Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece - Chapter 967

[Chapter 305]

Although Margo is too extreme, because it is not just a Hannoist decision to have Annobas as naval commander and a fleet to guard Sardinia, but one thing he is very right about, Sicily and Carthia The connection with the base cannot be cut off, otherwise the more than 100,000 soldiers will have no military rations, and it will really be over!

… Pomirka is in the army and is mainly in charge of logistical support. He is well aware of the huge consumption of army rations. The reason for withdrawing from the east is the food supply. Therefore, the more he thought about it, the more frightened he became, and he immediately said: “Mr. Brother Brother, I will write a letter with you, urging the Senate to immediately reorganize our fleet and make every effort to protect the sea route between Sicily and Carthage!”

Marco’s expression turned slightly, he said bitterly: “Even if the Senate obeys It is another matter whether our fleet can do it or not. Our current rations can last for about 10 days. After 10 days, all our lives are in the hands of the Navy. This is really unbelievable. Be willing!”

Pomirka listened with bitterness in his heart, and he reminded loudly: “Lord Margo, the best way for us to reverse the predicament is to defeat the main force of the Dionysian army and win the dominance of the Sicilian battle! ”

Easy to say, but as you can see, I have been setting up outside the camp for the past three days, but the Dionians on the opposite side have no intention of going down the mountain to fight with us.” Marco felt a

little helpless .

, and some doubts: “I have learned more about the battles that King Dionia has participated in in the past. He is a decisive, bold, adventurous, and very confident person. When he was a mercenary leader in the earliest days, he dared to lead Far fewer mercenaries attacked the Lucanian army; when Dionysius invaded Greater Greece, it was clear that Dionysius had the upper hand, especially in cavalry, he was still bold with tin The Lacuza people fought a battle…

Not long ago, Dionia and Rome were at war. Rome was so far apart from Dioia. He actually led the army to launch an attack… Why is such a person who loves attacking so much this time? Don’t you dare to accept our challenge?!”

“Could it be because the Dionysian army is not ready yet?” Pomirka thought for a while and said, “Or maybe it is because Kepharoytian’s army is too close… let Dionia Does the king have any concerns?”

Marco listened, and his heart moved, he put down his sword, and said in a deep voice: “Maybe… we should let Hasdruba withdraw all the troops to the territory of the Xikan people, and lure the East. The Dionysian army in front of us marched westward and captured the empty Kepharoition. In this way, King Dionia felt safe to the north, and perhaps he would be relieved to fight us?”

“If the Dionian army Still can’t hold on?” Pomirka said worriedly.

Margo thought for a moment and said decisively: “Then we will surround the Dionian army of Kepharoition and force them to fight with us in the mountains!”

“This is a good idea!” Pomirka’s eyes widened.

Bright,

but he reminded again: “I’m afraid Arconis will not be willing to retreat from Kepharoition.”

“The leader of Sikel who took the initiative to join us?!” Margo picked up the sword on the table. , a heavy sword slashed on the table: “This can’t be done by him, he has to withdraw if he doesn’t retreat!”

……………………………………

After getting the order of Marco, Hasdrew Ignoring Arconis’ pleas, Ba gave an order: all soldiers and all Sikeles retreat westward.

Some Sikelians did not give in, even because their families were in the hands of the Carthaginians, refusing to enter the territory of their erstwhile enemies, the Sikanians.

In this regard, Hasdrubal repressed mercilessly, thus forcing most of the Sikelians to obey obediently.

When retreating, the Carthaginians also completely destroyed the city of Kepharoition.

However, Lizaru, who received the order of Davos, did not take the opportunity to lead the army westward, but let the army stay in Enna, and at the same time continued to strengthen the defense of the city.

The main Dionysian troops stationed in Minoa City ignored the Carthaginians who marched under the mountain every day, and have been stepping up the construction of camps.

After listening to Davos’s instructions, the engineers designed the camp as follows: the entire Dionysian camp starts from the city of Minoa near the sea, and extends northward along the entire hill. After the narrow lowland to the north (where Leotizides had previously let Agrigento rout to lure and eventually defeat the Holy Legion of Carthage), the camp turned northeast and continued along the continuous , The hills that are not too high, and finally end against the upper reaches of the Pletani River, forming a semi-arc line of defense, and the simple port to the east is in its arms, and the Catane fleet is transported by it. With sufficient supplies and sufficient water from Lake Gurgo, the Dionian army was prepared for a long-term defense.

Different from the situation in the west, in eastern Sicily, Leotidides had already led his army to Syracuse. After reaching Leotini and joining the armies of the allies, the entire army was divided into two parts, the main force being the seventh. The Eighth Legion, led by Leotidides himself, continued south, over the mountains, to the vicinity of the great port west of Syracuse.

In addition, more than 8,000 soldiers composed of allied armies and friendly city-states were led by Zantiparis and went south along the coast, passing through Taunis, and reaching the east city of Syracuse.

The Syracuses have been closely watching the movements of the Dionians to the north, and when they learned that another Dionian army had left the city of Catane and arrived in Leotine, they were vigilantly aware of it. This may be for Syracuse.

The news spread, and the people in Syracuse panicked.

After the news was confirmed, the council of Syracuse only realized that it had been fooled. These days, democrats and neutrals were arguing over the issue of “who should be responsible for angering Dionia”, wasting a lot of time. , did not even prepare for defense.

In the face of life and death, Theagenis, Falecus and others had to put aside their contradictions and differences, and fully deal with the upcoming attack of the cunning Dionysians.

They carried out an urgent military mobilization of the citizens in the city, and at the same time sent cavalry to quickly notify the villages and towns outside the city, so that the people immediately took their belongings and rushed to the city for refuge.

A day later, sentries on the east wall were the first to see the enemy winding down the coast.

………………………………

The report of the defeat of the new fleet was sent back to Carthage, and the elders were shocked.

In this report, Annobas put the blame on Admika, saying: It was because of Admika’s slow action that the plan to attack from both sides failed to be implemented, but was defeated by the Dionysian fleet. .

Subsequently, the elders received a joint complaint from Margo and Pomirka.

In the end is Annobas command error, or Admika’s poor execution?

The elders had a debate. Although Hanno defended it, as the naval commander, Annobas suffered a losing streak and could not escape his guilt.

Therefore, the debate did not last long, and the Senate passed a resolution to “remove Annobas from the position of commander of the navy and let him return to the city for trial”.

Carthage was born from the sea and prospered by the sea. Although they are now developing inland, the sea is still their foundation. Now the repeated and repeated failures of the Carthaginian navy have shown that Dionysus The victory of the Asian fleet was not accidental. It was a fact that Carthage’s naval power was at a disadvantage, which not only put the 100,000 army in Sicily at risk, but also began to threaten the survival of the city of Carthage.

For the first time, all the elders actively and earnestly discussed the solution to the sea dilemma of Carthage.

The first is to establish a new candidate for the commander of the navy as soon as possible.

Although Annobas was impeached, it is undeniable that he is indeed an excellent admiral, so a personal choice proposed by the elders was excluded because his talent was not as good as him. In the end, it was Esyarubati The name of a person arrived, so that everyone did not question his ability, but worried about his body.

Morbal, a Carthaginian aristocrat, a former senator, participated in the naval battle of Carthage against the Greek city-states on the northern coast of Italy when he was young, and later served as a naval commander several times.

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com led the battle with the combined Greek navy in Sicily, headed by Syracuse, with more victories and less losses; he also led the fleet bravely, along the route opened up by his predecessors, and crossed the Pillar of Hercules westward, Traveling south along the coast to the middle of the west coast of Africa, he brought back some rare beasts and races of strangely dressed and shiny black skin, and thus became a hero of Carthage; but he became tired of Carthaginian politics, Coupled with his advanced age, he voluntarily quit the Senate and lived in seclusion in Utica.

After getting several elders who knew him to confirm that he was in good health, the elders agreed, and they sent messengers to Utica to ask the old man who did not belong to any faction, to see if he was willing to serve as the commander of the Carthaginian navy.

Second, the Senate discussed “whether or not to transfer back the new fleet defending the Sardinian waters”.

After all, this new fleet was originally intended to protect the Sardinian route, but now it was crippled and did not play any role. It would not make much sense to continue to stay in Sardinia.

Now, the Dionysian army has also landed on Sicily. The pressure on the Carthaginian army has increased, and the problem of logistical supplies has become more prominent. It is necessary to ensure the smooth sea route between Sicily and Carthage to ensure the island. The 100,000 army above can fight with full force without any worries, which has become the consensus of the Carthaginian elders.

To this end, they not only decided to transfer the remaining new fleet and invest it in the direction of Sicily, but also to incorporate the newly launched warships into it, and at the same time urge the shipyards to speed up the construction of subsequent new warships.