Chapter 903
Leotychides showed a rare smile and asked, "How's the situation in the barracks today?"
Ever since they had occupied Salinus, Leotychides had temporarily taken on the responsibility of managing the entire city (although most of the people in Salinus had been escorted to Katanai). Naturally, he did not have much time and energy to invest in the army. Hence, he usually let Calsidis manage the barracks for him. So far, there had been no major mistakes.
"Everything is going well. The defeat of the navy did not affect the morale of our brothers. On the contrary, they hope that you can let them attack the enemy camp again and gain more military merits," Calsidis replied.
Leotychides shook his head lightly. "The Carthage people have already been tricked once. It will be difficult for the same trick to work again. However, I am preparing to carry out a large military operation."
Saying this, he looked at Calsidis.
Calsidis stood there with a calm expression. He did not appear to be in a hurry.
Leotychides praised him in his heart, but his expression was as cold as ever. "Now, the Carthage people have divided their army into four parts. One is besieging Salinus, one is attacking Minoa, one is attacking Enna, and one is attacking Jelah. The situation is very serious. If you were me, what would you do at this time? "
For a high-ranking officer like Calsidis, the information obtained by spies and clippers was usually open to him. Hence, Calsidis understood the current situation of the battlefield better and had his own thoughts. He thought for a while and said, "The Carthage army far outnumbers us, but since they are attacking separately, we can use our advantage in the sea to attack them one by one."
"Attack them one by one … hmm …" Leotychides asked calmly, "Where do you think we should attack first?"
"Jelah," Calsidis said without hesitation. Calsidis said without hesitation, "It's said that the Carthaginian army there isn't a lot of soldiers. They're alone and close to the coast. It's the best target!"
Leotychides nodded. "You and I are thinking the same thing. I am going to lead the 8th Legion and 4th Cavalry Legion to Jelah and defeat the Carthage army as soon as possible. After I leave, you will lead 5,000 reserve soldiers to guard this place. "
Calsidis did not respond immediately. Instead, he looked hesitant. This made Leotychides feel strange.
After a while, Calsidis said resolutely, "Lord Commander, 5,000 soldiers are too many. 3,000 will be enough. This way, you will have more soldiers to defeat the Carthage army. I am confident that we can hold on until you return with victory!"
Leotychides was slightly stunned. He sat on the wooden chair and looked at Calsidis for a while. Then, he stood up, walked in front of Calsidis, and patted his shoulder. "After I leave Serinus, I am not only going to defeat the Carthage army in Jelah. I am afraid that I will not be back for a long time. Also, Serinus is very important to us, so we must do our best to defend it. That is why I left so many soldiers for you. You don't have to worry about the small number of soldiers I lead. When we reach the east, I have plenty of soldiers to use."
After hearing this, Calsidis immediately said solemnly, "Lord Commander, please rest assured. As long as I am here, Serinus City is here. I will defend Serinus to the death!"
Leotychides's face twitched. His tone was a little gentle. "If you really can't hold on, there is no need for you to defend it. There is a fleet of the navy at the port to take the soldiers home safely. This war will be very long. In the future, we will have the chance to take Serinus back …"
… …
Katanai's fleet arrived at the port of Serinus. Leotychides led the army and was about to board the ship when they bumped into the messenger sent by Minoya asking for help.
It turned out that after Pomilka led the Carthage army to the Minoya territory and set up camp, they began to attack Minoya City. Unlike Monadeno, Pomilka personally went to the front line to supervise the siege. Coupled with the iron-blooded command of the Iberian army, the soldiers did not dare to slack off. They attacked fiercely, putting a lot of pressure on the Minoya garrison.
At this time, when Leotychides received this news, he did not have any good ideas. He could only comfort the Minoya people and ask them to hold on for a while. He would lead the army to rescue them as soon as possible.
Under the escort of the Sicilian fleet, the fleet of Leotychides's army entered the port of Gela without a hitch.
… …
At the same time, Brereu, the commander of the Seventh Legion in the Lockley barracks, received an order from the Ministry of Military Affairs: The Seventh Legion will head to Katanai within the next day. Urgent!
"It's finally our turn!" Brereu's strong body jumped up from his seat and shouted excitedly to his adjutant, "Quickly send someone to inform Administrator Lockley and ask them to prepare for the expedition. Also … inform all the brigades of this news and ask them to recall their soldiers immediately! "
"Yes, Legion Commander!"
Not long after, there were continuous cheers in the barracks.
After Brereu heard this, he smiled.
Brereu was once the Bruti leader of Ciudad Abyssinia. Later, Abyssinia was merged into Diónia and he became a senator. However, he did not engage in government affairs like Bagylipi and chose to join the Legion of Dionysia. During the Southern Italian War, he was the first captain of Legio IV. In the end, he was captured by Dionysius together with Legion Commander Dracos. Dracos was killed, but he was imprisoned because of his former identity as the Bruti leader and was eventually rescued. As the only high-ranking officer of the Legion of Dionysia who was captured by Syracuse during the Southern Italian War and survived, he regarded this as the greatest humiliation. He fought bravely in the subsequent wars and was promoted to the commander of the Seventh Legion because of his merits.
In this war, all the other legions had participated, but only the Seventh Legion was still idle. Brereu had repeatedly written letters to the Ministry of Military Affairs to complain about this injustice. Not long ago, the Ministry of Military Affairs sent a message saying that Carthage's army had once again landed in Sicily and reminded him to make preparations.
Brereu began to send out an order to gather the Seventh Legion to the surrounding towns. Now, the Seventh Legion in the barracks was fully equipped and the morale of the soldiers was high, waiting to go into battle and kill the enemy.
But soon, the reply from the Lockley City Hall poured cold water on Brereu because there were not enough passenger ships to transport troops in Lockley Port for the time being. They needed to wait for another day or two to make preparations.
Brereu was depressed.
At this time, the adjutant reminded him, "There are no ships in Lockley. Isn't there still Lijim?"
Brereu's eyes lit up. In the past, the soldiers of the Seventh Legion came from Lockley, Hibernian, and Colonia. But last year, after Lijim and its son Borina were completely integrated into the kingdom, these two cities were also included by the Ministry of Military Affairs as the source of the Seventh Legion's troops. But because the relationship had not been straightened out and because of the outbreak of war, the Seventh Legion had not yet sent out a notice to let the military training officers of Lijim and Borina arrange for their citizens to participate in rotation training in the Lockley barracks. Although there were no citizens of Lijim in the Seventh Legion for the time being, as a port city guarding the Strait of Messina, Lijim would not lack ships and could definitely help transport troops.
Brereu immediately said, "Send a messenger to Lijim as soon as possible and ask for their support!"
The next day, Lijim responded to the Seventh Legion's request. Nearly two hundred passenger ships sailed into Lockley Port at dusk.
On the morning of the third day, Brereu left the barracks with more than 8,000 soldiers of the Seventh Legion and entered the city of Lockley. The citizens of Lockley gathered on both sides of the street to bid farewell to their loved ones. Unlike the citizens of other cities in the kingdom who bid farewell to the troops, they rarely yelled, were not overly excited, and did not rush into the streets to obstruct the troops. Instead, they stood on the side of the street in a more orderly manner and kept waving.
Although after joining the Kingdom of Diónia, Lockley no longer implemented the cruel laws set by Zalaikus, and there were no more disabled people appearing in more than 10 years, the citizens of the city had integrated restraint and obedience into their blood. At the same time, after Lockley, which was originally an enemy of Diónia, was incorporated into the kingdom, it did not cause any trouble to the King of Devers and the Senate. Of course, an important reason was that the citizens of Lockley who believed in Persephone and paid attention to the rule of law were easy to identify with the Kingdom of Diónia.
Before the troops entered the port, they passed by the shipbuilding workshop of Lockley. There were seven to eight large dry docks juxtaposed on the beach, and many shipbuilders were building three-deck oared warships. Stacks of thick tree trunks were stacked on the sand in the open air. From time to time, there were teams of carriages carrying trees into the workshop. In a number of temporary wooden sheds, carpenters were working non-stop on the rough tree trunks into pieces of flat and smooth ship planks. The people in the workshop were focused on their own work, and few of them were distracted to look at the Seventh Legion passing by.
This lively and orderly shipbuilding scene was not only seen in Lockley, but also in other seaside towns that had shipbuilding capabilities, such as: Turií, Crotone, Triene, Siletina, Ligim, Tarantum, Catanai, Naxos … The entire Kingdom of Diónia was doing its best to build more warships as soon as possible, so that they could continue to gain the upper hand in the war with Carthage.
In the morning, the fleet of ships carrying the soldiers of the Seventh Legion left the port of Lockley and sailed to Catanai on the eastern coast of Sicily.
… …
After receiving the order from the King of Devers, although the Midolades was very excited, he did not immediately lead his fleet to attack Corsica. This was because he wanted to attack Alenia first. Compared to the small strongholds that the Phoenicians had scattered all over Corsica, Alenia, as the only Phoenician town in Corsica, had a small but fertile agricultural land, rich mining, and a relatively large port. Without a doubt, this gave the Midolades an advantage.
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