Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece Chapter 45: Ten Years of Syracuse (Part 2)

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This amount of compensation is of course not cheap. In many negotiations with Dionia, Herolis was finally forced to agree to pay war reparations, which is why he wanted to concentrate power to develop Syracuse as soon as possible and let Syracuse get out of the defeated quagmire as soon as possible. reason.

However, the people of Syracuse found that the civic soldiers and sailors who had been released were missing some people.

He and Rollis immediately sent people to negotiate with Dionia, but the answer from the Dionia officials made them feel helpless: Due to the fierce attack by the Syracuse army, Dionia was already in ruin. On the edge, in order to obtain food support from Carthage, they had to agree to the request of the respondent and provided some Syracuse captives to Carthage.

Herolis had no choice but to make a fuss about the war reparations, and strongly demanded Dionia to reduce part of the compensation amount.

However, the people of Syracuse believe that: Herolis did not do his best to allow the Syracuse to become slaves to Carthage.

The people were disappointed in him, including many civilians in the port area, because many of the prisoners who did not return were Syracuse sailors.

At this time, Daves also ordered the spies lurking in Syracuse to spread unfavorable rumors about Herolis, because Daves knew that many of the decisions made by Herolis were correct. But he didn't want to see Syracuse's rise again.

As a result, the people's dissatisfaction and suspicion against Herolis is growing, and many people rumored that Herolis wants to be the second Dionysius.

In this period of turmoil, according to the proposal promulgated by Herolis, Fasipexas, Damocles... these original Dionysius who should have been severely punished The generals and ministers under his command suddenly escaped from imprisonment, with some people who were dissatisfied with Herolis, fled the city of Syracuse, and joined the mercenaries of Massias wandering in the mountains to the west. Occupy the sub-state west of Syracuse-the small city of Acle.

Of course, Herolis could not allow the remnants of Dionysius to cause chaos within Syracuse’s sphere of influence, so he decided to personally lead the team on the expedition, and before leaving, he asked Falekus and Cuzias , Stacykos and others guarded the city of Syracuse, after all, he also knew that the recent political situation was a bit unstable.

Who knows that Herolis had just arrived in Ackley with his troops, but when he was siege of the city, he received bad news: a rebellion broke out in Syracuse. The citizens' assembly not only re-elected the general, but also unanimously passed the proposal. To judge the dictator Herolis.

Why can the city of Syracuse oust Herolis so easily? That's because of the support of Falekus, Cuzias, Stacykos and others.

It turns out that these close friends of Herolis deeply felt that after becoming the leader of Syracuse, Herolis had become arbitrary and could not listen to their opinions. Although they were also members of the executive committee, But there is almost no real power, of course there is dissatisfaction in my heart. Coupled with the influence of rumors in the city, they are worried that Herolis will really become a dictator. So after Herolis led the army out of the city, under the persuasion of Theagennis, they resolutely chose to cooperate with the democrats and abandoned Herolis.

Herolis heard of the chaos in the city, and immediately led the army back to the division, wanting to quickly calm the situation. Unexpectedly, before reaching the city of Syracuse, most of the soldiers ran away.

Seeing that things were no longer possible, Herolis had to flee Syracuse by boat with his confidants.

He did not choose to flee to the Kingdom of Dionia, which had helped him overthrow Dionysius, nor did he choose to flee to the former ally of Syracuse, Sparta, but chose the former ally of Syracuse. Mother State Corinth. At this time, it has been three years for the Kingdom of Dionian (391 BC), and the Corinthian War has come to an end.

The democrats who have held power in Syracuse, in order to prevent the occurrence of such a situation as Herolis, they elected 25 generals headed by Stéxicos and Falekus through the citizens' assembly to manage For the affairs of the city-states, they also abolished some of the bills promulgated by Herolis when he was in power, including "war reparations to Dionia, and the land allocated to civilians in the port area has also been recovered..."

This not only deteriorated the diplomatic environment in Syracuse, but also made the people in the port area very angry.

At the same time, Theagennis also proposed to punish citizens who used to serve Dionysius more severely. This caused panic among many people in the city.

The King of Dionian Daves ordered Chen Bing of the Eighth Army in Katane and the northern border of Syracuse to put on a threatening posture to attack Syracuse.

In the end, the new Siracusa generals surrendered and had to increase the amount of war compensation. As for the civilians who caused the riots in the port, the Argennis and others sent troops to suppress them mercilessly.

At this moment, Facipesas and Massias led the rebel army in Ackley to advance to Syracuse, and slogan "To serve Dionysius Citizens redress grievances and revenge", this slogan has actually been recognized by many Syracuse citizens

As a result, Theagennis led the unsteady citizen soldiers out of the city to fight, and was defeated by the lesser number of rebels of the fascipesus, and had to retreat into the city's defenses.

Fassipesas and Massias are all experienced generals in combat, and they are very familiar with the city of Syracuse. Fasipezas pretended to attack the southern city of Syracuse, but Massias led a small number of soldiers to the north and bypassed the mountains, rushed to the northern wall of Syracuse, and attacked the gate of Herksa, so he broke in. Inside the city, enter the Popikle area.

The people in the city were shocked.

At this critical moment, the General Executive Committee composed of 25 generals is discussing who should be held accountable for losing the city, and at the same time arguing over how to defend against the enemy, unable to come up with a specific measure. . It wasn't until the army of Massias approached the inner city that the generals hurriedly assembled their troops to meet the enemy, and the result was naturally a failure.

The panicked democrats had to retreat to Ortigia Island, and Fascipesas also took advantage of the opportunity to enter the city and rendezvous with Mathias. The original mercenaries under his command took the opportunity to retaliate in the city, and the people Suffering beyond words.

Herolis, who is far away in Corinth, has been watching Syracuse's dynamics. At this time, after learning of the tragedy of the people now, as a patriot, how could he stand idly by. So he requested some reinforcements from the Corinthian government and led them back to Ortigia by boat.

At this time, it was the sixth spring of the Kingdom of Dionia (388 BC), and the people of Syracuse warmly welcomed Herolis' return and asked him to forgive their betrayal.

Herolis gave a heartwarming speech on Ortigia Island. He said: "..."No matter how the Syracuse treats him, he will come to protect this country and here without hesitation. If the people cannot save their motherland, he would rather set himself on fire on the ruins of the motherland! ……"

The people of Syracuse, including friends and political enemies who opposed him in the past, were deeply moved by his words. The people shouted: "Save Syracuse!!! Save Syracuse!!!..."

Herolis saw that the morale was high and the popular support was available, he immediately formed an army, opened the long-closed gate of Ortigia Island, rushed out of the isthmus, and launched a fierce attack on the rebels.

Fassipesas and Mathias hurriedly led their troops to fight.

People in the city heard that the leader was Herolis, and they all responded.

The rebels lost consecutive battles. In the end, Mathias was killed in battle, and Fascipesas was also captured. The rebels were basically wiped out.

Herolis, who won a complete victory, increased his prestige, so he did not hold a citizens’ assembly, he flagrantly abolished the general executive committee, and deprived the 25 generals such as Theagennis, Falekus... Power, the people actually did not object to this.

And this time in regaining power, Herolis clearly wants to establish a regime in Syracuse that is similar to Dionia and at the same time incorporates the Corinthian system.

This is a political system in which a few elites rule the majority. For this reason, he relies more on the Corinthians to help him complete the task of transforming the system.

The turmoil in Syracuse in the past few years has caused the people to suffer. Coupled with the fact that Horolis has reinstated the bill he had previously enacted in Syracuse, many people have benefited. He acquiesced in these changes in the political system and seemed to be dictatorship by Herolis, but did not express strong opposition. And Herolis’ political opponents, such as Theagenis, Falekus and others, had no support from the people, and they could not make a big storm, and the political situation in Syracuse began to stabilize.

The rule of Herolis is also gradually moving towards stability, but danger is bred in this stability.

Among the Corinthians who came to Syracuse with Herolis, there was a young noble named Andemakus. Because of his bravery in combat, he was appreciated by Herolis and served as the defense of Syracuse. The chief of the city's security guards in the city, and he also served as the captain of the court of Herolis. But he was jealous of Herolis' achievements and tried to replace it.

In the eighth year of the Kingdom of Dionia (386 BC), when Herolis went to the Temple of Apollo to make sacrifices, the killer bought by Andemakus stabbed the plenipotentiary general of Syracuse Died, and then Andemakus took advantage of the situation to usurp Syracuse's supreme power.

In order to consolidate power, he aggressively promoted the Corinthians, and the people of Syracuse complained about this.

A few months later, at the harvest celebration rally in Demeter, Herolis’ widow publicly revealed the truth about her husband’s assassination.

The people were angry, and they gathered to overthrow the rule of Undermarkus.

Andermakus also assembled the army to suppress, but in the end he suffered a disastrous defeat, and he himself died in the rebellion.