ancient greece mediterranean ruler

Chapter 721 Carthaginian Army’s Military Operations on the South Coast
Mazara is a town founded by the Phoenicians. It has long been under the jurisdiction of Carthage. It is only more than 30 miles away from the city of Liliber. However, the Carthaginian army moved slowly. Not only did it have a large amount of baggage, Monte Adeno also brought There were some Carthaginian merchants and even prostitutes, so the team was bloated, the formation was also a bit scattered, and the marching speed was relatively slow.

The team continued on the next day, and again at dusk arrived at the city of Selinus, about 40 miles away from Mazara.

Selinus was founded by Greek colonists and was once famous in Sicily for its rich agriculture and fishing.During the Peloponnesian War, it clashed with Segesta, which was not far away and located to the northwest, and became an inducement for the Athenian army to expedition to Sicily.In the subsequent long-term battle between Carthage and Syracuse, Selinus and Segesta, a pair of Greek colonial towns in western Sicily and surrounded by Phoenician towns, were captured repeatedly. Most of its Greek residents fled to eastern Sicily, and most of the people who moved in later were Phoenicians. Therefore, when Dionia signed an agreement with Carthage, Davos agreed to include Selinus. Ruled by Carthage.

On the third day, the Carthaginian army arrived at another town, Thermae, at dusk. Although the Carthaginian soldiers who were marching felt tired, their faces were very excited.

Just look at the name of this town and you will know that there are hot springs in this place.It was because of the hot springs in the Calogero Mountains that Selinus built a village here. After the Carthaginians occupied this place and strengthened friendly exchanges with Dionia, the hot springs in Thurii were large. The bathhouse inspired the Carthaginians who were businessmen, so they vigorously developed the place and built several hot spring baths similar to those in Thurii, attracting countless Carthaginians to enjoy the sulfur hot spring baths. The village quickly developed into a town.

The soldiers simply built the camp and went to bathe in batches. Monte Adeno even summoned a few women to bathe with him.

The next day, after being washed in the hot springs, the Carthaginian army, both generals and soldiers, continued to march eastward in high spirits and briskly.

In the afternoon, the army arrived at Heraclea, the city of Minoa.This is a Greek colonial city located on the hills on the east bank of the Halicas River estuary, overlooking the fertile lowlands on the west bank and guarding the port to the east.For more than ten years, this city-state has had close ties with Dionia, and even because of its name, it has established friendly and close ties with the city of Heraclea under the jurisdiction of the kingdom.Therefore, the Minoans refused without hesitation the Carthaginians' offer to surrender.

Monte Adeno had anticipated this and ordered his army to camp on the west bank of the Halicas River.

For the next three days, the Carthaginians were preparing to siege the city, and the Carthaginian clippers sent to explore the eastern coast sent back news: no reinforcements from Dionia were found heading towards Minoa.

Monte Adeno suddenly felt confident and decided to launch a full-scale attack on Minoa City tomorrow.

But he didn't know: The Sikere tribes in the city of Enna, northwest of the city of Minoa and in the center of Sicily's interior, had already sent a thousand warriors and were crossing the mountains and trekking through the river valleys, heading towards Minoa. .

The next day, the Carthaginian army crossed the Halicas River, arrived at the city of Minoa, lined up their formation, surrounded the city of Minoa, and then blew the attack bugle.

The city of Minoa is not large, and its population is not large. There are less than 4000 young and middle-aged citizen soldiers in the city who can fight. There is no moat in front of the city. The height of the hill it is located on is less than 150 meters, and the slope is gentle.However, the Minoans completely followed the instructions of the team officers sent by Dionia. They not only set up a large number of traps, but also cut down all the trees on the hills and even dug out rocks that could be used as offensive cover to serve as defenses. Use stones to injure enemies.

Due to the presence of hills, the large-scale siege equipment made by Carthage would not only require more manpower to be pushed to the front of the city, but its movement would also be very slow. The ballistae's attack also had to be too far away to be accurate. and power were greatly reduced, so the Numibian soldiers who were the main force of the attack rushed to the front carrying ladders. As a result, they were deeply troubled by traps.

Moreover, the Minoans pushed down large stones that were polished into round shapes at the place where the Carthaginian army was intensively attacking under the city. The stones rolled down the mountain, crushing many Numibian soldiers along the way, and even Crash the siege equipment and eventually cause the siege troops to retreat...

After Monte Adeno learned about the situation in the tent, he was not in a hurry and ordered the troops to reorganize their formation and continue the attack.

Seeing the Numibian soldiers with low morale slowly advancing towards the city of Minoa, the anxious Milephio broke into the tent and asked Monte Adeno to send the Holy Order troops he led. As the main attacker, he was rejected by the commander. He persuaded with earnest words: "Successful attack on such a difficult and well-defended city cannot be achieved in a day or two. We must be patient! Our Holy Legion troops, Carthaginians The lives of Christian militiamen and even allied Phoenician soldiers were precious and could not be wasted in the arduous and long siege battle. The Numibians were not only numerous, but also lowly. If one group died, another group would be brought in. That’s it, this will also be conducive to the stability of the Numibian region..."

Milephio remained silent.

In the afternoon, the Carthaginian army reached the city and began a brutal siege.

When the battle was heating up, horns sounded outside the northern city of Minoa and behind the battlefield. Thousands of Sikel warriors rushed out of the mountains to the north and charged towards the Carthaginian army that was fighting fiercely.

The negligent Monte Adeno was influenced by the information reported by the clipper. After the siege began, he neither sent spies or reconnaissance cavalry to detect the enemy's situation around the battlefield, nor set up a reserve force as a guard behind the siege troops, especially It is north of the city of Minoa.

The Sikel warriors only wore cloth robes and were armed with spears and javelins, so they were fast. In a blink of an eye, they climbed up the hill and ran to the bottom of the city to attack the Numibian soldiers who were attacking the city with all their strength. Numibia's morale was originally low. The Mibians were immediately defeated.

The defeat of the Numibians outside the northern city quickly affected the troops in other directions. The soldiers shouted in panic: "The enemy's reinforcements are coming! The enemy's reinforcements are coming!..." They scrambled to run down the mountain at a speed of even Overtaking the Sikelians who were chasing them, these mountain people watched in stunned silence as thousands of Numibian soldiers fled across the Halicas River as fast as a tide, even embracing the Carthaginians who came to stop them. The base troops fled into the camp together.

Milephio led the cavalry and infantry of the holy regiment, bypassed the broken troops, and went to block the enemy's reinforcements. As a result, he found that these enemies with simple equipment and small numbers did not enter the city of Minoa, but quickly ran into it again. In the mountains.

The majestic Carthage army of tens of thousands was repulsed by only a thousand people from the Sikel Mountains!Philomeo felt extremely ashamed and angry.

However, Monte Adeno looked calm. In his opinion: Although the Sikel attack led to the defeat of the siege force, the casualties caused were not large (less than 1000 people). For an attack of this scale, In terms of siege warfare, it was nothing.On the contrary, the attack of the Sikelians is exposing the intentions of the Dionians. As long as the Carthaginian army strengthens its vigilance, the Sikelians can no longer cause any losses to the army.

After listening to Monte Adeno's consolation, Milephio returned to the camp, still feeling unsettled. He vaguely felt that Monte Adeno was not enterprising enough and seemed not capable enough to command such a huge army, so he immediately wrote a letter To his father-in-law Hanno, he expressed his concerns to him.

Two days later, a fast ship from Carthage brought Hanno's personal letter. In the letter: Hanno warned Monte Adeno to go all out in this war and achieve some results as soon as possible, so that the Senate Knowing that he made the right decision to appoint Monte Ardenau as the commander in chief of the army!

At the same time, he also warned Monte Adeno: Don't be careless again and let the army suffer losses!Otherwise, even if some people in the Senate do not impeach him, he will not be able to face the anger of the people!

After reading the letter, Monte Adeno felt the pressure. He finally stopped lying drunk in the tent, personally organized the army, and directed the soldiers to attack the city of Minoa.

The Minoans seized the two or three days of rest and rearranged the defensive facilities that had been destroyed by the Carthaginians, causing great trouble to the Carthaginian army again.

During the Carthaginian siege, the Sikelians wandered on the edge of the battlefield, harassing them from time to time, and once almost burning the Carthaginian camp.Although Monte Adeno had been prepared for this and the damage caused was not great, they did restrain the Carthaginians a lot of energy.In the Carthaginian army, not only the cavalry, but also the infantry came from the plains and deserts of Africa. There was nothing they could do against the Sikel troops who were roaming the mountains as if they were walking on flat ground.

After Monte Adeno thought hard, he remembered the Sican people who lived in the mountains of western Sicily and were affiliated with the Carthaginians. So he sent someone to order Semimre of Lilibi to quickly organize a Sicilian people. Kan troops were sent to Minoa to fight.

The news that "a thousand Sikel warriors defeated Carthage's 4 siege army" also reached the ears of the Dionysian Sicilian commander Leotizides, who was closely following the war in Catanai, and asked him to Also very surprised.

After asking in detail about the entire battle, he stared at the map and fell into deep thought.

After a long time, he took out the information about the Carthaginian army given to him by the intelligence department and read it several times, and finally made up his mind.

Soon, Siplos, the wartime governor of Sicily, hurried over: "Lord Prosaus, you came to me in such a hurry, has the war situation changed?!"

(End of this chapter)