Tolmid was stunned, he really didn't think of this layer just now.

Davers stood up and said decisively: "It seems that we have to send more troops to reinforce Selinus, so we will not add troops again and again, and directly send the Sixth Legion, the Roman Reserve Brigade, Portentia and Samonay reinforcements to Selinus and hand them over to Amintas's command." ”

Tormide was taken aback: "Your Majesty, you have sent the Sixth Legion and the Roman Reserve Brigade to Selinus, and only the Fourth Legion and the Ninth Legion are left around you, in case Margo sends a large army to attack Minoa......"

Davers said unhurriedly: "I don't think Margo will easily give up the efforts he has made in Selinus during this time, if he really wants to lead an army to attack Minoa, I would very much like him to waste his little time like this." Plus, let's get Alexis to carry out our plan. ”

"In doing so, Minoa's side will be even more defensive," Tolmid reminded again.

Davos smiled slightly: "Margo dares to put his army originally used to defend the direction of Segesta into the siege battle, and we can't leave Lizaru and Epitenis idle, we can transfer them to Minoa." ”

When Tormide and Printors heard this, they were shocked in their hearts: A few days ago, His Majesty was still talking about not tightening the rope too tightly to prevent the Carthaginian army from jumping over the wall, and it has only been a few days since they ordered the delayed Third Army and Lucalya Reserve Army to move forward to Minoa, is this about to start the final decisive battle?!

The two looked at Davers's calm face and replied forcefully, "Yes, Your Majesty!" ”

………………………………………

In the early morning of the 2nd day, Marco gathered a large army and launched another attack on the city of Selinus.

By noon, the Carthaginians had built an earthen wall to connect with the Selinus wall, but thanks to the Dionian defenders, the wooden wall panels had been prepared to increase the height of the wall at the junction, so that the Carthaginian soldiers could not immediately rush into the walkway at the head of the city.

But the wooden walls were not strong enough after all, and the Carthaginian soldiers, under the pressure of the officers, braved the javelin rain thrown by the towers of the city, constantly burned and hit with sasswood, and after paying many casualties, broke through the wooden walls in the afternoon and poured into the walkways of the city.

The defenders of Dioonia had to deal with long-range attacks from the dirt hills outside the city, ant-attached attacks from the enemy below, vigilance against the enemy's imminent attack through the tunnels, and heavy troops to prevent the enemy from rushing to the city through the earthen walls.

At this critical moment, the Sixth Legion and the Roman Reserve Brigade, totaling 16,000 men (including the Roman nobles who had been incorporated into the legion), arrived by sea and finally repelled the Carthaginians, who were already somewhat exhausted.

Although the Carthaginian army was repulsed, Marco was not discouraged: he was heartened by the addition of Dionya troops to Selinus, and his original plan to "attract the main Dionian army to the decisive battle by attacking Selinus" had been initially realized, and judging from the situation of today's battle, the defensive advantage of the Dioonians had been greatly reduced after connecting the walls of Selinus. Tomorrow, when the whole army is gathered to attack the city, the Celts and Lusitans will be sent to attack along the city walls, I wonder if the Dioonians can still stop it? Will they send more reinforcements? Do you want to build a few more causeways to connect the walls of the city, so that more soldiers can go directly to the top of the city and fight the Dioonians head-on? ……

Margo sat in the tent, contemplating tomorrow's siege plan.

At this time, the adjutant entered the big tent and reported to him: "Lord Margo, news has come from Segesta that the Dioonians have raided the territory of the Sikans, and that the army of Sikel and the 3,000 Numibian soldiers we have left there have also been routed. ”

Margo frowned and asked, "When did this happen?" ”

"This afternoon."

Originally, the territory of the Sikan was guarded by more than 30,000 soldiers led by Hasdruba, mainly to keep an eye on the Dionian army coming from the eastern part of the mountain, but after the Sikar led by the Taknian tribe entered the territory of the old enemy, there were some conflicts with the Sikans, but because of the presence of Hasdruba, the contradictions could always be eliminated.

Some time ago, due to the attack of the Dionians on Palermos, the Sichaels were reluctant to go with the army, and Hasdruba specially separated the Sichael's garrison from the Sicha before leading the army to reinforce them, leaving thousands of Numibian soldiers, hoping that before he returned, the place would remain calm. Unexpectedly, Hasdruba's troops were later transferred back to the Carthaginian camp in Selinus by Margo, and the territory of the Sikanians seemed to have become a forgotten corner of the Carthaginians. Since it was difficult for the three armies in the realm to unite together, it was only natural that a quick rout would result in a surprise attack by the Dionian army.

Margo's brow then furrowed again, and he asked, "Do you know how many Dionians have dispatched?" ”

"According to what the scouts have observed, there are about 10,000 people."

"It's just over 10,000 people." Margo was a little disappointed, he deliberately left this flaw in the territory of the Sikans, just to attract the Ionians to attack: "Where are these Ionians now?" ”

"They retreated westward."

"What? Ran away?! Margo frowned again, he was still hesitating just now: should he let Hasdruba lead tens of thousands of soldiers to eat this enemy? Or simply ignore it, lure more Dioonians into Sikan territory, and even start attacking Segsta, which is not far from Sikan territory, and then gather a large army to annihilate it...... As a result, after the Ionians sneak attacked, they actually slipped away.

Ma Ge felt that he had nowhere to go, glared at the adjutant, and shouted: "The next report is not allowed to be intermittent, it must be finished at one time!" ”

The adjutant was aggrieved, and he could only say yes.

The Dionyas are not fooled, it seems that they still have to attack Selinus! …… Margo made up his mind, and then said to the adjutant, "There is no need to garrison the territory of the Sikan people anymore, and after gathering the defeated troops, bring them all back to the camp." ”

……………………………………

When Alexis led a part of the 10th and 4th Legions to raid the territory of the Sikans, the Scout reported the news to the camp, Margo was leading the army to attack the city, and the adjutant did not dare to disturb him at the critical moment of the siege battle, but there was one army that had the right to send troops independently, and that was the cavalry.

Marco had 7,000 cavalry, most of them Numibians, who were quick and galloping, accustomed to throwing javelins to kill their enemies rather than fighting head-on. Since Margo led the army back to the west of Sicily, the Dioonian army could not hold out, but took advantage of the sea advantage, often sent fleets to land in the rear to raid and harass, so Margo let the cavalry patrol the western coast every day, once the enemy was found, he could attack first, slow down the enemy's movements, and facilitate the arrival of the main force to annihilate it, because of the characteristics of the Numibian cavalry, he was not worried that they would suffer large losses.

Therefore, after getting the news that "the Dioonians attacked the territory of the Sikan people", the cavalry idle in the camp quickly rushed to the territory of the Sikan people, but they did not expect the Dionians to quickly retreat to the mountains, and as a result, the cavalry who wanted to kill the enemy and make meritorious contributions had to do the miscellaneous work of collecting the rout.

And just as Margo was returning to the camp tent, on the northwest side of the Carthaginian camp, in front of Tinum, the leader of the Masili tribe, in one of the tents of the Numibian cavalry camp, stood a Numibian rout.

"I thought it was someone who wanted to see me, but I didn't expect it to be you Kinomus, how could your father be willing to let you participate in this terrible war!" Tinum said with a slight surprise.

"In the eyes of the Carthaginians, we Numibians have no distinction between high and low, only one identity is their slave, the population of our tribe has been decreasing year by year over the years, in order to make up the number of troops imposed on us by the Carthaginians, even if I don't want to participate in this war, I have to come!" Kinomes said indignantly.

The leader Tinum was silent for a while, and then said, "Carthage is indeed a little harsh on your tribe!" ”

Kinomes looked at him and sneered in his heart: he understood that the other party was far less dissatisfied with Carthage than he had been with for a long time, because Tinum was a Sinumbian and he was an East Numibian.

It turns out that the area of Numibia is divided into east and west because of Carthage. The Carthaginians called the Numibians who lived inland to the Phoenician allies along the coast of Africa and Africa as East Numibians, while the Numibians who lived inland to the west, far from the Carthaginian sphere of influence, as the Sinumbians.

A long time ago, the East Numibian people were very close to Carthage and Phoenicians, and they had convenient contacts and frequent exchanges with each other, not only regular trade, but also under the influence of Carthaginian culture, the tribes of East Numibia had begun to gradually change from the original nomadic life to a semi-agricultural and semi-pastoral life, because of the abundant food and relatively rich material, so the East Numibian population was large. The West Lumibians have always been nomadic, not only poor in food, small in population, but also often because of the competition for pastures, often inter-tribe battles, sometimes because of climate change, reduced pastures, lack of food, can only ask the East Numibian people for food aid, it is for this reason that the Masili tribe is familiar with the tribe of Kinoms.

But from 20 years ago, the Carthaginians were no longer satisfied with their territory being limited to the coast, they coveted the vast lands of the interior, and began to gradually change their previous tactics towards the Numbians, and continued to use tactics of sodging, dividing, and dividing the tribes of East Numibia, and began to use military conquest from north to south, and this military conquest reached its peak after Hanno came to power. As for the Sinumians, Carthage adopted a policy of bribery and co-optation, provided cheap food to various tribes, and hired its people as auxiliary cavalry to participate in Carthaginian wars, and even they deliberately preached the contradictions between the East and the West Numibians among the Sinumbians (because in the past, the East Numibians were rich and the Sinumbians were poor, and the Sinumbians turned to the East Numibians for help from time to time, so the Easterners often faced the Westerners with arrogance and contempt), They were also involved in the war against the East Numibians, so it was not surprising that Tinum would have such a mentality despite being of the same race.