Not only was a small fortress built in just three months, but a new military camp was built not far north of Leotinius.

The Palagonian Fortress is not a fortress of the La River, it is only used for card fees, it is a real defensive fortress.

A 5-meter-wide and 5-meter-deep trench surrounded Paragoria, with pointed wooden stakes at the bottom and dense deer on both sides of the trench, making it difficult for siege engines to reach the city.

Although the outer city wall is only 4 meters high, its structure from the inside to the outside is rammed earth, stone bricks, strip stone and cement, not only thick and solid, and the city wall is smooth and flat, no obvious gaps can be seen, the city wall is also covered with thick lime powder, this is not for aesthetics, but has a certain tactical effect, the white city wall will produce reflection in the sun, affect the attacking soldiers, and will make it more difficult for ants to climb the city, and can also reduce the impact force of stone bullets on the city wall.

The outer wall surrounded by a circle allows the defenders to better concentrate their forces for defense, and also makes it easier for reinforcements sent from within the city to reach the head of the city.

At intervals of the wall, there are circular towers protruding from the wall, which can strengthen the flank attack of enemies who are cowering under the city or ants attacking the city, and its circular walls can also reduce the impact of external forces.

The walkway at the head of the city is not narrow, and the top of the wall towers connected to it is even more spacious, with a ballista and a belly bow placed side by side at the top of each wall tower, several boxes of stone bullets and iron pieces on the ground, and there are many defenders on the side of the battlements, which do not seem crowded.

Leotizides gathered all the ballistae and bellied bows in the Catanay camp in Palagonia, not only on the pylons of the outer walls, but also on the roofs of the towers in the center of the city. The tower, which is more than 6 meters high, is also a circular structure, with a diameter of 50 meters, and not only has a number of ballistas and bellied bows placed on the top of the tower, but also can deploy a large number of soldiers, who are protected by battlements, and can attack enemies who climb the outer walls or enter the city. There are also multiple windows under the tower, which can also be used by soldiers to attack the enemy below the tower.

What Marco didn't see was that between the outer walls and the central tower, there was also a wall of the same height as the outer wall, which surrounded the central tower, and once the outer wall was breached by the Carthaginians, the Dionian defenders could quickly retreat to the second wall for defense, and the Carthaginians would undoubtedly suffer a great loss if they thought that they could take Palagonia by breaking through the outer wall.

The captain who spoke to the soldiers operating the ballistas on the wall tower was the commander in charge of defending Palagonia, his name was Taimenides, a native of Lokry, the captain of the first brigade of the Seventh Legion, and it had not been long since he took over this fortress, and he saw that the fortress that he could only access in training was actually used in actual combat, and that the fortress was larger and more complete, he was very excited in his heart, and he was full of confidence in defending Palagonia, and he had been leading the soldiers of the Seventh Legion to familiarize himself with the structure and facilities of this fortress these days. So as not to be hectic in battle.

Today, there are nearly 4,000 soldiers in the fortress, namely the 1st Heavy Infantry Brigade of the 7th Army Corps, the 7th Light Infantry Brigade, and a regimental Heavy Infantry Reserve Brigade and Light Infantry Reserve Brigade in Sicily, a total of 2,000 heavy infantry and 2,000 light infantry (excluding ballista units and medical battalions). Tamineides felt that the number of soldiers and the ratio of troops to the defenders were just right for this small fortress.

Although there are 4 captains in the fortress, and Taimenides is a newcomer, the first captain of the official legion has a higher status than the other captains of the same legion, and is usually the future captain of the legion, according to the "Dionian Military Law", "in battle, if the captain of the regiment is unfortunately killed, the first captain shall act as the commander of the legion", so the other three captains have more respect for him, and he can do the prohibition in the fortress.

Temminides walked along the aisles of the city, inspecting the defences of the soldiers, and from time to time chatting with them, mainly with the Sicilian soldiers, not only to understand their condition, but also to familiarize the Sicilian Dionian militia with his commander so that he could command the battle later.

The Lockry soldiers of the Seventh Legion were conscientious, hardworking, but reserved and reticent, with the exception of Temineides, who was outgoing, relatable, and good at getting along with the soldiers, which was one of the reasons why Breyrou had sent him to Palagonia as a commander, as he was able to get the soldiers of Lockry and Sicily together.

"Captain, the enemy may be attacking!" A soldier pointed out of the city and said loudly.

"That's great! The Carthaginians are ready to give us credit! Tamineides said with a smile.

The soldiers around them also laughed, their faces full of excitement, and the tension in their hearts also dissipated in laughter.

The officers began to urge them to prepare for the defense, and Temineides stood behind the battlements to observe the Carthaginians.

Obviously, the Carthaginians had realized that they could no longer follow the previous method, under the long-range attack of the defenders in the city, directly send a large number of soldiers to clear the ground and get close to the city, so Margo asked the engineers to make dozens of arrow blocking vehicles in advance, and the Carthaginian soldiers put them side by side, forming a wooden wall, and began to advance towards the city. His plan was for the Numibian soldiers to follow each section of the armour to fill the road.

But things were not so easy, and after a while, either the legs and feet of the soldiers in the cart were stabbed by wooden thorns and iron hooks buried in the ground, or the arrow blocking cart fell into a trap and could not move forward, and the "wooden wall" soon fell into pieces and completely disfigured.

The ballistae and bellied bows of Dionya on the city also began to exert their might, and the stone bullets hit the arrow cart, and the broken wood chips flew everywhere, becoming a nightmare for the surrounding soldiers, and the arrow blocking cart known as the arrow blocking was not only broken into a large hole in the thick wooden plank when facing the thick iron arrows that were flying quickly, but also the iron arrows that were still strong could nail the soldiers of the cart behind them to the ground, and the death was miserable...... Not only the soldiers pushing the carts, but also the soldiers who were preparing to fill the earth in the rear were all frightened and fled backwards, leaving only the wounded soldiers struggling and moaning in place.

Marco was not reconciled, and ordered the army to push out the ballistas and suppress the ballistas in the city.

However, the Dionian ballistae occupied a high position and had a longer range than the other side, so the Carthaginian ballistae were attacked by the Dionian ballistae before they could advance to a suitable position, and they often bombarded one with three or four in a concentrated manner, which increased the hit rate.

Margo was ruthless, so he simply pushed all the ballistae out, and let them completely disperse, spreading them on the northern periphery of Palagonian City, hoping to reduce the threat of Dionian ballistae by virtue of numerical superiority and angular deviation, and gain a certain advantage.

But then he was amazed to see that not only did the stone projectiles continue to shoot from the various pylons of the semicircular wall to the north, but soon the stone projectiles began to be fired from the high tower in the center of the city. After a while, more than a dozen stone projectiles were fired from the semicircular wall to the south, crossing the entire city and falling near the Carthaginian ballistas, and their accuracy was not low.

This was a large-scale ballista battle, which made the soldiers on both sides frightened at the same time, but also after an eye addiction, but the thrilling picture of dozens of stone shells whistling in the air and constantly intersecting only lasted more than 10 minutes before it ended, the Carthaginian army had nine ballistae destroyed and dozens of casualties, and the Palagoria fortress was blasted out of a few small craters except for the outer walls, and the defenders were almost uninjured.

Margo's face was blue, he realized that he had underestimated how difficult Palagonian would be, and had to suspend the attack, return to the camp, and gather his generals to discuss how to capture this difficult stone.

…………………………………………

In October, the weather begins to cool, but the temperature in Africa is still a little hot, and at this time of the year, the citizens of Carthage like to take their families to the interior of Numibia, where you can swim in a series of salt lakes, or sit by the lake, enjoy the scenery, taste all kinds of freshly harvested melons and fruits, and enjoy the service of Numibian slaves.

This year, however, few citizens did so, and the fact that the Dionian warships had been cruising the western seas of Sicily for a long time, and occasionally attacking merchant ships between Carthage and Sicily, not only caused a much depression in the trade of the city's ports, but also made Carthaginian merchants cautious about setting up ships to go to sea. Although the citizens of Carthage had a good harvest in the land of Numibia, almost all of the wheat and other crops recovered were purchased by the Carthaginian government at cheap prices for the Carthaginian army, except for their own use......

Although the war between Carthage and Dioonia lasted only a few months, the ordinary people of Carthage were already feeling the impact of this great war on their lives, and they were not only worried about the drastic decline in their family income, but also worried about their relatives on the expedition to Sicily, so they kept an eye on the progress of the war in Sicily, and the Greek kingdom, which had little to do with them in the north of Sicily, was now the object of their curse.

Some time ago, when the people of Carthage learned that "Marco led a large army to conquer many Greek city-states on the south coast of Sicily one after another, and invaded the Sicilian territory of Dionia", the city was full of cheers, everyone shouted Margo's name, and blessed him, hoping that he could drive the Dioonians out of Sicily as soon as possible, so that the Sicilian sea would become a port for free trade of Carthaginian merchant ships again.