Chapter 107 After the Storm

In the tent of the barracks, Lizaru met Printols, and he immediately greeted the second-in-command, who had helped him in his victory in Campania.

"Okay, let's talk about the gossip later, let's quickly discuss how to complete the task assigned by His Majesty." Amyntas urged.

"What's the current situation in Latium?" Lizaru asked firstly. This is the basic quality a senior commander of Dionia should have. If he doesn't know the surrounding situation and the enemy's situation, he can't win the battle. of.

Therefore, Amintas did not think it was a pestle, pointed at the map, and explained seriously: "Since the Romans attacked the Herniqui people on a large scale last month, they have successively conquered many towns, and now they have taken Herni The central town of the Ki people, Ferentirum, was completely besieged and was intensifying the attack. Its troops had increased from 40,000 to 70,000. According to the Wolsey, the situation in Ferentirum was very critical, and they insisted on defending the city. It won't be a few days. Once the town falls, not only will the Herniki be destroyed, but the Volsi will also suffer heavy losses, because the Volsi sent a large number of warriors to rescue Herniki, and are now in the process of Trapped in Ferentirum City, the Volscy Territory is already very empty, and it is entirely up to our First Legion to support them."

Lizaru stared at the map for a while, before pointing to the north of the Volsi territory, and asked, "Since the Romans are all focused on attacking the Herniki, the defense here must be very empty."

"The citizens of these Latin allies west of Rome were all dispatched to attack Herniki. There are indeed not many troops, but here! Here! There are ten thousand Roman troops stationed here!" Amyntas pointed with a finger Click on the map three times in a row.

Lizaru took a closer look and saw that the names of the three city icons were: Velitre, Satnecum, and Antium, and they just blocked the way to the northwest of Wall and into the Latium area.

Lizaru made an estimate and was surprised: "How could the Romans form such a huge army?!"

"According to the Volsci, this time Rome not only mobilized all its young and middle-aged citizens, but also all the Latin allies and the Etruscan allies to the north to provide a lot of reinforcements, so it is doing its best to carry out In the face of this war, I think this is also the reason why Your Majesty will personally lead the army and deal with the Romans first!" Plintors emphasized on the side.

"But with these three cities standing in the way, it won't take a day or two to capture one of them. I'm afraid it will delay Your Majesty's attack plan." Lizaru said worriedly, pointing to the map.

"Are you stupid!" Amyntas criticized unceremoniously: "We don't need to attack them at all, we just need to bypass them, enter the coastal area of ​​Ladium, and protect His Majesty's army from successfully landing on the coast. ."

Just now, Lizaru, who was thinking into the horns of the bull, patted his head,

Embarrassedly smiled, he pondered for a while, and said: "If you do this, you can only let the soldiers carry rations, and leave the auxiliary troops in the barracks, so that the march can be guaranteed quickly. To be able to fight quickly, just like this... our barracks, and even the entire Volsci territory, are completely open to the Romans!"

Printols smiled and said: "Don't worry too much about this, once our army successfully landed, the entire Ladium area will be on alert for our attack, and there is no intention of invading Wolsey! And we will also arrange the military camp The rest of the men went to Selsche, took a convoy, and turned to the land newly occupied by the army."

Lizaru no longer had any worries, and asked eagerly and loudly: "When will we act?!"

"Just when the army led by His Majesty arrives in the Ladium area by boat, but before that, we have to discuss with the senior officials of Wolsey and need them to provide some help for this army's attack."

……………………………………

"The battle of Serinus was finally disrupted by the storm, and the warships on both sides were almost wiped out." The news spread throughout western Sicily early the next morning, and Pomirka, the acting commander of the Carthaginian army, learned of this. Shocked by the bad news, a messenger was dispatched urgently, and the news was quickly sent back to Carthage by a fast boat.

The Dionysian camp outside the city of Serinus was overcrowded, not only the tents were crowded with survivors of the shipwreck, but the passages and open spaces outside the tents were also full of struggling and moaning sailors; Outside the camp were densely packed, white-flowered corpses or people who had not yet been determined to be dead or unconscious. The doctors and nurses had been treating them for more than ten hours, and they were still busy; Allied soldiers are also fully assisting the medical camp to save their compatriots and comrades in the Navy.

In the big tent, Leotiqides, who has been busy until now and has not slept all night, sat on a wooden chair and listened to the report of the adjutant Mukru. Although he was very tired, he still kept his back straight.

"Lord Commander, from last night to now, our soldiers have found about 150,000 human bodies on the coast, and about 100,000 people have been rescued, including more than 61,500 of us Dionians. The Dionysian crew has 29,379 people..." Mukru held the scoreboard, and his heart skipped a beat every time he read a set of numbers. Behind these huge numbers meant the passing of countless once-fresh lives, one family after another. crying...

Leoticides didn't seem to have much reaction to this. After listening to the adjutant's report, he remained expressionless and quickly asked, "How many people are there in our Sicilian fleet?"

Muklu thought for a while, and said uncertainly: "According to the last time they received rations in the Minoan Sicily fleet, they may have about 110,000 to 120,000 people..."

Leotidides calculated in his heart and said, "So we still have a maximum of 30,000 sailors that we haven't found."

"They may have drifted to the coast controlled by the Carthaginians, or they may have drifted to the coast of the allies, which requires us to contact Minoa, Agrigento and other south coast city-states in the next few days to understand. Details," Muklu said.

Leotides nodded, and then sighed: "The navy really consumes the young and middle-aged citizens of the kingdom. This storm cost us tens of thousands of people, enough for us to build five or six legions. !"

Muklu explained: "My lord, but we also easily captured nearly 40,000 Carthaginians or Phoenicians. If it was a normal battle, how many battles would it take to have so many prisoners."

When Leoticides heard this, his brows were slightly wrinkled, and his sharp eyes looked at Mukru without blinking, until the other party lowered his head, he slowly asked: "Secrian and Flarios did you find it?"

"...I haven't gotten any news yet..." Muklu looked sad.

"Continue to send people to look for it, don't give up. And we will entrust Serofenes to send spies to the city-state of Carthage to the west to inquire about the news." Until then, there was a slight fluctuation in Leoticides' face: " I heard that Sekelian is very good at water, and once crossed the turbulent Klaty River when he was young, he should not have drowned in the sea so easily."

"Yes, Lord Commander."

"Anything else?"

"Well... The medical camp reminded that there are too many dead bodies inside and outside the camp. If they are parked for too long, the bodies will rot, which will easily lead to epidemics."

"As long as they are determined to be dead, they will be cremated, and the living sailors will bring their ashes back to the fleet base in Catania or Tarantum. As for the ashes of those Carthaginians, they should be buried there. Leotides said, remembering something again, and said in a serious tone: "This matter must be done immediately, so that these living sailors can return to their station as soon as possible, so as to avoid wasting our food in vain, but those fleets The infantry will stay and fight with us."

Leotidides had long been envious of these infantrymen in the Sicilian fleet. He had seen their military training in Catania, and believed that their military quality was not weaker than the regular soldiers of the Eighth Legion, taking advantage of the destruction of the Sicilian fleet. , When there is no news of Cykrian and Flarios, they will be incorporated into their own team to enhance their strength.

Mukru did not respond yet, and Leotidides emphasized again: "And... 10,000 young and strong sailors were drawn from the navy and assigned spears to temporarily serve as our light infantry. "

Muklu was surprised, and he reminded politely: "Lord Commander, without the permission of the Ministry of Military Affairs, it is already illegal for you to dispatch the fleet infantry of the navy. If you have to reorganize the sailors, I am afraid the navy will be dissatisfied with this."

Leotizides disagreed, he said in a deep voice: "We are now going deep into the sphere of influence of Carthage, not only the supply lines have been stretched, but the enemy will also counterattack at any time, but the Sicilian fleet's warships are all gone, and there is no way to fight for it. We provide the protection of the coastline, we are fighting alone, and if we do not strengthen our strength, we may be in trouble at any time. The Sicilian navy cannot function without ships, so it is better to let the idle sailors and fleet infantry be temporarily under my command. These are special times, I believe Your Majesty And the Ministry of War will understand what I'm doing!"

As an adjutant, Mukru could only remind him that since Leotizides insisted on doing it, he could only execute it, and then he immediately turned the topic to other aspects: "My lord, what about the 40,000 Carthaginian prisoners? deal with?"

"Leave for now and deal with it in the same way as prisoners were held in the past." Leoticides said ponderingly: "The Carthaginians must also have our sailors, and they can be exchanged with them at that time."