Phoebedas' threatening words immediately made everyone nervous.

Stasikos cautiously asked, "What is your suggestion?" ”

"Give up the confrontation with Dionysius and sit down together and negotiate! Of course, Dionysius has been too dictatorial in recent years to discontent the people of Syracuse, so I suggest that Dionysius be removed from the position of general plenipotentiary and re-introduced the '20 generals' system (because of the large number of people in Syracuse, more generals are needed to take charge of the affairs of the city-state, and they practiced this system half of the time during the democratic regime). During the current war, he was temporarily appointed as the chief general to avoid greater war losses due to the change of generals in the middle of the war. ”

Phoebeidas' advice silenced the generals.

But Jerolis asked aloud, "Is this your suggestion, or is it the suggestion of Dionysius?!" ”

"It was the result of my consultation with him." Phoebe Das told lies without blinking.

Herolis admonished the others in a loud voice: "As a friend of more than ten years, with my knowledge of him, even if he is compelled by the situation at this time to agree to these suggestions of the Spartan envoy, who knows if in the future he will wait for the crisis to pass and resume tyrannical rule, and kill us who resist him today!" We must never forget the painful lesson of five years ago! ”

Herolis's words reminded everyone, and everyone's expressions changed suddenly: four years ago, after Dionysius defeated the Carthaginian army, he immediately arrested all the leaders of the popular rebellion on the charge of "traitor", executed them without trial, confiscated their family property, and reduced their family members to slavery...... This atrocity frightened the people of Syracuse, and no one dared to object to Dionysius's approach, and for the next few years everyone obediently obeyed the people. If it weren't for the crushing defeat of the army led by Dionysius, the emptiness of the city's defenses, and the leadership of Herois and others, how would the people dare to rise up against Dionysius again.

Herrolis's words once again uncovered this painful memory, and the faces of all the generals showed fear and anger.

Phoebidas didn't know this, and he pretended to be solemn and said, "I can make an oath in the name of Hercules and promise you—"

"your Hercules! Go for your promise! Someone in the crowd yelled angrily, then rushed to Phoebedas, pointed at him, and roared through gritted teeth: "It was you! It's you! If it weren't for your promise, my brother wouldn't have chosen to spare Dionysius, and as a result, my brother was beheaded, my sister-in-law was enslaved and sent somewhere, his two children were stabbed to death by evil mercenaries, and my parents—"

The more Kuzias spoke, the more angry he became, and he stretched out his hands to grab Phoebeidas' clothes, but Phoebidas flicked and pushed, and Kuzias fell to the ground.

He wanted to pounce again, but was stopped by Stacekos, Ctesitis and others, and he could only curse angrily: "Damn Spartans! You killed my family, and the goddess of revenge is above, and one day she will bring punishment on Sparta! I wish I would live to see the day when the Spartan nation will be ruined and all the Spartans will be enslaved! ”

Originally, Phoebidas didn't care about Kuzias's roaring at all, he had killed too many people in his life, and if he cared about these, he would have had a nervous breakdown, but Kuzias's final curse was too vicious, which made him angry: "This is your attitude towards Sparta?!" ”

"Phoebe Das Emissary." Jerolis persuaded with a gentle expression: "Kuzias's family was the first immigrant in Syracuse and enjoyed a high reputation among the people, but Dionysius killed his entire family and imprisoned him in a stone prison, if it weren't for the success of this rebellion, he might have died quietly in the stone prison...... So I hope you can forgive him for his anger! And you have also seen the fact that Dionysius made an oath in front of everyone four years ago, and how he easily tore up his promise and brutalized the people of the city-state, let him say it as sweet as honey today, the people of Syracuse have been polished with the blood of their dead relatives, and they will no longer believe any of his promises! Either Dionysius will be judged in captivity by us, or he will flee from Syracuse and never return, he has no other choice! ”

"If we catch him, we will try him for treason, including his family, just as he did against us!" Kuzias said through gritted teeth.

"That's right, we don't accept peace, Dionysius and his men must be punished as they deserve!" Ferosanus also spoke out loud about his opinion, and the other generals agreed.

Phoebidas had a gloomy face, looked at the excited generals in front of him, and said coldly: "Since this is the case, you will fight with Sparta-"

"Phoebedas Emissary!" Herolis interrupted his threatening words in time: "You have been fighting with Dionysius in Great Greece, and you don't know the recent situation of Sparta in the Peloponnese. The Athenians fought in concert with the Corinthians, inflicting heavy losses on your Spartan allies, and the Athenians even invaded Arcadia, and it is said that your king Agesilaus had just returned to Sparta to raise a new army to defend against the anti-Spartan alliance......"

Sparta and Syracuse not only had close military ties, but also relied heavily on Syracuse for trade, such as grain. Moreover, Sparta often relied on Syracuse's merchant ships throughout the Mediterranean to gather information for them, such as the Persians handing over the fleet to the Athenian general Koron and attacking the Spartan fleet was told to Sparta in advance by Syracuse merchants who were doing business in Asia Minor. In the same way, it was often reported back to Syracuse by these merchants what was happening in Sparta, so that Herolis knew more about the Peloponnese.

Phoebe Das was taken aback, and it was difficult to maintain the cold arrogance on his face: "I hope what you said is true?!" ”

"Syracuse is not far from Sparta, two days by boat, you will know if it's true or false when you go back, and we can provide you with a boat." No matter how you listen to Ferrosanus's words, there is a bit of schadenfreude.

Herolis hurriedly said: "Phoebedars emissary, Syracuse and Sparta have always been allies and should have helped each other. But since Dionysius became a tyrant, Sparta has often provided more help to you because of his selfish desires, and Syracuse has provided you less...... Now we have the advantage, Dionysius has the disadvantage, and if Sparta continues to support Dionysius, with the current situation in the city of Syracuse, I am afraid that it will take a long time to stabilize. But if we support us, Syracuse will soon be able to regain stability and prosperity, and we will continue to maintain our alliance with Sparta and provide assistance to Sparta at any time! ”

The last few words of Herois were sincere and eloquent, which moved Phoebidas, and he looked directly at Herois for a long time, and asked in a somewhat hesitant tone: "What did you say...... It's all true? ”

Herolis and the other generals around him glanced at each other, then faced him and said solemnly: "This is our decision after mutual deliberation, we can renew the alliance with Sparta!" ”

Phoebedad looked around at everyone, and the coldness in his eyes quickly disappeared......

…………………………………………

Dionysius finally waited for Phoebidas to return on the island of Ortigia, but received the terrible news that the rebels refused to negotiate peace and must expel him from Syracuse, and although this was one of the worst outcomes that Dionysius had envisioned, he could not help but get angry.

Then, he wanted to continue to learn from Phoebitas about the current situation in the city of Syracuse and the situation of the rebels, but Phoebidas was obviously not in the mood for this, and he directly asked Dionysius to send a clipper ship to send him back to Sparta immediately.

Of course, Dionysius, who was now more dependent on Sparta as an ally, could not refuse, but he felt a crisis from the sudden change in the attitude of Phoebeidas, and he was good at manipulating power, of course, he knew that the situation in Syracuse was very unfavorable to his side at this time, so he couldn't help but wonder: Will the Spartans, who are actually snobbish, abandon themselves and choose the rebels?

Thinking of this, he couldn't sit still: the Spartans were now in a deep war, and they might not be able to send troops to support him, but the prestige of Sparta could help him deter the small, stabilize the situation in the city more quickly, and dispel other concerns of the other city-states, if Sparta gave up on him, it would push him into the abyss......

Therefore, Dionysius, who was cornered, did not recount his parting feelings with his two ladies and children, but locked himself in the palace and tried to find a way out of his predicament. Soon, he summoned the mercenary leader, Mejikolis, and the intelligence chief, Hiparinus, to discuss with him.

…………………………………………

In the middle of the night, the people of the main city of Syracuse fell asleep, and the sentries on the newly built walls of the isthmus relaxed their vigilance because of the calm that had remained on the island of Ortigya for many days, and most of the sentries could not resist the drowsiness and fell into a deep sleep.

Dionysius himself led all the mercenaries and quietly left the island of Ortigia.

Due to the urgency of time, after Herois gathered the people to build the city wall, he did not have time to dig trenches, set up barricades and traps, so the mercenaries quietly touched the city, and when the sentries found out that the enemy was invading, the mercenaries had already climbed the city with a long ladder, quickly killed the few sentinels, and occupied the city wall.