Phylistos was shocked and saw Gerolis pick up a sharp sword, lifting his robe without hesitation, and slashing a few bloody mouths on his arms and chest.

Accompanied by a few low and painful crys, Gerolis wiped his blood on his body, his face a few times, turned to look at Phelistos, with a little more fierce look in his originally firm eyes.

Phylistos shivered unconsciously.

"Look at him, don't let him run away!"

“Yes, master.”

After Girolis gave the order, he immediately went downstairs.

At this time, the neighbors around Herolis and the citizens who were passing through the street and going to the square had been incited by the slaves arranged by Herolis.

When he heard the news that "Mr. Gloris is being attacked by mercenaries", Gloris worked hard for several years and built a good image and hatred for mercenaries almost flocked to Gloris' house together, blocking the mercenaries who wanted to escape.

When everyone saw them, they had no doubt about what the slaves said before, and immediately rushed forward and killed the mercenaries one by one.

At this time, Phylistos rushed to them in blood and said gratefully: "My good neighbors! Brave citizens of Syracuse! Fortunately, you arrived in time, otherwise I would die at the hands of Dionysius' beloved mercenaries. Thank you for saving my life!" As he said that, he sincerely bowed to everyone to thank everyone.

But at this time, people's faces changed a little because of the reminder of Gloris's "Mercenary that Dionysius loves": Dionysius used mercenaries to protect his power, but it caused constant conflicts in the city of Syracuse. For this reason, he issued a decree, "Any mercenary who actively provokes the mercenary who maintains the order of the city-state will inevitably be severely punished by law!" Now they are not just provoking, but killing the mercenaries...

Herolis took the fear on their faces into their eyes and immediately shouted loudly: "Why did Phelistos send mercenaries to kill me?! Because yesterday the city hall received a message from Great Greece, 'Dionia wants to make peace with us', but Dionysius and Phelistos want to refuse Diony's peace with them. They want to increase their troops and continue to fight against the Greek compatriots in Great Greece. I firmly opposed it and decided to tell the truth to the citizens who were called in today's square. Phelistos knew my thoughts, so he sent mercenaries to arrest me and even kill me!"

Speaking of this, Herolis increased his voice and shouted: "Citizens of Syracuse, do you hope to stay in the land of a foreign land like your compatriots who were sent to Greater Greece before, and have a home but cannot return! Do you hope that the war tax on the increase in the city-state will never end, forcing us to take our wives and daughters to exile in another country because we cannot pay heavy taxes! Do you hope to continue living in your own city-state, but you have to look at the faces of those Gentile mercenaries, and live carefully like a Gentile!...

Citizens, is this the Syracuse we have worked so hard to sacrifice the lives of countless people, defeated the powerful Athenian army, defeated the powerful Carthaginians, and wanted to build Syracuse?!"

Herolis' heavy and passionate words touched the people present. The words that revealed the difficult living conditions of Syracuse citizens nowadays were like a dagger to stab their hearts, which immediately aroused everyone's fierce reaction: "No, this is not our Syracuse!"

"We don't have heavy war taxes!"

"We don't want to fight!"

"Get out, mercenaries!"

...

In the excitement of the crowd, someone shouted: "Get out of Dionysius!"

The noise suddenly became quieter. In the past few years, the citizens of Syracuse launched two riots against Dionysius, but they failed in the end. After the riot, Dionysius carried out bloody hunts, and the people of Syracuse were deeply afraid of Dionysius.

Gerolis shouted at the right time: "Citizens, what are you afraid of! Dionysius is cruel, but he is now far away in Greece, and he is besieged by the Dionysians in Silitun, with the mercenaries he relied on. Moreover, our fleet has been defeated many times, and it is impossible to transport them safely back under the threat of the Dionysian fleet! The mercenaries who remained were taken to Mearo by Masias, and even the troops of the neighboring countries around Syracuse were taken away. Now, they have no more power in the city except the two thousand mercenaries guarding the island of Ortigia, the thousand mercenaries stationed near the south gate of the main city area, and the despicable spies under Hiparinus! And we—"

Gerolis excitedly pointed at the people who surrounded his house gate with his hands: "There are tens of thousands of brave citizens gathered in the square, and countless people in the port area who are dissatisfied with the tyranny of Dionysius! The mercenaries will not be able to stop us! Phylistos and Hiparinus and other Dionysius's lackeys cannot stop us! This time, we will restore Syracuse to freedom!"

Inspired by Gloris, everyone was inspired to be confident. They surrounded Gloris and shouted: "Down with Dionysius and let Syracuse be free again!" Going towards the square.

Along the way, citizens carrying armor and shields were encouraged by them to join them. Celebrities such as Felosanus and nobles, with fully armed tribe members, grew their queues... By the time they arrived at the square, the team led by Gloris had increased to nearly a thousand people.

Humans are social animals that follow the crowd, not to mention that the citizens suffer from heavy taxes and war. Therefore, when Heloris stood on the platform and gave a speech, there were thousands of people cheering in the audience. The citizens who came to participate in the war mobilization basically joined the ranks of riots, and even the patrol members responsible for maintaining order turned against each other.

Dozens of mercenaries who were supervising abnormal situations in the square saw that the situation was not good and ran away early.

Herolis and others had carefully analyzed the reasons for the failure of the previous two riots. In addition to the Spartans interfering, it was also related to the lack of clear plans during the riots, the citizens' actions were chaotic and disagreeable. Therefore, this time Herolis and others learned their lessons and formulated detailed riot plans in advance.

After receiving support from nearly 10,000 civilians in the square, Herolis immediately sent two thousand people to capture the city hall.

There were two hundred mercenary guards outside the city hall, but a small part died at the Herolis home, and some were sent to the square, but most of them did not escape, leaving only a hundred guards in the city hall, which could defeat the 2,000 rushing militia.

The civilians easily defeated their defenses, killed them one by one, rushed into the city hall, and arrested all the officials who were still in the office. Because the citizens hated their aid to the evil, most of the officials were either killed or beaten to death.

Gloris led more than 8,000 civilians to advance westward quickly, attempting to attack the mercenaries stationed in the city gate.

At this moment, the thousand mercenaries who had received messages from spies and guards fleeing to the city gate area heard about the turmoil in the city. You should know that their main responsibility was not to defend against foreign enemies, but to suppress the riots in the city and maintain Dionysius's rule. Therefore, although most of the citizens outside the city who were originally mercenaries had been taken to Mearo by Massias to attack the invading Dionysians, the remaining mercenaries gathered quickly without hesitation and marched into the square, hoping to kill it in the cradle before the turmoil was still thrust.

However, the great opportunity created by the war mobilization and formation of an army quickly gained the support of tens of thousands of citizens, and also led seven or eight times the number of troops that the opponents had.

The two sides met in a narrow street. Because the civilians had an absolute advantage, the mercenaries' strict organization and rich combat experience were maximized. Moreover, such a dangerous situation forced them to attack fiercely from the start, which made the citizens who were hastily pieced together and even did not even appoint the troops to advance, and they gained the upper hand for a while.

…………………………………

At this time, Hiparinus and his group were blocked at the exit of the isthmus. Not only did the congested people not disperse, but there were signs of increasing numbers. They not only blocked the way for Hiparinus to go out, but also blocked the access for outsiders to enter Ortigia Island, which made Hiparinus feel strongly uneasy.

But at this moment, he did not dare to jump out of the carriage and lead his entourage and guards into the crowded crowd and rushed to the city hall. Because he developed his intuition from the years of secret affairs, he knew that he was hated by the people of Syracuse and rashly broke into the riots ahead and would be very likely to be attacked.

So he immediately returned to Ortigia Island, quickly came to the mercenary camp, and asked them to send troops to disperse the troubled crowd.

The mercenary leader did not agree because these two thousand mercenaries only followed Dionysius' orders, and their main task was to guard the island of Otigia and protect the safety of Dionysius and his family. Others, even Dionysius' younger brother or father-in-law, did not mobilize the power of this army.

Hiparinus had no choice but to convince his daughter Aristomachi to hold Dionysius's son and come to ask for the mercenary leader.

The mercenary leader agreed to send two hundred soldiers to drive away the troubled people. The spies finally entered the isthmus and met Hiparinus.

Only then did Hiparinus realize that Gerolis led the citizens in the city to launch a rebellion, and was immediately shocked.

While scolding Phylistos for listening to his advice, he arrested Girolis; while reminding the mercenary leader to defend Ortigia Island and protect the core area of ​​Dionysius, he also sent a messenger to Mearo and asked for help from Massias.
Chapter completed!