If you're uncomfortable with anything around you, it's because of your feelings, not the things themselves. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info through the adjustment of feelings, you can be excited at any time.

- Marc Aureli (last emperor of the Roman Empire in the era of the Five Wise Emperors)

Since war could not have been avoided from the beginning, the House of Augustus and Hannibal, as both sides of the war, had to go all out for this war; With the two huge war machines running at full throttle, can they tolerate a bystander by their side? What's more, this bystander is still a weak wallgrass!

It is said that the three corners are the most stable, but the premise is that the strength of the three corners is equal; If two horns are of equal strength, then the other horn, whether it is too strong or too weak, will attract the other two corners!

As it turned out, it was impossible for the decisive battle between the House of Augustus and Hannibal to allow the weak city-state of Syrac to watch the battle as a third party; Either the city-state of Syracuse chooses one of them to fully support it, or the city-state of Syracuse will face an attack from either side.

The act of waiting for the price to sell is not the turn of the weak ancient city-state of Syra; Because the military strength of the ancient city-state of Syracuse was simply not enough to withstand the charged blow of either the Augustan family or Hannibal. Before the war officially broke out, if Syracuse hadn't made a choice, all that awaited them was destruction!

It is no exaggeration to say that the destruction of the ancient city-state of Syracis was nothing more than a matter for the Augustus family to dispatch a regular legion; For Hannibal, it was just as easy as leading an army to travel. Even so, the ancient city-state of Syra still has a certain existential value; This is why Hannibal wanted to put Syracula on his chariot.

The ancient city-state of Syra, as part of the Union of Greek City-States, was also a very powerful city-state in the history of Greek city-states; In its heyday, the ancient city-state of Syra was a powerful presence alongside the city-states of Athens and Sparta. Later, as time passed, the ancient city-state of Syracuse slowly began to decline, but its strength should not be underestimated.

You know, Sicily was a purely Greek island more than a hundred years ago, and the three regions above were also the territory of the three Greek city-states; After more than 100 years of world changes, the city-states of Messina and Liliba were destroyed one after another, and became the territory of others, but the ancient city of Syrac has always existed, which in itself proves a lot of things.

In fact, in the very early days of primitive Greek civilization, the Greeks were only confined to the Greek peninsula, and even Crete and Rhodes were not Greek territory, let alone Sicily. Over time, the mighty Greek civilization began to expand around them, which led to the Greek city-states that would later spread across the Mediterranean.

Needless to say, even the three provinces south of the Latin provinces of the present Roman Republic were formerly part of the Greek city-states; It was the Roman kings of the Roman Kingdom who slowly expelled the Greeks from Rome by force and completely turned the entire Apennine Peninsula into a Roman kingdom!

It can be seen from this that the Greeks were so powerful and how advanced the entire Greek civilization was; Unfortunately, the role of time is still too powerful, and the impact of luxurious and sluggish life on a nation is also far-reaching and long-lasting. Once upon a time, the Greek civilization that crisscrossed the Mediterranean was left with only a few city-states left to support it alone.

In fact, the Greek city-states of today are not purely Greek city-states anymore; After all, during the time of Alexander the Great, the entire Greek peninsula was included in Alexander the Great's empire. If it weren't for Alexander the Great's love for Greek culture, I'm afraid that Greek culture would have been overshadowed by history long ago.

Even so, the Greek regions under Alexander the Great, the former Greek city-states, suffered great losses; The only one who survived was the ancient city-state of Syra, which was far away. At that time, the city-states of Messina and Lillian had not yet been born; The city-state of Syra was the only Greek city-state that was not conquered by Alexander the Great!

Although Alexander the Great's attitude towards the Greeks and Greek culture made the Greeks not have any rejection of him, there are always some Greeks who are unwilling to be ruled by foreign races and will never be ruled by Alexander the Great; Among them, the most radical must be the Spartans of the Spartan city-state.

How could the mighty Spartans be willingly ruled by the Macedonians? Thus, after Alexander the Great peacefully took over Greece, Spartans continued to try their best to leave the Greek peninsula and go to the last Greek city-state, the ancient city-state of Syracuse!

These Spartans not only increased the population of the city-state of Syrac, but also brought the most brutal and severe military training methods of the city-state of Sparta to the city-state of Syria. Unfortunately, such a cruel method of army training was not suitable for the army of the city-state of Syra, and the army of the city-state of Syrac could not stand such a cruel training method.

After several small mutinies, the consuls of the ancient city-state of Syra finally decided to abandon this method of military training from the Spartan city-state; However, the ambitious consul was reluctant to waste this method of increasing the combat effectiveness of the army of the ancient city of Syrac, and finally the consul came up with another way.

That is, to try to transfer more Spartans to the ancient city of Syrac, and then use these people as the basis to form a Spartan heavy infantry belonging to the ancient city of Syrac; In this way, wouldn't the mighty Spartan hoplites be used by the ancient city-state of Syrac?

This consul, in five years, transferred more than 30,000 Spartans to the ancient city of Syrac; Of these 30,000 Spartans, more than 10,000 are young adults who are suitable for forming an army, which means that the ancient city of Syra can obtain more than 10,000 real Spartan hoplites at any time!

However, the cost of Spartan heavy infantry was too high, and the cost of weaponry and training was not affordable for the ancient city of Syrac. In addition, the consuls were also concerned that too many Spartan heavy infantry would pose a threat to the ancient city-state of Syra. So, in the end, the city-state of Syra only formed a Spartan heavy infantry of 3,000 men and served as the pro-guard of the consul himself!

The Spartan hoplites, which belonged to the ancient city-state of Syra, were never disstaffed, nor did they take part in a real battle; But everyone knows that these 3,000 Spartan hoplites do exist, and they are also the foundation of the survival of the ancient city-state of Syrac!

Otherwise, why do you think that before the last decisive battle of Lillibal, neither Scipio the Elder nor Hannibal did anything against the ancient city-state of Syrac? Why did pirates sweep through Sicily earlier, and the other two Greek city-states fell, leaving the ancient city-state of Syrac unharmed?

With only 3,000 Spartan hoplites, it was almost impossible to reach the elite Augustan legions or the mighty Hannibal army; However, the role that such a Spartan heavy infantry of 3,000 could play on the battlefield should not be overlooked, and this is where Hannibal really valued the ancient city-state of Syrac.

Hannibal was never a man of his own words, and after setting the set goal, Hannibal did not waste time, and after handing over all the training of the army to his generals, he personally led 6,000 Libyan spearmen, 6,000 Punic infantry and 2,000 Holy Order infantry brought back from Carthage, and drove in the direction of the ancient city of Syrac.

It takes only four days to travel from Liliba to the border of the ancient city-state of Syrah; Hannibal believed that during these four days, the ancient city of Syracuse would receive information on the movements of his army and respond in time. At that time, as long as he led an army of 14,000 to the border area of Greater Sicily, the ancient city of Syractic should react.

Hannibal marched with his army for four days, and at noon on the fourth day, when he was about to reach the border of Greater Sicily, a Greek army of 3,000 men appeared before Hannibal's eyes; The weapons and equipment of this Greek legion, just look at it from a distance, you know that they are the famous Spartan heavy infantry!

Since the last decisive battle of Lili, Hannibal himself has been full of affection for the two hundred Spartan hoplites under Oscar's command, which is a natural affection for warriors, but also a respect for true warriors. Needless to say, judging from morale and state alone, this Spartan hoplite in the ancient city of Syracuse is not inferior to those Spartan hoplites of the Augustus family last time!

After discovering this army, Hannibal knew that the ancient city of Syrac should have come this time to be Dionysios, the consul of the ancient city of Syra! For Hannibal, this is also a good time for himself to have a good conversation with the archons of the city-state of Syra, and also allows the city-state of Syrac to make a wise choice.

This time, Hannibal was wrong; As early as the day after Hannibal set out with his army, the consuls of the ancient city-state of Syrac received information that Hannibal had sent troops. At this time, the contrast of power between Hannibal and the House of Augustus, Dionysios knew better than anyone; He understood better that Hannibal's army was not a joke, and that it was really possible to attack his own side without saying a word.

Coupled with the army assembled under Hannibal at this time, Dionysios had to be forced to make up his mind to support Hannibal in desperation; Therefore, this time Dionysios led his army to negotiate an alliance with Hannibal. The reason why he came with his guards was just to fight for more benefits.

In other words, Hannibal's coercive measures had an effect from the very beginning; From the moment Hannibal met Dionysios, the ancient city-state of Syra was tied to Hannibal's chariot. It's just that what is the fate of the ancient city-state of Syra this time, it can only depend on the outcome of the decisive battle! (To be continued.) )