Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece Chapter 1000: Palermos Surrenders

While the soldiers constructed a camp outside the city of Palermo, the engineers and carpenters assembled and built siege weapons.

When Leotychides piled the corpses of the Lusitanian Warriors outside Panormus and demanded their surrender, the people of Palermos urgently convened an ecclesia to discuss the matter.

However, seeing that the people of Palermo failed to provide a clear answer all morning, Leotychides immediately launched an attack. Tens of thousands of fully armed legionnaires arrayed before the city, pushing a wide variety of siege weapons as they began their assault.

The citizens of Palermo hurriedly organized themselves and mounted the walls to resist. The battle raged from the afternoon until dusk, lasting a little over four hours in total. The Daionian Army did not commit to a full-scale siege; it was merely a forceful probe. Consequently, casualties were light, and the attackers withdrew at a leisurely pace.

But for the people of Palermo, those four hours of defense were nothing short of a nightmare. Theonians launched ranged attacks against the defenders from towering mobile siege towers. Shielded by Mobile Mantlets, archers and javelin throwers closed in right against the walls, blanketing the ramparts with a rain of arrows. Stone projectiles fired from ballistae relentlessly crashed into the city, destroying houses and injuring civilians. The iron bolts shot by gastraphetes inflicted gruesome deaths on the defending soldiers upon the walls. Not to mention the Daonian Heavy Infantry using siege ladders to swarm the defenses like ants; every time they breached the ramparts, the Panormus garrison suffered heavy casualties just to drive them back down.

Therefore, when the Daionian Army retreated, the people of Palermo felt no joy of victory. Their casualties numbered over a thousand, and among them, the able-bodied Citizen Soldiers who served as the core defense suffered more than half of those losses.

With the Daonian Fleet blockading the sea, the land routes entirely surrounded, Carthaginian reinforcements annihilated, and their own defensive forces dangerously weak, the people of Palermos completely lost confidence in holding the city. That night, they swiftly convened another emergency ecclesia and quickly passed a resolution: they would surrender to the Daionian Army.

Every citizen in attendance deceived themselves with the thought that this was only a temporary surrender to preserve Palermo, just like over twenty years ago when the massive army of Syracuse invaded the west and they surrendered to Dionysius. They believed that once the Carthaginian army regained the upper hand, they could simply return to the embrace of the Western Phoenicians, centered around Carthage.

Thus, early the next morning, envoys from Palermos headed to the Daionian camp and formally proposed to Leotychides that Palermo was willing to surrender.

Throughout this war up to the present, Daionia had fundamentally adopted a standard policy for captured Phoenician towns: demoting the local populace to slaves and fully annexing the town into the Kingdom of Daunia. This had been the fate of Alalia, Tharros, and Selinus. The only slight exception was Sant'Ibinia.

After the Ninth Legion captured Sant'Ibinia, Stromboli personally pacified the captive residents and made a promise: as long as they dedicated themselves to smelting and minting precious metals for the kingdom, they would not only be granted their freedom once the war ended, but they would also be supported in applying to become kingdom citizens of Daionia.

Cyprolus, possessing rich political and administrative experience, believed that Palermo was fundamentally different from the Phoenician city-states on Sardinia and Corsica. It was not directly controlled by Carthage; rather, it was an allied state and an independent city-state. The same held true for the Phoenician city-states on Sicily and the continent of Africa. Naturally, the handling of its surrender had to differ from how they treated the Phoenician towns on those two islands.

Cyprolus proposed integrating Palermos into the Daonian Alliance, an approach that would be acceptable to both sides. Given the highly tense wartime conditions on the front lines, where the massive armies of both Daionia and Carthage were currently massed, this strategy would allow them to swiftly absorb enemy factions, save precious time, and diminish the enemy's overall strength. Moreover, it would serve as an example to the other Phoenician city-states, preventing bitter struggles to the death in the future.

His suggestion earned the approval of the three senior generals. Therefore, when the envoys arrived to negotiate the terms of surrender, Leotychides's offer to let Palermo join the Daonian Alliance came as a genuine, pleasant surprise to the people of Palermo.

Furthermore, Leotychides stipulated that during this war, they would not requisition rations or fodder from Palermos, nor would they conscript many of Palermo's Citizen Soldiers. However, the people of Palermo had to find an opportunity to persuade the Palermos Citizen Soldiers currently serving in the Carthaginian army to defect.

The envoys readily agreed to all of this, but Leotychides's next demand made them hesitate: the Daionian Army had to be allowed to station within the city of Palermos.

The envoys voiced their objections, but Leotychides remained firm. The Daionian Army needed Palermos as a forward operating base for the Seventh and Eighth Legions, and its port as a harbor for the Third Fleet. Therefore, stationing troops within the city was an absolute prerequisite. If the people of Palermo refused, the surrender agreement would be voided, and the Daionian Army would launch an immediate assault, capture Panormus, and take complete control by force.

Faced with Leotychides's overwhelming dominance, the envoys from Palermos backed down.

Naturally, Leotychides also made a solemn vow in the name of Hades: once the Daionian Army stationed inside Palermos, they would absolutely not interfere with its internal politics, violate its laws, forcibly occupy civilian homes, or harass the populace.

The envoys brought Leotychides's terms back into the city. The ecclesia raised no objections to the clause allowing Palermos to become an allied state of the Kingdom of Daunia, but a fierce debate erupted over the issue of allowing the Daionian Army to enter Panormus.

By this time, however, the Daionian Army had already arrayed before Panormus once more. Emitting a murderous aura, they threatened that the people of Palermos must make their decision within half an hour, or the siege would commence.

Utterly at their enemy's mercy, the people of Palermos were left with no choice under the immense pressure. They helplessly agreed to surrender, pinning all their hopes on the Theonians honoring their word.

Leotychides ordered Xanthiparis to lead the Seventh Legion to garrison the camp and stand guard against the Carthaginian army south of the mountains, while he personally led the Eighth Legion into Panormus.

The moment the army entered the city, they swiftly took over the defense of the entire wall, controlled all traffic through the gates, and assumed management of the port. The force of over eight thousand troops split their encampments into two locations: one situated in the city square, and the other stationed right by the port.

The civilians of Palermos hid in their homes, anxiously peeking out at the Daionian soldiers marching into the city with high heads and perfectly ordered ranks. Even though the Theonians enjoyed a reputation across the western Mediterranean for keeping their promises, Panormus was currently as vulnerable as a woman stripped bare of her clothes; even if faced with a kind-looking, burly man, she would inevitably tremble in terror.

Yet the atrocities they feared never came to pass. The Daionian soldiers focused entirely on pitching their tents, building their new camps, and securing key locations throughout the city. Not a single instance of looting or brutality occurred. Over a decade of rigorous military training had ingrained absolute obedience to Military Law into the Daionian Citizens. Moreover, their legion commander was notoriously strict; having just earned military merit, there was no way they would throw away their bright futures in Daionia for a momentary indulgence.

Even when a tiny fraction of Catanians grumbled that the Carthaginian army had destroyed their homes and laid waste to the Plain of Catania, and that they shouldn't be so lenient with these Phoenician accomplices, the officers would quickly pacify them: "The people of Palermo are not among those Phoenician accomplices. They never followed the Carthaginian army to the east; instead, they stayed behind in the camp outside Selinunte. This proves that the people of Palermos hold no grudges against our Daionia..." (Naturally, this was what the envoys from Palermos had claimed, and Leotychides was perfectly willing to take them at their word for now.)

The excellent discipline of the Daionian soldiers gradually dispelled the dread lingering in the hearts of the Palermos populace. Eventually, some civilians cautiously stepped out of their homes. They crossed paths with Daionian soldiers on the streets, and absolutely nothing untoward happened; some soldiers even offered them friendly smiles. This encouraged more people to drop their guard and venture outdoors. Throughout the entire day, Panormus maintained an air of tranquility, with the Daionian soldiers and the people of Palermos going about their own business and mutually avoiding interference.

That night, Leotychides, resting in the square encampment, was awakened by an officer stationed at the port. He learned that the Carthaginians had shipped in reinforcements by sea and were currently attempting to enter the harbor.

Leotychides immediately hatched a plan. He dispatched men to summon several high-ranking officials of Palermos, demanding they provide assistance in luring the reinforcements into the port.

Upon hearing this news, the city's senior officials might have harbored some regrets about surrendering so hastily, but the deed was done. With the entire city's population firmly under the control of the Daionian Army, they had no choice but to obey. However, once they learned that the vast majority of the soldiers in this reinforcement force consisted of their own citizens, their cooperation instantly became much more proactive.

Thus, as soon as the reinforcing soldiers disembarked onto the docks and found themselves encircled by the Eighth Legion, the officials rushed forward to urge their surrender.

Naturally, the reinforcing troops had no other viable options.

The fleet transporting the reinforcements realized they had walked into a trap and immediately attempted to flee the harbor, but the Theonians garrisoning the port had already shut the water gates and hoisted the iron sea chains. The entire fleet became trapped like a turtle in a jar.

Not only had they effortlessly netted four thousand enemy troops, but they had also captured a Carthaginian convoy. It was safe to say the Eighth Legion reaped a tremendous harvest that night.

However, after questioning the Palermos reinforcement soldiers and interrogating the Carthaginian sailors, a bold and utterly insane idea suddenly sprang into Leotychides's mind. He immediately issued an order to impose full martial law across the city, strictly forbidding anyone from leaving.

He then sent messengers to summon Xanthiparis from the camp outside the city, as well as Tegetus, the commander of the Half of the Mountain Reconnaissance Detachment and the hero who had conquered Syracuse. The three men stayed up in the main tent within the city, deep in discussion until dawn, during which they repeatedly brought in the Carthaginian sailors for further interrogation.