ancient greece mediterranean ruler

Chapter 968 Morbar
Of course, there were no noises in the meeting place. The elders of the Hanoi faction repeatedly mentioned that Marco, the military commander, feared the enemy and avoided the battle. They all surrendered to the enemy and deserved to be severely reprimanded.

In addition, some senators carefully proposed: Judging from the current signs, Dionia may have pacified Rome and Samona in the north, and is concentrating all its efforts to deal with our Carthage. The scale of the war will continue to expand, and the national strength will continue to expand. The consumption is also increasing. If it continues, Carthage will be unable to support it. It is better to... have peace talks with Dionia.

This type of proposal did not stir up much excitement at the meeting, because the knowledgeable people in the Senate realized that Carthage had reached the most critical moment, as Aisiyaroba said: " This war with Dionia is related to the future destiny of Carthage. We must try our best to win this war! Even if we want to negotiate peace, we must use war to force the other party to take the initiative to negotiate peace. Only in this way, Carthage Ji will not lose his own interests!"

On the second day, Asyaruba rushed to Utica in person, met with Morbar, and told him about the difficulties Carthage was facing now, and how the senators and people urgently hoped that he would come back and lead the navy out of the predicament. to save Carthage.

Out of love for Carthage and a strong sense of responsibility, the old man over seventy years old agreed to be the commander of the navy.

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Mago's seduction plan failed. The main force of Dionysia stood firm in Minoa and the surrounding hills. Lizaru's troops were still entrenched in Enna. Due to the bloody lessons of the small town of Paragonia before, Mago He did not take the initiative to launch a strong attack on the Dionian camp on the mountain. At the same time, taking into account the difficulties in military food supply, he did not allow Hasdroba to lead his army back to Kefalotian. Therefore, although there was a large army gathered in western Sicily, Stay calm.

In the east, the war situation was equally calm, but the people in Syracuse felt nervous. Although both Dionysian troops were busy building camps and building siege equipment and did not launch an attack, the Syracuse people Know this: Once the attack starts, it will be fierce.

In terms of the navy, the new Carthage fleet in Sardinia received an order from the Senate. Annobas did not dare to disobey it and led the fleet back south before the Dionian fleet started cruising in the early morning.

A day later, Midorades noticed this sign and immediately sent a clipper to inform Sicily of his speculation (that the Carthaginian fleet had given up its defense of the Sardinian waters).

After receiving the news, Davos did not immediately ask the Third Fleet to give up harassing Sardinia and go south to Sicily to strengthen the navy, because these days, new warships from Magna Graecia are constantly joining the Sicilian fleet, making this fleet The number of warships in the fleet has soared to 300, and it is still increasing. It is fully capable of meeting the challenge of the Carthaginian navy alone.

Seclian led the main force of the reinforced Sicilian fleet to re-station at the port of Selinus and began a comprehensive blockade of the western waters of Sicily.

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Annobus welcomed a guest at his mansion in Carthage.

Anobasi, who had already closed the door and thanked the guests, heard the visitor's name from the slave's mouth, but immediately went out to greet him and respectfully welcomed him in.

Entering the living room, Morbar put the wooden stick aside, sat unceremoniously on the main seat, and asked: "I heard that you will be questioned by the Senate tomorrow?"

"Yes, teacher." Annobas responded respectfully with joy in his heart.

"I said, don't call me teacher. Although I taught you how to command operations when you were the captain of the flagship, that is the inheritance that the Carthage Navy should have. I treat every flagship captain like this. I did it." Morbar said unceremoniously: "I will not go to the Senate to intercede for you, and I don't have so much time. I am here just to ask you, what are the combat characteristics of the Dionia fleet? After all, you have fought with them several times, so you should have a deep understanding of them."

Although Annobas was a little disappointed, he did not show it on his face. Instead, he told the story of the two naval battles he personally commanded (of course, for the naval battle in Sardinia, in order to match the content of the battle report, he misrepresent the facts).In addition, he also recounted the Battle of Theeadium and the sneak attack on the East Phoenician fleet, two naval battles that he did not participate in but had some knowledge of.

Morbar listened very carefully and did not interrupt Annobas' story from beginning to end. However, the grooves on his face became more and more deep, and in the end his two sparse white eyebrows were almost twisted together. , he touched his beard, pondered for a long time, and then said: "Listen to what you said, what the Dionians adopted is a brand new tactic."

"Yes, old...well, in my opinion, the Dionia fleet likes to use gang-hopping tactics as the main method, supplemented by collision, while other city-states in the Mediterranean, including our Carthage navy, mainly use collision , supplemented by gang-hopping, they are completely opposite to ours. But different from ordinary gang-hopping tactics, the so-called 'crow warship' of the Dionian Navy uses a wooden bridge with a peculiar structure, which can be used flexibly It steadily connects with the warships approaching it from all directions, allowing the gang-hopping tactics to be brought into full play..."

When Morbar heard this, he immediately pointed out: "Since the Dionysians installed wooden bridges on their warships, it will inevitably increase the weight of the warship, destroy its balance, and the speed and flexibility of the warship will also be reduced. Have you ever Have you formulated effective tactics to address these two points?”

Annobas was choked for words, and then he defended: "Although I have only fought two battles with Dionia in person, they were all tactics designed to deal with the shortcomings of the Dionia warship! Unfortunately, the 1st The first time, I wanted to use the wind and waves on the sea to help our navy, but I didn't expect it to cause a storm; and the second time, I wanted to lead the Dionian fleet to the open sea, through front and rear attacks and the better control capabilities of our warships. Come to defeat them, but in the end they were discovered by the other party..."

Morbar said nothing.

Annobas was convinced, and then said: "The Dionysians may also be aware of the shortcomings of their fleet, so they have another kind of warship, which is smaller than the usual 3-layer oar warship, but faster. , more flexible, assisting the Crow Warship in battle, making up for its clumsy weaknesses... These are the tactical characteristics of the Dionian Navy, but what deserves our attention more is that although some people in the Senate think that 'Dionysian Navy' The Nian Navy has only been established for more than ten years, and it is far from being comparable to the long tradition of our navy. However, I think their fleet is well-trained and their ship-operating skills are not weaker than ours, and the cooperation between warships is also quite tacit. , they usually use a seemingly messy offensive ship formation, which can cause chaos in the opponent's ship formation after a battle, but they can cooperate and protect each other in the melee. This is impossible without long-term training. Arrived.

Also... I think the Dionian Navy should, like us, have a complete set of signal communications when sailing at sea, so they can quickly make adjustments when they are attacked and unexpectedly...

In addition, it is worth noting that the morale of the Dionian fleet is very high. In the raid of the Phoenician fleet and the naval battle in Sardinia, the Dionians were at a disadvantage at the beginning, but They were able to turn defeat into victory in the end, which has a lot to do with it..."

Annobas talked non-stop, trying his best to tell all the great things he knew about the Dionysian navy. Of course, he also implicitly explained to Morbar: During his tenure as the commander of the navy, The reason why he failed to win was not only because he was not lucky enough, but also because his opponent was too powerful. He still hoped that the respected Morbar could speak a fair word for him in the Senate.

After listening to Annobas' story with a solemn expression, Morbar still didn't speak. He picked up the wooden stick, stood up and walked out.

After all, Annobas had stayed with Morbar for several years and understood his character. He did not say anything to persuade him to stay, but sent him out respectfully.

Morbar walked out of the gate, stopped, and said seriously to Annobas: "In Sardinia, it was a serious mistake for you to form a circular formation to meet the enemy! And lying about military information is even more wrong!"

Annobas was shocked in his heart, and his hands and feet suddenly became cold: It turns out that this old guy had already found out the details from others in advance, but he came here to talk about his own words again!
"But if I were you, I would probably have formed a circular formation under the circumstances...Other than this, there is nothing wrong with the tactics and strategies you implemented when you were the commander of the navy..." Morbar The next words sounded like fairy music in Annobas's ears.

Morbar raised his wooden staff, knocked Annobas hard on the shoulder, and warned him: "When you are questioned by the Senate tomorrow, tell everything honestly, and I will also express my opinions. I believe Anyone with any sense can make a rational judgment about right and wrong."

Annobas was overjoyed. He did not hesitate and immediately expressed his stance: "Thank you, teacher! I will definitely tell the details of all the battles truthfully!"

In fact, Morbar did not appear in the Senate on the second day, but he wrote a letter and sent it to the venue. In the letter, he defended Annobus's failure from a military perspective and hoped that this would A defeated general can become his assistant and assist him in fighting the increasingly powerful Dionian navy.

Morbar's prestige and Hanno's maintenance allowed Annobas to finally escape the punishment of the Senate.

Morbar, who did not attend the meeting, was dragging his old body and leading his men to travel between Carthage and several neighboring city-state ports to learn about the progress of newly built warships and recruit experienced sailors.

　Thanks to Windblown Summer for the tip!Your support is my motivation to write! !

　　
　
(End of this chapter)