"Stop attacking Katanai?" Ma Ge said angrily: "Don't forget that the Senate forced me to drive the Dionians out of Sicily within one year. There is not much time left, so I still need to strengthen the offensive!"

"Can't attack any more, Lord Mago!" Pomirka persuaded anxiously: "I will write to the Senate to explain in detail the reasons why we stop the attack."

"It's useless, Hannover won't listen to your explanation." Ma Ge sneered disapprovingly.

But Pomirka heard a little looseness from Mago's words, and he continued: "But Lord Aisyaruba will support me, and there is Pretakuba..."

When Brother Ma heard this, he put down the lamb leg in his hand and said calmly: "Okay, as you said, we will retreat to the west first."

Pomirka didn't expect that Ma Ge, who had always been stubborn, would agree to be so straightforward, and was a little stunned for a moment.

Of course he would not know that after failing to attack Paragonia during this period, Mago felt a little uneasy. He had realized that whether it was Selinus or Paragonia, the Dionians had shown terrible ability to defend the city. The Carthaginian army with many cavalry, especially the Iberian army, gave up the wild and mountain battles that they were good at, and carried out one cruel siege after another, which was actually giving up their strengths, which was completely unworthy of the gains. Today's fire made him make up his mind.

"You mean withdrawing to the western part of Sicily?!" Pomirka then recalled the smell, looking surprised. He just suggested stopping the siege, but he never thought of completely giving up the results he had obtained in the previous few months.

"There is no way!" Ma Ge did not hide the hatred in his eyes and pounded the table with his fists: "We went deep into the east, the transportation line was quite long, and the dominance of the Sicilian waters was still occupied by the Dionys. But the Senate 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 large. Now, the labor force for transporting food must be included. If it weren't for some food reserves before, plus some assistance from the Syracuse people, our military rations supply would have been very tight! Now, the Dionys fleet is increasing its attack on our food transport team and the empty rear...

As you said, the Dionians have strong ability to defend the city, and we cannot capture Catanai in a short time. Dionian's main force is coming again. If our military rations are exported at this time..."

Brother Ma didn't say anything more, but Pomirka couldn't help but shudder and fell into deep thought.

Ma Ge continued to chew on the leg of lamb until Pomirka made up his mind and said, "... Since the situation is so serious, I agree with your opinion... I will write a letter to tell Lord Aisyaruba about the situation here. He is experienced and wise, and will understand our current situation, and plead for us in the Senate to reduce the attacks on us by other senators... But what should we do if we retreat to the west?"

Ma Ge sneered and said disdainfully: "It is their wishful thinking to be an ally of Carthage. The noble Carthages will never be friends with these cunning and shameless Syracuses! They thought I didn't know that for such a long time they remained in Taunes and did not put any threats on the Dionysian allies. Is this fighting against the Dionys?! Our Carthage merchant ships were killed and injured by sea storms within ten days than they died in the city of Taunes! Since Syracuse wanted to take advantage of our war with Dionys to preserve its strength and gain more benefits... Haha, it is only worthy of being a stone that we use to involve Dionys reinforcements and prevent them from moving westward with all their strength!"

Pomirka looked at the angry expression on Mago's face and suddenly remembered that Mago and his cousin Shimirko had suffered a crushing defeat in front of the Syracuse people more than 10 years ago. It seems that he has been resentful about this. It is not surprising that the Syracuse people's actions during this period have indeed made Pomirka unhappy, so he did not want to persuade him about the fulfillment of the covenant. He just reminded: "Without our support, the Syracuse people face the attack of the Dionian army alone, and they may choose to surrender."

"Surrender? Become the second Tarantum?" Mago suddenly smiled: "These shameless Syracuses think they are the masters of Sicily, and are born nobler than the people of other Sicily city-states. They will surrender to the Dionians easily?!"

Indeed, over the past 10 years, Syracuse has been surrounded by the increasingly powerful Kingdom of Dionys and its allies and friendly city-states, and there are still conflicts from time to time. It can be seen how unwilling its people are... Pomirka was thinking about it, but he heard Ma Ge continue to say: "As long as we Carthage maintain strong strength, the Syracuse people will not easily turn to Dionys, so before retreating, we must conquer Paragonia with all our strength tomorrow!"

Pomirka was shocked and hurriedly said: "These days, Numibian troops have suffered great losses. In addition, today's fire, without rest, if they want them to attack Paragonia immediately, I'm afraid--"

"Tomorrow, let the Iberian army and the Phoenician army be responsible for the siege!" Mago's sudden interruption made Pomirka choke in his mouth.

The more than 10,000 Iberian army that followed Mago to the Catania Plain was very powerful, but these days they have been guarding against the support of the Dionians in Catanai and Leotini's barracks to Paragonia, and did not enter the siege. They only fought several times with the enemies attacking from the north, and the losses were very small. They could be said to be a new force. In order to capture Paragonia, Mago finally was willing to send his own troops to the battlefield! And there was also the Phoenician army with strong combat power... Pomirka felt in his heart, but continued to say: "Who should defend the enemies in the two directions of Catanai and Leotini? Just relying on these troops who suffered heavy losses and were depressed after sieges many times?"

Ma Ge heard the implicit reproach in Pomirka's words, and he sneered: "Although their siege was blocked, their defense was still possible. After all, the number of soldiers was more than the enemy. Didn't the young team officials sent by the Senate keep shouting to lead the troops to the battlefield? I'll give them a chance."

Pomirka was shocked and was about to dissuade him, Ma Ge suddenly stood up and said in a deep voice: "I have sent a messenger to Agilion to inform Hasdruba and let him lead the army here early tomorrow morning! If Katanai's enemies really dare to attack, we can expand the results of the battle!"

Speaking of this, Mago looked straight at Pomirka with bright eyes: "Even if we want to retreat, we must let the soldiers understand that in Sicily, there is nothing that can stop their attack in the Western Mediterranean! Therefore, Paragonia must be destroyed!"

"Peng!" Brother Ma punched the table hard.

……………………………………

Adjutant Taglu hurriedly walked into the hall: "Mr. Commander, I just received the reward from the scout. The commander of the Brelu Army led 4,000 soldiers to Paragonia!"

"What?!" Leoticides, who had always been expressionless, couldn't keep calm at this moment and said angrily: "Hasn't I given him an order to keep his camp and not lead his army to attack?! He dared to violate military orders, it's damn!"

After all, Taglu was a Bruti, and Bruti was also considered a Bruti general he respected. He couldn't help but want to defend Bruti: "Uh... it may be because the Carthaginians did not rest after the fire in Paragonia, and today they launched a fierce attack on Paragonia. The commander of the Bruti legion was probably worried that Paragonia would be difficult to defend, so he sent troops to harass them to restrain the Carthaginians from siege with all their strength... Although he led few soldiers, he led his troops several times these days and could return safely. I believe there would be no problem this time."

"Silly!" Leothis said coldly: "In the past, the cavalry of Carthage was deployed to the south, and it was difficult for our scouts to detect the battle situation in Paragonia, but this time it was easy to obtain. What does this mean?! Moreover, because we burned the weeds on the Catanian plains, the Carthage cavalry had rarely penetrated deep into the hinterland of the plains these days. Today, a large number of Carthage cavalry ran to the west of Katanai, cutting off our connection with Hina, and unable to understand the movements of the enemy in Agilion. What does this mean?!"

With Leotizides' prompt, Taglu thought about it for a while and was shocked: "This is... this is a trap?! Commander of the Brelu Legion is in danger! Commander, you... you should lead your troops to save them!"

Leotizides had a dark face and refused to respond.

……………………………………………

Two days later, in this hall, there were no longer only Leotizides and Taglu, including Amintas, Matonis, Lizaru, Olivers, Trotilas, Brelu, Leotizides, three cavalry commanders, Redes, Kuzius, Asitimis, commander of Sicily fleet, Secretlian, commander of the Mountain Reconnaissance Brigade, two staff officers, Izam, Tolmede and Printols, and there were also Sicily Governor Siphorus, which filled the entire hall.
Chapter completed!