"The area of ​​Sicily controlled by Dionysius is slightly smaller than that of Dionysa, but half of Dionysa is mountainous and cannot grow grains and other crops, and Sicily is a famous wheat production in the Mediterranean. Judging from the wheat trading volume in Syracuse last year, Sicily's wheat production may be twice as high as ours.

Moreover, the port merchants in Syracuse are prospering. Compared with our city of Turiyi, it almost monopolized the maritime trade between the Greeks and Afilica. Even if we are fighting with Carthage now, we can still see many Phoenician merchants in the port of Syracuse. Although I cannot know what the monthly commercial tax revenue of Syracuse is, both in port capacity and in the number of merchant ships are much stronger than that of Turiyi. This is not the case with Agrigento, Katanai, Naxos, and Messina, which were established 300 years ago, their port trade is very prosperous!…”

Listening to Alistilas' words, Davers nodded involuntarily and said, "No need to mention the ability to mobilize wars. Since Dionysius is a tyrant, his greatest advantage is that he can concentrate all the resources he controls to the greatest extent, including the people, and can suddenly start a war without the approval of the Council. I remember hearing you last time that Dionysius mobilized about 100,000 people on the north coast of Sicily during this war against Carthage?!"

"Yes, sir. To be precise, it should be nearly 80,000 infantry and 20,000 navy."

"Last time...how many people did he dispatch in western Sicily?" Davers asked again.

"It is said that there are also 100,000 people."

Davers breathed: "Yes, Syracuse launches a large-scale war of 100,000 people at any time. The key is that he can support such a large number of troops to fight for more than half a year a hundred miles away from his mother country... Syracuse's war potential is really surprising!" Davers sighed unusually.

"Sir, although Syracuse is powerful, it is not without weakness." Alistilas saw a little frustration in Davers' tone, so he took the initiative to say: "Dionisius ruled the people of Syracuse to prevent the people from rising against him. He also forced the people to pay heavy taxes. The citizens of Syracuse have to pay 20% of their income to the treasury every year, and the people resented him. Moreover, the citizens of other city-states in Sicily also hated him because they not only had to pay high tribute to Syracuse, but also in the previous war of conquest in Syracuse, their relatives were killed by the Syracuse people in the battle, and their relatives were captured, and they were sold to faraway places as slaves... They had hatred for the Syracuse people and Dionysius!..."

Davers quietly stared at Alistilas' slightly deformed face due to pain. After a while, he said, "You are right. But as long as Dionysius' army continues to win, as long as his power does not suffer a great loss, the hatred of the Sicilian people can only be hatred and cannot damage Dionysius at all. He also has Sparta's support-"

Aristillas immediately said: "But Sparta is now in war, and there is no extra force to support Dionysius, and to the south of Sicily there is Carthage, the arch enemy of Syracuse."

"This is indeed a good opportunity..." Davers rubbed the sparse stubble under his jaw: the current population of the Dionysian Union is about 800,000, and both business and agriculture are much different from Syracuse. Moreover, the military power of Dionysian is relatively scattered due to geographical location, and it is not easy to concentrate, and the navy is even weaker. Once the war with Syracuse, the pressure will be great..."

Alistilas looked at Davers without saying a long time, anxious, but dared not express it. He subconsciously held the armrests of the wooden chair with both hands.

"Aristilas." Davers finally spoke: "I allow you to send your men to Sicily from now on, learn more about the forces of Sicily city-states against Syracuse and Dionysius, and make initial connections with them."

"Yes, sir." Alistilas was excited and couldn't help asking further: "What?"

Davers looked at him with a bright look: "Before the war with Syracuse, there is no 'then' for the time being."

……………………………

The next day, Turiyi's public trial continued, and it still attracted a large number of Dionyan citizens to watch it. Because the content of today's trial was mainly about "whether Polyxis and others colluded with Syracuse and conspired to disrupt Dionya."

Although Greek city-states also have cases of trial citizens colluding with Gentiles and betraying the country, such as Xenophon, who was absent from the Athenian government for his crime of "betrayal of Athens" because he had been working for Athens a year ago, and he was sentenced to death by the Athenian government, which made Xenophon even more afraid to return to Athens. However, like Dionya, "treason" was written into the code in detail and conducted different sentencing according to its degree. The "treason" alone occupies several pages of the code, which shows the importance of the crime of this crime. Today's trial will be the first time that the Dionya League has tried treason, which is only a few years old. You should know that the maximum sentencing for this crime is - the death penalty. Citizens with high interest will wait and see.

Compared to yesterday, Polyxis' mental state was much worse. Obviously, yesterday's trial hit him a lot, but he had to cheer up today because he was convicted yesterday, the worst was to deprive civil rights and deport him. However, if he was convicted today, his life might be difficult to protect.

Aristocrates' appearance was warmly welcomed by the public. Although the young judge had a little hunched back, he won the love of the people with his quick thinking, sharp words, and polite demeanor. Especially when he saw him debate the Polyxis and others they hated, some people even began to inquire about his family situation and thought privately: to marry his daughter to this promising young man.

Polyxis is still trying to save himself, but unfortunately there is too much evidence against him.

Especially among the property found in his home, there were many silver coins in Syracuse. Since Syracuse has been in an expansion war in recent years, the cost is huge, and the treasury is almost empty, and he continues to charge heavy taxes from the people. Moreover, Dionysus has issued a inferior silver coin to make up for the deficit of the treasury, forcing the people of Syracuse to use a "Four Drakema silver coin" (that is, silver coins with a weight of four times that of a Drakema) in the past two years. It is mixed with a lot of lead in the silver coin, and inferior is used as good ones. This kind of silver coin is rarely circulated in the market of Dionys, but many such coins were found in Polyxis's property. You should know that his family does not do maritime trade. This kind of coins are also found in the property of Orifes and Massacus.

More importantly, Aristocrates showed the jury several letters found in Polyxis's home. Aristocrates picked two letters and read them loudly: "...Mr. Polyxies, when you received your letter, you learned that there has been great progress in the discussion of the Senate of Dionia about the "convening the Citizens' Conference". General Plenipotentius (referring to Dionysius) was very happy to hear this news. He immediately agreed to the amount of silver coins you requested and would soon be shipped to the port of Turiyi with the merchant ship. At the same time, he also reminded me to remind you that it is not enough to just let the merchants and nobles come out to protest. The main body of the Dionian Union was not them, but ordinary citizens of the Legion soldiers. If you can approach them, win them over, and let them join the protesting crowd, then..."

Polyxis refused to admit it again and shouted: "This is a forged letter!"

"Forged?! Then, please look at this letter-" Aristocrates picked up another letter and showed it to the jury members: "This is the only letter you have found, your handwriting, and a seal. Look at the date, it happened to be the day you were arrested, so before this letter could be sent out, I believe the people will be very interested in the contents of the letter."

Aristocrates sneered, and looked at Polyxis who rushed over like crazy, wanted to snatch the letter but was restrained by the guards who maintained the order of the court and read aloud again: "...Mr. Phylistos--I want to explain it here. You may not know that Phylistos is the most important minister of Dionysius, the tyrant of Syracuse... I do not agree with your previous suggestions. Winning ordinary citizens of Dionysia will not have much effect on the passage of the bill of "convening the general meeting of citizens". I came up with a good idea. Davers is in the formulation of some places that can be used by me in the bill to "govern Lucania, Brutis". I believe that after my incitement, those so-called alien veterans with simple minds may give up their support for that proud young man..."

"This is forged! This is someone who wants to frame me!" Polyxis yelled desperately in the tide of the crowd below.

Aristocrates summoned the witness immediately.

After Helmith, a native of Syracuse, was interrogated by some cruel methods beyond this era, such as covering his mouth and nose with linen first, and then watering it little by little, etc., which made him worse than death.

Then, Matonis told him coldly: either he was sent back to Syracuse after telling the truth, or he refused to reveal it and continued the interrogation.

Between the two choices, he chose the former without hesitation.
Chapter completed!