Chapter 1016
Tormid was stunned. He really didn't think of this just now.
The Devers stood up and said decisively, "It seems that we have to send more reinforcements to Serinus. Instead of adding more troops, we will directly send Legio VI, Rome Reserve Brigade, Potentia and Sammonae reinforcements to Serinus and hand them over to Amyntas."
Tormid was shocked. "Your Majesty, you have sent Legio VI and Rome Reserve Brigade to Serinus, leaving only Legio IV and the Ninth Legion. What if Brother Margo sends an army to attack Minoa …"
The Devers said calmly, "I don't think Brother Margo will easily give up the efforts he has made in Serinus during this time. If he really leads an army to attack Minoa regardless of everything, I very much hope that he will waste what little time he has left. In addition, we can let Alexis carry out our plan. "
"If we do this, the defense of Minoa will be even stronger!" Tormid reminded loudly again.
The Devers smiled slightly. "Brother Margo dared to put the troops he originally used to defend Segesta into the siege. We can't leave Lizaru, Epitenis and the others idle. We can transfer them to Minoa."
Tormid and Printos were shocked when they heard this. A few days ago, His Majesty was still talking about not tightening the rope too much to prevent the Carthage army from jumping the wall. Only a few days later, he is ordering the delayed Legio III and Lucaria Reserve Brigade to move to Minoa. Is this the start of the final battle?!
The two looked at the calm face of the Devers and responded firmly, "Yes, Your Majesty!"
… …
In the early morning of the second day, Brother Margo gathered the army and launched another attack on Serinus.
The battle lasted until noon. The earth wall built by the Carthage people was connected to the city wall of Serinus. Fortunately, the Diónia garrison had already prepared wooden wallboards to increase the height of the connecting wall, so that the Carthage soldiers could not immediately rush into the walkway.
However, the wooden walls were not strong enough. Under the pressure of the officers, the Carthaginian soldiers braved the rain of javelins thrown from the towers on top of the city wall. They continuously burned and smashed the wooden walls. After paying a lot of casualties, the Carthaginian soldiers broke through the wooden walls in the afternoon and poured into the walkway on the city wall.
The Diónia garrison had to deal with the long-range attacks from the hills outside the city, the attacks from the enemies below the city wall, and be on guard against the enemy's tunnel attack at any time. They also had to send a large number of troops to stop the enemy from rushing through the earth wall. Even Amyntas was holding a shield and was ready to participate in the battle.
At this critical moment, the Legio VI and the Rome Reserve Brigade, a total of 16,000 soldiers (including the Rome noble soldiers incorporated into the legion) arrived by sea and finally repelled the exhausted Carthage people.
Although the Carthage army was repelled, Brother Margo did not feel depressed. The fact that Diónia sent more troops to Serinus cheered him up. His original plan of "attacking Serinus to attract the main force of Diónia to fight a decisive battle" had been initially realized. Judging from the situation of today's battle, after connecting the city wall of Serinus, the defensive advantage of the Diónia people had been greatly reduced. Tomorrow, when he gathered the whole army to attack the city, he would send the Celts and Lusitanians to attack along the wall. Would the Diónia people still be able to resist? Would they send more reinforcements? Should he build a few more causeways to connect the wall so that more soldiers could directly climb the wall and fight the Diónia people head-on? …
Brother Margo sat in the big tent, thinking about tomorrow's siege plan.
At this time, the adjutant came into the tent and reported to him, "Lord Margo, there's news from Segesta. The Diónia people have raided the territory of the Sikans. The Sikans' army and the 3000 Numibian soldiers stationed there have been defeated."
Brother Margo frowned and asked, "When did this happen?"
"This afternoon."
Originally, the territory of the Sikans was guarded by Hasdrubal with more than 30,000 soldiers, mainly to keep an eye on the Dionysian Army coming from the east of the mountains. However, after the Sikans led by the Tarkanian tribe entered the territory of their old enemy, there were some conflicts with the Sikans. But because of Hasdrubal's presence, the conflicts were always resolved.
Some time ago, when the Diónia people attacked Palemos, the Sikans were unwilling to go with the army. Before Hasdrubal led the army to reinforce them, he deliberately separated the Sikans' camp from the Sikans' camp, leaving a few thousand Numibian soldiers behind, hoping that the place would remain peaceful until he returned. Unexpectedly, Hasdrubal's troops were later transferred back to the Carthage camp in Serinus, and the Sikans' territory seemed to have become a corner that the Carthage people had forgotten. As the three troops in the territory could not unite, it was only natural that they were quickly defeated after being raided by the Dionysian Army.
Brother Margo's brows immediately relaxed and he asked, "Do you know how many Diónia people they sent?"
"According to the observation of the cavalry, there are about 10,000 of them."
"Only slightly more than 10,000." Brother Margo was a little disappointed. He deliberately left the Sikans' territory open to attract the Diónia people to attack. "Where are the Diónia people now?"
"They retreated to the west."
"What? They ran away?! " Brother Margo frowned again. He was still hesitating just now. Should he let Hasdrubal lead tens of thousands of soldiers to destroy the enemy? Or should he just ignore them and lure more Diónia people into the Sikans' territory, or even when they started to attack Segesta, which was not far from the Sikans' territory, he would gather his army and annihilate them. In the end, the Diónia people actually escaped after the sneak attack.
Brother Margo felt powerless. He glared at his adjutant and roared, "Next time, do not stutter in your report. Finish it all at once!"
The adjutant felt wronged, but he could only comply.
The Diónia people did not fall for it. It seemed that they still had to attack Serinus! Brother Margo made up his mind and said to his adjutant, "There is no need to station troops in the Sikans' territory anymore. After gathering the defeated soldiers, bring them back to the camp."
… …
When Alexis led the 10th Legion and Legio IV to attack the Sikans' territory, the cavalry scouts reported the news to the camp. Brother Margo was leading the army to attack the city, and the adjutant did not dare to disturb him at the critical moment of the siege. However, there was a unit that had the right to send troops, and that was the cavalry.
Brother Margo had a total of 7,000 cavalry, most of which were Numibian cavalry. They moved quickly and ran like the wind, and were used to throwing javelins to kill their enemies. They rarely fought head-on. Ever since Brother Margo led his army back to the west of Sicily, the Dionysian Army did not come out. Instead, they took advantage of their naval superiority and often sent their fleets ashore to harass them. Therefore, Brother Margo ordered the cavalry to patrol the west coast every day. Once they found an enemy, they could launch an attack first and delay the enemy's movements so that the main force could arrive and annihilate them. Because of the characteristics of the Numibian cavalry, he was not worried that they would suffer heavy losses.
Therefore, after receiving the news that the Diónia people were attacking the Sikans' territory, the cavalry that was idle in the camp quickly rushed to the Sikans' territory. However, they did not expect that the Diónia people would quickly retreat to the mountains. As a result, the cavalry that wanted to kill the enemy had to do the chores of gathering the defeated soldiers.
Just as Margo returned to the main tent in the camp, on the northwest side of the Carthaginian camp, in a military tent in the Numibian cavalry camp, a Numibian defeated soldier stood in front of Tinum, the leader of the Marsili tribe.
"I was wondering who wanted to see me. I didn't expect it to be you, Kinormus. How could your father be willing to let you participate in this terrible war!" Tinum said in a slightly surprised tone.
"In the eyes of the Carthage people, we Numibians have no distinction between high and low. We only have one identity: their slaves. These years, the population of our tribe has been decreasing year by year. In order to make up for the number of soldiers that the Carthage people have imposed on us, I had to come even if I didn't want to participate in this war!" Kinormus said angrily.
Chief Tinum was silent for a moment. After a while, he said, "The Carthage people are indeed a little harsh on your tribe!"
Kinormus looked at him and sneered in his heart. He knew that the other party was not as dissatisfied with the Carthage as he was, because Tinum was a Western Numibian, and he was an Eastern Numibian.
It turned out that the Numibian region was divided into east and west because of Carthage. The Carthage people called the Numibians living inland between it and the Phoenician alliance along the coast of Africa East Numibia, while the Numibians living inland in the west, far from Carthage's sphere of influence, called them Western Numibians.
A long time ago, because the Eastern Numibians were very close to the Carthaginians and Phoenicians, it was convenient and frequent for them to communicate with each other. Not only was there frequent trade, but under the influence of the Carthaginian culture, the tribes in Eastern Numibia had gradually changed from the original nomadic lifestyle to a semi-agricultural, semi-pastoral lifestyle. Due to the abundance of food and materials, Eastern Numibia had a large population. The Western Lumibians, on the other hand, had always been nomadic. Not only did they lack food, but they also had a small population. Due to competition for grazing land, there were frequent battles between the tribes. Sometimes, due to climate change, reduced grazing land, and lack of food, they could only ask for food aid from the Eastern Numibians. It was for this reason that the Masili tribe was familiar with Kinormus' tribe.
However, starting from twenty years ago, the Carthage people were no longer satisfied with their territory being limited to the coast. They coveted the vast land inland and began to gradually change their previous strategy towards the Numibians. They continued to use provocative, divisive, and alienating tactics against the various tribes in Eastern Numibia. They also began to use force to conquer from north to south. This kind of military conquest reached its peak after Hanno came to power. As for the Western Numibians, Carthage adopted a policy of bribery and enticement. They provided the tribes with cheap food and hired their tribesmen as auxiliary cavalry to participate in Carthage's wars. They even deliberately propagated the conflict between the Eastern and Western Numibians among the Western Numibians (because in the past, the Eastern Numibians were rich while the Western Numibians were poor, and the Western Numibians often turned to the Eastern Numibians for help, the Easterners often treated the Westerners with arrogance and disdain). They also allowed the Eastern Numibians to participate in the war to conquer the Eastern Numibians. Therefore, even though they were of the same race, it was not surprising that Tinum would have such a mentality.
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