Leotizides said as he looked at the head of the city in front of him, the enemy in the city was closely arranged, there were no obvious gaps, and it was impossible for him to see the distribution of his forces in the rear, but he still seemed very confident: "Since the defense of the Syracuse is weakening, you should personally tell the captain of the Seventh Legion, let him not care about casualties, continue to increase the intensity of the attack, and put more pressure on the defenders of Syracuse!" ”

"Uh...... Be! Targlo had no choice but to take the order.

Leotizides turned his gaze to the northeast, and although he could not see the fortress of Juliarus, he hoped that Diocassis would be able to lead his army to repel the enemy's attack, and then perhaps it would be time for him to send the 3,000 soldiers as a reserve to the fortress of Juliarus.

While he was pondering, a scout rode from the south: "Report to the commander, about 40 ships of Syracuse are leaving the harbor and heading for our camp!" ”

Leotizides was stunned when he heard this: The people of Syracuse are going to raid my camp from the sea?!

Then he thought: Could it be that the weakening of the Syracuse defenses was due to the fact that they had drawn out their soldiers and raided my rear while I was in the midst of the siege?!

Since the Dionian camp was only four miles from the western city of Syracuse, there were only 200 soldiers stationed in the camp, and there was a large amount of food stored in the camp.

However, Leotizides was not nervous, and he even hoped that the Syracuse would come and attack the camp so that he could annihilate more of his opponent's living forces, so he sent a herald to inform the 3,000 soldiers who were not far away to return to the camp, albeit at a slower pace.

Just as he was giving the order, another small group of cavalry galloped from the south, and the captain of the guard beside Leotizides led the guards to meet them, and soon he returned with a few men, and when one of the first saw Leotizides, he immediately shouted: "Commander, I am a subordinate of Lord Shelovenis, and I have very important information to report to you!" ”

Although this person was strange to Leotizides, he couldn't help but feel a stir in his heart when he heard the name Xenophanes: Sherefenes, as the head of the Dionian intelligence service in Sicily, had helped Leotizides a lot, both in the suppression of the Sichkel rebellion a few years earlier, and in this war with Carthage.

Therefore, Leotizides suddenly had great expectations in his heart, but he did not show it, and he was still a little cautious, and said lightly: "I haven't seen you, how can you prove it?" ”

The man quietly took something the size of a thumb from his bosom, put it in the hand of the captain of the guard, and whispered, "Barr. Harmon. ”

Previously, when Leotizides led his army to western Sicily, it was impossible for Selovenis to always be by his side and provide information, so he told Leotizides that as long as there was someone in western Sicily who held an iron statue of the sleeping god Hypnos and could speak the command of the time, he was a member of the intelligence service, and he should believe the information he provided.

Leotizides had met several times in the west, and he benefited greatly from the information they provided, and this time he went to Syracuse, and Selovenis also told him the name of the head of the intelligence service in Syracuse.

According to Shelovenes, just as the emblem of a legionnaire is a three-headed dog, the emblem of the intelligence service is the god of sleep, Hypnos, because the god of sleep can make people fall asleep without knowing and then do whatever they want, which is in line with the style of the intelligence service.

He examined the iron statue of the sleeping god Hypnos, and found that there was a set of "Davers numbers" on its base, which was said to represent the identity of the owner and the region he was responsible for, and that the person had the right password.

Leotizides handed the statue back to the other and asked, "Your name?" ”

"Artemis, in charge of Syracuse."

It's all right! Leotizides looked at him, and his appearance basically matched what Shelovenis had described, and then asked, "What important information?" ”

"Syracuse General Hitars has decided to lead the people of the port area to join the kingdom, and he is now leading more than 2,000 soldiers who follow him to take control of the military port in front of him, preparing to engage the army of Syracuse, for this purpose he has sent all the warships, ready to dock at the beach not far from our camp, pick up our soldiers into the military port of Syracuse, reinforce them, and then attack the city of Syracuse together......" Artemis said what had happened with an excited breath.

Leotizides was shaken: there was infighting in Syracuse, some of the Syracuse had surrendered, the military port was open to the Dionian army, and soldiers could enter the city of Syracuse in their ships...... These words surprised the always calm Leotizides and couldn't believe it: the great opportunity to attack the city of Syracuse was so easily placed in front of him?!

When he was in a mood swing, he heard Artemis say, "This is Zamoratis, the nephew of General Hiktas, who played an important role in convincing Hitars to join the kingdom!" ”

Zamoratis stepped forward and looked nervously at the Dionian commander in front of him, wearing a black cuirass and a purple and red crowned helmet, and his heart was a little excited.

The Syracuse people hated Dionya for taking away their glory, but it also prompted them to pay more attention to this powerful neighbor, and Dionicia's victorious army attracted the attention of young people, and the Dionian general that the young people of Syracuse talked about the most in recent years was Leotizides: he conquered the troublesome Sichael, defeated the Carthaginian army with fewer victories, and even led the army to the west to wreak havoc in the Carthaginian-controlled territory...... In recent months, in the talk of the people of Syracuse, the rumored ruthless Dionian general has outperformed the Dionian king, who once and for all defeated Dionysius and led to his demise.

Facing Leotizides' scrutinizing gaze, Zamoratis said nervously and eagerly: "Respectful...... General Prosous, the army of Syracuse ...... soon Soon we will arrive at the military port, our men are not well equipped, most of them are light infantry, it will be difficult to withstand their attack, so please ...... Send reinforcements as soon as possible! ”

"Okay, I'll send reinforcements." Leotizides immediately spoke.

Artemis was a little stunned, he didn't expect Leotizides to agree so simply without thinking, which seemed to be a little inconsistent with the rumored image of cautious and thoughtful.

Zamoratis, for his part, happily expressed his gratitude.

In fact, Leotizides had nothing to hesitate, the Carthaginian warships were docked to the shore, and after the Dionian soldiers got on board, they were equivalent to controlling the entire warship, if it was a conspiracy, to use thousands of sailors and the entire Syracuse navy as bait, the risk was too great, in the situation that Syracuse was now facing a difficult situation, Leotizides did not think that the Syracuse people had the courage and audacity, and it was not easy to convince their council to carry out this plan.

Leotizides decided to let the 3,000 soldiers as a reserve first take the ships of Syracuse to land at the military port, and at the same time he also sent someone to inform the rest of the Eighth Army to rush to the beach, as the second wave of troops to land at the military port, compared with the distant fortress of Yuriarus, the port is a better springboard to attack the city of Syracuse, since he has made up his mind, he simply sent all the surplus troops over.

……………………………………

After paying a lot of casualties, the army of Syracuse who attacked the fortress of Yurialus finally smashed open the planks that blocked the entrance to the cave with a log, and the soldiers roared excitedly and rushed into the cave in a swarm, they wanted to kill all the enemies who had invaded the city.

However, as soon as they rushed into the fortress, the soldiers who were running at the front suddenly stopped, because in front of them was a ditch about three meters wide and two meters deep, which stretched to the stone walls on both sides, and on the opposite side of the ditch was a dense array of spears lined up by Dionian soldiers.

The Syracuse soldiers in front stopped moving, but the soldiers in the rear continued to pour in, and immediately pushed the soldiers in front of them into the ditch, although because of the rush of time, the ditch has not yet buried pointed wooden thorns, but when the Syracuse soldiers who fell in the ditch struggled in panic and wanted to get up, another group of new soldiers pressed on them, and then the next group of soldiers were involuntarily pushed, stepping on the bodies of their teammates who fell to the ground, and finally crossed the ditch, and they were greeted by countless cold and shining spears......

The Ionian soldiers on the stone wall were constantly throwing javelins, stones, and even fire pots downward.

Screams and groans filled the small fortress, and it wasn't long before they stormed the fortress that the Syracuse soldiers had suffered heavy casualties, and they were quickly routed.

The army led by Diocassis, after repulsing the enemy in the aisles of the walls on both sides, crushed the main force of Syracuse attacking from the south, according to the previous plan, he should continue to garrison the fortress and wait for reinforcements to arrive, rather than pursuing it alone, in order to avoid being surrounded by the enemy, but not long ago the herald brought new news: Dionia's reserves landed in the port of Syracuse, and together with the people of the port area of Syracuse, who had just joined the kingdom, engaged the army of Syracuse.

At the same time, Leotizides gave him a new order: when the enemy attacking the fortress retreated, there was no need to stay behind the fortress and immediately march to the city!

Therefore, Diocassis did not hesitate to give the order to "pursue the whole army".