Chapter 305

Although Margo is too extreme, because it is not just a Hannoist decision to have Annobas as naval commander and a fleet to guard Sardinia, but one thing he is very right about, Sicily and Carthia The connection with the base cannot be cut off, otherwise the more than 100,000 soldiers will have no military rations, and it will really be over! ... Pomirka is in the army and is mainly in charge of logistical support. He is well aware of the huge consumption of army rations. The reason for withdrawing from the east is the food supply. Therefore, the more he thought about it, the more frightened he became, and he immediately said: "Mr. Brother Brother, I will write a letter with you, urging the Senate to immediately reorganize our fleet and fully protect the sea routes of Sicily and Carthage!"

Marco's expression changed slightly, and he said bitterly: "Even if the Senate obeys our advice, whether our fleet can do it is another matter. Our current military rations can last for about 10 days. After 10 days, we will Everyone's life is in the hands of the navy, which is really unreconcilable!"

Pomirka listened with bitterness in his heart, and he reminded loudly: "Lord Margo, the best way for us to reverse the predicament is to defeat the main force of the Dionysian army and win the dominance of the Sicilian battle!"

"It's easy to say, but you can also see that I have been setting up outside the camp for the past three days, but the Dionians on the opposite side have no intention of going down the mountain to fight with us."

Margo was a little helpless and a little puzzled: "I have learned about the battles that King Dionia has participated in in the past. He is a decisive, daring, adventurous, and very confident person. In the early days, he was a mercenary leader. At the same time, he dared to lead a far smaller number of mercenaries to attack the Lucanian army; when Dionysius invaded Greater Greece, it was clear that Dionysius had an advantage, especially in cavalry. Or boldly fought with the Syracuses...

Not long ago, there was a war between Dionysian and Rome. Rome was so far away from Dionysus. He actually led a large army to launch an attack on his own initiative... Why did such a person who loves attack so much dare not accept our challenge this time? ! "

"Could it be because the Dionysian army is not ready yet?" Pomirka thought for a while and said, "Or maybe it is because Kepharoytian's army is too close... let Dionia Does the king have any concerns?"

When Marco heard this, he put down his sword and said thoughtfully, "Perhaps... we should have Hasdrubal withdraw all his troops to the territory of the Sikanians and lure Dionia from the east. The army marches westward and takes the empty Kepharoition. In this way, King Dionia feels the safety of the north, and may he be assured of a decisive battle with us?"

"What if the Dionians still can't hold on?" Pomirka said worriedly.

Margo thought for a moment and said decisively: "Then we will surround the Dionian army of Kepharoition and force them to fight us decisively in the mountains!"

"This is a good idea!" Pomirka's eyes lit up,

But he also reminded: "I'm afraid Arconis will not be willing to retreat from Kepharoition."

"The leader of Sikel who took the initiative to join us?!" Marco picked up the saber on the table, and slashed the table with a heavy sword: "It's up to him, he has to retreat if he doesn't retreat!"

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After receiving Margo's order, Hasdrubal ignored Arconis' pleas and issued an order: all soldiers and all Sikeles retreat westward.

Some Sikelians did not succumb, even because their families were in the hands of the Carthaginians, refusing to enter the territory of their erstwhile enemies, the Sikanians.

In this regard, Hasdrubal repressed mercilessly, thus forcing most of the Sikelians to obey obediently.

When retreating, the Carthaginians also completely destroyed the city of Kepharoition.

However, Lizaru, who received the order of Davos, did not take the opportunity to lead the army westward, but let the army stay in Enna, and at the same time continued to strengthen the defense of the city.

The main Dionysian troops stationed in Minoa City ignored the Carthaginians who marched under the mountain every day, and have been stepping up the construction of camps.

After listening to Davos's instructions, the engineers designed the camp as follows: the entire Dionysian camp starts from the city of Minoa near the sea, and extends northward along the entire hill. After the narrow lowland to the north (where Leotizides had previously let Agrigento rout to lure and eventually defeat the Holy Legion of Carthage), the camp turned northeast and continued along the continuous , The hills that are not too high, and finally end against the upper reaches of the Pletani River, forming a semi-arc line of defense, and the simple port to the east is in its arms, and the Catane fleet is transported by it. With sufficient supplies and sufficient water provided by Lake Gurgo, the Dionian army was prepared for a long-term defense.

Different from the situation in the west, in eastern Sicily, Leotidides had already led his army to Syracuse. After reaching Leotini and joining the armies of the allies, the entire army was divided into two parts, the main force being the seventh. The Eighth Legion, led by Leotidides himself, continued south, over the mountains, to the vicinity of the great port west of Syracuse.

In addition, more than 8,000 soldiers composed of allied armies and friendly city-states were led by Zantiparis and went south along the coast, passing through Taunis, and reaching the east city of Syracuse.

The Syracuses have been closely watching the movements of the Dionians to the north. When they learned that another Dionian army had left the city of Catane and arrived at Leotine, they were vigilantly aware of it. This may be for Syracuse.

The news spread, and the people in Syracuse panicked.

After the news was confirmed, the council of Syracuse only realized that it had been fooled. These days, democrats and neutrals were arguing over the issue of "who should be responsible for angering Dionia", wasting a lot of time. , did not even prepare for defense.

In the face of life and death, Theagenis, Falecus and others had to put aside their contradictions and differences, and fully deal with the impending attack of the cunning Dionysians. They carried out an urgent military mobilization of the citizens in the city, and at the same time sent cavalry to quickly notify the villages and towns outside the city, so that the people immediately took their belongings and rushed to the city for refuge.

A day later, sentries on the east wall were the first to see the enemy winding down the coast.

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The news of the disastrous defeat of the new fleet came back to Carthage, and the elders were shocked.

In this report, Annobas put the blame on Admika, saying: It was because of Admika's slow action that the plan to attack from both sides failed to be implemented, but was defeated by the Dionysian fleet. .

Subsequently, the elders received a joint complaint from Marco and Pomirka.

In the end is Annobas command error, or Admika's poor execution?

The elders had a debate, although Hanno defended it, but as the commander of the navy, Annobas suffered a losing streak and could not escape the blame.

Therefore, the debate did not last long, and the Senate passed a resolution to "remove Annobas from the position of commander of the navy and let him return to the city for trial".

Carthage was born from the sea and prospered by the sea. Although they are now developing inland, the sea is still their foundation. Now the repeated and repeated failures of the Carthaginian navy have shown that Dionysus The victory of the Asian fleet was not accidental. It was a fact that Carthage's naval power was at a disadvantage, which not only put the 100,000 army in Sicily at risk, but also began to threaten the survival of the city of Carthage.

For the first time, all the elders actively and earnestly discussed the solution to the sea dilemma of Carthage.

The first is to establish a new candidate for the commander of the navy as soon as possible.

Although Annobas was impeached, it is undeniable that he is indeed an excellent admiral, so a personal choice proposed by the elders was excluded because his talent was not as good as him. In the end, it was Esyarubati The name of a person arrived, so that everyone did not question his ability, but worried about his body.

Morbar, a Carthaginian nobleman, former senator, participated in the naval battle of Carthage against the Greek city-states on the northern coast of Italy when he was young, and later served as a naval commander several times, leading the battle with Sicily headed by Syracuse. In the battle of the combined Greek navy, the victory was more than the loss; he also bravely led the fleet along the route opened up by the predecessors, crossed the Pillar of Hercules westward, went south along the coast, and reached the middle of the west coast of Africa. He brought back some rare beasts and races with strange clothes and shiny black skin, and thus became a hero of Carthage; but he was tired of the politics of Carthage, and because of his old age, he voluntarily resigned from the elders house, and lived in seclusion in Utica.

After getting several elders who knew him to confirm that he was in good health, the elders agreed, and they sent messengers to Utica to ask the old man who did not belong to any faction, to see if he was willing to serve as the commander of the Carthaginian navy.

Second, the Senate discussed "whether or not to transfer back the new fleet defending the Sardinian waters". After all, this new fleet was originally intended to protect the Sardinian route, but now it was crippled and did not play any role. It would not make much sense to continue to stay in Sardinia. Now, the Dionysian army has also landed on Sicily. The pressure on the Carthaginian army has increased, and the problem of logistical supplies has become more prominent. It is necessary to ensure the smooth sea route between Sicily and Carthage to ensure the island. The 100,000 army above can fight with full force without any worries, which has become the consensus of the Carthaginian elders. To this end, they not only decided to transfer the remaining new fleet and invest it in the direction of Sicily, but also to incorporate the newly launched warships into it, and at the same time urge the shipyards to speed up the construction of subsequent new warships.