ancient greece mediterranean ruler

Chapter 898
It wasn't until the sun set and night fell that the incomplete Sicilian fleet slowly sailed into the port of Selinus with the captured warships and captured Phoenician crew members...

In this naval battle, only 130 of the 43 warships of the East Phoenician fleet were left, while 150 of the 31 warships of the Dionysian Sicilian fleet were left (including 6 damaged ones), and 23 Phoenician ships were also captured. Base warship.In addition, only more than 6000 of the 2000 soldiers carried by the Sicilian Fleet returned to Serinus safely, most of which were reserve soldiers of the Legion.

The Dionysian Sicilian fleet finally won a tragic victory, but strategically they lost.Because on this day, Hasdrubal led about 17 soldiers from the Iberian army to launch another attack on the city of Agrigento using only wood and ladders.

Faced with the dilemma of running out of rations and risking starvation if they could not capture the city, the soldiers all took the lead bravely and fought to the death.In particular, the ferocity of the Lusitanian warriors and the Celtic warriors in the northern Iberian mountains caused great trouble to the Agrigento defenders.

The citizen soldiers of Agrigento suffered considerable losses in the previous battle of Minoa. Later, because the Carthaginian army besieged Selinus and Leotizides asked for help, Agrigento Ligento once again sent reinforcements, so there were not many defenders in the city. Although they repelled the enemy's attack yesterday, many soldiers were killed and injured. Today, the reinforcements have not arrived for a long time, and the bloody battle has arrived. In the afternoon, the Agrigento people finally could not withstand the enemy's attack and were captured by the Carthaginians.

Hasdrubal allowed his soldiers to loot and kill in the city. Except for some Agrigento people who fled to the port and escaped on ships, the rest were massacred.

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Early on the morning of the second day, Seclian came to the palace of the city lord of Selinus and saw Leotizides sitting in the hall waiting.

"Proseus, long time no see. I hope you called me here this time not to borrow fleet infantry, or to convert our temporarily idle sailors into light infantry." These words of Sekerian were obviously expressing his concern. Dissatisfaction with Leotizides' previous approach.

Leotizides did not react at all to his taunting. He glanced at him indifferently and said: "Miltias died in the battle."

Sekelian immediately expressed his dissatisfaction when he heard it: "Who did you hear?! We searched for a long time yesterday, but we couldn't find it. Where did you get it—"

"Take a look at this." Leotizides interrupted him coldly and pushed the wooden box on the table.

Sekelian immediately focused his gaze on this wooden box that did not look like a Greek style, and suddenly a terrible idea popped up in his heart. He walked forward with heavy steps, and opened the box lid cautiously.

"The Carthaginian commander Mago sent an envoy, saying that when their army attacked our sailors and soldiers who swam ashore on the beach, only Miltias led the unarmed crew to bravely attack them. Before he died in battle, he also chopped down two Carthaginian soldiers. A Celtic leader from Iberia admired his bravery and specially chopped off his head as his trophy... After Mago knew about this, I specially redeemed it, but the body can no longer be found, so we can only send us his head..."

With Leotizides' flat and lifeless voice ringing in his ears, Sekerian stared at the face in the wooden box that vaguely recognized the appearance of his former colleague. After a moment, he cursed in a low voice. One sentence: "Miltias, you idiot..." and then gently closed the box.

After sitting back on the wooden chair, he could no longer suppress the resentment in his heart: "The Sicilian War has only started a few months ago. Not only did our Dionysian Navy suffer heavy losses, we also killed two Flarios and Miltias. A fleet commander... Damn the Carthaginians! Damn that Maggot!..."

Sekerian cursed loudly to vent his grief.

"The Carthaginian envoy also brought a request." Leotizides ignored his anger and continued: "They captured thousands of our sailors, hoping to exchange them with us for the Phoenicians we captured. Gay Sailor.”

"The Carthaginians want to gain beauty, but I haven't made the Phoenicians who attacked my fleet suffer enough yet!" Seclian said bitterly.

"So you are rejecting the Carthaginian offer?"

"No, trade with them!" Cykerian raised his eyebrows: "The lives of our navy crew members are very precious, how can they be compared with these Phoenicians from Persia? Let them go back, I believe it won't be long." God, they will become our prisoners again.”

After the naval battle, the Sicilian fleet brought these prisoners back to Selinus. After interrogation, Cecilian was temporarily relieved: it turned out that this fleet was reinforcements from Phoenician city-states such as Tire and Sidon in the Eastern Mediterranean, not It was Carthage that had built a batch of warships earlier than Dionia.Based on the situation of Carthage's mother state, it is obviously impossible for them to frequently send fleets all the way to assist Carthage.

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

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

"This morning, a messenger from Sipulus brought bad news. Cephaloityion has been captured by the Carthaginians."

"Kefaroity?" Sekerian was confused. He had been at the naval base in Tarentum before and had only stayed in Sicily for a few months. He was always busy with the Sicilian fleet, so he was Something about the interior of Sicily was not very clear, and the name of the town was completely unfamiliar to him.

"Kefalotion is a town of the Sikelians, in the inner mountains of Sicily, northwest of Agrigento, on the border of the original sphere of influence between the kingdom and the Carthaginians in Sicily. , bordering the territory of the Sican people..." Leotizides gave a rare explanation, and Sekerian tried hard to recall the location of this town.

Seeing this situation, the adjutant Muklu, who was below, immediately went to get a map of Sicily, placed it on the table next to Sekerian, and pointed out the location of the town.

"This town of the Sikelians was the former residence of the Tanikian tribe." What Leotizides said next made an impression on Cekerian. After all, the Laodicean incident was in There was a huge turmoil in the kingdom's political arena.

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

"According to the messenger, when the Carthaginian army surrounded Selinus a few days ago, more than 2000 Sicans invaded the territory of the Sikelians. The Sikelians have always been strong against the Sicans. So he did not hesitate to summon [-] warriors to completely defeat them..." Leotizides curled his lips slightly, seeming to laugh at the Sikelians' stupidity: "As a result, during the battle, the Carthaginians The army suddenly appeared, and the Sikelians suffered a disastrous defeat. The Carthaginians took advantage of the victory and pursued it, successfully occupying Kefalotion.

Then, the Carthaginians joined forces with the Sicans and continued to attack the city of Enna eastward. Aconis, the leader of the Tanician tribe who originally fled to western Sicily, became the Carthaginians' guide and also helped the Carthaginians persuade the Westerners to surrender. Kyle's tribe has made the tribes of West Kyle unstable. Although Sipulos has asked the administrator of Hena, Kereru, to send reinforcements to Enna, the situation in Enna is not optimistic.

… In addition, since we did not deliver reinforcements to Agrigento yesterday, I am also worried about the situation in the city of Agrigento.Once it is captured, allowing tens of thousands of Carthaginian soldiers to gain a foothold in the middle of the south coast will not only threaten the security of neighboring friendly city-states, but also our security. "

Sekerian sat up straight, looked at Leotizides, and asked seriously: "Do you want our navy to transport reinforcements to Agrigento again?"

"Of course I have this idea. Now you are the highest-ranking military commander of the Sicilian fleet (although Seclian is not yet the commander of the Sicilian fleet, but after Miltias died in the battle, the new Sicilian fleet commander has not yet been appointed. As the third The naval commander of the first fleet, Maclean has the highest military position in the Sicilian fleet, and naturally becomes the spokesperson of this fleet), of course I need to discuss with you, with the current situation of the Sicilian fleet, can it carry out the task of transporting reinforcements?" Leo Tizides asked seriously.

"Of course!" Cykerian replied simply. When it comes to military matters related to the interests of the kingdom, he always knows the importance: "I can use the captured Phoenician warships as troop transports and use the Sicilian fleet to carry out the mission." Escort, yesterday the Phoenicians were still repelled by us even though they had the upper hand. I am afraid they will be hiding in the port for the next few days and dare not come out. If they really dare to come, we can just wipe them all out! But this time, We can't transport that many soldiers."

"Even if you are lucky, I don't have that many reinforcements, just 2000 people." Although Leotizides said it plainly, Sekerian still felt a bit helpless from his words. He looked at the people again. A Sicilian army commander who rarely interacts with others then said: "There is no problem in transporting 2000 people. I will go back and start preparations immediately, and set off as soon as possible before noon."

Leotizides did not express his gratitude, but continued: "There is one more thing you need to know. When I asked the messenger to return to Catanai, he brought a message to Sipulos and asked him to send a fleet over as soon as possible. , transport the troops here to Gela, and your Sicilian fleet will be needed to escort them."

　Thanks to Al Fasil’s hero, Sniper No. 11 for the reward!Your support is my motivation to write! !
　　
　
(End of this chapter)