ancient greece mediterranean ruler

Chapter 900 Approaching Gera
Pomirka was stunned and asked: "Don't we capture the city of Selinus first?"

Mago's old face was slightly red, but he still said seriously: "After this period of siege, I believe you also know that Selinus is not only strong in defense, but the main force of Dionia is also in Selinus. Their morale is very good, even if our soldiers outnumber them, but to capture this city, we need to spend more time, and time is important to me!"

It was only then that Pomirka remembered the promise Marco had made in the Senate, and he no longer hesitated, and immediately expressed his willingness to go to war.

Mago showed a few smiles and said generously: "You will lead 1 Carthaginian citizen soldiers, 5 citizen soldiers composed of Phoenician allies, and 1 Numibian soldiers. , a total of [-] people, which is [-] more than when Monte Adeno attacked Minoa! I hope you will lead the army to Minoa tomorrow, and do not make the same mistake as Monte Adeno did, as soon as possible Capture the city of Minoa!”

Pomilka was not excited about leading such a large army. Instead, he asked with concern: "Master Mago, according to this arrangement, there are not many soldiers left around you. What if Dionysius is in the city?" The demi-humans came out of the city to attack again——"

Although Pomilka did not say any more, he had already expressed his worries. In his opinion, if he followed Mago's suggestion and led his army to leave, Mago would only have less than 1 soldiers from Iberia left with him. The army brought by Asia, this mixed army of multiple races seems to be very effective in combat, but it is not easy to manage and lacks loyalty.There are also nearly 1 citizen soldiers formed by the western allies of Sicily. These Sicilians lack training and are more suitable for carrying out luggage, building camps and other chores, rather than fighting; the remaining nearly [-] Numibians The soldiers were soldiers from the camp that had been attacked at night before. Obviously, Dionia's attack frightened these dark-skinned Numibians. In order to prevent their panic from affecting the morale of other troops, Mago They were specially separated and have been busy training these days. They are even preparing to send them to Lilibi to replace the defenders there.

But Ma Ge was not worried about this, he said confidently: "If the Dionians act as you said, that's exactly what I hope."

Bomirka stopped persuading and accepted the order.In fact, even if he didn't accept it, Margo would force him to accept it, because he had forcibly replaced many Carthaginian generals before, and the officers of the Iberian army he trusted would take over. The soldiers felt very uneasy, and after the news reached Carthage, it also aroused the criticism of the Senate, and the Hannois even criticized his approach, claiming: He did this to turn the entire army into a Magoni. The private army of the German family was used to facilitate his dictatorship.

Mago asked the neutral senator Bomilcar to temporarily take over the Carthaginian army, not only to appease the soldiers, but also to reassure the senators.

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

Mago did not conceal this military action, so the large-scale mobilization of the Carthaginians in the military camp was clearly seen by Leotizides on the city top. He was a little anxious because he could guess this. He had not considered why the Carthaginian army left: he would take this opportunity to lead the entire army out of the city to attack the Carthaginian army still in the camp. However, the previous night attack had already sounded the alarm for the Carthaginians. Since he still dares to do this, he is obviously on guard.

Leotizides holds the only main force of the Kingdom of Dionia on Sicily. When the enemy is outnumbered, he can only take actions with a high chance of winning, so he is now anxiously looking forward to it. Arrival of Catanai's fleet.

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Hasdrubal allowed the soldiers to plunder and massacre the entire city of Agrigento. On the one hand, it was to commemorate his father Himilko (himilko also once led the army to occupy the city of Agrigento) and let his soldiers After experiencing arduous marches and hard battles in mountainous areas, the soldiers can be released and gain something; on the other hand, it is also to obtain enough food.

His purpose was achieved.The territory of Agrigento is either mountainous or hilly. Although it is not famous for agriculture, it is a famous livestock city in Sicily. Therefore, Hasdrubal obtained a large number of livestock, enough to maintain a population of 2 people. Food for the army for half a month.

So after a day's rest, while Pomirka was marching towards Minoa, Hasdrubal left 1000 soldiers to garrison the city of Agrigento and led 16 soldiers to march eastward along the coast. , the target is Jera.

The army had to pass through the city of Econoume on its way forward. Why didn't Leotizides transport reinforcements to this city before, and why didn't Hasdrubal target this city?Because this is a small Greek city, its size is only slightly larger than Germe. The low city walls can only be used to block wild beasts, but cannot block the enemy's attack at all, so Leotizides does not have hope for it, haha Sdruba didn't see it as a hindrance, either. (Note: Historically, it was a hundred years later that the tyrants of Agrigento built a new city on Cape Econome. During the First Punic War a few decades later, on the promontory of this city The largest naval battle in ancient Western history took place nearby. Carthage and Rome invested a total of 680 warships, carrying about 29 sailors and soldiers, and Rome ultimately won.)
Sure enough, when Hasdrubal arrived with his army, the residents of Econom had fled, leaving only an empty city.The Carthaginian army entered successfully.

After resting for a night, we continued marching eastward on the second day and entered the Jela 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 Rhode Island and Crete, and the city was named after the Gela River in the territory.

Because the Jela River washed away a large amount of soil from the mountains, it formed a fertile river plain in the Jela territory. After decades of successful transformation of the river swamps by the Jela people, Jela became 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 Ortygia. Therefore, Hippocrates, the well-equipped tyrant of Gera a hundred years ago, and his successor Dilon launched an attack eastward. After the war of conquest, eventually all the Greek colonial cities in eastern Sicily, including Messina and Camanlina, surrendered to Gela. Dillon took a fancy to Syracuse's geographical location and moved there, leaving his Brother Hieron took over Gela and moved half of the population of Gela, where he was born, to Syracuse, thus creating the beginning of Syracuse's prosperity.After Dillon's death, Hieron moved to Syracuse... After that, the tyrants of Gela abandoned their original city one after another and made Syracuse their center of rule. Gela was also the strongest in Sicily. The large Greek city-states began to decline.But by this point, Gera had also established a fairly close relationship with Syracuse.

The first conflict between Gela and Syracuse occurred more than 20 years ago. Carthage commander Himilco led his army on the way to attack Syracuse. He first occupied Agrigento and then surrounded it. Jera.Dionysius promised to send reinforcements, but in the end the reinforcements never arrived and Gela was captured.The contradiction deepened after the Gera people returned to their homeland. Syracuse had become the overlord of the Greek city-states in Sicily. Dionysius exploited and oppressed the people of the allies very hard, which of course included Gera. The people of La La were very dissatisfied with him, but were afraid of his powerful force and could only obey.

Until Dionia defeated Syracuse, although the Gera people were grateful to the Dionia, they were also wary of outsiders entering Sicily. Dionia had been friendly with the city-states around Sicily for 10 years. , which made the Jela people finally let down their guard.In this war between Dionia and Carthage, Jela also actively provided material assistance and sent troops to participate in the war.

Now, the Carthaginian army is approaching the city. This not only makes the Gera people nervous, but also shocks Syracuse and Catanai. After all, compared with the previous series of battles in the west, Gera is very far away from them. The closer it is, the more likely it is to attract people’s attention.

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"Commander, Chalcides is here." Muklu reported to Leotizides.

"Please come in."

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

His name was Chalcedis, and he was from Catanai.After Dionysius conquered Catanai, he became a refugee and fled to a settlement in the mountains for a period of time. Later, he quietly returned to the port of Catanai and made a living by selling his labor. He was not afraid of rape and helped Weak and fair, so he has a high prestige among the refugees and free people in the port of Katana.During the South-Italian War, Antrapolis lurked in the port of Catanai and received great help from him. In the subsequent riots in Catanai, the free people he led were also one of the main forces.After Katane's successful recovery, he also led the troops to assist the First Army in pursuing Mathias' rout.

However, after the war ended and Catanai was merged into the Kingdom of Dionia, the hero in the hearts of the Catanai people refused to become a kingdom official or a member of the city council. Instead, he volunteered to be a tribune, and Every year, because of his outstanding performance, he is elected by the people of Katana to participate in the tribune meeting of the kingdom.At the same time, he was also the captain of the First Battalion of the Eighth Army, and he was heavily relied upon by Leotizides.

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

(End of this chapter)