Chapter 900
Only when the sun set and night fell did the incomplete Sicilian fleet slowly enter the port of Serinus with the captured warships and Phoenician sailors.
In this battle, only 43 of the 130 warships of the East Phoenician fleet remained, while 31 of the 150 ships of the Diónia Sicilian fleet remained (including 6 that were damaged). At the same time, they captured 23 Phoenician warships. In addition, only 2,000 of the 6,000 soldiers the Sicilian fleet transported safely returned to Serinus. Most of them were reserve soldiers.
The Diónia Sicilian fleet won a pyrrhic victory in the end, but they lost strategically. Because on this day, Hasdrubal led about 17,000 soldiers from the Iberian army to attack Agrigento again, using only black logs and scaling ladders.
Faced with the dilemma of running out of food and starving if they could not take down the city, the soldiers bravely took the lead and fought to the death. In particular, the ferocity of the Lusitanian warriors and the Celtic warriors in the northern mountains of Iberia caused a lot of trouble for the defenders of Agrigento.
Agrigento's militia had already suffered considerable losses in the battle of Minoa. Later, because of Carthage's army besieging Serinus and Leotychides, Agrigento once again sent reinforcements. As a result, there were not many defenders in the city. Although they repelled the enemy's attack in the battle yesterday, they also lost many soldiers. Today, reinforcements did not arrive for a long time. The bloody battle lasted until the afternoon, and the Agrigento people finally could not resist the enemy's attack. The city was breached by Carthage's people.
Hasdrubal allowed his soldiers to loot and kill wantonly in the city. Apart from some of the Agrigento people who escaped to the port on their ships, the rest were slaughtered.
… …
On the morning of the second day, Secorian arrived at Serinus' mansion and saw Leotizides, who was waiting in the hall.
"Prososus, long time no see. I hope you didn't call me here to borrow the fleet's infantry, or to convert our idle sailors into light infantry," Secorian said, clearly expressing his dissatisfaction with Leotychides's actions.
Leotychides did not react to his mockery. He glanced at him indifferently and said, "Miltias died in battle."
Secorian immediately expressed his dissatisfaction, "Who told you that?! We searched for a long time yesterday, but we couldn't find it. Where did you get it? "
"Look at this," Leotychides interrupted him coldly and pushed the wooden box on the table.
Secorian's gaze immediately focused on the wooden box that did not seem to be of Greek style. A terrifying thought suddenly appeared in his mind. He walked forward with heavy steps and carefully opened the lid.
"Commander Carthage Margo sent a messenger. He said that when their army attacked our sailors and soldiers who swam ashore, only Miltias led his unarmed crew and bravely attacked them. Before he died, he cut down two of Carthage's soldiers. A Celtic leader from Iberia admired his bravery and chopped off his head as his spoils of war … After Margo learned of this, he specially ransomed him back, but his body could not be found, so he could only send his head to us …"
With Leotychides's flat and lifeless voice ringing in his ears, Secorian stared at the face in the wooden box that he could still vaguely recognize. After a moment, he cursed in a low voice, "Miltias, you idiot …" Then, he gently closed the box.
After sitting back on the wooden chair, he could no longer suppress the resentment in his heart. "The war in Sicily has only started a few months ago, but not only did the Diónia navy suffer heavy losses, we even lost two fleet commanders, Fralios and Miltias … Damn Carthage! Damn that Margo! … "
Secorian cursed loudly to vent the grief in his heart.
"The messenger from Carthage also brought a request." Leotychides ignored his anger and continued, "They captured thousands of our sailors, hoping to exchange them for the Phoenician sailors we captured."
"The Carthage can dream on. I haven't let the Phoenicians who ambushed my fleet suffer enough!" Secorian said hatefully.
"So you're saying that you're going to reject the suggestion from Carthage?"
"No, I'm exchanging with them!" Secorian raised his eyebrows. "The lives of our sailors are very precious. How can the Phoenicians from Persia be compared to them? Let them go. I believe that in a few days, they will become our captives again."
After the naval battle, the Sicilian fleet brought the captives back to Serinus. After interrogation, Secorian was temporarily relieved. It turned out that the fleet was reinforcements from Tyre, Sidon, and other Phoenician cities in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. It was not a batch of warships that Carthage had built earlier than Diónia. With the state of Carthage's mother state, it was obviously impossible for them to frequently send fleets from thousands of miles away to aid Carthage.
"After a while, you and I will both send people to discuss with the messenger from Carthage. We will complete the exchange of captives as soon as possible."
"Okay." Macelian answered straightforwardly. He then asked sensitively, "Why are you in such a hurry? What happened?"
"This morning, a messenger from Cypross brought bad news. Kefaloition has been occupied by the people of Carthage."
"Kefaloition?" Secorian was puzzled. He had been in the naval base in Tarantum and had only been in Sicily for a few months. He had been busy with the affairs of the Sicilian fleet, so he was not very clear about the internal situation of Sicily. The name of the town was completely unfamiliar to him.
"Kefaloition is a town of the Sikere people. It's in the inner mountains of Sicily, northwest of Agrigento. It's on the border between the kingdom and the people of Carthage in Sicily, bordering the territory of the Sikere people …" Leotychides gave a rare explanation. Secorian tried hard to recall the location of the town.
When his adjutant, Mukelu, saw this, he immediately fetched a map of Sicily and placed it on the table beside Secorian, pointing out the location of the town.
"This town of the Sikere people used to be the base of the Tanik tribe." What Leotychides said next left an impression on Secorian. After all, the matter of Laodisian back then had caused a huge storm in the kingdom's politics.
"How did you lose it?" Secorian's interest was piqued.
"According to the messenger, a few days ago, when Carthage's army surrounded Serinus, more than 2,000 Sikere people invaded their territory. The Sikere people have always maintained a strong stance against the Sikere people, so they did not hesitate to gather 4,000 warriors to crush them …" Leotychides pursed his lips, as if mocking the stupidity of the Sikere people, "However, during the battle, the army of Carthage suddenly appeared, and the Sikere people suffered a crushing defeat. The people of Carthage took advantage of their victory and successfully occupied Kefaloition.
After that, the people of Carthage and the Sikere people continued to attack Enna City. The leader of the Tanik tribe, Arconis, who had fled to the west of Sicily, became the guide for the people of Carthage. He even helped the people of Carthage persuade the tribes of Sikere to surrender. This caused the people of Sikere to waver. Although Cypross has already ordered Krelu, the governor of Hena, to send reinforcements to Enna, the situation there is not optimistic.
"Furthermore, since we did not send reinforcements to Agrigento yesterday, I am also worried about the situation of Agrigento City. If it falls, tens of thousands of Carthage soldiers will be able to gain a foothold in the middle of the south coast. Not only will it threaten the safety of the neighboring cities, it will also threaten our safety. "
Secorian sat up straight and looked at Leotychides. He asked seriously, "You want the navy to send reinforcements to Agrigento again?"
"Of course I do. You are now the highest-ranking military officer of the Sicilian fleet. (Although Secorian is not the commander of the Sicilian fleet yet, the new commander has not been appointed after Miltias' death. As the commander of the First Fleet, Maclean has the highest military position in the fleet, so he naturally becomes the leader of this fleet.) As the commander of the First Fleet, of course I need to discuss with you. With the current situation of the fleet, can we carry out the mission of sending reinforcements?" Leotychides asked seriously.
"Of course!" Secorian answered straightforwardly. In the face of military affairs that concerned the kingdom's interests, he had always been able to weigh the pros and cons. "I can use the captured Phoenician warships as transport ships and use the Sicilian fleet as escorts. Yesterday, the Phoenicians were defeated by us despite having the upper hand. I'm afraid they will hide in the port for the next few days. If they really dare to come, we can annihilate them all! But this time, we can't transport that many soldiers. "
"Even if you can transport them, I don't have that many reinforcements. Just 2000." Although Leotychides said it in a flat tone, Secorian could feel the helplessness in his words. He once again looked at the commander of the Sicilian army whom he rarely interacted with. Then he said, "It's not a problem to transport 2000 people. I'll go back and get ready to leave as soon as possible before noon."
Leotychides did not express his gratitude. Instead, he continued, "There's one more thing you need to know. When the messenger returns to Katanai, bring a message to Cypross and ask him to send a fleet here as soon as possible to transport the troops here to Gela. By then, I'll need the Sicilian fleet's escort."
Comments