Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece

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

Mikaresus watched the fishermen and laborers on both sides of the road watching his departure indifferently. He realized then why he felt a little strange when he came to the pier: when he came to the pier, the fishermen would fight him more or less. Greetings and questions, but everyone except the few fishermen he hired was silent today, and the whole pier was enveloped by a strange silence...

This made him uneasy.

…………………………………

In fact, just as Micalesus rushed to the port, the news that "the Siracusa army was defeated in Great Greece" had begun to spread throughout the city.

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

Compared with the more and more people outside the city hall, the more noisy and noisy, the city hall is quiet and abnormal. There are only a few people in the Chief Executive’s conference room, but all of them look dignified because they are not only The news of the fiasco of Syracuse’s army and the order of the plenipotentiary General Dionysius requesting “Syracuse to send reinforcements”.

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

"No one can win undefeated often, especially with such a difficult cross-sea expedition, as long as the final victory belongs to Syracuse, with the wealth and population of Great Greece, all sacrifices are worth it. Hero Master Lis, are you right?" Intelligence Director Hipparinus looked at him and said coldly.

"Yes, if you can win!" Herolis did not shy away from his compelling gaze, and said in a heavier tone: "But this is only if! The situation is now our Lord Dionysius and Syracuse. Of our citizens are besieged in the Silitium, which takes two or three days away from us, waiting for us to send reinforcements!"

"Masters, I have never doubted the final victory of this war!" Philistos said loudly to dilute the possible conflict between the two: "Donia's performance really surprised me. , But I think they have tried their best to win the battle. And we have enough human and financial resources in Syracuse, as long as we can organize another army and invest in the war of Great Greece, it is not What the Dionysians can resist!"

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

"It's not easy," Philistos said firmly. "But we have to do it. This is a matter of life and death in Syracuse!"

Speaking of which, he set his sights on Marcias, the former Campania mercenary leader appointed by Dionysius as the left-over general: "General, do you think we can recruit more civic soldiers in Syracuse ?"

After thinking a little, Mathias replied: "At least tens of thousands of people. More than 5,000 people can be mobilized outside the city, but inside the city--" Speaking here, Mathias unconsciously looked outside the hall, showing that Worry: "With the current situation, I am afraid it is not easy to mobilize war again."

Mathias refers to "outside the city" not referring to the port and the bay, but the mercenary that Dionysius placed on the outskirts of the city. He gave them citizenship and gave them land, making them to Dionysius Sri Lanka's loyalty is high.Dionysius has repeatedly migrated the conquered city-state population, and has also repeatedly placed campania-based mercenaries to occupy the land forced to abandon by neighboring city-states.In recent years, Syracuse has built dozens of villages outside the city, which has greatly expanded the territory that Syracuse actually controls. It is already the first power in Sicily and even the Western Mediterranean.But this also makes the contradictions between people in the city, people outside the city, and people in the port increasingly serious.

Philistos rubbed his eyebrows and apparently felt headaches for the growing public resentment. He said: "Herolis, you have to do the recruiting in the city."

"Let me go?" Herolis looked at Philistos in surprise.

"I can't help it. The people who like you prefer you, and you will only succeed if you go." Philistos said half-jokingly, but he looked very serious.

Herolis was a little hesitant. He tried to argue several times and stopped talking. Eventually, he reluctantly spread his hand and said, "Well, let me do this."

With his promise, Philistos put down half of his heart, and he continued: "Last time we did not recruit from Jera, Kamalina, Agrigento... These south coast city-states recruited, and now there are still The vacancies of the soldiers will come from them. Lord Kalidmus, the task of'assigning these city-states and letting them send troops' is yours."

Kalidmus, who had been silent on the side, glanced at Siparinus and saw him nod slightly, and then said, "I will immediately rush to these cities to ask for troops!"

As the confidant of Siparinus and Dionysius's confidant, Calidmus served as the courtier after Philistos. When Dionysius was not in the city, he actually had a The secret mission is to check and balance Philistos, so without Siparinus's consent, he will not easily leave Syracuse.

Philistos didn’t seem to see the silent communication between the two. He continued: “The land troops are still okay, but the warships are more troublesome. We don’t have time to build new warships, but we don’t have a powerful warship. Fleet, even if we have more troops, we can’t send them to Great Greece, so when you go to these southern city-states to recruit soldiers, you have to ask them for warships. I want to add the 50 There are many three-tier paddle warships, barely able to form a fleet of 100 warships. But this is not enough, we need more three-tier paddle warships in order to defeat the Dionysian fleet, so I will send The messenger went to Cyrenaica to buy or rent their existing three-tier paddle warship..."

Herolis couldn't help but say: "We have borrowed a large amount of silver and silver from Cyranica and it has not been repaid. How could Cyranica borrow a warship from us?"

"It is because we have not paid back the money that it is possible to get their warship." Philistos laughed.

Herolis immediately understood what he meant: If Cyranica wanted to get back the capital and interest lent to Syracuse, it would be best to help Syracuse to win the war, otherwise Syracuse would be finished, Cyranica will only lose its blood.

"Okay, sirs, please perform your mission immediately. I hope that in five days, we will be able to form the reinforcements and fleet needed by Lord Dionysius!" Gentle, but the order is quite firm.

Everyone left, and Philistos stopped Herolis again: "The troublesome people at the door still need you to convince."

Herolis grinned helplessly again: "Well, I will try. But even if I can dissuade them this time, they will come again next time."

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

"I hope so." Herolismus returned an expressionless expression.

After all these people left, Cyparinus said dissatisfiedly: "Master Philistos, I reminded you that during the time Lord Dionysius led the army to leave Sicily, Heroli Si and Felo Sanus were in close contact with each other, and he even declared at a banquet,'The power of the king is just a fancy shroud!', publicly expressing his dissatisfaction with Lord Dionysius. I I hope you can temporarily imprison him until Lord Dionysius returns. But you not only object, but also give him power, in case—"

"Herolis was drunk at the banquet, there is no need to take it seriously. Besides, I know the people of Felosanus, except for drinking and chatting and saying something dissatisfied, they can't do anything big..." Philisto As a scholar, Si is still relatively familiar with that group. Considering the identity of Siparinus, he patiently persuaded: "Despite some minor problems, Herolis is outstanding, like calming the resentment of the people outside. , And more importantly, to recruit civic soldiers... who can do these things besides him! Under such a bad situation now, he is my best helper!"

"He has such a great influence among civilians. Once he wants to make chaos, the harm will be even greater!" Siparinus said coldly.

"Did you find anything?" Philistos asked.

"Not for the time being. But his slaves have been in and out of the port more often than usual during this time. Now the port is in disorder and there are a lot of rumors. I'm afraid there are spies from Dionysia!"

Cyparinus’s words made Philistos’s expression dignified: “It is your responsibility to monitor the anomalies of the people and ensure the safety of the city-state. I have no right to block them. I will not take into account his friendship with Kuzza’s unusual actions, and will definitely imprison him! After all, if there is a riot in the city of Syracuse, it is the safety of all of us!” Philistos looked cold, and He also reminded Siparinus vaguely: As Dionysius’ most loyal follower and relative, Siparinus’ impression of the people is not much better than Dionysius’s. On board.

"Master Sirparinus, I decided to send two hundred mercenaries to the port, and I hope you can get out the spies hiding in the port of Dionysia as soon as possible, and restore order in the port as soon as possible!"

"I will try my best!"