Chapter 446: Dionysius Subsequent Strategy
“That’s right. We will just encircle them! After that, we will just take the rest of the troops across the Neto River and go straight to Krimisa!” Phidias looked at Dionysius as he gave his advice, “With the main force of Theonia currently still in the Lucanian region, and Taranto had just recaptured Metapontum, the Theonians will definitely strengthen their defence on the north. In Aprustum, they still have the remnant soldiers of the two…erm…legions of Theonia, so I believe the Theonian territory is now devoid of soldiers! And I heard that Krimisa is just a small city, so capturing it would not be difficult for Syracuse.
After taking Krimisa, our army can head north and take another small city, Roscianum. Then we will approach the city of Thurii and encircle them together with Taranto! By then, Theonia could only surrender, which would then waste Crotone’s effort to defend their city, and Syracuse would then truly conquer Magna Graecia!” At this point, even Phidias was shocked by what he said. He could not help but sigh with deep concern at the thought that the entire western Mediterranean would be under the control of Syracuse.
Their eyes lightened at Phidias’ words, and Dionysius became tempted. However, he knew two things that the other did not: One – Davos’ army had won a great victory in Lucania, where it was reported that they wiped out more than 20,000 Samnites. Although he knew that the Samnites wouldn’t easily admit their defeat, the time for Theonia’s main troops to return to Thurii would be much earlier (he still hasn’t received the news of the defeat of the Samnite’s whole army); Second – Theonia stationed a new legion in the city of Krimisa. With Dionysius already witnessing their might on the battlefield, and although he did not know their ability to defend the city, he thought it wouldn’t be much worse. Thus, the number of defenders will not be less than 10,000, making it harder to capture Krimisa.
But more importantly, the city of Krimisa was the target of Syracuse’s spy, so this area was the most unstable place in Theonia besides the Bruttian region in the past. Before the war, Syracuse’s chief intelligence officer – Hipparinus, sent several of his men to the city to instigate the Krimisians to protest, demanding an ecclesia and subsequently trying to assassinate Davos. However, once the incident was exposed, some were arrested while the others went into hiding under the great pursuit of the Theonians. And now that the war had broken out, the spies in Krimisa became active again, especially after their victory at the Battle of Allaro.
This allowed Dionysius to keep getting the latest information from Krimisa. For example, Thurii established two new legions, and the Theonian fleet conducted secret training on the Crati River… They also sent a message that as long as Syracuse’s army arrived at Krimisa, they would open the gate for the army.
This gave Dionysius a huge surprise. However, now that the new legion of Theonia has entered Krimisa, the report from the north had stopped yesterday afternoon. Not only is Krimisa under martial law, but the port is also closed.
Dionysius knew that Krimisa’s approach would inevitably lead to his spies’ effort to fail, making him feel some scruples. After all, he is a man who likes to plan carefully and prepare with caution before taking action, whether it was his counterattack along the southern coastline until Motya or along the eastern coastline northward, then west until Soluntum. His successive strategy is gradual, almost without taking any bold and rash action.
And even the series of rapid manoeuvres after they landed in Magna Graecia was also due to his powerful maritime dominance and a larger army than his enemy. However, he became startled when he received a report about Rhegium suddenly sending troops to siege Medma while fighting the South Italian Alliance. Fortunately, he had won the battle, and the Locrian’s ten thousand soldiers were not far from Medma.
And now, besides a few thousand soldiers stationed in Medma, Terina and Scylletium, he gathered the vast majority of his troops here to attack Theonia. However, if they were to follow Phidias’ plan of trapping the two cities of Crotone and Aprustum, which have many troops, they would need to leave more than half of their forces. And even if they were to capture Krimisa and Roscianum, it would still not be that easy to attack Thurii. From what he knew: The city of Thurii was already solid, not comparable to when Crotone first attacked Thurii. Furthermore, the main force of Theonia could return at any time.
Hence if Syracuse were to attack and was obstructed, with its troops divided everywhere, it would just result in their troops scattered everywhere and a vacancy in their rear. Over time, if any problems were to arise from Medma, Terina, Aprustum, Crotone and Thurii, it would be a disaster for him, which is why he was somewhat resistant to Phidias’ seemingly wonderful plan.
At this time, Phacipessas saw Dionysius’ silence, so he said, “Milord, I disagree with strategos Phidias! We were able to take Motya – Carthage’s most important military city in Sicily, even though it is across the bay, not to mention the other cities in Sicily that we captured. Although the city of Carthage is larger, it is far less difficult to attack than Motya, and its size makes it unfavourable for their defence. In addition, its location is in the plain, which makes it more convenient for a siege. Milord, look-”
Phacipessas made his horse approach a section of the wall. When he saw Dionysius following close, he then pointed to the city wall a hundred metres away and continued, “Its walls are still the old city wall, so the gaps between the stones should be large that the mortar filling is not tight enough. Furthermore, the stones look so old that they seldom maintain them, so some places may still be loose, which is not as good as those cities we captured in Sicily*. Thus as long as we continuously bombard them with our ballista, their wall will certainly collapse! And we now have enough manpower to build earthen fortifications and close in on the walls while building siege towers and siege rams to destroy their walls and occupy their city…so by using multiple siege methods together, we will definitely be able to break through the city of Crotone, and open the way into the Theonian territory!” (due to Carthage and Syracuse’s frequent wars in Sicily, in addition to their strong ability to siege, the other city-states are very careful in repairing their city walls in order to protect their lives. Unlike them, sieges rarely occur in Magna Graecia, so they still maintained their city walls in accordance with their practice decades ago.)
Dionysius pondered after hearing this. After carefully observing the wall in the front, he became more relaxed. He then turned around asked, “Phidias, what do you think of this plan?”
Phidias’ expression remained unchanged and said stubbornly, “I will still stick to my opinion as there is no need for us to waste time here in the city of Crotone. After all, once we conquer Theonia, Crotone will naturally surrender.”
“Milord, there is no need for you to discuss with the Spartan about sieging a city as they needed more than two years before they could even capture Plataea. And Plataea was only defended by a few hundred men! So how could he even suggest anything good?!” Astagoras taunted.
Phidias’ expression changed.
In the fifth year of the Peloponnesian War, Sparta and the alliance it led couldn’t break through the walls of Athens, so they had to turn to attack Plataea, Athens’ ally in the Boeotia region. When the Plataeans saw the situation turning bad, they decided to withdraw and left only a few hundred people to defend the city.
But it still resulted in the Spartan alliance, who outnumbered the defenders of Plataeans dozens of times, needing more than two years to capture the city. So after they captured Plataea, they killed all the defenders and handed over the city to their then ally, Thebes. At the same time, the Battle of Plataea resulted in a problem: During the Greco-Persian war decades ago, Plataea was the most important place where the Greek allies, with the full support of the entire population of Plataea, finally defeated the invading Persian army. Thus after winning, the Spartan king – Pausanias, led the Greek allies to make a vow that they would work together forever to preserve the independence and freedom of Plataea.
Hence the Spartans broke their oath when they destroyed Plataea, which immediately caused an uproar throughout the Greek world. This forced the Spartans to discuss the matter within themselves, and the Gerousia had to send an ephor to question the Spartan king, who was away on a campaign… And Phidias, who was a child at the time, had a deep impression of this, and Astagoras basically exposed Sparta’s scar.
“Stop talking nonsense!” Dionysius glared at Astagoras, then said to the somewhat irritated Phidias, “No city-state would dare fight Sparta. However, I…Syracuse does have more experience when it comes to sieges, so I decided to capture the city of Crotone first!”
Phidias grunted and stopped talking.
After Dionysius finished speaking, he no longer bothered how the Spartan felt. He then said to everyone, “Phacipessas and Astagoras, gather all the siege specialists, craftsmen, and soldiers to start making siege equipment, and earthen mound while trying your best to measure their wall’s thickness…and start your siege preparation!”
“Yes, milord!” The two strategoi responded excitedly.
Dionysius once again looked at the two foreign mercenary leaders with a serious gaze, “Acilita and Gaba, even though you will not be of help during the siege, you must not remain idle! Therefore, you should lead your men across the Neto and storm into the Theonian territory, burn their villages, capture their people and plunder their wealth! Make those Theonians restless day and night, so they are dissatisfied at the incompetence of their Senate and archon!” Dionysius said with viciousness.