Massias didn't care about so much, so he led the soldiers to move into the village and ordered the villagers to prepare food.

The exhausted soldiers barely filled their stomachs and fell asleep. Only Marcias tossed and turned and couldn't fall asleep: the news of the riot in Syracuse made him very worried about the situation of the original mercenaries outside the city of Syracuse. After all, the tragic situation of the mercenaries in Katanai made him secretly alert. I hope that the hundreds of mercenaries who stayed in the villages could defend their homes! By the time he led his army back to Syracuse tomorrow, the riot had been more than a day, and many things could happen in this day. If the rioters really occupied the whole city, then these mercenaries who had close relationships with Dionysius would probably be expelled and become homeless. I hope that Lord Phelistos could quell the riot. Even if it could not be calmed down, he would have to control and hold some of the city and wait for his reinforcements to arrive!

After worrying about Syracuse, he was worried about how to lead the troops back to Syracuse safely. When he headed to Mearo, he led his army, heading north along the flat coast, passing through Taunis, and detoured by Leotini to recruit troops, then passed through Katanai, and finally arrived in Sikuli. It can be said that it was he who drew away the defensive forces of these city-states, which gave the rebels the opportunity and led to large-scale riots.

But now is not the time to regret this. Judging from today's situation, Katanai may have been completely occupied by the rioters, otherwise how could he have the strength to send troops out of the city to attack them. Even if Siculi was not completely occupied, the Dionys were so close to it, and it was a matter of time before the fall. The Leotinians were forcibly moved away half of the population by Dionysius, and the people who remained were probably resentful to Syracuse. Under such a trend, there was no need for free people and slaves to rebel, and their citizens would automatically rise up and overthrow the tyrants supported by Lord Dionysius. Therefore, Massias was not optimistic that the Leotinians who were pro-Syracuse could resist this riot.

But he had some confidence in Taunis and Massias, because Taunis had always been an affiliated ally of Syracuse and had never betrayed. He was dissatisfied with the tyrants he had supported in time and would not rashly attack the troops of Syracuse. What's more, the Syracuse fleet retreated from the Gulf of Naxos was anchored in the port of Taunis. With their help, even if Taunis had a riot, the possibility of success would not be too high.

Therefore, Marcias finally made a decision: after departure tomorrow, the team bypassed Catanai, avoided the possible attacks of the Leotini people, then walked by the sea, passed Taunis, and finally arrived in Syracuse... This was a long journey of hundreds of miles, full of unknown risks, but in order to rush back to Syracuse as soon as possible, he could only take this risk. Otherwise, for safety, he could not walk on the coast, and detoured the mountainous area on the west side of Leotini, which was almost uninhabited. Although the mountains there were not too high, the road was rugged and difficult to walk, which would undoubtedly slow down the journey, and food was also a big problem...

Masias thought a lot, but finally couldn't resist sleepiness and fell asleep...

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The next day, when the sun was noon, he was still sleeping soundly, and he was awakened by the guards. He realized that something big happened during his sleep: when he woke up in the morning, the soldiers found that dozens of horses were lost, and more than half of the residents in the village were missing. Of course, the soldiers suspected that it was the good thing the residents of the village did. They were angry and immediately arrested and interrogated the villagers who had not yet escaped. In the process, the former mercenaries who had recovered their energy resurfaced, robbed, raped, and killed... When they followed Dionysius to conquer Sicily, some of the most common evil things reappeared in this village.

This aroused the dissatisfaction and anger of a small number of Katana mercenaries in the team, because this was a village under their jurisdiction. A conflict broke out between the two sides, and the angry Katana mercenaries finally left the team, and the entire army dropped sharply to 3,000.

Faced with such a difficult situation, Masias could do nothing, and even believed that without the Katanai people, their marching speed would be faster and their food consumption would be reduced, not to mention other annoying issues. Although they were all compatriots from Campania, they had been comrades-in-arms who fought side by side before today, and had deep friendships, and now the disaster is coming, they can only take care of their own.

Masias ordered the soldiers to plunder all the food in the village and set off immediately.

Under the supervision of Masias, this team of more than 3,000 people, composed of nearly all former mercenary citizens of Syracuse, set out in a hurry with the expectation of returning to Syracuse as soon as possible to defend their homes.

While they marched southeastward, they encountered defeated soldiers from time to time, and Massias took the opportunity to bring them all into the team.

At the same time, the team was also spyed by several scout teams. While sending cavalry to drive them away, Massias urged the soldiers to speed up the marching.

His premonition was fulfilled. Soon a team of seven or eight hundred people came from the northeast. They were not wearing armor, holding bows and javelins, and quickly launched a ranged attack on Masias's team.

Masias was almost certain that the enemy was from Katanai, and he hurriedly ordered the soldiers to attack.

But when the Syracuse soldiers set up formation and began to attack, the light infantry from Katanai retreated. But when the Syracuse soldiers resumed their formation and continued to march, they appeared again.

After repeating this several times, Masias understood that the Katanai rebels just wanted to attack themselves, not really wanted to fight head-on.

But Masias could not ignore it, otherwise the javelins and arrows shot in would continue to take away the lives of the soldiers and destroy their already low fighting spirit. Therefore, he arranged the remaining more than 50 cavalry and nearly 500 light infantry at the end of the team so that they could fight against the enemy's attacks. But he did not allow the soldiers to pursue too much, because this not only consumed physical strength, but also left the large army and was easily ambushed. Now the entire army has only one goal - go home.

The Syracuse army fought and stopped and walked out of the Catania plain in the afternoon. The terrain in front began to narrow. There was the sea to the east, the mountains to the west, and a flat seaside corridor less than five miles in the middle.

Masias was originally worried about the appearance of the Leotini rebels, but thankfully, it was not. Perhaps because the narrow terrain restricted the mobility of the Katana rebels, they did not continue to harass the team behind them, which made the Syracuse soldiers finally breathe a sigh of relief.

The Syracuse army accelerated its march because the city of Taunis ten miles away was.

After the city of Taunis came into view, the defeated soldiers of Syracuse, who thought they had escaped the disaster suddenly saw: Not far north of Taunis, there was a unit of four or five thousand men in front of them, which was arranged in an orderly square formation, blocking the seaside corridor. The black armor of most soldiers made them who were still excited just now suddenly fall to the bottom of the valley: it was the Dionysians! It was the Dionys' legion! How could they arrive in front of us?!!...

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A tough battle yesterday ended because of the retreat of the Syracuse army.

While the First Legion of Dionia was pursuing, Antonios finally saw the messenger sent by Antrapolis. After learning that "Katana has been captured and the Syracuse riots have been successful", Antonios finally breathed a sigh of relief: the First Legion paid the price and finally gained a foothold in Sicily.

But he could not relax even if he was happy, because Antrapolis hoped that the First Legion could intercept the army of Syracuse to prevent them from returning to Syracuse, which would bring great variables to Syracuse's riots.

To be honest, Antonios really doesn't want to follow the advice of this secret agent. Although the First Legion won the battle in the end, nearly a thousand people were killed and injured, and several senior team officials died. Even his close comrade-in-arms, Tspit, was unconscious. Since the battle between the 8,000 people (excluding auxiliary troops) before the outbreak of the war, there have been only nearly 4,000 people left. The number of people has dropped sharply by more than half. He has made huge sacrifices. It is indeed time to rest and replenish, but the environment we are in now does not allow, and the danger has not completely passed. Only this last step is left until now.

Of course, Antonios did not want the First Legion's expedition to fail because of the defeated army fleeing back to Syracuse. The habit of "Dionia's Legion has always taken advantage of the victory to pursue the end after the victory" made him reluctantly agree to Antrapolis' suggestion: operate in joint operations with Katanai and completely eliminate the Syracuse army on the way back!

After seeing off the messenger, Antonios rushed to the port after contemplation, and the sailors of the Dionian fleet were sending the families of the exiles off the warship.

Antonios soon met Flarios, who was in charge of Seclian's fleet. After discussion, Flarios agreed that the fleet would not return to Lijim, but would spend the night in Mearo so that he could participate in military operations earlier the next day.

There is no military port in Mearo Port and no dry dock to moor warships, which means that the warships of the Dionian fleet can only push the beach, which requires a great risk. The main reason why the Athenian fleet was completely wiped out by Laisand in the Battle of Yanghe that year was that the warships in Athens were parked on the beach and had no time to go into the sea when they were raided...

To this end, Flarios led the sailors tow the warships one by one with the help of the exiles, then set up tight posts, and asked the lighthouse sentries to closely monitor the sea surface, and arranged all the clutches to patrol the bay all night...

Thanks to horadrim, the disappearing maple, jjjvjj for the reward! Your support is my greatest motivation for writing!! I have been at home to take care of my children and dogs for the first two weeks. I am so frustrated. I will go play football tonight and relax!
Chapter completed!