It turned out that although the Carthaginian senate had made the decision to make Marco the commander of the Sicilian army, the senators led by Hanno refused to allow the Carthage Native to organize an army to Sicily on the grounds that the Carthaginian citizens had suffered heavy casualties in the previous battle, and instead suggested that Margo should lead the Iberian army, which had not suffered casualties.

The senators, led by Pretacuba, would certainly not agree to this proposal, and while they strongly called for "further accountability for the defeat of the last war", they helped the allied emissaries from Sicily to publicize the misery of the Phoenicians and Carthaginians in Sicily in the city, in an attempt to incite the citizens of Carthage to enmity and push the Senate to adopt a proposal to "organize an army from Carthage again to Sicily".

Time slipped away day by day in the dispute between the two sides, and Margo, who was far away in southern Iberia, although anxious, still politely refused the senate's request to urge him to send troops immediately on the grounds that he was "gathering troops", after all, it was unacceptable for the current Marco to consume Iberia's military strength alone and let Hanno get what he wanted.

………………………………………

While the Italian Peninsula and Sicily were at war, a major event was also taking place in Greece itself.

King Cleombrotus of Sparta finally led the assembled Spartan allies across the Isthmus of Corinth into Central Greece, gathering Spartan garrisons in various parts of the region, preparing to conquer Thebes once again and reestablish Sparta's authority in Central Greece.

But in the process, the Spartan general Sverdelias, who was originally stationed in Thespia, was afraid of being blamed by the new king of Sparta because he did not send an army in time to help suppress the rebellion in Thebes, and out of the desire to gain glory and compete with Phoebidas, he formulated a plan - a night attack on the port of Piraeus.

He believed that by capturing the trade powerhouse of Athens, he would not only make up for the loss of Thebes, but even win him the honor of not losing to Phoebidas (although many Greek city-states secretly despised it, the citizens of Sparta still consider Phoebes' sneak attack on Thebes to be a great achievement).

As the messenger of the new king of Sparta was already on his way, Sverdelias, who did not have time to make more careful planning, set out with his troops that night, and marched towards the port of Piraeus in the southeast, but his troops were not familiar with the terrain, and he underestimated the difficulty of this journey, and before he reached the port of Piraeus, it was already dawn.

The Athenians in the port spotted their traces and immediately mobilized urgently to prepare for defense.

Seeing that the sneak attack had failed, Sverdelas had to return along the way. During the retreat, the army ravaged the Athenian territory on its way to relieve the spirits.

Such an unprovoked act of provocation immediately aroused great anger among the Athenians.

Sparta had sent emissaries to accuse the two Athenian generals of being involved in the Theban rebellion, and Athens had executed the two generals in order to prove their innocence. However, the Spartan emissary did not leave, but continued to stay in Athens, claiming to be carrying out the orders of the Spartan Council of Elders and continuing to monitor Athens' performance for the next period of time.

Now, the angry Athenians immediately arrested the Spartan envoy and angrily asked: Why did Sparta send an army to invade the territory of Athens and plunder the Athenian people for no reason?!

The Spartan envoy, who was inexplicable by the anger of the Athenians, learned of what had happened in Piraeus in the morning, and secretly cursed Sverdelia for his audacity, and he immediately defended himself loudly: this plundering was a stupid act of the Spartan general's own initiative, and had nothing to do with the Spartan government!

Moreover, he firmly stated that the Council of Elders of Sparta would quickly judge Sverdelia and give Athens a fair account.

The justification of the Spartan emissaries did not completely calm the anger of the Athenians.

Thrasibulus, a leading figure in Athenian politics, had died in battle a few years earlier, but Athens was followed by a democrat named Calistratus, who was not only an orator, but also a capable political figure, who was elected as the tenth general of Athens for several years in a row, and he persuaded the angry Athenian people to remind them that if Athens was not ready for war with Sparta, then it was best to believe what the Spartan envoys said.

Although the citizens of Athens were angry, they also knew the strength of the Spartan military and finally agreed to release the Spartan emissaries.

The Spartan emissaries immediately rushed to the residence of the Spartan king Cleombrotus and reported to him what had just happened in Piraeus and the protests of the Athenians.

When Cleombrotus learned of Sverdeliath's stupidity, he was furious and immediately sent for his arrest and return to Sparta.

At the same time that Sverdelia was being escorted back to Sparta, an Athenian envoy also arrived in Sparta, forcing the Spartan Council of Elders and the procurators to speed up the trial of the general who had disobeyed orders and provoked Athens on his own initiative.

Sverdelia seemed to be doomed, but his son was close to Archidamus, the son of Agosilauth, and urgently asked Archidamus for help.

Archidamus did not hesitate to intercede with his father for the sake of his best friend.

Agosilaus made no promises.

But in the course of the interrogation, Agosilaus spoke for Sverdelias.

"Sverdelas is undoubtedly guilty, but we can't put a good man to death," he said. Whether as a child, a young man, or an adult, this valiant citizen of Sparta lived a decent life and diligently contributed to Sparta, and Sparta needed such a warrior! ……”

Agosilaus was now highly respected in Sparta, and his remarks led some neutrals in the Council of Elders to choose to support Sverdelias's acquittal, while some of the elders felt that the Spartan general should not be punished.

They believed that the rebellion in Thebes had damaged Sparta's prestige in Greece itself, and that it was time to use war to restore its prestige, and that if Sparta punished its own generals at this time, it would not only dampen the aggressive morale of Spartan citizens, but also make other city-states look down on Sparta.

In the end, the Council of Elders passed the "Sverdelia Innocence" resolution by a majority vote, and the prosecutors with the power to decide were originally elected from the Spartan citizens, who were younger and more radical, and of course agreed with the decision.

The anticipatory citizens of Athens were shocked when they learned of Sparta's verdict: in the face of Sparta's accusations, the Athenians executed two of their own generals! Now, in the face of Athens' accusations, Sparta easily acquitted the perpetrators!

The tyrannical arrogance of the Spartans thoroughly angered the citizens of Athens, who strongly demanded that the Athenian government must take revenge on Sparta.

Sparta's approach surprised the Athenian generals, who, led by Callistratus and Aristotle, had adopted a policy of neutrality in view of Sparta's dominance in Greece itself. However, they did not sit idle, but continued to allow Athens to establish alliances with many city-states along the coast of Thrace, the Aegean Sea, and Asia Minor, and the frequent economic and trade exchanges and diplomatic mutual assistance led to the fact that Athens is now more powerful than it was before the Corinthian War.

But now the anger of the citizens made it impossible for Athens to continue its efforts to keep the light on the ground, and although this was not what Callistratus wanted, the overwhelming majority of the citizens at the citizens' assembly strongly supported the declaration of war on Sparta, and Athens finally passed the resolution.

The declaration of war on Athens shocked the Greek city-states proper, and not only made the Thebans rejoice, but also made the Spartan king Cleombrotus, who was preparing to attack Thebes, feel uncomfortable, and he feared that when he attacked Thebes with all his might, the Athenian army would attack from the east, so he became hesitant to attack Thebes.

……………………………………

Camillus decisively led a large army out of Rome and marched west to attack Ostia.

Davers, of course, could not let his opponent's plan succeed, and he had to send the 1st, 4th, 6th, and some 5th legionmen in succession, or to the port of Ostia on the cargo ships of the Chamber of Commerce, or along the north bank of the Tiber River to the mouth of the river, and then ferryed by warship to the city of Ostia on the south bank. At this point, the city of Ostia gathered about 35,000 soldiers (including the improvised reserve of Thelis) to defend the city against the siege of the Roman army, which was already less than 60,000 men.

Since Davers was still in charge of Rome, he had no choice but to appoint Amintas as the temporary commander of the defense of Ostia, and after much deliberation, he decided that Amintas, who was experienced in combat and had old qualifications, would allow the other legions commanders to obey his command and could defend the small city.

However, in order to prevent him from getting hot-headed, Davers strictly ordered him to "only defend the city, not go out to fight!" ”

In addition, Davos also appointed Klotocatas, who was fighting in Ostia, as Amyntas's personal staff, ostensibly to let him learn military affairs with Amintas, but secretly gave him a warrant, once Amintas acted without authorization, Klotocatax could take out a warrant to remove Amintas's position and replace Oliver as commander.

This was the first time that Crotocatactacs had taken on a heavy role, and he gladly accepted the task, thus enabling Davers to achieve another purpose: to keep his son away from the battlefield and keep him safe.