Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece
chapter-573

Dionysius left two hundred men behind and immediately led an assault on the camp below the walls with over 1,800 mercenaries. But since most of the soldiers' homes were not far from the main city area, they didn't spend the night in the camp. On the other hand, the few remaining soldiers wore their armour in a hurry to meet the enemy after hearing the news of the attack. Because of that, the mercenaries easily breached the camp when they rushed fiercely, which resulted in the soldiers dispersing.

Without even stopping, Dionysius quickly led the army to advance to the city's centre.

Then Hipparinus' men took advantage of the night to shout in the city, “Lord Dionysius has returned with his army! Lord Dionysius has returned with his army!! Those who surrender are innocent!! Those who capture the rebel leaders will get rewarded!…”

In the central city area of Syracuse, which was shrouded in the dark sky: Residents were awakened by the shrill screams, harsh fighting on the streets, and the loud shouting of Hipparinus' men, which shocked them all. And the “Dionysius' is back!” sentence made them feel afraid.

While the residents were in a commotion, Herolis, who was busy with city-state matters that he didn't go home last and went to sleep in the city hall, was awakened by his trusted slaves. After learning about the enemy's attack, he was shocked.

But after calming down, he wanted to go out immediately to organise the citizens to resist the enemy's attack.

Suddenly, several strategoi, such as Steisikus, Kias and Phalekus, rushed in, “Herolis, go! Go! The enemy will soon come! Our troops couldn’t stop the enemy and fled!…”

For a moment, Herolis' mind blanked as he muttered helplessly, “Go…where else can we go?…”

“Go to Epipolae! We still have more than 2,000 soldiers stationed in the north of the city and Tethytes' men in the port area outside the city…after dawn, we will take back this place!”

At Kias' reminder, Herolis and the others rushed to the Epipolae northwest of the city without any time to pack up and inform their families.

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

After a night of slaughter and chaos, they finally restore order in the central city of Syracuse.

Even though Dionysius' military campaign was successful, he remained anxious as he couldn't catch Herolis and the other rebels. Moreover, the soldiers defending the north of the city led by Kias repulsed the troops he sent to capture them.

Afterwards, Herolis and the others learned that even though Dionysius had indeed returned, the people recognised the army he led to attack the city was the two thousand mercenaries on the island of Ortygia. Hence it was evident that he failed to bring back his army from Magna Graecia, so they immediately asked for help from the port area.

When Dionysius learned of the conflict between the rebels in the city and the port people from Hipparinus, he sent a messenger to the port early in the morning to tell Tethytes and the other port leaders that as long as the port people were on his side, he would forgive them. In addition, he would allocate 6,666 square metres of land on the outskirt to each port people after the rebellion calmed down…

At the same time, he also asked Hipparinus to send his men around the port area to spread the word that they had reached an agreement with the port people.

So even though the discussion with the port people did not make immediate progress, it still created a split in the port area.

The people led by Tethytes believed that Dionysius wasn't credible and that they should stand with Herolis and vanquish Dionysius to ensure their safety and benefits!

On the other hand, the others believed that Dionysius had better conditions because the land he promised was twice that of Herolis and was also on the outskirts. Thus Dionysius valued them more!

Both sides argued and couldn't reach an agreement, so it was naturally impossible for them to provide reinforcements to Herolis and the others.

Dionysius also banned residents from going out and walking both day and night in the city and must stay at home. If they need to buy food, they can only send slaves and must get the approval of the patrol or get killed.

Hence Dionysius' ban resulted in the reduction of chaos.

He also asked the mercenaries to take all the slaves who dug stones in the quarry to the city's square. Afterwards, he told them that as long as they were willing to fight for him, he would free them once he settled the revolt. And those who perform well can become citizens of Syracuse!…

Dionysius' bold promises gave hope to the slaves of the quarries. And despite the tyrant's dictatorial, these slaves at the bottom couldn't feel it. On the contrary, they knew Dionysius acted decisively and boldly that he gave lands to many mercenaries and refugees that came to Syracuse over the years. Thus they chose to believe Dionysius' words and took up arms as they scavenged the people's homes, resulting in Dionysius' army increasing from 1,800 mercenaries to over 7,000.

Dionysius also sent someone to Herolis' army to spread his new order as the supreme commander that ‘he would forgive any citizens deceived by Herolis and the others once they leave the traitors and return to their homes! But any citizens who remain in the rebel camps before noon will be regarded as traitors, and their families are to be executed immediately!’

Thus many soldiers were frightened after learning about it and fled the rebel camp and returned to their homes.

With his measures being effective, the proud Dionysius sent a messenger to Herolis carrying the heads of Herolis’ wife and son, whom he captured.

Afterwards, he left Megakorlis to lead the 500 mercenaries and another 500 slave soldiers to guard the city while leading 1,300 mercenaries and more than 4,500 slave soldiers to advance to the rebel camp as he wanted to eliminate them completely.

Knowing that the situation was terrible, the grieving Herolis, Steisikus and Kias decided to fight Dionysius to the death. They then led one thousand soldiers to retreat to the gate on the north wall of Syracuse, with the coast to their back.

In the first revolt ten years ago(405 BC), Dionysius quelled the revolt when he led the mercenaries to occupy the central city. Ten years later, the urban area of Syracuse expanded several times under his rule, resulting in Syracuse's urban area assimilating the entire Epipolae Plateau. However, it now caused Dionysius' army to take over an hour of precious time to reach the northern gate, so it was already noon by the time they arrived.

Herolis tried to ask to speak to Dionysius, but Dionysius instead ordered his troops to immediately start the attack as he simply didn't want to waste time talking to him.

With Herolis' soldiers lesser than the enemy and their morale unstable, the soldiers on the other side could still overwhelm the rebel soldiers even though most of them were slaves.

But suddenly, a loud salpinx outside the northern gate rang out, followed by a deafening roar, “Hades!!!” which significantly caused Dionysius' expression to change.

‘The Theonian-Catanian joint forces had arrived!’

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

When Herolis and the others fled to Epipolae and learned that Dionysius led the attack, Herolis felt there was little hope of regaining the city and eliminating the mercenaries. And knowing the tyrant of Syracuse too well: Dionysius wouldn't take a risk without thorough preparation!

So after a discussion, Herolis and Steisikus finally decided to drop their pride and ask the Theonians for help.

With their current position closest to Taunis, the envoy they sent out arrived at the city that now belongs to the Theonian Alliance in the early morning. After hearing the news, Fulalios, the acting navarch of Seclian's fleet stationed in the port, immediately sent a fast-sailing boat to Catania first, then led the fleet to arrive later.

At the same time as Antrapolis, the temporary Praetor of Catania, received a message from Herolis asking for help, he also received a letter from Davos, who was in Scylletium, ‘Dionysius had fled back to Syracuse, so keep a close eye on the movements within Syracuse and make sure that Dionysius won't regain control of Syracuse!’

So after a short discussion with Antonios, the legatus of the first legion, Antrapolis immediately decided to send troops to rescue Herolis.

The first legion sent 2,500 heavy infantry and 500 light infantry, while Catania sent 3,000 heavy infantry. In fact, as soon as they heard that they were going to attack Dionysius, the people of New Catania volunteered in great numbers wanting to participate. But as the time was short, Antrapolis could only enlist citizens from within the city of Catania.

Thus a total of 6,000 soldiers, led by Antonios, boarded Seclian's fleet and arrived at the port of Taunis by noon.

Although lunchtime was a customary part of Theonian's lifestyle, Antonios didn't let the soldiers stop to have a rest. Instead, he urged the army to speed up after gathering 500 soldiers provided by Taunis and arrived at the northern gate just after Herolis' army collapsed.

These past few days, the soldiers of the first legion's life were fairly easy while stationed in Catania. Besides resting, they also help Antrapolis stabilise the Catanian plain, training the citizens of Catania, clearing out the defeated soldiers roaming around, assisting the Sicilian city-states of Catania, Leontinoi and Sikuri, which have newly joined the Theonia Alliance, attacking the remnants of Dionysius…and so on. And finally, they could now vent the energy they had accumulated by striking hard at Dionysius’ army, which had just won and was pursuing the defeated soldiers. On the other hand, the slave soldiers, who had no special military training, quickly scattered under the fierce group attack of the soldiers of the first legion.