Of course, there was no noise in the venue. The Hannoist elders repeatedly mentioned that the military commander, Marco, was afraid of the enemy and avoided the battle. Before the main force of Dionia landed, he led the army and the queen to withdraw and used the results obtained before. All surrendered to the enemy, should be severely reprimanded.
In addition, the elders are more careful: From the current indications, Dionia may have pacified Rome and Samona in the north, and is concentrating all efforts to deal with our Carthage, the scale of the war will continue to expand, and the national strength will continue to expand. The consumption is also intensifying. If it continues, Carthage will be unable to support it, so it is better to make peace talks with Dionia.
This kind of proposal did not stir up too much waves at the meeting, because the insightful people in the Senate realized that Carthage had reached the most critical moment, as Ace Yaroba said: " The war with Dionia is related to the future destiny of Carthage. We must do our best to win this war! Even if we want to negotiate, we must use war to force the other party to take the initiative to negotiate. Only in this way, Carthage Gicai will not lose his own interests!"
On the second day, Ace Yaruba personally rushed to Utica, met Morbal, and told him about the predicament Carthage was facing now, and the elders and the people eagerly hoped him to come back and lead the navy out of the predicament. to save Carthage.
Out of his love for Carthage and a strong sense of responsibility, the seventy-year-old man agreed to be the commander of the navy.
… … … … … …
Marco's seduction plan failed, Dionia's main force was sticking to Minoa and the surrounding hills, and Lizaru's troops were still entrenched in Enna. Due to the lessons of the blood in the small town of Palagonia, Marco They did not take the initiative to launch a storm on the Dionysian camp on the mountain, and at the same time, considering the difficulty of supplying rations, they did not let Hasdroba lead his army back to Kepharoytion. Therefore, although the army gathered in western Sicily, it was not. Keep calm.
In the east, the battle situation was equally calm, but the people in Syracuse were nervous. Although the two troops of Dionia were busy building camps and siege equipment, they did not launch an attack, but the people of Syracuse were Know: Once the attack starts, it will be very violent.
In terms of the navy, the new Carthaginian fleet in Sardinia received the order of the Senate, Annobas did not dare to disobey, and led the fleet back south before the Dionysian fleet began to cruise in the early morning.
A day later, Midorades noticed this sign and immediately sent a clipper to inform Sicily of his speculation (that the Carthaginian fleet gave up its defense of the Sardinian waters).
Davos, who got the news, did not immediately let the Third Fleet give up harassing Sardinia and go south to Sicily to strengthen the naval force, because these days, new warships from Greater Greece have been added to the Sicilian fleet, making this fleet. The number of warships in the fleet has soared to 300, and it is still increasing, and it is fully capable of dealing with the challenges of the Carthaginian navy alone.
Sekelian led the enhanced Sicilian fleet to re-station in the port of Serinus, and began a total blockade of the western Sicily waters.
… … … … … … …
A guest was welcomed at Annobas' mansion in Carthage.
Annobas, who had closed the door to thank the guest, heard the name of the visitor from the servant's mouth, but immediately went out to greet him, and greeted him respectfully.
Entering the living room, Morbar put the wooden stick aside, sat on the main seat unceremoniously, and asked, "I heard that you are going to be questioned by the Senate tomorrow?"
"Yes, teacher." Annobas rejoiced in his heart and replied respectfully.
"I said, don't call me teacher, although I taught you how to command the battle when you were the flagship captain, but that is the heritage of the Carthaginian Navy, and I do this to every flagship captain. I did it." Morbal said unceremoniously: "I won't go to the Senate to intercede for you, and I don't have that much time. I'm here to ask you, what are the combat characteristics of the Dionysian fleet? After all, you have fought with them a few times, so you should have a good understanding of them."
Although Annobas was a little disappointed, he did not show it on his face, but told the story of the two naval battles he personally commanded (of course, for the naval battle in Sardinia, in order to match the content of the battle report, he distort the facts). In addition, he recounts the Battle of Seedium and the East Phoenician Fleet Sneak Attack, two naval battles he did not take part in but knew about.
Morbar listened very carefully and did not interrupt Annobas' story from beginning to end, but the ravines on his face became more and more deep, until the last two sparse white eyebrows were almost twisted together , he stroked his beard, pondered for a long time, and then said, "Listen to what you said, what the Dionians adopted is a brand new tactic."
"Yes, old... Uh, in my opinion, the Dionysian fleet likes to use gang jumping tactics, supplemented by collision, while other city-states in the Mediterranean, including our Carthage Navy, are mainly collision and collision. Supplemented by jump gangs, they are the exact opposite of ours. But unlike ordinary jump gang tactics, the so-called 'raven warships' of the Dionian Navy use a strangely constructed wooden bridge that can be used flexibly Steady hooking of ships approaching it from all directions, so that the jump gang tactics can be maximized..."
When Morbar heard this, he immediately pointed out: "Since the Dionians have installed wooden bridges on their warships, it will inevitably increase the weight of the warships, destroy its balance, and reduce the speed and flexibility of their warships. Is there an effective strategy for these two points?"
Annobas was suffocated, and then he defended: "Although I have only fought two battles with Dionia personally, they were all tactics based on the shortcomings of Dionia's warship! Unfortunately, the first This time I wanted to use the wind and waves at sea to help our navy, but I didn't expect to cause a storm; and the second time, I wanted to lead the Dionysian fleet to the far sea, through front and rear pincers and our warship's better control ability to defeat them, but in the end the opponent sees through..."
Morbar did not speak.
Annobas settled down in his heart, and continued: "The Dionysians probably also realized the shortcomings of their fleet, so they had another kind of warship, smaller than the usual 3-tier oars, but faster. , more agile, assisting the Raven ships in battle, making up for their clumsy weaknesses... These are the tactical characteristics of the Dionysian navy, but more worthy of our attention is that although some in the Senate believe that 'Dionysian The sub-navy has only been established for more than ten years, and it is far from being comparable to the long tradition of our navy, but I think their fleet is well-trained, their ship-handling skills are not weaker than ours, and the cooperation between warships is quite tacit. They usually use a seemingly messy offensive ship formation, which can cause chaos in the opponent's ship formation after engagement, but they can cooperate and protect each other in the melee, which is impossible without long-term training. of.
Also... I think the Dionysian Navy should have a complete set of signal communications at sea, like we do, so they can quickly adjust to surprises and surprises...
In addition, it is worth noting that the morale of the Dionian fleet was very high. In the raid of the Phoenician fleet and the naval battle in Sardinia, the Dionians were initially at a disadvantage, but They were able to turn defeat into victory in the end, which has a lot to do with this..."
Annobas kept talking, and he tried his best to tell what he knew about the greatness of the Dionysian Navy. Of course, this was also a cryptic explanation to Morbar: During his tenure as Admiral of the Navy The reason why he didn't win was because he wasn't lucky enough, and his opponent was too strong. He still hoped that Morbar, who was highly respected, could speak justice for himself in the Senate.
Morbar listened to Annobas's remarks with a solemn expression, but still did not speak. He picked up the wooden staff, got up and walked out.
After all, Annobas had stayed by Morbar's side for a few years and knew his character. He didn't say anything to keep him, but respectfully sent him out.
Morbar stepped out of the gate, stopped, and said to Annobas seriously: "In Sardinia, it is a serious mistake for you to set up a circle to meet the enemy! And lying about military intelligence is even more wrong!"
Annobas was shocked, and his hands and feet were cold: It turns out that this old guy had already asked others to learn about the details, but he came here to talk about his own words!
"But if I were you, I would probably have formed a circle under the circumstances... Aside from that, there was nothing much wrong with the tactics and tactics you implemented during your tenure as Admiral..." Morbar went on to say The words rang in Annobas' ears like a fairy sound.
Morbar raised his wooden stick, tapped Annobas on the shoulder, and warned him: "When you are questioned by the Senate tomorrow, speak honestly about everything, and I will also express my opinion, I believe Anyone with a little brain can rationally judge right and wrong."
Annobas was overjoyed, he did not hesitate, and immediately stated: "Thank you teacher! I will tell the truth about all the details of the battle!"
In fact Morbar did not appear in the Senate on the second day, but he wrote a letter and sent it to the meeting, in which he justified the defeat of Annobas from a military point of view, and at the same time hoped that this A defeated general can become his assistant, assisting him in the battle against the increasingly powerful Dionian navy.
Morbal's prestige and Hanno's maintenance allowed Annobas to escape punishment by the Senate.
Morbal, who was not present at the venue, was dragging his aged body, leading his men to travel between Carthage and several neighboring city-state ports, to learn about the progress of new warships, and to recruit experienced sailors.