Chapter 1028
The soldiers tightened their grip on the spears in their hands and rekindled their desire to fight.
"Lord Margo, the Diónia army has sped up and seems to be ready to attack us first!" Kisgo hurried over to warn him.
"Just in time. Let the soldiers speed up too!" Margo said, dismounted and slapped the horse's buttocks.
The War Horse neighed and turned to run away.
Then Margo said to the guards behind him, "Give me a shield and a spear."
Kisgo quickly stepped forward to stop him, "My lord, you should be commanding from the back, not —"
Margo interrupted him loudly, "Don't say anymore. Today, I want to fight with the soldiers!"
At this moment, the people around him were deeply moved. Pomilka, the adjutant, and the young nobles of Carthage, who were once ridiculed by Margo, dismounted, picked up their shields and spears, and stood beside Margo.
Margo looked at them, smiled, and said with pride, "Today, let us fight together for Carthage!"
Kisgo hurriedly took more than 6,000 Phoenician soldiers out of the camp. In addition, when Margo learned that the Dionysian Army had appeared outside the camp, he urgently asked Stikamo to transfer 4,000 Carthage militia. Due to the impact of the defeated soldiers, there were still more than 3,000 people following Margo. Carthage had nearly 10000 soldiers who could fight, which seemed to be a lot less than the number of Dionysian Army on the opposite side. Moreover, the huge cavalry that the Devers had been afraid of before was now only a few hundred cavalry. Due to the single type of troops, the formation was very fast.
Margo, Pomilka, Kisgo, and other generals were holding shields and spears and walking at the forefront of the formation. The soldiers naturally followed them with firm steps. The terrified defeated soldiers behind them were crying and fleeing, but they could not shake their fighting spirit for the time being.
On the Diónia side, the Rome reserve brigade was in the middle, and the Potentia and Sammonae reinforcements were at the rear. Both flanks were cavalry, and the Devers led more than 200 palace guards to follow behind the center of the formation. Meanwhile, the temporarily formed army of nearly 10,000 soldiers was evenly divided into two groups. They were positioned behind the two flanking cavalry, but there was a distance of 200 meters between them.
After the bugle was blown, all the soldiers sped up, especially the cavalry on the two flanks. They quickly closed in on Carthage's army. Hundreds and thousands of javelins flew into Carthage's formation, and screams filled the air.
This Carthage army only had a small number of light infantry, so they could not attack the Diónia cavalry from afar. The heavy infantry could only move forward quickly, trying to close the distance with the enemy and engage in close combat.
But the well-trained Diónia cavalry quickly turned their horses around in order to widen the distance between them and throw their javelins.
The heavy infantrymen who were running were unable to defend themselves well. Many of them were hit by the javelins, which forced them to slow down and hide behind their shields.
As a result, only Carthage's army, which had not been attacked yet, continued to advance with large strides.
"Prepare the javelins!" the team officers shouted.
It was the first time for the soldiers of Rome's reserve brigade to throw javelins in actual combat, but they were not rusty at all.
The rain of javelins covered the sky. Margo only had time to shout, "Be careful and defend!" and hurriedly hid behind his shield.
Then he heard a shrill scream beside him. His adjutant fell on the grass.
Margo's heart was burning with anger. He raised his spear, turned around and shouted, "Follow me, charge forward!"
He slanted his shield and rushed forward.
The soldiers also roared angrily and followed closely behind.
Seeing that there was not enough time to throw the second round of javelins, the soldiers of Rome's reserve brigade immediately launched a charge.
Soon, the two sides collided. One side was fighting for survival, and the other side was fighting for honor. Both sides fought with all their strength from the beginning, and the battle was very fierce.
A few minutes later, the Diónia cavalry finished throwing javelins and galloped to the outside. The Carthage's army on both flanks abandoned hundreds of injured and wailing soldiers and resumed their forward speed. Soon, they began to fight with the Dionysian Army.
Most of these temporary Diónia soldiers were citizens who were about to become citizens or free people who aspired to become citizens of Diónia. Although they lacked military training and the fighting skills of the heavy infantrymen, their desire to win was no less than the Rome soldiers. As long as they were rewarded for their meritorious service, they would take a big step closer to becoming a real citizen of the Kingdom of Diónia. Therefore, they fought very bravely. In addition, there were many of them. The Carthage's army on both flanks had just been hit by the javelins of the cavalry. Their morale had dropped, so the recruits of Diónia actually had the upper hand at the beginning of the battle.
At this time, the Diónia cavalry quickly adjusted their formation and assisted the recruits to launch a direct attack on the flanks.
They lined up in a long single-file formation, straightened their spears, accelerated their horses, and swept past the rear of the Carthage's army on both flanks. When the enemy used a round shield to block the spear, the cavalryman would quickly let go of the spear in his hand. At the same time, he would hold the horse's neck tightly with his other hand to prevent the recoil from causing him to fall off his horse.
Even though the soldiers of Carthage's army used the round shield to block the spear of the Diónia cavalry, the powerful impact caused him to stagger. His arms were sore, and he could not even hold on to the round shield. The next second spear could easily pierce his body …
The attacks of the Diónia cavalry were continuous. It was like peeling an apple with a dagger. It did not look fierce, but it was lethal.
As time passed, the Carthage's army on both flanks was on the verge of collapse. The morale of the soldiers plummeted, and they began to flee.
The middle was still in a stalemate.
Margo felt exhausted after fighting for so long. He panted and looked at the enemy in front of him. Their faces were different from those of the Greeks, but they were familiar to him. At the same time, he was puzzled and angry: Rome? They turned out to be Rome's people! Carthage was involved in this war to help Rome, but these former allies were blocking his way at this time. They wanted to take away his only hope of winning. Did they forget that it was Diónia who destroyed Rome? How could they become the lackeys of Diónia?!
Margo roared and gathered his strength again. He slammed the round shield forward desperately, and then stabbed the spear in the middle of the enemy's chest. Unexpectedly, the spear broke. Margo, who was caught off guard, immediately fell forward.
"Lord Margo!" The soldiers on both sides desperately rescued him from the enemy's spear.
Margo struggled to stand up. Due to exhaustion, his arms were sore, and his vision was blurred.
He raised his head with difficulty. The Diónia flag that was raised high behind the enemy was so dazzling, and it was so close to him! Why? Why are we fighting so hard?! But we can't break the formation of Rome and kill the king of Diónia! If my Iberian army is here, we can do it! We can catch that damn king of Diónia! …
At this time, there was a sudden commotion behind Margo, and it spread rapidly. He heard the panicked shouts of the soldiers, "Oh my God, it's the Numibian cavalry!"
He looked back subconsciously, only to see the sky full of arrows flying toward him, and then there was a sharp pain on his cheek …
… …
There were defeated soldiers everywhere outside the Carthage camp. The soldiers of the Legion of Dionysia were in hot pursuit. Coupled with thousands of cavalry sweeping back and forth, not only did these defeated soldiers fail to regroup, but it also posed a threat to the Dionysian Army, which was scattered due to the pursuit. Many Carthage soldiers also surrendered because they had no hope of escaping.
This time, Devers did not let the army chase after the victory. When dusk came, he quickly issued an order: withdraw the troops back to the city.
On this day, in the battle at Serinus, the Dionysian army joined forces with the Numibian cavalry and purposely retreated inside the city to attract the main force of the Carthaginian army to continue attacking. Then, they coordinated with the Carthaginian army and launched a fierce counterattack. At the cost of only 2,000 casualties, they completely defeated the Carthaginian army.
On the other hand, on the Carthaginian side, more than thirty thousand Numibian soldiers and Numibian generals rebelled one after another. The rest of the troops had experienced the siege of the city and two battles, suffering more than six thousand casualties. In the process of escaping, nearly eight thousand people were captured. The remaining Alpha, Beta, and Gamma soldiers either fled west to Mazara City or north to Segesta. A small number of soldiers fled in the wrong direction in panic. They spent a night in the mountains in the east, starving and cold. The next day, they took the initiative to return to Serinus City and asked the Dionian army to take them in.
At dusk, Devers led the palace guards into Serinus. He decided to hold a banquet, which he rarely did.
Due to the long siege, the two sides repeatedly fought in the city, leaving it in ruins. The banquet was held at the temporary residence of the commander of the Sicilian fleet in the port area.
After intense preparations, food and drinks were served on the table in the evening. The legion commanders and two staff officers arrived one after another. They were surprised to find that the specific location of the banquet was not in the hall, but in the courtyard behind the entrance. This relatively spacious open space was filled with dozens of tables, and their king was sitting at the centermost table. This made it impossible for them to sit down according to the usual custom. They could only sit in a circle around Devers under the guidance of Martius.
Devers did not order the banquet to start immediately. Instead, he first asked about the process of today's battle and the casualties of the army.
Except for the First and Second Legions, which caused a little more casualties when they defended the inner city wall against the fierce attack of the Carthage army at the beginning, the other legions basically suffered little casualties. However, they seized a lot of loot. In addition to capturing nearly 10,000 soldiers, they also completely seized the supply camp of the Carthage camp. The mountains of food and a large number of ordnance made the logistics officers who went to count them smile from ear to ear. Not to mention, they also seized more than 2,000 War Horses … Therefore, every legion commander looked relaxed and talked happily.
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