ancient greece mediterranean ruler

Chapter 967
Although what Mago said was too extreme, because making Annobas the naval commander and sending the fleet to guard Sardinia was actually not just the decision of the Hannoists, he was very right about one thing, Sicily and Carthage The connection with the base cannot be cut off, otherwise these more than 10 soldiers will be without military food supplies, and it will really be all over! ... Pomirka was in the army and was mainly responsible for logistics support. He knew that the army consumed a lot of food. Food supply was the most important reason for withdrawing troops from the east. Therefore, the more he thought about it, the more frightened he became, and he immediately said: "Ma Brother, I will write a letter with you to urge the Senate to immediately reorganize our fleet and make every effort to protect the sea routes between Sicily and Carthage!"

Mago's expression softened slightly, and he said bitterly: "Even if the Senate listens to our suggestion, whether our fleet can do it is another matter. Our current military rations can still last for about 10 days. After 10 days, we will Everyone’s lives are in the hands of the navy, which is really unacceptable!”

Bomilka felt bitter in his heart as he listened. He reminded loudly: "Master Mago, the best way for us to reverse our predicament is to defeat the main force of the Dionysian army and win the dominance of the Sicilian war!"

"It's easy to say, but you have also seen that I have been setting up a position 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."

Mago was both helpless and confused: "I have learned in detail about the battles that King Dionia participated in in the past. He is a decisive, bold, adventurous, and very confident person. In the earliest days, he was the leader of mercenaries. When Dionysius invaded Magna Graecia, it was clear that Dionysius had the advantage, especially in terms of cavalry. Still bravely fought against the people of Syracuse...

Not long ago, there was a war between Dionia and Rome. Rome was so far away from Dionia, and he actually led the army to launch an attack... Why does such a person who loves offense so much not dare to accept our challenge this time? ! "

"Could it be because the Dionysian army is not ready yet?" Bomirka thought for a while and said: "Or maybe it is because Kefaroitian's army is too close to here... Let the Dionysians Does the king have concerns?"

After hearing this, Mago felt a move in his heart. He put down his sword and muttered: "Maybe... we should let Hasdrubal withdraw all his troops to the territory of the Sican people and lure Dionia to the east. The army marches westward and occupies the empty Kefaloitian. In this way, the King of Dionysia feels that the north is safe, and maybe he will feel relieved to fight us? "

"What if the Dionians still can't hold on?" Pomilka said worriedly.

Ma Ge thought for a while, and said decisively: "Then we will surround the Dionia army in Kefaroition and force them to fight us in the mountains!"

"This is a good idea!" Pomirka's eyes lit up, but he reminded: "I'm afraid Akonis won't be willing to retreat from Kefaroity."

"The leader of Xikel who took the initiative to join us?!" Mago picked up the sword on the table and struck it hard with the sword: "This is not up to him. He has to retreat even if he doesn't!"

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After receiving Mago's order, Hasdrubal ignored Arconis's pleas and issued an order: all soldiers and all Sikelians should retreat westward.

Some Sikelians did not yield even though their families were in the hands of the Carthaginians, and they refused to enter the territory of their former enemies, the Sicans.

In response, Hasdrubal suppressed mercilessly, thus forcing most of the Sikelians to obey obediently.

During the retreat, the Carthaginians also completely destroyed the city of Cephaloity.

However, Lizaru, who received Davos's instructions, did not take the opportunity to lead the army westward. He still let the army stay in Enna, and at the same time continued to strengthen the city's defense.

The main force of Dionia stationed in the city of Minoa ignored the Carthaginians and formed formations in the mountains every day, and has been stepping up the construction of camps.

After listening to Daves's instructions, the engineers designed the camp as follows: the entire Dionia camp starts from the city of Minoa near the sea, along the entire hill, extending northwards to After the narrow lowland to the north (that is, the place where Leotizides let Agrigento break the army to lure the Carthaginian holy legions and finally defeat them), the camp turned to the northeast and continued along the continuous road. , not too high hills, finally ending 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 embrace, and is transported by the Catanai fleet. With sufficient supplies and sufficient water provided by Lake Gurgo, the Dionian army is ready for long-term defense.

Different from the situation in the west, in eastern Sicily Leotizides had led his troops to march towards Syracuse. After arriving at Leotini and joining the armies of the allies, the entire army was divided into two parts, with the main force consisting of the seventh , composed of the Eighth Legion, led by Leotizides himself, continued southward, over the mountains, and arrived near the great port west of Syracuse.

In addition, more than 8000 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 people of Syracuse have been paying close attention to the movements of the Dionians in the north. When they learned that another Dionian army had left the city of Catanai and arrived at Leotini, they were alertly aware This could be coming for Syracuse.

The news spread, and the people in Syracuse were panicked.

After the news was confirmed, the Syracuse Council realized that they had been fooled. These days, the democrats and centrists were arguing over the issue of "who should be responsible for irritating Dionia" and wasted a lot of time. , and didn't even prepare for defense.

In the face of life and death, Theagenis, Falekus and others had to put aside their differences and make every effort to deal with the coming attack of the cunning Dionians.They carried out emergency military mobilization for the citizens in the city, and at the same time sent cavalry to quickly notify the villages and towns outside the city, asking the people to immediately take their belongings and rush to the city to take refuge.

One day later, the sentry on the east wall first saw the enemy coming along the coastline.

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Reports of the disastrous defeat of the new fleet came back to Carthage, and the senators were shocked.

In this report, Annobas shifted the blame to Admika, saying that it was precisely because of Admika's slow action that the plan to attack from both sides failed to be implemented, and instead was defeated by the Dionian fleet one by one. .

Subsequently, the senators received a joint complaint from Mago and Pomirka.

Is it Annobas' command error or Admika's poor execution?

There was a debate among the senators. Although Hanno defended him, as the commander of the navy, Annobas could not escape the blame for his consecutive defeats.

Therefore, the debate did not last long, and the Senate passed a resolution to "remove Annobas from the post of naval commander and return him to the city for trial."

Carthage was born from the sea and prospered by the sea. Although they are now beginning to develop inland, the sea is still their foundation. Nowadays, the repeated failures of the Carthage navy have shown that Dionis The victory of the Asian fleet was no accident. It was a fact that Carthage's naval power was at a disadvantage. This not only put the 10 troops on Sicily in danger, but also began to threaten the survival of Carthage's basic city.

For the first time, all the senators actively and seriously discussed solutions to Carthage's maritime dilemma without selfish motives.

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

Although Annobas was impeached, it is undeniable that he is indeed an excellent naval general, so every candidate proposed by the senators was eliminated because his talent was not as good as his. In the end, Asyarubati The name of a person he mentioned made everyone not question his ability, but worry about his health.

Morbar, a Carthaginian nobleman and former senator of the Senate, participated in Carthage's naval battles against the Greek city-states on the northern coast of Italy when he was young. Later, he served as naval commander several times and led the war with Sicily headed by Syracuse. The battles between the Greek combined navies resulted in more wins than losses; he also bravely led the fleet along the route opened by his predecessors, westward past the Pillars of Heracles, southward along the coast, to the middle of the west coast of Africa, and He brought back some rare and exotic animals and a race with strange clothes and shiny black skin, and thus became a hero of Carthage; but later he became tired of Carthage's politics, and because of his old age, he voluntarily resigned from the Senate Courtyard, and retired to Utica.

After several senators who knew him confirmed that he was in good health, the senators unanimously agreed and sent envoys to Utica to inquire about the wishes of this old man who did not belong to any faction to see if he was willing to serve as the commander of the Carthaginian navy.

Secondly, the Senate discussed "whether 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 has been disabled and has not played any role. It does not make much sense to continue to stay in Sardinia. On the contrary, there is a danger of the entire army being annihilated.Now that the Dionysian army has also landed on Sicily, the pressure on the Carthage army has increased, and the problem of logistical supply has become even more prominent. It is necessary to ensure the smooth sea routes between Sicily and Carthage in order to ensure that the island The 10-strong army on the battlefield was able to fight with all its strength without any worries. This became the consensus of the Carthage elders.For this reason, they not only decided to bring back the remaining new fleet and invest it in the direction of Sicily, but also to integrate the newly launched warships into it, and at the same time urged the shipyards to speed up the construction of new warships.

　Thanks to Tianwai Yijian for cutting the clear turbidity and Sangucha for the reward!Your support is my motivation to write! !
　　
　
(End of this chapter)