Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece Chapter 963: The Meeting of the Two Powers

Only the surviving Carthaginian sailors from the flagship were spared from being thrown into the sea. They were distributed evenly across the decks of the various warships, where the crewmen who had previously been captured by the Carthaginians—and fortunate enough to survive—took up wooden clubs and leather whips to repay their enemies for every indignity they had suffered.

Only two prisoners remained on the flagship: Admika and the Carthaginian flagship's boatswain.

Midorades had the crew of the captured captain spear the boatswain to death with their lances, avenging their commanding officer.

When Midorades turned his gaze to Admika, the former commander of the Iberian fleet and member of the Magonid family looked haggard but entirely calm. "Do it," he said.

Midorades only chuckled. "You are the greatest prize of this naval battle. How could I let you die so easily?"

With that, he had his men bring over a helmet and ordered the crew to piss in it. He held it out in front of Admika and said coldly, "Drink the piss in here, or we cut off your manhood. Make your choice."

Admika's expression finally broke, the color draining from his face.

...

In that day's naval battle, the New Carthaginian Fleet lost a total of 70 warships and nearly 13,000 crew members. The Daunian 3rd Fleet lost 56 warships, with another seven suffering varying degrees of damage, and failed to capture a single enemy vessel.

But when night fell, sudden news arrived: the Theonians had defeated Admika's fleet, and Admika himself had been captured.

Annobas was profoundly shocked. His previous intelligence had indicated that the Daonian Fleet had already sailed north to return to Alalia. He never expected those terrifying Theonians to actually turn back and engage Admika's fleet!

If he could blame the previous destruction of his fleet on a storm, this time he was forced to confront the terrifying combat strength and fierce fighting spirit of the Daunian Navy.

Over the following days, the remnants of the New Carthaginian Fleet huddled inside the port. No matter how much the Daonian Fleet provoked them, they refused to sail out and give battle.

The shipping route from Sardinia to Carthage was once again cut off.

...

The vast army led by Davos departed Gela, marching westward along the coastline. They made camp successively at Ecnomus and Agrigento. Both towns had been destroyed by the Carthaginians. Davos left ample time for his soldiers to construct fortified camps in both locations, but the Carthaginian army never appeared.

On the fourth day, the army arrived at Minoa. This city, built upon a small hill, had suffered even more severe destruction.

"Your Majesty, it seems we have no choice but to build our camp on the flat ground across the river," Tolmides suggested.

Davos stood on the hill, overlooking the lowlands to the west. Though the fields had already been harvested, a sea of golden yellow still filled his vision.

"Is this the battlefield where Prosous led the army to defeat the Carthaginians last time?" he asked.

"Yes, Your Majesty." Tolmides pointed to the north. "They say Legion Commander Prosous built his camp over there."

Davos gazed in that direction for a moment before facing forward again. "How far is Selinunte from here?"

"About a hundred li," Tolmides replied.

Davos pondered for a moment before issuing his orders. "We will camp on the hill. Notify the engineers to quickly survey the terrain, and have the units accelerate their march. Get them up the hill to clear out the City of Minoa immediately..."

"Understood!" Although Tolmides slightly disagreed with Davos's caution, he knew the king's mind was made up and offered no contrary opinions.

Just as they prepared to turn back and enter the ruined City of Minoa, a squad of Daionian scout cavalry galloped across the western plains. They splashed across the Platani River, rushed to the foot of the hill, and shouted urgently, "Report! The Carthaginian cavalry is coming! A massive number of them!"

The soldiers who heard this immediately relayed the message, and everyone was jolted by the news.

Davos mused, "It seems the Carthaginians finally lost their patience."

"Your Majesty, I will go notify the troops already on the hill to prepare their defenses immediately."

Davos nodded, and Tolmides turned and left.

Davos looked around, then pointed to a large, still-standing section of the western wall of Minoa. "Let's go up the wall to observe the enemy."

Martius, the commander of the royal guard, immediately tried to dissuade him. "Your Majesty, Minoa is severely damaged. That wall might not be structurally sound. It's too dangerous."

"Send someone to check it," Davos said, refusing to back down.

Martius had no choice but to dispatch a squad of guards up the wall to inspect it. They soon returned with a report: "That section of the wall is relatively stable."

Davos immediately strode toward the wall, leaving the others no choice but to follow.

Standing atop the wall and gazing west, their field of vision broadened considerably.

The Carthaginian cavalry arrived swiftly, pouring into the flat lowlands like a tidal wave. Their vanguard had already galloped to the opposite bank of the Platani River.

"There are so many Carthaginian cavalrymen. There must be at least 5,000 of them!" Henipolis marveled from the side.

"To be precise, those are foreign auxiliary cavalry conscripted by Carthage. True Carthaginian cavalry probably make up only a tiny fraction of them," Davos said earnestly, his eyes wide as he pointed at the enemy forces shrouded in billowing dust below. "Look there. The cavalry with the simplest equipment, who make up the largest number, should be Numidian slaves; they excel at throwing javelins. And over there... the ones wearing leather helmets and wielding longswords are the Iberians. As for the Carthaginian cavalry... ah, I finally spotted them. Over there, the ones wearing shining armor. I heard Mago also hired some Mauretanian Cavalry, but the Mauretanian Cavalry and Numidian Cavalry dress similarly, making them hard to tell apart..." Davos enumerated them like family treasures.

"So it seems the Carthaginian cavalry is just a cobbled-together mess. Even though our cavalry legions have fewer men, they shouldn't lose to them, right?" Henipolis, who didn't understand the military very well, was quite confident in the kingdom's legion forces.

Davos fell silent for a moment before answering frankly, "In terms of cavalry, we are weaker than the Carthaginians."

During the previous battles, several cavalry legions had suffered varying degrees of casualties, and they hadn't received adequate reinforcements since. After all, cavalry was different from infantry; they were incredibly expensive to maintain and difficult to train. But even if Daionia's four cavalry legions were at full strength and gathered together, Davos didn't believe they had any guarantee of defeating the enemy riders below. For cavalry to win, they primarily relied on horsemanship, numbers, and training. In terms of training, the Daionian cavalry was naturally superior to their opponents, but in the other two areas, Daionia held no advantage.

Henipolis choked on his words. A moment later, he offered consolingly, "It's fine. The Daionian Army relies mainly on our infantry legions, and they are much stronger than Carthage's."

At that moment, Plintors, who was also observing the enemy formations, said in a deep voice, "The Carthaginian infantry has arrived as well."

Davos said nothing, his gaze fixed intently on the battlefield. In the distance, column after column of Carthaginian infantry poured endlessly into the lowland plains from the west, slowly filling the once-empty fields with the Carthaginian army...

Resting his hand on the cracked battlements, Davos murmured thoughtfully, "It seems Mago truly intends to fight a decisive battle with us here."

Hearing this, Henipolis blinked and asked curiously, "Here? We're on the hill, and they're at the bottom? That's not a good choice, is it? Why not wait until we march down into the lowlands before they attack?"

Davos didn't answer. Instead, he looked at Plintors.

Plintors understood this was King Davos testing him. After a moment of thought, he said, "If the Carthaginians let us enter the lowlands below, we could deploy troops to blockade the coastal road heading west, making it very easy to organize a defense. If the Carthaginians wanted to attack then, it would be extremely troublesome for them, as they wouldn't be able to deploy their superior numbers."

"Then why didn't the Carthaginians just occupy the City of Minoa? That way they would hold the defensive advantage, and our army would be in a terrible predicament," Henipolis asked, his questioning much more direct and bold toward Plintors.

Plintors answered swiftly. "If that were the case, I imagine Your Majesty wouldn't have marched on Minoa at all, but retreated to Agrigento or even Gela. Then the Carthaginians would be the anxious ones. I believe the reason they abandoned these towns on the Southern Coast and retreated west was precisely to lure our army into attacking westward. This makes it convenient for them to give battle and much easier to maintain their supply lines..."

Realization dawned on Henipolis's face. "The Carthaginians chose this place for the battlefield because they felt both sides could accept it?"

Davos smiled faintly and chimed in, "I've heard that Mago is decisive and resolute, but lacks patience and attention to detail. It's rare for him to be so thorough, taking such careful consideration of our feelings!"

"Your Majesty, are we going to prepare for a decisive battle against Carthage here?" Henipolis immediately grew excited.

Davos glanced at the solemn-faced Plintors and said softly, "It's a pity, but I don't intend to act out the script Mago has written for us."

Henipolis just let out an "Oh."

At that moment, Amyntas, Matonis, Oliphus, Trotidis, and several other high-ranking generals rushed to the base of the wall. Panting heavily, they shouted, "Reporting to Your Majesty! The First Legion has arrived as ordered! ... The Second Legion has arrived as ordered! ... The Fourth Legion of Theonia has arrived as ordered! ... The Sixth Legion has arrived as ordered! ... The Roman Reserve Cohort has arrived as ordered! ..."