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Chapter 987

The crew immediately fished out leather shields, spears, and daggers from the pile of silver and jumped onto the dock, charging at the incoming enemies.

"They really are the enemy!" The leading port official shouted, commanding the freemen at the dock to kill all the enemies who had ambushed them.

It turned out that after the infantrymen successfully attacked the north gate and entered the city, the news of "Diónia attacking" quickly spread throughout the city. This was the complete opposite of the good news of "the Phoenician coalition defeated the Dionysian Army" that came from the water gate. The city hall officials quickly realized that there was something wrong with the fleet that had rushed to the port in the middle of the night, so they urgently sent someone to inform the port.

As the infantrymen of the Dionysian fleet had just entered the city, there was no fierce battle yet. Although the inner port was within the city, it was located in the most remote part of the south. The distance between the north and the south was relatively far, so the crew had not yet felt the changes in the city, and so the port was prepared.

Because of the many benefits promised by the Saros officials, the laborers at the port swarmed forward, and the infantrymen of the fleet calmly lined up to meet the enemy. The battle at the port happened before the city.

The infantrymen of the fleet were well-trained, and unlike the unruly Saros Free Folk, they were able to inflict significant damage to the enemy.

But the port officials kept organizing new laborers to surround them, using the advantage of numbers to suppress the foreign enemies at the port. At the same time, the area with the most young men in the city of Saros could not support the fierce battle in the city.

The Diónia's army was surrounded at the city square and the port. This stalemate was extremely disadvantageous to them, because the Saros people, who were gradually stabilizing, gathered as many people as possible to surround and attack them, and they were isolated and helpless.

When the fake Carthage fleet was lured into the Saros waterway, the Diónia fleet, which had lagged far behind, noticed the anomaly and immediately turned back to the north.

To avoid being discovered and alerted by the Saros people, all the warships of the 3rd Fleet were anchored near the mountain range that separated Saint Iberia and Saros. At the time, the 9th Army Commander Tegtinus was on the flagship of the 3rd Fleet.

When he heard the news, Midolades was the first to feel nervous. He was worried that the Saros people had discovered a flaw and wanted to trick the fleet into the inner port of Saros. At the same time, he was also worried that the fleet would give themselves away and lead the army to the city of Saros to be ambushed. Because the infantrymen of the fleet were all under his command, and there were 1,500 of them, what if … He did not dare to think further.

That was when Tegetinos spoke up decisively. "Lord Mithrados, since the situation has changed, I suggest that the warships of the Third Fleet head south at once and dock at the beach near the port of Saros. I will lead the Ninth Legion to disembark and quickly head to the city of Saros to reinforce your army!"

Although Midolades was tempted, he was still a little worried. "That's too dangerous! If the Saros people have already discovered our plan and are prepared, there are many Phoenician towns near the bay. Once they join forces, the 9th Army will be surrounded by the enemy the moment they land. You'll be in grave danger! "

Tegtinus laughed. "Lord Midolades, you're confused. The only Phoenician army on this island has already been annihilated by us. My 9th Army has 6,000 elite soldiers (with another 2,000 soldiers and 2,000 infantrymen guarding the port of Saint Iberia to watch over the captured Phoenician captives, and a few hundred infantrymen guarding the two wooden bridges). Even if we march in Phoenician territory, do they have the power to stop us?"

Tegtinus' reminder made Midolades perk up. He had been too concerned just now and had forgotten about this.

Thus, the order was given, and all the warships of the 3rd Saros Fleet made use of the weak moonlight and the exquisite skills of the crew to quickly head south.

When they saw the flashing lighthouse of the outer port of Saros in the distance, they knew that they were almost at the bay. With the lighthouse as a marker, the 3rd Saros Fleet safely docked their warships on the beach, and the soldiers of the 9th Army quickly disembarked and assembled.

Such a huge commotion naturally caused panic among the citizens of the outer port of Saros, but Tegtinus did not care. He led the soldiers, following the directions on the map, along the shores of the lagoon, and hurried north.

Along the way, he unexpectedly met a messenger from the infantrymen of the fake city who had come to ask for reinforcements.

It turned out that after the infantrymen of the fleet had tricked them into opening the north gate, they had sent someone to the outer port to receive the 9th Army. In the end, the soldier found that the outer port was quiet, and there was no sign of reinforcements. After that, the infantrymen of the fleet had sent someone to check, but there was still no change. However, there were changes within the city. After the people of Saros had surrounded the enemies who had charged into the city, the situation had stabilized. At this time, they remembered that the north gate was still in the hands of the enemy, and so they organized another group of people to recapture it.

There were only 200 Dionysian Fleet infantrymen guarding the north gate, and when they saw a large number of people of Saros swarming towards them, they sensed the urgency of the situation and had no choice but to send someone to the outer port to check out the situation, hoping to find something, but they just happened to run into the 9th Army.

After Tegtinus had a general understanding of the situation in the city, he immediately ordered the soldiers to hurry. The outer port was less than five miles from Saros, and they had already covered half of it, so it did not take long for the soldiers of the Ninth Army to reach the north gate.

At this time, the infantrymen of the fleet had been divided into two groups: one group was at the top of the city, stubbornly defending the suspension bridge (Saros was close to the lagoon and had a moat), and the other group was blocking the gate, preventing the people of Saros from closing the gate. Their thin defensive line was already crumbling under the onslaught of the people of Saros.

Tegtinus did not hesitate to rush to the front, leading the soldiers into the north gate, and the bugler blew the bugle to attack just in time.

"Wooooo!" The sonorous sound of the bugle rang throughout the city, rousing the infantrymen in the city, but leaving the people of Saros in shock.

The soldiers of the 9th Army were not the infantrymen of the fleet, but the real heavy infantry of Diónia. They wore black armor, long shields, and short swords (because it was night and they could not see their targets clearly, short swords were more effective than bayonets) as they attacked the people of Saros at the gate.

When the people of Saros saw new enemies pouring in through the gate, and not knowing how many reinforcements they had, their morale dropped, and they did not hold out for long before they began to scatter.

Tegtinus did not order a pursuit, and instead ordered the soldiers of the 9th Army to advance towards the place where the sounds of battle were the loudest.

Not long after, the vast army of soldiers arrived at the brightly lit square, and charged at the people of Saros who were surrounding the infantrymen of the fleet.

The people of Saros immediately collapsed.

It was only then that the infantrymen at the center of the fleet appeared before Tegtinus's eyes. Seeing the arrival of reinforcements, they finally relaxed, dropping their shields and spears in exhaustion as they sat on the ground. All around them were Saros' people, some completely trampled into meat paste while others were moaning in pain. There were even elderly and women amongst them.

Such a bloody scene shocked even Tegtinus, who had experienced countless battles. But he immediately sent out 3,000 men to pursue the fleeing people of Saros, and ordered them to kill any Saros that appeared on the streets!

Tegtinus felt uneasy about the resistance of the people of Saros, and was determined to crush them once and for all. What he did not know, however, was that the people of Saros were not as brave as he had imagined. If it had been the 9th Army who had attacked Saros from the start, the people of Saros would have given up long ago. It was only because there were less than 1,000 infantrymen who entered the city, and compared to such a large city, this number was not enough to intimidate them, which gave the people of Saros hope.

At the same time, Tegtinus sent another 3,000 men to the inner port, but the free citizens of the port had long since dispersed, leaving only a little more than 100 infantrymen at the docks to help their wounded comrades.

In the latter half of the night, the soldiers of the 9th Army patrolled the streets of the city, and whenever they saw the people of Saros roaming the streets, they would cut them down without a word.

Tegtinus also interrogated the people of Saros who had been captured, and sent his men to arrest the most important officials of Saros' city hall.

The people of Saros had long since lost their courage to fight, and they all fled home in fear, not daring to make a sound. All they could do was hug their families helplessly, and pray silently to the god they worshiped.

Gradually, the entire city returned to silence.

According to the casualty statistics, the Dionysian Army had suffered nearly 600 casualties in this battle, mainly the infantrymen, while the people of Saros had suffered 4,000 casualties. Including the 2,000 Saros militia from the defeated and captured Phoenician coalition, the city of Saros had lost two-thirds of its population and suffered a heavy blow.

But this was not the worst for the people of Saros.

In the early hours of the second day, Tegtinus sent his men to seize the outer port and the waterways, capturing five Phoenician warships that had not managed to escape. The Third Fleet entered the inner port through the waterways, and the Midolades and Tegtinus, who were heartbroken over the casualties of the infantrymen, had a discussion. In view of the stubborn resistance of the people of Saros last night, and the heavy casualties caused by the army, both sides were now mortal enemies. For the safety of the army, and to intimidate the other Phoenician towns on the island, they decided to reduce all the people of Saros to slaves, and immediately use the warships of the Third Fleet to forcibly transport them back to Triene.

For the other Phoenician cities on the island of Sardinia, they had just heard of the looting of Saint Iberia by the Diónia the day before, and the next day, the people of Saros had fled to their towns and asked for help, saying that the people of Diónia had captured Saros and were slaughtering the people of Saros.