‘With Aristias sending even his own brother to Sicily, it means that he really put a lot of effort into this place!’ Antonios became spirited that he immediately asked, “Where is he now?”
“Either Catania or Syracuse? I don't know.” Seraphinus shrugged and added, “But now that you arrived in Sicily, he should learn about it soon and send someone to contact us.”
Antonios nodded and seriously asked, “Now that we have occupied Megalos, what should we do next? What do you suggest?”
“Milord, I don't know much about military matters, however, I can tell you what I know about here for your reference.” Seraphinus' modesty won Antonios' approval even more. He then quickly placed Sicily's map that he had taken from Davos when he left the camp in Scylletium on the table and said, “Go on!”
Seraphinus did not refuse and stepped forward. After carefully looking at the map, he pointed and said, “Milord, Megalos’ position is excellent, as you can see here. It has the ocean to the east, the massive mount Etna to the west, and only about 5 kilometres to the north from us is Tauromenium. But with its small population, I am afraid they can't even field 500 soldiers. Sikuri, to the south, is more than 10 kilometres away, which is also a small city-state. But now that we occupied Megalos and captured many Sikurian citizens, it would be difficult to say whether the tyrant of Sikuri could still gather 3,000 soldiers. More than 20 kilometres further south is Catania-”
When he said until here, Seraphinus then showed a pained expression as he said,
“Catania was originally a large city with around 50,000 to 60,000 citizens. With the fertile Catania plain providing the people with ample grain, they could easily organise an army of tens of thousands…however…after Dionysius destroyed Catania, he had the Campanian mercenaries occupy the city, and Catania…would no longer be Catania!…”
“Are you from Catania?” Antonios suddenly asked.
“Yes, like Aristias, I was once a Catanian!” Seraphinus then said, “But now, I am a Theonian citizen!”
“Don’t worry. His majesty will certainly let the Catanians rebuild your homeland once we defeat Syracuse!” Antonios comforted him and asked, “How many soldiers does Catania have now?” When Seraphinus mentioned the Campanian mercenaries, Antonios raised his vigilance. After all, he had just fought them in the Battle of Crotone and knew that these mercenaries were not easy to deal with.
“…they might have around five thousand men. Although I did not go to the Catanian plain after returning to Sicily this time, I heard it from the people of Megalos.” Seraphinus hesitantly guessed but then suggested, “Milord, you would need to wait for Antrapolis' people to arrive if you want to understand the situation in more detail.”
Antonios nodded. Then he pointed to Leontinoi's symbol on the map between Catania and Syracuse and asked, “Did the Campanian mercenaries also occupy this city-state?”
“Leontinoi is not. It was once a child-state of Syracuse, but after Dionysius came into power, they allied with us, Catanians, against Syracuse. But after Catania's defeat, they had no choice but to surrender to Syracuse. And as punishment for their betrayal, Dionysius forcibly moved most of Leontinoi's citizens to Syracuse. So now, Leontinoi is just a small city-state in terms of population…” Seraphinus said sadly.
“So, how many more troops does Syracuse still has?” Antonios asked earnestly.
Seraphinus guessed by saying, “This…I am not so sure. But a few months ago, when Dionysius led a large army to invade our Magna Graecia, his strategos, Macias, also led about eight thousand Syracusan soldiers to the northernmost part of Sicily to destroy the new city built by the exiles of Naxos and Catania. So I think Syracuse must still have tens of thousands of soldiers…”
‘Tens of thousands!’ Antonios' face turned grim as he gazed at the icons of city-states surrounding Syracuse on the map. Taunis, Barclay, Herbessus, Pachynus…all of them are loyal city-states of Syracuse and could easily and quickly let Syracuse organise 20,000 troops! The first legion, although powerful, only had more than 5,000 people left after the repeated battles… Antonios knew that he couldn’t defeat so many enemies with fewer troops like Davos.
Seeing Antonios' worries, Seraphinus pondered and said, “Milord. Although it seems that Syracuse has so many powerful subsidiary city-states in Sicily, the people of these city-states have long been dissatisfied with Syracuse, and even the people of Syracuse are dissatisfied with Dionysius' tyranny!”
“Oh?!” Antonios became interested and said, “Explain it more in detail.”
“Syracuse has been fighting externally in the past few years, and the scale of the war became massive that the money and supplies consumed are enormous. So Dionysius forcibly demanded high tribute from the various subsidiary city-states and not even sparing the people of Syracuse, and even increased the special war tax levied to 25%; Moreover, he demanded not only money but also men. So before each war, each city-state must provide a large number of soldiers. Yet once the war ended, the families of the wounded or killed soldiers would receive nothing; Furthermore, he supported tyrants in the various city-states to deal with those who resisted him. Therefore, not only did the people of the city-states resent him, but even the nobles became discontent with him. Unfortunately, they feared his power and did not dare to resist…
Dionysius' men must know this, so I don't think they would dare draw all their troops against you… And the Sikurians of Megalos began cursing him privately after Dionysius led his army to attack Magna Graecia yet was defeated in this expedition. A few days ago, when the news of our fleet defeating Syracuse's navy reached Megalos, not only the freemen and slaves but also the citizens of Sikuri became a bit excited. It even made Theonia the topic of discussion among the town's people, which made my task much smoother. Previously the two planners of the riots showed no interest, but they suddenly took the initiative to contact me…
That was the case here in Megalos, and the situation of the other city-states should be similar. I feel that these city-states in Sicily are now like a pile of dry firewood that only needs a kindle to burn into roaring flames! Now that the news of his majesty defeating Dionysius' army in battle has spread to Sicily, I believe it will significantly impact the people! And as long as you, milord, can defeat the Syracusan army once in Sicily, Sicily will definitely become chaotic!!” Seraphinus said ardently, with an excited glint in his eyes.
“It won't be that easy to defeat the Syracusans in Sicily.” Antonios said bitterly. Still, after hearing Seraphinus report Sicily’s situation, he became a bit more confident, “But we only have a few soldiers now, so his majesty mentioned the Sicels to me before coming here. Do you think they can join us to deal with the Syracusans?”
Seraphinus thought about it and shook his head by saying, “Although the Sicels are natives of Sicily, they are different from the Lucanians and Bruttians of Magna Graecia; they are far less savage…oh, no, brave and fierce.” Seraphinus suddenly remember that these two races were already citizens of Theonia, so he hurriedly changes his words, “The Sicels live the same as us Greeks, except that they prefer living in the mountainous part of Sicily. However, they are a race that can't be trusted: When the Carthaginians attacked, they defected to Carthage; When Syracuse had gotten the advantage, they sided with the Syracusans…
In the end, the gods punished them for their treachery. Dionysius pretended to ally with them, but after Carthage’s defeat, he murdered the king of Sicels, Agileus, and sent an army to sack the main town of the Sicels, Agyrium, and eradicate it.
Yet when Dionysius came to invade our Magna Graecia, the Sicels still sent him some soldiers. So I think the cowardly Sicels will never dare join us to attack Syracuse, however, they might not attack us either and remain neutral. But supposing Syracuse loses, they will definitely join the victorious side…”
Antonios now understood that this is a race that bullies the weak and fears the strong.
Note: In fact, it is not only the Sicels who have such traits, but all other Sicilian city-states and races due to the unique political situation in Sicily: In the past hundred years of history in Sicily, there were only two super-powers on this island – Carthage and Syracuse, and there was no third power to compete with them. So on this relatively closed and small island, the various city-states and forces can only depend on the strong because if they resist, only destruction awaits them. Of course, they still have a few days of peace and quiet when Carthage and Syracuse remain in a deadlock. In the history Davos knew in his previous life, it wasn't until the intrusion of a mighty foreign power, Rome, that Sicily's closed political and military environment was wholly destroyed. In the end, Rome unified Sicily. But in this book, will the balance of power in Sicily breaks now that the Theonians appear in Sicily for the first time?
