Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece Chapter 983: Catching a Turtle in a Jar

Of course, the people of Sant'Ibinia had not relaxed their vigilance. When the Daonian Fleet Infantry climbed the riverbank and emerged across the relatively flat hills, the Sant'Ibinian sentries spotted them. The guards immediately relayed the terrifying news back to the city.

The people of Sant'Ibinia panicked, fleeing into the city to hide. But the Mannu River was only ten-odd li from the City of Sant'Ibinia. Because the city was a metal processing center, smelting sites littered its outskirts. Some were built directly at the foot of mountains a few li away for easier access to timber. By the time the Daonian Fleet Infantry arrived outside the city walls, many civilians and slaves working the smelters and mines had not managed to escape inside in time. A small detachment of the fleet infantry broke off to capture them, while the main force bypassed the City of Sant'Ibinia entirely, making a beeline for the port on the Temo River.

This port was not physically connected to the City of Sant'Ibinia. Unlike the Mannu River, the lower reaches of the Temo River featured relatively flat banks suitable for a harbor. However, an elevation difference of several dozen meters separated the river from the city on the hills. Therefore, the people of Sant'Ibinia had simply constructed a wide, smooth stone road linking the city to the port to facilitate the transport of goods.

The Third Fleet's infantry advanced along this road, pressing right up to the port's perimeter.

Given its importance, the port was naturally protected by walls. While its primary defenses faced the river mouth to prevent enemy fleets from breaking in from the sea, a wall had also been built facing the city. It merely lacked watchtowers and a moat. Furthermore, Daionia's attack had come so quickly that the panicked people of Sant'Ibinia had all rushed to the main city, leaving the port sparsely defended. Even so, its garrison manned the ramparts and mounted a stubborn defense.

Carrying over ten siege ladders brought from their Warships, the fleet infantry set them against the port's walls and launched a fierce assault.

Barely ten minutes into the battle, roughly a hundred sailors from five merchant ships that had entered the port earlier suddenly massed together. Drawing weapons hidden aboard their vessels, they attacked the port's defenders from the inside.

Caught in a pincer attack from within and without, the people of Sant'Ibinia were taken completely off guard. The Daionian Army swiftly breached the port, seizing the breakwater and towers at the river mouth and raising the wooden blockade gate. Out at sea, the 160 Warships of the Daonian Fleet—the 3rd Fleet's numbers having actually grown after receiving new vessels following the naval battle—smoothly sailed into the harbor.

The moment they had first spotted the enemy, the people of Sant'Ibinia dispatched horseback messengers racing south to plead for reinforcements.

In the past, Sant'Ibinia's massive metal output combined with its small river port frequently caused cargo backlogs. Later, coordinated by the Carthaginian suffetes stationed in Sardinia to oversee the Phoenician City-States, a portion of the precious metal shipments was diverted south to Tharros to be shipped to Carthage from its port. To facilitate this, the Tharrosians painstakingly constructed a broad, paved avenue linking directly to Sant'Ibinia, even building two wooden bridges over the Mannu River.

Thanks to this partnership with Sant'Ibinia and its own excellent natural conditions, Tharros had seen decades of rapid development, rising to become one of the premier Phoenician towns on Sardinia Island. It rivaled Caralis—a Phoenician town at the island's southernmost tip that also possessed a fine port and fertile river plains, though Caralis enjoyed more frequent trade with Carthage by sitting just across the sea from it. Consequently, ever since the Daonian Fleet began harassing Sardinia, the Phoenician Allied Forces temporarily assembled by the island's Phoenician towns had been garrisoned in the City of Tharros. The new Carthaginian fleet had also previously stationed itself at the Port of Saros, primarily to protect Sant'Ibinia.

Hearing that the Theonians were actually attacking Sant'Ibinia, the Allied Forces—composed of ten thousand Citizen Soldiers drawn from the island's various Phoenician towns—immediately marched north along the paved avenue to the rescue.

Along the way, they ran into another messenger from Sant'Ibinia bearing the latest news: the Theonians had captured the river port and were wantonly destroying the smelting sites outside the city.

Serving as the commander of the Allied Forces was a young noble from Carthage, who originally held the post of suffete in Caralis (the Citizen Soldiers from other Phoenician towns were also generally led by the Carthaginian suffetes of their respective towns). Upon hearing this news, he felt both anxious and thrilled. He was anxious because if Sant'Ibinia's metal production dropped significantly due to the Theonians' sabotage, he, as commander of the Phoenician Allied Forces, would inevitably face reprimand from the Carthaginian Senate. He might even lose his lucrative post as a suffete in Sardinia and be ordered back to Carthage. Yet he was thrilled because the messenger reported that the invading Daionian Army numbered only three or four thousand men. If he arrived in time, crushing them would be effortless. Factoring in his previous victory, such an outstanding performance would surely draw the attention of the Carthaginian citizens and the Senate, laying the foundation for his own future entry into the Senate.

Therefore, he did not hesitate to issue the order: the entire army was to double their pace.

By afternoon, the Phoenician Allied Forces finally reached the City of Sant'Ibinia. Receiving the news, the Daonian Fleet Infantry hastily assembled and began retreating toward the Temo River.

The Phoenician Allied Forces remained in hot pursuit.

Upon reaching the riverbank, the Daonian Fleet Infantry halted their retreat and began to form their ranks.

The Phoenician Allied Forces also ceased their pursuit, deploying their formation some three hundred meters away to completely shatter the Daionian Army in a pitched frontal battle.

As the Phoenician Soldiers took advantage of the deployment to briefly rest their exhausted bodies after hours of forced marching, a sudden commotion broke out at the front lines.

"Look! Daionian heavy infantry! Where did they come from?!"

"It's a trap! The Daionian Army has way more than a few thousand men! They hid their heavy infantry in the river port!"

"Gods, these heavy infantrymen just keep pouring out. How many of them are there?!"

...

While his soldiers formed up, the young commander of the Phoenician Allied Forces kept his eyes glued to the enemy. He was primarily worried that this smaller, entirely lightly armored Daionian Army (mistaking the Daonian Fleet Infantry for light infantry) would suddenly turn tail and flee. But abruptly, he saw the newly formed Daionian ranks shift to the right, clearing the main avenue that led from the City of Sant'Ibinia to the river port. Then, row after disciplined row of Theonia Legion soldiers—clad in Black Helmets and Black Armor, wielding thrusting spears and large shields—marched into view, swiftly following the vanguard's shift to the right.

Theonia Legion soldiers poured out endlessly. The previously narrow Daionian battle line quickly expanded, its width soon matching that of the Phoenician formation.

By now, how could the Phoenician Allied Forces commander not realize this was a Daionian plot? This sudden twist threw the soldiers into a panic, and he felt no less terrified. But there was no point complaining that the people of Sant'Ibinia had failed to scout properly and fed him false intel that left him woefully unprepared. He didn't even have time to wonder where this regular Daionian Army had come from. According to his reports, the King of Daionia had already led the entire Daionian Army to Sicily to battle the Carthaginian grand army commanded by Mago.

At that moment, his very first thought was to retreat. But he immediately crushed the notion. If the Allied Forces retreated, the Theonians would seize the momentum and attack the City of Sant'Ibinia. As Sardinia's metal smelting center, the city's layout and construction were entirely geared toward the collection, transport, trade, and processing of ore. It was not built as a fortress town. Its defenses could not even match a normal town's, meaning it stood absolutely no chance against a Daionian Army of this size. Should the City of Sant'Ibinia fall, he would personally feel the full fury of the Carthaginian Senate.

Moreover, his soldiers were already exhausted from their hours-long forced march. Retreating directly before the enemy line was a cardinal sin in war; the moment the Theonians attacked, it would highly likely trigger a total rout of his army.

The only strategy he could think of now was to attack immediately, striking while the Theonians had yet to complete their formation and likely still had many soldiers stuck below the riverbank. Perhaps then, they still had a chance at victory.

And so, bracing himself, he gave the order to attack.

Half an hour later, this Carthaginian general's wishful thinking was crushed. The physically depleted Phoenician Allied Forces were utterly defeated by the combined might of the well-rested Ninth Legion and the fleet infantry. A portion of the routed Phoenician Soldiers fled toward the City of Sant'Ibinia, while the majority tried to run back to the City of Tharros. However, upon reaching the banks of the Mannu River, they found that the two wooden bridges had already been seized by Daionian soldiers.

As it turned out, the moment the Phoenician Allied Forces had crossed the Mannu River, the Warships of the Third Fleet had reentered the river mouth. They had deployed two companies of Theonia Legion soldiers onto the shore to capture the only two wooden bridges spanning the Mannu River.

With their escape route severed and their pursuers closing in from behind, many routed Phoenician Soldiers surrendered in despair. A few stragglers turned around once more, fleeing toward the City of Sant'Ibinia.

Upon learning the news of the Phoenician Allied Forces' disastrous defeat, the people of Sant'Ibinia were thrown into sheer panic. They assumed the victorious Theonians would immediately follow up by attacking their town. But as the minutes ticked by, they saw only an endless stream of fleeing Phoenician stragglers, with no sign of the Daionian Army anywhere. Everyone was left in a state of bewilderment.