Liliba was a military fortress that was originally built to deal with the army of the powerful tyrant Dionysius of Syracuse, so half of the city was occupied by military camps, with a total of three military camps, located in the southeast, northwest, and southwest of the city. At the time of the first construction of Liliba, there were 30,000 soldiers stationed in the city, and after the signing of the peace agreement with Dionia, the number of soldiers stationed in Lilipar decreased year by year, to only 1,000 at the minimum, and after the war with Dionia, the number of defenders soared again to more than 10,000.

After Margo led the army to land in Sicily, he successively drew a lot of soldiers from the city, and the current strength in the city of Lilibal is about 10,000 people, of which 2,000 are Carthaginian soldiers, and the other 8,000 are Numibians, which seems to be a lot of numbers, but their source is mainly the troops that suffered a heavy defeat in the previous battle with Dionia, low morale, and a large gap in the formation.

Imisore faithfully carried out this order, and so far he had done a good job and gained some prestige among the defenders. He now rode to the southwestern barracks, which was next to the port and was home to 2,000 Carthaginian soldiers.

Carthage's port was connected to the city and was not separated by an interior wall, which made it easier for the city to transport goods and trade, and reflected the self-confidence of a great power in the western Mediterranean. As a military fortress, the port was not only separated from the city, but the inner wall did not just serve as a sentry point, it was a real wall, tall and strong, and there were also many towers, no different from the outer wall.

By the time Imisse arrived at the barracks, the soldiers in the camp had basically gathered, but it was only then that several young Carthaginian generals ran to the playground in a panic, with no helmets and incomplete armor.

Imisore was a little dissatisfied, but instead of reprimanding, he eagerly asked the officers in charge of assembling the troops: "What the hell is going on at the port?!" ”

"Just now the sentries came to report that the Dionians, posing as our Carthaginian fleet, had infiltrated the harbor and were attacking the docks, but they ...... There don't seem to be many of them, and they don't wear armor...... "One of the team officers said.

Hearing this, Imisare's mood relaxed a little, and he gave the order: the heavy infantry immediately entered the harbor and destroyed the enemy who invaded the docks; Light infantry went up to the head of the city, attacking the enemy and enemy ships in the harbor from a distance.

After giving the order, he was still a little uneasy, and sent a herald to inform the other two military camps, so that after the soldiers were assembled, they would go to the city to defend themselves.

Even though the Dionian fleet had infiltrated the harbor, Misse was still confident in the port's defenses, so he had the illusion that Dionya had sent such a small number of troops to attack the port, perhaps just to attract the attention of the defenders, and that the real offensive was on land?

When the officers had gone to carry out the order, Misherre criticized the young generals: "Lord Margo does not want you, saying that you can only talk big and lack the ability to lead troops, so I threw you to me, and now it proves that your opportunity has come, and you will fight bravely!" Fight for the honor of the Carthaginian nobility! Don't let others look down on your family because of this! ……”

A few generals only said: they will never disappoint the city lord!

Imisore watched them put on their armor again with the help of their slaves, and regretted that they had not been strict in the city before, and when it came time to fight, they found that they were so unbearable.

Fortunately, he listened to Margo's advice and promoted those civilians with combat experience and bravery to mid-level officers, and he mainly relied on them for training in peacetime.

The southwestern barracks were built near the gates of the port leading to the city, and Imisse soon went up to the top of the city, and the sentries had erected burning torches on the battlements, so that he could overlook the situation on the docks: there was already chaos, countless awakened people screamed and fled, many of them were still naked, dozens of Dionian soldiers armed with leather shields and short swords drove them to the city gates, and there were already many people gathered under the city, and they banged desperately on the city gates, crying out for the defenders to open the gates and let them in... … On the pier pier, there were also dozens of Ionian soldiers escorting some people, forcibly letting them board the docked cargo ship......

"My lord, there are too many people in front of the city gates! If we open the gates at this time, they will all rush in, and the soldiers under the city will not be able to stop them, and it is likely that these Dionians will also be mixed in and rush in together......" said one of the officers worriedly.

A young Carthaginian general immediately retorted: "What is there to worry about, there are only a few enemies, and even if they are allowed into the city, they will only come to die." ”

Imisare, however, pondered: it would not be easy to kill the Dionians if they were to follow the crowd into the city and flee in the darkness of the night, not to mention that among so many people in the port area, who knew if there were any Dionian spies in the city, in case they came to the city to wreak havoc......

You must know that as an important military town, the city of Liliba was very tightly controlled, and at first the city could only live in the garrison, the families of the defenders, officials and their families, as well as blacksmiths, carpenters, craftsmen and other military auxiliaries. In times of peace, the prosperity of trade eased to allow the Carthaginian nobility to purchase land and live in the city, but it always maintained a rule that no one was allowed to enter the city except for the army and the inhabitants of the city who were stationed in Lilipa.

It is precisely because Lilibal has very strict control over the entry and exit of the city, and the safety in the city is highly guaranteed, so the protection of some facilities in the city is somewhat lax, such as the baggage camp where military rations are stored, although most of the baggage has been transported to the Carthaginian army camp, but once it catches fire, Imisore's life will not be easy, the interrogation of the Senate, the interrogation of Marco, and the questioning of Margo......

Imisare's hesitation was seen by another young general, who immediately suggested: "My lord, the enemy is not numerous, and the light infantry can attack the city. ”

Imethre hesitated, after all, he was the lord of Lilipa, and he wanted to not only destroy the enemy, but also manage the entire city. But the Dioonians were few and mixed with the populace, and now it was night, and the arrows and javelins were falling, and the casualties would only be Lilian, and it would lead to even greater chaos. There are many casualties among the people, and it will be very troublesome to deal with the aftermath, and it will also affect the operation of the entire port, and the gains outweigh the losses.

"Go and inform General Ragnarca of the Northwest Barracks that he should immediately lead his troops here, and then open the gates of the city and attack the Dioonians in the harbor!" After much deliberation, Imisse finally gave the order, believing that the 4,000 soldiers in the northwest barracks, plus 1,000 soldiers under the city, would be enough to break through the congested gates.

"My lord, it's too late, when Ragnaka arrives with the army, the people in the port will be killed and wounded even more!" The young general reminded anxiously.

Immisore glared at him impatiently, and judged that if the Dioonians were to slaughter and slaughter, the people would scatter and flee, the problem of blocking the gates would be solved, and the Dionians' tricks would be ruined, so they could not do so.

So he said coldly, "Remember, I am the lord of this city!" ”

After saying this, Imisse did not pay any attention to the young Carthaginian generals, but gave an order to the light infantry officers: "Your task now is to attack the Ionian ships in the harbor with rockets!" ”

"My lord, the ships of Dionya are too far away, they are beyond our range!"

At this time, Imisse turned his gaze to the bay, and sure enough, he vaguely saw that the ships on the sea were leaning towards the side of the natural breakwater, from this side of the city wall to the natural breakwater of that side about 300 meters, even if the city wall was more than 10 meters above the sea level, the range of the archers could not reach such a distance, so they had to rely on the long-range attack on the opposite wall and embankment.

Misheret's question then arises: why are there no torches lit on the opposite wall? What are the soldiers in the barracks on the other side doing?!

Imisare's gaze was tilted forward, the position he was standing was farther away from the small barracks on the natural breakwater, if it weren't for a few torches that shook quickly like candlelight, I am afraid that he would not even be able to find the location of the barracks, because the shouts of the people under the city were too loud, completely covering up the faint sounds of fighting and screams from the small barracks on the opposite bank, plus Imisre never thought that the enemy would land on the natural breakwater where it was impossible to land by boat, so he would not have thought that the small barracks on the opposite side had been attacked, He still thought that the soldiers had run out of the barracks until now because of their snooze.

Because the soldiers in the small barracks were all sent by the southwest barracks, the officers at the head of the city did not dare to defend them when they saw that Imisare's face was unswerving, and besides, they had just arrived at the head of the city and did not know much about the situation.

Missere did not criticize again, as his attention had been completely drawn to the lighthouse further west. He had been in Lilibal for several years, and he had a good understanding of "the way in which the lighthouse keeper lit the oil lamp at night and informed the port officials of the situation of the ships coming from the harbor by means of a peculiar shaking," but he had never seen such a flame standing high above the flame of the burning lighthouse.

"What does that mean?" He asked, pointing his finger there.

No one was able to answer.

Anxiety began to grow in his heart, and he asked, "Have the chains of the port water gate been put down?" ”

Still no one could answer, because only the lighthouse personnel were required to open and close the water gate, and at night there were no sentries stationed in the towers on this side of the artificial breakwater.