"Now near the ruins of Agirione has become the largest gathering place for exiles in Catanai, Naxos and other city-states. Since Agiri's death, the Sikels have not elected a new king because of Dionysius' suppression. The various Sikel towns cannot unite anymore, so the threat to the settlement areas of Agirione is not great. Instead, the Sikel people, Taurumenan, and the mercenaries of Catanai who come to sweep from time to time have a great threat to them." Sherofennis continued to add: "If these exiles can all come to Mearo, then you can add four or five thousand soldiers!"

A group of rabies from various city-states who were not strictly trained were not as good as a group of slaves when fighting. Antonios thought in his heart, but did not say it. He looked at the location of Agileon on the finger of Senofinis: it was located on the west side of Mount Etna, and from Mearo, he could reach there with the Alcantara Valley. But in this way, the location of Tauromenione was threatening to this passage, and only two hundred soldiers were sent to defend against the attacks of the Tauromeniones would be less?

Then Antonios asked, "If I lead my troops to attack Taurumenan, will the slaves and free people there cooperate with us?"

Shelofinis shook his head and said, "This is probably difficult. Dionysius handed over Taurumen to Campania's mercenaries at that time. Although their number was not large, the city of Taurumen was not large and there were very few arable land. They did not need too many slaves. Often they sold the captured exiles to Catanai and Sikuli. The free people would not go to Taurumenan, where there was neither port nor arable land. How did they live on?"

Shelofinis recalled something, and his face showed fear: "I have visited the city of Taurumenan. It is above the mountains, with a steep terrain and only a winding path can reach it. If our soldiers attack it, they will probably pay a great price, and they are-" He had not finished speaking, but he was obviously not optimistic about the First Legion being able to seize the mountain city.

Antonios was a little disappointed after hearing this.

Sherefinis then said: "However, if you attack Siculi, sir, the slaves and free people there can definitely help! Dionysius destroyed several city-states. Now, in the southeast of Sicily, except for Syracuse and its surrounding city-states, the rest of the other places are many and few. As far as I know, not only are the slaves of many city-states mostly exiles, but even many free people are exiles. Like Mearo's case, they are always eager to overthrow Dionysius' rule and rebuild their homes. The citizens of these city-states also know this situation, but they have not taken effective measures to stop it, because their newly acquired land and ports require a large number of people to manage..."

Although what Serofenis said was very attractive, Antonios was not ready to do so. The reason he wanted to seize Tauromignan was because he had to deal with the attack of the Syracuses, it was best to ensure the safety of Mearo in the north. Otherwise, the Syracuses attacked from the south, the mercenaries of Tauromignan attacked from the north, and even the colonists of Locre and Medema in Messina sent reinforcements, Mearo was in danger of being surrounded by full encirclement. As for taking the city of Siculi, it seemed beautiful, but when the enemy was about to come, disperse his troops and lead to possible two-sided battles. This is a taboo stipulated in the "Dionian Law". Antonios certainly would not make such a mistake.

Antonios thought silently: It seems that only by strengthening his defense against Mearo, waiting for the arrival of those exiles, and then deciding on the next plan as the situation develops.

……………………………………

When the Spartan messenger Krethops returned to Sparta, Teacher Agsi had received an order from the Elders' Council to go to Corinth, replace Plaxitas, command the Spartan alliance army, and continue to attack Corinth City.

Kerithops reported to the Elders' Council for the mission.

These Spartan elders over 60 years were surprised by the stubborn attitude of the Dionians facing such a dilemma and even wanting to defeat Syracuse. What surprised them even more was that Dionia actually defeated Syracuse's navy. This unexpected result made the elders look at each other.

After a while, the elder Diopsis asked in a deep voice: "Kelitops, the Dionians arrogantly rejected our Spartan friendly proposal, so that the war in Great Greece will continue. You have just returned from Great Greece to understand the situation there, what advice do you have?"

"Dear elders, Dionysius is determined to conquer Great Greece. Davers is determined to avenge the people. Both sides are like a pair of rams with red eyes. Words alone cannot make them cease to fight. And if we Sparta now cannot come up with other ways to mediate this war, the Great Greece war will continue until one side falls..." Kerithops answered truthfully, implying that Sparta's reputation is not enough to capture the two major forces in the Mediterranean Sea in Vossi, and must come up with practical things to make them obey, such as the army.

The elders were silent: Now Sparta is devoted to the war in Corinth, and there are still a small number of troops in Asia Minor, and there is no spare effort to open up another battlefield.

After a long time, the elder Lucipus sighed: It seems that the Syracuse people will not be able to help us in the short term!"

As the regent of Spartan King Agsipolis, Plaxitas attended the Elders' Council instead of Agsipolis. At this time, he asked, "Kelitops, who do you think will win in this war?"

As soon as this question arose, the other elders looked at him in surprise, and the meaning expressed in their eyes was very obvious: Is this more important? Although Dionia won the naval battle and the final victory still needs to be resolved on land, the strength gap between the two sides is obvious. It is very likely that the final winner is Syracuse. You must know that Dionysius led an army of 80,000, and Sparta had never had such a strong military force!

But Kerithops' expression hesitated. He thought for a while before saying, "Although Dionysius had a clear advantage in terms of strength, Dionysius had Davers. Before, every war that occurred in Dionysius, judging by the situation before the war, we would think that they could not win, but in the end they all won, so Dionysius would become a city-confederate alliance that we had to pay attention to within a few years. And now, Davers defeated the Samonets in central Italy and returned to Turie. It is said that it was under his command that the Dionysius fleet miraculously defeated the Syracuse Navy, which was far stronger than them. Now he led Dionysius's army head-on to face Dionysius's Syracuse Army. The victory and loss are really hard to judge!"

"Dionis is not comparable to those stupid generals that Dionysia had encountered before!" an elder retorted: "He defeated Carthage!"

"Davus!..." Dioptis sighed: "Kelitopus, I remember you suggested to the Council that you would accept him as a VIP in Sparta."

"Yes, I made this proposal to the Council." Krithops answered truthfully.

"I didn't expect that the young man who was still inconspicuous a few years ago has now become a headache for us Sparta!" Diopitis turned to face the elders and said with a serious expression: "We need to seriously consider Kerithops' inference, and consider how we Sparta should deal with it if Dionia really defeats Syracuse?"

When the elders heard this, they were surprised and fell into deep thought. As a result, they suddenly discovered that although Sparta had little contact with the Dionysian League, their relationship was not very good. On the contrary, they heard that Dionys had signed a friendly agreement with Sparta's mortal enemy Athens. Once Dionys won the victory of the Great Greek War, Sparta's rear, which Sparta used to think was safe, a big hole was made by it. Sparta will face traditional powerful states such as Athens, Thebes, and Corinth, while also guarding against the hostility of the powerful city-confederacy alliance in the west. The pressure faced by Sparta will undoubtedly increase sharply!

Many elders began to turn gloomy when they thought of this.

An elder pretended to be relaxed and said: "This is just an assumption, and the possibility of Dionia winning is very small!"

"We might as well let Dionia have no chance to win at all!" Another elder said fiercely.

"Then what can we do? Send troops to Great Greece to support Syracuse?! Now most of the soldiers are concentrated in Corinth, and can we send troops there! Let other allies help? Unfortunately, our previous attention and support for the Western Mediterranean have been put on Syracuse, so our understanding of Great Greece is not as good as Athens!" Praxitas was angry that the elders removed him from his position as commander of the Spartan Confederate Army, and thus mocked him: "Oh, by the way, there is also Tarantum, our sub-state. Unfortunately, when Dionia won the victory over the Sea of ​​Syracuse, he easily defeated them! Look, this is the Western Mediterranean plan you have formulated in the past few decades, a bunch of shit!"

The elders were speechless by him for a moment.

At this time, a voice sounded from the quiet venue: "Maybe...we can have friendly negotiations with Dionia."

Everyone's eyes immediately gathered on Kerithops.
Chapter completed!