Chapter 339

At dawn, two fast ships sailed out of the port of Palermos, one went to Saros to inform the Third Fleet, and the other went to Minoa to report to King Davos.

Due to the sudden ban from Leotidides, the top officials of Palermos and the commander-in-chief of the Solus reinforcements came nervously to ask the reason.

Especially the general of Solus. He also promised to cooperate with the Dionysians last night to persuade Solus to surrender. Now the Dionysians suddenly announced the blockade of the whole city. To break the contract.

As a result, Leotizides patiently explained the reason to them and asked them to cooperate.

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Since the fleet left the port of Lilibe last night, no cargo ships belonging to Lilibe have been seen to return, and no news of reinforcements has come. Lilibe City Lord Imisere has been worried about their safety.

The officials under his command kept comforting him and said: It is normal to hear no news of reinforcements, because the Dionysians surrounded the city of Palermos, and after the fleet arrived at the port of Palermos with reinforcements, the soldiers waited until the soldiers arrived. We have all gone ashore, I am afraid it is dawn, those cargo ships will not dare to leave the port again, they must wait until tonight to quietly return...

After listening to the words of his subordinates, Imisere got some comfort. In addition, there were many things during the day. He had to organize labor to deliver supplies to the Carthaginian camp, and to send people to the camp to assist in the construction of siege facilities. Some seriously wounded people were transported back to Lilibe for treatment, so as to avoid continuing to stay in the camp to affect morale... The busy Imisere put this matter aside for the time being.

When the sun went down and night fell, and the people of Lilibe began to fall asleep, a fleet was approaching the port of Lilibe from the west.

By the cold moonlight, the tower guard in the port lighthouse was the first to discover the situation. He immediately lit an oil lamp, stretched it out of the tower, and shook it according to the prescribed movements.

After the port received the signal, patrol boats were dispatched immediately.

When the patrol boat left the port, it moored outside the water gate. After waiting for a while, the fleet arrived at the port. It seemed to be quite large, with about 60 large cargo ships.

The patrol boat immediately approached the large cargo ship with the flag of the city-state of Carthage flying on the mast in front.

The captain of the patrol held high a lighted torch, and by the light of the fire, he could see clearly the situation on the cargo ship: 30 oarsmen, a helmsman, and a captain, all men of Carthaginian or Phoenician appearance; the hull A lot of materials are stacked in the center, which is a lot higher than the side of the ship.

And cover it tightly with several layers of thick linen.

This scene is no different from the previous few times, the only difference is that he does not know the captain of the team.

Before he could ask questions, the owner of the cargo ship preemptively asked: "Hi, the fleet led by Fipolica delivered military rations to you last night, but they haven't seen them go back. Their families are very worried, you tell me Me, did something happen to them?"

"They have another special mission!" Hearing this, the captain of the patrol boat felt that some people's speculation that the Lillibee cargo ship had not returned, because the Carthaginian fleet had not returned, but he did not relax Vigilant, but shouted loudly: "Who are you?! Why didn't Tasora, Onis or Sassis lead the team?!"

"Do you think I want to come!" the captain of the cargo ship complained loudly: "If it wasn't for the Dionysians attacking Africa again and burning down the city of Ogierjiri, the senate was angry and asked the old general Morbar to strengthen Africa. The defense of the coast, and the Senate, at the suggestion of Morbal, recruited Tassola, Onis and other experienced old ship owners to be the captain and helmsman of the newly built new warship, and also It's not my turn to deliver supplies to you! How dangerous it is to travel such a long distance in the dark! We set off more than an hour earlier, and wanted to take advantage of the weather to go longer and reduce some dangers. However, there was a gust of wind in the middle, and in the dark night, the fleet was in chaos, and several ships sank due to collision with each other..." When he said this, the captain looked sad and indignant.

When the captain of the patrol boat heard this, he didn't know what to say for a while. He now understood why the fleet arrived earlier than the previous few times. It turned out that the transport fleet was replaced by a group of newbies with little sailing experience. He saw that some sailors were not very natural, and it seemed that they had not been freed from the previous thrills.

The captain of the patrol boat quickly turned the subject away, pretending to be surprised: "The Dionysian fleet burned down the city of Ogierjiri again?!"

"Not only was it burned, this time they also captured a lot of Ogierjili people, which terrified us all. Everyone gathered to protest in the Senate, and we will also come out to advise Sophie Tepanlako. Pushed to the ground... Hahaha, these goddamn elders, they only know how to collect our taxes, but they don't know how to win, how to protect Carthage... Hey! I heard that there was a meeting of the Senate later, Asyaru The old man Ba ​​was a firm supporter of war with Dionia before, but this time he proposed to make peace with Dionia..."

The captain talked a lot, and the names of the familiar and unfamiliar Carthaginian elders and their embarrassing things made the captain of the patrol ship interesting to hear, and the guard in his heart has been eliminated for most of them, but after all, for him this is An unfamiliar fleet, the inspection that should be done is still to be done, so he said: "Captain, what is your name?"

"Hakkar, many people in Carthage call me the most talkative Hakkar—"

"Captain Haka." The captain of the patrol boat interrupted him: "I want to check the cargo on your ship."

"what?!"

"This is the norm! Every time the fleet comes, it will be inspected like this!" The captain of the patrol boat said sternly, but in fact, the three people had not inspected it for the first time when they led the team.

"Okay!" Haka hesitated and reminded: "You'd better hurry up, don't delay us and hurry back to Carthage!"

The patrol boat approached, the captain got on the cargo ship, and lifted the heavy linen.

The linen was wet, which also confirmed what the other party said before about encountering a strong wind; bags of neatly arranged flour appeared in front of his eyes, and there were no other items, which was why they were covered with linen. The reason is to prevent the waves from the sea water from falling on the flour. Now it seems that this batch of substances may be bad. It has to be transported to the camp and eaten as bread.

The captain of the patrol boat looked regretful and covered the linen again.

Captain Haka saw it and explained embarrassingly: "The wind and waves are coming quickly, we are not prepared, but we can definitely eat..."

The captain of the patrol boat did not answer, jumped back to his own ship, and headed for the second cargo ship.

"How many ships to check?! We're running out of time!" Captain Hakkar shouted from behind.

The captain of the patrol boat did not answer, he quickly checked the second boat, and then rushed to the third boat... Every time he heard Captain Haka urging loudly behind him, he did not respond until he jumped on the fifth boat When the cargo ship was on the way, I heard the angry shout of Captain Haka from the rear: "Every captain pay attention, turn around and go back to Carthage immediately!"

The latter cargo ships that heard the shouting really started to turn around, and the captain of the patrol boat was a little panicked.

You must know that in the past, the managers of the port of Lilibe had full respect for these Carthaginian fleets. After all, they sailed in the dark and sailed such a long distance. It took great risks to transport materials to Lilibe. Libby ports try to give each other the greatest convenience. This time, it was only because the new crew members came, and now it is during the war. I checked so carefully out of prudence, but if they really offended these shipowners, they would go back to Carthage to publicize, in case there is no cargo ship, they are willing to give Lili For the sake of delivering supplies, the city lord of Imisere may not be able to spare him.

The captain of the patrol boat hurriedly jumped back to the ship, sailed to the leading cargo ship, and said to Captain Haka, "There is no problem with the inspection, and we can enter the port."

Captain Haka scolded and stopped the cargo ships from returning.

After the tower guard received the signal from the captain of the patrol boat to enter the port, he notified the personnel at the lower level of the lighthouse, and they collectively turned the winch.

Lilibe's water gate is composed of three layers of sea-blocking iron chains, each separated by 5 meters, and each layer of iron chains is divided into three upper, middle and lower chains, each of which is hundreds of meters long. The total amount of iron consumed is amazing. , but it is not worth mentioning for Carthage, which is prosperous by mining and metal trade. Under such conditions of heavy obstruction, it is almost impossible for enemy ships to rush into the port.

Haka Shipyard looked at the thick iron chains slowly rising in front of him with a complicated expression. The patrol boat entered the port first, and he commanded the cargo ship to follow.

The main port of Liliba is somewhat similar to the mother state of Carthage. The place it occupies has a long land that stretches out to the sea alone, like a slightly bent wooden stick, the main part of which is almost the same as the opposite coast. Parallel, it is simply a natural breakwater. On the outside of this "breakwater", the Lilibis built a 5-meter-high city wall, and there are towers, plus the height of the "breakwater" itself, a total of more than 10 meters above the sea.

At the far end of this "breakwater", there is a taller building-that is, the lighthouse, which is 15 meters high and cylindrical. There are also multiple windows on the floor for light infantry to shoot arrows outside. At the same time, there is a special mechanism inside it that can lift and lower the water gate, so it is also a multifunctional fortress.

The lighthouse is nearly 300 meters away from the opposite coast, which is a bit far away, so the Lilibi people built an artificial breakwater from the opposite bank, extending over, with a city wall on it, and finally a tower, more than 100 meters away from the lighthouse. The water gate was built in between, because the control lift chain was on the side of the lighthouse, so when the door was opened, only the side close to the lighthouse could pass the boat.