Lilibi is a military fortress. It was established to deal with the army of the powerful Syracuse tyrant Dionysius, so half of the city was occupied by military camps. There were three military camps in total, located in the southeast, northwest and southwest of the city. During the period when Lilibi was just built, there were 30,000 soldiers stationed in the city. After signing a peace agreement with Dionyha, the number of soldiers stationed in Lilibi was reduced year by year, and at the lowest time was only 1,000. After the war with Dionyha, the number of defenders soared to more than 1,000 again.

After Mago led his army to land in Sicily, he drew many soldiers from the city one after another. Lilibi's current troops were about 10,000, of which 2,000 were Carthage soldiers, and the other 8,000 were Numibians. It seemed that there were quite a few people, but their source was mainly due to the defeat in the previous battle with Dionia, with a low morale and a large organizational gap. Mago replaced them to Lilibi in hopes that Emisere would reorganize them, train them, and restore morale.

Imiserre faithfully executed this order. So far, he did a good job and had some reputation among the defenders. He now rode his horse to the Southwest Military Camp, which was next to the port, and there were 2,000 Carthage soldiers living in it.

The port of Carthage is connected to the city and is not separated by an inner wall, which makes the transportation and trade of goods in the city more convenient, and also reflects the confidence of a Western Mediterranean power. As a military fortress, the port is not only separated from the city, but also the inner wall not only serves as a checkpoint. It is a real city wall, tall and sturdy, and also has many towers, which are no different from the outer city wall.

When Emisere arrived at the military camp, the soldiers in the camp had basically gathered together. However, several young Carthage generals ran to the playground in panic, with no helmets and insufficient armor.

Imisere was a little dissatisfied, but he did not reprimand him, but anxiously asked the officers responsible for gathering the troops: "What happened to the port?!"

"Just just now, the sentries came to report that the Dionians had pretended to be our Carthage fleet and were infiltrating into the port and attacking the docks, but they... seemed to be small in numbers and were not wearing armor..." said a team officer.

Hearing this, Emiserre relaxed a little, and he issued an order: the heavy infantry immediately entered the port and eliminated the enemies that invaded the dock; the light infantry went to the city and attacked the enemies and enemy ships at the port at a long range.

After giving the order, he was still a little worried and sent a messenger to inform the other two military camps, so that the soldiers would gather and go to the city to defend themselves.

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

After all the team officials went to execute the orders, Imiserre criticized the young generals: "Mr. Marco doesn't want you, and said you only know how to speak loudly and lack the ability to lead troops, so he threw you to me. Now it proves that your opportunity has come, fight bravely! Fight for the honor of the Carthage nobles! Don't let others look down on your family because of this!..."

Several generals said only: they would never disappoint the city lord!

Imiserrei watched them put on their armor again with the help of their servants, and felt a little regretful: they were not strictly required in the city before, but when they were fighting, they realized that they were so unbearable.

Fortunately, he followed Ma Ge's opinion and promoted those civilians with combat experience and brave combat to intermediate team officials, and he also relied on them mainly on their training in normal times.

The southwest military camp was built near the gate of the port leading to the city. Imitherre soon reached the city heading. The sentries had already erected burning torches on the battlements, so he could directly overlook the situation of the dock: there was already chaos, and countless people who were awakened screamed and fled. Many people were still naked. Dozens of Dionyan soldiers holding leather shields and daggers drove them to the city gate. There were already many people gathering under the city. They knocked on the city gate desperately and begged the defenders to open the city gate and let them in... And on the pier, there were dozens of Dionyan soldiers escorted them to board the docking cargo ship...

"Sir, there are too many people in front of the city gate! If we open the city gate at this time, they all rushed in, and the soldiers under the city could not stop it. It is very likely that these Dionians would also mingle in and rushed in together..." a team official said worriedly.

A young Carthage general immediately retorted: "What's there to worry about? There are only a few enemies. Even if they are allowed to enter the city, they will just come to die."

But Imitherre fell into deep thought: If the Dionians follow the crowd into the city and flee around in the dark, it is indeed a bit difficult to kill them, not to mention that among the people in so many port areas, who knows whether there are any spies who have mixed into Dionia, if they go to the city to cause damage...

You should know that as a military center, Lilibi's control was very strict. At first, the city could only live in the defenders, family members, officials and their families, as well as blacksmiths, carpenters, craftsmen and other military auxiliary personnel. In peacetime, due to the prosperity of trade, Carthage's nobles were allowed to buy land in the city, but it always had a rule that other people were not allowed to enter the city if they did not obtain permission.

It is precisely because Lilibi has strictly controlled the entry and exit of the city and the safety of the city is highly guaranteed, so the protection of some facilities in the city is a bit relaxed. For example, the supply camps for storing military rations have been transported to the Carthage Army Camp, once it catches fire, Imiserre's life will not be easy, the interrogation of the Senate, Ma Ge's questioning...

Imiserre's hesitation was seen by another young general, and he immediately suggested: "Sir, the number of enemies is not large, so the light infantry can attack on the city."

Imiserre was a little hesitant. After all, he was the lord of Lilibi. He not only wanted to eliminate the enemy, but also to manage the entire city. However, there were few people in Dionia and were mixed with the people. Now it was evening. Arrows and javelins fell, and the casualties were more than Lilibi, which would lead to greater chaos. If there were more casualties among the people, it would be very troublesome to deal with the aftermath, and it would also affect the operation of the entire port, which would not be worth the loss.

"Go to inform General Ragnaca of the Northwest Military Camp and ask him to lead the troops here immediately, and then open the city gate and attack the Dionians in the port!" After thinking, Imisere finally issued an order, thinking that the 4,000 soldiers in the Northwest Military Camp, plus the 1,000 soldiers under the city, were enough to break through the congested city gate.

"Sir, it's too late. When Ragnaka brings his army to arrive, more people in the port will be killed or injured!" the young general reminded anxiously.

Imithere glared at him impatiently, and in his judgment: if the Dionians slash and kill them, the people would scatter and escape, the problem of blocked city gates would be solved, and the Dionians' tricks would go bankrupt, so they could not do so.

So he said coldly: "Please remember, I am the lord of this city!"

After saying this, Emiserre ignored these young Carthaginian generals, but issued an order to the light infantry officers: "Your mission is to use rockets to attack the Dionian ships in the port!"

"Sir, the distance between the ships in Dionia is too far beyond our range!"

At this time, Emiserre turned his gaze to the bay. Sure enough, he could see that the ships on the sea were leaning against the side of the natural breakwater. From this wall to the natural breakwater on the other side, about 300 meters. Even if the city wall is more than 10 meters higher than the sea surface, the archers' range cannot reach this far, so they have to rely on long-range attacks on the opposite city wall and embankment.

Imiserre's doubts arise: Why are there no torches lit on the opposite city wall? What are the soldiers in the opposite military camp doing?!

Imiserre's eyes were diagonally ahead, and the position he was standing was further away from the small barracks on the natural breakwater. If it weren't for a few torches that swayed like candlelight, he would probably not even be able to find the position of the barracks. Because the shouts of the people under the city were too loud, it completely covered up the vague sound of fighting and screams from the small barracks on the other side. In addition, Imiserre had never thought that the enemy would land on a boat on a natural breakwater that could not land, so he would not have thought that the small barracks on the opposite side had been attacked. He now thought that the soldiers had run out of the barracks slowly because of their sleepiness.

Because the soldiers in the small barracks were all dispatched by the Southwest barracks, the officers at the city wall saw that Imiserre was unswerving and did not dare to defend them. Besides, they had just arrived at the city wall and didn't know much about the situation.

Imiserre did not criticize again because his attention was completely attracted by the lighthouse further west. He stayed in Lilibi for several years and had known about the way "the tower guards on the lighthouse at night to light oil lamps and inform the port officials of the situation of foreign ships at the port through unique shaking", but he had never seen this situation: a flame was erected high beside the flames of the burning lighthouse.

"What does this mean?" he asked with his fingers there.

No one can answer.

He began to feel uneasy and asked again: "Have you put down the iron chains of the Harbor Water Gate?"

Still no one could answer, since the water gate was switched only by lighthouse personnel, there were no sentry stations in the tower on the artificial breakwater at night.
Chapter completed!