Chapter 914
In the Battle of Minoa, apart from Carthage's Sacred Legion that caused us some trouble, the rest of Carthage's troops were simply unable to withstand a single blow, especially the army composed of Numibians, whose morale was very low. A single charge from our heavy infantry could cause them to retreat, so our army was able to easily break into the west and forced the Carthage people to hole up in their respective cities for a long time, not daring to come out to fight. During this period, we did not find the opportunity to fight with the Iberian army that had been stationed in Palemos.
When Carthage sent a second army to land in Sicily, the situation changed. First of all, the commander of Carthage was the Iberian governor, Margo. He had been fighting in Iberia for a long time and had a lot of battlefield experience. Combining all the information, Margo brought more than 20,000 soldiers from Iberia. Adding the 20,000 Iberian soldiers in Palemos, there were more than 40,000 Iberian soldiers in Sicily. Most of them were Carthage's mercenaries. They had followed Margo to fight in Iberia for a long time, so their fighting strength was very strong.
In Gela, I led the Eighth Legion, the 4th Cavalry Legion, and allied troops to engage in a battle with the Iberian army. The difference in numbers between the two sides was not big, and the Eighth Legion attacked the Iberian heavy infantry fiercely. There was even the 4th Cavalry Legion supporting the attack from the flank, but the other side always defended tenaciously and did not retreat. "
"Oh?!" When Brereu heard this, he sat up straight with a surprised look on his face. Although the Eighth Legion's serial number was behind the Seventh Legion, the Eighth Legion had pacified the Sikere region a few years ago and defeated the Sacred Legion, which was called the "strongest heavy infantry" by Carthage people in Minoa. Its actual combat experience was richer than the Seventh Legion, which had not fought for many years. Although Brereu did not admit it on the surface, he faintly felt that the Eighth Legion's fighting strength might be a little stronger than the Seventh Legion. Now, an Iberian heavy infantry army was actually able to remain undefeated under the joint attack of the Eighth Legion and the Cavalry Legion. This really surprised him.
"And in this Carthage army, many of them are likely native warriors of the Iberian Peninsula. They are tall, fierce in attack, and are also disciplined. The most noteworthy thing is that they all hold a long shield in one hand and a short sword in the other, similar to the soldiers of our legion. They directly defeated the phalanx of Gela and the Kamalina heavy infantry, which ultimately led to my defeat at Gela …" When Leotychides mentioned this, his expression and tone did not change, as if he was talking about something that had happened to someone else.
But in the conference room, not only Brereu, but even Cypross and Cypross were surprised.
"It seems that the fighting strength of the Iberian heavy infantry in Carthage's army is not weaker than that of our legion!" Cypross could not help but say. Like Cypross, he only roughly knew about the process of Leotychides's defeat in the battle of Gela. He did not have the time to understand it in detail, so it was inevitable that he felt uneasy when he suddenly heard the details.
"Not only the heavy infantry, but the light infantry of Carthage's Iberian army is not weak either. During the battle, they had a group of thousands of catapults that may have come from the Balearic Islands. The lead pellets they threw were accurate and ruthless, not weaker than the catapults of our First Legion's light infantry. They caused a lot of casualties to the Eighth Legion's light infantry. They also had hundreds of javelin throwers made up of Iberian natives. The javelins they threw were not only heavy, but also had curved hooks. Once hit, it was very difficult to pull them out, and the resulting wound was very large, causing a lot of bleeding and death. The medical camp did not have a good way to deal with this. "At this point, Leotychides's tone became slightly lower.
"It seems that only our cavalry can be stronger than Diónia." After listening to Leotychides's words, Cypross could not help but sigh, but he did not expect a cough to come from the side.
He turned his head to look at the embarrassed commander of the Fourth Cavalry Legion, Asitemis, and suddenly remembered that Carthage occupied the Numibian region, and there were many Numibian cavalry in his army. He remembered that the Numibian cavalry had caused the Diónia cavalry to suffer a great loss in the Southern Italian War.
As expected, Leotychides continued, "It may be because this Carthage army had to cross the mountains to raid the rear, so they did not let the cavalry accompany them. However, the intelligence shows that among the Carthage army that landed in Sicily, there were six to seven thousand cavalry, most of them Numibian cavalry, with some Carthage cavalry, Mauritanian cavalry, and Iberian cavalry. Their number exceeds the total number of our four major cavalry legions."
"The heavy infantry and light infantry of the Carthage army from Iberia are not weaker than our legion's soldiers, and their cavalry is slightly stronger than ours. It seems that this is our formidable enemy!" Breroux's expression was solemn. In his previous career in the legion, he had fought against the army of Syracuse, Mesapi, and Puchetti. The armies of these city-states and races always had some flaws, which made him proud of the strength of the Legion of Dionysia. This was the first time he had heard of an army that was not weaker than the Legion of Dionysia in any aspect. While he felt uneasy, there was also a hint of excitement in his heart.
He asked cautiously, "In addition to the army from Iberia, how is the combat power of the other Carthage army?"
"According to the intelligence, in addition to more than 40,000 soldiers from Iberia, there are about 60,000 soldiers from the city of Carthage, the Phoenician allies in Afrika, and Numibia among the enemy troops who landed in Sicily this time. Among them, the Numibians make up the majority. After the Carthage army surrounded Serinus City, I let the army take the initiative to attack and carried out a night attack on the Carthage army, which was successful. According to the soldiers who came back, many of the enemies they killed were Numibian soldiers. These Numibians could not organize an effective defense after being attacked. Most of them only knew how to run away … "
When Leotychides said this, he saw that the expressions on the faces of the others had become much more relaxed, so he continued, "Then this army was sent to attack Minoa. We all know that the Carthage army had attacked Minoa City before, but they had never made progress, which led to me leading the army to rescue them. This time, the Minoans clearly felt the pressure. They frequently sent messengers to me for help, and in the end, they had no choice but to evacuate from Minoa City …
I asked the refugees in Minoa. They said that the dark-skinned Numibians attacked the city wall without any regard for their lives. After repelling one wave, another wave would quickly rush up, constantly consuming their few defending forces, leading to the final failure of defending the city … From this, it can be seen that the combat power of this army is not weak. From the night attack to the fall of Minoa, it is completely like two armies. I guess that Brother Ma must have done something during this time to boost their morale … "Leotychides calmly analyzed.
"100,000 people! 100,000 soldiers with decent combat power! "Brereu could not help but sigh softly.
"This time, Carthage's army is more than 100,000 people," Cykrian interjected. "When I was at the port of Lili, I had privately inquired about it. There are more than 10,000 soldiers in Lili City, and cities like Mazara, Eryx, Palemos, and other Phoenician cities have at least a few thousand militias. If they are all gathered, the number of Carthage's army is far more than 100,000."
Cypross took a deep breath, rubbed his chin, and pondered for a while. He said, "Such a large army, the military supplies they need must be very large."
"Lord Cypross, you have hit the nail on the head!" Cykrian praised, then pointed to the map of Sicily placed in the center of the wooden table, and said loudly, "That is why we must defend Serinus. As long as we have it, our fleet can frequently attack the western seas, attack their merchant ships, cargo ships, and cut off Carthage's route to western Sicily, making it difficult for Carthage's army to supply food. I can even send the fleet's infantry to land and attack the rear of Carthage's army … After all, from the current situation, compared to the army, our navy has a greater advantage against Carthage."
Cecelian looked at Leotizides and said confidently, "Even though the Carthaginian navy is on par with us in terms of courage and maneuvering ability, and is more familiar with the sea conditions of the western sea, they are still using traditional naval tactics. It's impossible for them to change in a short period of time. As long as the number of warships in the Sicilian fleet is restored, I can even seal off the port of Carthage! "
Cypross reminded him helplessly, "The Senate has passed a resolution on this matter, and all the port cities in the kingdom are building warships. However, time is too short, and we can't build hundreds of warships to meet your requirements."
"But there is one thing you can help with," Cypross said seriously. "Currently, the naval base in Catania is docked with 20 warships that Fralios captured on the surface of Therodiem, as well as the 30 warships that I captured on the south coast. After some repairs and modifications, some of these warships can be incorporated into our fleet and go out to sea to fight. In this way, the number of warships in the Sicilian fleet can reach sixty to seventy in a short period of time, and we can continue to maintain our advantage over the Carthage navy. So, I need Lord Cypross to gather all the shipsmiths in the cities of Sicily to the naval base, and help us modify these Phoenician warships as soon as possible! "This time, Therian spoke with sincerity.
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