But by doing so, will the Carthaginians be able to desecrate the souls of our warriors?! No, their sins are the glory of the warriors! The holy souls of the warriors will go to the holy Elysée and will accompany the great Hades on a journey through the beautiful paradise of the four seasons! And here," Davers said with a powerful finger at his feet, "everything here will be preserved forever for the people of the kingdom to come and see, and let them know how heroic our soldiers are, and how fierce our enemies are!" The tower will be demolished and a statue will be erected, and the name of every warrior who died here will be engraved on it, and it will be remembered in the history of the kingdom for generations to come! ”

There was another commotion around the tower, but this time it was an envious exclamation from the soldiers.

"Citizens of Dionia! Soldiers of Dionia! Davers raised his voice again, and raised his arms and shouted: "You have been fighting for a year, winning in Campania, Damni, Lattin, winning in the mountains of Samonai, and western Sicily, and now it is finally your turn to fight to the death against the most powerful and murderous Carthaginians!" I hope that you can avenge the warriors who died here, bravely and fearlessly attack the Carthaginians, once again create one victory after another, become a hero in the mouth of the people, and be honored in Valhalla after death, so that your name can be celebrated by future generations! Only in this way will we Dionyas be able to achieve final victory in the contest with Carthage! We at Dionya will also be victorious!! ”

"Wan Sheng!! Victory !! Victory !! ......" Hearing these words of Davers, the soldiers were so excited that they could not help beating their long shields with their short swords and shouting passionately.

The roar of these tens of thousands of people was like rolling thunder, resounding through this devastated valley, and even as far away as Syracuse......

………………………………………

In the darkness of the night, the city of Syracuse was quiet, but candlelight was still flickering in one of the houses, and the chief general, Theagenis, sat alone in his study, not sleeping, and in fact he could not sleep.

Some time ago, he insisted that the council pass a resolution to send troops to capture Camanlina, and then forced Pacinus to surrender, so that Syracuse expanded his sphere of influence for the first time since the South Italian War, and for a time his prestige in Syracuse skyrocketed. Later, he also personally went out to talk with the Carthaginian commander Margo, although in the talks the Syracuse people were at a disadvantage and suffered some losses in the signed covenant, but the democrats still portrayed him as a political leader who was for the interests of Syracuse, fearless of any threat, and dared to fight with the powerful powers.

According to the new covenant with Carthage, Syracuse had to send troops to attack Taunis, but under the instructions of Theagenis, the Syracuse army played a trick, they only put on an offensive posture and did not seriously implement the covenant.

However, the ensuing battle turned out to be unexpected, as he thought that with such a large army of Carthage, and its combat effectiveness (it was able to defeat the Dionian army at the Battle of Gera), it should be able to sweep through Dionia's territory in Sicily. However, although the Carthaginian cavalry ravaged the Catanian plain and the Carthaginian infantry broke through the Agilion, its main force failed to storm a small village in Dionya several times and was intercepted for more than 20 days, which made him doubt the combat effectiveness of the Carthaginian army, but fortunately Palagonia was finally conquered.

After getting the news, Teagenis breathed a sigh of relief and was ready to continue playing soy sauce to watch the development of the war, but suddenly got the news: the Carthaginian army began to retreat all south!

Teagnes was alarmed, and hurriedly crawled out of the messenger to inquire, but was told that the Carthaginians had received definite news that the main force of Dionya had conquered the enemy Rome in the north and was on its way to reinforce Sicily, and that the Carthaginian army must return to western Sicily and be ready for full battle.

When the messenger brought the news back to the city of Syracuse, the entire council exploded.

During the reign of Dionysius, Syracuse had close ties with the Italian Campania League, so he still had some knowledge of the situation in north-central Italy, but after the South-Italy War, the Campanian League formed an alliance with Dionia, and contacts with Syracuse decreased sharply, and the Syracuse people had less trade with north-central Italy. Especially after Dionya launched the war against Rome, the Third Fleet deliberately blocked the southern coast of Italy, and Syracuse did not possess Sardinia and Corsica like the Carthaginians, and they received the news of the "landing of the Dionian army in Latim" from the mouth of the Carthaginian envoys.

However, the Syracuse people knew that Rome was a powerful state in central Italy, with many allies, and its position there was similar to that of Syracuse in Sicily more than 10 years ago, and the Dionicians were fighting far from their homeland, so it was impossible to conquer Rome easily, it was bound to be a long war, and some people even expected the Dionians to suffer a crushing defeat in the Latium region, which was also a major reason why they later agreed to ally with Carthage and attack Dionia.

But now the news suddenly came that the Dionicians had conquered Rome and that their main forces were about to reinforce Sicily, and the parliamentarians of Syracuse were terrified, because if the Carthaginian army retreated to the west, Syracuse would bear the wrath of the Dionian army alone!

Theagenis had to go and persuade the Carthaginians himself, and by the time he caught up with the retreating Carthaginian army, he was already at Gera.

No matter how much he pleaded, Marco did not come out to see him personally, only Pomilcar came out and told him that since the next battle with the main army of Dionya was related to the rise and fall of Carthage, the army must withdraw to the west and be fully prepared, which no one could dissuade.

But at the same time, he also comforted Theagenis: even if the Dionian reinforcements landed in Sicily, their main target would still be our Carthage, and the city of Syracuse was thick in walls, with plenty of food and a large number of soldiers, and as long as you defend it with all your might, the Dionians will have nothing to do with you. Wait until we have defeated the main Dionian forces and joined you in Syracuse in the east. At that time, not only will the Dioonians be driven out of Sicily, but they will also be able to march further into Greater Greece, which has always been the domain of your Greeks, and it would be more appropriate to take the towns and put them under your control......

At this time, Teagenis was slightly attracted by the bright prospect of the Carthaginian project, and at the same time he knew in his heart that the matter was irreparable, and since the matter had come to this, he could only say that Syracuse would defend himself against the coming attack of the Dionians, and that he hoped that the Carthaginian army would return to the east as soon as possible.

On the way back to Syracuse, Teagenis spent his time in ambivalence about the hope of the future and fear of reality.

By the time he rushed back to Syracuse, he got bad news: Dionian reinforcements had begun to land at the port of Catana and the Catania naval base.

Due to the suddenness of the incident, the Syracuse army did not completely withdraw from the camp outside the city of Taunis, and the Catania naval base was only a dozen miles away from them, and the sailors on the cargo ship who were carrying supplies from the camp to the port of Syracuse were surprised to see dozens of Ionian warships waiting on the northern sea, and behind them, there were many ships outside the Dionica naval base, and many more ships were coming from the sea further north......

The Syracuse fleet was so frightened that it quickly turned around and sailed back to the port, and the Syracuse navy, which received the news, hurriedly sent several clippers to investigate, and found that the Dionian ships were either troop carriers full of soldiers or cargo ships full of supplies, and they continued to enter and exit the Dionian naval base until the evening......

The next day, such a military operation was still taking place in the waters of the Dioonia naval base.

How many reinforcements did the Dioonians send?! The people of Syracuse panicked when they heard the news, and Teagenis, who had just returned to the city, was no exception.

Especially after learning that the Carthaginian army was determined to return to the west, many people in the council were even more mournful.

Even the general of the port plebeian faction, Hiktas, shouted: "Since the Carthaginians have abandoned us, then we no longer need to keep the covenant, and we should make peace with Dionia." ”

Hiktas's words did move a small number of people, but no one dared to take the initiative to agree. After all, the reason why Syracuse united with Carthage and declared war on Dionya was to restore its former hegemony, but before it really fought with the Dionians, it took the initiative to sue for peace, which was unacceptable to most parliamentarians and the majority of Syracuse citizens.

They debated until the evening, and could not think of any concrete and effective plan to solve the current predicament other than "quickly withdrawing all the troops besieging Taois and preparing for the defense of the city".

On the third day, the council continued its discussion of yesterday's issues, and by noon it received an urgent report from the spies: some 50,000 well-armed Dionian soldiers had left the city of Catana and were marching south.

The councillors immediately panicked and immediately demanded that the citizens of the whole city be urgently mobilized to prepare for the enemy.

But soon another spy came to report that the Dionian army had turned to the southwest and had halted its advance in front of the ruins of Palagonia.