It is true that when Plesinas entered the great port of Tarantum, he did not see several detachments of Tarantum warships that usually patrolled the coastal waters. Despite this, he continued to cheekily plead with the Tarantum Senate for sending even a few warships to Turii.

He had a small calculation in mind: Crotone would never dare to provoke Tarantum again in the event of a war with Dionia, so even if only a few Tarantum ships patrolled the east coast of Dioonia to act as a façade, it could serve as a deterrent and thus ensure the basic safety of the Dionian coastline.

But the Tarantum Senate still tried to persuade Plecinas, but they resolutely refused, leaving him cheeky in vain.

As soon as Plesinas returned to the port of Turiy, Crotone's fleet arrived, and the sea trade route of Turiy was immediately cut off, and the port was thrown into a panic.

Oliver arrives with a large number of patrols to help Marigi maintain order.

When Davers learned of Tarantum's decision, he pondered for a while and said to Aristocrates, the clerk beside him, "I seem to remember that the Spartan envoy once went to Tarantum? ”

"Yes, Aristilas reported at the time, 'The Spartans wanted Tarantum to abolish their alliance with us and take the lead against us, but the Tarantum Senate refused.' ”

"But it worked." Davers sighed, and then sneered: Tarantum, this is to sit on the mountain and watch the tiger fight! It's good that this war is up to us after all!

"You go and tell Aristilas that you can close the net for that Crotone spy."

"Yes!"

……………………

The Dionians closed the port, and as Tratus expected, he had already negotiated with the responding Crotone clippers to obtain his information every night on a specific beach at the mouth of the Cratti River.

Just as he was about to start writing the secret letter again, the door suddenly slammed open, and four or five people poured in.

In a panic, he subconsciously grabbed the papyrus roll in his hand, and as soon as he shouted, "Who are you-" he was pressed to the ground by the people who rushed in, his clenched hand was also broken, and the papyrus that had not yet been torn was also taken away, and his face suddenly changed greatly.

"This afternoon, about 10,000 men are stationed in the barracks in Turi, and a thousand heavy infantry are stationed in the port, and it is said that the citizen soldiers of Amendolara are already on their way to Turii, Niutum-" A clear voice sounded above his head: "Terratus, I have to admit that your observation and arithmetic skills are really good, and the information written to Crotone is very consistent with the facts, no wonder the Crotone people sent you to Turi, and you have been here for half a year, I wonder what your impression of this place is?" ”

Hearing this, Tratus's heart sank, and he already knew that his whereabouts were already in the hands of the Dionians.

When he was put up, he saw a tall, thin, middle-aged man standing in front of him, looking at him with interest.

"What do you want to do with me?" Tratus asked in a low voice with a dry throat.

The tall and thin man did not speak, but took something from the hand of the others and brought it to Tratus: it was a small, crudely carved wooden knife.

Tratus's eyes widened suddenly, his expression was shocked, and he struggled and shouted, "What happened to my child?!" You caught my child, didn't you?!! He's only seven years old! Hera, spare him!! Spare him!! Let me do anything!! ......" he pleaded bitterly, until at last he could not cry.

The tall and thin man said with a grim expression: "Your wife and children are still in the city of Crotone, but under the surveillance of our people, let me introduce myself, my name is Aristiras, the intelligence officer of Lord Davers of the Archon (although Davos promised him this position, he is still a free man, not an official), and give you a choice to do things for Dionia." If you refuse, not only will you die, but your sick wife will die of illness because she has no money, and your son will become a slave. And if you agree, you will become a reserve citizen of Dionia, and we will do our best to save your wife and children, and let the doctors of the Alliance treat your wife, you know that our Alliance's medical skills are even better than Crotone! Aristilas paused, and when he saw that Terratus had his head bowed and his face was cloudy, he said in a deep voice, "Life or death, you choose." ”

………………………

At dusk, Milon, the chief general of Crotone, received a secret message from Turiyi: this afternoon, Turiyi began to assemble the citizen army, and it is reported that about 4,000 citizens of the city have gathered in Victory Square, and the villages outside the city are still mobilizing, and a large number of citizens have not yet entered the city. Turiyi had already sent about 1,000 soldiers into the port and sent a number of cavalry to patrol the coast, but Amendolara and Niutum had not yet seen the arrival of the army.

Crotone has learned through the intelligence of Terratus and the released soldiers in the past six months, the chief general Milon knows something about Diolia and is also very wary of Dionia, so he has prepared in advance, and after helping Crimesa eliminate the mercenaries, he immediately mobilized for war. This time, in order to defeat Dionya once and for all, Crotone and his subordinate Asputum gathered all the forces they could: 20,000 in Crotone and 3,000 in Asprustum; Crotone's ally, Cilitin, was originally a large city, but in the last raid of the Ionian League, it suffered the heaviest losses, but in revenge, it still squeezed out two thousand troops; Trina, who was close to the Brutis, also sent a thousand men, and this time Crotone did not refuse; Only Coronia, Crotone refused its reinforcements, because the south of Coronia is Crotone's enemy Lockley Alliance, although it has not made much change in recent years, but Crotone knows that Lockley has been eyeing the north, if he is at war with Dionia, Lockley suddenly attacked, and it captured Coronia, then it can successfully take the lack of major generals in the Cyriting, and approach the empty Crotone in the rear...... Therefore, the vigilance and defense against Lockley must not be relaxed.

At the same time, the battle with Dionya must start as soon as possible, and it is not possible to wait for the arrival of Dionia's army before attacking. Thus, Crotone, in contrast to the Greek city-states' usual procrastinating preparations for battle, was particularly efficient this time, not only was it assembled in a day, but the allied reinforcements were also hurried at his urging.

In fact, Locktree was overjoyed to learn of the outbreak of war between Crotone and Dionia, and after deliberation, its council deliberated and sent an envoy to Dionia, who knew that Crotone not only blocked the road to the north by land, but also that the Crotone war ships were always cruising on the sea north of the eastern coast of Great Greece from Cape Aliche to the north, forcing the Lockley envoys to change course, planning to turn the passenger ships to Sicily in the southwest, and then turn to Tarantum in the northeast to disembark, and make a large circle by land.

……………………

Davers was analyzing the military intelligence of Crotone with the generals of the legion and discussing countermeasures against the enemy, when Aristocrates came in and whispered a few words to him, Davers nodded and said, "Let them both come in." ”

He turned to the generals and said, "Brothers, here comes Zantiparis and Tolmid. ”

There was a sudden silence in the living room, which was still arguing.

Zantiparis and Tolmid hurriedly walked in with a worried face, not expecting so many people in the living room, and they were also stunned.

At this time, Davers smiled and said, "I was about to call you two, but I didn't expect you to come first." We're about to start deliberating on what to do with the Crotonens, so come in and tell us what you think. ”

Zantiparis and Tolmid looked at each other, then knelt down on one knee and said apologetically, "Master Davers...... And also...... Comrades-in-arms, we are really ...... I'm sorry you guys! It has brought war to Dionia, and it has brought trouble to you! Timasong and Criano, who had been in frequent contact with mercenaries some time ago, had repeatedly asked us for our opinions, and we always thought that they just wanted to get out of here, but we didn't expect ...... We-"

"Timasson's business has nothing to do with you!" Davers interrupted them and said with a serious and serious expression: "Everyone has their own ideas and the life they like to live, and you and the other mercenaries have chosen to stay and not leave, which shows that you agree with the system of Dioria, like to live here, and are willing to become citizens of Dionia. Then come on, fight with us! In front of the army of Crotone, the time has come to test you! Respond to the doubts of others with your heroic performance, prove to the people of Dionya that we were not wrong, and at the same time prove your determination to defend Dionya to the death, so that the people of Dioonia will welcome you with open arms! ”

"Davers is right! Zantiparis, Tormid, let's fight together and defeat the Crotonens! Avenge them for Timashon! ”

"Great, we can finally fight together again!"

……

Amintas and Antonios gave them a warm welcome to Zantiparis and Tormid, which made them both feel relieved.

Note: By the time the Crotonians gathered their armies to attack the Ionian League, the fourth volume of the book was coming to an end. Wondering if Dionia could survive the onslaught of the Crotonens? Can you win on a reversal? Check out the next volume: Overlord of Southern Italy

I remember that the last book "From City-State to Empire" was stopped when I was about to start writing the volume of "Overlord of Southern Italy", so many years have passed, and it has been a pity in my heart.