When the trumpeters played the heart-pounding high notes and the Spartan warriors sang trembling odes to ancient heroes and charged at the same pace, these Greek city-state soldiers often collapsed and turned around and fled before they even fought, and were unwilling to take risks against Sparta. The Spartans relied on this terrifying atmosphere created by the army as a whole on the battlefield and bloody killings, which shocked other Greek city-states for a hundred years.

The large number of troops in Syracuse did not disturb Phoebidas in the past. But the tenacious obedience and uniform outfit of the army of Dionia triggered his inner fear at this moment. He seemed to have seen another Spartan army. Although they were wearing black rather than red, their number of soldiers was much greater than that of Spartan...

The Mediterranean only needs one Sparta! Phoebidas thought strongly in his heart.

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The Third Legion led by Alexis had just arrived at Picosis, and Davers didn't even have time to exchange more greetings with him. Instead, he directly told him about his combat plan. After obtaining his consent, he immediately ordered him to lead the Third Legion to attack Poseidonia.

From Picosis to Poseidonia, the sea-facing area is not as flat as the eastern coast of Southern Italy, from Turiyi to Crotone, and then to Locre. It is mostly mountains, hilly areas, with rugged and uneven grounds.

The Third Army had to pass through Elia during the difficult march.

As a city-state of the Dionian alliance, Elia's chief general Canios did not hesitate after receiving the news. He personally summoned 1,500 civilians and then joined the ranks of the Third Legion. After all, after the Samones occupied Poseidonia, Elia was directly under the fierce Samones' military front. The Elias hoped that Dionia could repel the evil wolf from the north and restore Elia's peace.

Half a day after the Third Legion left, Davers led the First and Second Legion to march north.

Anta Oris, the chief executive of Picoses, was not idle either. He wanted to assist in preparing the supplies for these 30,000 soldiers. The food consumed by such a huge army must be amazing. It is impossible to satisfy the city of Picoses alone. Fortunately, Dionia built a reserve granary in Grumentum, which can temporarily meet the needs of so many people for a short-term battle. If the combat time is extended, the granary of Cosenza must be called, which is why Davers wants to speed up the operation. Anta Oris also needs to prepare a pack truck and manpower, and under the command and leadership of the Legional Bastion Battalion, transport the food and supplies to the front camp of Davers. This was a complicated and cumbersome job, but with the operation of the experienced baggage battalion, with the assistance of the capable Anta Oris, and with the active cooperation of the Grumentum Chief Executive Bagule, everything went smoothly.

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In the afternoon, after meeting with Elia's army, the Third Legion turned northeast, preparing to bypass this wide-area mountain on the seaside north of Elia, and Poseidonia was just north of the mountain.

Halfway through the journey, the Third Army stopped moving forward and began to build a camp.

Their movements were very loud and they were easily discovered by the spies of the Samonets.

"What did you say?! The Dionians appeared south of Mount Stella and camped on the banks of the Arendo River?!" At the residence of the Lord of Poseidonia, Pisini, the leader of the Penteney who was feasting on the food.

"Yes, the leader. They have more than 10,000 people! And we quietly approached their camp and found that the flags raised in their camp said 'Third Legion'!" The spy's anxious words were mixed with a bit of complacent.

"Dionia's Third Legion! Shouldn't they be in Grummentum?! Why did they come here?!" Pishini lost his appetite at this moment, threw the mutton that had just eaten a few bites onto the table, lowered his head and wiped the oil stains on his already dirty leather robe.

"I think the Dionians must have heard that Poseidonia was captured by us, so they rushed over to take it back." Another leader, Mobuke, said with a guess.

"There are 10,000 people coming from Dionia, and we only have 3,000 soldiers! And they came so quickly, the place where we destroyed the city of Poseidonia was not yet available for repair, so how could we defend against their attack!" Pishini paced back and forth in the house in annoyance.

"So we must send people to Potendia immediately and ask for help from the great leader!" Mobuk reminded.

"Of course! And... you should notify the soldiers immediately, no matter how late they work tonight, they will fill in the gaps in the city walls for me!" Pishini smashed his fist heavily on the wooden table.

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At dusk, Alexis sent all members of the reconnaissance team to drive away and kill Simone spies in the surrounding area.

That night, the 20,000 troops led by Davers quietly entered Elia City. The Elias, who had received Alexis' notification in advance, had already vacated the place to live in the Dionysian army.

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On the same day, in Locre, the army of Syracuse finally gathered, and the reward of the scout surprised Dionysius and others: it took only a day and a half to take the camp of Dionyya to take shape.

This news further strengthened his implementation of his new plan: to divide the army into two parts, of which more than 20,000 were commanded by Fasce Pésas, and joined forces with more than 10,000 soldiers from Locre, totaling 40,000 people, trying to attack the camp of Dionia to restrain them. He himself led more than 50,000 troops to cross the ancient road between the mountains, reach the west coast of Greater Greece, and then turn north...

In order to prevent drag and delay the speed of the march, Dionysius's army did not carry a large amount of baggage, but instead allowed the fleet in Locre to set off from the port with supplies, bypassed the Strait of Messina to the south, and then followed the west coast of Great Greece and to the north with the troops on land.

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When the Lijim people saw one ship after another, the continuous Syracuse ships were sailing by the sea in the distance, the fear in their hearts was imagined, and some people even shouted in panic: "The Syracuse people are coming! They are going to land!..."

It was later proved that this was just a false alarm, but it did cause great panic to the people of Lijim at that time. Many members of the council even requested to transfer the troops in Taoruina to defend against the landing and attack of the Syracuse people.

Atili Cruise had no idea for a moment and immediately sent an envoy to Tao Ruina.

Feidun in Taoruina first received a reward from the scout: he found that the Syracuse army crossed the ancient road in the mountains and advanced towards Medema. The cavalry as the vanguard had passed through Medema City and was still moving forward.

Then the port lighthouse came to report again: it was found that a fleet of Syracuse, composed of thousands of cargo ships, passed by Taoruina, sailing northward.

An hour later, a Lijim merchant ship, who rushed into the port of Taorina from the north, reported that the fleet of Syracuse did not enter Medmar, but continued to head north.

"It seems that Syracuse is preparing to attack Trina north, and we are temporarily safe now." Tao Ruina's general in charge of leading the army breathed a sigh of relief.

Feidun's expression was not relaxed, and he said with a gloomy face: "If the Southern Italian Allies in the north are defeated, Li Jim and Tao Rui will be attacked sooner or later."

"It depends on whether our Allies can withstand Syracuse's attack or even defeat them..." Crylotus was inspired by Feidun's words. He said with some expectation, then seemed to feel that this hope was a little slim, and sighed and said, "It's a pity that Dionys's consul Davers led his main force to resist the Samonets! If he can lead the team back in time, the Allies' chances of winning will increase a lot!"

"So we can't let the Syracuse attack so easily!" Feidun said loudly.

Crylotus was shocked.

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In the afternoon, Lijim's messenger rushed to Taoruina and severely demanded that Feidun lead his army back.

While deliberately delaying time, Feidun urgently sent his subordinates to return to Lijim.

By dusk, Feidun was still unable to summon the soldiers, but he postponed until the next day on the grounds that "it was dark and could not march."

Early the next morning, the Syracuse fleet had already left Taorina. Atilicruis, who had not launched an attack on Lijim, canceled the order to recall the army at the request of Feidun's squat.

His subordinates rushed back to Tao Ruina with his urgent letter, and stopped the unnecessary marching of Lijim's army. This is a later story.

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On this day, in order to speed up the march of Syracuse, Dionysius thought of many ways. The most effective thing was that he sent people to each unit to promote: whoever arrived at Hibernian first, after breaking the enemy city, he would allow them to enter the city first, and the last army would not have the right to share the spoils.

Dionysius's troops were not as disciplined as Dionysius' army. Because there were many mercenaries. In order to maintain high morale, his soldiers often burned and killed and looted the city after breaking through the city. This was true in Mothia, and in Katanai and Naxos of the Sicily Greek city-state. In fact, Syracuse's destruction of the Sicily Greek city-state was not less than that of the Carthaginians, and this was also the reason why the Sicily Greeks feared but hated Dionysius.

Dionysius's words indeed had an inspirational effect. The troops rushed to accelerate, while the Numibian cavalry and Celtic cavalry rushed to the front.
Chapter completed!