Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece - Chapter 898

[Chapter 245 Return to Teacher Jella]

It was not until the sun set and night came that the incomplete Sicilian fleet slowly sailed into the port of Serinus with the captured warships and captured Phoenician crew…

This naval battle, Eastern Phoenicia

Only 43 of the 130 warships of the base fleet remained, while 31 of the 150 warships of the Dionysian Sicilian fleet remained (including 6 damaged), and 23 Phoenician warships were also captured.

In addition, of the 6,000 soldiers carried by the Sicilian fleet, only more than 2,000 returned safely to Serinus, most of whom were legionnaires.

The Dionysian Sicilian fleet ultimately won a crushing victory, but strategically they lost.

Because on this day, Hasdrubal led some 17,000 soldiers from the Iberian army to attack the city of Agrigento again, using only sapwood and ladders.

Faced with the predicament of running out of rations and starving if the city cannot be conquered, the soldiers bravely took the lead and fought to the death.

Especially the ferocity of Lusitania warriors and Celtic warriors in the northern mountains of Iberia brought great trouble to the defenders of Agrigento.

The citizens of Agrigento suffered a lot of losses in the previous battle of Minoa, and then because the Carthaginian army besieged Serinus and Leotizides for help, Agger Rigento sent reinforcements again, so there were not many defenders in the city. Although they repelled the enemy’s attack yesterday, they also killed and wounded many soldiers. Today, they have been waiting for reinforcements for a long time. In the afternoon, the Agrigentos were finally unable to resist the enemy’s attack, and the city was smashed by the Carthaginians.

Hasdrubal indulged the soldiers to loot and kill in the city. Except for some Agrigentos who fled to the port and fled by boat, the rest were slaughtered.

……………………………………

On the morning of the second day, Cykrian came to Serinus’s castle lord’s mansion, and saw Leotizides who was sitting in the hall waiting.

“Prosous, long time no see, I hope you called me this time, not to borrow fleet infantry, or to convert our temporarily idle sailors into light infantry.” Sekelian’s remarks are obviously correct. Dissatisfaction with what Leotizides had done before.

Leotidas didn’t react at all to his ridicule. He glanced at him indifferently, and spit out a sentence: “Myrtias is dead.”

After hearing this, Cykrian immediately expressed his dissatisfaction: “Listen. Who said that?! Yesterday we searched for a long time, but we couldn’t find it. Where did you get it?”

“Look at this.” Leotizides interrupted him coldly and pushed it away. Wooden box on desk case.

Sekelian immediately focused his attention on the wooden box that did not resemble the Greek style, and a terrible thought suddenly appeared in his heart. He stepped forward with heavy steps and carefully opened the lid of the box.

“The commander of Carthage, Marco, sent a messenger, saying that when their army attacked our crew and soldiers on the beach, only Myrtias led the unarmed crew to attack them bravely. He also cut down two Carthaginian soldiers before he died in battle. A Celtic leader from Iberia admired his bravery and cut off his head as his trophy… After Marco knew about this, It was specially redeemed, but the body was nowhere to be found, so we had to send us his head…” The

flat, lifeless voice of Leotizides sounded in his ear, Sekelian Staring at the face in the wooden box that still vaguely recognized the appearance of his former colleague, after a while, he scolded in a low voice: “Myrtias,

you stupid…” Then gently closed the box. superior.

After sitting back in the wooden chair, he could no longer suppress the resentment in his heart: “The Sicilian War has only started a few months, and our Dionysian Navy not only suffered heavy losses, but also killed both Flarios and Myrtias. A fleet commander… Damn Carthaginian! Damn that Marco!…”

Sekelian scolded loudly to vent the grief in his heart.

“The Carthaginian messenger also brought a request.” Leotidides ignored his anger and continued: “They captured thousands of our sailors, hoping to exchange with us for the Phoenicians we captured. Sailor.”

“The Carthaginians want beauty, and I haven’t let the Phoenicians who attacked my fleet suffer enough!” Saikrian said bitterly.

“So you are going to reject the proposal of the Carthaginians?”

“No, exchange with them!” Seikelian raised his eyebrows: “The lives of our navy sailors are very precious, why are these Phoenicians from Persia? What can compare, let them go back, I believe that in a few days, they will become our captives.”

After the naval battle, the Sicilian fleet brought these captives back to Serinus, and after interrogation, Sekelian was temporarily released. A sigh of relief: it turned out that this fleet was reinforcements from the Phoenician city-states of Tyre and Sidon in the Eastern Mediterranean, not that Carthage had built a batch of warships earlier than Dionia.

And with the status of Carthage’s mother state, it is obviously impossible for them to frequently send fleets of thousands of miles to aid Carthage.

“After a while, you and I will send people to discuss with the Carthaginian envoys to complete the exchange of prisoners as soon as possible.”

“Okay.” McLean answered simply, and then asked sensitively: “What happened in such a hurry? What happened?”

“This morning, the messenger of Cyprous brought bad news. Kepharoition was occupied by the Carthaginians.”

“Kepharoition?” He has been at the naval base in Tarantum before, and he has only been in Sicily for a few months, and he has always been busy with the Sicilian fleet, so he is not very clear about some of the internal conditions of Sicily. The name of this town is right Completely foreign to him.

“Kefaroition is a town of the Sikelians, in the inner mountains of Sicily, northwest of Agrigento, on the borderline where the kingdom and the Carthaginians divided the sphere of influence in Sicily. , bordering the territory of the Sikan people…” Leotizides made a rare explanation, and Sekelian tried hard to recall the location of the town.

Seeing this, Mukru, the adjutant at the bottom, immediately went to get a map of Sicily, put it on the table beside Sekelian, and pointed out the location of the town.

“This town of the Sikelians was the site of the former Tanikian tribe.” The next sentence of Leotizides made Cykrian impressed. After all, the matter of Laodician was in the past. There was a huge storm in the political arena of the kingdom.

“How did you lose it?” Sekelian became interested now.

“According to the messenger, just a few days ago, when the Carthaginian army surrounded Serinus, more than 2,000 Sikanians invaded the territory of the Sikanians, who have always been strong against the Sikanians, So, without hesitation, I gathered 4,000 warriors and wanted to completely defeat them…” The corners of Leotizides’ mouth curled slightly, as if mocking the stupidity of the Sikelians: “In the end, during the battle, Carthage The army suddenly appeared, and the Sikaers suffered a crushing defeat. The Carthaginians pursued the victory and successfully occupied Kepharoition.

Then, the Carthaginians and the Sikas continued to attack the city of Enna eastward, and originally fled to the west of Sicily. The leader of the Tanikian tribe, Arconis, became the guide of the Carthaginians, and also helped the Carthaginians to persuade the tribe of Sikel to surrender, which made the hearts of the tribes of Sikel fluctuated, although Cypros had made Hena govern. Commander Crelu sent reinforcements to Enna, but the situation in Enna is not optimistic.

… Also, since we did not send reinforcements to Agrigento yesterday, I am also worried about the situation of the city of Agrigento. Once it is captured, allowing tens of thousands of Carthaginian soldiers to gain a firm foothold in the middle of the south coast, it will not only threaten the safety of neighboring friendly city-states, but also our safety.”

Sekelian sat up straight and looked towards Leotizides asked seriously: “Do you want our navy to transport reinforcements to Agrigento again?”

“Of course I have this idea, UUkanshu www.sonicmtl.com Now you are Sicily The highest-ranking military commander of the fleet (although Sekelian is not yet commander of the Sicilian fleet, after the death of Myrtias, a new commander of the Sicilian fleet has not yet been appointed. The military has the highest position and naturally becomes the person who will speak to this fleet), of course I need to discuss with you, with the current state of the Sicilian fleet, can it carry out the task of transporting reinforcements?” Leotidides asked with a serious look.

“Of course!” Sekelian replied simply, in the face of military matters concerning the kingdom’s interests, he always distinguished the importance: “I can use the captured Phoenician warships as troop transports, and use the Sicilian fleet to carry out Escort, yesterday the Phoenicians were repelled by us even though they had the upper hand. I am afraid that they will hide in the port these days and dare not come out. If they really dare to come, they can be wiped out! But this time, We can’t transport that many soldiers.”

“Even if you can, I don’t have that many reinforcements, let’s just say 2,000.” Although Leotidize’s words were insipid, Cykrian realized a few things from his words. Feeling helpless, he once again looked at the Sicilian army commander who seldom came and went, and then said: “There is no problem in transporting 2,000 people, I will go back and start preparations as soon as possible, and set off before noon as soon as possible.

” Des didn’t express his gratitude, but continued: “There is one more thing, you need to know, when I send the messenger back to Katanai, I will give Cypros a message and ask him to send a fleet over here as soon as possible. The army will be transported to Gera, and you will need your Sicilian fleet to escort it.”