Chapter 890
"… Commander, do you want to inform Governor Cypross?" Murkrou hesitated.
Leotychides faintly replied, "It's too far. There's not enough time. His Majesty should have put the Sicilian fleet under my command. That would have saved us a lot of trouble. Hurry up and carry out the order."
Miltias' response was not out of Mukru's expectations. Not only did he reject Leotizides' proposal to let him patrol, but he also had Mukru bring a message to Leotizides, tactfully reminding him that the Sicilian fleet was not under his command and that he should not worry about the navy's affairs.
Leotychides lost his temper in the mansion, but there was nothing he could do.
In the afternoon, the scouts returned to Serinus with bad news: they found many Carthage soldiers and ships gathered on the coast from Mazara to Lili.
The Carthage army was disembarking! Leotychides made a quick judgment.
"Send someone to inform Miltias. Let him do as he sees fit." The corner of Leotychides's mouth twitched as he said sarcastically. It seemed that Miltias's previous response had upset him.
"Gather the Eighth Legion and the reserve troops immediately. Follow me to attack the coast of Mazara!" Finally, Leotychides gave the order.
"Yes, Sir!"
… …
In order to understand and supervise the boarding of the entire army at the ports of Carthage and Utica, Margo was almost at the forefront of the last batch of ships to enter the port of Lili.
As soon as he arrived at the dock, he was warmly welcomed by the governor of Lilybe, Imisere, the acting commander-in-chief of the Carthaginian army, Ademica, and other officials. Everyone crowded him into the governor's mansion like he was the moon.
Margo had just sat down, but before he could say anything, the news of "tens of thousands of Dionysian Army leaving Serinus and marching west" came.
Most of the people present felt nervous, but Brother Ma resolutely ordered, "Gather the troops immediately and intercept them!"
Lili Bay was a military fortress, and there were several barracks in the city. Previously, there were more than 10,000 Numibian soldiers stationed there (the original army led by Monteadeno), and yesterday, about 20,000 Iberian soldiers led by Hasdrubal were stationed there. Brother Ma ordered his men to quickly assemble them, and for the sake of caution, he also brought along the 6,000 Iberian soldiers who had just landed in the city.
Leotychides led the army against the wind and rain, and the normal march became a little difficult, so it took them nearly three hours to get close to Mazara City.
At this moment, he received a report from his scouts that a Carthage army, numbering no less than thirty thousand, was approaching them from Lili.
Since the Battle of Minoa and the Dionysian Army's capture of Serinus, Leotychides had tried various ways to lure the enemy holed up in Lili, Segesta, Mazara, and other cities out of the city to fight in order to achieve another victory, but he had not succeeded.
Now that Carthage's army had finally left the city, Leotychides hesitated. Although the Battle of Miloya exposed the low morale and combat effectiveness of the Carthage army at that time, this did not make Leotychides arrogant. Through intelligence, he knew that the Iberian army that had captured Selindium could not be underestimated, and the Carthage army that was now rushing from Lili Bay must also be the main force, and the number of soldiers far exceeded the number of troops he led.
During the time that the Dionysian Army was stationed in Serinus, because there had been no fighting, many soldiers of the friendly city-states had returned to their homes to prepare for the upcoming harvest season. After the Second Fleet arrived in Sicily, Miltias had protested to Leotychides that the outstanding crew of the Diónia Navy had been converted into light infantry without authorization to serve as the auxiliary of the Legion in battle (referring to some of the tens of thousands of Sicilian sailors who had survived the storm).
He also reported the matter to the Ministry of Military Affairs, and in the end, Leotychides had to let these sailors return to the naval base in the Catania Plains. Therefore, the number of troops Leotychides led now was just over twenty thousand, and there were still more than three thousand friendly soldiers left in the city of Serinus. This was all the troops he had in western Sicily.
He originally thought that the landing of the Carthage army in such bad weather would inevitably cause a moment of chaos, but he did not expect the Carthage army to attack so quickly.
His gaze swept across the fully-armored legionnaires beside him. Their faces were drenched in rain, showing their exhaustion. After a moment of hesitation, Leotychides, who had never been reckless in battle, dismissed the idea of fighting the Carthage army. He ordered the army to stop advancing and immediately return to Serinus.
The soldiers, who had made a wasted trip and were drenched, complained about this.
Leotychides did not care about this. What he cared about was whether the Sicilian fleet would be able to gain anything.
… … …
After Miltias received the reminder from his adjutant, Mukru, and due to his terrible relationship with Leotychides, he did not fully believe Mukru's words. Therefore, he did not immediately lead the fleet out to sea, but instead sent a speedboat to patrol the western seas.
After receiving confirmation, he hurriedly led the fleet out of the port. As the fleet sailed against the wind, it was already dusk by the time they bypassed the cape and arrived at the sea near Mazara. The sea that was bustling with ships had basically regained its calm. The landing of the Carthaginian army had ended, and the transportation of the military supplies and horses had also been completed by more than half.
The Carthage speedboat, which had been observing the movements of the Dionysian fleet, quickly notified the ships that were still on the way. Some of them immediately returned to Carthage, while others rushed to the beaches and ports of Sicily. Therefore, the Dionysian fleet searched the waters for a period of time and only managed to sink or capture a dozen cargo ships. Although they occasionally looked at the many Carthage ships docked on the beaches, they did not dare to approach and attack because there were many Carthage soldiers on the beaches. It was obviously foolish for the navy to give up their advantages to fight on land. Moreover, because the sky was dark and the waves were strong, two warships accidentally hit the rocks and sank.
Therefore, Miltias had no choice but to order the fleet to return. During the journey, he was depressed. He was largely responsible for the successful landing of the Carthage army in Sicily. Be it His Majesty the Devers or the Ministry of Military Affairs, they would not turn a blind eye to this.
… … …
Over the next few days, the situation in the western part of Sicily presented an eerie calm.
On the Carthage side, Margo was busy reorganizing the disorderly army after the landing and transporting the scattered supplies on the coast back to Lili. At the same time, he also took the time to meet with the officials of the Carthage Kingdom and the envoys of the allies to understand the situation in Sicily in detail. He even summoned the Sicaire leader Arconis, who had been neglected by Montt.
On the Diónia side, Leotychides no longer sent troops to destroy the opponent's fields and villages. Instead, he ordered the soldiers to strengthen the city's defenses.
In fact, he had been doing this ever since he occupied Salinus. He knew very well that the battle of Minoa was not enough to hurt Carthage. Instead, it would lead to a more violent counterattack from Carthage. The southern coast of Sicily was the main offensive route of the Carthage army. Salinus, which was located at the starting point of this route, was very important. As long as they held on to it, it would create a great obstacle for the Carthage army to further attack the territories of the Diónia's friendly city-states on the south coast. This would help to achieve the strategic goal that the King of Devers had given him.
At the same time, Leotychides also sent messengers back to Catanai to inform Cypross of the new battle situation. He also asked for reinforcements from the friendly city-states such as Minoa, Agrigento, and Gela to strengthen the defense of Salinus.
Leotychides hoped that the battle would happen as late as possible, but Margo could not wait any longer. After all, he had promised in the Senate that he would drive the Diónia out of Sicily within a year. So three days later, the mighty Carthage army surrounded Salinus.
Margo ordered the army to start building the camp, and at the same time, let the engineers and carpenters build the siege equipment.
After the camp had begun to take shape, he began to send out thousands of light infantry formed by the various allies of Sicily to gradually clear the traps and obstacles on the periphery of Salinus.
Of course, Leotychides would not allow the enemy to approach the trench so easily. So not only did he order the defenders at the top of the city to launch fierce long-range attacks on any enemy that entered the attack range of the city, but from time to time, he also organized hundreds or thousands of light armored soldiers to sneak out of the city to attack the enemy who was busy clearing the obstacles.
Leotychides's proactive defensive tactics caused a lot of damage to the Carthage soldiers who were clearing the obstacles under the city, but after a few days, the encirclement of Carthage was still gradually shrinking.
For Margo, who had about 120,000 troops, a few casualties were simply scratching an itch through his boots, and it did not affect him in the slightest. With the support of a strong military force, Carthage's cleaning work outside Salinus had never been interrupted.
As the Carthage army methodically advanced under the city and strengthened their defense against surprise attacks by the defenders, the Dionysian Army also reduced the number of attacks outside the city after suffering a few small losses.
Soon, Carthage's men placed dozens of ballistae in front of the city and continuously bombarded the city walls with stone bullets.
Since the Legion of Dionysia usually trained in attacking and defending the city walls, they naturally had their own research on how to defend against the ballistae. In addition to letting the ballistae on the city walls and inside the city accurately strike the enemy's ballistae, Leotychides also ordered the soldiers to collect a large number of fishing nets from the port fishermen, hang them down from the top of the city, and cover the walls to cushion the impact of the stone bullets.
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