"When the meeting is over, I'll send someone to work on it." Cipros simply agreed, and Sekrian thanked him repeatedly.

Sipros looked at Leotizides and said in a deep voice: "We don't need to worry too much about the problems at sea now, but on land, how can we deal with the attack of the Carthaginian army?" ”

Leotizides did not hesitate, pointed to the map on the table, and slowly said the plan that he had already thought of: "Now that Carthage and Syracuse are colluding, and the friendly city-states on the south coast have all been occupied by them, it will not be long before the Carthaginian army can converge in the southeast corner and attack our southern border and the two allies of Leotine and Taunis.

This time the Carthaginians have not yet attacked the north coast, I think in the next period of time, they will not attack the north coast for the time being, this will disperse their forces, and the terrain of the north coast is narrow, which is not conducive to the deployment of troops, although the city-states there are smaller than the south coast city-states, but to capture them one by one, the Carthaginians need to spend a lot of time, as long as we have enough troops in Millai, we can keep the Carthaginians out of the territory for a long time. I'm most worried about the central part of Sicily—"

Leotizides pointed to the icon of Enna City on the map with his right hand, and said in a deep voice: "There are many races in the Carthaginian army from Iberia who are good at mountain warfare, plus there are Tanike tribes who are familiar with the terrain to lead the way, and the Sikelians are not opponents at all, so Kefaro Ition was occupied by them, and now they are still besieging Enna, I have decided not to reinforce Enna, and retreat with the Sikel tribes who are willing to follow us——"

"You're going to give up Enna?!" Cipros was taken aback and solemnly reminded: "There are most of the Sikel tribes gathered there, and I'm afraid most of them don't want to leave their homes. ”

Sipros said this more tactfully, in fact, he knew very well in his heart that once the Dionian army did not reinforce Enna, the Sikkel tribes there would probably all fall to Carthage under the threat of the Carthaginians, because the measures taken by Dionya against the Sikhele people for more than ten years were different from those against Samonay.

For the Samonai people, Dionya maintained an alliance with this hill race on the surface, but in fact, through trade, culture, and even religion, it attracted and assimilated the various tribes of Samonai, especially in the Abenirum and Naconian regions, so that the Samonai tribal alliance and the priesthood were panicked, so that they finally took the initiative to provoke a war, which was actually what Davers wanted, because the northward expansion was the strategic focus of the Dionian Kingdom;

As for Carthage, to the south of the Kingdom of Dionia, in Davers's original strategic concept, Dionia did not want to be hostile to it for the time being before occupying the entire Italian peninsula, and "keeping peace with Carthage" became the primary task, so the kingdom signed peace agreements with Carthage twice. Therefore, for the Sichaels located between the two countries, although they had formed an alliance with Dionia, considering the attitude of the Carthaginians, the Sicilian territory of Dionya was more of a means of trade to win over the Sikerians, and less of a more radical method was adopted to avoid provoking the Sikerians and causing conflicts, giving Carthage a pretext.

However, after quelling the riots of the Tanikan tribe, the fact that "the Carthaginians secretly supported the Tanikan tribe" was also exposed, and Davos changed his previous practice and began to strengthen his control over the Sikhel people, directly annexing the two Sikaire towns of Hena and Hebita into the kingdom, thus cutting the Sikaire region into two parts. The eastern region, dominated by Agilion and Kentripa, has become a key area for Dionya to be co-opted and assimilated because of its proximity to the Sicilian territory, and the tribes in this area are basically close and friendly to Dionia. Some of the Western Kair tribes in the western region, led by Enna and Kefaro Ition, had less contact with Dionia, some of them were punished by Dionya for participating in the rebellion of the Tanian tribe, and a small number of tribes moved from the eastern region to Enna on their own initiative in the past two years, because their leaders could not bear Dionia's growing control over the eastern region.

Dionya did not leave the western part of Sikel alone, but acted as an alliance leader to coordinate and resolve conflicts between the tribes, restraining them with trade and aid, and controlling them by sending their warriors into battle in times of war. Some time ago, the Sichael troops that assisted the Eighth Army and participated in the battle were mainly from the tribes of the western region.

Clearly, Dioonia took a gradual approach to encroachment, concentrating first on assimilating and absorbing the Sichael tribes in the eastern region before turning to the west. It's just that I didn't expect that only a few years later, the war with Carthage broke out so quickly, and at this time, the assimilation of the eastern regions had just had some effect.

"I agree with Lord Prosous that the decision to abandon Enna was the right one." Breyrou also stood up at this time, leaned over the map, and said, "You see, Enna is in the center of Sicily, closer to Kefaro Ition, and farther from our sphere of influence. After the Carthaginians occupied Kefaroition, Agrigento, and Gera, the town became too prominent and was already surrounded by the Carthaginians.

We have sent few reinforcements, and it will not be of any use, and Enna will still be easily captured by the Carthaginians. And if we send more reinforcements, it will weaken the defenses elsewhere, and the Carthaginians can bypass Enna and attack other towns that are poorly defended, for example, send an army north from Gela to attack Henna...... So, simply, withdraw all the troops and tighten our fists! Breyroux finished and looked at Leotizides.

Leotizides did not look at him, but said to Cipros: "The next battle will be fierce, the safety of the Sicilian territory is at stake, and any small mistake will lead to a big defeat." Now, with the Carthaginians in the ascendancy, I doubt that the tribes of Sichael in the western region will remain loyal to the kingdom, and if we support Enna, they suddenly rebel—"

Sipros was silent for a moment and sighed: "Well, I agree with you, abandon Enna and withdraw to the eastern regions with tribes willing to follow us. So, what's next? ”

Leotizides said to Breyru at this time: "Lord Breru, how about your 7th Army in charge of holding the southern defense?" ”

"You mean the line of defense from Palagoña to Tounis?" The reason why Breyrou was able to say so quickly was because his legion was now stationed in the newly built barracks near Lake Leotini, north of Leotini, so he knew something about it.

"Yes." Leotizides nodded and continued: "The Eighth Legion will be stationed in Agilion and will be responsible for defending the western line from Hena to Hebita. ”

Breru looked at the map carefully, and found that the western defense zone was basically filled with Sikell's towns and settlements, and he immediately thought: he was new to the city, and he was completely unfamiliar with the Sikyl race, and he had no prestige among them, so it was difficult to deter them, in case something went wrong...... The southern defense line is basically within the Catanian plain, and the two allies are both Greek city-states, which have been attached to Dionya for more than ten years, so it will be more convenient to fight.

He pretended to groan, and then said: "I basically agree with your defense plan, Lord Prosous, but judging from the current situation, the southern defense line may become the focus of the Carthaginian army's attack, and the seventh army is only more than 8,000 people, and the strength is somewhat insufficient." ”

"Not only the southern defensive line, but also the towns of Hena and Agilion could also be the focus of the Carthaginian attack." Leotizides clicked on the map and said, "At least 20,000 more citizens can be sent to fight in the entire Sicilian territory, and if any of them are too bad, they will be replenished immediately." ”

"Let me warn you." Sipros interjected: "In ten days, it will be the autumn harvest!" I hope that you will not recruit other citizens until then, so as to ensure that there is enough labor in the territory to complete the harvest of the farmland in the shortest possible time, so that we can have enough military rations in the future wars. ”

"I don't think there will be any more soldiers in the short term, if the Carthaginians want to attack us, I think it will be at least 10 days later, and we can use our existing forces until after the autumn harvest, but beware of Carthaginian cavalry entering the Catanian plain and causing damage to our farmland and villages......"

After Leotizides finished speaking, Breyrou said seriously: "I don't have any problems, our Seventh Legion will hold the southern defensive line!" ”

"I have a question." Sekrian exclaimed, "What's going on with Syracuse?!" Is it already certain that they colluded with Carthage and participated in the war against our Dionia?! ”

"Syracuse does have a connection with Carthage, but it's uncertain whether they want to declare war on us Dionia." Sipros said cautiously: "I once sent an envoy to the Council of Syracuse to question, and it can be judged from the answer of their chief general Theagenis that Syracuse wants to take advantage of our war with Carthage to earn benefits for himself, but he does not want to completely tear his face with us for the time being, become an accomplice of the Carthaginians, and fight on the front line, so it is best for us not to take the initiative to provoke the Syracuse now, as long as we take precautions against them, and concentrate on resisting the Carthaginians first." ”

Both Leotizides and Breyroux nodded their heads and said: This is the right thing to do.