Chapter 247 Approaching Jera

Pomirka was stunned and asked, "Aren't we going to capture Serinus City first?"

Margo's face was slightly red, but he still said seriously: "After this period of siege, I believe you also know that Serinus is not only fortified, but also the main force of Dionia is also in Serinus. They have good morale, and even though we have far more soldiers than them, it will take us more time to take this city, and time is important to me!"

Only then did Pomirka remember the promise Marco made in the Senate, he no longer hesitated, and immediately expressed his willingness to go out.

Margo showed a few smiles and said generously: "You will lead 10,000 Carthaginian civic soldiers, 15,000 civic soldiers composed of Phoenician allies, and 25,000 Numibian soldiers. , a total of 50,000 people, which is 10,000 more than when Monte Ardeno attacked Minoa! I hope you will lead your army to Minoa tomorrow, and don't make the mistake of Monte Ardeno, as soon as possible Take the city of Minoa!"

Pomirka was not excited because he was about to lead such a huge army, but asked with concern: "Master Margo, according to this arrangement, there are not many soldiers left by your side, in case Dionysus in the city The demi-humans attacked the city again—"

Although Pomirka did not go on, he had already expressed his concern. In his opinion: if he followed Marco's suggestion and led the army to leave, Marco would have less than 20,000 soldiers left from Iberia. The army brought by Ya, this multi-ethnic army seems to be very effective, but it is not easy to manage, and it also lacks loyalty. There are also nearly 10,000 civic soldiers formed by the Western Allies of Sicily. These Sicilians lack training and are more suitable for chores such as transporting baggage and building camps, rather than fighting; the remaining nearly 10,000 Numibians The soldiers were the soldiers of the camp that had been attacked at night before. Obviously, Dionia's attack frightened these dark-skinned Numibians. In order not to let their panic affect the morale of other troops, Marco They were specially divided, and they have been busy with training these days, and even prepared to send them to Lilibei to replace the defenders there.

But Margo is not worried about this, he said confidently: "If the Dionysian acts as you say, that is exactly what I want."

Pomirka no longer persuaded, he accepted the order. In fact, even if he did not accept it, Marco would force him to accept it, because he had forcibly replaced many Carthaginian generals before, and he was taken over by the officers of the Iberian army he trusted, and not only let the army formed by Carthage take over. The soldiers were very disturbed. After the news reached Carthage, it also aroused criticism from the Senate. The Hannoists even criticized his practice, claiming that he did this to make the entire army become Magni. The private army of the German family to facilitate his dictatorship.

Margo asked the neutral senator Pomirka to temporarily take over the Carthaginian army, both to appease the soldiers and to reassure the senators.

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On the second day, Pomirka led the army out of the camp and marched east along the coast.

Margo did not hide this military action, so the large-scale movement of the Carthaginians in the military camp was clearly seen by Leotizides at the head of the city, and he was a little anxious because he could guess this army. Why did the Carthaginian army leave? He didn't think about it: he took this opportunity to lead the entire army out of the city to attack the Carthaginian army still in the camp, but the previous night raids had sounded the alarm for the Carthaginians, they Since he dared to do so, he was obviously taking precautions.

Leotides held the only main force of the Kingdom of Dionia in Sicily,

In the case of being outnumbered by the enemy, he can only take actions with a good chance of winning, so he is now anxiously looking forward to the arrival of the Catane fleet.

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Hasdruba allowed the soldiers to loot and slaughter the entire city of Agrigento, on the one hand, in order to honor his father Himilco (Himilco also led the army to occupy the city of Agrigento), and let him under his command After the arduous mountain marches and hard battles, the soldiers of the army were able to be released and harvested; on the other hand, it was also to obtain enough food.

His purpose was achieved. Agrigento's territory is either mountainous or hilly. Although it is not known for agriculture, it is a famous animal husbandry city in Sicily. Therefore, Hasdruba obtained a large number of livestock, enough to maintain 20,000 people. The army's food for half a month.

So after a day's rest, while Pomircar was marching on Minoa, Hasdrubal left 1,000 soldiers to garrison the city of Agrigento, and with 16,000 men, marched east along the coast , the target is Jera.

The army had to pass through the city of Econom on the way forward. Why didn't Leotizides send reinforcements to this city before, and Hasdrubal didn't target this city? Because this is a small Greek city, its scale is only a little bigger than Germes, and the low city walls can only be used to stop the beasts, but they can't stop the enemy's attack at all, so Leotides does not have hope for it, ha Strouba doesn't see it as a hindrance either. (Note: Historically, the tyrant of Agrigento built a new city on Cape Econome only a hundred years later. In the first Punic War a few decades later, it was on the city's Cape. The largest naval battle in ancient Western history took place nearby. Carthage and Rome invested a total of 680 warships, carrying about 290,000 sailors and soldiers. In the end, Rome won.)

Sure enough, when Hasdrubal arrived, the residents of Econom had already fled, leaving only an empty city. The Carthaginian army entered smoothly.

After a night's rest, the march continued east on Day 2 and entered Gela territory at noon.

The city of Gela has a long history. It was only four or five years later than the establishment of Syracuse. It was established by the colonists of Rhodes and Crete, and the city was named after the Gela River in the territory.

The fertile river plains within the territory of the Gera are formed as the Gera River scours a lot of dirt from the mountains. After decades of successful transformation of the river swamps by the Gera people, Gera has become prosperous, and this At that time, the city of Agrigento had just been established, and the city of Syracuse was still limited to the island of Ortigia, so Hippocrates, the tyrant of Gera, who had enough soldiers and food a hundred years ago, and his successor Dillon launched eastward. In the war of conquest, the Greek colonial cities in eastern Sicily, such as Camarina from Messina, surrendered to Gera. Dillon took a fancy to the geographical location of Syracuse, moved there, and let his Brother Shiron took over Gera and moved half the population of Gera, its birthplace, to Syracuse, thus creating the beginning of Syracuse's prosperity. After Dillon's death, Shiron moved to Syracuse again... Since then, the tyrants of Gera have abandoned the original city and made Syracuse their ruling center, and Gera has also changed from the original Sicily to the strongest. The great Greek city-states began to decline. But by this point, Gera also established a fairly close relationship with Syracuse.

The first conflict between Gera and Syracuse was more than 20 years ago, when the Carthaginian commander Himilco led an army on the way to attack Syracuse, first occupied Agrigento, and then surrounded it. jera. Dionysius promised to send reinforcements, but in the end the reinforcements did not arrive and Gera was captured. The deepening of the contradiction is that after the Gera people returned to their homeland, Syracuse has become the hegemon of the Greek city-state in Sicily, and Dionysius has been heavily exploiting and oppressing the people of the allies, which of course also includes Gera, Jay The people of Lara were very dissatisfied with it, but they were afraid of its powerful force and could only obey.

Until Dionia defeated Syracuse, although the Gerais were grateful to the Dionysians, they also maintained vigilance against outsiders entering Sicily. Dionia lived friendly with the surrounding city-states of Sicily for 10 years. , which made the Jera people finally let go of their guard. In this war between Dionia and Carthage, Gera also actively provided material assistance and sent troops to participate in the war.

Now, the Carthaginian army is under the city, which not only makes the Gela people nervous, but also shakes Syracuse and Catanay. After all, compared with the previous series of battles in the west, Gera is far away from them. Closer and more attractive to the public.

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"Lord Commander, Karsidis is here." Mukru reported to Leotidides.

"Please come in."

A middle-aged team officer wearing a purple crown helmet strode into the hall of the city lord's mansion.

His name was Karsidis, and he was born in Catane. After Dionysius broke Catane, he became a refugee. He once fled to the mountain settlement to live for a period of time, and then quietly returned to the port of Catane to sell his labor for a living. He was not afraid of rape and helped He is weak and fair, so he has a high prestige among the refugees and freedmen in the port of Katanai. During the South-Italian War, Antrapolis lurked in the port of Catane and got his great help, and in the riots that Catane set off, the free people he led were also one of the main forces. After Katanai's successful recovery, he led his troops to assist the I Corps in pursuit of the rout of Marcias.

However, after the war ended and Cattanai was incorporated into the kingdom of Dionia, the hero in Cattanai's heart refused to become a kingdom official or a member of the city council, but volunteered to be a tribune, and Every year, he is elected by the Katanai because of his outstanding performance and participates in the kingdom's tribune assembly. At the same time, he was also the captain of the 1st brigade of the Eighth Legion, and was highly relied upon by Leotizides.

"Lord Commander, Karsidis is here to report!" Karsidis gave a powerful military salute.

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