Chapter 1045
The rebellious indigenous warriors occupied the city of Mazara. While looting the entire city, they sent people to negotiate with Diónia. They proposed that as long as Diónia sent them back to Iberia, they would no longer be enemies with Diónia, and they would offer the city of Mazara.
The Devers' reply was quite unyielding. They had no right to negotiate with him. Unless they surrendered immediately and unconditionally, their corpses would not be able to return to their homeland even after death.
The response of the Devers made the Iberian indigenous warriors angry and afraid. They wanted to kill to dispel the fear in their hearts. Therefore, the looting in the city of Mazara turned into a massacre. The people of Mazara rose up to resist, but how could they be a match for these fierce indigenous warriors? They were about to become ghosts under their blades.
Who knew that a group of Lusitanians and Celts would have a conflict because of fighting for food. The conflict quickly turned into a fight, and the fight quickly turned into a chaotic battle. The Celts, Lusitanians, Iberians, and Philo Infantry were not under the same command when they were under Mago's command. Their treatment was also different, and there were some conflicts in the first place. Now, in order to obtain more food, so that their own people could have a better chance of survival, they did not hesitate to attack the other races …
All the races in the city were involved in this chaotic battle, and there was no way to stop it. Throughout the day, the screams and sounds of fighting in the city never stopped, and the sound could be heard for ten miles.
The scouts of Diónia had long reported the news of the civil strife in the city of Mazara to the Devers. The Devers rejected the suggestion of their generals to "send troops to intervene", and only let the scouts continue to monitor the situation.
When night fell, the city of Mazara was already filled with rivers of blood, and corpses were everywhere. Because it was dark, the various forces had no choice but to stop fighting, and each occupied a corner of the city, on guard against each other.
The weaker Philo Infantry naturally gathered with the remaining Mazarans, occupied the port, and began to plot to surrender to Diónia.
At dawn the next day, the Iberian natives woke up from their sleep and were shocked to discover that tens of thousands of soldiers in black armor had appeared in the city. They were greatly shocked and suspected that the other party had secretly opened the city gates to let the Dionysian Army in.
However, the truth was that the people of Mazara took a speedboat from the port and rushed to Serinus. They tearfully asked the Devers for help and were willing to let Mazara join the Kingdom of Diónia.
Only then did the Devers order the Sicilian fleet to urgently transport two legions of soldiers, and under the cover of the night, they landed at Port Mazara.
Yesterday's chaotic battle had already caused many casualties among the Iberian natives. Now, the Dionysian Army had already appeared in the city, and outside the city, the bugle sounded long and loud, causing smoke and dust to billow.
No matter how fierce the Iberian natives were, they had already fallen into a hopeless situation and had no choice but to surrender in the end.
Segesta and Mazara surrendered one after another, and Carthage's 100,000-strong army was also completely destroyed. The Devers immediately let Segesta and Mazara send messengers to Elux to persuade him to surrender.
Erius, the Phoenician religious center of Sicily, had no choice but to open his doors to Diónia.
… …
After Erius surrendered, the Devers led the main force into Lili, the military fortress built by Carthage. In the governor's mansion, he once again held a military meeting. Except for the absence of the ninth legion commander, Tegthenos, who was far away in Sardinia, all the high-ranking generals of Diónia who participated in the war attended the meeting. Even the seventh legion commander, Zantiparis, who was stationed in Palermos, which was relatively far away, rushed over.
"Your Majesty, congratulations on winning the war in Sicily! You led the army to conquer the entire island and completely drove the people of Carthage out, creating a brilliant record that no one has ever achieved before!! " As soon as the meeting began, Tormid led all the high-ranking generals to congratulate the Devers in unison.
This was obviously beyond the expectations of the Devers. His eyes slowly swept across the faces of the generals. He saw the excitement on the faces of Tormid, Matonis, Olivers, Lizaru, Trotiras, and Zantiparis, the smiles on the faces of Alexis, Printos, and Epicthenis, the regret on the face of Amyntas, and the calmness on the face of Leotychides …
Finally, his eyes fell on Heniboris, who was next to him. The court clerk seemed to be covering his mouth and snickering because of the surprise on the faces of the Devers.
After a moment, the Devers said with a solemn expression, "This victory does not belong to me alone. It also belongs to you outstanding generals, to our brave soldiers, and to all the people of Diónia who have contributed their strength to this war! Without your outstanding command, without the soldiers fighting hard, without the people's full efforts, there would not be today's glorious victory! Here, I would also like to congratulate you, and at the same time, express my gratitude to you! "With that, he gave a military salute to the generals present in an extremely solemn manner.
Seeing this scene, the generals were stunned at first, then they all stood at attention and returned the salute.
Seeing that all of them seemed to be touched by his words, the Devers hurriedly waved his hand again, eased his tone, and said, "Sit down, all of you. If others see us standing like this, I'm afraid they won't think that we are celebrating victory, but that we have encountered a strong enemy and are preparing to fight to the death."
Everyone laughed.
Even Heniboris joked, "Your Majesty, now in the western Mediterranean, there is no city-state or race that dares to wage war against us, Diónia."
These words made everyone present smile proudly.
The Devers also smiled slightly, but did not respond.
After everyone sat down, he said with a serious expression, "You made a small mistake just now. We did not completely conquer Sicily Island. There are still rebels of Syracuse on Ortygia Island. Of course, they are no longer worthy of our attention. However, this war with Carthage is far from over. On the land of Afrika across the sea, the rich people of Carthage may be desperately consuming the treasury in order to hire more soldiers, build more warships, and continue this war. Therefore, now is not the time to celebrate victory. We cannot give the people of Carthage any chance to breathe. We must seize the time and land on Afrika, and completely defeat Carthage! At that time, we can finally relax and cheer for our victory! "
After listening to the words of the Devers, the eyes of the generals became eager, and their expressions became more excited. Fighting across the sea and conquering Carthage, this would be the greatest glory!
Looking at these generals who were eager to fight, Dyvers had a solemn expression on his face. He said in a deep voice, "Since the outbreak of the war, in order to provide enough military supplies for our huge army, so that the soldiers can fight without worries, the kingdom has exhausted its treasury. The finances of all departments are tight, and the people are also frugal. Even the food that has just been collected after the autumn harvest is about to be used up …"
Now we are going to fight across the sea, farther away from the kingdom, and the materials we need to consume will be more. With the current financial situation of the kingdom, it is impossible to support such a large army, so the number of soldiers sent will not be too many, and I do not intend to go with the army.
Fortunately, most of the military forces of Carthage have been destroyed by us in Sicily, and it is impossible to organize a strong army in a short period of time. Moreover, we have formed an alliance with the East and West Numibians. When the time comes, their army will go to Afrika together and fight alongside our army. Therefore, although we are only sending a part of the army to fight, we still have a great advantage! "
At this time, in the eyes of the Devers, the generals had different expressions, but more or less revealed a desire: to become the commander of the expedition against Carthage!
The Devers did not give them more time to prepare and ask for battle. After a short pause, he immediately gave the order, "Now, I appoint Alexis as the commander, leading the First Legion, Second Legion, and Legio III on an expedition against Carthage!"
As soon as the order was given, some of the generals had an "as expected" look on their faces. Although some of the generals were unwilling, they did not dare to raise any objections.
Over the years, Alexis, who had rarely taken the initiative to ask for battle and had become more and more indifferent to glory, immediately stood up. Her face showed a rare expression of excitement, and she said with a trembling voice, "Your Majesty … I will fight bravely with the brothers who are going to the expedition, and conquer Carthage as soon as possible to repay your trust!"
The Devers nodded and did not say any more words of encouragement. He looked straight at her and said in a deep voice again, "Time is of the essence. You only have two days to prepare for the expedition. Two days later, take the ship to Afrika! "
"Yes, Your Majesty!" Alexis, Amyntas, Matonis, and Lizaru responded one after another.
"Olivers!"
"Ah … Yes!"
"Sextus!"
"Yes!"
"Recently, I have received a battle report from Tegthinus. The Ninth Legion he leads has continuously attacked many Phoenician city-states on Sardinia Island, but because he has to station troops in each captured city-state, he currently does not have enough troops to attack the largest city-state on Sardinia Island, Kalaris. Kalaris is now gathering the last resistance forces on Sardinia Island, so Tegthinus has asked me for help. I have decided to send Legio IV and Rome's reserve troops to Sardinia!"
At this point, the Devers looked at Olivers and reminded him in a euphemistic tone, "In order to avoid excessive consumption of resources, we must end the war in Sardinia as soon as possible. Tegthinus has been fighting there for two months and is already familiar with the situation there. He also knows the enemy very well, so he will temporarily be the commander. You must listen to his command and do your best to help him conquer Kalaris, occupy the entire island, and make Sardinia the territory of Diónia!"
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