While the soldiers set up camp outside Palermos, engineers and carpenters assembled and built siege engines.

When Leotizides piled the bodies of the Lusitanian warriors outside the city of Palermos and demanded their surrender, the Palermos urgently convened a citizens' assembly for this purpose, which was discussed.

But Leotizides, seeing that the Palermos had not given a clear answer for a whole morning, immediately launched an attack, and tens of thousands of heavily armed legionnaires lined up in front of the city, pushing all kinds of siege equipment, and began the siege.

The people of Palermos hurriedly organized themselves and went up to the city to resist, and the battle lasted for more than four hours from the afternoon until dusk, and the Dionian army did not attack the city with all its might, but only a test of force, so the casualties were not large, and the retreat was calm.

But for the Palermos, the four-hour defense was a nightmare: the Dionians attacked the defenders of the city from a distance on the towering mobile towers; Archers and javelinmen, under the cover of the archery carts, approached the city directly and covered the city with a rain of arrows; Stone projectiles fired from ballistas continued to fall into the city, smashing houses and injuring people; The iron arrows shot from the bow of the belly can make the defenders of the city die in a horrible death...... Not to mention, every time the Dionian heavy infantry who used the ladder and ant attachment to attack the city reached the top of the city, the defenders of Palermos had to pay heavy casualties before they could drive them down.

So when the Dionian army retreated, the Palermos did not rejoice in the victory, and they suffered more than a thousand casualties, of which more than half were the young citizen soldiers who were the main force defending the city.

With the Dionian fleet blockaded at sea, the land route surrounded, the Carthaginian reinforcements still annihilated, and their own defenders weak, the Palermos had lost the confidence to defend the city, and they quickly convened a citizens' assembly in the evening, and quickly passed a resolution: surrender to the Dionian army!

All the citizens present deceived themselves into believing that this was only a temporary surrender, to preserve Palermus, just as the Syracuse army had surrendered to Dionysius more than 20 years earlier, and that they could return to the Phoenician family centered on Carthage when the Carthaginian army had regained its upper hand.

So early in the morning of the second day, the messenger of Palermos went to the Dionian military camp and formally proposed to Leotizides: Palermos is willing to surrender!

When Leotizides discussed with Sipros, Zantiparis, and Midorades about attacking Palermus, of course, they also discussed the question of "what to do if Palermos surrendered".

In this war, up to the present day, Dionya has basically taken the approach of "reducing the people of the towns to slaves, and the entire town has been completely incorporated into the Dionian kingdom", as has been the case with Alenia, Saros, Selinus, and St. Ibinia.

After the capture of St. Ibnha by the Ninth Legion, Strompori personally pacified the captured St. Ibenians and promised them not only their freedom when the war was over, but also their application to become citizens of the Kingdom of Dionya, as long as they did their best to smelt and cast precious metals for the kingdom.

Cipros, who has rich experience in political administration, believes that Pallamus is different from the Phoenician city-states of Sardinia and Corsica in that it is not controlled by Carthage, but is only an ally of Carthage, an independent city-state, and this is the case in Sicily and the Phoenician city-states on the African continent. Its surrender was of course disposed of differently than the Phoenician towns on the two islands.

Sipros proposed: to include Palermos in the Ionian League, so that both sides can accept, in order to achieve the goal of quickly recruiting the opponent's power, saving time, and weakening the opponent's strength in the current front line where the armies of both Dionya and Carthage are gathered, and the war situation is very tense, and it also sets an example for the other Phoenician city-states to avoid a death war in the future.

His suggestion was approved by the three high-ranking generals, so when the Palermus envoys came to discuss the surrender, Leotizides offered to "let Palermos join the Dionian League", which really surprised the Palermos.

In addition, Leotizides also proposed that in this war, there would be no forage from Palermus, and there would be fewer Palermosian militias, but the Palermos would have to find an opportunity to persuade the Palermus militias in the Carthaginian army to surrender.

The Palermos envoy agreed, but Leotizides hesitated with another request: the Dionian army must be stationed in the city of Palamós!

The envoy objected to this, but Leotizides was resolute, because the Dionian army needed to use Palermos as the forward base of the Seventh and Eighth Army Corps, and its port as the base of the Third Fleet, so the presence of troops was a necessary condition, and if the Palermos could not agree, then the surrender could not be achieved, and the Dionian army would immediately attack, capture the city of Palermos, and completely control it.

In the face of Leotizides' strength, the Palermos envoy retreated.

Of course, Leotizides also made a promise in the name of Hades: the Dionian army will stay in Palermos, never interfere in the internal affairs of Palermos, not violate the laws of Palermos, not forcibly occupy houses, and will not harass the people......

The Palermos emissary brought Leotizides' terms of negotiation back to the city, and the citizens' assembly did not dispute the clause of making Palermos an ally of the Kingdom of Dionia, but there was a heated debate over the entry of the Dionian army into the city of Palermos.

But at this time, the Dionian army once again stood in front of the city of Palermos, and threatened that the people of Palermos must make a decision within half an hour, or else they would attack the city.

Man is the sword, I am the fish, and the Palermos reluctantly agreed to surrender under heavy pressure, hoping that the Dioonians would keep their promise.

Leotizides asked Zantiparis to garrison the camp with the Seventh Legion to guard the Carthaginian army south of the mountain, and to lead the Eighth Legion into the city of Palermos.

As soon as the army entered the city, it quickly took over the defense of the entire city wall and the entry and exit of the city gates, and took over the management of the port, and the army of more than 8,000 people lived in two places: one in the square of the city and the other in the port.

The populace of Palermos hid in their houses, anxiously watching the Ionian soldiers who had entered the city in a neat queue and on their toes, and although the Dioonians had a reputation for keeping their promises in the western Mediterranean, the city of Palermos was now like a woman who had taken off all her clothes, and trembled with fear even in the face of a kind and strong man.

But what they feared did not happen, and the Dionian soldiers focused on setting up tents, building new camps, and taking over the various points in the city...... There was not a single incident of looting and brutality. After more than ten years of military training, the citizens of Dioonia have become accustomed to obeying military law, not to mention that their regimental commanders are notoriously strict, how could they ruin their great future in Dioonia for a small indulgence when they have just won a battle exploit.

Even if a very small number of Cataneans complained: "The Carthaginian army destroyed their homeland and destroyed the Catanian plain, we should not be so lenient to these Phoenicians as accomplices!" ”

The officers would then reassure them: "Among these Accomplices of the Phoenicians were none of the Palermos, who did not follow the Carthaginian army to the east, but remained in the camp outside Selinus. (Of course, this is what the messenger of Palermus said, and Leotizides was willing to believe him at this time), so it can be seen that the Palermus have no grudge against us Dionia......"

The good behavior of the Dionian soldiers in the city slowly dispelled the fear in the hearts of the people of Palermos, and gradually some people tried to get out of their homes and meet the Dionian soldiers in the streets, but nothing happened, and even the Dionian soldiers smiled at them, which also made more people let their guard down and took to the streets...... During the day, the city of Palermos remained calm, with the Dionian soldiers and the people of Palermos going their own way without interfering with each other.

In the evening, Leotizides, who was staying in the camp in the square, was woken up by the officers stationed at the port and learned that the Carthaginians had brought reinforcements by sea and wanted to enter the port.

Leotizides immediately had an idea, and he sent for several of the city-state leaders of Palermos and asked for their help in luring reinforcements into the port.

When these city-state leaders got the news, they may have regretted that they surrendered too soon, but now that the wood is in the boat, and the whole city is under the control of the Dionian army, they have to listen, but when they learn that the vast majority of the soldiers in the reinforcements are made up of citizens of their own city-state, they have become much more proactive.

So when the reinforcements had all boarded the docks and were surrounded by the Eighth Legion, they hurried forward to persuade them to surrender.

The reinforcement soldiers certainly had no more options.

The convoy transporting reinforcements found out that they had been deceived and immediately tried to flee the harbor, but the Dioonians stationed in the harbor had closed the water gates and pulled up the barrage chains, and the whole fleet was a turtle in an urn.

Not only did it earn 4,000 soldiers for nothing, but it also captured a Carthaginian fleet, and the Eighth Army was a fruitful night.

However, after questioning the Palermos reinforcements and interrogating the Carthaginian crew, Leotizides had a very bold and crazy idea in his mind, and he immediately gave the order: martial law was imposed on the whole city, and no one was allowed to go out.

Then he sent people to call Zantiparis, who was outside the city, and Tegetus, the commander of the Half Mountain Reconnaissance Brigade, who had conquered the city of Syracuse, and the three of them discussed in the big tent in the city until dawn, during which they repeatedly interrogated the Carthaginian crew.