Acercias coughed dryly a few times and continued: "...... About 24 miles east of the camp of Syracuse is the city of Xiliting, which is more hilly in this direction, but the terrain is generally flat, so although the people of Syracuse stay in the camp today, their mercenary cavalry is in the territory of Xiliting, wantonly destroying farmland and orchards, burning villages and houses, and killing and wounding dozens of our scouts......"

"How many soldiers are there in the camp in Syracuse?" Ascamas asked.

"According to the observation of the past two days, I am afraid that there are more than 50,000 people!" Acysias replied.

50,000 people! Ascamas thought for a moment, then turned his head and asked, "Lord Phellisius, how many enemies have you encountered in Coronia?" ”

"No less than 40,000 people." Philicus replied truthfully.

"If you count the troops of Medma and Hibernian, this time the troops of the Syracuse attacking our Southern Italian Alliance should have exceeded-" Ascalmath spat out a number with a serious expression: "100,000 people!" ”

When everyone here heard this number, their faces were solemn: this is the largest army that has ever appeared in the history of the Greek world, not only in Great Greece, but also in the Western Mediterranean! ”

"And the number of coalition troops we have here, if you add the citizen soldiers in Trina, is only nearly 60,000." Pretinis sighed: "It's a pity that Ligem is separated to the south and can't join us, Coronia is now besieged again, and most importantly—"

Pretinis looked at Pherisius and Ansitanos, and said regretfully: "The main force of Dionya led by Lord Davers is in the Lucania region, if they all gather in the Siriting, we don't have to fear the Syracuse at all, even if they have 100,000 people!" ”

"We thought it was simple. When making plans, always think too much about the good things. Once it was implemented, it was discovered that there were so many problems. Ansitanos was both blaming himself for Dionya and relieving the high-ranking allies who had participated in the discussion at the time: "Something happened suddenly, and it caught people off guard! For example, the invasion of the Samonai people is unthinkable! It can only be said that Dionysius has been preparing for this invasion for a long time. ”

Ansitanos's words obviously had a bit of a taste of exalting others and destroying his own ambition, and Ascamas snorted lightly, just about to speak.

Asopias preemptively asked, "When will Lord Davers be able to lead the army back?" ”

"We haven't heard anything yet. But Lord Davers had never been more defeated militarily, and it was believed that he would soon be able to repel the savage and backward Samonai, and quickly come to join us. Ansitanos comforted.

Phellisius took the opportunity to pick up his words and continued, "Therefore we should now fortify our camp outside the city of Silitine, and fight each other with the city, stand on the defense, hold back the army of Syracuse, wait for Lord Davers to lead the army back, and then have a decisive battle with the people of Syracuse!" ”

Ascamas sneered twice: "Listen, 'Lord Davers, Master Davers,' without Davers, wouldn't all the generals of our Southern Italian Alliance command the war?!" ”

When Phellisius heard this, his face changed slightly. Ansitanos frowned. Acercias, on the other hand, looked a little uneasy.

Ascamas looked at Phaelicus with disdain: "I ask you, how many days did it take to get from Turiyi to Pothenia?" ”

"It takes about five or six days to take the most convenient route." Pheesius replied truthfully, despite his anger at what he had just said.

"That is, in terms of days, it is possible that Davers has only just arrived in Pothenia with his army. So how many days does it take to get here from Portentia? ”

"About nine or ten days."

"Well, ten days, that's not counting the days it takes to defeat the Samoneh. We Crotone people have not dealt with the Samone, but since they are natives living in the mountains, it is very likely that the way of fighting is similar to that of the Brutis, and they rarely fight head-on with people in the mountains, but like wolves like to hide and sneak attack, which means that it is difficult to repel them in a decisive battle, and it is impossible to end the war quickly! General Phellisius, I know that there are quite a few Brutis in your ranks, and you should know this better than I do! The sarcasm in Ascamas's tone was even more sarcastic: "Even if Davers is very good at commanding, he can return to Cilitting in 20 days...... That's the shortest time I can give! But in these 20 days, do you think it is possible for the more than 40,000 enemies who fought with you to capture Coronia?! I heard that the Syracuse had a siege machine called a ballista, which was used to capture several Carthaginian cities in previous wars with Carthage......"

Phellisius's face changed again. After defeating the raiding forces in Syracuse, they had captured Syracuse's ballista, according to the ballista captain, it was very similar to Dionia's ballista, although it was inferior to Dionya in terms of aiming angle and accuracy, but it was much more powerful than Dionica, after all, it was larger than Dionia's siege ballista, and the stone projectiles used were naturally larger. Thinking of Friniris who was full of confidence in defending the city when he left, Pherisius had no choice but to remain silent.

Ascamas saw it in his eyes and continued: "If that mixed army of Syracuse and Lokri captures Coronia with ballistas, and then rushes to Siriting to rendezvous, they only need to divide a small half of their forces to besiege Trina, and we have no way to stop it, so how many days can Trina resist?" ”

Asopi Astor's face turned pale.

"By the time Lord Davers really arrives here with his army, I'm afraid even the outside of Cilitin City will be in ruins." Askamas's next words made Pretinis and Acercias unable to sit still.

After Pretinis and Acercias looked at each other and agreed, Acercias slapped the wooden table, stood up, and said loudly, "Ladies and gentlemen, we can't wait any longer! We should take advantage of the fact that the two armies of Syracuse have not yet converged, and we should preemptively attack the Syracuse army here! ”

Phellisius frowned and asked, "Attack?" How to attack?! Do you want to storm the camp in Syracuse?! ”

"The next battle book! According to the soldiers who had retreated from the Corta River, 'they saw a large Syracuse military flag erected behind the Syracuse people as they crossed the river. 'The tyrant of Syracuse, that Dionysius, must be in this army. We sent him a war letter in accordance with the old tradition and invited him to a battle between the two armies. This tyrannical and arrogant dictator called himself the 'master of Sicily'...... He probably won't...... He should not allow himself to show fear in front of his men, and dare not fight. Then the Greek populace, under his tyrannical rule, will see through his cowardice and weakness! Acercias said uncertainly.

"That's a good idea! We in Trina will do our best to send more soldiers to join you. In this way, our coalition soldiers will greatly outnumber the number of soldiers here in Syracuse! At this moment, Asopiath also took the initiative to make a commitment.

"But Dionysius, with the disparity in his forces, is likely to refuse to fight." Philicus cautioned.

"If the people of Syracuse don't dare to come out to fight, then we will storm their camp!" Ascamas picked up the conversation and added, "I have observed the camps of the Syracuses, and the camps they have built are far less fortified than those of your Dionians, and aren't your ranks also equipped with ballistas! Well, throw stoneballs at the camp in Syracuse until you force these cowardly Syracuseans to come out and fight! "As a neighbor of Dionia, Crotone is still more concerned about the Dionian army.

"That's right, Lord Askamas, let's do it!" Acercias responded excitedly.

"What do you think, Lord Phellisius?" Pretinis's questioning focused everyone's attention on Phellisius.

Faced with everyone's expectant gaze, Philicus sat on pins and needles, but he was never able to reply.

Seeing that everyone's expressions were gradually becoming impatient, Ansitanos stood up and said, "Ladies and gentlemen, please let me speak a few words alone with Lord Phellisius. ”

The two walked out of the venue.

Ansitanos brushed the dust off the steps, and after he sat down himself, he asked Phellisius to sit down as well.

Pherisius was actually a little flattered. He had been in a high position in the Dionian League for several years, but in the face of a scholar like Ansitanos alone, Philicius, who was once a mercenary, couldn't help but feel inferior.

"Master Phellisius." Ansitanos didn't notice his expression, looked at the square in front of him, and asked in a calm tone, "Are you going to stick to the defensive tactics formulated by Lord Davers?" ”

Phellisius hesitated for a moment and replied, "Yes." Ascamas and Acercias, their battle plans are too risky, and if they fail, the consequences are unimaginable! And as long as we hold the camp, wait for Lord Davers to lead the army back to Great Greece, and then fight the Syracuse people, whether it is the number and ability of the soldiers, or the command ability of the generals, this is the safest tactic! ”

"The safest tactic? I'm afraid no one in the room thinks so. Ansitanos sighed: "Man, when danger comes, he always wants to eliminate it as soon as possible, and does not calm down to think about a longer-term plan...... Now that the war has raged on the lands of the allies, and their homelands are in great danger, our delaying tactics will only make them suspicious and angry, and they will think that we Dionians are selfish and allow their homes to be invaded and their people to be killed without doing anything! …… If we continue to delay like this, the image that Dionia has been trying to establish in the alliance of South Italy for several years will be ruined, and we will lose the trust of the people of these city-states, which will be very detrimental to the future development of Dionia! ”

"Is it possible to put our soldiers in danger in order to win their trust?!" Phellisius asked rhetorically.

"Is it true that according to their plan, there is no possibility of victory?" Ansitanos looked at him.