Chapter 354

On this day, although the Carthaginian army occupied the outer city wall of Serinus, it failed to conquer the whole city, and paid a lot of casualties. war, which led to low morale among the soldiers.

Especially the Numibians, as the main force of the siege, they have always suffered the most casualties, and the resentment in their hearts is naturally stronger, and some rumors have begun to spread among them.

It was far more than just Jinoms who entered the Sikan territory. Although Margo sent his trusted team officers to the Numibian troops, most of their positions were middle and senior team officers. After all, if the assigned team officers Too many, it is difficult for his own Iberian troops to maintain the combat effectiveness, so most of the team leaders at the bottom are the original East Numibians, which gave these Numibis who were persuaded by the Dionysians A chance for Asian captives to infiltrate the Carthaginian camp by rout.

In this war, the Numibians have always been the main force in the battle, whether they attacked Paragonia or Serinus, so they suffered the most casualties. Therefore, these spies quietly told the compatriots about the situation of the war and the news that Dionia was willing to support Numibia to rise up against Carthage and gain independence, which naturally caused a great response.

Some rumors even spread to other armies, such as the Carthaginian navy suffered a fiasco, the western seas of Sicily were completely blocked by the Dionysian navy... Another example is the Dionysian navy who repeatedly attacked the coast of Africa and burned Hadru Mentum and Ogiergili City...

This seriously affected the morale of the Carthaginian and Phoenician soldiers, and many soldiers even gathered to ask their officers whether the news was true.

Margo was taken aback when he got this. He had to immediately stop the plan to attack the city of Serinus, and focus on cleaning up the army and boosting morale, otherwise the army will in danger of collapse.

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Early in the morning, a Carthaginian convoy of 30 cargo ships set out from Cadiz for Carthage, each loaded with silver bricks.

The war has gone on until now, Corsica has fallen, Sardinia has fallen into war, Sicily has been blocked, and the trade in the port of Carthage has been depressed. The precious metals of the Iberian Peninsula have become the main source of revenue for Carthage's treasury. The Carthaginian mine owners in Iberia increased the number of mining slaves and expanded the mining volume of silver mines. After these silver bricks were transported to Carthage, they would be melted into silver coins, mainly as the cost of building warships and paying for employment. Soldiers' pay.

Due to the recent strength of the Dionysian fleet, this fleet has been very careful, and has been sailing eastward along the coast of Africa. Once they find the enemy, they can immediately enter the port of the nearby city-state to escape. This method is quite effective, so since the war begins No precious metal cargo ship from Iberia has ever been hijacked by the Dionian fleet.

The fleet entered the core sea area controlled by Carthage in the early morning of the third day after entering the coastal town ports for two consecutive nights. The fleet began to gradually move away from the coast, because the city of Carthage was located on a peninsula protruding to the north. It was the closest distance to it, and the Dionysian Fleet had not dared to intrude in this sea area.

In the morning, the fleet had approached the sea near Carthage, but at this time the crew saw a fleet of countless black warships appearing in the north, rushing towards them.

"That's the Dionian fleet!!...????" the crew shouted in panic, desperately driving the cargo ship and fleeing towards the port of Carthage, but the cargo ship was overloaded, and the wind was not favorable. There were not many oarsmen, and the Dionian warships got ahead of them and cut off the passage to the port.

"General, our warship successfully intercepted the Carthaginian fleet!" The flagship's distant looking hand shouted excitedly.

Midorades was not too happy. He had planned this operation for a long time. In order to intercept the Carthaginian fleet from Iberia,

He dispatched a number of clippers to Saros in Sardinia, and his daily task was to disguise himself as a Phoenician cargo ship, mix into the southern waters, and monitor the route from Iberia to Carthage. The convoy was discovered a day after leaving Cadiz and has been under surveillance by Dionysian Fast Foods since then. According to the information sent back successively, Midorades was able to intercept it in front of the port of Carthage in time.

The first step has been successful, but the key depends on its subsequent development! ... Midorades said in a deep voice: | "Continue to observe closely!"

"Yes!"

The Dionysian warship intercepted the Carthaginian fleet, and did not annihilate it in one go, but played a game of cat and mouse. They did not use the bronze rams on the bow, but used the hull to pinch off. The oars of the cargo ship, and even the crew on deck, specially prepared rope hooks in an attempt to catch the cargo ship when the two ships approached.

It seems that they are going to capture the cargo ship and bring it back to the base. After all, twenty ships of silver bricks are a huge wealth, but it will take a long time, because the place where it happened is in the distance. Not far from the sea outside the port, not only the sentries on the breakwater of the port of Carthage could see it clearly, but also the crew of other Carthaginian or Phoenician cargo ships who entered the port also saw this terrifying scene, and they were scrambling for each other. He hid in the port, so when the sentinel quickly reported the situation to the port officials, and when the port officials immediately reported to the Carthaginian Senate, the news of the "Dionian Fleet Attack" was quickly in the port. and urban spread.

Some time ago, the Dionysians burned the Phoenician allies in Africa several times, and the people of Carthage were clearly fearful. Now these terrible enemies have already attacked Carthage, and the people are even more anxious. Rumors that the Dionysians were going to attack the city of Carthage were rampant.

After receiving the news from the port, the Carthaginian elders were greatly shocked. They did not expect that the Dionysian fleet would be so bold and dare to go to the port of Carthage to be wild. Something never happened before!

In addition, they received the news of "riots in the city", and at this time, there was no difference between Hanno, Pretakuba, and Ace Yaruba, and they quickly reached a consensus: order Morr Barr led the Carthaginian fleet to attack immediately, repelled the rampant Dionysian fleet, protected the wealth of Carthage, and gave the people confidence!

Since the Senate ordered the Carthaginian fleet to strengthen the defense of the city and the African coast of its allies, Admiral Morbar had no choice but to no longer lead the fleet to the western waters of Sicily. Carthage is the center on the east and west coasts (because the city of Ogiergili was burned, and the scope of the patrol was further expanded), once he found the enemy, he would lead the fleet to attack, and he could arrive in time, even Defeat the Dionysian fleet, which has sent fleet infantry ashore to loot...

Morbal's plans were good, but the Dionysian fleet had not been seen off the coast of Africa since those two raids. Today, he was not as angry as his subordinates when he received the news that "the Dionysian fleet attacked the fleet from Iberia in front of the port of Carthage", on the contrary, he fell into contemplation, because since he became the commander of the navy After that, in view of the great advantage occupied by the Dionysian navy, he has always avoided fighting the enemy head-on, but now the Dionysian fleet is directly attacking the door, which is obviously to force the Carthaginian fleet to fight with it.

Although many of his men asked him to fight, saying: "The number of warships in the Dionian fleet in front of the port is less than that of our Carthaginian fleet, and we are fighting in front of our own door. Defeat it and save some of the decline..."

But Morbar still has concerns, so he has not made a decision.

But what he could not have imagined was that the attack of the Dionysian fleet had already caused an uproar among the people of Carthage. Hundreds of elders headed by Hanno, Pretakuba, and Ace Yaruba came to the military port in person. Put into his hands the resolutions passed by the Senate.

Morbar naturally couldn't make any more excuses, but he had a plan for the battle in advance, and the military orders were arranged one by one, and soon he led hundreds of warships that had slipped into the military port from the dry dock and were ready to go out of the port one by one.

The elders then boarded the city wall on the breakwater, ready to pay attention to this sea battle that was crucial to Carthage.

As soon as the first Carthaginian warship sailed out of the port, the Dionysian Clipper, which was instructed to monitor the port, immediately sent a semaphore, and was responsible for intercepting the battleship of the 1st Squadron of the Dionysian 3rd Fleet, which was in charge of the Iberian fleet. No longer playing like tossing the enemy, began to play hard, so one cargo ship after another was soon crashed into the hull, and the silver bricks of the white flowers sank into the sea following the broken cargo ship, making people standing on the city wall. The elders who watched on the board were all regretful, and they also made the captains and crew members of the Carthaginian warships who were leaving the port and were lining up on the deck angry. Charged towards the Dionian fleet to save their compatriots from the siege.

Morbar, who left the port later, was so angry that he coughed repeatedly. Since he took office, he has been paying close attention to the training and discipline of the newly formed fleet, hoping to compete with the Dionysians, but obviously the time is too short and the effect Not ideal, in this case he had to use another pre-prepared battle plan in advance: "Notify Barikos and them, and now follow us to attack!"