Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece Chapter 985: Bloodbath in the City

The crew immediately pulled leather shields, thrusting spears, and short swords from beneath the piles of silver blocks. Leaping onto the pier, they charged the approaching enemy.

“They really are the enemy!” the lead port official shouted, ordering the registered freemen on the pier to slaughter the attackers.

After the Daonian Fleet Infantry successfully ambushed the North Gate and breached the city, panicked shouts that the Theonians were attacking quickly spread through the streets. This completely contradicted the earlier good news from the water gate claiming the Phoenician Allied Forces had crushed the Daionian Army. The City Hall officials quickly realized the fleet arriving at the port late at night was a trap and frantically dispatched messengers to warn the harbor.

Because the Daonian Fleet Infantry had only just breached the walls and had not yet triggered fierce street combat, the distant inner port in the remote southern section remained relatively peaceful. The considerable distance between the north and south meant the crew had not immediately sensed the shift in the city’s atmosphere, giving the port time to prepare.

Spurred by the numerous rewards promised by Tharros officials, the port laborers swarmed forward. The fleet infantry calmly formed ranks to meet them, meaning the battle at the harbor broke out before the heavy fighting in the city proper.

The highly trained fleet infantry were far superior to the disorganized mob of Tharrosian registered freemen, quickly inflicting massive casualties upon them.

However, port officials continuously organized newly arrived laborers to surround them. Relying on sheer numbers, they pinned the foreign invaders down on the pier. Yet this also meant the district with the highest concentration of able-bodied men in the City of Tharros was completely tied down, unable to reinforce the intense urban combat.

The Daionian troops used to trick the city were now trapped in the city square and the port respectively. This stalemate was extremely disadvantageous; having regained their footing, the Tharrosians were mobilizing every capable citizen to encircle and attack them while they remained completely isolated.

When the disguised Carthaginian Convoy was led into the Tharros waterway, the Daonian Fast Ship trailing far behind noticed the anomaly and immediately turned back north.

Upon hearing the news, Midorades immediately grew tense. He worried the Tharrosians had seen through their disguise and lured the fleet into the inner port, effectively catching a turtle in a jar. He also feared that if the fleet had been exposed, the land forces attempting to infiltrate the city would walk right into an ambush. The 1,500 soldiers participating in that operation were all his subordinate fleet infantry. If the worst came to pass... he did not dare to think any further.

At that moment, Tagetinos spoke decisively. “Lord Midorades, since the situation has changed, I suggest the warships of the Third Fleet swiftly sail south and anchor at the beaches near the Tharros Outer Port. I will lead the soldiers of the Ninth Legion to disembark immediately and rush to the City of Tharros to support your troops!”

Although tempted, Midorades remained worried. “That’s too dangerous! If the Tharrosians have already seen through our plan and prepared an ambush, you will be in grave peril. There are multiple Phoenician towns near that bay. If they unite, your Ninth Legion will be completely surrounded upon landing!”

Tagetinos laughed. “Lord Midorades, you are overthinking this. The only Phoenician Army on this island has already been annihilated by us. I have a full 6,000 elite soldiers of the Ninth Legion with me (with another 2,000 soldiers and 2,000 fleet infantry staying behind at the Port of Sant'Ibinia to guard the Phoenician captives, alongside a few hundred fleet infantry securing the two wooden bridges). Even marching straight through Phoenician territory, do they have any strength left to stop me?”

Tagetinos’s reminder immediately lifted Midorades’s spirits. His anxiety had clouded his judgment, causing him to forget that crucial detail.

The order was given. Guided by the faint moonlight and the exceptional sailing skills of the crew, all warships of the Third Fleet rapidly sailed south.

Seeing the flickering lighthouse of the Tharros Outer Port in the distance, they knew the bay was near. Using the lighthouse for navigation, the Third Fleet safely grounded its warships on the beach, and the soldiers of the Ninth Legion quickly disembarked to assemble.

Such a massive commotion naturally incited panic among the civilians of the Tharros Outer Port, but Tagetinos paid them no mind. Following the map’s directions, he led his soldiers on a forced march north along the shores of the lagoon.

Along the way, he unexpectedly encountered messengers sent by the land-based fleet infantry to seek reinforcements.

It turned out that after tricking their way through the North Gate, the fleet infantry had dispatched a runner to the outer port to rendezvous with the Ninth Legion. However, the runner found the outer port completely quiet, with no sign of reinforcements. The fleet infantry sent another runner later, only to find the same situation. But things inside the city had changed. Once the Tharrosians encircled the invaders and stabilized the situation, they realized the North Gate was still in enemy hands and organized a force to recapture it.

With only 200 Daonian Fleet Infantry guarding the North Gate, the sight of a massive Tharrosian mob surging toward them was dire. Desperate, they sent messengers to the outer port one last time, hoping for a miracle—and ended up running right into the Ninth Legion.

After grasping the situation inside the city, Tagetinos immediately ordered his soldiers to double their pace. The outer port was only five li from the City of Tharros, and they had already covered half the distance. It did not take long for the Ninth Legion to reach the North Gate.

By then, the fleet infantry had been split into two groups. One group was on the city walls, stubbornly defending the drawbridge mechanism (as the City of Tharros sat near the lagoon and possessed a moat). The other group blocked the gatehouse, preventing the Tharrosians from closing the gates. Under the fierce Tharrosian assault, their thin defensive line was already crumbling.

Without hesitation, Tagetinos charged at the very front, leading his soldiers straight into the North Gate as the buglers sounded the attack.

“Wooo!...” The resonant blast of the military bugles echoed across the entire city, invigorating the trapped fleet infantry while throwing the Tharrosians into sudden doubt and panic.

The soldiers of the Ninth Legion were not fleet infantry. They were true Daonian Heavy Infantry, clad in Black Helmets and Black Armor, wielding long shields and short swords (in the dark of night where targets were obscured, short swords were far more lethal than thrusting spears). They crashed violently into the Tharrosians at the gates.

Seeing an endless stream of new enemies pouring through the gatehouse, and unsure of how many reinforcements had actually arrived, the Tharrosians’ morale shattered. They did not hold out for long before routing.

Tagetinos did not order a pursuit; instead, he commanded the soldiers of the Ninth Legion to march straight toward the loudest sounds of combat.

Before long, the massive force of legionnaires reached the brightly lit square and charged into the backs of the Tharrosians besieging the fleet infantry.

The Tharrosians collapsed instantly.

Only then did the fleet infantry in the center come into Tagetinos’s view. Seeing the reinforcements arrive, they finally relaxed. Exhausted, they dropped their shields and spears and slumped to the ground. Piled high around them were layers of Tharrosian bodies. Some had been completely trampled into a bloody paste, while others lay groaning in agony. Among the dead and dying were even the elderly and women.

Such a bloody massacre shocked even Tagetinos, a veteran of countless battles. However, he immediately dispatched 3,000 men to hunt down the fleeing Tharrosians, issuing a ruthless order: slaughter any Tharrosian found on the streets!

Unsettled by the terrifying resistance the Tharrosians had shown, Tagetinos decided to crush their will completely. What he didn't know was that the Tharrosians weren't nearly as brave as he imagined. Had the Ninth Legion launched the initial assault on the City of Tharros in full force, the defenders would have likely surrendered immediately. It was only because the initial fleet infantry infiltration numbered less than 1,000 men—too few to intimidate such a large town—that the Tharrosians had been given any hope of victory.

Meanwhile, Tagetinos sent the remaining 3,000 men rushing toward the inner port. By the time they arrived, the registered freemen at the harbor had already scattered, leaving only a hundred or so fleet infantrymen on the pier tending to their wounded comrades.

Through the latter half of the night, soldiers of the Ninth Legion patrolled every district of the city. Any Tharrosian still wandering the streets was cut down without a word.

By interrogating captured Tharrosian citizens, Tagetinos also pinpointed and arrested the highest-ranking officials of the Tharros City Hall.

The courage the Tharrosians had shown earlier vanished without a trace. They fled back to their homes, too terrified to make a single sound. Huddled helplessly with their families, they prayed silently and endlessly to their gods.

Gradually, the entire city fell silent.

According to the casualty reports calculated after the battle, the Daionian Army suffered nearly 600 casualties (mostly fleet infantry) in capturing the city. In contrast, Tharrosian casualties reached a staggering 4,000. Combined with the 2,000 Tharrosian Citizen Soldiers routed and captured from the Phoenician Allied Forces, the City of Tharros lost two-fifths of its total population, dealing it a devastating blow.

But this was not the worst of the Tharrosians’ plight.

At dawn the next day, Tagetinos sent troops to seize the outer port and the waterway, capturing five Phoenician Warships that had failed to escape. The Third Fleet sailed through the waterway and anchored in the inner port. Heartbroken over the heavy losses suffered by the fleet infantry, Midorades conferred with Tagetinos. Considering the stubborn resistance the Tharrosians put up the night before and the resulting bloodbath, a blood feud had effectively been forged between them. To ensure the future safety of the army and strike terror into the other Phoenician towns on the island, the two commanders decided to reduce all Tharrosians to slaves and immediately transport them back to Terina by force aboard the Third Fleet’s warships.

As for the other Phoenician City-States on Sardinia Island, they had only just heard that the Theonians had sacked Sant'Ibinia the day before. Now, on the second day, Tharrosian refugees fled into their towns begging for help, crying out that the Theonians had captured Tharros and were massacring the Tharrosians.