Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece Chapter 235: Encircle Celinus

lnmao.org, the fastest update to the latest chapter of the Mediterranean Overlord of Ancient Greece!

Mukruh hesitated and said, "...Sir Commander, would you like to tell Governor Cipros?"

Leotizides said lightly: "It's too far, and time is too late. Your Majesty should have placed the Sicilian fleet under my command. That would save a lot of trouble. Go ahead and execute the order. ."

Soon, Mirtias’ response did not meet Mucru’s expectations. Not only did he reject Leottizides’ proposal to let him cruise, but he also asked Mukrru to give a message and remind him tactfully. Ortizides: The Sicilian fleet is not under his command, so let him not worry about naval affairs.

Leotizides made a rare fire in the mansion, but there was nothing to do.

In the afternoon, the scouts returned to Silinus and brought bad news: They found a lot of Carthaginian soldiers and ships on the beaches from Mazara to Lilibal. .

The Carthage army is landing! Leottizides made the judgment easily.

"Send someone to tell Mirtias and let him figure it out." Leottizides's mouth curled slightly, and said with a mocking tone. It seems that Mirtias' response made him very concerned. .

"Assemble the Eighth Army and the reserve forces immediately, and follow me to attack the coast of Mazara!" Finally, Leontizides gave the order.

"Yes!"

……………………………………

In order to understand and supervise the boarding of the entire army of soldiers at the ports of Carthage and Utica, Margo was almost in the forefront of the last group of embarked troops and entered the port of Liliba.

As soon as he boarded the pier, he was warmly welcomed by officials of all sizes, including the lord of Lilibo, Imisele, the acting commander of the Carthaginian army, Admiral, and others. Everyone embraced him like stars. Entered the mansion of the city lord.

Marco just sat down, and before he had time to speak, there was news that "tens of thousands of Dionian troops had left the city of Serinus and marched westward."

Most of the people present felt nervous, but Margo resolutely ordered: "Assemble the troops immediately and go to volley!"

Liliba is a military fortress. There are already several military camps in the city. There were more than 10,000 Numibian soldiers stationed before (the army led by Monte Adeno). Yesterday they moved into Hasdru About 20,000 Iberian soldiers led by Basuo, Marco ordered his men to gather them quickly. To be cautious, he also brought the 6,000 Iberian soldiers who had just landed into the city.

Leotizides led the army against the wind and rain, and normal marching became a little difficult, so it took nearly three hours to approach the city of Mazara.

At this time, he was rewarded by the scouts: a Carthage army was coming from Lilifa, the number of which was no less than 30,000.

Since the First World War of Minoa and the Dionian army seizing Serinus, Leotizides has thought of various ways to lure the turtles into the cities of Lilivi, Segesta, Mazara, etc. The enemy went out of the city to fight in order to achieve another success, but it has been unsuccessful.

Now that Carthage's army is finally out of the city, Leotizides hesitates. Although the Battle of Miloia exposed the low morale and low combat effectiveness of the Carthaginian army at the time, it did not make Leottizides become arrogant. Through intelligence, he knew that Iby, who had captured Serdiham. Leah’s army should not be underestimated. The Carthage army that is now coming from Lilibo must also be based on it, and the number of its soldiers far exceeds the number of troops led by him.

During the time that the Dionian army was stationed in Serinus, since there has been no fighting, many friendly city-state soldiers have returned to their homes, preparing for the upcoming harvest season. , And after the Second Fleet arrived in Sicily, Mirtias once protested to Leotizides: without authorization, the excellent crew of the Dionian Navy was reorganized into light infantry and served as an attachment to the legion in combat (referring to Some of the tens of thousands of Sicilian fleet crew members who survived the storm).

He also reported the matter to the Ministry of Military Affairs. In the end, Leotizides had to send the crew back to the naval base in the Catania Plain, so the number of troops led by Leotizides was only two. In his early years, there are more than 3,000 friendly soldiers staying in the city of Silinus. This is all the troops he has now in western Sicily.

He originally thought that the landing of the Carthaginian army in such bad weather would inevitably cause temporary chaos, but he did not expect the Carthaginians to attack so quickly.

His eyes scanned the heavily armed Legionnaires beside him, their rain-filled faces showing fatigue. After only hesitating for a moment, Leontizides, who had never been blindly impulsive in combat, dispelled the idea of ​​a battle with the Carthaginian army that had arrived, ordered the army to stop and immediately return to Selinnus.

The soldiers who ran for nothing and were soaked in the soup complained about this.

Leotizides didn't care about this, what he cared about was whether the Sicilian fleet could gain anything.

………………………………………

Mertias was reminded by Adjutant Mukru, given his bad relationship with Leotizides, he did not fully believe Mukru’s words, so he did not immediately lead the fleet out to sea, but A clipper was dispatched to inspect the western waters.

After being confirmed, he led the fleet out of the port in a hurry. This time and again, plus the fleet sailing against the wind, by the time it bypassed the cape and arrived in the waters near Mazara, it was already dusk, and the sea that had been woven and lively was basically calm again. The Carthage army The landing has ended, and the transportation of baggage and horses that followed has been completed for the most part.

The Carthage Clippers, which have been observing the movements of the Dionian fleet, quickly notified the ships still on the way, some immediately returned to Carthage, and some stepped up to rush into the beaches and ports of Sicily, so the Dionian fleet After searching around in this area for a while, they only smashed and captured a dozen cargo ships. Although they looked at the many Carthage ships docked on the beaches from time to time, they did not dare to approach the attack because they were on these beaches. There were a lot of Carthaginian soldiers on board. The navy gave up its own advantages to fight on land. It was obviously stupid, and because of the dim sky and heavy wind and waves, two warships accidentally hit the rocks and sank.

Therefore, Mirtias had to order to return to the voyage. During the journey, he was always depressed: the Carthage army was able to successfully land in Sicily. He had to bear a great responsibility, whether it was His Majesty Daves or the Ministry of Military Affairs. Will not turn a blind eye to this...

………………………………………

In the next few days, the battle in western Sicily showed a strange calm.

For Carthage, Margo was busy reorganizing the chaotic army after landing and transporting the materials scattered on the coast back to Lilibo. At the same time, he also took time to meet the officials of the Carthaginian sub-state and the envoys of the allies. To learn more about the situation in Sicily, he even summoned Arconis, the chief of Sicker who had been neglected by Monte Arderno.

On Dionia, Leotizides no longer sent troops to destroy the opponent’s fields and villages, but instead ordered the soldiers to strengthen the city’s defenses.

Actually, he has been doing this since the occupation of Serinus, because he knew very well that the Minoan War was not enough to hurt Carthage, but instead would attract Carthage. A more fierce counterattack. As the main offensive route of the Carthage army on the southern coast of Sicily, Serinus at the starting point of this route is very important. As long as you hold on to it, you can give the Carthage army further to the south coast. The attack on the territories of the friendly city-states of Dionia created great obstacles, which helped accomplish the strategic purpose given by King Davos.

At the same time, Leotizides also sent a messenger back to Catana to inform Cypros of the new situation. He also sought again from friendly city-states such as Minoa, Agrigento, and Gela. Reinforcement to enhance the defensive power of Silinus.

Leotizides hopes that the fight will happen as soon as possible, but Margo can't wait. After all, he made a promise in the Senate to drive the Dionians out of Sicily within a year. So three days later, the mighty Carthage army surrounded Silinus.

Margo ordered the army to start building camps, and at the same time asked engineers and carpenters to build siege equipment.

After the camp began to take shape, he began to send thousands of lightly armed infantry formed by the allied states of Sicily to gradually clear the traps and obstacles outside the city of Silinus.

Leotizides certainly would not allow the enemy to approach the trench so easily, so he not only ordered the defenders at the head of the city to carry out violent long-range attacks on any enemy entering the attack range of the city, but also organized from time to time Hundreds of thousands of light armoured soldiers, taking advantage of their precautions, went out of the city to raid the enemy who was busy clearing obstacles.

Leotizides’ proactive defensive tactics gave the Carthage soldiers who were clearing the barriers below the city a lot of damage, but after a few days, Carthage’s encirclement of Silinus was still gradually shrinking. .

For Margo, who has an army of about 120,000, a small amount of casualties is simply an itching of his boots, and it does not affect him in any way. With a strong military force as a backing, the Carthaginians attacked the people outside the city of Selinus. The cleanup work has never been interrupted.

As the Carthaginian army advanced under the city in an orderly manner, and strengthened the defense against the defenders' raids, the Dionian army also reduced the number of out-of-city raids after suffering one or two small losses.

Soon, the Carthaginians placed dozens of ballistas in front of the city, bombarding the walls of Silinus with stone bullets continuously.

Because the Dionian Army has training on offensive and defensive walls in their usual military training, they certainly have their own research on how to defend against the weapon of siege—the ballista. In addition to allowing the ballistas arranged on the walls and in the city to accurately strike the enemy's ballistas, Leonidzides also asked the soldiers to collect a large number of fishing nets from the port fishermen, hanging down from the city head and covering the walls. To cushion the impact of stone bullets.