Chapter 723
Mazara was a town built by the Phoenicians and had long been under the jurisdiction of Carthage. It was less than 30 kilometers away from Lili City. However, Carthage's army moved slowly. Not only did they have a large number of supplies, but Monadeno also brought some Carthage merchants and even prostitutes. As a result, the army was bloated and their formation was somewhat scattered. Thus, their marching speed was relatively slow.
The next day, the army continued to move forward. At dusk, they once again arrived at the city of Serinus, which was about 40 kilometers away from Mazara.
Serinus was built by Greek colonists. It was once famous for its rich agriculture and fishing industry in Sicily. During the Peloponnesus War, it had a conflict with Segesta, which was located not far from it and was located to the northwest. As a result, it became the incentive for the Athens army to invade Sicily. Then, during the long battle between Carthage and Syracuse, Serinus and Segesta, which were located in the western part of Sicily and surrounded by the Phoenicians, were repeatedly captured. Most of the Greek residents fled to the eastern part of Sicily. Later on, most of the Phoenicians moved in. Therefore, when Diónia and Carthage signed the agreement, the Devers agreed to put Serinus under the jurisdiction of Carthage.
On the third day, Carthage's army once again arrived at another town, Hermes, at dusk. Although the Carthage soldiers were tired, their faces were filled with excitement.
Just by looking at the name of this town, one could tell that there were hot springs in this place. Originally, the people of Serinus built a village here because of the hot springs in Mount Calogero. When the people of Carthage occupied this place and strengthened their friendly relations with Diónia, the hot springs in Turií inspired the people of Carthage who were merchants. Therefore, they vigorously developed this place and built several hot springs similar to those in Turií. This attracted countless people of Carthage to come and enjoy the sulphurous hot springs. This village also quickly developed into a town.
The soldiers built a simple camp and went to take a bath in batches. Monadeno even summoned a few women to accompany him in the bath.
On the second day, Carthage's army, which had been bathed in the hot spring, was in high spirits, be it the generals or the soldiers. They continued to march eastward with light footsteps.
In the afternoon, the army arrived at Heraclea — Minoa City. It was a Greek colony, situated in the hills on the eastern shore of the mouth of the Halicas River, overlooking the fertile lowlands on the western shore, and encircling the port on the east. For more than a decade, this city-state had close relations with Diónia. Because of its name, it had even established a friendly and close relationship with Heraclea, which was under the jurisdiction of the Kingdom. Therefore, the Minoans rejected Carthage's suggestion to surrender without hesitation.
Monte-Ardeno, who had anticipated this, ordered the army to encamp on the west bank of the Halicas.
For the next three days, Carthage's men were preparing to attack the city, and the news from the Carthage Clippers that were sent to the eastern coast to scout had not found any reinforcements from Diónia advancing towards Minoa.
Monte-Ardeno immediately made up his mind and decided to launch an all-out attack on Minoa City the next day.
What he did not know was that to the northwest of Minoa City, in the center of the inland of Sicily, the Sikaer tribes in the city of Enna had already sent out a thousand warriors. They were crossing the mountains and trekking through the river valleys towards Minoa City.
On the second day, Carthage's army crossed the Halicas River and arrived at the city of Minoa City. They lined up and surrounded Minoa City, then blew the bugle to attack.
Minoa City was not large and had a small population. There were less than 4,000 young and strong citizen soldiers in the city who could fight. There was no moat in front of the city, and the hill it was located on was less than 150 meters high, and the slope was gentle. However, the Minoans completely obeyed the instructions of the team officers sent by Diónia. Not only did they set up a large number of traps, but they also cut down all the trees on the hill. They even dug up the rocks that could be used as cover for the attack and used them as defensive stones to hurt the enemy.
Due to the existence of the hill, the large siege equipment made by Carthage not only required more manpower to push to the front of the city, but its movement was bound to be very slow. The accuracy and power of the ballista attacks were also greatly reduced due to the distance. Therefore, the Numibian soldiers who were the main force of the attack carried ladders and rushed to the front. As a result, they were besieged by the traps.
Moreover, the Minoans pushed down large stones that had been polished into a round shape toward the place where the attacks of Carthage's army were concentrated. The stones rolled down the hill, crushing many Numibian soldiers along the way and even destroying the siege equipment. In the end, the siege troops were routed and retreated...
After Monadeno learned of the situation in the main tent, he was not in a hurry. He ordered the troops to reorganize their formation and continue the attack.
Seeing that the Numibian soldiers with low morale were slowly advancing toward Minoa City, the anxious Milefio barged into the main tent and asked Monadeno to send the Holy Knights led by him to be the main force of the attack. Milefio was rejected by the commander. He advised earnestly, "Attacking such a strategically located and fortified city is not something that can be achieved in a day or two. We must be patient! Our Sacred Legion troops, Carthage's citizen soldiers, and even the allied Phoenician soldiers are all precious lives. We can't waste them in a long and arduous siege. Not only are there many Numibians, but they are also lowly. If a batch dies, we can just drag another batch over. This is also beneficial to the stability of the Numibian region... "
Milefio was silent.
In the afternoon, the Carthaginian army attacked the city and began to attack the city fiercely.
When the battle reached its climax, a horn sounded from outside Minoa City North and behind the battlefield. Thousands of Sikyle warriors rushed out of the mountains in the north and charged toward Carthage's army that was engaged in a fierce battle.
The careless Monadeno was influenced by the news reported by the clippers. After the siege began, he did not send out scouts or scouts to investigate the enemy's situation around the battlefield. He also did not set up a reserve force to guard the rear of the siege troops, especially at the north of Minoa City.
The Sikyle warriors only wore cloth robes and were armed with spears and javelins, so they were fast. In the blink of an eye, they climbed up the hill and ran to the bottom of the city. They attacked the Numibian soldiers who were attacking the city with all their might. The Numibians, who were already low in morale, were instantly defeated.
The defeat of the Numibians outside the north of the city quickly affected the troops in other directions. The soldiers shouted in panic, "The enemy's reinforcements are here! The enemy's reinforcements are here! " They scrambled down the hill, their speed even faster than the Sikyle warriors who were chasing them. These highland natives watched in shock as tens of thousands of Numibian soldiers fled across the Halicas River. They even dragged along the Carthage troops who came to stop them into the main camp.
Milefio led the Holy Knights and infantry, bypassing the fleeing soldiers to stop the enemy's reinforcements. In the end, he realized that the enemies with simple equipment and small numbers did not enter Minoa City. Instead, they quickly ran into the mountains.
The mighty Carthage army of tens of thousands was repelled by a mere thousand Sikyle highland natives! Filomio was extremely ashamed and angry.
However, Monadeno's expression was calm. In his opinion, even though the Sikere army's ambush had caused the besieging army to collapse, the number of casualties was not high (less than a thousand). For a siege of such a scale, it was nothing. On the contrary, the Sikyle attack had exposed the intentions of the Diónia people. As long as the Carthage army strengthened their defenses, the Sikyle army would not be able to cause any more losses to the army.
After listening to Monadeno's consolation, Milefio returned to the camp. He felt indignant. He vaguely felt that Monadeno was not aggressive enough and did not have the ability to command such a large army. So, he immediately wrote to his father-in-law, Hanno, expressing his concerns.
Two days later, a ship from Carthage brought a letter personally written by Hanno. In the letter, Hanno warned Monadeno to go all out in this war and quickly achieve some results. This was to let the Senate know that it was the right decision to appoint Monadeno as the commander-in-chief of the army!
At the same time, he warned Monadeno not to be careless and let the army suffer losses! Otherwise, even if some people in the Senate did not impeach him, he would not be able to face the anger of the people!
After reading the letter, Monadeno felt the pressure. He finally stopped lying drunk in his tent and personally reorganized the army, commanding the soldiers to attack Minoa City.
The Minoans seized the two to three days of rest to rearrange the defensive facilities that were previously destroyed by the Carthage army. Once again, they caused a lot of trouble for the Carthage army.
While the Carthage army was attacking the city, the Sikyle army wandered around the edge of the battlefield and attacked from time to time. One time, they almost burned Carthage's camp. Although Monadeno was already prepared for this and did not cause much damage, they still held up a lot of the Carthage army's energy. In the Carthage army, not only the cavalry, but even the infantry came from the plains and deserts of Afrika. There was no way to deal with the Sikyle army that could travel through the mountains as if they were walking on flat ground.
After much contemplation, Monadeno remembered the Sicans, who lived in the mountains west of Sicily, and were attached to the Carthaginians, he sent orders to Semimrei of Lilibo to raise a force of Sicans, and to send them to Minoan.
The news of "1,000 Sikyle warriors defeating Carthage's 40,000-man army" also reached the ears of Leotychides, the Sicilian commander of Diónia, who was closely watching the battle in Catanai, and he was very surprised.
After asking about the details of the battle, he stared at the map and fell into deep thought.
After a long time, he took out the information about the Carthage army given to him by the intelligence department and read it over and over again. Finally, he made up his mind.
Soon, the Governor of Sicily, Cypross, hurried over. "Lord Prosos, why are you looking for me so urgently? Has there been a change in the battle situation?!"
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