"Although we will lose the battle in Crotone, we can at least organize another 10,000 to 20,000 citizen soldiers, and if Dionia wants to storm the city, we will definitely inflict heavy losses on them! At that time, Dionya could not attack for a long time, so he could only ask for peace talks, and then we would take the initiative. You might even find some opportunities to attack and defeat the Dionians during the defense of Crimesa! ”

After Milon finished speaking, everyone fell into deep thought.

"So Crimesa City will become a battlefield again," Orikpuz said. ”

This sentence woke up the Crimea higher-ups, but Milon quickly answered: "Yes, the city of Castron is the key to the next war, but it will be the soldiers of Crotone who will defend it, and if the people of Castron feel that this place is dangerous, they can take shelter in Crotone by boat, and we will provide them with a good life until the end of the war and then return." If there is damage to houses and property in the city, Crotone will also pay compensation......"

Milon was very thoughtful, so that everyone had nothing to say, and his words were also a subtle reminder to these people: the city of Castron was full of Crotone soldiers, and even if they wanted to negotiate peace with Dioonia in private, they had to ask the Crotone soldiers if they agreed with the shield spear in their hands, which angered Crotone, and the situation would only get worse!

"General Milon, Crimesa will give you full support in the war against Dionya here!" Antaoris was quick to make a clear statement on behalf of the council.

……………………

Early the next morning, Davers and two regiments and two reserve brigades, totaling about 16,000 men (this refers to the number of combat soldiers, not including engineering battalions, medical battalions, baggage battalions, cavalry units, trumpeters, drummers, etc.) marched towards the city of Crimesa.

In the morning, the Dionian army reached the swampy area.

Davers left a regimental engineering battalion behind to inspect the geography of the swamps, fill them in as quickly as possible, build roads, and build bridges over the Lacoeli River to facilitate the passage of future convoys, taking into account the future construction of the Castelón-Clemisa Boulevard. In order to prevent attacks by the Crotone, he also left two reserve brigades to set up camp here, protecting not only the engineering battalion and the people of Castelón who participated in its construction, but also to protect the transport line.

Davers then took the lead in walking through the swamp with the soldiers.

In the afternoon, the Dionian army entered the territory of the Crimesa.

At this time, more than 5,000 soldiers from Crotone on the walls of Crimesa were already in full position.

Davers rode close to the city of Crimesa, and after observing for a while, he gave up the idea of an immediate attack and ordered to set up camp.

The captain of the siege camp of the legion immediately rushed to ask Davers what he wanted from the camp, and Davers pointed to the city of Crimesa and said, "Surround it from the north first." ”

The commander of the engineering battalion understood, and immediately led the engineering technicians to inspect the terrain and water sources, and calculated the area of the camp according to the number of troops...... And so on, to choose a site for the camp. It didn't take long for him to lead his men to start inserting a wooden pole every 20 meters at a distance of 400 meters from the city......

As soon as the two corps commanders of the corps of Capus and Drax gave the order, except for the two brigades in charge of the guard and the cavalry of Rydes, the rest of the soldiers immediately became builders, some were responsible for logging, some were responsible for digging trenches, and some were responsible for building earth walls...... The whole army was running in an orderly manner, and even Davers picked up a pickaxe to participate in the digging......

Milon noticed on the walls that the Dionian army did not immediately attack the city, and he was a little glad in his disappointment. But then, the scene of the Ionian army building a camp was so lively and spectacular, and the camp was so close to the city that he couldn't help but have an idea in his heart: to go out of the city and attack.

However, the two heavily armed and leisurely heavy infantry of Dionia, as well as the cavalry roaming the city, discouraged him, and he did not think that the newly defeated Crotone soldiers would have the courage to go out of the city and engage in a field battle with the outnumbered Dionians.

He could tell that the Dionicians were trying to besiege Castron, but as long as he could stall for time, he raised his hands in favor of the other party's approach.

The Dioonians were very efficient in their camping. By dusk, they had dug a trench three miles long and built an earthen wall around the east, west, and north of the city. Now, some soldiers set up deer bars in front of the trenches, while others set up tents inside earthen walls...... Originally, the panniers of the engineering battalion had timber that could be quickly disassembled and assembled, and the camp gates, watchtowers and fences could be quickly erected (this was the result of the "modular" proposal made by Davers to the engineering battalion, the result of trial and error by engineers and carpenters), but the panniers were not transported to Crimesa in time because they were prone to getting stuck in the mud in the swampy area.

Even so, Milon was amazed, and he certainly wouldn't have known that there was a special item for "building camps" in Dionia's military training program. Seeing the soldiers' more nervous expressions, he finally made up his mind in his heart.

In the middle of the night, he decided to send 500 soldiers to attack the camp while the Dionians were asleep from the long march and the fatigue of building the camp, so as to create chaos and raise the morale of the enemy even if it was a small setback.

According to the observation of the warships at sea during the day, there was also a trench dug north of the Dionian camp, and Milon was afraid that he would not be able to return if he landed on the coast north of the Dionian camp and was found out, so he chose the south side of the camp by the sea.

The 500 Crotone soldiers quietly approached the Dionian camp, and when they were cautiously passing through the deer area, they were spotted by the light of the torches planted in the earthen wall by the secret sentry hiding behind the earthen wall, and he quickly reached back to the camp tent, quietly waking up the detachment leader, and then the others in the camp one by one.

"Laris, you're doing a great job! Now, you rush to the rear camp with my nameplate and inform the cavalry that there is an enemy attack here! Captain Ktyppus praised the recruit, who was still a reserve citizen, and handed him an egg-sized three-headed iron statue of a dog, engraved with the numbers of the regiment, company, and detachment.

"Yes!" Larys turned and ran out.

Keteps asked his men to continue to inform the other detachments and company commanders, Trotilas, while he himself rushed to the base with a few soldiers to check on the situation, and when he found that the enemy was not too numerous, he had an idea.

The Crotone soldiers marched through the deer area, climbed over the trenches, climbed over the earthen ramparts, and could not help but get excited when they saw that the enemy camp was still silent. They began to ignite the ignition they had with them, and there was still some distance between the enemy's tent and the wall, and they cautiously continued to speed forward.

Suddenly, the soles of the soldiers walking in front suddenly sank, and the sunken soles of their feet were immediately pierced by sharp objects, and they couldn't help but let out a miserable scream. It turned out that after the earthen ramparts, the Dionians also set up barrier belts, which could block the enemy's breakthrough speed when the enemy broke through the camp wall, so as to rearrange the defense and counterattack.

Taking advantage of the enemy's panic, the Dionian soldiers ran out from behind the camp and threw a dense stream of javelins at the Crotone soldiers, many of whom fell down screaming, and the rest of the soldiers turned and fled in terror when they still had the courage to fight......

The Dionians continued the pursuit through the safe passage of the barrier belt.

In the silence of the night, the sound of the battle was particularly clear, Davers was woken up, and quickly dressed and went out of the tent, just as the captain of the guard, Martius, rushed to report: "Report, Lord Commander, the Crotone people have attacked and been repulsed by the third brigade of the Second Legion, and the cavalry of Leders has attacked, and I believe that the enemy will not be able to escape." ”

Davers nodded, and the distribution map of each legion, brigade, and company in the camp immediately appeared in his mind: "The third brigade of the second legion is the brigade of Giogris...... I remember that his brigade was placed in the easternmost part of the camp, near the mouth of the sea. ”

"Yes, Commander."

"Gioglis's brigade has performed very well, strictly enforces the system of guard duty under the Code of Martial, and when it detects the enemy, it reacts quickly and should be rewarded! Sentinels who detect the enemy situation in time should be rewarded! Davers turned back to Aristocrates, the clerk who had just arrived.

Aristocrates hurriedly wrote it down and reported it to the military judge tomorrow.

"How's the other brigades doing?" Davers asked again.

"All the brigades were notified in a timely manner and did not cause any major disturbances." Maltius replied.

Davers was satisfied with the smooth and orderly communication of the troops in the dark night, and the strict training on weekdays played a role, he smiled: "Crotone wants to learn from us to carry out a sneak attack, but unfortunately we are not Crotone. Let's all go to sleep, recuperate, and we will be busy tomorrow. With that, he turned and went into the tent, and soon fell asleep.

Marttius spoke a few words to the guards guarding the tent and then left.

Only Aristocrates, who had just entered the battlefield, could not calm down, and he stared at the blazing brazier in front of the tent for a moment. When night comes, a brazier should be erected in front of the tent of the supreme commander of the camp, which is stipulated in the "Ionian Military Law", according to Davers's explanation: first, for the convenience of reporting the situation at night, and secondly, when unexpected events such as night raids and camp roars occur, the soldiers in the chaos can find the commander's location at a glance, so as to stabilize their morale and reorganize the troops. All in all, the commander is the morale and hope of the whole army, and having the soldiers see the commander's tent anytime and anywhere in the dark helps to dispel their fear of darkness.

Listening to Davers's soft snoring in the big tent and feeling the heat emanating from the brazier, the nervousness in Aristocrates' heart quickly dissipated......

Of the 500 people who left the city, only a few dozen escaped the interception of the Dionian cavalry and fled back to the city.

When Milon found out, he stayed for a long time. To his surprise, the seemingly rudimentary and unfinished camp of the Dioonians was so well guarded, and this lesson made him finally throw away the last shred of luck and admit from the bottom of his heart: this Dionian army is a well-trained army!

He decided not to take any more risks and defended the city of Crimesa with all his might.