"Young man, don't be so angry." Ansitanos sat still, comforting his student with gentle words, and he pointed to a clay pot on the table next to him: "Come, taste the mare's milk and honey water from Carthage to quench your thirst." This syrup water tastes good, sour and sweet, very special. I just asked my entourage to buy it at the Syracuse market. ”

"Don't drink it!" Henipolis sat down on the wooden chair with a huff, and the wooden chair creaked in pain.

"Heni." Ansitanus knew the student's temper, but did not think of it as a pestle, but said in a coaxing tone: "You will be the one who will be the consul of Laos in the future, and you cannot do things on the spur of the moment. If we had not even seen Dionysius in person, and had gone back like this, not only would we have not been able to complete our mission, but we would have been blamed, and the people of Syracuse would have laughed at us for not knowing etiquette—"

"Obviously, Dionysius didn't understand etiquette and didn't meet us in time, how could he blame us!" Unconvinced, Henipolis shouted and interrupted Ansitanos.

"They can say, 'Because they are busy negotiating with the Carthaginians, they can't find time to meet us ......'. After all, for the people of Syracuse, Carthage is much more important than we are in Dionia. Ansitanos said calmly.

Hennepolis snorted coldly and looked at Ansitanos: "Teacher, in fact, Dionysius just wants to snub us and make Dionya make a fool of himself, right?!" ”

"If Dionysius had been such a small man, he would not have been able to sit in the position of tyrant of Syracuse. I'm afraid it's just that he treats different things and attaches different importance to them. Ansitanos touched his somewhat gray beard, and his eyes shone with wisdom: "So we don't have to rush at all, wait slowly...... Just to see what the Dionian League really weighed in Dionysius's heart. ”

Henipolis, though young and vigorous, was not a fool. On the contrary, his talent was the reason why Ansitanus was willing to let this student accompany him on the mission to Syracuse: "Well, let's compare our patience with Dionysius and see who can't survive first!" In the afternoon, I went to the theater in the city to watch a play. Seriously, although the city of Syracuse is larger and more populous than Turii, it does not have the vitality of Turii. There are no ball games to watch, no food to eat, so you can only go to the theater. Henipolis said teasingly, picked up the clay pot on the table, poured it violently, and then he "poofed" and spit it all on the ground: "This thing is sour and fishy, too unpalatable, much worse than beer!" ”

"Young people don't know how to taste." Ansitanus hurriedly took the clay pot, for fear that he would spit out all the water inside: "You must know that the Carthaginians learned this water from the Numibians, and made some small improvements to make the taste more suitable for the sailors of the sea. In Numibia, it's not just for quenching thirst, it's part of the food......"

"Numibia, what does this have to do with us? Listening to your tone, it seems that you want to study the history of this race again. Henipolis said disapprovingly, thinking he knew his teacher better.

"It's not me, it's the owner of the house where you usually stay is very interested in this, and has asked me many times about Numibia." Ansitanos took a sip of the water and said.

"You mean Master Davers?!" Henipolis immediately became interested: "He asked Numibia what to do?!" You must know that the Dionian League and Numibia are separated by the sea, Sicily, and Carthage, and there is no direct contact at all. ”

Ansitanos pointed to his chest and said slowly: "There are always one or two people in this world who think from a height that others can't reach, because their place is incomparably vast. ”

"Master Davers is truly a remarkable man!" Henipolis said sincerely, and suddenly he remembered something, and said: "Teacher, now that the Carthaginians have chosen an armistice, I am afraid that it will be bad for us to meet Dionysius, and even more so to Dionia!" ”

Ansitanos looked at his student appreciatively and asked, "Why?" ”

Henipolis knew that the teacher was testing himself again, so after carefully straightening out his thoughts, he said: "In the western Mediterranean, Syracuse has always been the most powerful Greek city-state, but it has always been confined to the island of Sicily, and the biggest reason is the Carthaginians. The Carthaginian power in Sicily not only kept the Syracuse on guard, but also threatened its very existence on several occasions. Syracuse alone had a very difficult time dealing with Carthage, and where did he have the energy to care about things outside Sicily.

But in fact, the people of Syracuse have always been interested in us in Greater Greece. I remember that decades earlier, the tyrant of Syracuse, Sieron, had sent troops into Greater Greece. But in recent years, the situation in Sicily has been very different. Carthage suffered heavy defeats in two large-scale military operations, and this time it was said that it also suffered more than 20,000 casualties, so it had to propose an armistice, and I am afraid that it no longer has much strength to pose a threat to Syracuse. ”

Ansitanos nodded in approval of the student's opinion, but he did not think that Syracuse would carry out military operations against Greater Greece, so he said: "The Carthaginians were defeated because they seemed to be at war with the Syracuses, but in fact they were fighting against the power of the entire Greek city-states, how could the Peloponnesian League led by Sparta and the city-states of Napoli in Campania allow foreigners to completely occupy Sicily, thus cutting off the trade routes between the East and West Mediterranean, and even threatening their rear (referring to Sparta)." It is believed that after these two crushing defeats, the Carthaginians will become wiser and will no longer easily provoke war in Sicily, and with their great power in Africa, it will still be the greatest threat to Syracuse. ”

"You're right, teacher! However, at least for now, Syracuse's power is already much stronger than Carthage's, and after their peace talks with Carthage this time, I am afraid that the Carthaginians will retreat greatly to the west of Sicily, and Syracuse's unification of Sicily is already something that anyone can see and may happen in the near future. Henipolis said worriedly.

"yes, that's what our alliance is going to focus on next." Ansitanos said with a deep groan.

"You can't just pay attention. I don't think Dionysius would be satisfied with hegemony in Sicily, Dionysius was a greedy man, and these two wars with Carthage were triggered by his initiative to expand his territory, and if Sicily was stable, he would probably target Greater Greece. ”

Although Ansitanos did not approve of Henipolis' exaggeration of the threat of war in Syracuse, as an academic, he enjoyed debating with his students, which helped to inspire him. So he frowned and asked, "Why does it have to be Great Greece?" ”

"Because south of Sicily is Carthage, Dionysius did not dare to go wild in the true realm of Carthage, no matter how arrogant he was; To the east, that was Sparta's sphere of influence; To the west was the Iberian Peninsula, a long voyage away, and with many Carthaginian colonies there, Dionysius could not have made the same mistake as Athens unless he was dizzy. Therefore, it was only possible for Greater Greece to the north, separated from Sicily by only a narrow Strait of Messina, and Dionysius could send 100,000 troops to the land of Great Greece in half a day.

And I think Dionysius had already coveted Great Greece, otherwise he would not have married a Lockley woman and allied himself with Locklee. Now, when he was fighting Carthage, he did not forget to send spies to disturb Dionia, and his ambitions for Greater Greece were already very obvious! ”

"Heni, you see, it's one thing to be ambitious, it's another to be able to start a war. Dionysius may have coveted Great Greece, but Great Greece now has our Dionian League. Ansitanos said, and a strange thought suddenly arose in his heart: if Turiyi was the same as before, the prospect of these large and small city-states of Great Greece facing the behemoth of Syracuse was really unimaginable. Thanks to Hades for sending Davers, he established the Dionian Alliance, which almost integrated the power of Greater Greece, so that Dionysius had to be cautious about this!

"And Syracuse is at war every year, I heard that the treasury is already beyond its means, and the people are also very dissatisfied, I believe you have felt it when you wandered around the city these days, in such a bad situation, can Syracuse start a large-scale war like the previous against Carthage? I don't think it's possible. Moreover, this time we have come to Syracuse to let Dionysius know the determination of our Dionian Alliance and completely dispel his unrealistic ambitions! Anhitaros said confidently.

Henipolis was infected by him and nodded cautiously.

At this time, the attendant entered the guest room and said, "Lord Ansitanos, someone is looking for you outside, saying that Felistos sent you. ”

Felistus, the important minister of Dionysius? Ansitanos and his students glanced at each other......

……………………………

Ansitanos was invited to a banquet to be held by Felistos tonight.

It was just dusk when the carriage sent by Felistos had already arrived at the hotel, and Ansitanos took Henipolis into the carriage.

The place where the emissaries of Ansitanos lived was in the central district of the city of Syracuse. The original colony of the Syracuse was the island of Ortigia, until a few decades ago when Dillon became the tyrant of Syracuse, and he led a large number of immigrants to begin to expand inland, and the expanded urban area is the current urban center of the Syracuse people, where most of the temples, theaters, and markets are concentrated. But this already small area was only a small part of the urban area that was subsequently expanded by the Syracuses.

In the decades following the reign of the tyrant Dillon, the Syracuse extended the city to the northeast, incorporating an area three times larger than the central district near the coast into the city of Syracuse, which included a rich quarry.