Chapter 719: Seclians Appointment

“But I’ve heard that he had led the army to conquer Numidia in the last ten years, so he shouldn’t be that incompetent,” asked Khilletztartus, slightly puzzled.

“Hmph, Numidia has long been under the Carthaginian influence, with many tribes willingly joining Carthage, not to mention that the Numidians have always remained divided. So how can they unite to resist Carthage’s army? Therefore, even if the Senate sent a woman as the supreme commander, she could still conquer Numidia.” Hasdrubal contemptuously said, “Uncle said that Muntebaal was a man greedy for wine, lustful and incapable of enduring hardship! I heard that he just commanded from far away, never going to the battle himself, and just hid in his tent because he was afraid of the heat… That Hanno would send him as the supreme commander of a massive army is a joke! Hmph, Hanno is just a fool who knows nothing about military matters! He thought he could bring Theonia to its knees and gain some advantage just by sending forty thousand men to fight them, capture a few cities and gain some victories… He thinks war is like trade and bargaining!”

“But since the war with Theonia has begun, we should try our best to defeat them while they are still weak from the drought!” Khilletztartus then worriedly added, “If we don’t change our mindset soon, I’m afraid this expedition will…”

“Wouldn’t that be better? Hanno’s failure would benefit our return to the centre of Carthage!” Hasdrubal said relaxedly.

“But…what if Muntebaal gives reckless orders to our troops?…” Khilletztartus said worriedly.

Hasdrubal looked at him and said, “Have you forgotten what Uncle Mago told you? We don’t have to obey Muntebaal’s orders and just command our army!”

After briefly pondering, Khilletztartus suggested, “In that case…we’d better lead the army alone.”

“I will request this to Muntebaal since I believe he also does not want to stay with us, who would always argue with him and disobey his orders,” Hasdrubal smirked.

Suddenly, the lookout shouted from the mast, “We are almost in Sicily!”

Hasdrubal and Khilletztartus cheered and rushed to the ship’s bow, staring at the faint outline in the distance.

Hasdrubal looked excited and said, “Khilletztartus, let’s give it our all!”

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

“Carthage has unexpectedly sent such a commander who can win without going to the battlefield, which is also a kind of ability!” Davos was in a good mood after reading the information about the Carthaginian army.

“Make a copy of the information on the Carthaginian army and send it to Prosous immediately. I believe he will make good use of it.” Davos separated some of the information on the desk and handed it to Aristias.

“Yes, Your Majesty!”

“Aris, do you think this Hanno sent forty thousand… oh, plus the Iberian army, a total of sixty thousand soldiers to Sicily only? Did he really think he could defeat Theonia and completely occupy Sicily with just sixty thousand soldiers?” Davos asked suddenly.

Whenever Davos pondered an important issue, he would suddenly ask his closest ministers a question to confirm his ideas or broaden his thoughts, “Perhaps Shophet Hanno of Carthage doesn’t want to occupy Sicily or rout us. Instead, he just wants to gain some victories and force us to sign agreements in his interest…”

“…Makes sense.” Davos nodded thoughtfully. After a moment, he rubbed his chin as he said deeply, “It’s also possible that…the Carthaginians don’t want to send so many troops at once since that would increase the logistical pressure, and will just send them later, depending on how the battle develops… In any case, the Carthaginian ruler, Lord Hanno, although a good politician, is obviously not as bold as the Magonids. Perhaps in his mind, he doesn’t see this war as a showdown between Theonia and Carthage at all, which should be good for us…” said Davos, his voice trailing off as he fell back into his thought.

Aristias stood quietly aside, silent.

Davos then looked at him and said, “At the tribunal’s assembly yesterday, the tribunal officers from Uzentum, Mesania, and Rudiae all mentioned unfamiliar Messapians going in and out of some of the former Messapian tribal chieftain’s residences in the towns and villages, so send someone to check them out properly.”

“Yes, Your Majesty!”

“It would be best to find out who their backers are! It seems they wanted to use our war with Carthage to create more problems for us!” Davos’ eyes narrowed as he already had a suspect in mind.

“Yes, Your Majesty! I will look into it immediately!” Aristias said seriously.

Suddenly, a palace guard came in and reported, “Your Majesty, Lord Seclian has arrived.”

“Let him in quickly!” Davos said pleasantly, while Aristias withdrew immediately.

Seclian was still lean and vigorous even though he was already in his forties, showing no signs of fattening like most middle-aged men. He strode into the office and came to Davos. Then he quickly and simply made a standard military salute “Your Majesty, I have come!”

“It seems you couldn’t wait any longer,” Davos said jokingly.

“Does it seem so, Your Majesty?! Since I have only been in this little bay of Taranto for almost ten years, I have almost forgotten how to steer a warship!” Seclian replied jokingly.

“It seems I need to reconsider changing to a new navarch,” Davos said seriously.

“Is there a better Navarch in the kingdom than I?” Seclian responded immediately.

Then both of them laughed.

“This time, I will send you to Sicily to command the First and Third Fleet against the Carthaginian Navy. Since Fulalios is your former subordinate, you will have an easier time giving commands. Do you have any other requirements?” Davos asked seriously.

“Can you also place the Second Fleet under my command?” Seclian asked without hesitation.

Davos shook his head, “Mithridates’ fleet needs to hold the Romans at bay on the west coast. Besides, the Kingdom would be the one to supply provisions for the nearly sixty thousand soldiers of the First Fleet after they left for Sicily. But as the kingdom has just suffered a drought, the cities of southern Italia are also short of food. And I am already prioritising the delivery of food supplies from Egypt to your fleet, so if you add another thirty to forty thousand soldiers, I fear that most of the navy you command will go hungry.”

The Kingdom of Theonia now has four fleets. The First Fleet is based mainly in Taranto, the Second Fleet in Terina, the Third Fleet in Catania, and the Fourth Fleet in Brindisi. Since the number of men needed to form a fleet is large, they would, in principle, be assigned nearby, so the main force of the First Fleet was stationed in the northwest corner of the great port of Taranto, and the land from there to Metapontum was basically assigned to the sailors and rowers of the First Fleet, with some sailors from Taranto, Metapontum and Heraclea… so that each time the First Fleet trained, they could carry enough rations and arrive at the base in time.

Furthermore, the main force of the Theonian fleet was the Corvus Warship, and its primary mode of combat was boarding, which required large numbers of infantry on board to fight. During the South-Italian War, the Legion provided the infantry, but after the establishment of the Kingdom, Seclian made a proposal to the Ministry of Military. He argued that it would be difficult to coordinate the legions for each naval training during peacetime since the fleet and the legion’s base aren’t together, and it’s impossible to train with every legion. On the other hand, in wartime, the legions couldn’t fully use their full strength since they might be called up from time to time to fight on the fleet. Thus it would be better to equip the fleets with infantry exclusively for the navy so that they could devote themselves entirely to naval combat and harassment of the enemy’s coastline…

The Ministry of Military continued to argue about his proposal until they finally handed over the report to Davos. Davos immediately approved it, knowing they would always use the Navy for offensive operations, so it needed its own infantry.

For this reason, the naval base had to have enough land to accommodate the fleet’s sailors and infantry. So they built the Second Fleet’s base in Terina, where the Ophemian Plain lay; the Third Fleet in Catania, where the fertile Catanian Plain is; the Fourth Fleet in Brindisi, the city itself being a naval base; and the First Fleet, in addition to its base in Taranto, had a sub-fleet stationed in the military ports in the southern part of the Sybaris Plain. Thus the size of each fleet was quite large, especially the First Fleet, which could even outnumber a combined five legions. Naturally, they had to consume enormous amounts of food once they left the base.

Seclian, of course, knew the pros and cons, so he stopped insisting. Instead, he asked a delicate question, “If I go to Sicily, who will be in charge of the war? Will it be me or the newly appointed Sicilian commander, Prosous?”

Davos looked at him and said solemnly, “In principle, you are in charge of the navy, while Prosous is in charge of the army, with the navy and army working together to defend our territory in Sicily and to eliminate the invading Carthaginian army. But when you and Prosous discuss the military plan, the wartime governor of Sicily, Siprus, will also take part and make the final decision if the two of you can’t come to an agreement. And once you decide on a plan, you must carry it out without making any excuses or delay.”

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