Chapter 66 The Carthaginian Army's Operations on the South Coast

Mazara is a town established by the Phoenicians, and it has long been under the jurisdiction of Carthage. It is only more than 30 miles away from the city of Lilibe, but the Carthaginian army moved slowly. There were some Carthaginian merchants and even prostitutes, so the team was bloated, and the formation was somewhat scattered, and the marching speed was relatively slow.

The next day, the procession continued, again reaching the city of Serinus, about 40 miles from Mazara, at dusk.

Serinus was founded by Greek colonists and was once known for its wealthy agriculture and fishing in Sicily. During the Peloponnesian War, it clashed with Segsta, not far from it, to the northwest, and as a result became the incentive for the Athenian army to expedition to Sicily. In the subsequent long-term battle between Carthage and Syracuse, Serinus and Segsta, a pair of Greek colonial towns in western Sicily and surrounded by Phoenician towns, were repeatedly captured. Most of its Greek residents fled to eastern Sicily, and most of them were Phoenicians. Therefore, when Dionysus signed an agreement with Carthage, Davos agreed to put Serinus under the Carthage ruled.

On the third day, the Carthaginian army reached another town, Therae, at dusk again. Although the Carthaginian soldiers marched all the way, they were tired, but their faces were very excited.

Just look at the name of this town and you will know that this place has hot springs. At first, it was because of the hot springs in the Calogero Mountains that Serinus built a village here. The baths inspired the Carthaginians who were merchants, so they vigorously developed it and built several hot spring baths similar to Turii, attracting countless Carthaginians to come here to enjoy the bathing of the sulfur hot springs. The village also quickly developed into a town.

The soldiers simply built the camp and went to the bath in batches, and Monte Ardeno even summoned a few women to bathe with him.

The next day, the Carthaginian army, which had been washed by the hot springs, continued to march eastward, both generals and soldiers in high spirits and brisk steps.

In the afternoon, the army reached the city of Heraclea, the Minoan city. It was a Greek colonial city, perched on the hills on the east bank of the Halikas estuary, overlooking the fertile lowlands of the west bank, and surrounding the port to the east. Over the past ten years, this city-state has had close relations with Dionia, and even because of its name, it has established friendly and close ties with the city of Heraclea under the kingdom. Therefore, the Minoans rejected the Carthaginian's persuasion without hesitation.

Monte Ardeno had anticipated this, and ordered the army to camp on the west bank of the Halikas.

For the next three days, the Carthaginians were preparing to siege the city, and the Carthaginian clippers sent to the eastern coast to investigate did not find that Dionia sent reinforcements to advance to Minoa.

Monte Ardeno was instantly reassured,

It is decided to launch an all-out attack on Minoa City tomorrow.

But he didn't know that the tribes of Sikel in the city of Enna, northwest of Minoa City, in the center of Sicily's interior, had already sent a thousand warriors to cross the mountains and river valleys, heading towards Minoa.

The next day, the Carthaginian army crossed the Halikas River and arrived at the foot of the Minoan city.

The city of Minoa is not large and the population is not too large. There are less than 4,000 young and middle-aged citizens who can fight in the city. There is no moat in front of the city, and the hill where it is located is less than 150 meters high and the slope is gentle. But the Minoans completely obeyed the instructions of the team officer sent by Dionia, not only set up a large number of traps, but also cut down all the trees on the hills, and even dug out the rocks that could be used as offensive cover and used as defense. Stones that hurt enemies.

And the large-scale siege equipment made by Carthage is due to the existence of the hills. If it is to be pushed to the front of the city, it will not only cost more manpower, but also its action must be very slow. And the power was greatly reduced, so the Numibian soldiers who were the main offensive force carried the ladder and rushed to the front. As a result, they were deeply troubled by traps.

Moreover, the Minoans pushed down the large stones polished into circles in the place where the Carthaginian army was attacking intensively under the city, and the stones rolled down the mountain, crushing many Numibian soldiers along the way, and even Crash the siege equipment and eventually cause the siege troops to retreat...

After Monte Ardno learned about the situation in the tent, he was not in a hurry and ordered the troops to rearrange their formations and continue to attack.

Seeing the Numibian soldiers with low morale slowly marching towards the city of Minoa, Milefio, anxious in his heart, broke into the tent and asked Monte Ardeno to send the Holy Order troops he led. As the main attack, he was rejected by the commander. He persuaded earnestly, "It will not take a day or two to attack a city with such a dangerous terrain and strong defenses. We must be patient! Our Holy Legion, Carthage, Citizen soldiers and even the Phoenician soldiers of the Allies were precious and could not be consumed in arduous and long siege battles. The Numibians were not only numerous, but also lowly, a group of them died, and another group was brought in. Now, this is also conducive to the stability of the Numibia region..."

Millerfiore was silent.

In the afternoon, the Carthaginian army attacked the city and began a tragic ant attack on the city.

When the battle was in full swing, a horn sounded outside the northern city of Minoa and at the back of the battlefield, and thousands of Sikel warriors rushed out of the mountains to the north, killing the Carthaginian army that was fighting fiercely.

The negligent Monte Ardeno was affected by the information reported by the Clippers. After the siege began, he neither sent spies or scouts to investigate the enemy situation around the battlefield, nor did he set up a reserve force behind the siege force to serve as an escort, especially It is north of Minoan city.

The Sikel warriors only wore cloth robes and held spears and javelins, so they were fast. The Mibians were suddenly defeated.

The rout of the Numibians outside the northern city soon affected the troops in other directions. The soldiers shouted in panic, "The enemy's reinforcements are coming! The enemy's reinforcements are coming!..." They rushed down the mountain, and their speed even exceeded In pursuit of their Sikelians, these mountain people watched in amazement as thousands of Numibian soldiers fled the Halikas River like a tidal wave, and even wrapped Carthage who came to stop them. The troops escaped into the camp together.

Milefio took the cavalry and infantry of the Holy Regiment, bypassed the broken troops, and went to block the enemy reinforcements. As a result, he found that these simple and small enemies did not enter the city of Minoa, but quickly ran into the city. into the mountains.

The dignified Carthaginian army of tens of thousands was actually repelled by the only 1,000 Sikel mountain people! Philomio felt extremely ashamed and angry in his heart.

However, Monte Ardeno looked calm. In his opinion, although the Sikelian attack led to the defeat of the siege force, the casualties were not large (less than 1,000 people). For an attack of this scale For city warfare, it's nothing at all. On the contrary, the Sikelian attack is revealing the intentions of the Dionians, and as long as the Carthaginian army is on guard, the Sikelians are unlikely to cause any more losses to the army.

After listening to Monte Ardeno's consolation, Milefio returned to the camp, feeling uneasy in his heart. He vaguely felt that Monte Ardeno was not motivated enough, and seemed to be incapable of commanding such a large army, so he immediately wrote a letter. To his father-in-law Hanno, expressing his concerns to him.

Two days later, a clipper from Carthage brought Hanno's handwritten letter, in which Hanno warned Monte Ardeno to go all out in dealing with the war, to get some results as soon as possible, and let the Senate know He made the right decision to appoint Monte Ardeno as the army commander!

At the same time, he also warned Monte Ardeno not to be negligent and let the army suffer losses! Otherwise, even if some people in the Senate do not impeach him, he will not be able to face the anger of the people!

After reading the letter, Monte Ardeno felt the pressure. He finally stopped being drunk in the tent, rectified the army himself, and directed the soldiers to attack the city of Minoa.

The Minoans seized the two or three days of rest and rearranged the defense facilities previously destroyed by the Carthaginians, causing great trouble to the Carthaginian army again.

During the Carthaginian siege, the Sikeles roamed the edge of the battlefield, harassing them from time to time, and once nearly set the Carthaginian camp on fire. Although Monte Ardeno was prepared for this, the losses caused by it were not large, but they contained a lot of energy of the Carthaginians. In the Carthaginian army, not only the cavalry, but also the infantry came from the plains and deserts of Africa, and there was no way to take this Sikel army, which was like walking on the ground.

After thinking hard, Monte Ardeno remembered the Sikan people who lived in the western mountains of Sicily and were affiliated to the Carthaginians, so he sent someone to order Semimre of Liliba to quickly organize a Western team. Can troops, sent to Minoa to fight.

And the news that "a thousand Sikel warriors defeated the 40,000 siege army of Carthage" also reached the ears of Leotizides, the commander of Dionysia Sicily who was closely watching the battle in Catane, and let him Also surprised.

After asking in detail about the entire battle, he stared at the map, lost in thought.

After a long time, he took out the information about the Carthaginian army that the intelligence department gave him and read it several times, and finally made up his mind.

Soon, the wartime governor of Sicily, Cypros, hurried over, "Master Prosous, come to me in such a hurry, has the war situation changed?!"

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