Chapter 245

It was not until the sun set and night came that the incomplete Sicilian fleet slowly sailed into the port of Serinus with the captured warships and the captured Phoenician crew...

In this naval battle, only 43 of the 130 warships of the Eastern Phoenician Fleet remained, while the remaining 31 of the 150 warships of the Dionysian Sicily Fleet (including 6 that had been damaged), and 23 Phoenicians were also captured. base warship. In addition, of the 6,000 soldiers carried by the Sicilian fleet, only more than 2,000 returned safely to Serinus, most of whom were legionnaires.

The Dionysian Sicilian fleet ultimately won a crushing victory, but strategically they lost. Because on this day, Hasdrubal led some 17,000 soldiers from the Iberian army to attack the city of Agrigento again, using only sapwood and ladders.

Faced with the predicament of running out of rations and starving if the city cannot be conquered, the soldiers bravely took the lead and fought to the death. Especially the ferocity of Lusitania warriors and Celtic warriors in the northern mountains of Iberia brought great trouble to the defenders of Agrigento.

The citizens of Agrigento suffered a lot of losses in the previous battle of Minoa, and then because the Carthaginian army besieged Serinus and Leotizides for help, Agger Rigento sent reinforcements again, so there were not many defenders in the city. Although they repelled the enemy's attack yesterday, they also killed and wounded many soldiers. Today, they have been waiting for reinforcements for a long time. In the afternoon, the Agrigentos were finally unable to resist the enemy's attack, and the city was smashed by the Carthaginians.

Hasdrubal indulged the soldiers to loot and kill in the city. Except for some Agrigentos who fled to the port and fled by boat, the rest were slaughtered.

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In the early morning of the second day, Cykrian came to Serinus's mansion, and saw Leotizides who was sitting and waiting in the hall.

"Prosous, long time no see, I hope you called me this time, not to borrow fleet infantry, or to convert our temporarily idle sailors into light infantry." Sekelian's remarks are obviously correct. Dissatisfaction with what Leotizides had done before.

Leotides didn't react at all to his sarcasm, looked at him indifferently, and spit out a sentence: "Myrtias died in battle."

Hearing this, Sekelian immediately expressed his dissatisfaction: "Who did you listen to?! Yesterday we searched for a long time, but we couldn't find it. Where did you get it?"

"Look at this." Leotides interrupted him coldly, pushing the wooden box on the desk.

Sekelian immediately focused his attention on the wooden box that did not resemble the Greek style, and a terrible thought suddenly appeared in his heart. He stepped forward with heavy steps and carefully opened the lid of the box.

"The commander of Carthage, Marco, sent a messenger, saying that when their army attacked our crew and soldiers on the beach, only Myrtias led the unarmed crew to attack them bravely. He also cut down two Carthaginian soldiers before he died in battle. A Celtic leader from Iberia admired his bravery and cut off his head as his trophy... After Marco knew about this, It was specially redeemed, but the body was nowhere to be found, so we had to send us his head..."

The flat, lifeless voice of Leotidides rang in his ears, and Sekelian stared at the face in the wooden box that vaguely recognized the appearance of his former colleague. After a while, he scolded in a low voice. One: "Myrtias,

You idiot..." and gently closed the box.

After sitting back in the wooden chair, he could no longer suppress the resentment in his heart: "The Sicilian War has only started a few months, and our Dionysian Navy not only suffered heavy losses, but also killed both Flarios and Myrtias. A fleet commander... Damn Carthaginian! Damn that Marco!..."

Sekelian cursed loudly to vent the grief in his heart.

"The Carthaginian messenger also brought a request." Leotidides ignored his anger and continued: "They captured thousands of our sailors, hoping to exchange with us for the Phoenicians we captured. Base Sailor."

"Carthaginians want beauty, and I haven't let these Phoenicians who attacked my fleet suffer enough!" Saikrian said bitterly.

"So you're going to reject the Carthaginian offer?"

"No, exchange with them!" Seikelian raised his eyebrows: "The lives of our navy sailors are very precious, and these Phoenicians from Persia can't compare, let them go back, I believe it won't be long. God, they will be our captives."

After the naval battle, the Sicilian fleet brought these captives back to Serinus. After interrogation, Sekelian was temporarily relieved: it turned out that the fleet was reinforcements from the Phoenician city-states such as Tyre and Sidon in the Eastern Mediterranean, not the It was Carthage who had built a number of warships earlier than Dionia. And with the status of Carthage's mother state, it is obviously impossible for them to frequently send fleets of thousands of miles to aid Carthage.

"After a while, you and I will send people to discuss with the Carthaginian messengers and complete the exchange of prisoners as soon as possible."

"Okay." McLean replied simply, and then asked sensitively: "What happened in such a hurry?"

"This morning, the messengers of Cypros brought bad news. Kepharoition was taken by the Carthaginians."

"Kefaroition?" Cykrian was puzzled. He had been at the naval base in Tarantum before, and he had only been in Sicily for a few months, and he was always busy with the Sicilian fleet, so he was very interested in the Sicilian fleet. Something about the interior of Sicily wasn't too clear, and the town's name was completely foreign to him.

"Kefaroition is a town of the Sikelians, in the inner mountains of Sicily, northwest of Agrigento, on the borderline where the kingdom and the Carthaginians divided the sphere of influence in Sicily. , bordering the territory of the Sikan people..." Leotizides made a rare explanation, and Sekelian tried hard to recall the location of the town.

Seeing this, Mukru, the adjutant at the bottom, immediately went to get a map of Sicily, put it on the table beside Sekelian, and pointed out the location of the town.

"This town of the Sikelians was the site of the former Tanikian tribe." The next sentence of Leotizides made Cykrian impressed. After all, the matter of Laodician was in the past. There was a huge storm in the political arena of the kingdom.

"How did you lose it?" Sekelian became interested now.

"According to the messenger, just a few days ago, when the Carthaginian army surrounded Serinus, more than 2,000 Sikanians invaded the territory of the Sikanians, who have always been strong against the Sikanians, So, without hesitation, I gathered 4,000 warriors and wanted to completely defeat them..." The corners of Leotizides' mouth curled slightly, as if mocking the stupidity of the Sikelians: "In the end, during the battle, Carthage The army suddenly appeared, the Sikels suffered a crushing defeat, and the Carthaginians pursued the victory and successfully occupied Kepharoition.

Then, the Carthaginians united with the Sikanians to continue to attack the city of Enna eastward. Arcones, the leader of the Tanikian tribe who had fled to the west of Sicily, became the guide of the Carthaginians, and also helped the Carthaginians to persuade the West to surrender. Kyle's tribe has made the hearts of the tribes of Xikel fluctuating. Although Cypros has asked Kleilu, the chief executive of Hena, to send reinforcements to Enna, the situation in Enna is not optimistic.

... Besides, I am also worried about the situation of the city of Agrigento since we did not send reinforcements to Agrigento yesterday. Once it is captured, and tens of thousands of Carthaginian soldiers gain a firm foothold in the middle of the southern coast, it will threaten not only the safety of neighboring friendly city-states, but ours as well. "

Sekelian sat up straight, looked at Leotidides, and asked seriously, "Do you want our navy to send reinforcements to Agrigento again?"

"Of course I have this idea, now you are the highest-ranking military commander of the Sicilian fleet (although Sekelian is not yet the commander of the Sicilian fleet, but after the death of Myrtias, the new commander of the Sicilian fleet has not been appointed, as the first Commander of the First Fleet, McLean has the highest military position in the Sicilian Fleet, and naturally becomes the talker of this fleet), of course I need to discuss with you, with the current situation of the Sicilian Fleet, can I carry out the task of transporting reinforcements?" Leo Tizides asked with a serious look.

"Of course!" Sekelian replied simply, in the face of military matters concerning the kingdom's interests, he always distinguished the importance: "I can use the captured Phoenician warships as troop transports, and use the Sicilian fleet to carry out Escort, yesterday the Phoenicians were repelled by us even though they had the upper hand. I am afraid that they will hide in the port these days and dare not come out. If they really dare to come, they can be wiped out! But this time, We can't transport that many soldiers."

"Even if you are lucky, I don't have that many reinforcements, just 2,000." Although Leotizides said it insipidly, Sekelian still felt a little helpless from his words, and he looked at the scene again. The commander of the Sicilian Army, who seldom travels, then said: "There is no problem in transporting 2,000 people. I will go back and start preparations as soon as possible, and set off before noon as soon as possible."

Leotizides did not express his gratitude, but continued: "There is one more thing, you need to know, when I send the courier back to Katanai, I will send a message to Cypros and ask him to send a fleet over as soon as possible. , transport the troops here to Gera, and you will need your Sicilian fleet to escort them."