Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece

Minoa's fiasco was actually caused by an unexpected event, and it was not a real battle, and he looked down on Monte Ardeno, who only knew pleasure, and it was no wonder that he didn't go to the front line during the battle, so he didn't lose. As for the last big defeat, which was related to the success or failure of the war, according to the latest news he got, it was mainly due to the failure of the Carthaginian army to conquer the fortified city for a long time and the sudden mutiny of the Numibians. The frontal fight of the runners-up. The only real battle was the Battle of Gera, in which Hasdrubal defeated the Dionian coalition and successfully captured Gera.

In addition, Samuels had experience fighting against the Greeks, following Himilko against Syracuse in Sicily 20 years ago, when he was still a young team officer, and the army reached Syracuse Under the city, if it weren't for the damn plague, the Carthaginian army would not have suffered a crushing defeat, and it would be more likely to capture the city of Syracuse.

Since the Kingdom of Dionia was established by the Greeks, their army was not much stronger than the Syracuses of the year, but now that the city of Carthage is facing a crisis, the soldiers share the same hatred, and naturally they can Demonstrating a stronger force than before, when the number of troops on both sides is roughly equal, they can completely repel the Dionysians... It is based on this judgment that Samuels decided to take the initiative to send troops and fight through battle. Change the tide of battle.

But as the battle went on, he realized that he was wrong: at the beginning of the battle, Dionysian light infantry ran freely in that strange formation, and Dionysian's array shifted freely from scattered to converged... He knew this well. It is difficult to achieve without long and rigorous training; and then the Carthaginian soldiers, inspired by the belief in defending their homeland and defending their country in battle, attacked the enemy bravely, while the Dionian legionaries were like rocks. Staying still, until the soldiers were exhausted and exhausted, did they gradually increase the intensity of the attack... This is the attack method that the experienced and mature army dares to take!

Summers now regrets it, but once the battle begins, the situation is out of his control.

Alexis' expression was much more relaxed, and he said to Printols: It's time for the infantry of the Third Fleet to strike.

It turned out that the two of them got news yesterday: Carthage sent thousands of reinforcements to Addis, and these reinforcements looked either too young or too old.

Based on the current battle situation, they quickly concluded that the Carthaginians were probably ready to take a risk.

As Alexis said to the legion commanders before, This may be the last battle of the Carthaginians, and they will definitely do their best. Although the Dionysian army has an advantage now, it is still in the Dangerous situation, once the battle is lost, the situation will be quite dangerous.” Therefore, Alexis was also under great pressure, so he took a safe approach and immediately dispatched a clipper to notify the first stationed on Khosla Island. Three Fleet (After the Dionysian army landed in Africa, Davos made a simple division of labor for the two fleets under his command,

The African seas west of Carthage were handed over to the Sicilian Fleet, and the seas east of Carthage were handed over to the Third Fleet).

After receiving the news, Midorades was delighted: the infantry of the Sicilian Fleet had joined the Tenth Army to launch an attack on the Phoenician allies of Carthage, how could the Third Fleet miss this important defeat of Carthage? fighting!

So, he immediately gathered the warships patrolling all over the night, and the next morning he led the fleet southward and entered the port of Ruspina. After the 3,000 infantry of the fleet arrived ashore, he quickly marched westward until they reached Dio. By the time they arrived at Camp Nia, the Dionian army had already begun to line up outside the camp.

Knowing that the infantry of the Third Fleet has arrived, Alexis asked the messengers to inform them: Rest well in the camp, wait for orders, and be ready to strike at any time.

And now it's time for this new force to fight the enemy!

When the Carthaginian army was in decline, the vigorous Third Fleet infantry appeared on the battlefield.

In the dusty and noisy battlefield everywhere, it is difficult to understand the situation in time and accurately, so when Samuels got the bad news, the fleet infantry had already launched an attack on the left flank of Carthage.

Although the Carthaginian soldiers are still fighting tenaciously, the defeat has become a fact. In order to avoid too heavy casualties and lead to no one to defend the city of Carthage, Samuels ordered: Immediately sound the bugle of retreat!

The physical strength and morale of the soldiers of the Carthaginian coalition had been declining sharply. After the horn sounded, a comprehensive retreat was soon formed.

The Dionian Legionnaires immediately pursued, and Alexis also sent someone to urge the Western Numibian cavalry, who had been watching and resting in the second half of the battle, to also participate in the pursuit.

This forced a large number of Carthaginian troops to flee into the mountains to escape the fierce pursuit of the Dionian army.

At dusk, Alexis returned to the camp.

This battle, which was attended by more than 50,000 people and lasted nearly four hours, was very tragic. Just the frontal killing caused nearly 5,000 casualties on both sides (Dionian soldiers suffered nearly 2,000 casualties, Carthaginian soldiers suffered nearly 2,000 casualties, and more than 3,000 casualties), in addition to nearly 6,000 Carthaginian soldiers were captured.

When the news came back to Carthage, the whole city shook, the people panicked, and the crying continued...

On the 2nd day, regardless of the retention of the Atis, and regardless of the fact that the troops were returning one after another, he gathered the remaining troops and fled back to the city of Carthage.

The people of Carthage, angry with grief, surrounded Samuels, who had slipped into the city in a daze, first cursing, then beating until he fell to the ground.

In order to appease the public anger, the Senate tried to judge him in absentia as quickly as possible, and the result of the judgment: crucifixion.

This may be the saddest death of a leading general in the history of Carthage.

But the execution of Summers did nothing to change the tide of battle.

On the third day, Alexis led the rested army to the west, and Attis surrendered.

On the fourth day, the Dionian army joined forces at Addis with the East Numibian army heading north.

On the fifth day, the Dionian coalition continued westward, and the city of Tunes surrendered, followed by the surrender of Megalopolis.

In the end, more than 40,000 Dionian coalition soldiers bypassed Lake Tunes (now Lake Tunis) and approached the city of Carthage.

The terrified Carthaginian people stood on the western city wall and watched as the densely packed Dionian soldiers destroyed the vertical and horizontal ditches and shoveled out a piece on the isthmus between the Great Lakes of Bizer and Tunes. Pick up a piece of farmland, and then start to build a camp on it, obviously preparing to completely block the Carthaginians in the city (Carthaginians think it is an isthmus, in fact, the shortest distance between the two lakes is about 10 miles, and the terrain is very flat).

The frightened Carthaginians did not dare to attack, and could only hide in the tall and thick city walls, stepping up their preparations for defense. All men, women and children are mobilized, equipped with weapons, and ready to go to the city to fight at any time. All the blacksmiths in the city are working 24 hours a day, urgently producing all kinds of weapons: short swords, javelins, spears, shields...

Even the panic-stricken elders passed the proposal of the high priest and persuaded the people in the city to hold an unprecedented sacrifice to pray for the protection of Dionia's protector, Bar Harmon. This ceremony was once in the Western Mediterranean Phoenicians. It is a fire festival that has become popular in China and has made other races talk about it, and has been less held in recent decades.

But the people of Carthage at this time were on the verge of despair, and this was their little hope left, so almost no one objected. Through drawing lots, a total of 200 children under the age of six were selected. Amid the chants of the whole city, they were pushed into the fire pit in front of the statue of Baal Harmon. Their shrill screams made the The Carthaginians were miserable and confused...

However, after the fire sacrifice ceremony, Baal Harmon's blessing did not appear. Instead, bad news kept coming: Derritos also surrendered to Dionia... It didn't take long for Africa to be apart from Carthage. The second largest Phoenician city-state, Utica, also chose to surrender. Thus another Dionian army (the Fourth Legion and the Sicilian Fleet Infantry) was able to approach the city of Carthage from the west through the coastal road to the west. At the same time, some of the ships of the Sicilian and Third Fleet sailed into the lakes of Bizerte and Tunes, and moored at the simple docks built by the Dionysian army in the camp (the Carthaginians opened up early The communication between these two lagoons and the sea, and a port was also built where the lake extends into the city), so far the city of Carthage has been completely surrounded and is in a desperate situation of isolation and helplessness.

The reason why the elders headed by Hanno had not made up their minds and fully accepted Dionia's negotiating conditions at this moment was because they still had one last chance: interference from Persia.

In fact, Tyre did respond to Carthage's request by sending messengers to Babylon.

The Persian King Artaxerxes was very surprised when he heard the news that Carthage was actually driven into a corner by Dionia. After thinking it over and over again, he decided to send an envoy to the Western Mediterranean to learn more about this. During the course of the war, explore the reality of Dionia, and understand the true attitude of this newly rising Greek kingdom to Persia.

The mediation of this war is only a secondary purpose. After all, he has been in power for more than 20 years. He is very clear: Dionia has worked hard to push the enemy into a desperate situation. He gave up all previous efforts with a few words from himself, not to mention that Persia has never shown its strength to this newly established country.

In mid-February, when the passenger ship of the Persian envoy entered the waters of Carthage, it was intercepted by the Dionysian warship. Even though he claimed that he was an envoy sent by the Persian king, he was still prohibited from entering the city of Carthage.

The Persian messenger had to turn to King Dionia and was taken to Lilibe.

Davos did not take the Persian messenger slowly, and the reception ceremony was quite grand.

But since the Corinthian War, not only Sparta, the overlord of Greece, has relied on the support of Persia, but the great Greek city-states like Athens, Corinth, and Thebes have also relied on Persia. Persia has become the de facto overlord of the Eastern Mediterranean, so Greece Whenever the city-state envoys came to Persia, in order to achieve their goals, they often bribed officials at all levels to please the officials, while the Persian envoys enjoyed high-standard reception when they went to various places in Greece.

However, this Persian noble messenger came to the Western Mediterranean with great ambition, but was hit in the head. Not only was the passenger ship hijacked, but his request was also rejected. Seeing that this barbarian king was neither wearing a noble crown nor a splendid robe, and even met himself in an ordinary living room, his heart was full of contempt, and before he said a few words, he In a commanding tone, he said to Davos: Our holy and noble king is very concerned about the war between Dionia and Carthage. He hopes that the two sides can immediately stop the war, return the occupied lands, and return to The state before the war began! As long as the two sides follow this, they will gain Persian friendship, otherwise the consequences will be very serious, and Dionysus will not be able to bear it!

Facing the arrogance of the Persian messenger, Davos, who is almost fifty years old, has a deeper city. He did not make a powerful mockery of the Persian messenger as he mocked the Spartan messenger Phoebe Das, he said in a calm tone. : It's good that you Persia can manage the affairs of Asia, and the affairs of the Western Mediterranean don't need you to worry about it.

The two sides parted ways, and even the banquet to be held after the meeting was cancelled.

The next day, the Persian messenger's passenger ship left Lilibe and was escorted all the way until it was far away from the Western Mediterranean.

After the Persian messenger returned to Babylon, he told Artaxerxes about his tragic experience in the Western Mediterranean and what King Dionia asked him to bring to the Persian king. The Persian king was outraged and swore in public: One day, the most severe punishment will be given to the Kingdom of Dionia!

The Carthaginian elders never waited for news from the Persians, but the Dionysian attack kept them nervous: the Dionysian army has not yet sent soldiers to attack the city directly, but their ballistas But they are bombarding the city wall every day, and even throwing fire pots into the city, increasing the panic of the people in the city; they also built earthen forts higher than the city wall, commanding them, and attacking the defenders on the city from a distance; But the army was attacking, and the navy was not idle either. They spliced ​​together several warships, laid wooden boards, placed ballistas and abdominal bows on them, approached the ports in the two lakes, and attacked the defense facilities in the city... The Dionysian army did not exert its full strength, it was more like rehearsing the tactics of siege by sea and land, but the Carthaginians, who had never encountered such a desperate situation, felt a little breathless.

The siege lasted for more than three months. The city walls were damaged, drinking water was lacking, most of the city was destroyed, and the morale of the Carthaginians was extremely low. Finally, they lowered their proud heads and were forced to sign an extremely harsh armistice agreement with the Dionysians: Carthage admits Sicily, Corsica, and Sardinia to the kingdom of Dionysus;

ceded all the colonial cities of Iberia to Dionia (excluding the new colonies later conquered by the Margonides);

Carthage agrees to the annexation of Hadrummentum's domain to the kingdom of Dionia;

Carthage shall not infringe upon the interests of the East and West Numibians of Dionysian allies;

Carthage and Dionia restore peace and trade within a period of 20 years. Disputes of interest occur within the time limit and shall be resolved through negotiation between the two parties;

During the time limit, the allies of the parties to the agreement must not be violated...

...

After half a year, Ortigia also surrendered because of the lack of food. At this point, the war between Dionia and Carthage ended.

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