Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece Chapter 66: Military operations of the Carthage army on the south coast

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Mazara is a town established by Phoenicians. It has long been under the jurisdiction of Carthage. It is only more than 30 miles away from the city of Lilivi. However, the army of Carthage is slow, not only has a large amount of luggage, but Montead Nuo also brought some Carthaginian merchants and even prostitutes, so the team was bloated, and the formation was somewhat disorganized, and the marching speed was relatively slow.

The next day, the team continued to move forward and once again reached the city of Serenus, about 40 miles away from Mazara, at dusk.

Selinus was founded by Greek colonists and was once famous for its wealthy agriculture and fisheries in Sicily. During the Peloponnesian War, it clashed with Segesta, which is not far from it, in the northwest of it, and it became an incentive for the Athenian army to expedition to Sicily. In the subsequent long-term battle between Carthage and Syracuse, the pair of Greek colonial towns located in western Sicily and surrounded by Phoenician towns, Serinus and Segesta, was repeatedly captured. Most of its Greek residents fled to eastern Sicily, and most of the people who moved in later were Phoenicians. Therefore, when Dionian and Carthage signed an agreement, Daves agreed to put Serinus under the control. Carthage ruled.

On the third day, the Carthage army arrived at another town, Thermae, at dusk. Although the Carthage soldiers marching all the way were tired, their faces were very excited.

Just look at the name of this town and you will know that this place has hot springs. At the beginning, it was because there were hot springs in the Carlo Gero Mountain. The talents of Serinus built a village here. After the Carthaginians occupied this place and strengthened friendly exchanges with Dionia, the hot springs of Turri The baths inspired the Carthaginians from merchants, so they developed it vigorously and built several hot spring baths similar to Turei, attracting countless Carthaginians to enjoy the sulfur hot spring baths. The village quickly developed into a town.

The soldiers simply built the camp and went to bath in batches, and Monte Arderno even summoned a few women to accompany them in the bath.

The next day, the Carthage army after being washed by the hot springs, both the generals and the soldiers continued to march eastward in vigor and light.

In the afternoon, the army arrived at Heraclea—Minoa City. This is a Greek colonial city, located on the hills on the east bank of the Halicas River, overlooking the fertile lowlands on the west bank and surrounding the port to the east. Over the past ten years, this city-state has been in close contact with Dionia, and even because of its name, it has also established friendly and close ties with the city of Heraclea under the jurisdiction of the kingdom. Therefore, the Minoans rejected the Carthaginian's persuasion without hesitation.

Montadno had expected this, and he ordered the army to camp on the west bank of the Halicas River.

For the next three days, the Carthaginians were preparing for the siege, and the Carthage Clippers sent to explore the eastern coast returned news: Dionia sent no reinforcements to Minoa .

Monte Ardeno was suddenly determined and decided to launch a full-scale attack on Minoa City tomorrow.

But he didn’t know: The tribes of the West Kiel in the city of Enna, northwest of Minoa, in the center of Sicily’s inland center, had sent a thousand warriors. They were crossing the mountains, trekking the valley, and heading towards Mino. Ya come.

The next day, the Carthage army crossed the Halicars River and arrived under Minoan City, formed a battle line, surrounded Minoan City regiments, and then sounded the offensive bugle.

The city of Minoa is not large, and the population is not too large. There are less than 4,000 young and middle-aged citizens who can fight in the city. There is no moat in front of the city. The hill on which it is located is less than 150 meters high and has a slope. gentle. However, the Minoans completely obeyed the guidance of the team officer sent by Dionian. Not only did they set up a large number of traps, they also cut down all the trees on the hills, and even dug out rocks that could be used as offensive cover as a defense. Used to injure the enemy's stones.

Because of the existence of the hills, the large-scale siege equipment made by Carthage would not only cost more manpower to push to the front of the city, but also had to move very slowly. The ballista attack was also due to the long distance. , Accuracy and power were greatly reduced, so the Numibian soldiers who were the main offensive force carried the ladder and rushed to the forefront. As a result, they were deeply troubled by traps.

Moreover, the Minoans pushed down towards the densely attacked area of ​​the city's Carthage army, and pushed down a round of polished boulders. The stones rolled down the mountain, crushing many Numibian soldiers along the way. , And even crashed into the siege equipment, which eventually caused the siege troops to retreat...

After Monte Arderno learned of the battle in the big tent, he was not in a hurry and ordered the troops to regroup and continue the offensive.

Seeing the low morale of the Numibian soldiers slowly marching towards Minoa City, the anxious Millefio broke into the big tent and asked Monte Arderno to send the holy regiment he led The troops were sent to serve as the main offensive, but the commander refused. He spoke earnestly and persuaded: "It will not be possible to succeed in attacking a city with such a dangerous terrain and strong defense in one or two days. We must be patient! Our Holy Legion troops. The citizens of Carthage, and even the Phoenician soldiers of the allies have precious lives and cannot be consumed in the long and arduous siege. However, the Numibians are not only crowded, but also lowly, and they die. Just come in a batch, which is also conducive to the stability of Numibia..."

Miller Fio silently.

In the afternoon, the Carthage army attacked the city and began a brutal ant-attacking attack on the city.

When the battle progressed to the heat, the trumpet sounded outside the northern city of Minoa and behind the battlefield. Thousands of Sikel soldiers rushed out of the mountains to the north and slew the Carthage army that was fighting fiercely.

The negligent Monte Arderno was affected by the information reported by the Clippers. After the start of the siege, neither spies nor scouts were sent to investigate the enemy situation around the battlefield, nor was there a special preparation for guarding behind the siege troops. Troops, especially north of Minoan City.

Sikel warriors only wear cloth robes and hold spears and javelins, so they are fast. They climbed the hills and ran down to the city in a blink of an eye. They attacked the Numibian soldiers who were attacking the city with all their strength. Their morale was low. The tall Numibians were suddenly defeated.

The defeat of the Numibians outside the North City soon affected the troops in other directions. The soldiers shouted in panic: "The enemy's reinforcements are coming! The enemy's reinforcements are coming!..." rushing down the mountain, The speed even surpassed the Sikerians who were chasing them. These mountain people watched with stunned thousands of Numibian soldiers escaping through the Harikas River like a tide, and even came to stop them in a rush. The Carthaginian troops fled into the camp together.

Milefio took the holy cavalry and infantry, bypassed the ruined soldiers, and went to block the enemy's reinforcements. As a result, he found that these simple equipment and a small number of enemies did not enter Minoan City, but swiftly. Ran into the mountains again.

The dignified Carthage's tens of thousands of troops were repelled by only a thousand people from the West Kell Mountain! Philomeo felt extremely ashamed and angry in his heart.

However, Monte Arderno was calm. In his opinion: Although the Westkel’s attack caused the defeat of the siege troops, the casualties were not large (less than 1,000 people). For a siege of this scale, it is nothing at all. On the contrary, the attacks of the Sikais are exposing the intentions of the Dionians. As long as the Carthage army strengthens its guard, it is impossible for the Sikais to cause any losses to the army.

After listening to Monte Arderno’s comfort, Millefio returned to the camp, feeling uneasy. He vaguely felt that Monte Arderno was not enterprising enough and that he was not capable of commanding such a huge army, so he Immediately wrote to his father-in-law Hanno, expressing his concerns to him.

Two days later, a Clipper from Carthage brought Hanno’s handwritten letter. In the letter: Hanno warned Monte Arderno to go all out to deal with this war and get some results as soon as possible. Let the Senate know that he had made the right decision to appoint Monte Arderno as the commander-in-chief of the army!

At the same time, he also warned Monte Adeno: Don’t be negligent and let the army suffer losses! Otherwise, even if some people in the Senate did not impeach him, he would not be able to face the anger of the people!

After reading the letter, Monte Arderno felt the pressure, and finally he was no longer drunk in the big tent, he personally rectified the army, and directed the soldiers to launch an attack on Minoa.

The Minoans seized the two or three days of rest and rearranged the defensive facilities that were destroyed by the Carthaginians, once again causing great trouble to the Carthaginian army.

During the Carthage's siege of the city, the Sikelians wandered on the edge of the battlefield, harassing from time to time, and on one occasion they almost burned the Carthage camp. Although Monte Arderno had been prepared for this, and the damage it caused was not great, they restrained a lot of the energy of the Carthaginians. In the Carthage army, not only the cavalry, but even the infantry came from the plains and deserts of Africa, and there was nothing to do with the West Kael troops, which had no mountainous feet.

After meditation, Monte Arderno remembered the Sikan people living in the mountains of western Sicily, attached to the Carthaginians, so he sent someone to order Lilibo’s Semimre to organize quickly A Sikan army was sent to Minoa to fight.

The news that "a thousand Sikel soldiers defeated the 40,000 siege army of Carthage" also reached the ears of the commander of Dionia Sicily, Leonia Sicily, who was closely following the battle in Katane. , Let him also feel surprised.

After inquiring about the entire battle in detail, he stared at the map, lost in thought.

After a long time, he took out the information given to him by the intelligence department about the Carthage army and read it several times, and finally made up his mind.

Soon, the governor of Sicily, Cipros, hurriedly arrived during the war: "Master Proseus, came to me in such a hurry, has the situation of the war changed?!"