Fitun rushed to Taurina to prepare to bring the remaining Lijim army stationed there to Medma and participate in the siege.

In order to prevent the Lockley army from attacking from the rear again while the coalition forces were attacking the city, Shilos also sent a brigade to build a simple wooden village to block the mountain road leading to Lockley, and sent a reconnaissance team to monitor the movements of the Lockley people at all times.

Shiros, who had some siege experience, led his army unhurriedly and methodically to carry out his siege plan, while the citizen soldiers who returned to Lokri did not immediately go to the northern border to repel the invading Corennians.

Due to the capture of Diopantos, Lockley's army needed a new general, but Demordocas appointed one of his henchmen, but was opposed by the council, on the grounds that Lockley was in a period of crisis, and a man with military talent was urgently needed to lead the citizen soldiers to defend Lockley, but the candidate of Demodocus lacked war experience, and had no prestige in the army, so it was difficult to command the soldiers, and once the battle was lost, Lockley would lose the only army, so it was necessary to be cautious!

This is the second time in two days that the council has refuted de Mordocas's proposal, and this has never happened before. Fighting back his anger, Demodocas watched as the councillors unanimously elected Megaris. The old man McGaris led his army to fight against Crotone many times more than ten years ago, and won many victories. In the past few years, it has been squeezed by Demodocas and has to stand aside.

At this time, in the face of the strong demand of the people, Demordocas had to agree to the appointment and make his political opponent the commander of the army, but he felt deeply cold.

McGaris immediately reorganized his ranks and led more than 6,000 men to meet the enemy.

Having burned down a village, the Corenian army did not meet the enemy head-on, but quickly retreated back to the borders of their city-state, but instead of moving away, they set up camp and continued to deter Lockley.

The cautious Megaris, fearing some conspiracy of the Corennias, was afraid of an ambush and did not attack, but also held the border, and the two sides formed a standoff.

………………………………

In the early morning, the people of Ligem flocked to the port, not only to bid farewell to the Dionian fleet and the First Legion, but also to the nearly 1,000 soldiers and families who had just joined the expedition across the sea to Sicily.

Most of them were fugitives from the Sicilian city-states of Catanay, Naxos, and other cities that had been conquered by Syracuse. Previously, Lijim had built a city for them on the Milley Peninsula in order to counter the two new city-states (Messina and Tyndareus) that Syracuse had built on the other side of the strait. But unexpectedly, the army of Syracuse acted quickly, and soon broke through the new city, some of them were captured, some fled into the mountains, and some of them were rescued by the Lijim and brought back to the city by boat.

Now the Lijim are praying that everything will go well for this force to Sicily and that the mistakes of the past will not be repeated.

The Dionian fleet and dozens of Ligem ships sailed out of the harbor together, and in front of the fleet was Seclian's ship, and the young Dionian admiral stood on the side of the ship, looking at the opposite shore, with a hint of regret in his eyes, he pointed ahead and said to Antonios, the first commander of the regiment who was on his ship: "Messina is not far ahead, why don't we take him first!" It's so close to Ligim that it's easy to get his support, and once we capture Messina, we can block the strait and wipe out the ships in the harbor once and for all!" ”

Antonios squinted at Secrean with a scornful look, he knew that this young man was radical and arrogant. If Amintas were here, he would have been criticized: "What right do you navy have to dictate to the legions!" ”

But Antonios would not do this, and in fact when Davos asked for his opinion, his initial consideration was to land on the Millais Peninsula between Tyndares and Messina, both of which were newly built, not very strong, and far from Syracuse, so they could easily be taken as their base for advancing in Sicily (the original city of Messina was captured and destroyed during the attack on Syracuse by the Carthaginian commander Himirco, and was rebuilt two years earlier when Dionysius led his army north to expel the Carthaginians on the north coast).

"I thought the same thing before, but it was opposed by His Majesty." Antonios said in a tactful tone.

"Oh, why?" As soon as Sekrian heard the word "Your Majesty", the look of dissatisfaction on his face disappeared for the most part.

"Time." A word came out of Antonios' mouth: "'It will take a few days to attack Messina, and in the intervening days, the people of Syracuse have already received the news that we are attacking Sicily, and they will be ready to defend themselves, and when we attack south, the difficulties will increase." Messina is too far away from Syracuse, and its fall will not have much impact on Syracuse's sphere of influence, and we must take advantage of Syracuse's unpreparedness to raid the city-states near it, causing panic and chaos in the area under his control, and more opportunities will be born in the chaos...... 'These are the exact words of Your Majesty. ”

Sekrian listened carefully and sighed: "Your Majesty is still comprehensive!" But then we get at risk.

Antonios smiled: "Are you afraid of these difficulties?" ”

Sekrian immediately said arrogantly: "I am hoping that the fleet in the port of Syracuse can be attracted so that my fleet can defeat them and make the Dionian Navy the master of this sea area completely!" ”

The two laughed confidently.

The fleet traveled south along the east coast of Sicily, encountering many merchant ships along the way, and they were shocked to see this large mixed fleet, especially the "jewels, black hair, and double crosses" signs painted on the sails, and they all had a premonition that something big was happening, and some hurriedly retreated, while others turned around and accelerated southward, apparently preparing to return to report the news.

Sekrian sat in the flagship, unmoved, his fleet was already sailing at the fastest speed, and it was not far from its destination.

And Antonios had been looking out over the coast from the side of the ship, he had never been to Sicily before, and what he saw on the map was completely different from what he was in.

Davers had told him that the road from Messina south to Tauromegnon could only be by narrow passage near the coast, and that the road was thirty or forty miles long. ”

Now it seems to be true, for after almost three hours of sailing out of the port of Lijim, it seemed to him that the mountains on the other side had never been broken, overlapping and continuous, and looked soothing, clear and pleasing to the eye, like a picture. But Antonios knew that this was because it was five or six miles away from him, and from experience, he judged that these peaks were not less than a thousand meters high, and they were indeed difficult to climb.

"Lord Antonios, that's Tauromegnan." A middle-aged man next to him pointed to the other side and said.

This man, Laodisian, was originally a Naxos nobleman, and after the fall of Naxos, he and his family fled to the interior of Sicily, where they gathered with exiles from other city-states near Agillian to form a larger village. Due to the constant incursions of the Syracuse allies and the hatred of the Sichaels, their lives were quite difficult. When he heard that Ligem was going to build a new city for them, the exiles, he gladly went. The swift response of the Syracuse people destroyed the newly built new city of Milai, and some of his relatives were killed in the fighting, and he fled to Lijim.

Despite all the twists and turns, his determination to rebuild his home has not changed, but has only intensified. Therefore, as soon as he heard that Dioonia was going to attack Sicily, he took the initiative to find Antonios with the rest of his relatives and asked to join.

At this time, Antonios heard this, and looked fixedly: there was a city rising on the high ground near the coast, and the most strange thing was that it was a twin city, and the two stone fortresses were located on high ground, and they were horns of each other, easy to defend and difficult to attack, and held this narrow coastal passage.

"I heard that this is a city built by the Carthaginians for the Sikerians?" Antonios asked, recalling some brief information he had learned about the city, uncertain.

"Yes, the Carthaginian general Himirko built the Tauromengnan ......for the Sichaels in order to win them over the Sichaels and let them join his side when Carthage attacked Syracuse," said Laodecian with some schadenfreude: "Later, when the tyrant of Syracuse attacked Tauromenan, he was unable to capture it because of the steep terrain and the impossibility of using siege equipment, and finally it was the Sichaels who surrendered voluntarily and got it. Now the city is owned by those hateful Campanian mercenaries! ”

Antonios listened to his explanation and looked at Tauromeñan in a daze: if he had chosen to attack Messina first, even if he succeeded, he would not have been able to break through Tauromegnan by land and enter the core area controlled by Syracuse, but could only take the sea route...... And the Sikails were a force that King Davers suggested he could contact......

“…… To attack Sicily, you have to remember that 'three points by military and seven by diplomacy.' '......,' Antonios' mind recalled Davers' solemn reminder before leaving.

As the fleet continued on, Antonios' vision suddenly broadened: the mountains that had been drowsy disappeared, and the rolling hills appeared, and the terrain became more and more flat the further south it went......

Antonios' gaze was drawn to the distant sight on the land: a majestic mountain, even at a distance of nearly 20 miles, its majestic mountain was still so clear, in the shape of a huge trapezoid, reaching into the sky, like a pillar standing up to the sky. What's even more bizarre is that while the other peaks are emerald green, it is gray, ancient and mysterious, and this is the legendary furnace of Hevestos to build his magic weapon - Mount Etna in Sicily.