Davers could feel the heavy expectation in their words, and he smiled and said, "You don't have to worry about the people of Syracuse. You should be worried that after the defeat of the Syracuses, we will not have enough men to govern the lands of southern Greece! ”

In astonishment of the senators, Davos turned his head to look deeply at the river-facing hills in the city of Turiyi to the east, and he knew that his wife and children must be gazing at him soon, hoping for his victorious return......

"Let's go." He coughed lightly, turned his horse's head, and led his escort onto the wooden bridge.

……………………………………

The soldiers of Syracuse burned and looted the city of Crotone for the night, suffering mainly from the freedmen and Gentiles of the port area, and nearly half of the people of Crotone who had not escaped into the acropolis in time.

By noon the next day, most of the Syracuse soldiers were still asleep in their barracks or in their houses in the city of Crotone to regain their exertion of the previous day.

Dionysius got up early in the morning and led his men to take care of military affairs.

The first thing that needs to be addressed urgently is the problem of the wounded. Yesterday's results were brilliant, but the losses were also significant. According to last night's preliminary statistics, more than 5,000 soldiers were killed or seriously wounded in the battle alone, and more than 4,000 soldiers were slightly wounded to varying degrees. A series of tedious tasks, such as treating the wounded, replenishing troops, and reorganizing troops, should be completed as soon as possible.

For the most time-consuming and laborious cleaning up the battlefield and burying the corpses, it is the easiest to complete. All it was necessary to take the tens of thousands of Crotone citizens who had become captives to serve as laborers. How many captives howled and wept as they carefully sorted out the bodies of the soldiers of Crotone who died inside and outside the city walls! How many captives quietly kicked and scolded when dragging the corpses of Syracuse soldiers, venting the anger in their hearts!

For Dionysius, this was not something he cared too much about, and the second thing he cared about was the Acropolis of Crotone. The Acropolis is located in the south of the center of Crotone, built on a hill and contains the largest temple complex of Apollo in Greater Greece, so the Acropolis of Crotone is also the largest of the city-states of Greater Greece.

Although when the city is lost and retreats to defend the city is the final defensive strategy often adopted by the Greek city-states, Dionysius should have taken precautions, but because after the city wall was breached last night, the soldiers of Syracuse were ferocious because of the fierce battle during the day, and carried out crazy killing and looting in the city, and because it was dark, Dionysius could not effectively command the troops, and as a result, the war plane was delayed, causing half of the more Crotone people (including many soldiers) to flee into the acropolis under the organization of Milon and Lycias, This allowed the Acropolis to have ample manpower defenses.

At the same time, the acropolis was high and surrounded by urban dwellings, and large siege engines could not reach the city walls. Unless the surrounding dwellings and buildings were stripped and a strong and wide causeway was built to fill in the hills, so that the siege towers and siege engines could reach the bottom of the city, an attack from the bottom up by soldiers alone would not only result in heavy casualties, but would also be difficult to succeed.

But such a siege required a long time to prepare, and what Dionysius lacked most now was time, because he would still lead an army against Dionia, and he would not allow his greatest enemy any more respite to stabilize his territory and raise more troops.

Dionysius then sent emissaries to threaten the lives of the captured Crotone populace and soldiers to make the Crotoneites in the Acropolis surrender.

However, the Crotone people hiding in the Acropolis condescended last night, witnessed the atrocities committed by the Syracuse people in the city, and suffered all night in the heart-rending wails of their compatriots, they were both afraid and hated the Syracuses, coupled with the tyranny of the Syracuse people in the Siriting, so they regarded the Syracuse people as "man-eating beasts", and did not believe the messenger's statement that "as long as you become an ally of Syracuse and send troops to join the army of Syracuse, Dionysius will release all the Crotone captives, return of the city of Crotone".

Because in order to prevent the Syracuse people from attacking and plundering the city, and to protect the people who were fleeing to the acropolis, Ascamas did his best to regroup his rout, and fought the enemy in the streets of the city, and finally died in battle. The Crotonens, who had lost their supreme military general, urgently elected Milon who had saved them as the general of the army in grief, and neither of them objected to it. At this time, the high-ranking officials of Crotone, led by Lycias and Milon, not only flatly rejected the emissary's request, but also cut off the emissary's ears and nose and drove him off the acropolis in order to show their courage and determination to fight to the death against the Syracusens.

When the messenger cried to Dionysius while covering his bloody wounds, he didn't show much anger, but just sneered deeply: "Stupid Crotone, do you think that hiding on that hill will make me do nothing about you?!" Tens of thousands of people hiding in that small acropolis can indeed improve defenses, but can they defend against hunger and thirst! ”

Indeed, the food consumption of tens of thousands of people is a huge amount, and it is impossible for the people who rushed up the mountain to carry a large amount of rations, and even if Milon had prepared in advance, he would not be able to guarantee it for a few days. What worries the people of Crotone even more is that there is no water source on the hill, and usually the water used by the temple priests comes from the water storage tank in the temple, because of the heavy rain a few days ago, the water storage tank is full, but for the needs of tens of thousands of people, it is just a drop in the bucket.

Therefore, Dionysius ordered: send a small number of troops to surround the Acropolis of Crotone.

He believed that the Crotone people would not hold out for a few days in the absence of water and food, and would go down the mountain and surrender.

He had also wanted to order the ballistas to fire stone projectiles at the Acropolis in order to increase the fear of the Crotone and force them to surrender as soon as possible. But on second thought, there was a temple of Apollo in the Acropolis, and if it was deliberately destroyed, it would probably affect the morale of the soldiers. And the last sudden rainstorm also made him feel related to him, who had always been arrogant, and at this critical moment, he didn't want any more accidents.

Dionysius knew in his heart that the Crotonians had taken refuge in the Acropolis in the hope of the Dionians' rescue. Dionya was the target of the Syracuse army, but the soldiers needed to recuperate after the fierce siege, so he could only continue to send mercenary cavalry deep into the north to reconnoiter the enemy.

The insatiable Numibians and Celts were frustrated by not being able to participate in the raids last night.

Dionysius didn't get angry, and specially gave these aliens a lot of loot. Because Phoebidas once said: these alien cavalry are a sharp weapon against the Dionians in the field.

………………………………

A clipper boat sailed into the port of Crotone.

"General, Dionia's fleet is here!" The captain hurriedly reported to Reptines, who was inspecting the military port and directing the mooring of the warships.

The Syracuse Navy had just moved into the military port of Crotone this morning. Compared to Siriting, the military port of Crotone was much larger, could accommodate more warships, and its location was closer to the territory of Dionia, so that the Syracuse navy could understand the movements of the Dionian fleet more quickly and better cooperate with the land forces.

It's just that I didn't expect that the fleet had just been stationed, and the sailors had not completely disembarked before the fleet of Syracuse attacked. Reptines was now beating a drum in his heart, and he was still calm on the surface: "How many warships have come?" ”

It is much more difficult to judge the number of ships at sea than to reconnoiter on land, because a fleet of hundreds of warships often occupies a radius of five or six nautical miles when sailing on the sea, and people's line of sight is limited after all, and there is no place to hide and hide on the endless sea, so it is necessary to observe closely, which requires a great risk.

"Hmm...... It feels like the last time there was a fight. "The captain can only give a rough idea.

Then he emphasized: "Those Dionian warships have drawbridges hanging from their front masts!" ”

When Reptines heard this, he panicked a little, and the fiasco of a few days ago resurfaced in front of him.

To fight or not? He could not make up his mind for a while, but ran to the city to consult Dionysius.

Dionysius learned that the Dionian fleet was coming, and after a moment of silence, he resolutely gave the order: Attack!

In this regard, he has several considerations.

First of all, since the detected situation is that the Dionian fleet is not much different from the last time, and it is equipped with the so-called drawbridge, it means that the previous analysis is correct, due to the number of sailors and the difficulty of refitting the warships, the Dionians still use the original warships, and in the number of three-layer pulp warships, the Syracuse Navy still has a slight upper hand.

Secondly, Dionysius, as a commander-in-chief, knows very well how much morale affects the combat effectiveness of the soldiers, the Syracuse Navy was defeated not long ago, if you don't make up for it with victory in time, and choose to retreat, it is undoubtedly "destroy your own prestige and increase the enemy's morale", then in the future, if you encounter the Dionian fleet, the Syracuse Navy will undoubtedly be dwarf in terms of fighting spirit.

Moreover, the large armies of Syracuse were concentrated in Crotone, and yesterday after another day of hard fighting, they were resting, and if the Dionian fleet was allowed to cross the sea of Crotone and sail to the rear of the empty army, such as Siriting or Coronia, which was not sincere in the first place, it would cause the Syracuse army to be very passive, so Dionysius would never allow such a situation to occur.

…………………………………

Although this was the second time Secrean had led a fleet, in his mind, this was the first time he had led a team independently, and without King Davers by his side, there would be no sense of restraint.