Chapter 1008
Leotychides was also on the flagship of the Third Fleet. As he was the one who proposed and planned this night attack to the King of Devers, and he had a better understanding of Lili City through the interrogation of the Carthage captives, Leotychides still appointed Leotychides as the temporary commander of this operation, even though Martonis, the Second Legion's commander, was more senior than him in the army.
As soon as Leotychides entered the port, he kept observing the surrounding environment and compared it with the information revealed by the Carthage captives. The entire bay of the port was surrounded by walls that were more than 10 meters high, and there was a tower about 40 meters between the walls. Under the illumination of the clusters of torches at the top of the wall, Carthage's soldiers could be seen everywhere. If the Second Legion had not taken down the natural breakwater, the warships that entered the port would have been attacked by fire arrows from all directions.
However, even if they had successfully invaded the port of Lilybe and successfully seized the lighthouse, Leotizides did not think that the Dionysian army would be able to conquer Lilybe within a day. Therefore, his initial plan was to attack the port of Lilybe at night and destroy it so that the Carthaginians would not be able to use it to transport supplies and soldiers for the army in a short period of time.
But later, the King of Devers wrote back that he wanted to try his best to take down Lili City, and at the end of the order, he wrote that Sykerian might have a way to take down the city.
What could Sykerian, who was good at naval warfare, do to attack a city on land?! Leotychides kept thinking about this question. His eyes turned to the natural breakwater in the west. The warships of the Sicilian Fleet were docked by the embankment, and countless soldiers were gathered on the embankment. Most of them were waiting in formation, and only a few soldiers were running to the lighthouse under the leadership of the team officers. At the same time, there were soldiers carrying their wounded comrades out of the lighthouse. The orders of the team officers rang from time to time on the walls of the embankment, and there were also countless shadows moving. Further ahead, flames rose from the walls, illuminating the arrows flying in the air and the soldiers in black helmets and armors carrying black logs as they prepared to cross the wall of fire.
Seeing this, Leotychides could not help but break into a cold sweat. In his opinion, capturing the tower gate was indeed the key to unlocking the defenses of Lili City, but the walkway was too narrow for the troops to spread out. Once Carthage strengthened the defenses there, it would be difficult to take it in a short period of time, unless there was a miracle! Sigh … Time was running out!
"Go and ask where Sykerian is," Leotychides said softly to his adjutant, Tagrou.
Tagrou immediately asked several warships of the Sicilian Fleet that were passing by. The crew gave the same answer, "Sir Sykerian is at the port."
… …
The members of the Mountain Reconnaissance Brigade didn't understand why they were ordered to capture all the workers at the dock, but at the same time, they had to try their best to not hurt anyone.
Despite their doubts, the Mountain Scouts still carried out the order faithfully. In fact, the task was easy to complete because the laborers were gathered at the port, ready to unload the cargo. When the lighthouse guard rang the alarm, more than a dozen cargo ships at the front were already approaching the pier. The Mountain Scouts crawled out of the linen and quickly jumped ashore. The laborers gathered at the port were captured before they could figure out what was going on.
Under the watch of the ten Mountain Ridge scouts, the laborers were escorted to the side of the pier. Then, they saw the Dionians wielding sharp blades and creating chaos in the port area. They were all frightened and did not dare to move a muscle.
At this moment, the Diónia soldiers who had been staring at them like fiends suddenly straightened their bodies and beat their left chests with their right fists, shouting, "Sir Sykerian!"
"Brothers, you've worked hard!" Following this deep voice, a group of people appeared in front of the laborers. The person in the lead was wearing a black helmet with a purple and red crown and a black breastplate. His sharp eyes slowly swept across the faces of the laborers.
The laborers lowered their heads in fear.
"Are all the laborers at the port here?" Sykerian asked in a deep voice.
"Except for a few who didn't listen to our advice and tried to resist and escape … We stabbed them down," the Mountain Scouts replied.
Sykerian took off his helmet and handed it to his subordinate. Then, he strode toward the laborers.
The laborers were so frightened that they lowered their heads even more.
Sykerian stopped in front of a thin and weak young laborer. His voice suddenly became hoarse, "Setonus, raise your head. Look at who I am!"
When the laborer heard this voice, his body trembled. He subconsciously raised his head, only to see the man in front of him with a hunched back and lowered eyelids. He looked at him with lifeless eyes.
"Phocos! You're Phocos! You're still alive! That's great! " The young laborer shouted and jumped in joy. He could not help but reach out to grab Sykerian.
The soldier who followed Sykerian cautiously blocked his hand. The young laborer immediately woke up from his excitement. He looked at Sykerian and the soldiers around him in surprise. He became anxious again.
"Don't worry. They're my saviors!" Sykerian straightened his body and spoke to the soldiers beside him. He asked them to stand further away and not worry about his safety.
Then, when he turned to the labourers again, the labourers, who had been sneaking curious glances at him, lowered their heads again.
He said softly with a sincere expression, "I'm Phocos. I'm also the commander of Diónia's Sicilian fleet, Sykerian. You all know that the storm destroyed Carthage and many of Diónia's warships. I was also blown to the vicinity of Port Lili. If not for your care, I might not have lived until today. You're my saviors! … "
Sykerian's sincere words caused a commotion among the laborers. The young laborer called Setonus could not help but ask, "You … You're really Sykerian?! The Sykerian who's known as the 'Undefeated General of the Sea'?! "
"With so many Diónia soldiers here, would I dare to lie?!" Sykerian laughed.
"Oh my god, I actually lived with the noble General Sykerian who was favored by Poseidon for a period of time. It's unbelievable!" Setonus became excited again.
"General Sykerian, you know that we're not Carthage's people. When you were at this port … we were also friendly with you. You … You won't let these soldiers hurt us, right?!" An older laborer mustered up his courage and asked.
"Uncle Argus … General Sykerian is such a good soldier. How would he hurt us?!" Setonus immediately defended him.
Sykerian continued with a smile, "Of course I won't hurt you, who have suffered and gone through hardships with me! On the contrary, I'll apply to His Majesty the King to let you join the Kingdom of Diónia! I believe you all know that becoming a citizen of Diónia allows you to obtain land, serve in the military, and obtain public office. It's far better than being bullied by the people of Carthage here! "
"If it weren't for the soldiers of Lilibe watching us every day, we would've found a chance to leave this place! Sir Sykerian, we're willing to follow you to Diónia! "A laborer immediately responded loudly. The rest of the laborer nodded in agreement.
Sykerian was not surprised by the laborer's reaction. Having lived here for some time, he knew that among the laborer, there were Greeks, Greco-Phoenicians, and Numibians. However, there were no pure Phoenicians or Carthage's people. These laborer had no sense of belonging to Carthage.
Thinking of this, he said loudly, "According to the Law of Diónia, if you want to become a citizen of Diónia as soon as possible, you must contribute to the kingdom. Therefore, I need your help to take down this town as soon as possible! "
"You want us to … attack Lilibe's city together?!" Setonus pointed at the towering city wall in front of him with a fearful look on his face.
The other laborer had similar thoughts. They were excited just a moment ago, but now they lowered their heads, not daring to make eye contact with Sykerian.
"Of course I'm not asking you to fight like our soldiers," Sykerian immediately denied. His gaze searched the crowd and finally landed on a middle-aged laborer with a wretched figure. "Karmilus, I once heard you unintentionally mention that there's a tunnel in the port area that leads to the city. Where is this tunnel?"
"Ah! You … When did you hear me say that? "Karmilus was shocked and subconsciously wanted to deny it.
"It was after I invited you to the tavern for a drink and you said it when you were drunk." Sykerian stared at him with a smile at the corner of his mouth.
This Karmilus had a bad habit of stealing and drinking. He often sneaked into the homes of the people in the port area late at night to steal and exchange the stolen items for alcohol. For this reason, he was caught twice by the port patrol and had one of his ears and one of his fingers cut off. The other laborer despised him and did not get close to him. Only Sykerian considered that this person often sneaked into the homes of the people in the port area and might know some secrets that others did not, so he had the intention to deal with him. He did not expect to actually obtain such a precious secret. He had always kept this matter in mind.
There's a tunnel in the port area that leads to the city?! When the laborer heard this, they were very shocked. Someone immediately expressed doubt. "Karmilus, you're lying, right? We've never heard of this before. How is this possible?!"
"With your status, how could you possibly know such an important secret?!" When Karmilus heard the doubt, he immediately felt that others were looking down on him. Instead, he straightened his chest and proudly retorted, "I risked my life to obtain this important secret."
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