Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece

Samuels looked at Hanno and said frankly: Lord Hanno, we must consider the issue of temporarily abandoning Numibia. Carthage's successive defeats have been seen by the tribes of Eastern Numibia. Without the hope of being freed from our rule, the reason why I can still barely cope with their rebellion is because the young and middle-aged people of various tribes have basically been transferred to Sicily, and now I am afraid they have all become the captives of the Dionysians.

If I were the commander-in-chief of the Dionians, and wanted to land in Africa and attack Carthage, I would definitely win over these Numibians and let them be the help of the Dionian army...

You are alarmist. Numibia was conquered by us Carthaginians with decades of time, money and manpower. How could it be possible to give up if we just gave up! Delevica said a little. growled angrily.

Hey... Summers is right, we should recognize the reality! Hanno sighed heavily, his face showing a color of pain, and said slowly in a heavy tone: Delevica, once When the Dionysians attacked Carthage, can the 8,000 civic soldiers still stay in Numibia?! It is better to bring them back, as long as they defend Carthage, they will be recaptured in the future. Opportunity to land in Numibia!

In addition, we can also negotiate with the surrounding Phoenician allies. When the Dionysian army landed in Africa, they can temporarily take refuge in the city of Carthage. In this way, we not only play the role of the leader of the alliance, ensure their safety, and at the same time There are more defensive forces...

Lord Hanno, this is a good idea! But it will increase our food consumption! Summers reminded.

Could our Phoenician allies hide in the city of Carthage with empty hands?! Wouldn't we remind them to move all the food in their city to our city?! Taipanlako reminded.

Summers looked slightly embarrassed. He was too anxious to forget this.

Hanno continued: We can also send envoys to Tyre to ask our mother state for help, begging if they can let Persia come forward and mediate the war.

Persia! Others' eyes lit up.

Taipanlako immediately asked, Will Persia agree to this request?

I heard that the Persian king did not like Dionia, otherwise he would not have allowed the fleet of the East Phoenicians to come under the banner of Persia... The security of Carthage in the Western Mediterranean is guaranteed. For Persia, only Good, no harm, I believe the Persian king will make the right choice. Hanno said confidently.

There is pressure from the Persians, I believe that the Dionysians also have to carefully consider the issue of armistice,

Maybe we can also win back more interests in the negotiation accordingly. ' Delevica finally smiled.

Okleton seemed a little worried. He reminded: I think King Dionia is a tough man. He ignored our protests and still chose to go to war with Rome. According to intelligence, Dionia also Having formed an alliance with Egypt, don’t the Dionias know that Egypt is now a mortal enemy with Persia?! It can be seen that the Dionias are not like the Greeks, they are very afraid of Persia. We can use the power of Persia, but we cannot Too much reliance on it!

Okriton is right. Persia is still too far away from the Western Mediterranean. It is very unlikely that they will send reinforcements like Tyre. The Dionysians can really be confident, but at least it is a pressure on them. When Hanno said this, he fell into contemplation. After a while, he made up his mind and said in a deep voice: Since you have concluded that the Dionysians do have the will to negotiate peace, we are strengthening the defense of Carthage City. At the same time of safety, it is also possible to continue to make concessions in the negotiations, and when the benefits obtained from the negotiations are greater than the possible losses of the war, the Dionians will choose to sign a peace agreement with us...

With a bit of sadness in Hanno's eyes, he slowly swept across the faces of everyone: Corsica, Sardinia, and western Sicily have fallen under the control of the Dionysians, and it is impossible to take them back. As a bargaining chip, give up when necessary; Cadiz, Huelva, Malaga in southern Iberia... are an important driving force for the rise of our Carthage, and we may lose Corsica and Sardinia only after the loss The remaining sources of precious metal trade must never be handed over to the Dionians; but other territories in southern Iberia...we can give up if necessary.

Having said this, Hanno suddenly became angry, and he said loudly: Dlevica, you are right, Marco is a sinner of Carthage! His brother Himilko is also a sinner of Carthage! Ten A few years ago, Himilco provoked a war in Sicily, and the result was a disastrous defeat, which seriously damaged the national strength of Carthage, which led to the war between Dionia and Syracuse. We in Carthage could only watch on the sidelines. Had to sign an agreement with Dionia to keep the peace! And this time, Margo's incompetence ruined our 100,000 army and put Carthage in such a dangerous situation... The Margonid family must be subject to the senate Severe punishment!

The land they conquered in Iberia, said to be for the benefit of the Carthaginians, has actually become the Margonid family's own territory, completely disobeying the senate's orders, not accepting officials sent by the senate, rather than In this way, it is better to use southern Iberia as a bargaining chip and give it to the Dionians at an appropriate time, which can not only increase the chances of winning the peace talks, but also maintain the stability and unity of Carthage.

Hanno completely blamed the Margonides for Carthage's dangerous situation today, in fact, to cover up his own mistakes in over 10 years of overly lenient Dionia and not strictly restricting it. For Taipanlako and Okredon, because they belonged to the Hanno faction, they did not gain any benefits from southern Iberia before, so there was no objection to Hanno's decision.

Samuels has his own opinion on this, because through the previous battle report, he believes that there are a large number of soldiers of good quality in southern Iberia, which should be kept as much as possible. But he didn't say it out. After all, he was not a pure soldier. He was a veteran of the Hanno faction. Saying such words at this special time would only arouse Hanno's suspicion.

At this time, Hanno just turned his attention to him, and his heart jumped: Did Hanno see my mind?

Samers is right. Now that we don't have enough troops to keep the land in Numibia, what about just agreeing to Dionysian's condition? When our strength is restored, we can take it back again. That's it, the land is there anyway, and it can't run away...

Hanno's tone of speech seemed relaxed, but several people present could feel the pain in his heart. After all, it was he who held the banner of March inland and gathered many elites of Carthage around him for more than 10 years. He came to lead the citizens of Carthage, seized a large amount of land in Eastern Numibia, and then consolidated his leadership in the Senate, his prestige among the people, and now all is in vain...

Thinking of this, everyone present looked sad.

……………………………………

On the second day, the Hannoite elders who had reached a consensus passed a resolution one by one at the meeting: recall 8,000 civic soldiers, conduct war mobilization again in the city, send messengers to negotiate with the surrounding Phoenician allies, send messengers On the way to Tyre in the Eastern Mediterranean...

However, when the two negotiating conditions of ceding southern Iberia and returning the land to the Numibians were put forward, it immediately caused an uproar.

Most of the elders of the Margonidites and the centrists were firmly opposed, and denounced the greed of the Dionysians and the Hanois for treason.

The Senate was caught in a heated quarrel, and has been unable to reach a unanimous opinion.

At this time, the battle situation in Sicily has become more and more clear.

On the third day after the battle of Serinus, the Segstas quietly sent messengers to Serinus and asked for surrender.

It turned out that the tens of thousands of soldiers who fled into the city of Segsta, most of them were citizens of Carthage, they regarded themselves as the new owners of Segsta, not only forcibly occupying the residence of the Segsta people , robbed them of their food, and used them as slaves. The Segstas were miserable, so they conspired with the Dionysian army to quietly open the city gates at night, cooperate with the inside and outside, and quickly pacified the defeated army.

Dionysius, the tyrant of Syracuse, led an army to besiege Segosta for more than half a year, but failed to conquer Segosta, but now the stubborn Segosta obediently surrendered to Dionia , which undoubtedly boosted the morale of Dionysian soldiers.

Two days later, Mazara also opened the gates to the Dionian army.

It turned out that the routed soldiers who escaped into Mazara were controlled by Hasdruba. The situation at the beginning was much better than that of Segsta, but this route was mainly composed of Phoenician infantry, Iberian infantry, and Lusitani. Composed of Asian warriors and Celtic warriors, most of them are natives of Iberia. They were either conquered by Margo's force or attracted by the generous salary to participate in this war. Whatever benefit they got, but because Carthage suffered a crushing defeat, which caused them to be in a difficult situation, they naturally had other thoughts in their hearts.

However, Hasdruba, who was determined to regroup, did not realize the changes in the psychology of the indigenous people. Instead, he acted in accordance with the previous military law and severely punished several Lusitania soldiers who robbed the food of the Mazara residents in the city. He wanted to kill the chickens to warn the monkeys and clean up the military records, but intensified the contradictions and led to a mutiny among the Iberian natives. Later, Hasdruba completely lost control of the army. The foreign soldiers respected him as a brave warrior, and only took him Taken as a prisoner, and did not kill him.

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