Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece

Mukruk hesitated and said, "...Master Commander, would you like to tell Governor Cypress?"

Leotizides said lightly: "It's too far. Time is too late. Your Majesty should have placed the Sicilian fleet under my command. That will save you a lot of trouble. Go ahead and execute the order."

Soon, Miltias’ response did not meet Mukruk’s expectations. Not only did he reject Leotizides’s proposal to let him cruise, but he also let Mukruk speak, reminding Leotich gently. Des: The Sicilian Fleet is not under his command, so he should not worry about the affairs of the Navy.

Leotizides made a rare fire in the mansion, but there was no way.

In the afternoon, Scout Rider returned to Serinus and brought the bad news: on the coast from Mazara to Lili Pui, they found many Carthage soldiers and ships on many beaches.

The Carthage army is landing!Leotizides made the judgment easily.

"Send someone to tell Miltias to let him do it." Leotizides said with a sneer, and said with a sneer. It seems that Miltias' response before made him care.

"Assemble the Eighth Legion and the reserve immediately and follow me on the coast of Mazara!" Finally, Leotizides gave the order.

"Yes!"

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In order to facilitate the understanding and supervision of the embarkation of the entire army of soldiers in the ports of Carthage and Utica, Marco entered the port of Lilibe almost at the forefront of the last batch of sailing troops.

As soon as he boarded the wharf, he was warmly welcomed by officials of various sizes, including the head of Lilithi City, Imisel, and the commander of the Carthaginian army, Admika. Everyone held him in the city for months. Mansion.

Marco just sat down, and before he had time to speak, the news came that "tens of thousands of Dionysian troops had left the city of Serinus and marching westward."

Most of the people present were nervous, but Marco resolutely ordered: "Gather troops immediately and go to intercept!"

Lili Pyong is a military fortress. There are several military camps in the city. Before that, there were more than 10,000 Nomibian soldiers (the army led by Monte Adno), and they were stationed in Hasdrubba yesterday. Of the approximately 20,000 Iberian soldiers, Marco ordered his men to gather them quickly. To be cautious, he also brought 6,000 Iberian soldiers who had just landed into the city.

Leotizides led the army against the wind and rain, and normal marching became a little difficult, so it took nearly three hours to approach the city of Mazara.

At this time, he was rewarded by reconnaissance riding: a Carthage army was forcing them from Lili Peng, the number of which was no less than 30,000.

Since World War I and the Dionysian army seized Serinus, Leotizides has devised various ways to lure enemies who have shrunk in Lilly, Segersta, Mazara and other cities out of the city Engage in order to achieve better results, but has not been successful.

Now that Carthage's army was finally out of the city, Leotizides hesitated.Although Miloia exposed the low morale and combat effectiveness of the Carthage army at the time, this did not make Leotizides arrogant and arrogant. Through intelligence, he knew that Ibi, who had captured Seldiham The army of Leah cannot be underestimated. The army of Carthage, who is now coming from Lilibe, must also be its main force, and the number of its soldiers far exceeds the number of the troops he led.

During the period when the Dionysian army was stationed in Serinus, many friendly city-state soldiers had returned to their homes in preparation for the upcoming harvest season. After the Second Fleet arrived in Sicily, Miltias once protested to Leotizides: unauthorized conversion of the excellent crew of the Dionysian navy into light infantry to serve as an attachment to the legion’s battle (referring to a fluke in the storm Some of the tens of thousands of Sicilian fleet members who survived).

He also reported the matter to the Military Department, and finally Leotizides had to send the crew back to the naval base in the Catania Plain, so the number of troops Leotichides now led was just over 20,000. There are more than 3,000 friendly soldiers remaining in the city of Serinus, this is all the strength he now has in western Sicily.

He originally thought that the landing of Carthage's army in such bad weather would inevitably cause temporary chaos, and he did not expect the Carthaginians to attack so quickly.

His eyes glanced at the heavily armed legionnaires beside him, their faces covered with rain showing fatigue.After only a moment of hesitation, Leotizides, who had never been blindly impulsive in the fight, dispelled the idea of ​​fighting with the incoming Carthage army and ordered the army to stop advancing and immediately return to Serinus.

The soldiers who ran for a while and were drowning in chickens complained.

Leotizides does not care about this, he cares about whether the Sicilian fleet can gain something.

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After being reminded by the adjutant Mukelu, Miltias, in view of his bad relationship with Leotizides, did not fully believe in Mukru, so he did not immediately lead the fleet to sea, but sent a fast The ship went to the western waters for inspection.

After being confirmed, he hurriedly led the fleet out of the port.These two trips, coupled with the fleet sailing against the wind, when it bypassed the cape and rushed to the waters near Mazara, it was already dusk, and the original ship flow and the abnormally busy sea surface basically recovered calm. The Carthage Army The landing has been completed, and the subsequent load of horses and horses has also been completed.

The Carthage Clippers, who have been watching the movement of the Dionysian fleet, quickly notified the ships that were still on the way, some returned to Carthage immediately, and some rushed into the beaches and ports of Sicily, so the Dionysian fleet was in this piece. The sea was searched around for a period of time, and only a dozen cargo ships were sunk and captured. Although they occasionally looked at the many Carthage ships docked on the beach, they did not dare to approach the attack, because there are on these beaches. For many Carthage soldiers, the navy gave up its advantage to fight the land battle is obviously stupid, and because the sky is dark, the wind and the waves are large, it also caused the two warships to accidentally sink and sink.

Therefore, Miltias had to order a return flight, and he was always depressed on the way: Carthage’s army could successfully land in Sicily, and he would have a great responsibility, whether it was His Majesty Dapheus or the Military Department. Turn a blind eye...

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In the following days, the war situation in western Sicily showed a strange calm.

For Carthage, Marco was busy reorganizing the chaotic army after the landing, and transported the materials scattered on the coast back to Lili Peng. At the same time, he also took the time to meet the officials of the Carthage sub-state and the envoys of the Allies to learn more about Sicily. In the circumstances, he even summoned the leader of Sikel, Akonis, who was neglected by Monte Adno.

In the case of Dionia, Leotizides no longer sends troops to destroy the opponent's fields and villages, but orders soldiers to strengthen the city defenses.

In fact, since occupying Serinus, he has been doing this because he knew that Minoa’s World War I was not enough to make Carthage hurt, but it would cause Carthage to be more violent. Counterattack, the southern coast of Sicily as the main attack route of the Carthage army, Serinus at the beginning of this route is very important, as long as it is held firmly, it can give the Carthage army further to the south coast of Diao The attack on the territory of the friendly city-state of Niah created great obstacles and helped to accomplish the strategic objectives entrusted by King Davers.

At the same time, Leotizides also sent a messenger to rush back to Katane to inform Cipros of the new situation. He also sought friendship from the friendly city-states such as Minoa, Agrigento, and Gera. Strengthen the defense of Celinus.

Leotizides hopes that the fighting will happen as soon as possible, but Marco can't wait. After all, he made a promise in the Senate – to drive the Dionysians out of Sicily within a year.So three days later, the mighty army of Carthage surrounded Serinus.

Marco ordered the army to start building camps, while allowing engineers and carpenters to build siege equipment.

After the camp began to take shape, he began to dispatch thousands of light infantry formed by the Sicilian allies to gradually clear the traps and obstacles outside the city of Serinus.

Of course, Leotizides will not allow the enemy to approach the trench so easily, so he not only ordered the defenders of the city to carry out violent long-range attacks on any enemy who entered the attack range under the city, but also organized hundreds of them from time to time. Thousands of light armoured soldiers, taking advantage of it, went out of town to raid enemies who were busy clearing obstacles.

Leotizides' proactive defensive tactics gave the Carthage soldiers who were clearing obstacles under the city a lot of damage, but for a few days, Carthage's encirclement of Serinus was still gradually narrowing.

For Marco, who has an army of about 120,000, some casualties are just scratching his boots, which will not affect him. With the strong military force as his backing, the Carthaginians have cleaned up outside the city of Serinus. Has not been interrupted.

With the orderly advancement of the Carthage army under the city and the strengthening of the defense against raids, the Dionysian army also reduced the number of assaults out of the city after eating one or two small losses.

Soon, the Carthaginians put dozens of ballistas in front of the city and bombarded the walls of Serinus with stone bombs.

Since the Dionysian Legion has the wall offensive and defensive training in their usual military training, they certainly have their own research on how to prepare for the siege weapon, the ballista.In addition to letting the ballistas on the city walls and in the city accurately attack the enemy's ballistas, Leotizides also let the soldiers collect a large number of port fishermen's fishing nets, hanging from the city head and covering the walls To cushion the impact of the stone projectile.