Chapter 756
This infuriated the people of Serinus. They shouted angrily, "If Carthage dares to leave, Serinus will immediately surrender to Dioria!"
Hearing this threat, Milefio hesitated again.
While the two sides were arguing, the soldiers of the Eighth Legion had already arrived at the city of Serinus.
Upon hearing the news, Milefio, who had climbed up the city wall, saw the enemies in black helmets and armor, and immediately remembered the scene where the Legion of Dionysia had defeated his Holy Knights and pursued them head-on. He could not help but feel a chill in his heart. He was not confident that he could lead this remnant army out of the city to repel the enemy, or successfully avoid the enemy's attack, and smoothly return to Lili.
After an urgent discussion with his equally terrified officers, Milefio decided to stay in the city and urgently sent a messenger to Lili to ask for help.
The messenger rushed to Lili and reported to Montt that "the army of Diónia is marching towards Serinus, and the retreat route of Milefio's troops has been cut off." He also informed Serinus that the army was now short of food supplies and hoped that Montt could send reinforcements.
Montt, who had slightly recovered from yesterday's defeat, did not ridicule Milefio as Milefio had expected. On the contrary, he considered the possible punishment from the Senate for his defeat. For the sake of his own life, he had to repair his relationship with Milefio. So, he immediately issued a rescue order and ordered his generals to quickly gather troops. This time, he would personally lead the troops to Serinus.
However, this round trip, including the time spent in between, was enough for the main force of Diónia to rush to Serinus. So, when Montt saw the Dionysian Army lined up outside the city, he could only bite the bullet and fight.
The bugle sounded. The two sides did not fight for long, and the Numibian soldiers with low morale were quickly defeated. Although the battle this time in a vast area allowed the Numibian cavalry to display their abilities, it did not affect the overall situation at all.
The reinforcements led by Montenegro were routed and fled in panic back to Lili. The Dionysian Army also suffered minor losses, so Milefio, who was watching the battle from the top of the city wall, completely gave up on the idea of a pincer attack.
On the other hand, Leotychides didn't order his soldiers to chase after Montt Adeno's defeated army. Instead, he ordered his army to build a camp outside of Selinus, as though he wanted to completely surround this city that once caused the war between Carthage and Syracuse for more than ten years.
In the meantime, Monte Ardeno, who had fled to Lilith, did not give up his efforts. He sent messengers to Palermos, ordering Hasdrubal to lead the Iberian army to the rescue of Salinus.
Hasdrubal did not listen to Montt Adeno's orders in the first place. Now that he heard that the main force of Carthage was defeated by the Diónia even though they had the advantage in terms of military strength, he ignored Montt Adeno even more.
Poor Milefio watched as the Diónia camp outside the city expanded and became stronger day by day. He even heard that the spies reported that the Diónia were building super siege towers in the camp. Naturally, his mood became more and more anxious day by day.
The only fortunate thing was that Diónia's blockade of the sea was not too strict. The fast ships sent by Salinus evaded the enemy's interception many times and went to Carthage to ask for help.
A few days later, the Senate of Carthage finally stopped arguing and reached a resolution: Montt Adeno was removed from his position as the commander of the Carthage army and was escorted back to Carthage for trial. Governor Margo of Iberia was appointed as the new commander of the army. During his absence, Senator Pomilka temporarily took over his duties and urgently dealt with the affairs of the Sicilian army.
Pomilka did not belong to Margo's faction, nor was he close to Hanno. Instead, he belonged to the neutral faction of the Senate. However, unlike Asyaruba, he had a good relationship with the other two factions. Perhaps for this reason, his election as acting commander was also recognized by most senators.
After receiving the appointment, Pomilka immediately took a boat to Lili and announced the Senate's decision to Montt Adeno. Montt Adeno, who had long expected this result, did not resist and was taken away by the guards. After all, as the patriarch of a famous family in Carthage, his resistance or even escape would seriously affect the future of his family and the reputation of his family.
Pomilka personally escorted Montt Adeno to the port.
Before boarding the ship, the ashen-faced Montt Adeno could not help but remind: "… Diónia is different from the enemies we have encountered before. Their soldiers fight bravely, their generals are also very cunning, and the combat effectiveness of our Numibian troops is really worrying, so even if we have more troops than them, we must be vigilant in battle! … "
Pomilka thanked him for the reminder.
Finally, Montt Adeno let out a long sigh: "The Senate has been worried for so long, but in the end, they still let Margo, the leader of the foreigners, become the commander of the Carthage army! This is not a good thing for Carthage! "
Pomilka silently watched Montt Adeno board the passenger ship, and then he turned and returned to Lili City. The next thing he had to do was to solve the conflict between the Carthage fleet and the Iberian fleet.
Since the Iberian fleet was built by the Magonid family with their own money, Margo did not want the fleet to be controlled by the Senate. Therefore, as the fleet commander of the Magonid family, Ademica, did not want the fleet to belong to the Carthage fleet and accept the command of the fleet commander, Annobus.
In the name of the acting commander, Pomilka invited Annobus and Ademica to the residence of the commander of Lili City to discuss matters and solemnly announced the Senate's decision to the two of them: the Iberian fleet accepted the command of Annobus, the commander of the Carthage fleet, as a prerequisite for Margo to take over as the commander of the Carthage army.
Ademika looked at Ambalos, who gave him a friendly smile.
Ademica was not fooled by his smile. When he was in Iberia, he had heard from Margo that Annobus was not friendly to the Magonid faction. Of course, he had once been close to the Magonid family in the Senate. That was why he had become the commander of the Carthage navy when Himirco led the army to attack Syracuse more than twenty years ago and defeated the main Syracuse fleet led by Leptinus. However, the Carthage army suffered a crushing defeat under the city of Syracuse. In order to survive, Himirco, who was in a difficult situation, had a secret talk with Dionysius in private. In order to keep it a secret, he did not tell Annobus. As a result, Himirco led his trusted aides on a dozen ships and successfully escaped, while the Carthage fleet led by Annobus was besieged in the big port of Syracuse and almost lost everything. Under the desperate rescue of his subordinates, he took a fast ship and barely escaped with his life. From then on, he hated the Magonid family and became a neutral party.
In fact, it was also because of this that the Senate continued to give him the heavy responsibility of commanding the Carthage fleet in order to check and balance Margo, who had already grasped a powerful military force.
Although Ademica knew Margo's desire for the position of commander of the Carthage army, he felt uneasy about letting the Iberian fleet fall under Annobus' command. However, the recent defeat in the naval battle had worn down a lot of his unyielding spirit. He did not dare to directly object, so he said, "This fleet was built by Lord Margo himself. I can't make the decision and must seek Lord Margo's approval."
Pomilka did not insist, but immediately sent a messenger to Iberia to consult Margo's opinion. In the meantime, he also sent a messenger to Hasdrubal, who was stationed in Palamos, hoping that the young and promising general could lead the army south and rescue the besieged Carthage army.
Pomilka's humble tone was very much to Hasdrubal's liking, and he almost immediately decided to lead the army to set off. Fortunately, Kisego reminded him, "Defeat the enemy and save the allies. When the time comes, who will get the credit? Perhaps the Senate will think that Pomilka can also command us as commander, so there is no need for Lord Margo … "
Hasdrubal listened to the opinion and did not respond to Pomilka. He continued to lead the army to stay in Palamos and watch the battle.
Pomilka could do nothing about it.
But a few days later, Margo's reply came: he agreed to Pomilka's suggestion to let the Iberian fleet listen to the command of Annobus, the commander of the Carthage navy, but requested that Annobus not interfere in the management of the fleet.
Thus, the Carthaginian fleet and the Iberian fleet were unified under Annobus' command, causing the total strength of his navy to reach about 540 warships, of which 432 were the main combat force. It could be said that they were very powerful.
At the same time, the mission that Pomilka gave Annobus also came: in view of the critical situation in Salinus, Lilibe had to urgently transport food and soldiers, requesting the Carthage fleet to escort the fleet.
In fact, during this time, the Dionysian Army had launched several attacks on the city of Salinus, and Milefio had repeatedly sent fast ships to Lilibe to ask for help. Although the Carthage Senate had already transported the first batch of 4,000 mobilized Carthage citizen soldiers to Lilibe, in view of the current state of the Carthage army, Pomilka did not dare to lead the army to rescue them by land. He set his sights on the sea, where Diónia's military power was relatively weak. Through sea transport, reinforcements were transported to Salinus, strengthening Salinus' defenses, and using it to delay the enemy and exhaust the enemy's spirit, waiting for the arrival of the army led by Margo.
But Annobus had refused Pomilka's request many times before. The reason was that the command of the Iberian fleet had not yet been settled, and they could not cooperate on the battlefield, which could easily lead to failure. And the strength of the Carthage fleet alone was not enough to match the Diónia fleet.
Although the Carthage fleet had been docked in the military ports of the various city-states at the western end of Sicily, Annobus had been paying attention to the movements of the Diónia Sicilian fleet and had some understanding of the strength of its fleet. Of course, on the other hand, he was also urging Pomilka to solve the problem of the Iberian fleet as soon as possible. ()
。 m.
Comments