"But-" Sekrian touched his nose, "Since you are about to take away the First Legion that has been cooperating with us in training the 'new tactics' for a few months, I still need to retrain this tactic with the newly created legionnaires, but it won't take much time, I believe that soon I can lead this brand new fleet south to find the Syracuse Navy for a decisive battle, I believe that the Syracuse Navy will be surprised!" ”

Sekrian appeared in high spirits and was clearly confident in the new tactics.

Davers shook his head lightly in his heart, and reminded him in a serious tone: "Seklian, even if you defeat the fleet of Syracuse somewhere in the Ionian Sea, our ships will inevitably be damaged. Soldiers who have fallen into the water need to be rescued, broken warships need to be repaired, and captured warships need to be towed back...... You have so much to do in the aftermath, but you need to know that there is more than one fleet in Syracuse, what if—" Davers accentuated, "What if enemy reinforcements appeared while you were busy?!" ”

Seeing that Seklian was anxious to explain, Davers stretched out his hand to stop him, and continued: "Even if the enemy's reinforcements do not appear, it will not be easy for you to do a good job of dealing with the aftermath, and our fleet only has this one, I hope it will grow stronger and stronger as it fights, not weaker and weaker, so I suggest that you arrange the first naval battle in ......"

After listening to Davers's detailed plan, Sekeley said with peace of mind, "I see, my lord! I'll do what you planned! …… However, there is one thing I need your help with now, otherwise it will affect the preparation of the navy. ”

"What's the matter?"

"With the arrival of warships from other allies, we won't have enough dry docks."

That's a problem! Davers pondered for a moment, and then said, "I will ask Master Kunogorata to hurry up the construction of more dry docks on both sides of the Klatty River from the city of Turiyi to the mouth of the sea, and establish a naval base to meet your needs!" ”

………………………………

The 3rd Dionian Army reached the valley of the Pinho River, a tributary of the largest river that flows through the city of Pothenia, the Basento River, which was small enough for a legion of water, and where the valley was soft and grassy, and flanked by steep and unclimbable hills, making it a good place to camp. Therefore, Alexis chose to build a camp in the open area of the valley mouth.

The soldiers of the whole army unloaded their gears, and as soon as they began to dig the trench, the leader of the reconnaissance team, Krigoru, hurried to report: "Commander, the brothers have found the Samonai people coming here five miles to the north, about 20,000 people!" ”

More than 20,000 people! Alexis was shocked in his heart: the Samonai people came so quickly, and so many people came, it was really unexpected for him, and he could also feel the fierceness of the Samonai people, and the desire to take revenge on him was very strong.

Alexis looked at the trench in front of him with regret, if he had been given two or three more hours, the Third Legion would have been able to build a crude camp, and then he would have a fight against the attacking Samoneh!

"Retreat!" He gave the order decisively.

What the?! The herald thought he had misheard.

"Retreat now!!" Alexis shouted again.

After the bugle sounded, after a while, Litoro came.

"Legion Commander, why did you just arrive at the camp and retreat?! It can't be that the bugler heard the wrong order, right?! Litoro questioned in his tone.

"He's not wrong. More than 20,000 warriors of the Samnai are rushing towards us, and we cannot fight against twice the strength of our Samonai without a camp well established and with the extreme fatigue of our brothers. You can only retreat first, and then look for fighters. Facing the first captain, Alexis specially explained a few more words in order to show respect.

"Retreating before the battle is too demoralizing! The soldiers and the people of Dionya will think that we are cowardly and afraid of death! We won't be able to lift our heads in front of other legionnaires! Unconvinced, Litoro retorted: "And I think that even if 9,000 men against 20,000 men, our legion can withstand the enemy's attack and defeat them!" ”

"Master Davos once said that the Samonai are quite fierce, even if we can defeat them, but we can cripple the Third Legion, do we still want to participate in the future battles?! What's more, this will affect Davers's plans for the future! Alexis held back his anger and explained a few more words.

"I think repelling enemy attacks and building a camp here is what Lord Davers wants!" Litoru retorted without showing weakness.

"Execute the order!" Alexis decided not to argue with him anymore, and the Dionian Military Law emphasized military discipline: during war, subordinates were to be absolutely subordinate to their superiors.

Litore glared at Alexis angrily, but in the end he chose to obey, which also showed that Litoro had broken away from the level of tribal warriors and became a qualified Dionian general.

He reluctantly gave a military salute, and when he turned back again, he deliberately said loudly: "If Lord Hieronymus is still the commander of the legion, he will definitely not retreat!" ”

Alexis was unaware of his angry words, and he had to think about how to retreat safely now.

………………………………

The city of Pothenia sits on the banks of the upper reaches of the Basento River, where the ground is relatively flat, but the terrain is high enough to be counted as a small plateau, and the city is built on a large, gentler hillside.

It took the Pothenians decades to build a large city out of stones. Now Puamot and the tribal leaders watched the movements of the Samonai people outside the city with concern from the city walls every day.

"Great Chief, look, the army of the Samonai is heading south!" Shasidat pointed to the dusty and noisy distance outside the city, and said loudly.

Puamot's heart moved, so he shouted excitedly: "Clansmen, it should be that the reinforcements from Dionya have arrived!" ”

This sentence immediately excited the leaders and warriors: the mighty Dioonians had come to their rescue!

This good news immediately relieved many of their worries these days.

"Are we sending troops to meet them?" A leader said excitedly.

"No!" Puamot refused him without hesitation, and said cautiously: "The only thing we can do now is to desperately hold this city, and then wait for the arrival of Dionia's reinforcements!" ”

………………………………

The Samonai rushed to the valley of the Pinho River, and all they saw was a mile-long, unfinished annular ditch.

"The Ionians were as timid as rabbits and ran away!" Lesguk gasped and plunged his spear into the earth with a look of regret.

"Father, most of the Dionians are heavy infantry, they should not be able to flee far, we should take this opportunity to catch up and defeat them!" The vengeful Gherney spoke eagerly to the Grand Leader of Hilpine.

Of course, Villani was not willing to come in vain, and he immediately ordered his troops to continue the pursuit.

The advancing Samonai were soon ambushed by the Third Legion's Light Infantry Brigade, and after paying hundreds of casualties, they were unable to catch the lighter-equipped Lucarian Light Infantry, who was equally good at climbing mountains, and Villani had to become cautious, even if he was angry.

Thus, the Third Army was finally able to break free from the pursuit of the Samonaites and enter a military camp on the border between Grumentim and Pothenia in the evening.

Yesterday from Grumentum, only a brief appearance in the Pau Tia area, and today forced to return to Grummentum, Alexis and the soldiers of the Third Army are also a little depressed.

………………………………

Poseidonia, a coastal city not far north of Elia (not the city of Poseidonia in the Aegean Sea), was a colonial city built by the Sybaris people, and was once famous for its roses and three temples of goddesses, the Greek city-state of Italy (two temples of Hera and one temple of Athena), but the Lucanians moved south a hundred years ago, and the Greek city-state finally fell to become a town in the union of Pothenian tribes under years of continuous attacks by the Lucanians.

For decades, Poseidonia has not been subjected to any aggression. Elia to the south is still difficult to defend herself, where is there still strength to attack others; To the north, the Samonai prefer the mountains and would rather invade the stronger, more fortified city of Potentia than wander by the sea. Therefore, when the Lucanians of Poseidonia learned of the attack on Pothenia by the Samonians, they did not show much concern for the safety of the city, but only took a slight precaution, and focused more on discussing the question of how many warriors to send to reinforce Pothenia.

Today, however, the sentry of the castle tower sounded the alarm.

When the chiefs and warriors climbed the walls, they were stunned: the Samonai outside the city were densely packed, and they could not see the end, and they did not know how many there were......

Torek, the chief of Pentenay, stood in front of the formation, looking at the small city in front of him, and the panic and shouts of the Lucanians on the city walls, he saw it in his eyes and listened to it in his heart, but he didn't care too much, but turned back to his subordinates and said, "Call the planes that the Syracuse people have sent...... What is it called? ”

"The big chief, it's called a ballista." A leader beside him reminded.

"I see, I don't need you to say more." Torek's eyes widened, and he said, "Take the crossbow...... Ballista up, let's see how powerful this thing is! ”

Six ballistae were placed in front of the formation, but it was the Syracuse people who operated them.

Fist-sized lead balls struck the walls of Poseidonia, adding to the panic of the Lucanians......