Chapter 708: Strategic Deployment in Sicily (I)

Philesius then strode into the meeting hall, nodding and smiling at everyone. After declining the main seat offered by Siprus, Philesius stood beside him.

Seeing the situation, Milo had a slight frown on his.

Philesius glanced at everyone and said humbly, “Before coming here, His Majesty solemnly told me to take only my eyes and ears with me to Sicily! So I have not come here to supervise you all, let alone interfere with any of your deployments. On the contrary, you are welcome to pass on any of your needs or suggestions to me, and I will relay them to His Majesty and the Senate.

But before you begin your meeting, I want to announce the two important appointments made by His Majesty and the Senate!” Philesius turned serious as he said this. He then raised a papyrus scroll bound with a black ribbon.

The scroll immediately attracted everyone’s attention, with only Siprus and Leotychides remaining calm, as they already knew its contents.

Philesius unrolled the scroll and read aloud, “With the possibility of Carthage launching a large-scale attack on our territory in Sicily, and to concentrate all our cities and allies in Sicily, to provide logistical support and assistance to the soldiers more effectively and quickly, and to better coordinate the defence of the cities… After consulting with the Senate, we have decided to appoint Siprus as wartime governor of the Sicilian region of the Kingdom of Theonia! I hope that the praetors of the Sicilian city-states will follow the administrative orders of the governor, who will remain the praetor of Catania but will be responsible for all administrative matters in Sicily and actively cooperate with the soldiers in their fight against the Carthaginians. Signed – King Davos!”

As soon as Philesius finished reading, he could hear slight exclamation and breathing sounds in the hall, ‘A wartime governor!’ The Wartime Governor is the highest official position with far more power than a Praetor. But the most important thing is it is only the second time since Theonia’s founding that it has appeared, demonstrating its value. And the previous Wartime Governor was now one of the five rotating speakers of the Senate and was often involved in the important proceedings of the palace, a position of great power.

Everyone looked at Siprus with envy while Philesius handed the letter of appointment to Milo, who was on Siprus’ right side, asking him to verify its authenticity.

With a complicated mood, Milo glanced at the papyrus scroll and saw the seals of King Davos and the Senate. And even though he was jealous, he had to admit that Siprus had a greater advantage over him in becoming a Wartime Governor. After all, he was in charge of Catania, which already had far more people and land than any other city in Sicily, to the point that Catania had overtaken Syracuse as the largest city in Sicily. Furthermore, Siprus had been in Sicily for almost seven years and knew the area better than he did.

Besides, he had a good relationship with Siprus as the two had fought side by side. And after taking office at Naxos, Milo had also received a lot of help from Siprus, so he could only sigh and say softly, “I have no objection.”

When Milo, the praetor of Theonia’s second largest city in Sicily, with the same outstanding qualifications and achievements, said this, the others no longer objected.

Philesius then took out another papyrus scroll again.

The scroll again drew everyone’s gaze, ‘Who will it be this time?! What position will it be?!’

“Prosous, legatus of the Eighth Legion, is appointed as the commander of Sicily, responsible for commanding all the land forces of Theonia and her allies in Sicily to fight against the Carthaginians. Signed – King Davos.”

The announcement was brief because it was a military appointment, and Davos could decide without going through the Senate. Moreover, Davos didn’t need to go into detail, as there was only one legatus in Sicily, and the other praetors wouldn’t compete with him.

So after listening to it, the audience didn’t feel envious and was only slightly disappointed, ‘Is that all?’

Having finished his announcement, Philesius turned his gaze to Leotychides. Although he was the first to be appointed Commander, his failure in the Battle of the Allaro River cast a shadow over his military career. But when he looked at the latecomer, there was only hope and encouragement in his eyes, “Congratulations, Legatus Prosous! With Hades’ blessing, may you be victorious in the war in Sicily!”

Prosous nods gratefully as he accepts the appointment. Though his face remained expressionless, his heart was beating wildly. After more than ten years in Theonia, he had finally reached the position of Commander – the highest position in the Theonian army (the Grand Legatus and Supreme Commander could only be King Davos.) Now, he could command tens of thousands of soldiers in battle, which was no less than the kings of Sparta!

“I thank His Majesty and the Senate for their trust in me! Now that Carthage has broken our treaty, Sicily is in great danger, not only for us Theonians but also for the other Greek city-states! So I hope I can count on the support of your Lordships and our allied city-states to help Commander Prosous thwart the Carthaginians’ ambitions to claim Sicily!” Siprus, the recently appointed wartime governor, delivered his inaugural statement with great emotion, “Next, I would like to call Commander Prosous for a pre-war analysis of the military situation!”

Leotychides got up immediately, walked over to the large map of Sicily that had been hanging on the wall for a long time, picked up the thin wooden stick on the wall and said, “Esteemed lords, from the analysis of the Ministry of Military, Carthage could send at least a hundred thousand troops, and if we include the army in the hands of governor Mago in the Iberian Peninsula, they could at least send 150,000 soldiers to Sicily-”

‘150,000 soldiers?!’ Everyone present, including Milo, is struck dumb with astonishment.

“Of course, despite Carthage’s large numbers, their soldiers are far less capable than our legions. Besides, more than half of their soldiers are Numidians, Mauritanians, Iberians and mercenaries from elsewhere…” Leotychides continued, “I also don’t think Carthage can send such a large army at once. They could probably send no more than a hundred thousand at the most!”

Leotychides arrived at this figure after referring to the two previous wars between Cartage and Dionysius of Syracuse. He then pointed his stick at the western end of Sicily on the map, “The Carthaginian army will probably land at Lilybaeum or Eryx, giving them two routes of attack. One of them is along the northern coastline of Sicily, towards Messina. Although it had fewer Greek city-states, with none of them strong, the high mountains and narrow coastline in the north made it impossible to spread their forces, resulting in Carthage being unable to fully take advantage of their superiority in numbers.

The other route they might take is along the coast of southern Sicily, where the terrain is relatively flat and can accommodate the deployment of their army. It has also been the main route for Carthage and Syracuse in the past, and I think it will be no exception this time.”

Leotychides then pointed at the map, “Heraclea Minoa, Agrigento, Gela, and Kamarina… Although there were numerous and relatively strong Greek city-states on the southern coasts, I don’t think they could resist the Carthaginians for a long time. Besides, I don’t plan to send troops to reinforce those city-states.”

As soon as he said that, some started muttering something.

Then the praetor of Messina, Amikles, objected, “Although these Greek city-states are not outwardly allied with us, they have maintained friendly exchanges and trade with our kingdom. They have also actively cooperated with our actions in Sicily, such as the attack on Sikeloi and isolating Syracuse… so we could already count them as allies. And If a war were to break out, they would surely turn to our Theonia for help, and in keeping with the tradition of our kingdom, how can we leave them alone?!”

Amicles’ words express the thoughts of the praetors. After all, they got on well with the high-ranking officials of these Greek city-states during their tenure.

Leotychides remained unmoved as he said coldly, “We aren’t breaching any contract since we don’t have an alliance agreement with them. Don’t forget, we don’t have a large army in Sicily, with the Eighth Legion and the reserve only having over twenty thousand men. And even if we were to carry out an emergency mobilisation, we would only be able to increase our numbers to around fifty thousand. But if that happens, we will almost empty our young and able men, which will seriously affect the winter sowing that is about to begin and the daily order of the entire region. I don’t think that is what you all want to see, and even less what His Majesty would like to see!

Moreover, even if we could raise such a large army and send it to reinforce Gela or Agrigento, we would just end up in a stalemate with the Carthaginian army. But could our cities in Sicily withstand the pressure on food supplies caused by a prolonged stalemate? Even more disastrous would be a surprise attack by foreign enemies on our stretched transport routes and the cities from which we had taken the soldiers!

Leotychides’ heavy tone had stirred the crowd. But what caught their attention more was that the stick in Leotizides’ hand pointed to a city icon on the map – Syracuse.

“Syracuse, the only Greek city-state in Sicily not in contact with us, is not weak and occupies an important strategic position in the east. But a few days ago, they didn’t respond to our envoy’s request for an alliance, which shows that they hold a grudge against us. In addition, we have received information that Carthaginians have been sighted in the port area of Syracuse in the last two days; thus, we must be vigilant! We must be careful not to let Syracuse become the Taranto of the South-Italian War!”

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