Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece

Chapter 556: Dionysius Agonising Choice

Phacipessas was inwardly relieved. And even though he still felt some uneasiness, he did not show it. On the contrary, he remembered his blunder just now, so he hurriedly said, “The Theonians thought a campaign across the sea would be simple. Only if they send tens of thousands of soldiers and supply sufficient military food could they possibly cause some trouble to our homeland. Unfortunately, the Theonians obviously could not do so with their current strength.”

“You are right!” Dionysius loudly expressed his approval. Still, a hint of worry appeared, “However…Philistus mentioned that Gela, Kamarina, and Agrigento…the city-states on the south coast of Sicily, were ignoring his request and were unwilling to provide soldiers and warships. What's more, he complained that Herolis repeatedly opposed him that it even began affecting his management of the city-states and resulted in his inability to provide us with reinforcements and fleets in time. Thus-”

Dionysius said deeply, “After repeated pondering, I decided to return to Syracuse by a boat and bring the reinforcements to Magna Graecia as soon as possible!”

“Milord, you are leaving?!” Phacipessas' countenance changed again, “What about the soldiers here?!”

“If Apollo blesses me, I would be able to bring reinforcements back to save you in ten days!” Said Dionysius solemnly. Then he continued, “And within these ten days, I will leave the army's control to you! Fortunately, Theonia's attention is currently on Medma and Locri, so they do not have enough troops and will not take the initiative to attack Scylletium, which tens of thousands of soldiers defended and risk suffering heavy casualties. Furthermore, our army has enough supplies to last us for an extended time…Phacipessas, you are my most trusted officer! And the soldiers' most trusted strategos! Only you can carry this burden! Wait for me to return with the reinforcements, and we will go home to Syracuse without any incident!”

“Milord…” Phacipessas, who was used to obeying Dionysius' orders, was under tremendous pressure. Although he has other thoughts, he simply couldn't say ‘I refuse’.

“I will have the other strategoi obey your orders, including my brother. If anyone doesn't follow your command during my absence, you can deal with them according to the military law!” Dionysius didn't give him time to say anything else as he forcibly gave him the right to command the army.

In the end, Phacipessas could only accept the appointment with reluctance and wished Dionysius a safe journey back to Syracuse.

Afterwards, Dionysius talked to the other strategoi and asked them to actively cooperate with Phacipessas in controlling the troops and defending Scylletium.

In a covert meeting with Androstini, the head of the intelligence, Dionysius had given him a letter and a mission to keep an eye on Phacipessas and the other strategoi. If he noticed that Phacipessas was behaving abnormally, he would immediately contact Leptines at the port, read the letter in front of the strategoi and take down Phacipessas.

Lastly, he called Phidias.

“I heard that Syracuse suffered heavy casualties this time around. It seems that even without my intervention, you still failed to defeat the Theonians!” Phidias mocked him as soon as he entered the room. Phidias had truly become an idle man: Not only does he no longer lead the troops, but Dionysius hadn’t even discussed the attack on the Theonian camp with him. Now that Phidias has become a bystander, he no longer has scruples in expressing his dissatisfaction.

Dionysius naturally understood the Spartan's character, so even though he was somewhat displeased, he still bluntly said, “Davos sent thousands of soldiers to land in Sicily and captured a town, so I must immediately return to Syracuse by boat. However, I hope you can come with me!”

“Davos actually dared to divide his troops to attack Syracuse at this time?!” Phidias was just as shocked as Dionysius, but he quickly expressed his admiration, “He is too daring!…”

After letting out a sigh, Phidias glanced at Dionysius and said, “Is this your way of leaving these soldiers of yours behind while fleeing Magna Graecia alone?”

Dionysius, however, did not directly answer him. Instead, he said with slight concern, “I am afraid that Davos hadn't just sent a few thousand men to attack Sicily as that would only send them to their deaths. Rather, I could sense that Syracuse and our allies would become unstable. Thus I need your support!” As a tyrant who could regard power as the sword of Damocles*, he naturally had political instincts to prepare for any incidents. (Note: An impending disaster.)

Phidias turned serious as he understood that ‘your support’ was actually Sparta's support. Back when the Carthaginians were sieging Syracuse, the people of Syracuse tried to force Dionysius to step down. But Phidias, as Sparta's envoy, asked the people of Syracuse to make concessions, allowing Dionysius to take back his power.

‘Could there be another revolt in Syracuse?’ Phidias looked at Dionysius and thought for a moment: With the defeat of the Syracusan navy, defeat in the Battle of Crotone, and the failure in attacking the Theonian camp, Dionysius' defeat was much worse than before, it was likely that the people of Syracuse vented their anger towards Dionysius…

Phidias thought gloatingly. However, he knew that once Dionysius was overthrown, not only would it waste Sparta's effort in supporting Syracuse over the years, the revolt would inevitably lead to Syracuse's strength greatly weakening and cause a vacuum in Sicily's hegemony. What's more, Sparta didn't want to see either Theonia or Carthage expanding, so they could only continue supporting Dionysius.

After looking at Dionysius with dissatisfaction, Phidias thought that ‘This cunning bastard certainly knew about that, and it is why he could demand something outrageous!’

Thinking of this, Phidias stopped his babbling and asked him directly, “Is it safe to go back by boat? The Theonians are blocking the port.”

“Philistus sent me the best helmsman and sailors of my fleet. Furthermore, they had even sailed into the port with ease.” Replied Dionysius.

“When are you leaving?”

“Tonight.”

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

The Theonians then sounded their retreat after the last siege tower was destroyed in front of the city walls of Medma.

Watching the retreating enemies, the Medmaeans, who fought for the whole day, cheered at their survival.

Hielos, who commanded the battle from a distance, wasn't too dejected. Instead, he ordered, “Return and tell the engineering camp that the siege tower's wheels are too inflexible, which took a lot of effort to push. Apart from that, the tower wasn't sturdy enough…so I hope they can improve it as soon as possible!”

“Yes, commander.”

“And…our soldiers are too unfamiliar with these new siege engines that they couldn't coordinate well. Thus I hope that our training could strengthen this aspect!” Henipolis also put forward his own opinions.

“You're right. Let's do that!” Hielos listened carefully to their opinions seriously and then said with expectation, “I hope that after the improvement, the Medmaeans would no longer laugh at us when we attack the city again.”

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

After the offensive and defensive battle on the Theonian camp in Scylletium: The Theonian won a great victory but suffered more than 500 deaths and 2,700 wounded. After assigning a task to each legatus, Davos and the soldiers cremated the dead and then went to comfort the wounded. Davos was so busy that it was already evening when he returned to his tent. However, Tolmides was standing outside his tent, waiting for him.

Davos then asked him, “Is there anything urgent?”

But just as Tolmides was about to speak, a strong southern wind suddenly blew, bringing ashes that poured into the people's mouths and noses, resulting in everyone rushing into the tent awkwardly.

“Ptooey! Ptooey!…”Henipolis spat black ashes from his mouth while cursing, “Damned Syracusans! They burned our camp to vent their anger just because they couldn't beat us!!”

Due to the trench separating the central camp, only the left camp was burnt, with some places still having smoke rising. However, the strong wind gathered up the ashes and brought disaster to the soldiers in the central camp, which is also why Henipolis complained.

“It was profitable to exchange an empty camp for the Syracusan soldiers to suffer tens of thousands of casualties.” Tolmides laughed.

“It's just unfortunate that our soldiers had to share a bed tonight.” Henipolis laughed as well.

“The right camp still has enough open spaces. However, we are lacking tents.”

“We don't have a shortage of tents. After we captured Syracuse's great camp in Crotone, we had seized enough tents and only needed to bring them here tomorrow.”

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

While they were discussing, Davos finished dusting off the ashes on his body and asked, “Tolmides. what's the matter?”

“Mithridates reported that a fast-sailing boat from the south broke into the port of Scylletium this afternoon.”

“We had so many ships, yet they couldn't even stop a single boat?!” Henipolis said with discontent.

But neither Davos nor Tolmides answered.

Davos was clear that such boats were small and flexible. And if there is wind and an experienced helmsman and sailors, they could play with a trireme. It is also why they are usually responsible for surveillance and information transmission in the fleet.

Henipolis didn't know anything about the navy, but Davos also didn’t clarify it. Rather, he hoped that Henipolis' words would slap the sailors who somewhat became complacent after their recent victories.

After a moment of silence, Davos asked, “Why do you think this fast-sailing boat broke into the port of Scylletium?”

“They must have come to report to Dionysius that our first legion has landed in Sicily.” Henipolis answered first.

The news about the first legion's occupation of Megalos had spread to the camp as early as a day ago. After Davos specially conveyed the report to the legatus and high-ranking officers, their confidence increased significantly, and they no longer complained about the continued siege in Scylletium. Therefore, Davos was not surprised that Henipolis could answer so quickly, and after looking at Tolmides' expression, it was evident that he had the same opinion.