Chapter 1011
While they were talking, a part of the Eighth Legion's light infantry had approached the city wall and fired arrows at the top of the city wall. Under their cover, the rest of the soldiers formed small teams and quickly moved forward. As there were no trenches or moats in front of the city wall, they quickly came to the bottom of the city wall. They raised their shields to defend against the attacks from the top of the city wall while putting scaling ladders on top of the city wall. The siege began …
The soldiers of the Legion of Dionysia concentrated on two parts of the city wall of the port area and launched an attack. One was at the tower gate at the southernmost part of the natural breakwater and the land. The soldiers of the Second Legion attempted to break through it and rush directly into the city wall walkway. The other was at the northernmost part of the city near the port. The Eighth Legion's main tactic was to besiege the city using the Ant Encirclement method. The distance between the two sides was about a mile. One of the Dionysian Army was on top of the city wall while the other was below the city wall. It was impossible for them to cooperate with each other. If the attack of the Second Legion was relatively fierce at the beginning, after receiving Leotychides's notice, the attacks of the two legions became more stable and less aggressive. Of course, the casualties of the soldiers had also decreased sharply.
Imisere, who was frightened at first, suddenly regained his confidence after seeing the soldiers repelling the Diónia soldiers. He even began to think that with about 8,000 soldiers on the city wall, they could easily repel the siege of the Diónia without the arrival of Margo's reinforcements.
Until a team officer ran to the top of the city wall in panic and reported to him, "Sir, there are many … many … Diónia soldiers … Diónia soldiers are attacking the city!"
Imisere slapped him hard in the face and roared angrily, "Are you out of your mind? The Diónia soldiers are on this side! If you continue to talk nonsense and shake the morale of the army, I will cut off your head! " Since the signing of the peace agreement with Diónia, Lilipi's maritime trade had become more and more prosperous, which had also led to more and more residents in Lilipi. However, due to the high threshold to settle in the city, many people from Cartegi and the Filipino allies chose to live in the port area. Since there were very few farmlands outside the city, they could not be self-sufficient in food. Hence, the demand was high, and they relied on maritime trade to solve the problem. Although they relied on the vast land of Lumibia and had sufficient food every year, the price of food was not low, and the competition was fierce. Lalala was also a member of the Hanlow family. He had settled in the port area of Lilipi 10 years ago and was mainly engaged in the grain trade. He had not gained much from the competition in the past few years, so he racked his brains to find other ways to make money. As, he found that the Chen Lei barracks had a very adequate supply of food at the end. It happened that the new commander was also a member of the Hanlow family. Of the two used to have a good relationship, so he came to discuss of cooperation. After Leodecides gave a solemn warning, he followed the guard captain into the warehouse. There were a lot of things piled up in the warehouse. In a corner in front of them, a dim light was flashing. Sekerian and seven or eight soldiers formed a circle, and there were also a few soldiers guarding two captives. Hearing the footsteps, Sekerian turned his head and looked back, then said proudly, "Prososus, come and see, I've brought you a good opportunity to make a great contribution!" Leodecides ignored his pride and strode over. The soldiers hurriedly made way for him. What appeared in front of Leodecides was not a dark hole as he had imagined, but more like a cellar. There were stone stairs, wall lamps, hard ground, stacked stone walls, and iron pillars supporting it. A straight underground passage led all the way to the dark front. Leodecides stood at the entrance of the passage, which was wide enough for three adults to walk side by side, and observed for a while before he stepped on the stone stairs and went up to the warehouse. The first sentence he said was, "Such a tunnel cannot be dug in a short period of time." Of course not. Sekerian looked disdainfully at the two Jia Taiji captives who were gagged. "This is the masterpiece of the greedy Jia Taiji merchants!" It turned out that the Mitochondria was first established by Hilmick and later modified by Brother Mago. Originally, it was to build a military defense system with him as the center to resist the attack of the Greek Cuza people. However, not long after, the Greek expansion was defeated by Diónia, and they lost their hegemony. Jia Taiji and Diónia then signed a peace agreement, and since then, Sicily was restored to peace, and the original defense plan was aborted. However, out of natural vigilance against Diónia, the fallen Greek nation, Lilypig, as a military city, still retained its status as a key military city. Along with it, a powerful garrison was also retained, but the number of public militia was greatly reduced. At this time, Jia Taiji was in a hurry to return to the country. Mago's family moved far away to Villa, and Hanlo was in power. Under his strong push, Jia Taiji began to advance inland and occupy the Lumibian land on a large scale. Jia Taiji was in a hurry, and the citizens were busy sharing the fruits of the war. No one was willing to be selected to defend Lilypig, even if it was just a rotation. Therefore, Jia Taiji gave Lilypig's garrison sufficient logistical support and extra pay, so that they could perform their duties with peace of mind. Even so, in the hearts of Jia Taiji's citizens, defending Lilypig's city was still a hard job. Seven years ago, a member of the Hanlo family was appointed as the general of Lilypig's garrison. He was unwilling to go, and even went to Hanlo to plead for him. In the end, he did not succeed, because the position of the general of Lilypig's garrison had become a big problem. None of the Jia Taiji nobles were willing to take up the post, and as the ruler, Hanlo, of course, had to set an example. He could only come to Lilypig with a stomach full of grievances. After just a few days, Lalala from the port area came to visit. After a secret conversation between the two, the general of the garrison's grievances were all gone, and he seriously performed his duties. After Leo Cides solemnly warned him, he walked into the warehouse with the captain of the guards. There were a lot of things piled up in the warehouse. In a corner in front of them, there was a dim light flickering. Sekerian and seven or eight soldiers formed a circle, and there were also a few soldiers guarding two captives. Hearing the footsteps, Sekerian turned his head to look, and then said proudly, "Prososus, come and see, I've brought you a good opportunity to make a great contribution!" Leo Cides ignored his pride and strode over. The soldiers hurriedly made way for him. What appeared in front of Leo Cides was not a pitch-black hole as he had imagined, but more like a cellar. There were stone steps, wall lamps, hard ground, stacked stone walls, and iron pillars supporting it. A straight underground passage led to the pitch-black front … Leo Cides stood at the entrance of the passage, which was wide enough for three adults to walk side by side, and observed for a while before he stepped on the stone steps and entered the warehouse. The first sentence he said was, "Such a tunnel cannot be dug in a short period of time." Of course not. Sekerian looked disdainfully at the two Ga Taiji captives next to him who were gagged. "This is the masterpiece of the greedy Ga Taiji merchants!" It turned out that the Mitochondria was first established by Hilmick, and later modified by Mago. Originally, it was to build a military defense system with him as the center to resist the attack of the Greek Cuza people. However, not long after, the Greek expansion was defeated by Diónia, and they lost their hegemony. Since then, Ga Taiji and Diónia signed a peace agreement, and peace was restored in Sicily. The original defense plan was aborted. However, out of natural vigilance against Diónia, the fallen Greek nation, Lilypig, as a military city, still retained its status as a military stronghold. It also retained a powerful garrison, but the number of public militia was greatly reduced. At this time, Ga Taiji was in a hurry to return to the country. Mago's family had moved far away to Villa, and Hanlo was in power. Under his strong push, Jia Tai began to advance inland and occupy the Lumibian land on a large scale. The citizens of Ga Taiji were busy sharing the fruits of the war, and no one was willing to be selected to defend Lilypig, even if it was just a rotation. Therefore, Ga Taiji gave the Lilypig garrison sufficient logistical support and extra pay, so that they could perform their duties with peace of mind. Even so, in the hearts of the citizens of Ga Taiji, defending Lilypig was still a hard job. Seven years ago, a member of the Hanlo family was appointed as the general of the garrison in Lilypig. He was unwilling to go, and even went to Hanlo to plead for him, but he did not succeed. This was because the position of the general of the garrison in Lilypig had become a big problem. None of the nobles of Ga Taiji were willing to take the post, and as the person in power, Hanlo, of course, had to set an example. He could only come to Lilypig with a stomach full of grievances. After just a few days, Lalala from the port area came to visit. After a secret conversation between the two, the general's grievances were all gone, and he seriously performed his duties. After Leo Cides solemnly warned him, he walked into the warehouse with the captain of the guards. There were a lot of things piled up in the warehouse. In a corner in front of them, there was a dim light flickering. Sekerian and seven or eight soldiers formed a circle, and there were also a few soldiers guarding two captives. Hearing the footsteps, Sekerian turned his head to look, and then said proudly, "Prososus, come and see, I have brought you a good opportunity to make a great contribution!" Leo Cides ignored his pride and strode over. The soldiers quickly made way for him. What appeared in front of Leo Cides was not a dark hole as he had imagined, but more like a cellar. There were stone steps, wall lamps, hard ground, stacked stone walls, and iron pillars supporting it. A straight underground passage led to the front of the pitch-black darkness … Leo Cides stood at the entrance of the passage, which was wide enough for three adults to walk side by side, and observed for a while before he stepped on the stone steps and entered the warehouse. The first sentence he said was, "Such a tunnel cannot be dug in a short period of time." Of course not. Sekerian looked disdainfully at the two Ga Taiji captives who were gagged next to him. "This is the masterpiece of the greedy Ga Taiji and merchants!" It turned out that the Mitochondria was first established by Hilmick, and later modified by Mago. Originally, it was to build a military defense system with him as the center to resist the attack of the Greek Cuza. Unexpectedly, not long after, the Greek expansion was defeated by Diónia, and they lost their hegemony. Since then, Ga Taiji and Diónia signed a peace agreement, and peace was restored in Sicily. The original defense plan was aborted. However, out of natural vigilance against Diónia, the fallen Greek nation, Lilypig, as a military city, still retained its status as a military stronghold. It also retained its powerful garrison, but the number of public militia was greatly reduced. At this time, Ga Taiji was in a hurry to return to the country. Mago's family had moved far away to Villa, and Hanlo was in power. Under his strong push, Jia Tai began to advance inland and occupy the Lumibian land on a large scale. The citizens of Ga Taiji were busy sharing the fruits of the war, and no one was willing to be selected to defend Lilypig, even if it was just a rotation. Therefore, Ga Taiji gave Lilypig's garrison sufficient logistical support and extra pay, so that they could perform their duties with peace of mind. Even so, in the hearts of the citizens of Ga Taiji, defending Lilypig's city was still a tough job. Seven years ago, a member of the Hanlo family was appointed as the general of Lilypig's garrison. He was unwilling to go, and even went to Hanlo to plead for him. In the end, he did not succeed, because the position of the general of Lilypig's garrison had become a big problem. None of the nobles of Ga Taiji was willing to take up the post, and as the person in power, Hanlo, of course, had to set an example. He could only come to Lilypig with a stomach full of resentment. After staying for a few days, Lalala from the port area came to visit. After a secret conversation between the two, the general's resentment disappeared, and he seriously performed his duty.
The captain covered his face and anxiously explained, "Sir … it's true! The Diónia suddenly appeared in the southwest barracks and attacked our garrison soldiers! It took me a lot of effort to escape! "
"Shut up!" Imisere raised his hand angrily, and the captain quickly retreated.
"This man is crazy, quickly arrest him!" Imisere glared at the captain and ordered the soldiers beside him.
Seeing that the captain was tied up and gagged, Imisere sneered in his heart. 'Suddenly appearing in the southwest barracks? Hmph, do you think that the Diónia are gods? That they can fly over this high city wall?! '
At this moment, "Woo!" A loud bugle suddenly sounded in the city. This bugle was obviously different from Carthage's bugle, and it caused a huge shock in Imisere's heart.
And at this moment, there were already soldiers on the city wall shouting in panic, "Oh my god! Look, it's the Diónia! The Diónia are coming from behind! … "
Imisere pushed aside the soldiers beside him and staggered a few steps to the battlements. He quickly looked into the city. There were many soldiers in black helmets and armor rushing into the area illuminated by the fire on the city wall. Behind them, in the darkness of the night, there were even more silhouettes surging forward, like a terrifying black tide that was about to destroy the city wall.
Imisere felt his body go limp, and fear made him almost unable to stand. At this moment, there was only one thought in his mind: Lilly, it's over!
… …
Leotychides first ordered the soldiers who followed him and the mountain scouts to quickly find the digging tools from the residential area, then entered the tunnel and quickly dug the exit. At the same time, according to the plan, he sent two-fifths of the 8th Legion to attack the city from the front to attract the garrison's attention, while the rest of the soldiers followed his orders and quietly entered Lampukuba's house.
In addition, he also sent someone to inform Martonis to immediately gather half of the soldiers of the 2nd Legion on the embankment and sneak into the city. Of course, he also notified the thousands of soldiers of the 3rd Fleet, who quietly entered the tunnel in batches.
The exit of the tunnel was the supply warehouse of the Southwest Barracks. It was located in a remote area, and the soldiers of the Southwest Barracks were basically at the top of the city wall, leaving only a few dozen guards behind. They did not pay attention to the supply warehouse at all.
After the advance troops of the 8th Legion dug through the tunnel and entered the warehouse, they did not immediately launch an attack. Instead, they hid in the surroundings and protected the exit of the tunnel. It was not until the number of soldiers increased to thousands that the guards found traces of them. The Dionysian Army took the opportunity to launch an attack, almost annihilating this small force, and then occupied the entire Southwest Barracks.
The Diónia soldiers continued to drill out of the tunnel, and when Leotychides also arrived at the barracks, the number of soldiers had increased to 2,000. He reorganized a little and immediately issued the order to attack.
The Diónia soldiers quickly launched an attack on the defenders of the inner wall not far from the barracks. The sound of the bugle also inspired the Dionysian Army fighting at the port, and they also increased the intensity of their attack on the city wall.
The defenders of Lilly, who were defending the city wall, were caught in a two-pronged attack. The 2,000 soldiers of the Southeast Barracks who stayed in the city heard the news and hurriedly came as reinforcements. As a result, they were quickly defeated by the soldiers of the 2nd Legion and the infantry of the 3rd Fleet who drilled out of the tunnel.
The Carthaginian soldiers at the top of the city wall were terrified when they saw more and more enemies pouring in from the city. In addition, their attack had caused an uproar in the city. Countless residents fled in panic and screamed in the dark night, echoing the cries of the residents at the port area. This made the Carthaginian soldiers even more worried. They could disregard the lives of the residents at the port area, but they could not abandon their families in the city. Hence, they gave up defending the top of the city wall and chose to rescue their families in the city. However, the stone stairs leading to the inner wall had been blocked by the Dionian soldiers. They fled along the walkway of the city wall to the east, and the defense line at the top of the city wall collapsed.
Imisere and Ragnaka, seeing that the situation was hopeless, fled east under the protection of the guards.
Under the order of Leotychides, the Diónia soldiers did not cut off the route of retreat of the Carthage soldiers. Instead, they chased after them, not giving the Carthage soldiers a chance to breathe and regroup. Along the walkways and streets of the city, they drove the remaining Carthage soldiers and civilians out of Lilly …
After dawn, the Dionysian Army occupied the city of Lilly. Except for a part of the Carthage soldiers and civilians who were surrounded and surrendered, the rest escaped from the city.
Leotychides and Matonis did not have time to celebrate this important victory, nor did they have time to let the soldiers have a good rest. Instead, they seized the time to clean up the battlefield in the city, familiarize themselves with the defensive facilities in the city, and arrange the defensive areas of each army.
Cecelian sent out a clipper to Minoa to report the good news of the victory to the King of Devers. At the same time, the Sicilian fleet had to capture the civilians in the port area, escort them to the Minoa camp, and then transfer them to the rear by the fleet. This was to avoid having to divert troops to watch over the port civilians who could cause trouble at any time while resisting the attack of the Carthage army. The Third Fleet would escort them to prevent the surprise attack of the Carthage fleet.
Only dock laborers who were willing to join the Kingdom of Diónia were left in the port area. They were needed to load and unload cargo for the Diónia fleet that would come to the port of Lilly in the future.
… …
Because it was night and the road could not be seen clearly, the messengers in Lilly did not dare to gallop. So it took nearly two hours to reach the Carthage camp.
When Margo learned that the port of Lilly was attacked, he was shocked and scolded Imisere for neglecting his duty.
Lilly was too important to the Carthage army in Sicily. Margo did not dare to take it lightly. He decided to let Pomirka take charge of the camp for him, and he personally led 30,000 soldiers to reinforce the camp.
In the middle of the night, it was not easy to gather such a large number of soldiers who were still asleep. Even after months of training, the discipline of the whole army had been greatly improved, it still took Margo more than three hours to lead the reinforcements out of the camp.
At this time, it was already dawn. In order to ensure that the soldiers had enough physical strength to fight when they arrived at Lilly, Margo did not order a rapid march. After all, he was confident in the defense of Lilly. The worst that he expected in his heart was that the Dionysian Army would destroy the port of Lilly and flee. Of course, the best scenario was that when the reinforcements arrived, the Diónia people were still attacking the city. Then he could capture all the "more than 20,000 Diónia elite soldiers" according to the messengers, thus giving the main Diónia army a heavy blow and restoring the morale of the Carthage people.
As a result, halfway through the journey, he saw a large number of Lilly soldiers and people fleeing in panic in front of him. When he learned that the city of Lilly had been occupied by the Diónia people, Margo felt like he was struck by lightning and almost fell off his horse.
When he finally caught his breath, he ordered the soldiers to arrest Imisere and Ragnaka who came forward to complain. Then he ordered the whole army to speed up.
When he arrived outside the city of Lilly, he saw the drawbridge pulled up, the closed city gate, and the Diónia soldiers all over the city wall. The last glimmer of hope in Margo's heart was shattered.
He rode his War Horse, anxiously pacing back and forth in front of the demoralized troops. For a moment, he was at a loss of what to do. When he led the troops, he did not consider that Lilly would fall, so he did not bring any siege equipment at all. And Lilly was the military stronghold of Carthage in Sicily. The city walls were high and thick, the towers were numerous, and the trenches were wide and deep. It would not be easy to capture it. If he returned to the camp and transferred more troops here, the Diónia people in the city would have more time to make adequate defense preparations. Then, he would have to reformulate the siege plan, start building new siege equipment, and spend more time to conquer the city. But did the Carthage army have enough time?
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