Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece Chapter 354: The ship is near the city

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On this day, although the Carthaginian army occupied the outer wall of Silinus, they failed to conquer the whole city. Instead, they paid a lot of casualties. The new wall in the city meant that they had to work hard. The siege warfare, which led to the low morale of the soldiers.

Especially the Numibians, as the main force of the siege, they have always suffered the most casualties, and the grievances in their hearts have naturally increased, and some rumors have begun to spread among them.

Kenoms was far more than the one who broke into the Xikan territory. Although Margot sent his trusted team officers to the Numibian forces, most of their positions were middle and high-level team officers. After all, if they were separated There are too many team officers, it is difficult to maintain the combat effectiveness of his own Iberian troops, so most of the team leaders at the bottom are the original East Numibians, which is persuaded by the Dionians. The Numibian prisoners had the opportunity to break into the Carthage camp through the rout.

In this war, the Numibians, whether they attacked Paragonia or attacked Serinus, have always been the main force in the battle. Therefore, the casualties are the most. They have accumulated dissatisfaction with the Carthaginians and grievances. It was very prosperous, so these spies quietly told their compatriots about the situation of the war and Dionia's willingness to support Numibia to rise up against Carthage and gain independence, which naturally aroused a great reaction.

Some rumors even spread to other armies. For example, the Carthage Navy suffered a disastrous defeat, and the western waters of Sicily were completely blocked by the Dionian Navy... Also, for example, the Dionian Navy repeatedly attacked the coast of Africa and burned it down. Hadrum Mentum and Ogil Gili City...

This seriously affected the morale of Carthage and Phoenician soldiers. Many soldiers even gathered and asked their team officers whether the news was true.

Margo was shocked when he heard about this. He had to immediately stop the next attack plan he was planning on the city of Silinus, and focus on purging the army and boosting morale. Otherwise, this The army will face the danger of collapse.

………………………………………

In the early morning, a Carthage fleet consisting of 30 cargo ships set off from Cadiz to Carthage. Each ship was loaded with silver bricks.

The war progressed until now, Corsica fell, Sardinia fell into war, Sicily was blocked, the port of Carthage was depressed, and the precious metals of the Iberian Peninsula became the main source of revenue for Carthage. For this reason, the Carthage mine owners in Iberia increased mining slaves and expanded the mining volume of silver mines. After these silver bricks are shipped to Carthage, they will be melted into silver coins, mainly as the cost of building warships. And pay the salaries of hired soldiers.

Due to the recent strength of the Dionian fleet, this fleet is very careful and has been sailing eastward close to the coast of Africa. Once they find enemy conditions, they can immediately enter the ports of nearby city-states to escape. This method is quite effective. Therefore, since the beginning of the war, precious metal cargo ships from Iberia have never been hijacked by the Dionian fleet.

After entering the coastal towns and harbors for the night for two consecutive days, the fleet entered the core waters controlled by Carthage in the early morning of the third day. The fleet began to move away from the coast because the Carthage basic city was located to the north. On the protruding peninsula, the distance to go straight to it is the shortest, and the Dionian fleet has not yet dared to intrude in this sea area.

In the morning, the fleet had already reached the sea near Carthage, but at this time the crew saw a fleet of countless black warships appearing in the north, rushing towards them.

"That is the fleet of the Dionians!!...?-" The crew yelled in panic, driving the cargo ship desperately, and fleeing towards the Carthage port. However, the cargo ship was too loaded and it was not downwind. In addition, there were not many oarsmen, and as a result, the Dionian warship was ahead of them and cut off the route to the port.

"General, our ship successfully intercepted the Carthage's fleet!" The flagship Yaowangshou exclaimed excitedly.

Midolades was not very happy. He had planned this operation for a long time. In order to intercept the Carthage fleet from Iberia, he sent many clippers to Sardinia. Sarros is the resident, and the task of each day is to disguise as a Phoenician cargo ship, mix into the sea to the south, and monitor the route from Iberia to Carthage. The fleet was discovered a day after leaving Cadiz, and has been under the surveillance of Dionian Fast Food ever since. According to the information sent back successively, Midolades was able to intercept it in time in front of the Carthage port.

Step 1 has been successful, but the key depends on its subsequent development! ...Midolades said in a deep voice:|"Continue to observe closely!"

"Yes!"

The Dionian warship intercepted the Carthage fleet and did not destroy it in one go. Instead, they played a game of cat and mouse. Instead of using the bronze horns on the bow, they used the hull. To pinch off the ship's oar, even the crew on the deck specially prepared rope hooks in an attempt to grab the cargo ship when the two ships approached.

It seems that they are preparing to capture the cargo ship and bring it back to the base. After all, the silver bricks of twenty ships are a huge asset, but it will take a long time because of the location where it happened. Not far from the sea outside the port, not only the sentries on the jetty of the Carthage port could see it clearly, but even the crew of other Carthage or Phoenician cargo ships entering the port saw this terrible scene. Hiding in the port with fear, so when the sentry quickly reported the situation to the port officials, and then the port officials immediately reported to the Carthaginian Senate, the news of the "Dionia Fleet Attack" was already It spread quickly in ports and urban areas.

Sometimes ago, the Dionians burned the Phoenician allies in Africa several times and already made the people of Carthage feel terrified. Now these terrible enemies have actually attacked Carthage, and the people are even more panicked. , For a time, the rumors that "the Dionians were going to attack Carthage" were rampant.

The veterans of Carthage were shocked when they received the news from the port. They did not expect that the Dionian fleet would be so bold that they dared to go to the port of Carthage to go wild. This was from the city of Carthage. Things that have never happened since the establishment!

Furthermore, they received the news of "riots in the city". At this time, there were no differences between Hanno, Pretakuba, and Es Yaluba, and they quickly reached a consensus: Order Morbal to lead the Carthage fleet to attack immediately, repulse the rampant Dionian fleet, protect the wealth of Carthage, and give the people confidence!

Since the Senate ordered the Carthage fleet to strengthen the defense of the city and its allies on the African coast, the navy commander Morbal had no choice but to no longer lead the fleet to the western waters of Sicily. Instead, he was based in the Carthage naval port and sent many fast The ship patrols the east and west coasts centered on Carthage (because Ogilgilli City was burned, it further expanded the patrol range). Once the enemy was discovered, he led the fleet to attack, and he could rush in time. To and even defeat the Dionian fleet that has sent infantry ashore to looting......

Morbal's plan is good, but the Dionian fleet has not appeared on the African coast since those two attacks. Today, after he received the news that "The Dionian fleet attacked the fleet from Iberia in front of the port of Carthage", he was not as angry as his men. On the contrary, he fell into contemplation, because since he became the commander of the navy. After that, given the superiority of the Dionian navy, he has always avoided fighting the enemy head-on. Now the Dionian fleet is coming directly to the door, which obviously wants to force the Carthage fleet to fight with it.

Although many of his subordinates asked him to fight, they said: "The number of ships of the Dionian fleet in front of the port is less than that of our Carthage fleet, and we are fighting in front of our own door. It may be completely defeated, thereby regaining some decline..."

But Morbar still has concerns, so he has not made a decision.

But what he didn't expect was that the attack of the Dionian fleet had caused an uproar among the people of Carthage. Hundreds of elders, headed by Hanno, Preta Kuba, and Es Yaluba, came in person. Go to the military port and put the resolution passed by the Senate into his hands.

Morbar naturally couldn’t make any further excuses, but he already had a plan for combat, and ordered one by one. He soon led hundreds of warships that had slipped into the military port from the dry dock and sailed out one after the other. port.

The veterans then boarded the wall on the breakwater, ready to pay attention to this battle of vital importance to Carthage.

As soon as the first Carthage ship left the port, the Dionian Clippers, who were ordered to monitor the port, immediately issued a semaphore and were responsible for intercepting the Iberian Fleet’s Dionian 3rd Fleet, the 1st point The fleet warships tossed the enemy as if they were no longer playing, and began to make cruel moves. So one after another cargo ship was quickly smashed into the hull, and the white silver bricks followed the broken cargo ship and sank into the sea, letting The veterans who stood on the wall and watched all felt sorry. They also made the captain and crew of the Carthage battleship on the deck sailing out of the port and lined up angry, so some warships couldn’t wait to line up. , Rushed straight to the Dionia fleet to save their compatriots who were trapped in the siege.

Morbar, who left the port behind, saw this and coughed with anger. Since taking office, he has been paying close attention to the training and discipline of the newly formed fleet, hoping to compete with the Dionians, but obviously the time is too long. Short, the effect is not ideal. In this case, he had to use another pre-prepared combat plan in advance: "Notify Barricks and them, and follow us now!"