Just as the Dionian army arrived in the city of Crimesa, the news that "the army of Crotone had failed in the battle, the whole army suffered heavy casualties, and only more than 5,000 people had fled back to Crimesa" reached the city of Crotone, which immediately shocked the whole city.

If the defeat in the first battle was the result of the negligence of Melanthius and the shameless surprise attack of the Amendolars, this time Crotone had assembled a much stronger army than the last time, and had their trusted, equally experienced and reliable chief general Milon as the commander, and the news was all the more dismal. Crotone's army was defeated again and more than 20,000 people did not escape, were they killed in battle? Or was it captured? So far, there has been no news.

This time, every citizen family in Crotone was weeping over the fate of their loved ones, while pent-up anger erupted under the guidance of the Dionian spies, and the people gathered to protest at the town hall and demanded an immediate citizens' assembly.

In the face of the angry crowd that broke into the venue, the council was forced to respond to the people's demands, and the citizens' assembly was immediately and hastily convened.

At the convention, the incompetence of the generals and councillors of the council was angrily attacked, which led to the defeat of the Crotone army, which had a clear advantage, and put the city-state in danger. They offered to remove Milon from his position as chief general and bring him back to the city for trial. At the same time, peace talks with Dionysa were immediately opened to redeem the captured citizen soldiers.

The proposal was successfully adopted with the support of the general public.

At this moment, a messenger sent by Milon rushed back to Crotone, bringing a request that "the Dionian army is surrounding Crimea, and Milon is asking for reinforcements".

The news immediately sent the citizens' assembly into a panic, and as long as they were not fools, everyone understood that once Dionya seized Crimea, he could smoothly enter the Croton Plains, destroy their farmland, burn their villages, and go straight to the city of Crotone. If the war really evolves like this, it is that after being invaded by Syria a hundred years ago, the Croton Plain will be invaded by the enemy from the north again, and the peaceful life of the people of Crotone in this plain will be shattered for a hundred years, which is unacceptable to the people.

"Reinforcement of Crimesa, hold the city of Crimesa" became the consensus of the citizens of Crotone, but the young and middle-aged citizens of the city were basically emptied, and to send more soldiers, they had to relax the years of military service between 18 and 50 years old, and at the same time recruit free people. Thankfully, they only had to defend the city, as long as they could shoot arrows and throw javelins, which was what the freedmen and sailors were good at, so it was not a problem to cobble together a decent number of reinforcements. But the generals became a problem, because the citizens who could fight and could fight were all in Milon's army, including Miron's own army.

The citizens debated for a long time, and finally came to an agreement to nominate a few candidates, but the chosen ones refused to take office. When they were condemned, they rebuked: "Even if such a warlike man as Milon and Philadelfoss has been defeated, how can a man like us, who seldom goes into battle, command a force lacking a citizen soldier to resist the attack of the Dionians?" It's not that we don't want to take responsibility for fulfilling our civic duties, but we fear not being able to fulfill this vital position and causing another catastrophe for our city-state! ”

As they had finished speaking, the citizens' assembly of several thousand fell into a deathly silence, and the warlike Crotoneites were in an embarrassing situation where they had no generals to use.

At this time, Lucias stood up and said in a deep voice: "Citizens, you all know that Milon and I often quarrel over some issues, and the relationship is not good. But I also have to respect Milon for his contribution to the city-state. He led his troops to repel the invasion of the Allied city-states by the Brutis on many occasions, and twice forced Lockley to withdraw his troops from the territory of Coronia, which is why you have chosen him as the chief general many times! To be honest, his military prowess has always been a jealous of me. But now that he has failed, Millon, who has always won more and lost less, and has done things steadily, actually suffered a crushing defeat in the battle that decided the fate of the city-state, do you believe that he was negligent and regarded this important battle as a game?! ”

Nicias's words left the impatient citizens in deep thought.

"Of course not, this only shows that the consul of Dionia, Davers, is more militarily talented! Yes, by now, this is a fact that any Crotone has to admit and must face bravely! Niceas sighed and said loudly again: "After that defeat half a year ago, I think you should all know the person of Davers, from the time he led the mercenaries to Turiyi, he personally commanded all the battles, he won the victory, and won more with less several times, which is why there is today's Dionian Alliance!" Now, are there any citizens of Crotone who are more capable than Milon and more capable of fighting against Davers, the Archon of Ionia?! ”

Although the pale citizens exchanged heads and whispered in the audience, none of them stood up to recommend or recommend themselves.

"Since there isn't, why don't you let Milon continue to lead the troops! I believe that Milon, who has already suffered a defeat, will definitely learn from this and desperately defend Crimesa for Crotone and for himself! Citizens, Crotone is facing the biggest crisis in a century! I hope that you will put aside your likes and dislikes for others, and out of public interest, choose the right people to defend our city-state!! Lycias exclaimed.

His words clearly worked, and in the new round of elections to the citizens' assembly, Miron, who was reinstated by a narrow majority, was stripped of his position as chief general and had to be tried when the war was over.

Satisfied with the result, Lycias's expression was not relaxed, for he knew that he would soon meet with Davers again as an emissary. After only a few days, the whole situation has been reversed. Lycias remembered what Davers had said when he left Turiy, and it had now been fulfilled.

In the early morning of the second day, the Dionian army also did not attack, but continued to improve the camp, not only setting traps in front of the camp, but also some soldiers of the Engineer Battalion had begun to erect wooden bridges over the Wembrian River.

Milon witnessed all this on the city wall, and was amazed: Davers, who had been cunning before, was able to calm down and continue to build the camp, was he really ready to besiege himself?

He hesitated, but he still didn't dare to send the few troops in his hand to attack.

In the afternoon, Milon was relieved that 5,000 reinforcements from Crotone had been transported to the city of Crimesa by fleet, bringing the number of troops in the city to more than 10,000.

In the port, he also saw Lucias, who had disembarked with the soldiers, and his expression couldn't help but change: "Did the council really send you to negotiate peace?" ”

"No, Milon." Milon was relieved by Lycias's negative answer, and he immediately said, "It was the Citizens' Assembly that sent me to negotiate peace. ”

At the mention of the citizens' assembly, Milon's expression became even more ugly, and he said with a solemn expression, "I don't think so...... The Ionians, who had the upper hand, would have agreed to an armistice and peace talks at this time. Even if they agreed, the conditions they put forward must be very harsh! ”

"You're right, but the people of Crotone desperately need to know the safety of their loved ones, and I can't think of it. However, it is also necessary to try to understand the requirements of the Ionians first. Lucias shrugged helplessly.

Listening to Lucias's words, Milon's face twitched, he coughed dryly a few times, and said in a low voice: "I heard that at the citizens' assembly...... It's your statement...... So I don't have to be escorted back to my country now......"

"In fact, like the rest of the people, I hate that you will be judged and that you will be angry with the citizens who died in this battle! But Crotone needs you urgently now, for the sake of the city-state and for yourself, I hope you can win a few battles in the next battles, and lay a good foundation for future peace talks! Milon was ashamed of Lycias's earnest words, and he didn't speak, but clenched his fists.

Then Lycias, accompanied by Milon, went up to the head of the city, holding the battlements in her hands, and looked forward: not far from the city was the camp of Dionia, and from east to west were a continuous series of tents, not only in order, one camp after another, but also moats, earthen walls, fences, and watchtowers...... And so on.

Even Lycias, who did not know much about military affairs, could feel the fortification of the Dionian camp standing on the city wall.

Seeing that Lycias looked solemn, Milon said, "I don't think these Dioonians are really like the Greeks, we Greeks like to fight, but we don't like to do such dirty and tiring work after fighting. But as soon as the Dioonians arrived, they kept burrowing and building their nests like rats, and it took only a little more than a day to build the present camp, and it caused me to suffer when I sent a few hundred soldiers to attack them last night! Now they are still building bridges over the river, and they must want to build camps on the south bank as well, so as to completely besiege Crimesa. ”

Milon paused and said loudly: "Now that I have this batch of reinforcements, I want to teach the arrogant Dionians a lesson!" ”

………………………

The troops ordered to cross the river on foot to the south bank to protect the engineering battalion and build the bridge were the 2nd and 3rd Brigades of the 1st Army, which was commanded by Mattonis. This is what Martonis actively asked of Davers, the last time he was in command of the reserve, he barely caught the battle, and he held his stomach, this time he had to perform well.

When he led his troops to the surveyed bridge on the south bank, he immediately used a brigade to guard and a brigade to dig a trench, and worked in turns until the trench was dug and the earth barrier was built, and he did not see any enemy.