But the captain of the brigade was strict with his soldiers on two things: first, during the battle, the soldiers were only allowed to move forward and not retreat, otherwise he would kick the cowardly soldiers out of the brigade. Two, you can't lose to Olivers' Sixth Brigade in anything.

This kind of vindictive behavior looks a little funny, but in the Dionian army, it is not uncommon for companies to compete with each other, brigades to brigades, and regiments to regiments, and generals at all levels do not prohibit this kind of competition, but vigorously advocate tug-of-war, rugby, football, ...... The popular sports and competitions in the barracks were all team battles between squads and detachments, fiercely competing for victory.

Leotizides felt that it was precisely because of the importance of victory and defeat among generals at all levels that these people used to be only farmers, fishermen, and merchants...... The Ionian Citizen Soldiers quickly cultivated a sense of honor in their team, and they will fight bravely to be the first in battle! ……

"Prosious, I heard that you Lagos and Spartans are enemies, have you ever fought against the Spartans?" Heitbarus was a broken mouth, and only after a moment of silence did he speak again.

After the last turmoil on the ship, and after a fierce battle with the Puchetti, his friendship with his teammates, especially with Hete Barruth, became quite friendly. When Leotizides heard this, in order to hide the unnaturalness on his face, he did not look up, but continued to bend down and dig into the earth, and softly spat out the phrase "fought." ”

Hete Barrus became interested, leaned closer and asked, "Do you think the Spartans are great, or are we great?" ”

Leotizides didn't expect him to ask this question, and was immediately stunned.

The other teammates also seemed to be interested in this, and they all came over, but the captain Sitarsis didn't scold them.

In fact, Hete Barrus asked the right question, and Leotizides was indeed the best person to answer the question: he was a Spartan, had been in the Dionian army for half a year, had participated in battles, and had a considerable knowledge of the military situation between the two powers.

Facing the curious gaze of the warriors, Leotizides couldn't refuse, but for a while he didn't know how to speak, he put down the pickaxe, patted the dirt on his hands, thought about it seriously, and then said: "The Spartans have been trained in brutal 'agog' fighting since they were six years old, and except for a small amount of time to learn to read and write, they have lived in the barracks until they reach adulthood, and the rite of adulthood is to go and kill any black man they meet......"

"Oh, that's cruel!" A teammate shouted.

Unmoved, Leotizides continued: "In adulthood, the Spartans did nothing but fight and fight, until they died...... So the Spartans were the best warriors in the world, they were familiar with every detail of the battle, and killing the enemy was as easy as drinking water! At this point, his pride in being a Spartan came back to him.

Some of his teammates booed in dissatisfaction.

"Prosous, you praise the Spartans like this, are you really a Lagothian?!" Someone is dissatisfied with the blame.

Leotizides was shocked, he got along well with his teammates during this time, and he was a little out of his guard. He hurriedly continued: "However, the Spartan warriors are too few, and their number of young citizens is only more than half that of the Dionian legion, and even with the Pisians, it is only more than 10,000. And the Dionian soldiers are the best of the city-states I know, among the soldiers who do not fight for a living! And your military system is very unique and very perfect, and I personally think that some systems are even better than Sparta! The most important thing is that there are many Dionian soldiers, and after this victory over the Brutis, I am afraid that the number will continue to increase......"

"I understand what Prosous means when you say it, in a one-on-one fight, we can't fight the Spartan warriors, but in a real big war, the Spartans can't beat us, because there are too few of them, right?!" Heyter Barruth chimed in.

"We at the Ionian Regiment have always emphasized teamwork and cooperation. No matter how powerful a Spartan warrior is, he can't beat four or five of our closely coordinated Ionian legionnaires! Pesias continued.

"That's right! It's like a runner in a rugby game, no matter how good he is, without the help of his teammates, he can't score alone! Another teammate shouted as well.

Leotizides knew him, a Dionian reserve citizen who had repeatedly violated discipline and been punished during the boot camp. In the last battle against the Puchettis, Leotizides' squad had a soldier who was seriously wounded, so he was added, but he was now considered a qualified legionnaire, and this is the terrible thing about the Dionian military system, which can train the free-spirited Greeks into qualified soldiers in a short period of time, through training, sports, competitions, etc.

The Spartans, who founded the country by force, found a truth in their long campaign: whether the city-state army was strong or not, personal force was only secondary, and the important thing was strict discipline, unconditional obedience and perseverance in training, which most Greek city-states could neither understand nor be able to do, but the newly established Dionya demanded it from the beginning, and it was said that all this was the handiwork of the consul Davers, who had been favored by the gods, and it seemed that Dionysa was really terrible compared to Sparta, but it was this young man who was really terrible!

Leotizides did not want his teammates to misjudge that Sparta was weak, so he reminded: "Although there are few Spartan warriors, Sparta rarely fights alone. Don't forget, it was the leader of the Peloponnesian League, and now it is the overlord of all of Greece, with countless allied soldiers fighting for it. And most of Sparta's generals were qualified commanders......"

"Hey, I'm just talking about Sparta and our Dionya comparison. If you want to talk about allies, we also have Dionia, Laos, Castelon ......," Heyter Barruth said dissatisfied.

"And Heracles...... The South Italy Alliance is also counted, Crotone, Siritin, Trina and ......"

"Coronia."

The teammates scrambled to shout, which made Leotizides feel a little emotional: many city-states in the Eastern Mediterranean talked about Sparta and changed color, and even to big states like Athens and Corinth were afraid of Spartan warriors, but these Dionian soldiers in front of them were fearless to discuss who was stronger and weaker between Dionia and Sparta, not because they were ignorant, but because the victories gave them confidence.

Their shouts finally alarmed the detachment commander Palmanius, who was not far away, and he was furious: "It's not good to dig a trench and gossip!" Aren't you afraid of military law! ”

The teammates hurriedly dispersed and went their separate ways.

The squad leader, Thetarsis, came over and whispered, "Prosous, you are right! But next time, be careful to change 'you' to 'we'. ”

When Leotizides heard this, he couldn't help but be embarrassed: in his bones, he had not really integrated into Dionia, and saw himself as a Dionian......

…………………………

While the soldiers of the First Legion were busy, Davers was talking to Trifias, the commander of the Allied forces in Heraclia.

"You want to ask our engineers to build a bridge in Heraclia?"

"Yes, Master Davers. I've heard in Heraclia that your Dionian bridge building skills are very good. This time, I led the troops over and had a deeper experience of passing through the two wooden bridges in Turiyi. As you know, there are many rivers in the territory of Heracles, and the main city of Heraclia is built on a delta surrounded by the Agri River and its tributaries. The rainy season in March and April is the hardest season for us Heracles. Trifias sighed and said helplessly: "When the river swells, the pontoon bridges are often broken, and we even have to sail out to sea every day, and then dock to our own fields to farm, so we urgently need a few strong and real bridges, like the wooden bridges on the Klatty River!" ”

After listening to Trifias's request, Davers happily promised: "Heraclia is an ally of Dionia, and we will be happy to provide such help!" ”

"I have heard that Heraclid the Younger is a master of building bridges, but he also holds the official position of managing the roads of Dionia, and we in Heraclia would like to donate 50 tons of wheat to Dionysa as a thank you for the help that Heraclid and his team have given us in their busy schedules." Trifias said sincerely.

Davers did not refuse, Dionia was now short of food, and Trifias's move was a relief in disguise. Let Davers look at him a few more times. Although Heraclia has a dense water network and fertile land, 50 tons of wheat is by no means a small amount, and Heraclia gave this great gift not only as a reward for building a bridge, but also as a sign of Heracles' attitude. Davers took this to heart.

With this agreement, the conversation between Davers and Trifias became more intimate and casual.

Davers even said happily that he did not expect that there would be such excellent pastures in the Cosenza area, which could be used to breed war horses.

Just as the two were talking happily, the herald Tolmid came with a nervous expression: "Your Excellency, Ryders has urgently reported that 'the Bruti brigade has been found marching here!'" ’”

"How many are there?" Davers asked immediately.

"According to the judgment of the scout cavalry, there may be twenty thousand people!"

20,000 people! Davers's expression was no longer calm: The Bruti Alliance obviously wants to fight us here!