The Rise Of An Empire In Ancient Europe

Just as the Dionysian army arrived at Crimea, news reached Crotone that the Crotone army had been defeated, suffering heavy casualties. Only a little over 5,000 men had escaped to Crimea. This news shocked the city.

While the first defeat was due to Melanthius's negligence and the Amendolara's brazen surprise attack, Crotone assembled a much stronger army this time, led by their trusted, equally experienced and reliable chief general, Myron. They hoped to avenge their previous defeat. However, the news was even more disheartening. The Crotone army had suffered another crushing defeat, with over 20,000 men unable to escape. Were they killed in battle or captured? No news remained.

This time, every family in Crotone wept in fear for their loved ones' lives. Meanwhile, pent-up anger, channeled by Dionysian spies, erupted. The people gathered at the city hall to protest, demanding an immediate citizens' assembly.

Faced with the angry crowd storming the meeting hall, the council was forced to respond to their demands, and a hastily convened assembly.

At the assembly, the people angrily denounced the incompetence of the council's generals and councillors, which had led to repeated defeats for the Crotone army, which had clearly dominated the city, and put the city in a precarious position. They proposed dismissing Myron's chief general and bringing him back to the city for trial. At the same time, they proposed immediately initiating peace talks with Dionysia and ransoming the captured citizen soldiers.

The proposal passed with overwhelming support.

Just then, a messenger from Myron arrived in Crotone, bearing the message that "Dionysia's army was besieging Crimea, and Myron requested reinforcements."

This news immediately threw the assembly into panic. Anyone with a sense of purpose understood that if Dionysia captured Crimea, they would be able to advance unimpeded into the Croton Plain, destroy their farmland, burn their villages, and march directly to the gates of Crotone. If the war unfolded in this way, it would be another invasion of the Croton Plain by a northern enemy, following the invasion by Sybaris a century prior. The peaceful life enjoyed by the people of Crotone would be shattered, a situation the people could not accept.

The consensus among the citizens of Crotone was to reinforce Crimea and defend the city. However, the city's young and middle-aged citizens had been largely depleted. To increase the number of soldiers, they had to relax the military service age requirement between 18 and 50 years old and recruit freemen. Fortunately, since it was just a defense, only archery and javelin throwing were needed, skills that freemen and sailors excelled in, so assembling a sufficient number of reinforcements was not a problem. However, the problem posed by the generals was that the citizens who were skilled and capable in fighting were already in Myron's army, including Myron himself.

After a long debate, the citizens finally reached a consensus and nominated several candidates, but the chosen ones refused to take the position. When everyone accused them, they argued: "Even men as skilled in fighting as Myron and Philadephos were defeated. How can people like us who rarely go to the battlefield command an army lacking citizen militia to resist the attack of the Dionysians? It's not that we don't want to take responsibility and fulfill our civic obligations, but we are worried that we will not be able to do this crucial position and let our city-state suffer another disaster!"

After they finished speaking, the citizen assembly of thousands of people suddenly fell into deathly silence. The warlike Crotones were in an embarrassing situation where they had no generals available.

At this time, Lysias stood up and said in a deep voice: "Citizens, you all know that Milon and I often quarrel over some issues and our relationship is not good. But I also have to respect Milon's contribution to the city-state. He has led troops to repel the invasion of the Brutti on the allied city-states many times, and twice forced Locri to withdraw his troops from the territory of Corinthia. This is why you have repeatedly elected him as the chief general! To be honest, I have always been jealous of his military talent. But now he has failed. Milon, who has always won more than lost and done things steadily, suffered a crushing defeat in the battle that determined the fate of the city-state. Do you believe that he was careless and treated this important battle as a game?!"

Nicias' words made the impatient citizens fall into deep thought.

"Of course not. This only shows that Davos, the Archon of Dionysia, has greater military talent! Yes, by now, this is a fact that every Crotone citizen has to admit and must bravely face!" Nicias sighed and spoke loudly again: "After the failure half a year ago, I think you should all know Davos. Since he led the mercenaries to Thurii, he has won all the battles he personally commanded, and he has defeated the enemy with fewer troops several times. That's why we have the Dionysian Alliance today! Now, are there any citizens of Crotone who are more capable than Milon and can better fight against Davos, the Archon of Dionysia?!"

Although the pale-faced citizens were whispering and talking to each other in the audience, no one stood up to recommend or recommend themselves.

"Since there isn't one, why not let Milon continue to lead the army? I believe Milon, having suffered a defeat, will learn from it and fight tooth and nail to defend Crimissa, both for Crotone and for himself! Citizens, Crotone faces its greatest crisis in a century! I urge you to set aside your likes and dislikes and, acting in the public interest, elect the right man to defend our city!" Lysias cried out.

His words clearly had an effect. In the new round of elections held by the citizens' assembly, Milon was elected commander by a narrow majority, though he was stripped of his position as chief general and would face trial after the war.

Despite the satisfactory outcome, Lysias' expression was not one of relief, for he knew he would soon meet with Davos again as an envoy. In just a few days, the situation had reversed. Lysias remembered Davos' words upon leaving Thurii, and now they had come true.

The next morning, the Dionysian army again refrained from attacking. Instead, they continued to improve their camp, setting traps in front of it. Some soldiers, protecting the engineering battalion, had already begun constructing a wooden bridge over the Umbria River.

Myron, observing all this from the city walls, was astonished: Davos, so cunning in his tactics, had actually calmed down to continue building his camp. Was he truly planning to surround him?

He hesitated, but he dared not send his limited forces to harass them.

By the afternoon, Myron finally breathed a sigh of relief. Crotone's 5,000 reinforcements had arrived in Crimissa via ship, bringing the city's troop strength to over 10,000.

At the port, he also saw Lysias who got off the ship with the soldiers. His expression changed involuntarily: "Did the council really send you to negotiate?"

"No, Milon." Milon just breathed a sigh of relief after hearing Lysias' negative answer. He then said, "It was the Citizens' Assembly that sent me to negotiate."

Mentioning the Citizens' Assembly, Milon's expression became even uglier. He said solemnly, "I don't think... the Dionysians who have the advantage will agree to a ceasefire and peace talks at this time. Even if they agree, the conditions they put forward must be very harsh!"

"You are right, but the people of Crotone urgently need to know the safety of their loved ones. I have to come. However, it is also necessary to try to understand the requirements of the Dionysians first." Lysias shrugged helplessly.

After hearing what Lysias said, Myron's face twitched. He coughed a few times and whispered, "I heard that at the citizens' assembly... it was your speech... that prevented me from being escorted back to the country now..."

"In fact, like other citizens, I wish you could stand trial and avenge those citizens who died in this battle! But Crotone urgently needs you now. For the sake of the city-state and yourself, I hope you can win a few battles in the coming battles and lay a good foundation for future peace talks!" Lysias' earnest words made Myron feel ashamed. He did not speak, but clenched his fists.

Later, accompanied by Myron, Lysias ascended the city walls, held the battlements, and gazed forward: not far below the city walls lay the Dionysian camp, stretching from east to west. Not only were the tents neatly arranged, one camp after another, but they were also equipped with trenches, earthen walls, palisades, watchtowers, and more.

Even Lysias, with little military experience, could sense the Dionysian camp's fortifications from the city walls.

Seeing Lysias's grave expression, Myron said, "I find these Dionysians truly unlikeable Greeks. We Greeks love fighting, but we hate doing dirty, backbreaking work afterward. But once the Dionysians arrived, they dug holes and built nests like rats. It took them just over a day to build this massive camp, which led to my surprise attack last night with several hundred soldiers! Now they're even building a bridge across the river. They must be planning to establish a camp on the south bank as well, completely encircling Crimea."

Myron paused, then declared, "Now that we have these reinforcements, I'm going to teach these arrogant Dionysians a lesson!" The troops

ordered

to ford the river to the south bank to protect the engineering camp and build the bridge were the Second and Third Battalions of the First Legion, commanded by Martonius. This was Martonius's active request to Davos. He had commanded the reserve during the previous engagement, barely getting to fight, and he was incredibly frustrated. This time, he wanted to perform well.

When he led his troops to the bridge repair site surveyed on the south bank, he immediately used one squadron to guard and another to dig trenches, working in shifts until the trenches were dug and the earthen ramparts were built, without seeing any enemy.