Ansitanos continued: "In addition, His Majesty Davers also asked me to remind you, 'The war between Dionia and Samonai is a contest between warriors, and no matter how many casualties there are, Dionya will not complain, but if! If you Samonai dare to point your spears at the unarmed Dionian populace and kill them with all your might! Then, Dionya will be desperate to let the fury of revenge pour out on the Samonai region, and let the Samonai people taste even more cruel revenge! Think of the tragic fate of Dionysius, the tyrant of Sicily's syracuse, and his mercenary cavalry! ”

The messenger of Samonay was outwardly unimpressed by Ansitanos's warnings and threats, but his heart was clouded.

At the same time, Ansitanos also brought Davers's apology to Alexis, after all, Davers's nod would add a few thousand more troops to the Samone, which would inevitably bring more trouble to the Dionian army's operations in the Daoni region.

However, Alexis asked Ansitanos to reassure King Davers and said that this move would not have any effect on the army, on the contrary, he was confident that he would capture more Samonai prisoners in the future!

And the words spoken by Davers, prompted by Ansitanos, soon spread throughout the Dauni area. In addition, soon after, the captured Dauni people were released one after another, and the Daoni people were even more grateful to King Davers, and they were more proud of being Dionians, more at home to the Dionian Kingdom, and more resentful of the Samonai people.

And this incident had a great impact not only on the Daoni people, but also on the neighboring Puchetti and Mesapi peoples.

……………………………………

Just as Alexis' army was converging at Dauni, Leotizides in Sicily also led his army to the Minoa region.

Along the way, the Dionian army was captured by Camanlina, Gera, Pacinus, Agrigento...... and many other Greek city-states, they were delighted that Dionya had changed its previous battle plan and took the initiative to meet the Carthaginian army that was approaching them, so they not only provided a large amount of food, but also sent their own citizen soldiers, so that by the time the army reached Minoa, it had rapidly swelled from 15,000 men at the time of departure to more than 32,000 people.

Due to the fanfare of the Dionian army along the coast along the way, its movements had long been detected by the Carthaginians, so the Carthaginian army did not attack the city with all its strength in these days, but focused on fortifying the camp.

At the same time, Monteadeno began to feel uneasy as the Dionian army approached, and he sent messengers back to Liliba several times, asking the lord of Lillian to immediately organize the young citizens of the Carthaginian colony of Sicily and the Phoenician city-state as many as possible, and then immediately send them to the Carthaginian camp in Minoa, and not forgetting to send the army of the Sikanians as well.

By the time the Dionian army reached Minoa, Monteadeno had withdrawn the Carthaginian army to a large camp on the west bank of the Pletara River.

Leotizides did not rush into the attack, he refused the invitation of the Minoans, and after surveying the surroundings, he began to build camp on several rolling hills not far north of the city of Minoa.

The two military camps met about four miles apart, separated by the Pletara River, and the confrontation lasted for several days, and remained calm.

For this reason, Leotizides' subordinates and allied generals were puzzled because "he had not allowed the army to attack", and in order to unify their understanding, he also made a special explanation: "We have few soldiers, Carthaginian troops have many soldiers, and the defense of the Carthaginian camp is quite tight, and if we rush to attack, the casualties will be large and the chance of victory will be too small." We should wait for the Carthaginians to attack, so that we can take advantage of our defenses and inflict massive casualties on our enemies and ultimately defeat them. ”

"But the Carthaginians haven't attacked us yet." Mickey Dams, the commander of Agligento's army, said suspiciously.

Leotizides smiled slightly, and said confidently: "Our King Davers once said, 'This war with Carthage will be a long war, and the longer the time drags on, the more Dionya will be able to get rid of the effects of the drought and restore the normal food supply in the country, and then he will be able to send more troops to Sicily for a decisive battle with Carthage...... 'So we need not be in a hurry, let the ignorant Carthaginians continue to consume the time that would have been beneficial to them.' ”

There is another point that Leotizides did not say: most of the food supply for his tens of thousands of soldiers was provided by these Greek city-states on the south coast, which greatly reduced the pressure on the food supply of the Sicilian territory of Dionia, and he certainly had reason to defend at Minoa at leisure.

"But...... The Carthaginians may also increase their forces and finally attack us! The Minoan general Poliade, who had come to the military meeting, still worried, said.

"That's why I ask you to carefully arrange the defensive facilities according to the standards of the Dionian camp when you build your camp, so as to be able to resist the attack of the Carthaginian army!" Leotizides said with a serious expression: "Moreover, the Carthaginians have concentrated their armies in Minoa, and the defense in their rear must be relatively empty, which is conducive to the Dionian fleet to attack them. And the more enemies there are, the greater their need for food, and the transportation of their grain will be frequent, which will be conducive to the Sikerians to attack their grain convoys and cut off their grain routes, once such a large army is short of food, they will be defeated without us attacking! ”

Leotizides' explanation temporarily dispelled the concerns of the allied generals.

………………………………………

In the Carthaginian tent, Monteadeno, who had also not been fighting, explained to Millefio: "The reason why I don't fight is because ...... According to the reconnaissance information, the Dionians' army is more than 30,000 people, and most of them are heavy infantry, we only have 10,000 more than them, and half of them are lowly Numibians, you have also seen their previous siege performance, I don't think they can withstand the attack of the Greek heavy infantry, even if they are numerous! So we need more soldiers, really brave, noble Carthaginian soldiers or Phoenician soldiers—"

"But you still have 10,000 of our Holy Order infantry under your command, we are enough to repel the Greek heavy infantry with even more numbers, there is nothing to fear!" Millefio said proudly.

"You're right!" Monteadeno followed the other man's tone and said, "There is no doubt about the ability and courage of the infantry of the Holy Order, I have every confidence that you can repel the Dionians, but putting the burden of attacking on your shoulders will cause your casualties to increase!" The infantry of the Holy Order is the essence of our Carthaginian citizens, because we are not only staring at this battle, but also about occupying Sicily and even going on an expedition to Great Greece, so I must protect your best Carthaginian army and use your excellent army well! That's why I'm urging Semimre to organize more Carthaginian or Phoenician soldiers to strengthen our strength so that we can defeat the Dioonians on the other side more smoothly! ”

Millefio was immediately convinced, he hesitated for a moment, and said, "...... Perhaps we can bring Hasdruba's army back. ”

When Monte Adno heard this, he immediately shook his head like a rattle: "No! No! No! Millefio, you still don't get it! Hasdruba was unwilling to obey the command and had to act independently, and now that we ask him to come back, will not he be mistaken into thinking that we will not be able to leave the Iberian army, then he will not be even more arrogant, and then it will not be us who will command him, but he will command us!

Before I set out, Lord Hanno had repeatedly warned me that the command of the Carthaginian army belonged only to Hanno, not to Magonides, and that the glory of victory in this war could only be shared by us, and had nothing to do with Iberia! ”

In fact, Millefio regretted it as soon as he spoke, and he was not aware of what Monte Adno had said, so he had to remain silent at the moment.

Monteadeno continued: "What we urgently need now is not the army of Hasdruba, but the navy of our Carthage! I don't know what happened to our fleet, why do you only see Dionia's warships on the sea these days, where is our navy?! Millefio, I suggest that you write at once and urge Lord Hanno that we need a mighty Carthaginian navy to defend our empty rear, and even defeat the enemy's fleet, harassing their rear, and leaving the Dioonians vulnerable on both sides! ……”

Millefio was clearly aware of the importance of the issue and agreed without hesitation.

………………………………………

Both the Dionian and Carthaginian armies tried to postpone the battle as late as possible in order to be more prepared.

But the two huge barracks stretched seven or eight miles from north to south, and only three or four miles from east to west, and standing on the highest hill on which the Dionian barracks were located, looking westward, you could even see the large tent of the Chinese army of the Carthaginian camp. With so many soldiers gathered at such a close distance, the generals could not completely control these citizen soldiers due to the characteristics of the city-state army, and often a small conflict and friction would turn the battle in an unexpected direction.

At this time, it was already February 14 of the Dionian Kingdom (379 BC), although it was still spring, the weather in some seaside towns in the Mediterranean Sea had begun to heat up, especially on this day, the temperature in Minoa suddenly rose several degrees, and by noon, the ground was scorching in the sun, whether it was the soldiers of the Dionian allies or the Carthaginian soldiers, many of them could not bear the discomfort and thirst caused by the heat, and ran out of the camp, to the Pletara River not far from the camp to draw water, and even bathe.

The Pletara River is a small river, with an average width of less than 20 meters, and in some sections as little as 10 meters, except for a section close to the mouth of the sea, which is more than 30 meters wide. And its downstream flows on flat land, the water is gentle, and the depth of the water does not exceed knees.

Therefore, the soldiers on both sides of the river, only more than ten meters apart, can even hear what the other side looks like and says (of course, they may not be able to understand). ()

.。 m.