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Chapter 742

After receiving Hasdrubal's order, the Iberian infantrymen carried rations and weapons and began to cross the mountains to the south. Hasdrubal, on the other hand, continued to attack Therodiem to attract the attention of the defenders.

The Iberian infantrymen crossed the mountains and took a big detour, appearing at the mountain pass behind Therodiem in the early hours of the third day. The Therodiem camp at the mountain pass was not well-prepared and quickly fell under the fierce attack of the Iberian infantrymen. The Iberians then quickly approached the east side of Therodiem.

The Therodiems quickly received the news that the enemy had appeared at their rear and panicked. After receiving the reminder from the Dionians, the Carthaginians only focused on reinforcing the western wall within a limited period of time. As for the eastern wall, they only had time to make simple repairs. Not only were the walls short, but there were also no defensive facilities outside the city. However, the Carthaginians believed that this direction wouldn't be attacked by the Carthaginians for the time being. After all, this was already within the sphere of influence of the Dionians, and they could receive reinforcements from the Dionians at any time. If the Carthaginians wanted to land here, they would have to take a huge risk. As for the Carthaginians wanting to climb over the mountains, the towering ridges weren't easy to climb, and the Carthaginians weren't good at it. However, they did not expect the thing they were most worried about to happen.

At this time, Hasdrubal's army also launched a strong attack on Therodiem's walls from the west. The defenders of Therodiem were immediately outnumbered. They had a premonition that the situation was dire, and hurriedly organized all the citizens who could fight to defend the walls. At the same time, they also sent people to the port to take fast ships to Messina to ask for help. In addition, they arranged for the citizens in the city to retreat to the port.

In fact, there were Diónia's fast ships patrolling and observing the situation on the sea near Therodiem every day. When they saw Carthage's army appear on the east side of Therodiem, they knew that the situation was not good and immediately returned to Messina. Thus, when Therodiem's messenger came to ask for help, the governor of Messina, Amicris, had already organized a fleet to send out reinforcements.

Accompanying them was the Third Fleet. After Carthage's army divided into two and attacked the east from the north and south coasts at the same time, Secorian had to divide the Sicilian Fleet into two as well. The First Fleet was stationed in Catania, while the Third Fleet was stationed in Messina. As the war progressed, most of the warships of the First Fleet were stationed in the military port of Gela. This was to prevent Carthage's fleet from assisting the ground forces on the two coasts and landing at the rear of the friendly city-states of Diónia. At the same time, they could also protect the convoys that transported supplies or refugees. This time, the Third Fleet was deployed for the latter purpose.

When Diónia's fleet arrived at the sea near the city of Cerrodiem, the defense of the east wall of Cerrodiem had already been broken by the Iberian infantry. The militia had no choice but to abandon the defense of the wall. Some of them retreated to defend the city, while others retreated to the port.

Fortunately, when Cerrodiem was first built, although the port was included in the city, it was separated by a wall. The original purpose of the wall was to prevent slaves and free people from the port from entering the city at will and disrupt the order in the city. Now, the wall had played a key role.

The militia of Cerrodiem set up defenses on the wall of the port in advance. They destroyed the stone stairs to the wall and blocked the entrance to the port. After all, the main purpose of the wall was to prevent enemies from the port from entering the city. They only hoped to buy time for the people to escape from the port.

After the ships in the port were filled with the people of Cerrodiem, they quickly left one after another. Diónia's fleet also quickly entered the port and continued to pick up the frightened people at the dock. Some ships from Tyndaris, Caleacte, and Haluntium also came to rescue. Although the situation was a little chaotic, and there were even collisions and capsizing of ships, at this moment, all the sailors of the Greek city-states on the north coast were working together to rescue the people. There was only one thought in their minds: save the people of Cerrodiem as soon as possible to avoid being slaughtered by Carthage's people.

Cerrodiem was not a big city and had a small population. Soon, the old, the young, the women, and the children all boarded the ships and began to load the militia who had rushed to the dock.

The warships of the Third Fleet were displayed on the sea west of the port to prevent a sudden attack from the Carthage fleet. A fast ship sailed over and reported to the commander of the Third Fleet, Fralios, on the flagship, "All the people of Cerrodiem in the port have boarded the ship."

Fralios nodded to show that he understood. He did not have much energy for such a risk-free escort mission. It was not that he did not consider letting the infantry on the Raven Warship land at the port to help the people of Cerrodiem defend the port. However, after understanding the actual situation, he gave up on the idea. He did not think that the 4,000 infantry on the Raven Warship would be able to stop the attack of 20,000 enemies who were about to break into the city with just a weak city wall. It was not worth it to lose the infantry that they had trained with so much effort in this unimportant place.

"After the fleet has left, we will return to the port." Fralios had just passed on the order.

Suddenly, the lookout on the mast shouted, "General, there are enemies ahead!"

Fralios' heart skipped a beat as he looked into the distance. Through the gaps between the many warships, he saw two yellow flags on the top of the westernmost warship.

It's Carthage's fleet. The number of warships is about the same as ours … Fralios immediately made a judgment based on the flags. A yellow flag meant that there were enemies. One yellow flag meant that the enemy fleet was smaller than Diónia's fleet. Two yellow flags meant that both sides had about the same number of ships. Three yellow flags meant that the enemy fleet had more ships than the Dionysian fleet. Four yellow flags meant that the enemy fleet had more ships than the Dionysian fleet.

Flarios was instantly energized. He immediately changed his order. "Blow the bugle and raise the black flag!"

On the flagship, five trumpeters blew the curved bronze bugle at the same time. The sound echoed through the sea, and a long black flag flew high on the mast.

"Under the night sky, there must be stars." Stars in the sky was the most typical tactic of the Diónia Navy. It could maximize the power of the Raven Warship. It was with it that the newly built Diónia Navy defeated the powerful Syracuse Navy. But after ten years of development, due to the change in the composition of the fleet's warships, this tactic had changed again. He needed a big battle to verify its effectiveness.

After receiving the order, all the captains and crew members of the warships immediately became excited. The deck operators began to lift the drawbridge from the deck to the foremast. The helmsman adjusted the direction of the warship and began to arrange the formation. The sailors began to swallow their rations and grease their seat cushions. The infantrymen sitting in the aisle at the bottom of the cabin began to put on their armor. Everyone was rubbing their palms and anxiously waiting for the arrival of the naval battle.

… …

The fleet coming from the west came from Iberia. To be precise, it was under the command of Governor Margo of Iberia.

The coastal terrain of Afrika was flat, but there were no tall and strong trees. A famous seafaring race like the Carthage had long used the Iberian Peninsula as an important resource base. Not only because of the rich gold and silver mines there, but also because of the rich timber resources there. Most of the wood used by Carthage's ships came from Iberia.

After Margo became the governor of Iberia, he did not have the right to command the fleet at first. In fact, in the process of conquering southern Iberia, he did not need the fleet most of the time. But Margo considered that in the future, when he wanted to use the army in other places, it would be a big problem to transport troops at sea without the protection of the fleet. If he wanted to mobilize the Carthage fleet to Iberia, he would definitely be obstructed by the Senate headed by Hanno. So he decided to use the money he earned in Iberia and Iberia's trees to build his own fleet.

A few years later, an Iberian fleet consisting of 120 three-oared warships, plus small and medium-sized warships, totaling 180 warships, was formed. Its commander was Ademica of the Magonid family. Half of the sailors came from Phoenicia, and the rest from Numibia and Mauritania. None of them were Carthage's people. The fleet soon traversed the coast of Iberia and near the Pillar of Hercules.

After Hanno knew about it, he was very afraid of it. So this time, when the fleet escorted Hasdrubal's army to Lili, Hanno instructed Annobus, the commander of the Carthage fleet, to incorporate it.

This was firmly opposed by Ademica, who said, "Lord Margo only agreed to let the army be under the command of Montenegro, but did not say that the fleet should also be under the command of the Carthage navy."

Annobus retorted, "Since they are all Carthage's army, of course, there should be unified command, so that it will be advantageous to the battle! It will be advantageous to Carthage! "

Ademica refused to obey, and the two sides almost had a conflict.

In the end, the lawsuit was brought to the Senate, and the Senate had to send someone to discuss it with Margo again. In this way, tedious negotiations began again. The two fleets, one docked in Carthage, and the other docked in Lili, were in a stalemate with each other. This was why Montenegro had not seen the Carthage fleet appear near the south coast of Sicily to protect his troops.

Until Hasdrubal learned of this matter, he asked for the fleet to come and help on the grounds that "he was about to capture the city of Serodiem, and to prevent the enemy from escaping by sea". This was why the Iberian fleet happened to appear here.