As soon as dawn came, two clippers sailed out of the port of Palermos, one bound for Salos to inform the Third Fleet, and the other bound for Minoa to report to King Davers.

Due to the sudden ban issued by Leotizides, the top brass of Palermos and the generals of Solus's reinforcements nervously came to inquire about the reason.

Especially Solus's generals, who promised to cooperate with the Dioonians last night to persuade Solus to surrender, and now that the Dioonians have suddenly announced a blockade of the city, they are all worried that the Dioonians will want to break the treaty after they have achieved their goal.

As a result, Leotizides patiently explained the reason to them and asked them to cooperate.

…………………………………………

Since the convoy left the port of Lilibal last night, no cargo ships belonging to Lilibal have returned, and no news of reinforcements has arrived, and the lord of Lilibal, Imisore, has been worried about their safety.

His officials kept reassuring him, saying: It is normal not to hear from the reinforcements, because the Dioonians have surrounded the city of Palermos, and the fleet has brought reinforcements to the port of Palermos, and when the soldiers have come ashore, I am afraid that the day will be dawn, and those cargo ships will dare to leave the port again, and they will not be able to return quietly until tonight......

After listening to his subordinates, Imisse received some comfort, and in addition, there were many things to do during the day, and he had to organize laborers to deliver supplies to the Carthaginian camp, to send people to the camp to assist in the construction of siege facilities, and to transport some of the seriously wounded in the camp back to Lilipa for treatment, so as not to continue to stay in the camp and affect morale...... The busy Missere put the matter behind him for the time being.

As the sun went down and night fell, and the people of Liliba began to fall asleep, a fleet of ships approached the port of Liliba from the west.

By the cold moonlight, the keeper of the tower in the lighthouse of the harbor was the first to notice this, and he immediately lit an oil lamp, stretched out of the tower, and shook it according to the prescribed action.

As soon as the port received the signal, patrol boats were dispatched.

The patrol ships left the harbor and anchored outside the water gate, and after waiting for a while, the fleet approached the harbor, which seemed to be quite large, about 60 large cargo ships.

The patrol ship immediately approached the large cargo ship at the front, with the flag of the Carthaginian city-state flying on its mast.

The patrol captain held aloft a lighted torch and could see clearly by the light of the fire: 30 oarsmen, one helmsman, one captain, all Carthaginian or Phoenician-looking; In the center of the hull was a large pile of supplies, a large section above the ship's side, and tightly covered with several layers of thick linen.

The scene was no different from the last few times, the only difference was that he didn't know the captain of the team.

Before he could ask, the owner of the cargo ship preemptively asked: "Hey, the fleet led by Fibolica delivered military rations to you last night, but they never saw them back, their families are very worried, you tell me, is there something wrong with them?" ”

"They have another special mission!" Hearing this, the captain of the patrol ship felt that some people's speculation that the Lilian cargo ship had not yet returned might be right, because the Carthaginian fleet had not yet returned, but instead of letting his guard down, he shouted and asked, "Who are you?!" Why isn't it Tassora, Oniis or Sasis leading the way?! ”

"Do you think I want to come!" The captain of the cargo ship complained loudly: "If it weren't for the fact that the Dionians attacked Africa again and burned the city of Ogilgilli, the Senate was angry and asked the old general Morbar to strengthen the defense of the African coast, and the Senate, at the suggestion of Morbar, recruited Tasora, Oneis and other experienced old ship owners to be the captains and helmsmen of the newly built warships, and it would not be my turn to deliver supplies to you!" How dangerous it is to sail such a long distance in the dark! We set out more than an hour early, hoping to take advantage of the fact that the sky was still okay, to go a little longer and reduce some danger, but in the middle of the way, a gust of wind broke out, and in the dark of night the fleet was chaotic, and several ships sank due to collisions......" The captain looked sad and indignant when he said this.

When the captain of the patrol ship heard this, he didn't know what to say for a while, he now understood the reason why this fleet arrived earlier than the previous times, it turned out that the transport fleet was replaced by a group of novices with little sailing experience, no wonder he saw that some sailors were not very natural, and it seemed that they had not yet been freed from the previous thrills.

The captain of the patrol ship quickly changed the subject, and he pretended to be surprised: "The Dionian fleet burned the city of Ogirgilli again?!" ”

"Not only did they burn it, but this time they also took away a lot of the people of Ogilgilli, and we were all so frightened that we all gathered in the Senate to protest, and we also pushed Sophite Tepanrako to the ground who came out to advise...... Hahaha, these damned senators, who only know how to collect our taxes, but they don't know how to win, how to protect Carthage...... Ay! I have heard that later the Senate convened a meeting, and that the old man of Esyaruba, who had previously been a staunch supporter of war with Dionia, offered to make peace with Dionia......"

The captain said a lot of words, the names of those familiar and unfamiliar Carthaginian elders and their troubles made the captain of the patrol ship listen to it interestingly, and most of the vigilance in his heart had been removed, but after all, this was an unfamiliar fleet to him, and the inspection that should be done still had to be done, so he said: "Captain, what is your name?" ”

"Haka, many people in Carthage call me the most talkative haka—"

"Captain Haka." The captain of the patrol ship interrupted him: "I want to check the cargo on your ship." ”

"What?!"

"It's conventional! Every time the fleet comes, it will be inspected like this! The captain of the patrol ship said with a straight face, but in fact, when the three people led the team, they didn't inspect it again except for the first time.

"Okay!" Haka hesitated for a moment, then reminded: "You'd better hurry, don't delay us and hurry back to Carthage!" ”

The patrol ship approached, the captain got into the cargo ship, and lifted the thick linen.

The linen was wet, which also confirmed what the other party said about the strong wind; Bags of flour were neatly stacked before his eyes, and there was nothing else, which was why they were covered with linen, to prevent the splashes of the sea from falling on the flour, and now it seemed that the substance was going to be terrible, and it had to be hastily transported to the camp and eaten into bread.

The captain of the patrol ship looked sorry for him and covered it with linen again.

Captain Haka saw it and explained curtly: "The wind and waves are coming, and we are unprepared, but we can definitely eat ......."

The captain of the patrol ship did not answer, jumped back into his own boat, and sailed to the second cargo ship.

"How many ships do you want to inspect?! We're running out of time! Captain Haka shouted from behind.

The captain of the patrol boat did not answer, he quickly finished inspecting the second ship, and then rushed to the third...... Every time he heard Captain Haka urging loudly from behind, he didn't respond until he jumped onto the fifth cargo ship, when he heard Captain Haka behind him shouting angrily: "Attention captains, turn back to Carthage immediately!" ”

The cargo ships that heard the shouting really began to turn around, and the captain of the patrol ship was a little panicked.

You must know that in the past, the managers of the port of Liliba were full of respect for these Carthaginian fleets, after all, people sailed in the dark, sailed such a long distance, and it was a great risk to transport materials to Liliba, and the port of Liliba tried to give the other party the greatest convenience. This time it was only because it was a new crew, and now it was the time of war, so out of caution, they checked so carefully, but if they really offended the owners of these ships, they returned to Carthage to publicize that if there were no more cargo ships willing to deliver supplies to Lili, the lord of Themesre would probably not be able to spare him.

The captain of the patrol ship hurriedly jumped back into the ship, sailed to the lead cargo ship, and said to Captain Haka: "There is no problem with the inspection, and you can enter the port." ”

Captain Haka then cursed and stopped the cargo ships from returning home.

After receiving the signal from the captain of the patrol ship to enter the port, the tower keeper informed the personnel on the lower deck of the lighthouse, and they collectively turned the winch.

The water gate of Liliba is composed of three layers of iron chains, each separated by 5 meters, and each layer of iron chain is divided into three upper, middle and lower three, each of which is hundreds of meters long, and the total amount of iron consumed is amazing, but it is not worth mentioning for Carthage, which prospered by mining and metal trade, and under such heavy blocking conditions, it is almost impossible for enemy ships to rush into the port.

Haka Shipyard looked at the thick iron chains slowly rising in front of them with a complicated expression. The patrol ship was the first to enter the port, and he commanded the cargo ship to follow.

The main port of Liliba is somewhat similar to that of its mother state of Carthage, in that it occupies a long strip of land that juts out into the sea on its own, like a slightly curved stick, and its main part is almost parallel to the opposite coast, which is almost a natural breakwater. On the outer side of this "breakwater", the Lilian built a 5-meter-high wall, and there were towers, which, together with the height of the "breakwater" itself, were more than 10 meters above the sea level.

At the far end of this "breakwater" there is a taller building, the lighthouse, which is 15 meters high, cylindrical in shape, with flames burning at the top to illuminate the ships and guide the way in the night, and windows on the lower floors for light infantry to shoot arrows. At the same time, it also has a special mechanism inside that can raise and lower the water gate, so it is also a multifunctional fortress.

This lighthouse is nearly 300 meters away from the opposite coast, the distance is a little far, so the Lilian people built an artificial breakwater from the opposite bank, extending over, and there is also a city wall on it, and finally the tower, which is more than 100 meters away from the lighthouse, and the water gate is built between the two, because the control lifting chain is on the lighthouse side, so when the door is opened, only close to the lighthouse side can the boat pass.