"Here," Tolmide pointed to a town icon west of the city of Minoa: "It is the city of Selinus, which we have occupied, and is now garrisoned by 4,000 reservists from our Sicilian territory, and more than 10,000 sailors to help defend the city."

"The Sicilian fleet is ready to withdraw all sailors from the city of Selinus to the Catana naval base." Sekrian interrupted him and said in a straight voice: "I have received an order from the Ministry of War to send the crew of the lost warship to the Castelon or Tarantum naval base by ship, ready to receive the newly built warship......"

Seeing that Tolmid's face was a little stunned, Sekrian emphasized: "This morning, I just reported this matter to His Majesty. ”

Davos nodded and explained: "Seclian did tell me, because he was busy going to the port to welcome Alexis at that time, and I didn't have time to tell you, I agreed with Seclian to withdraw the sailors, and there were only 3,000 soldiers guarding such a small city in Palagonia, so the Carthaginian army besieged it for more than 20 days, and paid a lot of casualties to take it. With 4,000 soldiers stationed in the city of Selinus, and reinforcements by sea at any time, the main Carthaginian army is now facing off against us, and it is impossible to gather a large army to storm Selinus...... Even without the assistance of the sailors, the city of Selinus should be safe in such a situation. ”

"Understood, Your Majesty." Tolmide glanced at Sekrian and continued: "According to the report of the clippers, the Carthaginians have built a camp outside the city of Selinus and besieged it, and there are about 10,000 Carthaginian and Phoenician soldiers stationed there......

To the east of Sicily, Carthage's new ally, Syracuse, had previously sent 15,000 men to attack the Taunis, but we deduced that Syracuse was capable of raising an army of more than 20,000 men. Accordingly, His Majesty has arranged for Commander Prosous to lead the Seventh and Eighth Army Corps, as well as the troops of the Sicilian allies, to prepare for a direct attack on the city of Syracuse."

"Your Majesty." Alexis chimed in: "The fleet carrying us had a brief anchorage in the port of Catanay, and I met with the Governor of Sipros, Commander Prosious, and learned from them that the reserve soldiers from the Lokri region had replenished the Seventh Legion, and that the troops of the Allied forces of Leotini and Tonnis, as well as the citizens of the friendly city-states of Agrigento, Gera, and Minoa, were also ready, and they estimated that they could gather about 25,000 soldiers to attack Syracuse. I think that by the time we arrived here, Commander Prosous had already led his army on Syracuse. ”

"I didn't expect you Alexis to be a messenger for free." Davers quipped.

The crowd burst into laughter.

"What we have just introduced is the situation between us and the Carthaginian army, in terms of the navy," as soon as Tolmid's words began, Secrean stood up and said in a loud voice: "Your Majesty, let me talk about the situation of the navy. ”

Davers looked at him, then nodded to Tolmid, who handed the stick to Seklian.

Sekrian didn't answer, but pointed to the map and said, "I don't need this thing, because there is only one island, and there is no ocean, and it is impossible for our ships to be parked on land." ”

There was another burst of laughter in the tent.

Sekrian straightened his chest, looked around at the crowd, and said aloud: "You have just heard what Tolmides said, in terms of land we do not have an advantage in several directions, maybe it is slightly better in the east, but it will only be more difficult for Prosous to lead his army to capture the fortified city of Syracuse.

But on the naval side, since the storm at sea a few months earlier, Carthaginian warships were almost completely destroyed, and then they quietly brought in reinforcements from their mother Bontel, but they were also defeated by the Sicilian fleet, and the few remaining Phoenician warships never appeared in the waters around Sicily, which is probably frightened.

Not long ago, Carthage formed a fleet with about 190 newly built warships to guard the route of Sardinia, and His Majesty has sent the Third Fleet to deal with it, even if this new Carthaginian fleet has dozens more warships than the Third Fleet, I firmly believe that the Third Fleet can finally defeat him and win!

And in the waters of Sicily, in addition to the 70 warships of our Sicilian fleet, there are 50 warships of Syracuse, but they are basically cowering in the harbor and do not dare to fight with us.

Our Sicilian fleet has always occupied an absolute advantage in this sea area, so we can safely and boldly send a fleet to transport soldiers and supplies, use warships to attack Carthage's shipping routes, and carry fleet soldiers to attack the rear of the Carthaginian army, which is also one of the reasons why the Carthaginian army retreated from the east. Even now that the newly built Carthaginian warships have been put into service, our warships are also about to enter battle, and the newly formed Sicilian fleet will not only be able to control the dominance of the Sicilian seas, but will also increase the suppression of the Carthaginian navy in order to achieve the goal demanded by His Majesty to threaten the waters of the Carthaginian land! ”

After Sekrian finished speaking, no one raised any objections, after all, there was no one in the big tent who was more authoritative than Sekrian when it came to the navy.

"Now everyone has an idea of the current situation." Davers looked around at everyone and said slowly, "What advice do you have on how to fight the Carthaginian army next?" ”

As soon as Davers said this, the tent temporarily returned to quiet, and many people fell into thought.

And several of the leading leaders of Samonai are still in shock, before the four major tribes of Samonai united to declare war on Dionia, and the more than 40,000 warriors that were finally put together gave the big leaders courage, but now the kingdom of Dionya has gathered more than 100,000 soldiers to fight against Carthage, which is not counting the number of the navy, and it seems that they still have spare strength, and the strength of Dionya can be seen!

It was only then that they realized that the Samonai's previous extravagant hopes were a mistake from beginning to end, and it was entirely caused by their shallow understanding of the Dionian Kingdom!

Alexis understood that the reason why he asked Tormide to give a detailed account of the situation between the enemy and us before the start of the military meeting was mainly for them, who had just arrived in Sicily and were not familiar with the situation, so he coughed lightly and said: "Your Majesty, here in Minoa, due to the addition of the Tenth Legion and the reinforcements of Poittia and Samona, we are already equal in strength with Carthage, can we be here?"

He pointed to the lowlands west of the city of Minoa with his hand: "Fight with the Carthaginian army and defeat their main army first?" ”

Davers shook his head without thinking about it.

"Your Majesty, is it because the Carthaginian army of Kefaroition north of Minoa will come back?" Melisanda asked urgently.

Melisanda asked exactly what Amintas and Matonis wanted to know, and Davers took their expressions in his eyes and said in a deep voice, "It's because of the cavalry!" In terms of heavy infantry, I think that our legions are superior to the Carthaginians, but in terms of cavalry they not only outnumber us, but also slightly outdo us in the combat effectiveness of the cavalry. You should know that if we were to fight the Carthaginians on flat ground, such a large number of Carthaginian cavalry would inevitably become a decisive force that could determine the outcome of the battlefield, so we could not take great risks to engage the Carthaginians! ”

While Davers explained, he remembered the glorious victories created by Alexander and Hannibal in the previous history, and they basically decided the final victory or defeat by the cavalry.

The crowd was lost in thought, and some of them also turned their eyes to the cavalry commanders Ryders and Kuzius.

They all remained silent and did not refute.

Alexis leaned over to look at the map, and when his gaze moved from Minoa to Kepharoition to the north, another thought suddenly popped into his mind, and he thought about it carefully, and then said: "Your Majesty, since we are inferior in terms of cavalry, can we start a battle with the Carthaginians near Kepharoition, so that they will not be able to take advantage of the cavalry, and we have the Lucanians and Samonians who are good at mountain warfare, The other legionnaires are not trained for mountain combat in peacetime, and we should have an advantage in this regard. ”

Alexis' words made everyone's eyes light up.

Amintas looked at Alexis and felt a little annoyed: why didn't he have such thoughts, was he really inferior to Alexis?

In fact, it is indeed a violation of the common sense of the art of war to let the heavy infantry fight in the mountains, and ordinary people dare not try it, and Alexis dared to put forward this idea because he conquered the mountains of Samonai and had this experience.

Davers, however, said, "Last night Printors made me a similar suggestion to you. ”

Alexis subconsciously turned his head to look at Printors, who was sitting behind him.

More than a decade ago, he had worked well with Printols, and with Printols' assistance, he led his army to conquer Copsa and Enona in succession, and finally forced the Samonai to sign an agreement. Alexis admired Printors for his quick mind and often surprising and bold ideas, which he valued very much. When the General Staff of the Ministry of War was established, he also volunteered to recommend it to King Davers. But what he didn't expect was that since the outbreak of the war last year, Printors' name had illuminated the Dionian military headquarters, and every time Alexis read the military newspaper about his deeds, he was delighted for him.