As a battle-hardened Spartan warrior, Phoebidas had been observing the progress of the siege, and he could roughly deduce that the casualties of the Syracuse were probably close to 10,000! Such a huge number of casualties is far from what Sparta can bear, even if Sparta organizes all the allies to form a large number of troops, it is impossible for them to attack the city with such bloody means, because it will inevitably make the allies revolt, so this is where Phoebidas is helpless and frightened: Dionysius, the tyrannical and cruel Sicilian tyrant, has too much control over his troops!

"There is no obstacle in front of us, and it is time to attack Dionia!" Dionysius, who had taken Crotone and landed a stone in his heart, turned his head to look at the north in the dark night, and his words were full of antiquity.

That's right, and Davers! Dionysius's words reminded Phoebedas, who was also full of expectations: but without the help of Crotone, would Dionia, who was inferior in forces, be able to withstand a battle?!

………………………………

It was already four o'clock in the morning, and the soldiers of the Turii barracks had long since fallen asleep, except for the patrolling sentinels, but the hurried knock on the door broke the silence of the barracks.

"Your Majesty, urgent military situation! The people of Syracuse have breached the city of Crotone! Martius, the captain of the guard, said urgently.

"The city of Crotone has been breached?!" Davers's drowsiness was completely swept away by this shocking news, and he felt a little incredulous: "Who sent the news, is it true?!" ”

"Message from the Mountain Scout. In addition, Aristias brought the same news. ”

Syracuse had conquered Crotone, which had a ten-meter-high wall and enough soldiers, in one day, and Syracuse's siege ability was so strong that Davers was so shocked that his joy was swept away during the day because of the news that "Bergam had been killed by his people and his tribe had come down the mountain and surrendered", he immediately decided: "Martius, you immediately go and call Antonios, Amintas, Matonis, and Capus to come and discuss the matter!" Send someone to call the patriarchs! ”

"Yes!" Martius received the order and hurried away.

Davos did have the intention of "letting Crotone and Syracuse consume each other and buy more time for Dionia", so that he would have more time to train the newly formed troops better, prepare the logistics more thoroughly, and wait for the situation in the Bruti area to stabilize and the problem of Laos's defection to be resolved, then Dionia will have more citizen soldiers to join the expedition, and Dionia will have more stability in the territory, and he will have more confidence to defeat Syracuse.

However, plans always fail to keep up with changes, Dionysius ...... Davers stood outside the house, looking out at the endless darkness of the southern night, and clenched his fists......

…………………………………

Early the next morning, the large training ground, which had always been empty in the Turii barracks, was occupied by the 1st Army, the 2nd Army, the 7th Army, the Spear Brigade, and the Logistics Transport Team.

Davers, dressed in military uniform, stood on the stage, looked around at the tens of thousands of soldiers in the audience, and said loudly: "Warriors of Dionia, since the outbreak of this war, you have followed me everywhere, not afraid of hardship and sacrifice, fought bravely, repelled the fierce Samonai, annihilated the cunning Tarantum people, and ensured the security of the northern border of the Alliance, you are the heroes of the Alliance!"

A grand triumphal ceremony should have been held for you, but the war is not over yet, and the people of Syracuse, who provoked it, have already stormed the city of Crotone yesterday, and they are about to set foot on our land, burning the flames of war to our homeland, and to turn us into their slaves! What are we going to do as Ionians?! ”

As soon as Davers finished speaking, there was an earth-shattering roar from the field: "Defeat the people of Syracuse!! ”

"Beat them!! Kill them all!! ……”

……

When the agitated soldiers quieted down a little, Davers took a sharp breath and shouted, "Warriors, we are about to go south to meet the evil Syracuses. Dionia, in order to thank you for your great contributions and sacrifices to the Alliance, I have decided in consultation with the Senate—"

Davers paused for a moment, took another breath, and shouted, "After the victory of this hard war, the freedmen who participated in the war will become reserve citizens, all reserve citizens will become full citizens, and the citizens of the city-state will be rewarded twice as much according to your merits!" ”

The playground was boiling again, and this time there was an overwhelming cheer: "Dionya wins!! King Davers Victory!! ……”

After all, the reason why both freedmen and reserve citizens were willing to fight for the Dionian League in the face of a powerful enemy was because they felt that the existence of this alliance would guarantee their rights and bring benefits to their future. And Davers cashed in what they wanted in advance, which would make them even more courageous in order to achieve this goal as soon as possible, especially the spear brigade composed mainly of free people.

In the face of the fierce offensive of the Syracuses, Davers did not hesitate to use any means to raise the morale of the soldiers and increase the chances of victory for Dionia. As for where the "share of land" needed by so many new citizens and old citizen soldiers will come from, Davers does not have to worry at all: after defeating Syracuse, are you afraid that there will be no land?!

Immediately after Davers's lecture, he announced his departure.

The camp gate opened, and the soldiers of the 1st, 2nd, 7th, and spear brigades lined up in a neat queue and walked out of the barracks in turn and marched eastward.

The freedmen of the convoy were to rush to the Turij granary, where the mountains of military rations donated by the Dionians and allies for the past two days were to be transported by pack carts to the port, and then to the port of the city of Crimesa in large quantities of cargo ships to be unloaded. As a result of the victory at the Battle of Taranto, Dioonia had already won sea supremacy within its borders, so with sea transportation, logistical transportation was much more convenient.

Before the long marching column reached the city of Turiyi, it welcomed countless people, who stood on both sides of the avenue and asked curiously, "Where are you going?" Be...... Is it to attack the Syracuses?! ……”

After receiving an affirmative answer from the soldiers, the populace became excited, and after a series of great victories, they no longer felt the horror of the Syracuse army in the south, but hoped that the Dionian army would drive them away as soon as possible and restore peace to the alliance as soon as possible.

When the people heard the news, they kept coming, and the number of people increased, but they consciously did not hinder the road and affect the march of the procession, but formed a long parallel flow of people on both sides of the avenue, which extended to the wooden bridge over the Klatty River.

While cheering for the soldiers who went out on the expedition, they searched for their relatives and prayed to Hades for him, offering their best wishes.

Amid the attention and wishes of the people, the soldiers were even more energetic, especially the freedmen of the spear brigade, who enjoyed this honor for the first time, and all of them straightened their backs and held their heads high.

"Oh, is this a newly formed legion?! How come I haven't seen them before?! ”

"Why didn't they carry weapons?!"

……

Of course, the curious people would not know that Davers, fearing that the long march would reveal the secrets of the spear brigade and not achieve the effect of a surprise attack, wrapped the spears and transported them to Crimesa by sea with the military rations, and then appointed Oliver to receive them.

The people's questioning was mixed with the greetings of their loved ones.

"Tapirus! Tapirus! ......" An excited voice came clearly into the ears of Tapilus, the leader of the spear brigade (who had been promoted for his outstanding performance in later training), and he quickly turned his head to look, and in the dense crowd he saw at a glance the person he was looking for—Mycia, his wife.

She was waving her arms excitedly and shouting affectionately: "Tapilus, I will come to the Hades Temple day and night to pray for you, so that you can come back safely as soon as possible!" ”

Instead of speaking, Tapyrus waved his arms in response, but his heart was filled with passion. He and Mysia, both slaves, met in Christoya's restaurant, and the same experience brought them close and supported each other. The year after Tapyrus was freed, Mysia was also freed from slavery by Christoya for her outstanding performance, and the two were soon married in the presence of the goddess Hera.

At this moment, Tapirus looked affectionately at the figure of his wife, who was still chasing the team on the side of the avenue, and a voice echoed in his heart: Wait for me, Mysia! When I return, we will be citizens of this great alliance! We will have our own land! We're going to build a nice house! Four or five more children! ……”

As the team marched rapidly to the city of Turiyi, the First Legion broke away from the main force and headed straight east. They were going to the naval base on the Klatty River, where they would board the Raven warship and go south with the fleet in search of the Syracuse Navy and engage it again at sea.

The large force turned to the wooden bridge over the Klatty River.

In front of the wooden bridge, the senators also rushed to see off the troops, and they were not as optimistic as the people, because the people did not yet know the news of the fall of the city of Crotone, and the news weighed on the hearts of each of the senators like a big stone, so that they tossed and turned last night, and did not sleep well all night, and their hearts were full of worries about the war.

"Your Majesty!" Kunogorata, Cornerus and other elders once again bowed deeply to Davers as they had done before the naval battle: "The battle with the Syracuse is up to you!" ”