ancient greece mediterranean ruler

Chapter 983
Of course, the Saint Ibinians did not relax their vigilance. When the Dionian fleet infantry climbed up the river bank and appeared in this relatively flat hilly area, they were discovered by the Saint Ibinian sentries who were on guard. They immediately He informed the city of the terrible news.

The people of St. Ibinia were in panic and ran into the city to take shelter.However, the Mano River is only more than 10 miles away from the city of Santa Ibenia, which is not too far away. As a metal processing center, there are smelting fields everywhere outside the city, and some of them are even built directly a few miles away. Under the mountains (so it is convenient to obtain wood), when the infantry of the Dionia fleet rushed out of the city, there were still many people working in smelters and mines and slaves who failed to escape into the city in time. A small number of them captured them, while most of the soldiers bypassed the city of Santa Ibinia and went straight to the port on the Temo River.

The port is not connected to the city of Santa Ibinia. Although the lower reaches of the Temo River are different from the Manno River in that there is some flatter land on both sides of the river bank that can be developed into a port, the Temo River is different from the city built on hills. The city of Ibinia has a height difference of tens of meters, so the St. Ibinias only built a wide flat stone road connected to the port to facilitate the transportation of goods.

The infantry of the Third Fleet followed the road and arrived outside the port.

The port is so important, of course, it is also protected by a city wall. Although the focus of its defense is on the river mouth to prevent the fleet from entering the sea, there is also a city wall on the side close to the city, but there are no watchtowers and moats, and Dio Niah came too fast, and the panicked Saint Ibenians were busy fleeing into the city. As a result, there were not many defensive personnel in the port, but the defenders still climbed to the top of the city and resisted tenaciously.

The fleet infantry took a dozen ladders brought from warships, set them on the city wall of the port and began to attack.

After fighting for more than ten minutes, about 100 sailors from the five cargo ships that entered the port earlier suddenly gathered, took out the weapons hidden on the cargo ships, and began to attack the defenders in the port.

The Saint Ibinians were caught off guard. Under attack from inside and outside, the Dionysian army quickly invaded the port, and successfully occupied the breakwater and towers at the mouth of the river, and raised the wooden gate to block the river. , the 160 warships of the Dionian fleet that were already staying in the nearby sea (after the naval battle, the 3rd Fleet was supplemented by some new warships, causing the number of its warships to increase instead of decreasing) and successfully squeezed into the port. .

As soon as the enemy was discovered, the St. Ibinians immediately sent messengers on horseback to rush south to ask for help.

The nearest Phoenician town to St. Ibinia is Tharros, which is located on the central coast of the west coast of Sardinia. It not only has an excellent port, but also has fertile river plains. It is a short distance from the city of St. Ibinia. It's about 70 miles. Although there are mountains in the middle, the road near the sea is relatively flat.

In the past, Saint Ibinia's metal output was large, but its river port had a small capacity, which often resulted in a backlog of goods. Later, under the coordination of the Carthaginian judges who were stationed in Sardinia and supervised the Phoenician city-states, Part of the precious metal cargo was transferred south to Saros, and then transported to Carthage through its port. For this reason, the Saros people also worked hard to build a wide and flat road connecting St. Ibinia, and also built a road on the Manliu River. Two wooden bridges.

It is precisely through the union with Saint Ibinia, coupled with its own good conditions, that through decades of rapid development, Salos has become one of the top Phoenician towns on the island of Sardinia, not weaker than Calaris (Caralis, Caralis is a Phoenician town at the southernmost tip of Sardinia. It also has an excellent port and fertile river plains. In addition, because it is closest to Carthage across the sea, it is closely related to Carthage. There are more frequent trade exchanges between the islands), so since the Dionian fleet harassed Sardinia, the temporarily formed Phoenician coalition in the Phoenician towns on the island was stationed in the city of Salos. Before Carthage Key's new fleet is also stationed at the port of Saros, and its main purpose is to protect the safety of Saint Ibinia.

Hearing that the Dionians were actually attacking Saint Ibinia, this coalition of [-] citizen soldiers from various Phoenician towns on the island immediately stepped on the flat road, marched north, and rushed to rescue.

On the way forward, I met the messenger from Saint Libinia again and got the latest news: The Dionians had occupied the river port and were still wreaking havoc on the smelting field outside the city.

The commander-in-chief of the coalition was a young nobleman from Carthage. He was originally a judge of Kalaris (citizen soldiers from other Phoenician towns were basically led by Carthaginian judges in that town). Hearing this The news is both worrying and exciting: the worry is that if St. Ibinia's metal production is significantly reduced due to the harassment and destruction of the Dionians, he, as the commander-in-chief of the Phoenician coalition, will inevitably be attacked by the Carthage Senate. He was reprimanded and might even lose the fat job of Sardinian judge and be ordered to return to Carthage; excitedly, he learned from the letter that the invading Dionysian army only had about 4000 to [-] people. If he could Arriving in time, defeating them should be easy. Counting his last victory, his outstanding performance will definitely attract the attention of the Carthage people and the Senate, laying the foundation for his future entry into the Senate.

Therefore, he gave the order without hesitation: let the whole army speed up.

In the afternoon, the Phoenician coalition finally arrived at the city of Saint Ibinia. After receiving the news, the infantry of the Dionysian fleet hurriedly gathered and began to retreat towards the Temo River.

The Phoenician forces were in hot pursuit.

On the river bank, the Dionia fleet infantry stopped retreating and began to form an array.

The Phoenician coalition also stopped pursuing, and also launched a formation 300 meters away, preparing to completely defeat the Dionian army through a frontal battle.

When the Phoenician soldiers were taking advantage of the formation to allow their very tired bodies to get a little rest after several hours of rapid marching, suddenly there was a commotion in the front of the army.

"Look! Dionia's heavy infantry! Where did they come from?!"

"We were fooled! The Dionian army has more than a few thousand people. They have hidden their heavy infantry in the river port!"

"Oh my God, these heavy infantry keep coming out, how many are there!"

……

The young commander of the Phoenician coalition had been watching the enemies in front while his own soldiers were arrayed. He was mainly worried that these Dionian troops, who were smaller than his own and were all lightly armored soldiers, would suddenly flee (he took Dion The infantry of the Nian fleet were regarded as light armored soldiers), but he suddenly saw that the newly formed Dionian army began to move to the right, giving way to the avenue leading to the river port from the city of Saint Ibinia, and then a team A neat line of Dionian legionnaires wearing black helmets and armor, holding spears and long shields appeared in front of him, and quickly followed the troops in front to move to the right.

The soldiers of the Dionian Army continued to emerge, and the length of the originally short Dionian Army Formation soon became close to that of the Phoenician Army Formation.

At this time, how could the commander-in-chief of the Phoenician coalition not know that this was a conspiracy of the Dionysians? This sudden change not only panicked the soldiers, why didn't he panic, but at this moment he complained that the Saint Ibinians were not careful Investigation, giving wrong information, resulting in his lack of preparation... These are all meaningless, and he has no time to think about where the Dionian regular army in front of him comes from, because according to the information he has received : The king of Dionia has led all the Dionia troops to fight the Carthaginian army led by Mago in Sicily.

At this moment, the first thought that came to his mind was to retreat, but he immediately gave up this idea, because if the coalition forces retreated, the Dionysians would definitely take advantage of the opportunity to attack the city of Saint Ibinia, which served as the Sardinian city. Asia's metal smelting center, the city's planning and construction are all to facilitate the collection, transportation, trade, and smelting of ore... It does not exist as a fortress town, and it is even inferior to the defense capabilities of ordinary towns. It is completely impossible. Withstand the attack of the Dionian army with so many soldiers.Once the city of Saint Ibinia is captured, he will definitely feel the anger of the Carthage Senate firsthand.

Moreover, the soldiers were already tired after several hours of fast marching, and it was a taboo to retreat before the battle. Once the Dionians launched an attack, it was likely to lead to the defeat of the entire army.

The only way he can think of now is: before the Dionysians get into position, there may be many soldiers under the river bank who have not been able to enter the battlefield, and if they quickly launch an attack, they may still have a chance to win.

So, he bit the bullet and issued the order to attack.

Half an hour later, the Carthaginian general's luck was shattered. The weak Phoenician coalition was defeated by the recharged Ninth Legion and fleet infantry. Some of the defeated Phoenician soldiers went to Saint Ibi. The city of Nia fled, and more people wanted to flee back to the city of Saros, but when they fled to the banks of the Manno River, they found that the two wooden bridges had been occupied by Dionian soldiers.

It turned out that just after the Phoenician coalition crossed the Manno River, the warships of the Third Fleet entered the mouth of the Manno River again, allowing two companies of Dionian Legion soldiers to climb ashore and occupy the only place on the Manno River. Two wooden bridges.

The return route was blocked, and the pursuers arrived later. Many Phoenician routs surrendered in despair, and some routs turned back and fled to the city of St. Iberia.

The St. Iberian people were very panicked when they heard the news of the disastrous defeat of the Phoenician coalition forces, thinking that the Dionian people would attack their town after the victory, but time passed by, and they could only keep fleeing. The Phoenician army was defeated, but the Dionian army was never seen, and they were all surprised.

(End of this chapter)