So Hilos slowed down the siege again, cut down trees and made siege equipment.

The Locres, who were confronting the army of Corenia, wanted to rescue the Dionians, were powerless.

What made them even more worried was that once the Dionians captured Medema, the Daly coalition forces poured out of the ancient road from west to east, Locred's situation would become very dangerous!

Therefore, Locre sent five Fifty Clippers, taking huge risks, paying the heavy price of two being sunk and two being captured, breaking through the blockade of the Deonian fleet and entering the port of Silitung.

Dionysius then realized that in the past few days, not only did he use peace talks to delay time, but Davers was also not idle. Not only did he force Colenya to surrender, but he also dared to divide his troops to defeat Locke's army while besieging him, easily defeating Trina, Hibernian, and even Medemar was in danger, completely separating Silit and Locke. From this, it can be seen that Davers probably did not have the sincerity of peace talks!

This discovery made Dionysius feel sad: it was obvious that the young consul was not as naive as his age in politics, but as insidious as his military command. While numbing himself, he was quickly devouring Syracuse's alliance power in Great Greece, hoping to finally completely annihilate his army here!

Seeing Davers' true intention, Dionysius would not sit still and wait for death. No matter when reinforcements can arrive, he must be prepared first.

………………………………

The next day, Antonios met the subordinates sent by Antrapolis, the head of the Davers intelligence department in Sicily. He brought Antrapolis' suggestions: He hoped that Antonios could use Mearo as bait to lure Syracuse and his allies to attack, so as to create an empty internal defense forces in the city-states such as Catanai, Leotini, and Syracuse, and create conditions for the opponents of Dionysius to riot.

After roughly understanding the arrangements of Antrapolis in several major city-states in eastern and central Sicily, and in order to reduce the obstacles to future attacks, Antonios agreed after thinking.

While waiting for the enemy to attack, he released the old men, women and children of Siculi who had been imprisoned before. On the one hand, he wanted to reduce the consumption of food, and on the other hand, he also asked these people to bring messages to the Siculi people: the Dionys came to Sicily only to avenge the Syracuses who invaded the Greater Greece, without intention to occupy the territory of any city-state, nor to become enemies with other city-states, and willing to join the Sicily city-states to overthrow the tyrannical rule of Dionysius.

Antonios also sent a brave Naxos to the north to convey the same meaning to them. However, the messengers sent did not return, which shows the malice of these Campanian mercenaries towards Dionia, but these mercenaries did not rashly leave the city and go down the mountain to attack the exiles who were advancing east along the Alcatara Valley.

These exiles were entering Mearo in a constant stream and received warm welcome from the soldiers of the First Legion in the town. The available sources of troops of Antonios gradually became sufficient. While he asked Raodisian and Lesipelatus to arrange these newcomers, he also drew out young and strong men to equip them with leather shields and spears. In less than two days, he had nearly two thousand available reserve soldiers under his command.

That afternoon, just as Antonios was delighted by the strengthening of his army's strength, he received a reward from the scout: an army with a flag holding high the "three-legged pattern" and a large number of soldiers was entering Sikuli.

Antonios knew that Syracuse's army was coming.

Soon, the few reconnaissance cavalry under his command were driven by the Syracuse cavalry and had to retreat back to the north bank of the Alcantara River. On the south bank, several generals wearing colorful crowned helmets appeared, under the protection of the guards, gestured towards Mearo, and stayed for a while before leaving.

Antonios knew: the war will be the first or two days. Even if it is too late today, the Syracuse people will not attack. There will definitely be a fierce battle in Mearo Town tomorrow!

He suppressed the tension in his heart and carefully recalled the deployment he had made in his mind over the past two days so as to find out if there were any negligence and omissions...

………………………………

The next day, the weather was clear and windless, and it was suitable for combat. This was not good news for Antonios. He hoped that it would rain heavily, which would undoubtedly increase the difficulties of the Syracuses in attacking Mearo, especially the skyrocketing Alcantara River would make the Syracuses even crossing the river.

By the morning, the sentries on the sentry tower could already see the rolling dust and smoke on the south side.

But the first thing to discover the enemy was the port, and the fleet of Syracuse appeared on the sea surface of the port.

Antonios, who received the news, did not show any abnormal emotions, but he knew in his heart that Syracuse was advancing together with people and land, obviously to cut off the retreat of the First Legion, cut off the support of the First Legion, and to encircle and annihilate it.

So, he hurriedly asked, "How many three-layer oar warships are there?!"

"The specific number is unclear, and it doesn't seem to be less than our fleet!" The sentinel of the port lighthouse replied. The fleet on the sea is not like the troops on land. It can occupy more than ten miles of sea surface when sailing, and cannot be explored clearly by relying solely on the fixed watchtower on the shore.

Of course, Antonios also had some understanding of this. He couldn't do anything about the battle at sea, so he could only rely on Secorian.

"Let the people and patrol soldiers of the port withdraw to the town immediately!" Antonios immediately issued an order. The port was not in Mearo and there was no protection of the city walls. When the army was approaching, there was no need to waste limited manpower to protect a port that could not be defended at all. He had to concentrate his troops to deal with the upcoming land attack. Even if the Syracuse fleet was about to land on the coast near the port and burn the port for his First Legion to transport supplies, he would not care about it at this moment...

But the Syracuse fleet did not land on the port, nor did it burn the port, because the Sicilian merchant ships who had traveled to this route in the past two days had already informed Syracuse of the discovery: Every morning, the fleet of Dionya will set off from Lijim, arrive at Mearo port, patrol until the afternoon before returning to Lijim, so unless the naval commander of Syracuse is a fool, at this time, the warships anchored at the dock will become the targets for the Dionya fleet to practice impact.

The commander of this Syracuse fleet was Paronisus. He was a nobleman from Syracuse. He was also one of his friends who strongly supported Dionysius's advance with Gloris. He had some talent in command of ships. Therefore, when the navy led by Leptines defeated Carthage, the people of Syracuse called on him to take office as the new naval commander.

However, when Dionysius led his army to invade Greece, he still appointed his younger brother as the commander of the navy, which made Paronisus feel dissatisfied. He believed that Dionysius was helping his younger brother to restore his reputation. Everyone knows that Dionysius' fleet is weak and victory is easy.

Unexpectedly, news of the Syracuse Navy's defeat again and again came, and Paronisus was also angry while shocked. This time, in order to eliminate the landing of the Dionians, considering the resentment of the civilians and the free people in the bay towards the city-state, Phylistos chose Paronisus as the commander of the navy, in order to use his prestige in the sailors to make the offensive at sea smoother. Paronisus also wanted to use a big victory to prove to Dionysius that the choice he made was wrong.

At this time, the warships in Syracuse were anchored on the sea outside the port, with their bows facing north, waiting for the arrival of the Dionian fleet.

…………………………………

The Dionian fleet was heading south along the east coast of Sicily.

Day after day, tasks such as escorting Lijim's fleet and patrolling the sea near Mearo had already made Secretly bored. Seeing that Dionia's land troops attacked the enemies of Greater Greece in large numbers, siege cities and villages, and achieved brilliant results, while the Navy, which first laid the foundation for the victory of the Dionian League, could only assist the army in escorting, patrol and other inconsequential tasks, Secret felt helpless. If it weren't for the great expedition to Sicily, he would rather stay in Lijim and let his subordinates do this boring task for him.

Just as he was sitting on the deck, wondering whether he would take the fleet to continue to explore the port of Syracuse south after escorting the fleet this time, the loud looking hand on the mast suddenly shouted: "There are fleets ahead! There are many warships!"

When Secrean heard this, he immediately stood up: the fleet that could appear in this sea area could only be the Syracuse people!

He finally became excited: "Syracuse's fleet is coming to attack, and the attacking army roster sounds, let's meet!"

At this time, the captain of the ship said with some concern: "General, the Syracuse people are prepared. There are probably more warships than us, and there are no 'crows' on our warships. Look... are you going to be the first for the time being-"

"Shut up!" Secrean shouted, staring at him, looking angry and scolded: "Why didn't I find you a coward! You dare not fight without the crow suspension bridge?! Are you worthy of being a brave sailor? Just be a heavy infantryman!

Decades ago, the weak Athenian Navy could defeat the Persians, and the experience-deficient Spartan Navy could defeat the Athenians. Today, I, Sekolian, can defeat the Syracuses without relying on infantry and using the most orthodox naval battles!"

Seclian looked ahead proudly, and the captain lowered his head with shame.
Chapter completed!