Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece Chapter 156: The Battle of Crotone (1)

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Davos could feel the heavy expectations in their words. He smiled and said: "For the Syracuse, you don't have to worry. What you should worry about is that after defeating the Syracuse, Do we have enough manpower to manage those lands in southern Great Greece!"

While the veterans were stunned, Daves turned his head and took a deep look at the hills near the river in the city of Turiyi to the east. He knew that his wife and children must also be staring here, looking forward to him. An early victory return......

"Let's go." He coughed slightly, turned his horse's head, and led the guards onto the wooden bridge.

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Syracuse’s soldiers burned, killed and looted the city of Crotone overnight. The major disasters were the freedmen and Gentiles in the port area, and nearly half of Crotone’s failed to escape into the Acropolis in time. Thoné people.

At noon the next day, most of the Syracuse soldiers were still sleeping in the barracks or in the houses in Crotone, to recover the physical strength that had been exhausted yesterday.

Dionysius got up early in the morning and led the way to deal with military affairs.

The first thing that needs to be solved urgently is the wounded problem. Although yesterday's victory was brilliant, its losses were also great. According to preliminary statistics last night, more than 5,000 soldiers were killed and seriously injured in the battle alone, and more than 4,000 soldiers were slightly injured in various degrees. After this battle, Syracuse lost about 1/8 of the soldiers. troops. A series of tedious tasks such as treating the wounded, replenishing soldiers, and reorganizing troops must be completed as soon as possible.

For the most time-consuming and laborious cleaning up the battlefield and burying corpses, it is the easiest to complete. All that is needed is to use the tens of thousands of Crotone citizens who have become prisoners as laborers. How many prisoners were weeping when carefully sorting out the remains of Crotone soldiers who died inside and outside the city wall! How many prisoners dragged the bodies of Syracuse soldiers, kicking and cursing quietly, venting their anger!

For Dionysius, this is not something he cares too much about. The second thing he cares about is the acropolis of Crotone. This acropolis is located south of the center of the inner city of Crotone. It is built on a hill. Inside the acropolis is the largest group of temples of Apollo in Greece. Therefore, the acropolis of Apollo in Crotone is also in the city-state of Greece. biggest.

Although it is the ultimate defensive strategy often adopted by the Greek city-states when the city falls and retreats to defend the city, Dionysius should have taken precautions. The fighting led to fierce outbreaks, crazy killings and looting in the city, and because of darkness, Dionysius was unable to command the troops effectively. As a result, the aircraft was delayed, resulting in more than half of Crotones (including not Few soldiers) escaped into the Acropolis under the organization of Milon and Lysias, which made the Acropolis sufficient manpower to defend.

At the same time, the acropolis is high and surrounded by urban dwellings, and large siege equipment can't reach under the wall at all. Unless the surrounding houses and buildings are stripped off and a strong and wide causeway is built to fill up the hills, the siege towers and siege vehicles can reach the city. Otherwise, the soldiers will attack from the bottom up alone, which will not only cause casualties. It is disastrous, and it is difficult to succeed.

But this method of siege requires a long time to prepare, and what Dionysius lacks most now is time, because he will also lead an army to attack Dionia, and he will never allow his greatest enemy to have More breathing opportunities to stabilize the territory and form more troops.

So, Dionysius sent an envoy to threaten the lives of the captured Crotone citizens and soldiers to make the Crotone people in the Acropolis surrender.

However, the Crotone people hiding in the acropolis were condescending last night, witnessing the atrocities committed by the Syracuse people in the city, and tormented all night in the heartbreaking wailing of their compatriots , They both fear and hate the Syracuses, coupled with the tyrannical acts of the Syracuses in Siracusa, so they regard the Syracuses as "eating beasts" and do not believe what the messenger said. "As long as you become an ally of Syracuse and send troops to the army of Syracuse, Dionysius will release all Crotone prisoners and return the city of Crotone."

Because Ascamas, in order to prevent the Syracuse from invading and plundering the city and protecting the people who are fleeing to the Acropolis, he tried his best to reorganize the defeated soldiers, fight the enemy on the streets of the city, and finally Died in battle. The Crotones, who had lost their supreme military commander, urgently elected Miron, who had rescued them, as the commander general in grief, and neither of them opposed Lycias. At this time, the Crotone high-level leaders headed by Lycias and Miron not only categorically rejected the request of the messenger, but also in order to show their courage and determination to fight the Syracuse people to the death, they cut off the messenger's ears and Nose, drove him off the Acropolis.

When the messenger covered the **** wound and cried to Dionysius, he did not show much anger, but sneered deeply: "Stupid Crotone, you think you are hiding in On that hill, can I do nothing with you?! Hidden tens of thousands of people in that small acropolis can indeed improve defense, but can you defend yourself against hunger and thirst!"

It is true that the food consumption of tens of thousands of people is a huge amount, and it is impossible for the people who are in a hurry to carry a large amount of food rations. Even if Miron is prepared in advance, it cannot be guaranteed for a few days. And what worries the Crotone people is that there is no water source on the hill. Usually the water used by the priests of the temple comes from the reservoir in the temple. Because of the heavy rain a few days ago, the reservoir was full, but for tens of thousands of people It’s just a drop in the bucket.

Therefore, Dionysius ordered: Send a small number of troops to surround the Acropolis of Crotone.

He believed that the Crotone people would go down the mountain and surrender within a few days when they were short of water and food.

He originally wanted to order the ballista to fire stone bullets at the Acropolis in order to increase the fear of the Crotone people and force them to surrender as soon as possible. But then I think about it, there is the Temple of Apollo in the Acropolis. If it is deliberately destroyed, it may affect the morale of the soldiers. Moreover, the sudden torrential rain last time made him, who has always been arrogant, worried. At this critical moment, he didn't want any more accidents.

Dionysius knew in his heart that the Crotones hid in the Acropolis to survive, and they hoped for the rescue of the Dionysians. And Dionia is the target of the Syracuse army's upcoming attack, but the soldiers who have just experienced the tragic siege war need to rest. He can only continue to send mercenary cavalry to the north to scout the enemy.

The insatiable Numibians and Celtics vent their dissatisfaction for not being able to participate in the city raid last night.

Dionysius didn't get angry, and even specially presented these aliens with a lot of spoils. Because Phoebe Das once said: in the wild against the Dionians, these alien cavalry are a weapon.

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A clipper sailed into the port of Crotone.

"General, the fleet of Dionia is here!" The captain hurriedly reported to Leptinius, who was inspecting the military port and commanding the moored warship.

The Syracuse Navy just moved into the Crotone Naval Port this morning. Compared with Siritian, Crotone’s naval port is much larger and can accommodate more warships, and its location is closer to the territory of Dionia, which is convenient for the Syracuse Navy to understand Dioni more quickly. The movements of the sub-fleet better cooperate with the land forces.

I just didn't expect that the fleet had just moved in, and the sailors hadn't completely disembarked, the Siracusa's fleet would come. Leptinius is now drumming in his heart, still maintaining his composure on the surface: "How many ships have come?"

Judging the number of ships at sea is much more difficult than investigating the number of people on land, because when a fleet of hundreds of warships sails on the sea, it often occupies a radius of five or six nautical miles. After all, the line of sight of people is limited, and the sea is endless. There is also no place to hide, so close observation is required, which requires a lot of risk.

"Well...it feels about the same amount as the previous time." The captain can only give a rough idea.

Then he emphasized: "The front masts of the Dionian warships are hung with drawbridges!"

Leptinius felt a little flustered when he heard it, and the fiasco a few days ago appeared before his eyes.

Fight or not? He couldn't make a decision for a while, and instead ran to the city to ask Dionysius for instructions.

Dionysius learned of the attack from the Dionian fleet, and he indulged for a moment, and then resolutely issued the order: meet!

He has several considerations about this.

First of all, since the detected situation is that the number of the Dionia fleet is not much different from the last time, and the so-called drawbridge is installed, it means that the previous analysis is correct, due to the number of sailors and the number of modified warships. The difficulty caused the Dionians to still use the original warships. In terms of the number of three-layer paddle warships, the Syracuse Navy still had the upper hand.

Secondly, as a commander-in-chief, Dionysius knows how much morale affects the combat effectiveness of the soldiers. The Syracuse Navy suffered a major defeat not long ago. If you don’t make up for it with victory in time, choose If you give in, you will undoubtedly "destroy one's own prestige and raise the enemy's morale." Then, if you encounter the Dionia fleet in the future, the Syracuse Navy will undoubtedly be a dwarf in fighting spirit.

Furthermore, Siracusa’s army is concentrated in Crotone. Yesterday, after another day of hard fighting, it is resting. If the Dionia fleet is allowed to cross the waters of Crotone, it will be empty. For example, landing on the coast near the city-states such as Siritin or Corenia, which is not sincerely submissive, will cause the Syracuse’s army to be very passive, so Dionysius will never allow such a situation. appear.

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Although this is the second time that Sekrian led the fleet to expedition, in his mind, this was the real first time that he led the team independently. Without King Davers by his side, there would be no sense of restraint.