thing is that it is a twin city. Both stone fortresses are located on the highland, forming a horn. It is easy to defend and difficult to attack and to guard this narrow coastal passage.

"I heard that this is a city built by the Carthage for the Sikels?" Antonios recalled some brief information about the city and asked uncertainly.

"Yes, in order to win over the Sikels, General Carthage Shimirko asked these indigenous people to join him when Carthage attacked Syracuse before they built Tauromenian for the Sikels. …” Laodisian said with some gloating: “Later, when the Syracuse tyrant attacked Tauromenian, he was unable to use the siege equipment because of the steep terrain. People surrendered voluntarily before they got it. Now the masters of this city are those nasty Campania mercenaries!"

Antonios listened to his commentary and watched Tauromenian stunned: if he had chosen to attack Messina first, even if he succeeded, he would not be able to break Tauromenion from the road and enter Syracuse. The core area of ​​control, but only by sea... and the Sikels are a force that King Davers suggested that he can contact...

"... offensive to Sicily, you have to remember,'three points depend on the military, and seven points depend on diplomacy.'..." Anthony thought back to Davos' solemn reminder before leaving.

The fleet continued to move forward, and Antonios' vision suddenly widened: the mountains that had made people sleepy disappeared, and the rolling hills appeared, and the terrain became flatter towards the south...

Anthony's eyes were attracted by the farther view on the land: it was a majestic mountain. Even if it was nearly 20 miles away, its towering mountain was still so clear, showing a huge trapezoid, straight into the sky, as if it were standing on top of the sky. A pillar.Even more bizarre is that the other peaks are all emerald green, and it is gray, but it is ancient and mysterious. This is the legendary Hevistos' melting pot for the magic weapon-Sicily’s Mount Etna .