Chapter 549: Rebellion (III)
Philistus was startled as he watched Herolis pick up a sharp sword, lift his robe without hesitation, and make several cuts on his arms and chest.
While groaning, Herolis smeared his blood on his body and face. After looking at Philistus, his eyes became more determined.
Philistus, on the other hand, unconsciously shivered.
“Watch him, and don’t let him run away!”
“Yes, master.”
After giving his order, Herolis immediately went downstairs.
By this time, Herolis’ slaves followed their prior plan and incited the neighbours around Herolis and the citizens, who passed through the street, to go to the square.
Upon hearing the news that “the mercenaries are attacking Lord Herolis”, the kind image that Herolis had painstakingly built up over the past few years and their hatred of mercenaries caused almost everyone to rush toward Herolis’ residence and block the escaping mercenaries.
When everyone saw the mercenaries, they no longer doubted what the slaves had said earlier, so the people rushed up and started beating up the mercenaries to death.
Afterwards, Herolis, covered in blood, rushed to them and said with gratitude, “My good neighbours! And the brave citizens of Syracuse! I am thankful for your timely arrival. Otherwise, I would have died at the hands of Dionysius’ cherished mercenaries! Thank you for saving me.” He bowed and sincerely thanked everyone.
But everyone’s expression changed when reminded of ‘Dionysius’ cherished mercenaries’ by Herolis. Dionysius had hired the mercenaries to keep his power, but constant conflict in the city kept happening. In response, Dionysius decreed, “Any Syracusans who actively provoke the mercenaries, who are maintaining the city’s order, would face severe punishment according to the law!” Yet now, they had not just provoked the mercenaries but had even killed them…
Seeing the fear on their faces, Herolis immediately shouted, “Why did Philistus send mercenaries to kill me?! Because the city hall had received a message from Magna Graecia yesterday that, ‘Theonia wanted to negotiate peace with us’, but Dionysius and Philistus wanted to refuse. Instead, they wanted to gather more troops and send them to Magna Graecia to continue fighting against their fellow Greeks. I opposed it strongly and decided that I would tell the truth to all of you, citizens, who they summoned to the square today. Knowing what I was planning, Philistus sent mercenaries to capture me and even wanted to kill me!!”
After saying that, Herolis increased his tone and shouted, “Citizens of Syracuse, do you wish to stay in a foreign land like our compatriots who were sent to Magna Graecia before you and had a home but couldn’t return?! Do you want the city-state to continue imposing war taxes on us and force us into exile with our wives and daughters if we couldn’t pay the heavy taxes?! Do you want to continue living in your own city-state, living cautiously like a foreigner while watching the smug faces of those foreign mercenaries?!…
Citizens, is this the Syracuse we worked so hard to build and sacrificed countless lives in order to defeat the powerful Athenian army and repel the mighty Carthaginians?”
Herolis’ deep and passionate words touched everyone present. His words revealed the citizens’ difficult living conditions in Syracuse, where a dagger hung above their hearts, which immediately provoked a violent reaction, “No! That is not our Syracuse!!”
“We don’t want heavy war taxes!”
“We don’t want war!”
“EXPEL THE MERCENARIES!”
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
In the crowd’s excitement, someone shouted, “OVERTHROW DIONYSIUS!”
Suddenly, the noise quieted down. The Syracusan citizens have launched two failed rebellions against Dionysius during the past few years. After the rebellion, Dionysius would carry out bloody killings, causing the Syracusans to fear Dionysius deeply.
Herolis then took the chance and shouted, “Citizens, what do you fear?! Dionysius is indeed terrifying, but he is now far away in Magna Graecia. With him are the mercenaries he relies on and is getting besieged by the Theonians in Scylletium. Furthermore, our fleet has suffered many losses, so it is impossible for them to safely rescue Dionysius under the Theonian fleet’s threat! Besides that, Macias took the mercenaries he left behind and even the armies of the neighbouring city-states around Syracuse! Now, there are no more troops in the city other than the two thousand mercenaries guarding the island of Ortygia, the thousand mercenaries stationed near the southern gate of the main city and those vile informers of Hipparinus! While we-”
Herolis pointed to the people surrounding the gate of his house, “We have tens of thousands of brave citizens gathered in the square, along with the countless port people who are also dissatisfied with Dionysius’ tyranny! The mercenaries won’t be able to stop us! Dionysius’ underlings like Philistus and Hipparinus could not stop us! This time, we will restore Syracuse’s freedom!!!”
The people around Herolis’ residence were encouraged and inspired as they shouted, “OVERTHROW DIONYSIUS AND SET SYRACUSE FREE!…”
On their way to the square, citizens wearing armour and carrying shields and spears on their shoulders joined them, and even famed people and nobles such as Philoxenus had reinforced their ranks with their heavily armed clan members… Once they arrived at the square, the people Herolis led had increased to nearly a thousand men.
Humans are social animals that follow the majority, not to mention the citizens had suffered from heavy taxes and war. Thus when Herolis stood on the high platform to give a speech, the thousand people below the stage cheered. Furthermore, the citizens who came to participate in the war mobilisation joined the rebels, while most of the patrols responsible for maintaining the order had also defected.
Seeing the situation turning sour, the dozens of mercenaries supervising the abnormal situation in the square left quickly.
Herolis and his colleagues carefully analysed the reason for their two rebellion’s failure. Besides the Spartans’ obstruction, they lack a clear plan, the citizens act aimlessly and their conflicting opinions during the riots. Thus Herolis and his colleagues had learned their lesson this time, so they made a detailed plan in advance.
With the support of nearly 10,000 soldiers in the square, Herolis immediately sent 2,000 men to take over the city hall.
There were originally 200 mercenaries outside the city hall, but a small number died at Herolis’ residence, and those sent to the square couldn’t return. As a result, only a hundred guards remained in the city hall, who were soon overwhelmed by the surging two thousand soldiers.
The soldiers easily crushed them, slaughtered them one after another, stormed the city hall and captured all the officials that were still there. The citizens hated the officials for helping Dionysius, so most of them were either killed or beaten to near death.
At the same time as Herolis led more than 8,000 soldiers toward to west in an attempt to attack the mercenaries stationed at the city gates, the 1,000 mercenaries heard about the city’s unrest from the spies and guards who escaped to the city gate. These thousand mercenaries’ duties were not to defend against enemies from the outside but to suppress the riots in the city and maintain Dionysius’ rule. Therefore, even when Macias took most of the mercenaries to attack the invading Theonians in Megalos, the remaining mercenaries still quickly formed up and marched towards the square without hesitation, trying to nip the turmoil in its cradle before it got too big.
Unfortunately for them, Herolis had taken advantage of the great opportunity created by the war mobilisation. After quickly gaining the support of tens of thousands of citizens, he led eight times as many troops as their enemy.
But as the two sides confronted in a narrow street, the soldiers couldn’t take advantage of their overwhelming numbers. In contrast, the mercenaries fully used their tight formation and rich combat experience.
In such a dangerous situation where they were forced to attack fiercely as soon as they encountered the enemies, the hastily assembled soldiers, who didn’t even have appointed officers, couldn’t advance or even gain the upper hand for a time.
. . . . . . . . . . . . .
Currently, Hipparinus and his team were still at the exit of the isthmus. Instead of the people dispersing, the congestion showed signs of increasing. Besides blocking Hipparinus, they also blocked those trying to enter the island of Ortygia, making Hipparinus feel uneasy.
Moreover, Hipparinus did not dare to leave his carriage nor lead his entourage into the crowd and rushed to the city hall. From his instincts honed working in the intelligence department, he knew that the Syracusans hated him and would most likely attack him if he rushed into the rioting crowd in front of him.
Thus he immediately returned to the island of Ortygia and headed to the mercenary camp to ask them to send troops to disperse the rioters.
However, the mercenary leader disagreed as they only obeyed Dionysius’ orders. Apart from defending the island of Ortygia, their main task was to protect Dionysius and his family. Others, even Dionysius’ brother or father-in-law, did not have the authority to order them.
Hence Hipparinus had to persuade his daughter Aristomache, who was holding Dionysius’ son in her arms, to come with him and ask the mercenary leader.
The mercenary leader then agreed and sent 200 mercenaries to disperse the rioters, finally allowing the intelligence officers to enter the isthmus and meet Hipparinus.
It was then that Hipparinus learned about Herolis leading the citizens to launch a rebellion.
He could only swear at Philistus, who should have listened to his advice and arrested Herolis. While reminding the mercenary leader to heavily defend the island of Ortygia and protect the core area of Dionysius, Hipparinus sent messengers to Megalos to ask Macias for assistance.