Novels online

Chapter 1005

Lili Bay was a military fortress. It was originally built to deal with the powerful army of Dionysius, the tyrant of Syracuse. Therefore, half of the city was occupied by military camps. There were a total of three military camps, located in the southeast, northwest, and southwest of the city. When Lili Bay was first built, there were 30,000 soldiers stationed in the city. After signing a peace agreement with Diónia, the number of soldiers stationed in Lili Bay decreased year by year. At its lowest, there were only 1,000 soldiers. After the war with Diónia, the number of defenders soared again to more than 10,000.

After Margo led his army to land in Sicily, he transferred many soldiers from the city. There were about 10000 soldiers in Lili Bay, of which 2,000 were Carthage soldiers, and the other 8,000 were Numibians. It seemed like a lot, but their main source was the troops that had suffered a crushing defeat in the previous battle with Diónia. Their morale was low, and there was a big gap in their organization. Margo replaced them in Lili Bay, hoping that Imisere could reorganize and train them to restore their morale.

Imisere faithfully carried out this order. Up until now, he had done a good job and had gained some reputation among the defenders. He was now riding to the southwest barracks. This barracks was next to the port, and there were 2,000 Carthage soldiers living in it.

The port of Carthage was connected to the city, and was not separated by an inner wall. This made the transportation and trade of goods in the city more convenient, and also reflected the confidence of a powerful country in the western Mediterranean. As for Lili Bay, as a military fortress, not only was the port separated from the city, but the inner wall was not just a sentry post. It was a real city wall, tall and sturdy, with many towers. It was no different from the outer city wall.

By the time Imisere rushed to the barracks, the soldiers in the barracks had already gathered. However, a few young Carthaginian generals ran to the field in a panic. They did not bring their helmets, and their armor was incomplete.

Imisere was a little dissatisfied, but he did not reprimand them. Instead, he eagerly asked the team officers in charge of gathering the troops, "What happened at the port?!"

"Just now, the sentries came to report that Diónia had disguised themselves as our Carthage fleet and sneaked into the port. They are attacking the port, but they … don't seem to have many people, and they are not wearing armor …" said a team officer.

Hearing this, Imisere was a little relieved. He ordered: the heavy infantry immediately enter the port and destroy the enemy invading the port; the light infantry go to the top of the city wall and attack the enemy and the enemy ships in the port.

After giving the order, he was still a little worried, so he sent the messenger to inform the other two barracks to gather the soldiers and go to the top of the city wall to defend.

Even though the Diónia fleet had sneaked into the port, Imisere was still confident in the port's defense. So, he had the illusion that Diónia had sent so few troops to attack the port to Bay just to attract the defenders' attention. The real attack was on.

When the team officers went to carry out the order, Imisere criticized the young generals, "Lord Margo did not want you. He said that you only know how to talk big and completely lack the ability to lead troops. So, he threw you to me. Now is the chance for you to prove yourself. Fight bravely! Fight for the honor of the Carthage nobility! Don't let others look down on your family because of this! … "

The generals said yes. They would never let the governor down!

Imisere watched them put on their armor with the help of the servants. He felt a little regretful. He did not strictly train them in the city before. When it came to the real battle, he found that they were so weak.

Fortunately, he listened to Margo's advice and promoted the experienced and brave civilians to mid-level team officers. Usually, he mainly relied on them to lead the troops in training.

The southwest barracks were built near the gate leading to the city from the port. Imisere quickly went to the top of the city wall. The sentries had already set up burning torches on the battlements, so he could directly overlook the situation at the port. It was already chaos. Countless people were screaming and fleeing, many of them naked. Dozens of Diónia soldiers with leather shields and daggers were driving them to the gate. There were already many people gathered under the city wall. They were desperately knocking on the gate, loudly begging the guards to open the gate and let them in. On the pier, there were dozens of Diónia soldiers escorting some people, forcing them to board the docked cargo ships.

"Sir, there are too many people in front of the gate! If we open the gate now, they will all rush in. The soldiers under the city wall will not be able to stop them. It is very likely that these Diónia people will also rush in together with them. "One of the team officers said worriedly.

A young Carthage general immediately retorted, "What's there to worry about? There are only a few enemies. Even if we let them into the city, they will only be here to die."

Imisere, on the other hand, was deep in thought. If the Diónia people rushed into the city with the crowd and fled in the dark, it would not be easy to kill them. Moreover, there were so many people in the port area. Who knew if there were spies from Diónia among them? What if they came to the city to wreak havoc?

As a military town, the city of Lili was strictly controlled. In the beginning, only the guards, their families, officials and their families, as well as military support personnel such as blacksmiths, carpenters, and craftsmen could live in the city. During times of peace, due to the prosperity of trade, the nobles of Carthage were allowed to buy land and live in the city. However, there was always a rule that was upheld: other than the army and the residents of Lili, no one else could enter the city without permission.

It was precisely because of the strict control of the people entering and leaving the city that the security of the city was very high. Therefore, the protection of some of the facilities in the city was a little lax. Although most of the supplies had been transported to the camp of Carthage's army, if it was on fire, Imisere's days would not be easy. The interrogation of the Senate, the questioning of Margo …

Imisere's hesitation was seen by another young general. He immediately suggested, "Sir, there are not many enemies. We can let the light infantry attack from the city wall."

Imisere was a little hesitant. After all, he was the governor of Lili. Not only did he have to destroy the enemies, but he also had to manage the whole city. However, there were not many people in Diónia, and they were mixed in with the people. Moreover, it was night time now. If arrows and javelins fell, the casualties would only be the people of Lili, and it would lead to more chaos. If there were more casualties, it would be very troublesome to deal with the aftermath. It would also affect the operation of the entire port. The gains did not make up for the losses.

"Go and inform General Ragnaca of the Northwest Barracks. Ask him to bring his troops here immediately. When the time comes, open the city gate and attack the people of Diónia in the port!" After thinking about it, Imisere finally gave the order. He thought that the 4,000 soldiers of the Northwest Barracks, plus the 1,000 soldiers under the city wall, would be enough to break through the congested city gate.

"Sir, it's too late. When Ragnaca arrives with his troops, there will be more casualties in the port!" The young general reminded anxiously.

Imisere glared at him impatiently. According to his judgment, if the people of Diónia went on a killing spree, the people would flee in all directions. The problem of the blocked city gate would be solved, and the trick of the people of Diónia would fail. Therefore, they would not do that.

So he said coldly, "Please remember, I am the governor of this city!"

After saying this, Imisere no longer paid attention to the young Carthage generals. Instead, he gave an order to the light infantry officers, "Your task now is to attack the ships of Diónia in the port with arrows!"

"Sir, the ships of Diónia are too far away. They are out of our shooting range!"

At this time, Imisere turned his gaze to the bay. Sure enough, he vaguely saw that the ships on the sea were leaning against the side of the natural breakwater. From this side of the city wall to the other side of the natural breakwater was about 300 meters. Even if the city wall was more than 10 meters above the sea, the archers' shooting range could not reach that far. Therefore, they still had to rely on the long-range attacks from the opposite city wall and the shore.

Imisere was puzzled. Why were there no torches on the opposite city wall? What were the soldiers in the opposite barracks doing?!

Imisere looked diagonally ahead. He was standing further away from the barracks on the natural breakwater. If it were not for a few flickering torches, he might not even be able to find the location of the barracks. As the screams of the people below the city wall were too loud, they completely covered the faint sounds of fighting and screams coming from the barracks on the opposite shore. In addition, Imisere had never thought that the enemy would land on the natural breakwater, which was impossible to land on. Therefore, he did not think that the barracks on the opposite side had already been attacked. He now thought that the soldiers were only slowly running out of the barracks because they wanted to sleep.

As the soldiers in the barracks were all sent by the Southwest Barracks, the officers on the city wall did not dare to defend them when they saw Imisere's displeased expression. Besides, they had just arrived at the city wall and did not know the situation well.

Imisere did not continue to criticize them, because his attention was completely attracted by the lighthouse further west. He had been in Lili for a few years, and he was quite familiar with the way the lighthouse guards lit up oil lamps at night and used the unique shaking of the lamps to inform the port officials of the situation of foreign ships in the port. However, he had never seen a situation like this: a burning lighthouse flame was set up high beside the burning flame.

"What does this mean?" he asked, his finger pointing there.

No one could answer.

He began to feel uneasy and asked again, "Have the chains on the port water gates been lowered?"

Still, no one could answer. As the opening and closing of the water gates were only operated by the lighthouse personnel, there were no sentries stationed in the towers on the artificial breakwater at night.