Antonios looked at the wounded soldiers behind him and added with concern, “Our medical brigade will arrive soon, so please permit them to treat your wounded soldiers.”
“That's wonderful! I have long heard of Theonia's medical skills being the best in the whole of Magna Graecia!” Pheidon became even happier.
As the two sides greeted and introduced themselves, the atmosphere became harmonious.
At this moment, the navarch – Seclian, also arrived. If it were before the war when the Theonian navy was first established and did not achieve any decent results, these strategoi would not really care about him even though Davos greatly valued him. But after winning the two naval battles and making the attack on Hipponion possible, now Seclian received the respect of every strategoi and talked to him as an equal.
While describing yesterday’s thrilling battle, Pheidon and Seclian yearned and wished they were there.
“Navarch Seclian.” At this moment, Antonios pulled out a papyrus and said with seriousness, “This is his majesty's order to you.”
Seclian immediately opened it and was surprised after reading it, “His majesty wants me to follow your command and transport the first legion to Sicily?!”
Antonios nodded solemnly.
When Pheidon heard this, he immediately asked, “Are you going to attack Sicily?!”
Antonios nodded again and said, “We know nothing about Sicily, so we need your help, strategos Pheidon.” This is the reason why he took out the papyrus on this occasion.
But instead of refusing, Pheidon enthusiastically said, “Lord Davos made the right decision! We Rhegians, because of our proximity to Sicily, know very well how powerful Dionysius is in Sicily. And it is indeed true that destroying his army that invaded Magna Graecia is not enough; only by weakening his power in Sicily can we eradicate his threat to Magna Graecia! I am more than willing to share my relatively deep knowledge of the Greek city-states in eastern Sicily with you.”
After thanking him, Antonios eagerly discussed the matter with Pheidon and Seclian.
Hielos and Hieronymus, on the other hand, were not idle. As it was already getting late, they regrouped their men and escorted the prisoners to Terina to rest at Siprus’ invitation of Siprus. Then the following morning, they would attack the city of Hipponion.
Now that the Theonians knew that they struck Locri hard, the empty Hipponion could no longer resist their attack.
Therefore, Hielos sent messengers to report the battle situation to Davos and asked him what to do to Hipponion.
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
After Damocles returned, Dionysius became slightly relieved because when studying Davos, he learned that Davos wasn't someone who spared no one and often left his opponent a chance to live. So Dionysius despised this kind of female kindness. Yet now, he hopes that Davos will continue to do so.
“Davos is still young!” With this satisfactory result, Dionysius could not help but sneer as this kind of verbal pleasure could temporarily relieve him of his fear of the young man that had begun growing in his heart, ‘To be able to reverse the whole situation of being surrounded by enemies, this new king of Theonia has a terrifying commanding ability! Still, as long as he is willing to make a truce…’
Dionysius has even begun imagining the Theonian's harsh condition in the peace negotiation tomorrow. Still, Dionysius decided to accept Theonia's conditions as long as it is not too severe. After all, Syracuse would not suffer much loss of power if he could return to Sicily with his tens of thousands of soldiers, and Theonia were to release all the captured soldiers just like what they did to Crotone. It would also secure his tyrant status from significant threat and maintain his hegemony of Sicily! As for the peace agreement that he would sign with Theonia?…once he restored Syracuse's strength, it would just be a scrap of paper! Dionysius had no intention of abiding by it as he would not be like Davos, who would foolishly keep any promises to have a good reputation!
Still…he needs to think of ways to deal with Davos from other aspects…as Dionysius pondered, his long, narrow eyes gleamed with frightening, murderous light.
Suddenly, an attendant came in and reported, “Milord, the ships and sailors are all ready and are just waiting for your order.”
“Let them wait until night and only depart after making sure there are no enemy ships outside the port.” Dionysius then seriously said, “Tell them that we entrust the lives of the citizens of Syracuse to them, and I hope that they will return home successfully under Apollo's blessing, despite all difficulties and dangers!”
The Theonian fleet blocked Scylletium's port after the Syracusans' retreat, but they could not completely block the port for 24 hours a day. Especially at night as the sailors needed to go ashore to eat and rest while the ships needed to dock on Crotone's port for maintenance, drying and removing maggots. Otherwise, they could not guarantee the hull's toughness. And even if they sent platoon ships to blockade in turn, they dare not scatter too much for fear of losses. After all, Syracuse still has more than 30 ships in Scylletium's port.
Thus they think that the defence outside Scylletium's port is relatively lax late at night, allowing the ships sent by Dionysius to depart smoothly. However, sailing in the dark is much greater; just encountering storms, reefs, deviation from the course, and even the fleet heading south might cause these ships to be swept into a watery grave.
But Dionysius could only trust that one of these penteconters that he sent, manned by the most experienced helmsmen and sailors in his navy, would eventually return to the great port of Syracuse, allowing Philistus to know the Syracusan army’s difficulties in Magna Graecia.
Although Syracuse's treasury was now exhausted, most of the young and middle-aged citizens were in Magna Graecia, and it was impossible to build a new ship in such a short time; Dionysius still believed in Philistus' ability. He believes that Philistus could build an army of no less than 20,000 men, gather ships no less than one hundred triremes and prepare rations for 50,000 men that would last for two months… Of course, this is Dionysius' preparation in case the peace negotiation fails. As for how to implement all of these, Dionysius could only pray to Apollo…
Watching his attendant leave, Dionysius also couldn't sit still and decided to go to the blacksmith shop in the city.
Another reason for the peace negotiation was to buy time: The Syracusan army's most pressing problem wasn't the food(due to the massive reduction of troops in the battle, Scylletium's food reserve was enough to last them for more than a month), but weapons and equipment…
Because after their defeat, the soldiers threw away their helmets, round shields, armours, spears and swords along the way to flee faster. Naturally, the enemy also threw their equipment to catch up with them, but the Theonians could just pick those up while cleaning the battlefield as the winner. On the other hand, the Syracusan soldiers could only flee into Scylletium with empty hands. Fortunately, they had collected thousands of weapons and equipment when they looted the city of Scylletium. However, that was still not enough, so he had to let the blacksmiths, who came with them and were responsible for repairing their weapons and equipment, step up their pace by using the blacksmith shop in the city to start making weapons and armours again. In addition, Dionysius even ordered his men to search for iron ore and scrap iron throughout the city.
Currently, he was about to inspect how this important work is progressing.
But halfway through, he suddenly remembered something, so he stopped and turned to the other direction – Phidias' residence. Phidias was no longer useful as a military advisor as the war progressed, but he could still play his unique role in the peace negotiation as a Spartan.
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
Early the following morning, Phidias and the Syracusan envoy – Damocles, came to the camp that the Theonians were building.
But this time, Davos did not come out to receive him personally. Instead, he sent his clerk, Henipolis, to be in charge of the negotiation.
And as soon as Henipolis dismounted, he told Damocles the following, “Yesterday, his majesty Davos discussed with the strategoi and concluded that because of your supreme military commander – Dionysius' bad reputation, you need to do something to show your sincerity before we could begin our peace negotiation.”
Damocles then immediately protested, “Theonian, this is a humiliation to our leader, Dionysius!”
“So what?!” Henipolis raised his head and said in an unusually arrogant manner, “Can Dionysius send more troops to threaten us, Theonians?! Oh, I forgot. He already tried, but he unfortunately failed! Now it is you who are asking for a truce!”
Damocles couldn't retort for a while. After a moment of silence, he said in a suppressed tone, “What do you want us to do?”
Henipolis sneered inwardly and said with hatred, “The Numidians and Celts you hired had plundered and wantonly slaughtered our people outside the cities of Aprustum and Krimisa, not even sparing the elderly and the children. So we, Theonians, hope to drink their blood and eat their flesh! And since you want a truce, please cut off the heads of these ‘beasts’ who owe countless blood debts to the Magna Graecians and send them to us before we talk! I think they shouldn't have many people left after the battle the day before yesterday.”
