ancient greece mediterranean ruler

Chapter 245: Disputes abound in the Western Mediterranean
Sipulos made a detailed and comprehensive review of the Dionian army at the Trina Council: "... What impressed me deeply was that the Dionian citizen soldiers had strong discipline and obedience to orders. It is different from the armies of other allies I have seen, including our own. It is said that the Dionysian Alliance has specially formulated a military law to restrict the behavior of soldiers and regulate military training, marching, camping, etc. There are strict regulations, and there are military judges in the army to supervise the implementation. The soldiers have to accept punishment for violating military laws. There is no obvious resistance or resistance, but they feel ashamed...

I learned from the Dionian citizen soldiers that they must train once every five days during the off-season. This is already a number of times that surprised us Trina people, and they seemed to be very happy to train and did not complain at all because of training. Abandoned farmland... Therefore, they can skillfully use the shields, spears, bows and javelins in their hands, and can maintain a complete formation during the march. They are not only serious about building the camp, but also have a clear division of labor and high efficiency, so they can build it in a short time. A well-defended camp that surprised me…

In addition, there is another obvious difference between the Dionian army and other city-states, that is, their commanders and team officers at all levels are not temporarily designated after war mobilization, but have always held positions in the army. Therefore, they not only fight He is rich in experience and is familiar with every soldier under his command. Therefore, when marching and building a camp, he commands the soldiers very smoothly and cooperates tacitly. The responsibilities between superiors and subordinates are clear, and there is little shirk and arbitrariness when executing orders...

What surprised me even more was that these soldiers were not afraid of fighting and eager to fight.This reminds me of the Spartans in Greece itself.Although I haven't seen them fighting yet, being able to defeat Crotone with less and more is enough to prove the combat effectiveness of the Dionian army.In short, in my eyes, the Dionian army is like a terrifying war weapon that is finely crafted and works well! …”

After listening to Sipulos's words, the Trina Council made a decision: to give Dionia the greatest support in the South Italian League without affecting its own interests.

After several days of negotiations, a peace agreement was finally reached: Locri compensated Colonia, Trina, Siritin, and Crotone with a certain amount of gold and silver, and the two sides achieved a truce...

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Just as peace was restored in South Italy, a war broke out in the Lucalia region in northwest Dionia in early March.

Potentia's army besieged and attacked Grumentum for more than ten days.Genanet from Picosis arrived with his army and stormed the rear of Potentia's army. Sincinag saw reinforcements arriving at the top of the city and led the attack in time. Potentia was attacked from both front and rear, and soon Quick retreat.The Picosis and Grumentum people pursued each other, and the Potentians lost their camp and fled in confusion.

Picosis and Grumentum broke into the Potentia camp and saw herds of cattle and sheep in the camp, piles of grain, and many women from other tribes captured along the way in Potentia. The large number of slaves had no intention of chasing the enemy. The two sides began to rob the camp property and women, and clashed.

The Pixis believed that they defeated the Potentian army and these trophies should belong to them; while the Grumentum people believed that most of these belongings belonged to Grumen who were plundered by Potentia outside the city. The income of Mentum's tribe should be returned to Grumentum.

The initial quarrels and conflicts soon turned into armed fights, especially the Grumentum, who were originally in a superior position in the Lucanian League. During this period, not only many leaders were killed, but they were ruled by the Pyxis , and the contempt and instigation of the Pixis to them made them feel lost and humiliated. In addition, the Pixis warriors following Cincinnago were domineering in the city of Grumentum. The resentment accumulated in his heart finally burst out after being teased.The Grumentum people gathered one after another, and frantically attacked the Pixis in the camp. The two sides began to fight, and the scene was completely out of control.

Sinsinaga was unable to stop them at all, and when they finally decided to ruthlessly eliminate these capricious Grumentum people, the leader of Potentia, Pollet, led some of the reorganized warriors to fight back again, and was fighting with Ge in the camp. The Picosis people who were fighting with the Lumentum people were attacked from both sides and were defeated miserably. The Sinsinaga father and his son, with their remaining soldiers, did not even dare to return to the city of Grumentum, and fled directly into the mountains. Finally, after several twists and turns, they escaped back to Picosis. Corsis.

Eventually, the Potentians captured Grumentum.

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At the same time, after two months of siege and hard fighting, Tarantum finally captured Brindisi, a small town east of Tarantum and bordering the Adriatic Sea. This was the first time since Tarantum was founded. A major breakthrough in the territory's outward expansion.

The people paid tribute to the leading generals Diomelas and Archita.Akita was really not happy. This attack on the Messapians was fully supported by the city-state. Although it achieved the original plan discussed by the council and opened up the land between Tarantum and the Adriatic Sea, They went up the road and cut off the Messape people's connection with the north and blocked them in the peninsula, but the price paid was also very high. The Tarentum citizen soldiers suffered as many as 4000 casualties.

The Messapian people are famous in southern Italy for their ferocity.During the Greek colonial era hundreds of years ago, many Greek city-states were established in southern Italy, but on this "heel" peninsula, there was always only Tarantum.While other colonial city-states were attacking and assimilating nearby natives and expanding their territories, the Tarantum people, who were in a unique position, were lamenting their misfortune. Their neighbors to the east, the Messapei people, were not only fierce and numerous, Moreover, the Messapians are not completely barbaric indigenous people. According to their own claims, they are Illyrians from northern Greece near the Adriatic Sea. They have cultural traditions similar to those of the Greeks (the Greeks have never recognized them. , still considered them barbarians), preventing Tarentum from advancing inland for hundreds of years.Especially a few decades ago, Tarantum supported the mother state of Sparta in the Peloponnesian War, which aroused the hostility of Athens, so Athens supported the Messapians to fight against Tarantum. Sarpi raids on Tarantum began to increase, causing great harm to the people.

If it had not been stimulated by the rapid rise of Dionia this time, the Tarentum Senate might not have been able to make up its mind to attack the Messapians, but Archita knew that although the city-state had temporarily won the victory, the Messapians would never give up. , the war with them will probably last for a long time.

The wails of wounded soldiers outside the city are intertwined with the triumphant cries of crows pecking at corpses, which is heart-stopping...

Archita stood on the low city wall of Brindsey, staring blankly at the western horizon that was stained as scarlet as blood by the sunset, and his heart was filled with worries about the future...

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In April, Syracuse's army continued to advance westward, and city-states such as Eryx and Halusiae opened their cities and surrendered. The only city that remained loyal to Carthage was Selinstad, which was besieged.

In the middle of the year, Dionysius's army arrived at the westernmost tip of Sicily and faced Mortea, the island city in the bay and an important base of Carthage in Sicily.

Mortea destroyed the causeway connecting the land and prepared to defend it by the sea.

Dionysius commanded the army to rebuild the causeway.At the same time, he led troops to conquer nearby areas.However, Selinstadt repulsed Syracuse's attack, forcing Syracuse to continue the siege.

In May, the causeway was completed and Dionysius returned with his army to prepare for the attack on Mortea.

At this time, Carthage was also preparing to send troops to rescue this endangered maritime city.They first adopted the strategy of besieging Wei and rescuing Zhao, sending warships to Syracuse, breaking into the big port, destroying the ships in the port, trying to lure Dionysius to return for reinforcements, but Dionysius remained unmoved.

Carthaginian general Himilko had no choice but to lead his army to directly rescue Motia. A large number of Carthaginian warships sailed around the Cape of Palermo and sailed into the bay in an attempt to destroy the Syracuse warships staying on the beach.

Dionysius had been waiting for a long time. He deployed dozens of new weapons - ballistae on the beach of the ring-shaped peninsula. With a command, a round stone as big as a bowl flew out and smashed it. To the Carthaginian warships in the bay...

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Davos carefully looked at the silver-white coin in his hand: it weighed four grams and was very close to the standard round shape. On one side was the head of Hades with thick beard and long hair, with the letters "Dionia Alliance" engraved below, and on the other side was the head of Hades with thick beard and long hair. On one side is a leafy poplar tree (the sacred tree of Pluto), with the letters "Third Year of the 95th Olympia Games" engraved underneath.The images on both sides are in the middle, with subtle depictions, obvious concavities and convexities, and clear letters.

Davos tossed the coin up, caught it again, weighed it in his hand, and asked, "How much silver does it contain?"

Tritodemus stepped forward and said: "According to your proposal and passing the Coinage Act of the Senate, the purity of a drachma silver coin we made is more than 90.00% five, which is as pure as the "Owl" in Athens. Quite (that is, the Laurian silver coins that are famous throughout Greece), but——" Tritodemus said worriedly: "We don't have the big silver mines in Athens. The revenue of the treasury is mainly from trade and taxation. The issuance is so high. There will be considerable losses in the purity of silver coins.”

Davos nodded and explained patiently: "We will indeed suffer some losses, but I explained it clearly at the Senate meeting. Now Dionia's monthly treasury income is nearly 50 talents. According to According to Marigi's analysis, this number will increase when we have closer ties with other allies of the South Italian League... Therefore, we can afford this loss. What's more, we have a market management office in every city and every market. , which can more accurately measure the purity of silver coins traded in various cities, and banks can conduct exchanges, plus additional handling fees, which can partially make up for the alliance's losses caused by minting..."

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(End of this chapter)