"Stop attacking Katanai?" Brother Ma looked hateful and said angrily: "Don't forget, the Senate is forcing me to drive the Dionians out of Sicily within a year, and time is running out, so I still need to strengthen the attack!" ”

"No more attacks, Margo-sama!" Pomilka hurriedly persuaded: "I will write to the Senate and explain to them in detail the reasons for our cessation of the offensive." ”

"It's useless, Hanno's people won't listen to your explanation." Margo scoffed disapprerovingly.

Pomilka heard a hint of relief from Margo's words, and he continued, "But Lord Esyaruba will support me, and there is Pretakuba ......"

Hearing this, Brother Ma put down the leg of mutton in his hand and said indifferently: "Okay, according to what you said, let's retreat to the west first." ”

Pomilka didn't expect the always stubborn Margo to agree so simply, and he was a little stunned for a while.

Of course, he didn't know that after the unsuccessful attack on Palagonia during this time, Margo had already felt a little uneasy, and he had realized that whether it was Selinus or Palagonia, the Dioonians had shown a terrible ability to defend the city, and the Carthaginian army, especially the Iberian army, which had many cavalry, gave up the field and mountain battles they were good at, and carried out one brutal siege after another, in fact, they gave up their own strengths, and it was completely worth the loss. And today's fire made him make up his mind.

"You mean to withdraw to western Sicily?!" Pomilka then came back to his senses, looking surprised, he had just suggested that the siege should be stopped, but he had not thought of completely abandoning the gains he had made in the previous months.

"There's no way around it!" Marco did not hide the hatred in his eyes, and slammed his fist on the table: "We are deep into the east, the transportation line is quite long, the dominance of the Sicilian sea is still occupied by the Dionians, but the Senate has also sent the newly formed fleet to Sardinia, and we can only rely on land to transport military rations. You should know how huge our army is, and the amount of military rations consumed every day is naturally very huge, and now you have to count the labor that transports food, if it weren't for some food reserves before, plus some assistance from the people of Syracuse, I'm afraid our military food supply would have been very tight! Now the fleet of Dionya is intensifying its attacks on our grain convoys and empty rear......

As you said, the Dioonians are very capable of defending the city, we will not be able to capture Cataneh in a short time, and the main forces of Dionya are about to arrive, if at this time there is a problem with the transportation of our military rations......"

Margo didn't say any more, but Pomilcar shuddered and fell into deep thought.

Margo continued to nibble on the leg of lamb until Pomilka made up his mind, "...... Since the situation is so serious, I agree with you...... I will write to tell Master Esyararuba of the situation here, and he will be wise and understanding of our present situation, and will intercede for us in the Senate, so as to reduce the criticism of us by the other senators...... However, once we retreat back to the west, what will happen to Syracuse? ”

Margo sneered and said disdainfully: "Syracuse wants to become our Carthaginian ally, it is just their wishful thinking, the noble Carthaginians will never be friends with these cunning and shameless Syracusens!" They thought I didn't know, for such a long time they had been holding their ground in Tonis, and they had not put any threat to the Dionian allies at all, was this fighting against the Dionians?! Our Carthaginian merchant ships lost more people killed and wounded in ten days than they did in the battle under the city of Tounis! Since Syracuse wants to take advantage of our war with Dionia, to preserve its strength and gain more benefits...... Hehe, it only deserves to be a stone that we can use to draw the Ionian reinforcements so that they can't go westward with all their might! ”

Pomilka looked at the resentful look on Margo's face, and suddenly remembered that Marco and his cousin Shimilko had suffered a crushing defeat in front of the Syracuse people more than 10 years ago, and it seemed that he had been haunted by this, so it was not surprising that he had this attitude, and the actions of the Syracuse people during this time were indeed displeasing to Pomilka, so he didn't want to persuade him to do anything about fulfilling the covenant, but only reminded: "Without our support, the Syracuse people are alone in the face of the attack of the Dionian army, and they are likely to choose to surrender." ”

"Surrender? Become the 2nd Tarantum? Margo suddenly laughed: "These shameless Syracuse people think that they are the masters of Sicily, born to be nobler than the people of other Sicilian city-states, and they will easily submit to the Dionians?!" ”

Indeed, in the past 10 years, Syracuse has been surrounded by the increasingly powerful Kingdom of Dionya and its allies and friendly city-states, and there are still conflicts from time to time, which shows how unwilling its people are...... Pomilka was pondering in his heart, but he heard Margo continue: "As long as we Carthage maintain a strong strength, the Syracuse people will not easily fall to Dionia, so before retreating, we must take Palagonia with all our strength tomorrow!" ”

Pomilka was taken aback and hurriedly said: "These days, the Numibian army has attacked Palagonia, and the losses are not small, coupled with today's fire, without rest, if they want to attack Palagonia immediately, I'm afraid"

"Tomorrow let the Iberian army and the Phoenician army take charge of the siege!" Margo's abrupt interjection caused Pomilka to choke on the words.

The more than 10,000 Iberian troops who followed Margo to the Catania plain were very strong in combat, but these days they had been guarding against the reinforcements of Palagonian from the Dionian and Leotini's camp in Catanay, and they did not engage in siege warfare, but only had several battles with the enemy attacking from the north, and the losses were very small, so it could be said that it was a fresh force. In order to capture Palagonia, Marco was finally willing to send his own troops into battle! And there is also the cooperation of the Phoenician army, which is not weak in combat...... Pomilka sneered in his heart, but continued on his lips: "Who will defend the enemy in the two directions of Katanai and Leotini? Is it just these troops who have been besieged many times, have suffered a lot of losses, and are demoralized? ”

Margo heard the implicit reproach in Pomilka's words, and he sneered: "Although their siege is blocked, the defense is still okay, after all, there are more soldiers than the enemy. Didn't the young officers sent by the Senate keep clamoring to lead the troops into battle, and I will give them a chance. ”

Pomilcar was startled and was about to dissuade him, but Marco suddenly stood up and said in a deep voice: "I have sent a messenger to Agillion to inform Hasdruba that he should come here with his army early tomorrow morning!" If Katanai's enemies really dare to attack, we can extend the victory! ”

Speaking of this, Margo looked directly at Pomilka with blazing eyes: "Even if we have to retreat, let the soldiers understand that nothing in Sicily, in the Western Mediterranean, can stop their attack!" Therefore Palagonia must be destroyed! ”

"Puffy!" Margo slammed his fist on the table.

……………………………………

Adjutant Tagro hurriedly walked into the hall: "Commander, I just received a report from the scouts, Captain Breyru led 4,000 soldiers to Palagonia!" ”

"What?!" Leoticides, who had always been expressionless, could not remain calm at this moment, and said angrily: "Didn't I already give him an order to hold the camp and not lead the army to attack?!" He dared to disobey the military order, what a damn it! ”

After all, Taglou was a Braidi, and Breru was also a Braidi general he respected, and he couldn't help but want to defend Breru: "Uh...... It may be that the Carthaginians launched another onslaught on Palagonia today without resting after suffering from the fire of Palagonia, and the commander of the Breru army was probably worried that Palagonia would be difficult to hold, so he sent troops to attack and harass, so as to contain the Carthaginians from attacking the city with all their might...... Although he led a small number of soldiers, he has been able to return safely with his troops several times these days, and I believe there will be no problems this time. ”

"Stupid!" Leotizides said coldly: "In the past, Carthage's cavalry was deployed in the south, and it was difficult for our scouts to detect the battle situation in Palagonia, but this time it can be easily obtained, what does this mean?!" Moreover, since we burned the weeds on the plains of Catania, the Carthaginian cavalry has penetrated less into the hinterland of the plains these days, and today a large number of Carthaginian cavalry has run to the west of Katanay, cutting us off from Hena and not being able to know the movements of the enemy in Agilion, what does this mean?! ”

With Leotizides' prompt, Tagru thought about it for a moment and was immediately shocked: "This is...... Is this a trap?! Captain Breyroux is in danger! Your Excellency, Commander, ...... You should lead your troops to save them! ”

Leotizides blushed and did not respond.

……………………………………………

Two days later, in the same hall, there were no longer only a few people such as Leotizides and Tagru, but also the seven army commanders of Amintas, Matonis, Lizaru, Olivers, Trotilas, Breru, and Leotizides, the three cavalry commanders of Ledes, Kuzius, and Assitmis, the commander of the Sicilian fleet, Seklian, the two staff officers of the mountain reconnaissance group Izam, Tolmid, and Printors, and the Sicilian governor, Sipsilos...... Fill the entire hall.

In the center of the shining star sits the Dionian king Davers.