Teagenis replied with a straight face: "This great war between Dioonia and Carthage in Sicily has involved all the Sicilian city-states, can we be an exception to Syracuse?" No! The Carthaginian army is closing in on Gera, and the Dionian army is stationed in Leotinis, and we must make a choice or we will be crushed by the forces of both sides.

However, we will not be true allies with the Carthaginians, who have been our mortal enemies for decades, nor will we venture to challenge the Ionians who have taken away our hegemony, but we will seize every favorable opportunity in this fierce war to regain the former glory of Syracuse! ”

That's what Teagenis said, and that's what he did.

When Sipros of Cataneh sent an emissary, he angrily questioned at the council of Syracuse: "Your Syracuse fleet is a provocation to Dionya by attacking the fleet of Pacinus and leading your troops to capture Kamanlina!" This dangerous act must be stopped immediately, the troops must be withdrawn from Camanlina, and at the same time compensation must be made to Pacinus and a guarantee that no similar actions will be made in the future, otherwise Dionia will not sit idly by! ”

Teagenis replied unhurriedly: "May I ask if you Dionia is an alliance with Pacinus and Camanlina?" Of course not, you have no covenant or even agreement with these two city-states, and we do, and it is a full-fledged military alliance. ”

Camanlina said, and asked someone to take the covenant that had just been signed, showed it to the Dionian envoy, and said with a slight mockery: "Thank you Dionya for your concern about what has happened recently, but this is an internal matter between us and the allies, and we can solve it through our own consultation, and we don't need to worry about you Dionya as an outsider." ”

The Dionian envoy was speechless for a moment, and after a moment, he said in a hateful voice: "Syracuse is preparing to join forces with the Carthaginians?!" ”

"How can we Syracuse join forces with our sworn enemies, the Carthaginians!" Teagenis said with a serious expression: "We are just trying to protect ourselves in this war-torn Sicily. ”

The Dionian messenger understood, and he said in a cold voice: "It turns out that you Syracuse are going to be crows, stealing and eating dead bodies after the beasts fight, but no matter how much carrion the crow eats, it is still a crow. I hope that the peace and tranquility of Syracuse, which was bought with the blood of heroes who rebelled against the tyranny of Dionysius more than ten years ago, will not be lost in your hands! ”

The conversation between Theagenis and the Dionian Emissary was spread at the council, with many people praising the fortitude and resourcefulness of their chief general in speaking to the Dionian Emissary, while a few were concerned about the warnings given by the Dionian Emissary.

When the Dionian envoy left the city of Syracuse, many Syracuse people rushed to hear the news and hurled insults and insults at them, as a way to vent their dissatisfaction with Dionia.

Theagenis had expected this, and he didn't want to openly tear up his face with Dionia for the time being, so he sent a patrol to escort him.

The Ionian envoy left Syracuse with a bruised nose and swollen face, and the clothes he was wearing were torn, which he regarded as a great disgrace.

………………………………………

By the time Seknian led the fleet to Gera, Leotizides already knew that Camanlina and Pacinus belonged to Syracuse, which forced him to cancel his original plan, and a series of events shook his confidence in continuing to hold on to the south coast.

So, as soon as he saw Seklian, who had just arrived, he said bluntly: "Camanlina and Pacinus have surrendered to Syracuse, and it is estimated that Minoa will not be able to hold out for long, and now we are completely at a disadvantage, but my army is scattered in Selinus and here, and it will not play any role in the whole situation, so I have decided to withdraw all the troops in the city-states on the south coast, and if the Minoa and Gera are willing to follow us, then return to Catania together and join the Seventh Legion, Re-energize our forces, and look for opportunities to continue to defend ourselves against the Carthaginians, and even Syracuse. ”

Sekelian looked at Leotizides with a serious expression, thought about it seriously, and said in a deep voice: "Other places can be evacuated, but Selinus must be kept!" ”

"The rest of the army has withdrawn, Selinus has become a completely isolated city, and how many days will Calcides be able to hold on?" Leotizides doesn't seem to have confidence in this.

Seclian was very confident in this: "These days, the Carthaginians have launched several sieges on Selinus, all of which have been repulsed, and our defenders have not suffered too much losses, I think Calcides has the bearing of a general, he is not in a hurry, and he has a very good way to defend the city, and Selinus should be able to hold it." ”

"Calcidis, of course, is very capable." Leotizides shook his head: "It's a pity that he has too few troops, as soon as we leave, Selinus will become the focus of the Carthaginian attack, and it won't last long." ”

Sekelian hurriedly said: "With the help of our navy, how can there be fewer soldiers under Calcides!" As long as he holds out for a few more days, after September, when the fields of Catania are harvested, I will transport thousands or tens of thousands of sailors from the naval base who do not have warships, and although these crews do not have the ability to fight the Carthaginian soldiers head-on, they can still assist in defending the city.

Selinus is too important! As long as it is still in our hands, our ships and crews will have a foothold in western Sicily, and the fleet will be able to hunt for food in the western seas with relative confidence, and their Carthaginian ships will not dare to easily transport soldiers and baggage ...... on the south coast."

As Secrean was about to speak, Leotizides interrupted him and said very simply: "Well, just do as you say, your Sicilian fleet will provide reinforcements, hold Selinus, and all the other city-states and armies will withdraw to the south coast." ”

Sekrian was stunned for a moment, and immediately reacted: "Did you have this plan a long time ago, and you wanted to trick me into helping you defend the city?!" ”

Leotizides said expressionlessly: "Now I'm going to persuade Jera's generals to leave here and take refuge in Katanay, and the matter of persuading the Minoans will have to be handed over to you, Lord Sekerian, Jera has our Eighth Legion here to guard, there is no major problem for the time being, but Minoa is already in danger, I hope you can hurry up." ”

"Uh...... I said, Prosous, you are not His Majesty Davers, what right do you have to assign me a task! This should be a matter of discussion between the two of us......" Sekrian shouted his displeasure, but Leotizides had already strode out of the hall......

A day later, the fleet full of Minoans, escorted by the Dionian fleet, sailed east along the south coast, and as it passed through the waters of the southeastern corner of Sicily, Secrean was both nervous and excited, and he scattered all the clippers and ordered all the ship's lookouts to keep their eyes open and carefully observe the anomalies on the sea.

But to his disappointment, the Syracuse fleet did not show up, and the entire fleet reached the port of Katanai without incident.

At the same time, the city of Minoa was conquered by Pomilka's army, and all the remaining Minoan citizen soldiers were killed.

The Geralians also agreed to evacuate to Catania, not because of Leotizides' persuasiveness, but because they thought the same as the Minoans: if it was the Syracuse who surrounded them, the people who could not leave their homeland might consider whether to surrender, but outside the city were the Carthaginians, and the natives who were fierce and savage, and the Agrigentos had been slaughtered, and the Geralians did not want to follow in their footsteps.

The Sicilian fleet soon returned to the south coast from the Catania naval base, escorting the large fleet of ships carrying not only food and baggage, but also 16,000 sailors, who had come to fulfill the promise made to Leotizides.

Originally, Sekerian was going to do this after the autumn harvest, but after talking to Cipros, Sipoulos suggested to him: "After you all evacuate from the south coast, the Selinus defenders will inevitably face more offensive pressure, since this city is so important, then don't delay, send the crew over as soon as possible, you don't have to worry about their farming harvest, I will help them solve it." ”

Sekrian accepted Cipros's advice.

The flotilla reached Selinus without any problems.

Secrean first unloaded the ships with food and weapons from the docks, and had 10,000 sailors stationed in the harbor to manage and defend the harbor while assisting Calcides in defending the city to make up for the lack of its defenses.

After a night's rest, he had the remaining 6,000 sailors rush to Gela with the Sicilian fleet and the fleet in the more than 30 Phoenician ships that had been briefly repaired and had been kept in the harbor (captured during the previous battle with the Eastern Phoenician fleet from Persia).

According to the advance notice of the clipper, Leotizides with the soldiers of the 8th Legion, the cavalry of the 4th Cavalry Legion, a large number of the people of Gela, and the people of Agrigento, who had fled to Gera, were ready, and they waited in an orderly formation at the various piers.

So as soon as the fleet entered the port and docked, everyone quickly boarded the ships in turn.

When the Carthaginian sentinel told Hasdruba the news that "a large fleet had arrived at the port of Jera", he did not realize at first that the entire city of Jera was preparing to retreat, because after the victory of the battle, several sieges of the Carthaginian army were defeated, and even during the siege the day before yesterday, the Dionian soldiers went out of the city to attack, which caught Hasdruba by surprise and led to the defeat of the Carthaginian siege troops, which shows that the morale of the defenders in the city was very high, and Hasdruba had to let the defeated soldiers rest in the past two days.