Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece

Seeing that the turmoil in the city was intensifying, the high priest of the Temple of Apollo was very worried. Although he had only been a high priest for a few years, it was far from the previous high priest who had a great influence on Syracuse. With the efforts of the priests, the forces of Syracuse resolved the differences and contributed to today’s political structure, so that Syracuse was restored and peaceful, so the prestige was high), but he decided to learn from his predecessors and do his best. With the greatest efforts, the order of Syracuse has returned to stability.

To this end, he took the initiative to find Tiagenis and Falekus, and persuaded them to stop attacking each other, otherwise it would only give the enemy in the north an opportunity.

In fact, after learning about the chaos in the city, Teaguenes and Falecus were both afraid. After all, tens of thousands of Dionysian troops were staring at the north. If there was a civil unrest in Syracuse, then But it is dangerous!

It happened that a high priest came to persuade, and the two successively descended their donkeys, saying that they were willing to reconcile for Syracuse.

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On the early morning of the third day, the MPs of Syracuse entered the venue with serious expressions. Before the meeting began, there was a sudden news: a Dionysian army left the city of Katane, facing south March, the number of people exceeds 50,000.

The parliamentarians were suddenly tense: Is Dionysia attacking us?!

When everyone was panicking, Ty Agnes stood up, offered his favor to Falekus, and spoke generously, reminding everyone not to be fooled by the Dionysians, they should unite and defend with all their might. attack.

Farekus and other neutral parliamentarians responded positively to this and began to actively discuss how to deal with the upcoming war.

There were no more quarrels in the venue, and they were even more harmonious than in previous meetings, as if the quarrels, abuses and conflicts here had never happened yesterday.

However, the generals with political literacy can reach a compromise in the face of crisis, and let the council restore order, it does not mean that ordinary people can easily do it, not to mention that they have not changed the situation in the council, although The city hall sent additional patrols, but there were still clashes in the city, which caused a tragedy.

Several young men who supported Ty Agnes had a dispute with a group of neutralists, and finally led to a fight. They were outnumbered and beaten.

When the patrol arrived and dispersed the crowd, a young man stabbed in the chest with a dagger and fell into the pool of blood, and no one could see who had assassinated him.

The patrol didn't know how to deal with the incident for a while, but the people who supported the democrats had rushed to the scene one after another, seeing the tragic phenomenon, excited by the crowd, and demanding to punish the murderers.

When the news reached the meeting, the originally lively venue suddenly became calm, and both the democratic and neutral parties were conducting emergency consultations on their own. What measures should be taken to satisfy both their supporters and Syracuse? The crisis will not cause turmoil.

At this moment, the sentry sent another message: Dionysia's army passed the ruins of Paragonia and continued south, and the leading cavalry might have approached Jera.

The parliamentarians were stunned, and all of them burst into joy, and some people even burst out cheering: "It turned out that the Dionysian army was not going to fight Syracuse, but to attack the Carthage!"

Without the dark clouds of war, the atmosphere of the meeting suddenly became relaxed.

At this time, Taagnis stood up and pointed out: "Since there is no way to know who the real murderer is, the neutral supporters involved in the fight are guilty and should be arrested and tried!"

Of course, Falecus and others resolutely opposed, and the quarreling sounded again in the venue.

It didn’t take long for Cerberus’s speech to intensify the contradiction between the democrats and the neutrals who had already subsided. He said: “Although the Dionysians have begun to attack the Carthaginians, our Thira Kuzia is still in a hostile state with Dionia, in order to ensure that there will be no accidents in the future, and in order to allow the Dionyans to attack the Carthage with all their strength, it is necessary for us to temporarily restore friendship with Dionia. I think-the conditions given by the Dionysians must also be fulfilled!"

The condition given by the Dionysians is to ask the Syracuse Council to punish Falecus and others!Suddenly, the storm in the venue became bigger and bigger.

Although Hiktas did not participate in it, the democrats and the neutrals attacked each other, and the contents revealed made him feel grieved and distressed. He understood a lot of things that he did not understand before: why some originally agreed port civilians At the meeting, the legislators suddenly supported a resolution that was not favorable to civilians in the port?Why did the civilian population of the port gradually become disunited and led to division?...

At dusk, Hiktas was desperately returning to the port house, but his family told him that a civilian said that he had something to look for him and was waiting in the hall.

As a general of the port civilians, Hiktas often met some port civilians and even free people at home, listened to their opinions and requests, and tried to help them solve some difficulties.

While the slave was preparing dinner, he decided to see the man first.

Seeing Hiktas walking into the living room, the civilian stood up and saluted.

Hiktas saw that he looked ordinary and had no impression in his mind. He hadn't seen it before, so he asked, "What's your name? What's the matter with me?"

There was a hint of mysterious smile on the ordinary man's face, and he said softly: "Sir Hiktas, Lord Antrapolis asked me to say hello to you!"

Hiktas's long memory was stirred by this sentence. His heart shook, and his turbid eyes suddenly became sharp, looking directly at the man.

The man looked straight at him.

Soon, Hiktas reacted, turned around and solemnly said to the confidant servant: "You go out first and tell others that you are not allowed to enter without my order!"

After waiting for the servant to go out, Hiktas asked: "Are you a Dionysian?"

"Yes. My name is Artemis, a citizen of Dionysia, from Katane." The man said frankly.

"Dionians, you are so brave!" Hiktas snapped the back of the chair and shouted sharply: "Hurry, how many of you are in Syracuse?! Is the turmoil in the city? What caused you?!"

The man was not scared. Instead, he smiled slightly and said rightly: "The lives of the civilians in the port of Syracuse have not been easy these two years! The area of ​​their land has been shrinking, and some have even been relocated. The number of people participating in the civic assembly is limited, the number of people elected to the council is limited, and even the number of people elected as generals is reduced... Port civilians cannot unite and fight for their own interests, but are divided into several factions. Fighting against each other because of the interests of shipping and unloading at the port terminal and fishing, it also gave the board a reason to suppress you... Hiktas, if Lord Antrapolis knows the situation of the civilians in the port today, he will Very distressed!"

Although Antrapolis was no longer serving in the intelligence service of the Kingdom of Dionysia, it was he who appointed him to help the civilians of the port of Syracuse unite, and finally successfully launched the riots. Therefore, although Hictas they I haven’t seen Antrapolis, but I’m no stranger to this name, which is why Artemis mentioned him several times.

Listening to these words, Hiktas had a green face and a purple face, and he was quite ashamed: the port civilians have today's plight, of course, it is related to his lack of ability and leadership.

But he quickly returned to his mind: sitting in front of him was the enemy of Syracuse!

He immediately sink his face, wanting to refute.

Artemis suddenly pulled out a scroll of papyrus tied with a black rope from his arms, Shen Sheng said: "Sir Antrapolis is far in the northern part of the kingdom, of course I can not understand the civilians in the port of Syracuse today The bad situation of His Majesty, but His Majesty King Davos in Katanei learned from us the situation of Syracuse very carefully and expressed unusual concern for your situation, and said that he would do his best to help you, He also wrote this letter and let me bring it to you!"

With that said, he forwarded the paper roll in his hand.

Hiktas stepped back subconsciously, staring straight at the scroll, his pupils narrowed sharply: this is the most feared enemy of the generals and members of the Syracuse-King Dionia Letter written!Take it, fearing that you will be tempted, and that if something leaks, it will become evidence of your own enemy; but if you don’t take it, you are worried that you missed a great opportunity. The current situation of the civilians in the port is indeed poor, and today’s meeting is again A blow to yourself...

Hiktas was very contradictory in his heart, staying in place; Artemis kept holding the scroll without saying a word... the whole picture seemed to be still.

For a long time, Hiktas sighed softly: "I am old..."

He carefully used both hands to take the paper roll that was light but nothing but heavy...

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The Syracuse sentry did not notice that while the Dionysian army was heading south, a Dionysian army left the west gate of Katana earlier to the northwest. Mountain march.

In the afternoon, the army approached Agilion, not far from the western foot of Mount Etna.

Crelu, who had received the news in advance and was waiting outside the city, greeted him.

"Master Creulu, you have been waiting for a long time!" Lizzaru and Epitanes quickly dismounted, apologizing.Although Creiro was ten years younger than them, he was also a veteran of the veteran hospital. This time he was specifically ordered to temporarily give up administrative affairs to assist them.