Mediterranean Hegemon of Ancient Greece

In such a situation, the Athenians did not think that they could fight the powerful Sparta by themselves and Thebes. After urgent consultations between the General Executive Committee and the Council, Athens chose in front of the aggressive Spartan Ombudsman. Compromise compromise.

They immediately recalled the two generals of Athens who were fighting in Thebes, and held a civic conference to try them. The charges were "they held important public office in Athens, but entered without any permission from the Athens government." Thebes, fighting the Spartans, putting Athens in a dangerous position...this is malfeasance and treason."

Although most of the citizens of Athens support the two generals in their hearts, they really do not want to fight against the powerful Sparta at this time, so they voted against it and imposed the harshest punishment on the two- Execution to calm the Spartans' anger.

The Spartan Ombudsman returned with satisfaction. After learning about Athens' actions, the Council of Elders reassured them that now they only needed to concentrate on the only enemy, Thebes.

………………………………………

After the news of "the fiasco of Carthage's army and the failure of the Iberian navy" reached Carthage, the people were shocked.What made Carthage's senior officials grieve was that the Holy Corps suffered heavy losses. While crying for the death and injury of their elite children, the families were also extremely angry at the incompetence of the army commander Monte Adno. They cried out to remove Monte Adno. He was escorted back to Carthage, and through the trial of the Court of One Hundred, the cruel “Cross Penalty” was imposed on them to relieve their hatred (that is, nail the hands and feet of the criminals to the wooden cross with iron nails) , Let it be exposed to the sun, blood dies.)

In the case of the wrath, Hanno did not defend Monte Adnor and left the Senate to pass the resolution.

After passing this issue, the Carthage Senate began to discuss vigorously how to deal with the Dionyan army marching westward on Sicily.

One of the new Sofitel, Okritton, bravely and quietly proposed: "Everyone, it seems... Dionysia's army and navy are powerful. Carthage had not prepared well before, so he ventured It is wrong to fight war with Dionyssia, now we can first consider...temporarily negotiate with Dionysian to save the captured Carthage citizens, while preventing the empty West Sicily from being destroyed by Dionysius The Asians are all occupied..."

As soon as Okritton's words came out, there was an uproar in the veteran's house, and Preta Kuba stood up immediately and retorted loudly: "The war has just been going on for a month, and our Carthage will surrender?! I dare not dare I believe that this ridiculous proposal comes from the mouth of our exalted Sofitel! Our Carthage is not a small state, we are the lords of all Phoenician city states in the Western Mediterranean! We control Sardinia, Ke Siga, Numbia, southern Iberia and other vast areas monopolize the precious metal trade in the entire Western Mediterranean, making it the most powerful and richest country in the Western Mediterranean!

But what do you want us to surrender to Dionysia, less than 20 years after the founding of the country, what will the people in the area under our control, our affiliated city-states, and our allies think!They will think that Carthage is not good enough!They will leave us and even blow the horn of war to us, like the Numisbians!Therefore, since the war with Dionysia has begun, we must fight until we finally win!"

Pretakuba's thought-provoking remarks touched many veterans.

At this time, Tepanlako stood up and said solemnly: "I think Lord Ocreton and every veteran present here want Carthage to defeat Dionia, but now the situation is-Dai The army of Onia is strong, they have less troops than us, but they can let our army suffer a fiasco! Their navy also has an advantage!...We must admit that now the military is indeed stronger than us. We are not ready yet, and we should not have ventured into war with Dionia at this time, but because some people incited the people for personal gain, Carthage fell into this difficult situation today! I think first It is necessary to investigate these war-makers and try them, so as to ensure that the Senate will make bills in the future and will not fall into chaos!..."

As soon as Tepanlaco finished his speech, Pretakuba immediately retorted: "Masters, is it true that our Carthage soldiers are not brave enough, our army is not strong enough, is our navy not?! No! It’s because our generals can’t do it! They all fight on Sicily. Why did the Iberian army led by Hasdrubal conquer Cerro Diham, while Monte Adno, with his heavy soldiers, was defeated in Mino Under the city! I heard that Monte Ardno was enjoying wine every day, collecting beautiful women everywhere, never going to the barracks to get to know his troops and soldiers, and never attacked the city of Minoa How can such an incompetent commander inspire the fighting spirit of the soldiers by personally supervising the war and even hiding in the big tent to drink and enjoy! How can he formulate a correct combat plan to defeat the Dionysians!..."

"So, the sentence of Monte Adnor's Cross is absolutely correct! Monte Adno damn it!" a veteran shouted angrily.

Immediately afterwards, many veterans also echoed to express their resentment towards him. Even Hanno was extremely dissatisfied with Monte Adnor in his heart, and hated that he had misunderstood people, causing the entire political situation to be detrimental to himself.

Amidst the noise, someone asked aloud: "Preta Kuba, since you said that Carthage was defeated by Dionysia because of the commander's incompetence, then who do you think will lead the Carthage army and win? Dionysians?!"

Hanno immediately turned around and looked back, and found that the speaker was a veteran of the Margonide faction. He could not help but scolded: Shameless!

Just listen to Pretacouba and say aloud immediately: "Dear veterans, I think you all have heard of the Lusitans in the west of the Iberian Peninsula and the Celts in the mountains of the north--"

Although most of the Carthaginian veterans have not been to Iberia, they have learned a lot about the situation on the Iberian peninsula over the past ten years, as Marco conquered southern Iberia. These two races are the closest branch of the southern Iberians, but they are more brutal and fiercer than them, living on killing and proud of fighting to death.

Pretacouba saw many elders’ attention attracted by himself, and then solemnly said: "The two Iberian natives have made several major invasions of the southern territory of Iberia under the jurisdiction of Governor Marco. He was repulsed by his army. Know that there are not only mercenaries in the Carthage army of Iberia, but also many Carthage civics and Phoenician allies. Such a mixed army can defeat such a fierce enemy. , Conquered such a large area of ​​land for Carthage. Why did the Carthage army with more elite sacred corps and more soldiers lose to the Dionysian army with fewer people than us?!"

Preta Kuba looked around the crowd and threw a loud voice: "That is because-only a lion-like commander can lead a lion-like brave army; and a lamb-like weak commander, even if he is given elite soldiers, he Nor can they show their bravery! Masters, things are very obvious. Now, in Carthage, you can lead the army like a lion to win the victory against the Dionysian war, only the Iberian Governor Marco!"

Although many people know that Pretacouba will eventually name "Marco", when he spoke, no one made a rebuttal for a while, even his opponents had to admit that in the military No one can match Marco with his talents and the merits of the war.

For more than a decade, the Carthage people have not been in a peaceful and peaceful state of life. They actively conquered the inland areas of Numbia south of Carthage. After the conquest, they occasionally suppressed the Nu The rebellion of the Mibians, but the Numbian tribes have been under the economic control, cultural penetration, alienation, and buying of the Carthage for centuries. It is impossible to organize a unified coalition to fight against the Carthage. Offensive, so the intensity of the war is always small, and it is far from comparable to the difficulties that Marco has led alone to conquer the unfamiliar southern Iberia. As soon as he arrived in Sicily, Monte Adno was beaten down by the Dionysians.

"Unfortunately, most of the troops led by Marco are not Carthage and Phoenicians..." Occleton said faintly, and he was talking about the problems that many veterans were worried about before.

At this time, Preta Kuba sneered: "Doesn't Master Marco want to have more Carthage civic soldiers?! No! Because we simply cannot provide enough citizens to conquer the indigenous people of Iberia! Not to mention Now, what we are facing is that the kingdom of Dionysia can organize more than 100,000 civilian soldiers at a time. Can we at Carthage do it?! We can’t do it! We even lost thousands of saints. All will be sad, so what can we use to compete with Dionysia? We can only rely on mercenaries and alien troops!

Everyone knows that Spartan citizens are scarce. For hundreds of years, they have relied on Confederate soldiers to fight against the alien army and become the overlord of Greece. They have never seen them worry that their alien army will be chaotic!And Persia, which battle led a foreign army not more than its own soldiers?But because of this, Persia will build a strong and prosperous kingdom!Not to mention that more than a decade ago, when Lord Simirco led the army to attack Syracuse, there were also a large number of aliens such as Numisbians and Celts in the army!Why today we have to worry about these alien troops that help us fight and maintain the prestige of Carthage in the Western Mediterranean?!Is it because our hearts become weak and unable to adapt to the power of Carthage?!!"

Hanno took a disdain for Pretacouba’s final rhetorical question, of course not because the Iberian army was mostly frightened by mercenaries and interracial troops, but because the salaries of these troops were not made by Carthage veterans. Provided by the institutions under the institute, it is directly paid by the Margonide family with the wealth they earned on the Iberian Peninsula. In this sense, the Iberian army is owned by the Margonide family Private Army, this is what Hanno is worried about!