ancient greece mediterranean ruler

Chapter 1008 The reason
"Of course not." Cykerian looked at the two gagged Carthaginian prisoners next to him with disdain: "These are all the work of greedy Carthage businessmen!..."

It turns out that Lilibi was originally built by Himilco and later rebuilt by Mago. Originally, Carthage was planning to build a military defense system with it as the center to resist the attack of the Syracuseans.But I didn't expect that not long after, Syracuse was defeated by Dionia and lost its hegemony. Carthage and Dionia then signed a peace agreement. Since then, Sicily has regained peace, and the original defense plan has been Had a miscarriage.

However, out of natural vigilance against the emerging Greek kingdom of Dionia, Lilibi's status as a major military town in Sicily was still retained. The retention also included the garrison of Lilibi, but the number of citizen soldiers was greatly reduced. .

This period coincided with the time when the Magonid family in Carthage left Iberia, and Hanno took control of the Senate. Under his strong promotion, the Carthaginians began to advance inland and invaded and occupied Numibi on a large scale. In the land of the demi-humans, the citizens of Carthage were busy sharing the fruits of the war. No one wanted to be chosen to defend the city at Liliba, even if it was just for rotation.Therefore, Carthage gave the Lilibei garrison sufficient logistical support and additional salary so that they could perform their obligations with peace of mind.But even so, in the hearts of Carthage citizens, going to Lilaba to defend the city was still a chore.

Seven years ago, a member of the Hannuo family was appointed as the garrison general of Lilibi. He was unwilling to go and even went to Hannuo to intercede. The result was unsuccessful because the position of the garrison general of Lilibi became a The big problem is that no one from the Carthaginian nobles is willing to take office. As a person in power, Hanno must of course set an example.He could only come to Lilibi with a lot of resentment. Just a few days after staying there, Lampukuba from the port area came to visit. After the two had a secret conversation, the garrison general's resentment disappeared and he seriously Fulfill his duties.

Since the peace agreement was signed with Dionia, the maritime trade of Lilybi has become more and more prosperous, which has also prompted an increase in the number of residents in Lilybi. However, due to the high threshold for settling in the city, many of them came from Carthage. People allied with Phoenicia could only choose to live in the port area. Since Lilibi opened very little farmland outside the city, they were completely unable to be self-sufficient in food, but their demand was huge, so they could only rely on maritime food trade. Mainly Coming from Carthage, although the Carthaginians relied on the vast land of Numbia and had sufficient food every year, the price of food was not low when it was shipped to Lilibi by sea, and competition was fierce.

Lampukuba is also a member of the Hanno family. He settled in the Lilibi port area 10 years ago and is mainly engaged in grain trade. He did not benefit much from the competition in the shopping malls for several years, so he racked his brains to find He tried other ways to make money, but he found that the military ration supply in the city's military camp was very sufficient, and there was always a lot of surplus at the end of the year. It happened that the garrison general who took office at this time was also a member of the Hanno family. The two had a good relationship before, so He came to him to discuss cooperation secretly.

It was no shame for the merchant Carthaginians to be able to use their power for money.The generals of the Lilibi garrison naturally agreed happily, but there was a problem: when transporting military supplies from the city to the port, they must pass through the city gate checkpoints with strict inspections. This matter would become known to the world. After all, privately selling military supplies is It violated the laws of Carthage, and the lord of Lilibi at the time happened to be a Magonid. There is no guarantee that he would not make a big fuss about it. When the time comes, the garrison generals and Lampukuba would inevitably be punished by the Senate. Punishment, so they decided to adopt an unknown method after deliberation—that is, digging tunnels.

In fact, at that time, it was very difficult for foreigners to enter and exit the city of Lilibi. Due to various needs, several tunnels had appeared in the port area, and people were quietly sent in to serve as slaves of officials, wealthy people, and temporary laborers...

It’s just that the two of them did it more secretly: Lampukuba spent a lot of money to buy the land outside the city wall near the southwest military camp, built tall walls and warehouses, and asked his slaves to dig tunnels secretly; On the grounds of training, the confidants and their own servants turned the baggage barracks in the general camp into a restricted area and secretly dug tunnels.The two sides worked together and dug it out in less than half a year. They continued to improve the tunnel as they began to smuggle military supplies into the port area.

The garrison generals used methods such as falsifying soldier rosters, falsely increasing the number of soldiers, and generously granting long vacations to citizen soldiers who were selected but did not want to come to Lilibi for duty... and other methods to turn a large amount of surplus military rations into their own.Lampukuba used these free military rations to enrich his own grain depot, and also lowered the price of grain sales, making it impossible for other grain merchants in the port to compete with them, allowing him to eventually monopolize Lilibi's grain. Market and become the richest man here.

The defending general earns a lot of money, so he is naturally unwilling to leave, and has repeatedly asked to continue to hold the position.Some of the elders of Carthage knew that there might be something fishy going on, but many people were bribed by him, and apart from him, it was always difficult to choose the generals of the Lilibi garrison, so everyone just turned a blind eye. One glance.

As a result, the garrison general stayed in Lilibi for four or five years, until last year, when relations with Dionia were tense and war clouds loomed, the Senate strictly ordered cities in western Sicily to increase vigilance, reorganize armaments, strengthen training, and prepare Combat.

The new Lord of Lilibi City, Imisele, sent out patrols to completely block those tunnels that had existed for many years and were well known to everyone, and also issued a notice: Anyone found digging tunnels will be punished with death for treason!
The garrison general felt that the situation was not good, and after discussing with Lampukuba, he asked his confidants to block the tunnel entrance on the other side of the military camp. Then he bribed the senators with heavy sums of money and transferred himself back to Carthage to avoid becoming the leader of the upcoming war. Victims of war.

However, Lampukuba still retains the tunnel, waiting to continue using it after the war is over...

"So the other end of the tunnel has been blocked?" Leotizides asked after hearing this.

Sekerian pointed at the two prisoners and said: "According to their explanation, they only blocked the exit over there. There are not many places blocked. I have sent soldiers in to investigate..."

Just as they were talking, footsteps came from the tunnel, and several mountain scouts soon appeared in front of them.

"Sir, if you go forward more than 150 meters in the tunnel, you can see the blocked area. It is indeed sealed with soil as the prisoner said. I don't think it will take long to dig before you can see the exit."

The words of the mountain scout team made Sekerian excited. He smiled and said: "Lord Proseus, you can bring your army over now and follow this tunnel into the city!"

At this time, the man who went there that day seemed calm: "Don't be anxious yet, we have to make some arrangements first to divert the attention of the Carthage defenders."

................................................

"Sir, look! The Dionians are preparing to attack the city!" A team officer pointed at the city and shouted.

Without his reminder, Imisele had already noticed: to his right, thousands of Dionian soldiers in black helmets and black armor appeared in the area illuminated by the firelight at the city head. They were forming an array, and the soldiers at the front were carrying There are long ladders, and it seems that they are preparing for a construction project...

He poked his head out, wanting to take a closer look, when he heard the men beside him shout: "Sir, be careful!" He was dragged behind the dust, and there was a "boom" sound, and several stones were thrown. The bullet hit the city wall not far from him, and the flying stone fragments injured several defenders.

The terrified Imiselei immediately shouted: "Go and call Ragnaca, the Dionians are going to attack the city!"

When Ragnaka was forcibly called, he felt a little angry, because the Dionian soldiers at the tower door attacked fiercely, and the door was deformed by the wood. If it were not blocked by a large number of stones behind, I am afraid they would They had already rushed in, and the long-range attacks of the Dionian light infantry were also very powerful, causing many casualties to the Carthaginian archers behind the tower gate. They also carried the crossbows to the city gate walkway and fired them, firing them on both sides. The harpooneers on the tower posed a huge threat, and the light infantry had been replaced several times. Ragnaka was now highly nervous and commanding the soldiers to conduct an all-out defense, and had no extra energy to take care of anything else.

So after seeing the enemy situation clearly below the city, he angrily rebuked: "The enemy is so close to us, why don't we attack with bows and arrows?!"

Imisele responded coldly: "You have taken away the light infantry and sent them to the tower door. Where are the archers here?!"

Only then did Ragnaka remember the measures he had taken before. Seeing that the city lord was a little dissatisfied, he coughed twice and his tone softened: "It doesn't matter if there is no light infantry. The Dionian crossbows look scary. , but they cannot destroy our thick and tall city walls. If they want to attack the city, they have to rely on those wooden ladders. When they come to the city, we can use wood, stones, asphalt... to attack them and cause them harm. Casualties, but—”

Ragnaka looked to the left where countless people gathered more than 100 meters away - that's where the city gate was. He reminded: "Be careful of the Dionians to disperse the people and break the city gate with wood to rush in. , so to strengthen the defense there, it is best to send people to block the city gate."

Although Imisele was a little worried, he thought about it and shook his head and refused: "You can't block the door, otherwise after Lord Mago arrives with his army, he will not be able to quickly attack the Dionians."

"Then leave an army below the city. If the enemy breaks through the city gate, let them stop it..." After Ragnaka arranged the defensive measures here, he hurried to the tower gate.

　Thanks to Chicheng Lanche for the tip!Your support is my motivation to write! !
　　
　
(End of this chapter)