After a while, a young man holding the child handed the child to a woman beside him and stood up.

The woman grabbed him and whispered in a concern: "You must be careful!"

The young man avoided the woman's gaze with some guilt in his heart and replied in a low voice: "So are you!" After that, he strode out of the crowd.

Under his leadership, many people also said goodbye to the people around them and walked out.

Fagris patted the young man on the shoulder and asked comfortingly: "Young man, what's your name?"

"Printors."

Fagris glanced at the woman holding the child and comforted him, "Don't worry, when the enemy is defeated, you will be able to get together with your wife soon."

He thought the two were husband and wife, while the young man nodded with a serious expression.

………………………………………

The 5,000 soldiers of the Third Legion led by Hironimus came to Asprestum. It was not because they wanted to carry the siege equipment they had made last night, so they were much slower than the Lausian troops on the north bank of the Neto River. Instead, they deliberately set up such a time difference so that the plan would go smoothly.

At this time, Hironimus followed the team and spoke to Izam: "Are you sure your soldiers have entered Asprestum City?"

"Of course! I watched them enter with my own eyes. If it weren't for my appearance that was different from the Greeks, I would have accompanied my brothers in! Commander of the Legion, I hope you can rush to attack the city as soon as possible. I'm afraid that they will be discovered after a long time!" Izam begged.

"I understand." Hironimus promised immediately, and asked, "How many people are there?"

"56 soldiers." Yizam blurted out, and he knew his team members well. The alliance expanded, the army expanded, and his mountain reconnaissance team was also expanded, and now there is a company organization.

Hironimus was a little surprised. He didn't expect that there would be so many soldiers infiltrated the city, which made him more confident in capturing Asprostum. He told the Sihu soldiers and urged the troops to accelerate.

In fact, without the urging of Hironimus, the soldiers' marching speed continued to accelerate, because these 5,000 soldiers were all from Niutum. They missed the previous battle and were eager to fight and make meritorious service.

The river water in the upper reaches of the Neto River was neither deep nor wide, but the river bank was higher. Hironimus took the lead to the north shore and saw many enemies on the other side taking arrows, and immediately issued an order: "The Seventh Battalion attacked!"

The light infantry of the Third Legion quickly formed a long stretch of single-straited strait line, scrambling to slide down the river bank, and without fear, scrambling across the river with arrows shot at them. After paying for very small casualties, they climbed onto the other side, and the enemy had already run away.

Then the heavy infantrymen followed him walked easily across the Neto River with ladders and rafts made of trees.

The city of Asprestum is not far ahead. The terrain it is located is relatively high. It is actually climbing hills all the way. It is easy for the Lucanian soldiers living in the mountains. Finally, they stopped in front of Asprestum and began to arrange the formation under the command of the team officials.

The soldiers of Aspresum looked at the dark enemies under the city walls, all of them looked nervous. Behind them were the newly joined people, and they were even more nervous.

General Fagris saw an old man trembling. The round shield in his hand fell to the ground many times. He hurriedly stepped forward and comforted him: "Don't be afraid, the enemy cannot attack! Since this city was returned to us, we have never been defeated by the enemy! Decades ago, we were defeated in the south (referring to the war between Locre and Lijim in uniting against Crotone). The Brutis wanted to take the opportunity to retake the city. There were more people coming than the Dionians under the city now, and they returned in a disastrous defeat!"

His words made the soldiers feel a little relieved.

When Fagris followed the walkway of the storm at the city, inspecting the entire defense from west to east, and saw that there were enough soldiers in each marching squat, he also had his own confidence.

Although Asprostum is a small town like Castron and Crimesa, due to its importance of geographical location, the Crotones have expanded and strengthened the city defense many times. Therefore, it has a seven-meter-high city wall and a four-meter-wide city wall trenches, and it has water from a tributary of the Neto River to form a wider moat. It is adjacent to steep mountains in the west and another large tributary of the Neto River to the east. It is also cliffs and has a wide river water depth. Therefore, it has only two gates in the north and south, and its troops are concentrated, making it easy to defend.

Izam carefully observed the enemy on the city wall. Suddenly he looked happy, ran to Hironimus, and shouted in excitement: "Sir, my brothers are on the city wall! They are on the city!"

Hironimus, who had always been serious, couldn't help but be moved at this moment and asked anxiously: "Where is it?!"

Although Izam was excited, he remained cautious. Instead of using his fingers, he whispered: "On the far left side of the city wall!"

Hironimus immediately looked up to the city on the far left. It was noon, and the sun was hanging in the middle of the sky, shining on the fully armed soldiers on the city, emitting dazzling light everywhere, but there was a place where the light seemed special. The dazzling round shields were neatly connected in a row, and the reflected light flickered and dark, very regular. It was obviously these people flipped the round shields in their hands at the same time. Who would do such boring and physically exhausting things before the war? Hironimus smiled: "Izam, if you capture the city of Asprestum, your team will be the first contribution!"

"Thank you, Lord Legion!" Yizam was overjoyed.

With the mountain reconnaissance team members as the inner responders, Hieronimus quickly made a plan to "attack the far right front of the city, attract the attention of the defenders, and attack the far left side".

The trumpet of attack sounded, and the soldiers were like hungry wild wolves in the mountains, making a deafening howl, and rushed towards Asprestum City, Bagule, Yassitus, Lizam, Kesima, Ulaza and other captains, who also led the troops and charged in person...

The Crotone soldiers began to shoot arrows at the enemy entering the range. For the Dionian heavy infantry wearing thick armor and heavy helmets, there were very few casualties. The Tulucanian soldiers of the wild army, who were stimulated by the horn of the battle, even broke the arrow shaft of their arms and thighs, and continued to advance with injuries...

They quickly arrived at the moat, and according to the prior exercise, the soldiers running in the front quickly put the five-meter-long and three-meter-wide wooden rafts on the moat; then the soldiers carrying the ladder stepped on the wooden rafts, crossed the moat, and went straight to the wall; followed by soldiers holding round shield sabers...

At this time, the attack on the city wall began to rise violently. Arrows, javelins, and stones were hit like raindrops, and the casualties of the soldiers of the Dionians suddenly increased...

…………………………………………………………

Lucias didn't expect that the situation became so bad as soon as he returned to Crotone.

The people who fled into the city spread the news that the Dionian army was coming everywhere, and panic spread throughout the city...

Many people in the council were also very panicked. They thought that Crotone's army was defeated again and Crimesa was captured, which allowed the army of Dionia to move south smoothly. So they exclaimed in a fury: "As long as Miron dares to escape, he must be punished!"

Lucias retorted: "I just returned from Crimesa. When I left, Crimesa was still in the hands of Miron. It was impossible to have just a few hours later. Crimesa was captured by the enemy and attacked the north bank of the Neto River. It is impossible to calculate the time, so the Dionians must have bypassed Crimesa! I have to admit that the Dionians are too brave. They have no boats and cannot cross the wide Neto River. As long as Miron still sticks to Crimesa, the Dionians who invade the Croton Plain are like rootless duckweed and have to retreat in the end."

"The Dionians can't cross the Neto River, but they can attack Asprostum!" someone said worriedly.

"Asprostum is not so easy to capture. How many times did the Brutis fail in the past? I hope the Dionians will attack it, so that they can use this to attack the Dionians!" Someone retorted.

"What's the benefit of us if we continue like this! We Crotone have suffered huge losses, farmland has been destroyed, houses have been burned, prices are rising, and the treasury is being consumed. Due to insufficient labor, trade has also been greatly affected. We still have a large number of citizens captured! The people are already dissatisfied with us, so why not talk to the Dionians!" someone said pessimistically.

"Peace talks?! Haven't you heard the terms of Dionia's peace talks as Lycius said?! That damn consul of Dionia wants us to dissolve the alliance, can we agree? Once Asprestum is independent, Kaorenia, Silit, and Trina are no longer our allies, then maybe tomorrow the Locre and the Brutis will destroy them and kill them to the city of Crotone!" Someone scolded.

"Peace talks are like buying and selling things. Dionia puts forward conditions. We can continue to negotiate with them and reduce their demands..."

"Peace talks are OK, but after the attack of the Deonians must be repelled! In this way, we can straighten our chests and speak loudly with the Deonians!"

...

The Council began to argue endlessly about "whether to engage in peace talks with Dionia". Fortunately, they were able to distinguish priorities and some urgent measures were quickly implemented: warships sailed into the Neto River, patrolled the banks of the river, preventing the Dionians from smuggling and building bridges. At the same time, the free people were hired in large numbers, some guarding the Neto City, some stationed on the south bank of the Neto River, monitoring the Dionians on the other side, and a small number were sent to Asprestum City to strengthen its defense. In addition, people were sent to Crimesa and asked Miron to launch an attack on the Dionians who besieged Crimea to force the invading enemies to withdraw.
Chapter completed!