In the tent of the barracks, Lizaru met Printors, who immediately greeted the under-chief of staff who had helped him to victory in Campania.

"Okay, let's talk about it later, let's quickly discuss how to complete the task assigned by His Majesty." Amintas urged.

"What is the situation in Latin now?" Lizaru preemptively asked, this is the basic quality of a senior Dionian commander, there is no way to win a battle if you don't understand the surrounding situation and the enemy's situation.

Therefore, Amintas did not think of the pestle, pointed to the map, and explained seriously: "Since the Romans attacked the Helnihians last month, they have conquered many towns in a row, and now they have completely besieged the central town of the Helnikinians, Phirentirum, and are intensifying their attack, and their strength has increased from the original 40,000 to 70,000, according to the Wolsey, the situation of Phirentirum is very critical, and it will not be able to hold on for a few days. Once this town falls, not only the Helnians will be destroyed, but the Wolsy will also suffer heavy losses, because the Wolsy have sent a large number of soldiers to rescue Helniki, and they are now trapped in the city of Filentirum, so the Wolsey territory is already very empty, and it is all up to our First Army to help them hold on. ”

Lizaru stared at the map for a few moments before pointing to the north of Wolsey's territory and asked, "Since the Roman armies are all focused on attacking the Helnihians, the defenses here must be empty." ”

"The citizens of these Latin allies to the west of Rome were drawn to attack Helniki, and it was true that there were not many troops, but here! Over here! And 10,000 Roman troops were stationed here! Amintas clicked his finger three times on the map.

Lizaru took a closer look and saw that the names of the three city icons were: Villitre, Satnikum, and Antium, who happened to intercept the passage northwest of Wall into the Latium region.

Lizaru estimated and was surprised: "The Romans would have raised such a large army?!" ”

"According to the Wolsey, Rome not only mobilized all its young and middle-aged citizens this time, but also asked all the Latin allies and the Etrunian allies to the north to provide a lot of reinforcements, so it is doing its best to fight this war, and I think this is why His Majesty personally led the army to deal with the Romans first!" Printors emphasized.

"But with these three cities in the way, it won't take a day or two to capture one of them, I'm afraid it will delay Your Majesty's attack plan." Lizaru pointed to the map and said worriedly.

"Are you stupid!" Amintas unceremoniously criticized: "We don't need to storm them at all, we just need to bypass them, enter the coastal areas of Latium, and protect the successful landing of His Majesty's army on the coast." ”

Lizaru, who had just gotten into the tip of the horns, slapped his head and smiled awkwardly, he pondered for a while, and said: "If you do this, you can only let the soldiers carry rations, and leave the auxiliary troops in the barracks, so as to ensure that the march is fast, and in case the enemy goes out of the city to intercept it, it can also respond quickly, but this is the ...... Our barracks, and indeed the entire Wolsey domain, were completely open to the Romans! ”

Printors smiled: "Don't worry too much about this, once our army successfully lands, the entire Lateum region will be nervously on guard for our attack, where is there any intention to invade Wolsey!" And we will also arrange for the rest of the barracks to go to Selche, take a fleet, and turn the newly occupied land of the army. ”

Lizaru no longer had any worries, and asked eagerly and loudly, "When are we going to act?!" ”

"Just wait for His Majesty's army to reach the Radium region by boat, but before that, we will have to consult with the higher authorities of Wolsey and need them to provide some help for this attack of the army."

………………………………………

The news that "the battle of Selinus was finally disrupted by a storm and the ships of both sides were almost completely destroyed" spread throughout western Sicily early the next morning, and Pomilca, the acting commander of the Carthaginian army, was shocked to learn of this bad news, and sent messengers to quickly transmit the news back to Carthage by clipper, and at the same time informed the coastal city-states to search and rescue carefully on the coast of the territory, and sent the survivors to Lili.

The Dionian camp outside Selinus was overcrowded, and not only were the tents crowded with survivors of the shipwreck, but the passages and clearings outside the tents were also filled with struggling and groaning crews; Outside the camp are densely packed with white corpses or people who have not yet been confirmed dead or unconscious, and the doctors and nurses have been treating them for more than ten hours and are still busy; The more than 20,000 Ionian Legions and their allied officers and men are also fully assisting the medical battalion to save their compatriots and comrades in the navy.

In the tent, Leotizides, who had been busy until now and had not slept all night, sat in a wooden chair, listening to the report of the adjutant Muqru, and despite his exhaustion, he still straightened his back.

"Your Excellency, from last night to now, our soldiers have found a total of about 150,000 human bodies on the coast, and about 100,000 people have been rescued, including more than 61,500 Ionians, and 29,379 Ionian crew members who have been confirmed dead...... Muqru held the record board, and every time he read a set of numbers, his heart was beating wildly, and behind these huge numbers meant the loss of countless once fresh lives, and the weeping of families......

Leoticides didn't seem to react much to this, and after listening to the adjutant's report, his face was still expressionless, and he quickly asked, "How many people are there in our Sicilian fleet?" ”

Mukru thought for a moment and said uncertainly: "Judging from the last time the Minoa Sicilian fleet came to receive rations, they may have about 11-120,000 people......"

Leotizides estimated in his mind and said, "So we still have a maximum of 30,000 crew members who have not been found. ”

"It is likely that they have drifted to the coasts controlled by the Carthaginians, and possibly to the shores of the allies, which will require us to contact the southern coast city-states such as Minoa and Agrigento in the next few days to find out the details." Muqru said.

Leotizides nodded, and then sighed: "The navy is really too much to consume the young and middle-aged citizens of the kingdom, and this storm has caused us to lose tens of thousands of people, enough for us to build five or six legions!" ”

Mukru explained, "My lord, but we also easily captured nearly 40,000 Carthaginian or Phoenicians, and if it were a normal battle, how many battles would it take to have so many prisoners." ”

When Leoticides heard this, his brows furrowed slightly, and his sharp eyes looked at Mukru without blinking, until the other party lowered his head, and then he slowly asked, "Have Secrean and Flarios found it?" ”

“…… No news yet......" Muqru grimaced.

"Keep sending people to find them, and don't give up. And we are going to entrust Shelovenes with spies to the city-states of Carthage in the west to find out the news. It was only at this point that Leoticides' face fluctuated slightly: "I heard that Sekrian is very good at water, and that he once crossed the raging Kratty River when he was young, he should not drown in the sea so easily." ”

"Yes, Commander."

"Anything else?"

"Hmm...... The medical camp reminded that there are too many dead bodies inside and outside the camp now, and if they are parked for too long, the corpses will decompose, which can easily lead to epidemics. ”

"As long as they are sure that they are dead, they will be cremated, and the living sailors will bring their ashes back to the fleet base in Catania or Tarantum, and the ashes of the Carthaginians will be buried on the spot." Leotizides said, remembering something again, and said in an accentuated tone: "This matter must be done at once, so that these living sailors may return to their stations as soon as possible, so that our food will not be consumed in vain, but the infantry of the fleet shall stay and fight with us." ”

Leotizides had long coveted these infantry in the Sicilian fleet, and he had seen their military training in Catania, believing that their military qualities were no weaker than the regular soldiers of the Eighth Legion, and took advantage of the collapse of the Sicilian fleet and the absence of news from Secrean and Flarios to join his own ranks to strengthen their strength.

Mukru has not yet responded, and Leotizides emphasized: "There is still ...... Ten thousand young and strong sailors were drawn from the navy, and they were issued spears to serve as our light infantry for the time being. ”

Mukru was surprised, and he tactfully reminded: "Your Excellency, without the permission of the Ministry of War, you have already violated the regulations by transferring the fleet infantry of the navy, and you have to reorganize the sailors, I am afraid that the navy will be dissatisfied with this." ”

Leotizides disagreed, he said in a deep voice: "We are now deep into the sphere of influence of Carthage, not only the supply line is extended, the enemy will also counterattack at any time, but the ships of the Sicilian fleet are all gone, unable to provide us with the protection of the coastline, we are fighting alone, if we do not strengthen our strength, we may be in trouble at any time." The Sicilian Navy cannot function without ships, so it is better to leave idle sailors and fleet infantry under my command for the time being. This is a special time, and I am sure that Your Majesty and the Ministry of Military Affairs will understand my approach! ”

As an adjutant, Mukru could only remind him that since Leotizides insisted on doing it, he could only carry it out, and then he immediately turned the topic to other aspects: "My lord, what about the 40,000 Carthaginian prisoners?" ”

"For the time being, stay there and deal with them as they used to hold prisoners." Leoticides groaned and said, "The Carthaginians must have our sailors there, and we can exchange with them when the time comes." ”