ancient greece mediterranean ruler

Chapter 1000 Palermos Surrenders
While soldiers camped outside Palermos, engineers and carpenters assembled and built siege engines.

When Leotizides piled the corpses of Lusitanian warriors outside the city of Palermos and demanded their surrender, the people of Palermos held an emergency citizens' meeting to discuss this.

But Leotizides saw that the Palermos did not give a clear answer all morning, so he immediately launched an attack. Tens of thousands of heavily armed legionnaires lined up in front of the city, promoting all kinds of attacks. City equipment, began the siege.

The people of Palermos hurriedly organized and went up to the city to resist. The battle lasted for more than four hours from the afternoon to the dusk. It's not big, and it's calm when retreating.

But for the people of Palermo, this more than 4 hours of defensive battle was like a nightmare: the Dionysians attacked the city's defenders from a distance on towering mobile towers; archers and harpooneers were on arrow-blocking vehicles. Under the cover of the enemy, they directly approached the city and covered the city with a rain of arrows; the stone bullets fired by the ballistae continued to fall into the city, destroying houses and injuring people; The death was horrific... Not to mention, every time the Dionian heavy infantry who used ladders and ants to attack the city climbed to the top of the city, the Palermos defenders had to pay heavy casualties in order to drive them down. .

So when the Dionian army retreated, the Palermos were not happy with the victory. Their casualties exceeded a thousand people, among which the young and middle-aged citizen soldiers who were the main force defending the city suffered more than half of the casualties.

The Dionian fleet was blocking the sea, and the land route was surrounded. Carthage's reinforcements were also annihilated, and their own defense force was weak. The Palermo people had lost the confidence to defend the city, and they soon held an emergency meeting at night. The citizens' assembly was held and a resolution was quickly passed: Surrender to the Dionian army!
All the citizens present deluded themselves into thinking that this was only a temporary surrender to preserve Palemos, just like when the Syracuse army attacked the west more than 20 years ago and they surrendered to Dionysius, waiting for Carthage to surrender. After the Carthaginian army regained their advantage, they could return to the extended family of the West Phoenicians centered on Carthage.

So early on the second day, the Palermos envoy went to the Dionia military camp and formally proposed to Leotizides: Palermos is willing to surrender!
When Leotizides discussed the attack on Palermos with Sipulus, Xantiparis, and Midorades, of course they also discussed the issue of "what to do if Palermos surrenders."

In this war, so far, Dionia has basically adopted the strategy of "degrading the people in the town to slaves, and the entire town is completely incorporated into the Kingdom of Dionia" for the captured Phoenician towns. The method is the same for Alenia, the same for Salos, the same for Selinus, and the slightly different one is St. Ibinia.

After the Ninth Legion captured Santa Ibinia, Stromboli personally comforted the captured Santa Ibinians and made a promise: as long as they do their best to smelt and cast precious metals for the kingdom, when the war is over, they will not only be given freedom , and support their application to become citizens of the Kingdom of Dionia.

Sipulos, who has rich political and administrative experience, believes that Palermos is different from the Phoenician city-states in Sardinia and Corsica. It is not controlled by Carthage and is only an ally of Carthage. This is true for independent city-states, including the Phoenician city-states in Sicily and Africa.Its surrender would of course be dealt with in a manner different from that of the Phoenician towns on the two islands.

Sipulos proposed to include Palermos into the Dionysian Alliance, so that both sides can accept it, so that they can quickly fight against the current tense situation on the front line where both Dionysian and Carthage armies are gathering. The purpose was to recruit the opponent's forces, save time and weaken the opponent's strength, and also set an example for other Phoenician city-states to avoid future deadly battles.

His suggestion was recognized by the three senior generals, so when the Palermos envoy came to discuss the surrender, Leotizides proposed "let Palermos join the Dionysian League", which was indeed A surprise for the people of Palermo.

Moreover, Leotizides also proposed: In this war, no food and grass will be collected from Palermos, and fewer Palermos citizen soldiers will be recruited. The citizens of Palemos, who were part of the Taichi army, surrendered.

The envoy of Palermos agreed, but then Leotizides made another request that made him hesitate: the Dionian army must enter the city of Palamos!

The envoy objected to this, but Leotizides was resolute, because the Dionian army needed to use Palermos as the forward base of the Seventh and Eighth Legions, and its port as the station of the Third Fleet, so The garrison of the army is a necessary condition. If the Palermos cannot agree, then the surrender cannot be achieved, and the Dionysian army will immediately launch an attack to capture the city of Palermos and completely control it.

Faced with Leotizides's strength, the messenger of Palermos retreated.

Of course, Leotizides also made a promise in the name of Hades: The Dionian army moved into Palermos and would never interfere in the internal affairs of Palermos, would not violate the laws of Palermos, and would not occupy Houses, don’t harass people…

The Palermos envoy brought Leotizides's negotiation conditions back to the city. The Citizens' Assembly had no objection to the article "Let Palermos become an ally of the Kingdom of Dionysia", but in "Let Palermos become an ally of the Kingdom of Dionysia", There was a heated debate over the issue of "the runner-up troops entering the city of Palermos".

But at this time, the Dionian army once again lined up in front of the city of Palermos, full of murderous intent, threatening that the people of Palermos must make a decision within half an hour, otherwise they will attack the city.

The people of Palermos reluctantly agreed to surrender under heavy pressure and hoped that the Dionysians would keep their promise.

Leotizides let Zantiparis lead the Seventh Army to garrison the camp to guard the Carthaginian army south of the mountain, and led the Eighth Army into the city of Palermos himself.

As soon as the army entered the city, it quickly took over the defense of the entire city wall, the entry and exit of the city gate, and the management of the port. The army of more than 8000 people lived in two places: one was in the square of the city, and the other was in the port.

The people of Palermos hid in their houses, peeking uneasily at the Dionian soldiers who entered the city in neat queues and arrogantly. Although the Dionians' reputation for keeping their promises is well-known in the Western Mediterranean, Paler Moss City is now like a woman who has taken off all her clothes. Even when facing a strong man with a kind look, she will tremble in fear.

But what they feared did not happen. The Dionian soldiers focused on setting up tents, building new camps, and taking over key points in various cities... There was not a single incident of robbery and violence.More than ten years of military training has made the citizens of Dionia accustomed to obeying military laws, not to mention that their legion commanders are notoriously strict. How could they have just won a battle and destroyed them for a small indulgence? I have a bright future in Dionia.

Even a very small number of Catanese complained: "The Carthaginian army destroyed their homes and destroyed the plains of Catania before. We should not be so lenient to these Phoenicians as accomplices!"

The army officers would comfort them: "There are no Palermos among these Phoenicians as accomplices. They did not follow the Carthaginian army to the east, but stayed outside Selinus. In the camp. (Of course this is what the messenger from Palermos said, and Leotizides was willing to believe his words at this time). It can be seen that Palermos and our Dionia have no enmity... …”

The good performance of the Dionian soldiers in the city slowly eliminated the fear in the hearts of the people of Palermos. Gradually, some people tried to go out of their homes and met the Dionian soldiers on the streets. Nothing happened. , there were even Dionia soldiers smiling at them, which also made more people let go of their guard and take to the streets... Throughout the day, the city of Palermos remained calm, Dionia The soldiers and the people of Palermos did not interfere with each other and went about their own business.

At night, Leotizides, who was staying in the square camp, was awakened by the officer stationed at the port and learned that the Carthaginians had brought reinforcements by sea and wanted to enter the port.

Leotizides immediately had an idea. He sent people to call several senior officials of the city-state in Palermos and asked them to provide help and lure the reinforcements into the port.

When these top city-state officials received this news, they may have regretted surrendering too early, but now it is done. The people in the city are under the control of the Dionian army. They have to obey, but after learning that the vast majority of the reinforcements When soldiers are composed of citizens of their own city-state, their actions become much more proactive.

So when the reinforcements soldiers boarded the dock and were surrounded by the Eighth Army, they quickly stepped forward to persuade them to surrender.

The reinforcements certainly had no more options.

The fleet transporting reinforcements found out that they had been fooled and immediately wanted to escape from the port. However, the Dionians stationed at the port had closed the water gate and pulled up the iron chain blocking the sea. The entire fleet became a turtle in a jar.

Not only did they gain 4000 soldiers in vain, but they also captured a Carthaginian fleet. The Eighth Army gained a lot this night.

However, after questioning the Palermo reinforcements and interrogating the Carthaginian crew, Leotizides suddenly came up with a very bold and crazy idea in his mind. He immediately issued an order: the entire city was under martial law. No one is allowed to go out.

Then they sent people to call Zantiparis outside the city and Tegetus, the commander of the half-mountain reconnaissance brigade who was the hero of the conquest of Syracuse. The three of them discussed in the big tent in the city until dawn. During this period, the Carthaginian crew was repeatedly interrogated many times.

(End of this chapter)