Chapter 501: To fight or not to fight

As someone who had fought Theonia, Milo was familiar with the tactics of sending ships to harass Theonia’s coast. So he was shocked that the Theonians defeated several strong enemies in succession, got out of the predicament of getting surrounded, and had the opportunity to fight against Syracuse with their full strength, especially after the great naval victory, which was completely unexpected!

‘How did that young man do it?!’ After his banishment, Milo did not stay idle. While he was in seclusion in Greece, he collected a lot of information about Theonia and studied its military and politics, so he already knew a lot about this rapidly rising union. Yet unexpectedly, Theonia’s performance had again overturned his cognition in their war with Syracuse.

“So the Theonians are really here!” Lysias became excited. But suddenly, he remembered something, and the delight on his face turned to anger, “They should have come long ago! If only Aprustum’s troop had come out to our aid when the Syracusans were attacking our city, they would not have breached Crotone so quickly!”

Milo did not speak as the inaction of Aprustum’s soldiers was a thorn buried in the hearts of Lysias and these high-ranking officials.

“Milo, even if Theonia’s reinforcements arrived, can they repel Dionysius with the Syracusan army being so strong now? In case…then all of us are finished!” Lysias became worried again.

No wonder he was worried. After all, they witnessed the terrifyingness of the Syracusan army where they breached the fortified city of Crotone in such a short time. So can the Theonians be able to withstand Syracuse’s large and fierce army? If the Theonians were also defeated, then Crotone’s only hope would be gone! Many Crotonians have such contradictory psychology.

“From what I know about Davos, he must have the confidence to win as he dared to lead his army here.” Although their city was breached and was trapped in the Acropolis and could not get the news from the outside for a while, Milo still had more confidence in Davos than any Crotonians. After all, there is a saying that goes, ‘The one who knows you best is your enemy’, so he loudly suggested, “All we have to do now is to wait for the fire to die down and send out scouts to the city to find out the situation. And if we could find the Theonian troops, we would immediately call for their help!”

“You are right.” After listening to Milo, Lysias calmed down a bit. After thinking about it, he continued, “We need to inform Siprus and ask him to send someone out to scout the city.”

On the day the city was breached, the army of Terina suffered heavy losses as well. Eventually, Siprus led the remnants of his army to retreat into the Acropolis along with the Crotonians. At Lysias’ reminder, Milo realised that Lysias’ careful approach was exactly what he lacked. After all, Terina’s relationship with Theonia was far closer than Crotone’s, so if they were the ones to request help, the Theonians would definitely be more serious.

Lysias and Milo, the two famous political figures in Crotone, fought for more than a decade. But after they were forced to cooperate due to the war, they realised that their strengths complemented each other, which is really unfortunate…

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Davos was watching the training of the sarissa legion on the camp’s field ground when he suddenly received a report at noon, ‘There was a change in Crotone’s port.’

Mithridates, who received the news, immediately led more than a hundred corvus to the estuary of the Nero River, quickly picked up the soldiers of the first legion and rushed to Crotone’s port, just in time to meet the Syracusan fleet scurrying out of the port and attempting to escape.

However, the Syracusans were cunning enough to force the captured Crotonian sailors to sail out of the port in the remaining merchant and sailing ships. On the other hand, their 40 or so ships were mixed in with these ships and fled southward immediately after leaving the port.

These ships then block Mithridates’ fleet, stopping them from blockading the port. On the other hand, once the Syracusan ships that were not interested in fighting sped up, the corvus ship full of soldiers could not catch up with them. Thus, the Theonian fleet only catches a few ships as they watch most of them successfully flee to the south.

Due to the horrible result, the soldiers of the first legion were somewhat listless while they disembarked.

“Melisander!” Melisander was leading the soldiers ashore when he suddenly heard someone shouting, so when he turned around, he saw Philesius standing not far away and waving at him.

Melisander hurriedly gave orders to his men and ran over, “Father, do you need something?”

“No, I just came to see you,” Philesius said indifferently without showing his concern. After knowing that his adopted son fell into the sea twice in the previous naval battle, he became worried the whole day, “How’s the result of today’s battle?”

“They escaped.” Melisander said reluctantly.

Philesius was about to comfort him when the herald Tolmides came rushing, “Commander Philesius, his majesty wants to hold a military meeting. Please rush to the command post immediately.”

“Understood.” Philesius then casually asked, “Tolmides, why is his majesty holding a meeting at this time?”

Tolmides glanced at Melisander, then laughed, “I guess…it is to discuss why Syracuse’s fleet suddenly fled Crotone’s port?”

Melisander became interested.

At this time, the soldiers on the shore suddenly became restless, and someone shouted, “Look! There’s a fire over there!!”

To the south of the Neto River, wisps of black smoke rose to the sky just out of their sight…

After a while, the black smoke formed a thick pillar, and the sky turned red…

Philesius and Tolmides then looked in that direction.

“Is it Crotone?” Tolmides asked with uncertainty.

“It’s the city of Crotone!” Melisander loudly said that because he had fought twice in the sea near Crotone, so he knew the city’s location.

Philesius and Tolmides looked at each other with serious expressions.

Then the soldiers on the camp and the sailors on the estuary rushed to the north bank of the Neto River and stared at the red sky in surprise…

When the news of the “burning of Crotone” spread through the crowd, many of the old Thurian soldiers cheered loudly; some even shed tears of excitement and knelt on the beach to pray to the goddess of vengeance, thanking her for finally answering their pleas for many years.

With the camp making so much noise, it naturally alarmed Davos and the legatus in the tent. But by the time they arrived at the north bank of the Neto River, the scouting ships at sea had already sent someone back to the camp to report what they saw in Crotone’s port.

While the soldiers were just watching the excitement, Davos and the legatus pondered Syracuse’s reason for doing so.

“Your majesty, the fact that Syracuse’s fleet escaped and that they have burned the city of Crotone, which they had so easily captured, indicated that they are unable to cross the river to fight a battle with us after losing their naval superiority. So it seems that they have decided to retreat to prevent our fleet from going to their rear and cutting off their food transportation.” Amintas was the first to express his thoughts.

“Your majesty, we can’t let them easily withdraw to Scylletium! Such a huge force is simply not something we can defeat if they defend Scylletium. Moreover, once they retreat to Scylletium, Terina and Caulonia will be completely controlled by Syracuse, and together with the Locrian Alliance, it would be unfavourable to us to fight there!” Matonis reminded loudly and urgently.

“Then do you think we should fight Syracuse here?!” Antonias, as the former leader of Matonis, reminded with a tone of rebuke, “Dionysius wanted us to cross the river and fight them when they are prepared! Didn’t the report say they had burnt everything in Crotone except the Acropolis? It just shows that Dionysius wanted to take advantage of our hurriedness to rescue Crotone to achieve their goal of having a decisive battle with us here!”

“So did we lead our army here not to fight with the Syracusans but to compete who would consume their food faster?!” Amintas had no qualms about expressing his displeasure.

“There is nothing wrong with that.” Kapus said seriously, “Our fleet has cut off this Syracusan army from Sicily. With Syracuse unable to assist their army in Magna Graecia, Dionysius can only rely on the Locrian alliance to give him military rations. However, Locri is not a city-state rich in grain, so how can they possibly meet the food needed of such a huge army?! Furthermore, we have the support of the people and our allies, and Ansitanos has already left for Carthage to discuss the buying of grains. So after two months, I believe Syracuse will collapse on their own due to food shortage, and we would easily destroy them by then!”

“Lord Kapus, don’t forget that it is not only our soldiers who need the food supplies but also the people of Aprustum and Krimisa, so we consume more food than the Syracusans. And even if we still had our allies’ aid and could buy food, all of those are what the people donated! Can we just stand by doing nothing while consuming them all?!” Epiphanes retorted nonchalantly. As the legatus who fought at the forefront, he naturally knew the situation better than others.

“Let’s not forget the people in Crotone’s Acropolis, who are still waiting for our help! Although Dionysius used these to take the initiative in the battle, this was an unprecedented massive war that concerned not only Magna Graecia and Sicily but also Greece itself, Carthage and the other Mediterranean nations. And we Theonians always kept our promises, so when faced with our allies’ people who are in dire need of rescuing, are we just going to watch them die and do nothing?!” Philesius was someone cautious, but his wish to avenge Drakos stirred him up.

Davos knew that Philesius’ words were mainly directed at him.

“Your majesty, milords, is it possible…” Olivos became a bit nervous when he saw everyone’s gaze at him. “For…the Lucanian soldiers led by commander Hielos to attack Terina and forced the Syracusans to retreat?”

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