The strong military force gave Marco enough confidence, a little casualty would not bother him, and his words also cheered up the generals.
Margo said to the adjutant again: "You immediately send someone to notify Admika in the south camp, and ask him to organize 10,000 soldiers, and then rush to the east camp as our backup."
"Yes, my lord!"
Margo looked around at everyone, and then said in a blunt Celtic language: "Rutam, you and your clan are the strikers."
The Celtic leader Rutam, whose appearance and attire were obviously different from others, replied angrily, "Oh!"
Rutam is a Lusitania, a fierce and belligerent race that lives widely in northwestern Iberia. It once brought great trouble to Marco's expansion in the Iberian Peninsula, and even threatened his expansion in Iberia. The rule of Yanan, and finally Marco had to conclude a peace agreement with them. This time, he impressed several large tribes of the race with his rich interests, and made them form an army of about 8,000 people to follow Marco to fight in Sicily. Rutam is just one of the tribal leaders, because the melee in the night relies more on personal force, which is conducive to their play.
About ten minutes later, the troops of the Chinese army camp gradually left the south gate of the camp, and marched along the built earth wall towards the east camp, which was in chaos.
… … … … …
When the evening came, Leotidides went up to the east side of the city, and looked at the Carthaginian camp with all his attention. He was temporarily relieved when the camp opposite was loud and noisy. He breathed, and then immediately ordered the 10,000 heavy infantry soldiers who had been waiting in the city, consisting of the Eighth Legion and reserve soldiers, to rush out of the city and continue to attack the enemy camp that had begun to fall into chaos.
At the same time, the meticulous Leotidides did not forget that when the enemy's attention was attracted by the night attack, he dispatched the soldiers of the mountain reconnaissance team to climb over the earthen wall and lurked in Carthage. He was in front of the camp and reported what he saw in a timely manner, so that he could have a comprehensive and detailed understanding of the enemy's response.
Therefore, even if he learned that the raiding troops had merged and completely smashed the enemy's resistance, leaving the camp in complete chaos, he was not excited. On the contrary, after learning that most of the Carthaginian camps in other areas had assembled their soldiers, they did not rush to rescue, but instead stationed at the borders of their respective camps, which made him feel uneasy.
Sure enough, the raiding force wanted to drive the rout to overrun the neighboring camp, and the chaos continued to expand, but the progress was slow.
At this time, another urgent news came: the central camp of Carthage has sent troops, and they are rushing east along the earth wall.
Leotidides immediately realized that the Carthaginians wanted to cut off the return route of the night raiding troops, surround and annihilate them.
The Dionian soldiers who participated in the night attack were the main force under Leotizides. She had been standing at the head of the city, watching the progress of the battle, just to avoid such a thing from happening.
"Woo! Woo! Woo!..." The trumpet soldiers who had been standing at the head of the city for a long time blew their trumpets to retreat.
Before setting off, the assault soldiers who had been repeatedly told by the commander heard the trumpet, reminded each other, and stopped chasing the routed soldiers one after another...
Before retreating, they did one last thing—burning the camp.
… … … … … …
The news that Margo led the rescue team had not yet arrived, and the news that the "Dionians actually retreated back to the city" really exceeded his expectations. In his opinion, after the successful night attack of the Dionians, they would definitely take advantage of the victory. Routing the soldiers and expanding the results gave him time to surround them, but the calm and decisiveness of the Dionians let his plan fail, and the hurried reinforcements had to become the fire brigade.
As the vanguard, Lusitalia reluctantly chased after him, but was attacked by the long-range defenders of the city head who had been prepared. After paying some casualties, he had to retreat.
In this night attack, the Dionias only suffered more than 400 casualties, but nearly 4,000 Carthaginian troops were killed and wounded, half of which were caused by the Carthaginian soldiers pushing and trampling each other when they fled in the dark. At the same time, 1/3 of the eastern barracks was burned to a white area, and the Carthaginian army suffered heavy losses.
After Marco returned to the tent, he couldn't fall asleep. He was still brooding about his failure this time. The tenacious fighting will and the changeable tactics of the far inferior Dionians shocked him and made him realize Until the huge force paralyzed himself, making his response to the battle situation slowed down.
After a painful remorse, he used this as an excuse the next day to forcefully dismiss most of the Carthaginian generals, and let the senior officers who had followed him in the Iberian Peninsula for many years take over the Carthaginian army, and began to fight against the Carthaginian army. It is reprogrammed and trained.
At the same time, he put a hold on the construction of the earth wall and stepped up repairs to the humble camp.
Of course, the fire last night caused the Carthaginians to lose a lot of materials, and Marco sent a messenger to notify the lord of Lilibe, Imisere, to deliver a batch of materials to the camp.
There is no shortage of supplies in the city of Lilibe for the time being, but the manpower is insufficient, and the labor of the port has to be temporarily recruited.
When the team carrying the baggage was about to arrive at the Carthaginian camp, an accident occurred: a laborer from the port left the convoy under the pretext of being unwell, trying to escape from the team, and was found by the patrolling cavalry in the middle. Under their pursuit, the laborer Jump off cliffs and fall into the sea.
To the Carthaginians, it was a trivial matter, and no one mentioned it again when the convoy arrived at the camp.
… … … … … …
In the past two days, Myrtias's uneasy mood has improved a little, because the Sicilian fleet made great efforts in the night attack operation the previous night, not only won a big victory, but also suffered minor casualties. , will reduce dissatisfaction with him.
After breakfast, he was ready to go to the dock, command the fleet to leave the port, and go to cruise in the western waters of Sicily.
Although the Carthaginian army landed in Sicily, to support such a huge army, the help of those Carthaginian allies in the west of Sicily was not enough, and more materials needed continuous transportation from the African continent across the sea. Come over, this requires the Sicilian fleet to cut off the route between Carthage and Sicily. Over time, the Carthaginian army will fall into the predicament of insufficient material supply, so now Myrtias does not dare to slack off.
But before he could leave the house, the gate of the courtyard was suddenly pushed open, and the guards rushed in: "General, good news! Lord Sekelian... is still alive! He... he is back!"
Miltias was shocked, looked at the excited look of the guard, and asked subconsciously, "Who do you think is alive?!"
"Myrtias, blessed by Hades, of course I'm still alive!" Along with this familiar voice, a familiar figure appeared at the door.
"Ah... Lord Cykrian!" Myrtias hurriedly gave a military salute.
At this time, Sekelian's face was thin and tired, and he was tightly wrapped in a red cloak. He said eagerly: "Get me something to eat, I'm starving to death."
"Go to notify the kitchen, reheat the porridge, reheat the bread, and fry a few fish..." Myrtias hurriedly instructed the guards.
"It's hot, just bring the bread and porridge, and I'll fill my stomach first." Sekelian said impatiently, then turned around and said to the fleet officers who accompanied him here: "Brothers, hurry up. Go back to carry out your tasks, you will be punished for delays, and I will have a good chat with you when I have a good rest."
A large group of crew members crowded outside the door listened to the words of Seklian's persuasion, left the house reluctantly, and returned to the dock. The news of "Seklian came back alive" quickly spread throughout the entire fleet, and every crew member was excited. It's a miracle because the Admiral and the hero they thought were dead came back!
Seeing Sekelian gobbling down his breakfast, Miltias choked everything he wanted to say, until Sekerian burped and stopped eating, putting his hands on the wooden table and staring blankly. A clay pot with porridge. After a while, he said in a low tone: "On the way here, the brothers all told me... Flarios died in battle, the entire Sicilian fleet was almost completely destroyed by the storm, and many brothers were drowned..."
Miltias watched Seklian lean forward slowly, as if he was about to collapse on the wooden table. He was about to speak when he heard a "pop", and Sekerian's right hand suddenly slammed. He patted it on the wooden table, almost knocking over the pot on the table, but he straightened his back again: "However, we still have dozens of warships preserved, but the Carthaginian fleet was completely wiped out, We also took the opportunity to capture Serinus, so my Sicilian fleet won that naval battle!"
Self-confidence returned to Sekelian's face, and of course Myrtias would not argue with him, whether it was right or wrong to fight the Carthaginian fleet in the stormy day, but took the opportunity to raise the doubts in his heart: "My lord. , We have been looking for you for a while, but we haven't found it, where have you been?"
"I'm in Lillibee." Sekelian said lightly.
"You... you were captured by the Carthaginians?!" Myrtias was taken aback: Why did the Carthaginians who came to exchange captives never mention this? !
"Of course not." Sekelian recalled painfully: "... After that storm, I woke up to find myself lying on the beach, surrounded by drowning and unconscious crew members... I wanted to rescue them, but I saw Ka The Taiji people arrived at the beach, I don't want to be captured by them and swam into the sea again...
But I was tired and hungry at the time, and it didn't take long for me to be exhausted. There happened to be a few slow-moving Carthaginian ships looking for survivors of the shipwreck nearby... I had no choice but to dive into the water, taking advantage of the darkness of the night to take advantage of the When the Carthaginians were not paying attention, they grabbed the broadside of a returning ship and were taken into the port of Lilibe.
Because of the storm and the shipwreck, there was a lot of chaos in the port of Lilibe, so I was able to board the pier quietly. Later, with the help of the Greek compatriots in the port, I temporarily lurked in Lilibe... I recalled later, I was lying on the pier. That beach is probably right between Mazara and Lillibe...
Since the Lilibes were afraid of being attacked by our army, the city was always heavily guarded, and it was difficult for me to go out. If it weren't for the fact that after the landing of the Carthaginian army this time, we needed to transport the baggage, I am afraid I would still be waiting for the opportunity in Lilibe City, but—"