Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece

Hanno apparently agreed to send troops to Sicily, but he believed that Dionysia’s military power is now strong, and the power of the basic city of Carthage alone did not win with absolute certainty, so he needed to gather the military power in the hands of the Governor of Iberia Marco Because they have a large army all year round, they often fight against the indigenous people of Iberia, and have rich combat experience.

It stands to reason that Hanno's request is reasonable and many veterans have expressed their approval, but the veterans of the Margonides, such as Pretacouba, are firmly opposed. They believe that although Marco has an army in Iberia , But this time the army was used to defend against the invasion of the indigenous people of Iberia. If they were transferred, Carthage’s newly occupied land in Iberia might fall into the hands of the indigenous people again.

For this reason, Hanno sneered. He laughed aloud: "Does Marco still need to guard against the Iberian indigenous people's attack! I heard that the Iberian indigenous leaders often visit him in the city of Sexi." He blamed them like slaves. And I also know that officials in Malaga and Cadiz went to Seesi to visit Marco more often than they came to Carthage! Iberian colony It is very stable now, but Marco’s military expenses applied to the Senate are increasing year by year, and his army is getting bigger and bigger. I don’t know who he uses to defend against this army?! Shouldn’t he use this? Does the army supported by Carthage's gold and silver work for Carthage?! If he disagrees, does he have any other ideas?"

What Hanno said was a stern sentence. Pretacouba was difficult to refute for a while, and many veterans who accepted Bribe’s bribes were not good to speak for him at this time. Hanno’s proposal was also received. The support of neutral veterans.

In the end, Hanno even said cruelly: "Marco will not send troops, and Carthage will not send troops to Sicily!"

The meeting broke up.

Soon, rumors began to spread in the city of Carthage: "Hanno was afraid of Dionia and dared not to send troops to fight, determined to violate the agreement with the close alliance Rome!"

However, another rumor was more widely spread: "Marco refused to send an army recruited with the taxes of Carthage citizens to fight Dionia because he wanted to be king of Iberia!"

This rumor caused an uproar in the city of Carthage. Many people gathered in front of the House of Elders to protest, screaming that Marco was a traitor, and strongly demanded that the House of Elders revoke his position as Governor of Iberia and transfer him back to Carthage. Based on trial.

When the news reached southern Iberia, Marco and others felt a little bit depressed.

They are very clear: this is the disadvantage of not being at the center of power of Carthage, so it is difficult to control the situation.Although the Margonide family has a fairly stable foundation in Iberia, once it is separated from Carthage, it will become a rootless tree.

They certainly don't want to be abandoned by the people of Carthage. Hanno's approach can be said to hit their weakness.

After discussing with Haka, Marco made a decision soon.

So, a few days later, Pretacuba put forward at the meeting of the Senate: "My lords, as citizens of Carthage, Iberian Governor Marco is certainly willing to send his army to fight, but he hopes to be able to attack Sicily. Commander!"

Indeed, in the identity and military qualifications of Marco, no one in Carthage's citizens dared to compete with him for the position of commander-in-chief, but how did Hanno let him do so, Tepanraco immediately stood up and expressed his opposition: "Ibilli The situation on the Asian Peninsula is complex, and there are many fierce indigenous people. Once Lord Marco leaves, the newly-appointed Governor is not familiar with the situation there, which may lead to instability in the newly occupied Iberian area. Is it in vain! Therefore, Master Marco still stays in Iberia, just send the army."

Pretakuba immediately rebutted: "Masters, you should all know that the members of the Iberian army are complex, most of them are alien mercenaries. If they are led by outsiders, I am afraid they will not follow the command, not only up to Without the effect of combat, it will cause confusion. If the senate is really worried about the safety of the new territory of Iberia, I recommend Hasdruba, son of Himilco, as the commander of this expedition. The second army defeated the attacking indigenous people, and had rich combat experience. He was an equally rare general in Carthage!"

Changed from Marco to Hasdrubal, the effect is not the same!Marco's great idea!Hanno sneered.

As a result, the Hanno veterans expressed their opposition, and even Octleton shouted excitedly: "The army supported by Carthage’s taxes does not follow Carthage’s orders, but only listens to one person’s command. Isn’t this dangerous! Do we dare to hand over the command of the army to such a person and put the city of Carthage in possible danger!..."

The words of Octleton are quite conspicuous, but he has said that many of the elders are worried about the issues: the main members of the Margonide family went to Iberia, and they could not return to Carthage in a year. Secondly, in his hands, there is a large number of troops that are almost not composed of Carthage citizens, which has already worried the Senate, and now the command of the army is handed over to the Magonid family. Obviously not what the elders expected.

On this issue, the head of the neutralist Isyaluba kept in line with Hanno.

In the end, with the support of the majority of the elders of the Senate, a resolution was passed to let Nufibia’s military chief Millefio serve as the commander of the expedition, and Marco did not have to go, but Iberia must send no less than 20,000 Human army fighting.

This resolution was not only completely contrary to the expected results of Marco and others, but also greatly damaged their interests. Therefore, Marco, who was informed, delayed the resolution and did not implement it, but sent messengers to Carthage to lobby the elders.

Both sides have been delayed in sending back and forth troops to Sicily.

……………………………………

While the Carthage Senate was arguing over the expedition, the Syracuse Council was also arguing fiercely.

More than a decade ago, Syracuse was the largest Greek city-state in Sicily, and even the most powerful city-state in the entire Greek world. Under the rule of the tyrant Lord Dionysius, the Syracuse defeated the powerful Carthage The basic people conquered most of Sicily's land and became the overlord of Sicily.Dionysius even led nearly 100,000 troops to the north and attacked Great Greece across the sea in an attempt to expand his territory.

However, in the half-year war with the newly-rising Dionysian Union, the Syracuse, who was clearly dominant, eventually suffered a fierce defeat in both sea and land battles, and even the Dionysian army attacked On Sicily, the Syracuses launched a rebellion and overthrew the rule of Dionysius. Dionysius and his family were eventually betrayed by Sparta and murdered.

The Syracuses, liberated from Dionysius’s dictatorship, decided not to repeat the same mistakes. The people entrusted Herolis, who played a leading role in overthrowing Dionysius, to form a brand new Syracuse democratic government.

However, Herolis had other ideas.During the reign of Dionysius, he held important public office in the city-state. At the same time, he also studied Dionysia’s political system seriously, so he opposed Dionysius because of Dionysius’s brutality. And the heavy oppression of the people does not mean that he fully recognizes democracy.On the contrary, he believes that the democratic system is too loose and inefficient, and it is easy to cause chaos. Especially in the case of Syracuse experiencing a disastrous defeat and the urgent need to quickly restore national power, it should concentrate its power and quickly make various Resolutions conducive to the development of city-states.

Therefore, he did not form a new government, but instead used his identity as the top leader in wartime to promulgate various resolutions frequently, and these resolutions were often decided by him without consulting with others. This was met by the public. Reproach.

During this period, two things greatly reduced his popularity among the people.

The first thing was that Ty Agnes, an important Democrat who was once in Syracuse, was arrested for strongly opposing the rule of Dionysius. He was supposed to be sentenced to death, but he escaped because of the help of his friends. He was imprisoned and fled Sicily.After the reign of Dionysius was overthrown, he actually returned to Syracuse with several warships and some soldiers.

Based on his heroic deeds against Dionysius, the people warmly welcomed his arrival, and elected this person as a general in the civic assembly, hoping that he could enter the Siracusa’s General Wartime Executive Committee, Check and balance the expanding power of Herolis.

But Herolis actually vetoed the election results of the civic assembly, and emphasized that "any resolution requires his approval." This incident made the public very angry.

However, in a previous resolution issued by Herolis, a large amount of fertile land that Dionysius had allocated to mercenaries was allocated to the civilians of the port, and they were granted full citizenship, so they were granted to the people in the port area. And the full support of free people.

In addition, in the General Wartime Executive Committee, Falekus, Stacey... and others are friends of Herolis and his supporters, so it seems that his rights are unshakable.

The second thing is that although Dionia agreed to release the captured soldiers and sailors of Syracuse, Daveus put forward the conditions and asked Syracuse to make war compensation to make up for the Syracuse army’s The damage caused by Great Greece is also the ransom of these captives.